"Of course."
Shikime Natsu replied with a soft laugh, those pale-gold eyes of his brimming with warmth.
Then he parted his lips slightly and called out, gently:
"Maya."
The instant those two syllables reached her ears, Satou Maya felt a jolt of electricity shoot straight from her eardrums to the top of her head.
Her face flushed crimson in an instant, and she felt dizzy — like happiness itself had just tackled her to the ground.
It was such a simple change, really — from "Satou-san" to "Maya."
But...
The distance between them felt like it had closed by a mile in a single heartbeat.
That sense of intimacy made her heart race so fast she could barely breathe.
Thank goodness... thank goodness it turned out the way she'd hoped.
If Shikime Natsu had shown even the slightest hesitation — or politely turned her down — it would have been social death on the spot. She'd have wanted to melt into the floor from sheer embarrassment.
After all, what she'd blurted out earlier had been entirely on impulse. It was just that Matsushita Chiaki and Karuizawa Kei both seemed to share some kind of special connection with Shikime Natsu, and she'd felt like she was the only one being left behind — even though she was the one who'd fallen for him first.
Satou Maya had had good feelings for Shikime Natsu from the very moment she met him. Well... admittedly, at first it was mostly because he was ridiculously good-looking, and then because he'd helped the injured Karuizawa Kei — that gentle, caring side of him had been impossible to forget. But after getting to know him a little better, Maya was sure of it: she'd fallen for him. He was kind, he had a beautiful singing voice, and he'd even helped her with her studies.
Satou Maya didn't have some dramatic past or deep-seated emotional baggage. She was just an ordinary girl who'd met someone exceptional and, quite naturally, found her heart fluttering. That was all there was to it — no grand reason required.
So when she'd said what she said, she genuinely hadn't spared a single thought for what she'd do if he turned her down.
But it was fine...
Not only had Shikime Natsu agreed — he'd said her name so naturally, so effortlessly, and it sounded so good.
Just as Satou Maya was basking in that bliss.
Shikime Natsu turned his head and looked over at the other two girls with his usual warm gaze:
"From now on..."
"I'll call Matsushita-san 'Chiaki,' and Karuizawa-san 'Kei' — if that's alright?"
Hearing this.
Matsushita Chiaki and Karuizawa Kei, who had been frozen in a mixture of surprise and envy, both felt a spark of delight flash across their eyes.
"S-Sure, of course!"
Karuizawa Kei nodded eagerly, her cheeks flushing pink, a quiet, involuntary happiness blooming in her chest.
She'd only been mentioned in passing, but being called by her first name directly — that was still a huge step forward.
Matsushita Chiaki gave a small nod as well, doing her best to maintain an air of composure on the surface — but the corners of her lips, curling upward, had already betrayed just how good her mood was right now:
"Mm... I don't mind at all."
"Chiaki..."
She repeated the name silently to herself, and somehow, the faint sense of distance and defeat that the "online dream" incident had left lingering inside her seemed to dissolve, just a little.
Even such a small change was enough to make a girl's heart feel brighter.
After that.
The four of them chatted casually for a little while longer in the karaoke room. The atmosphere stayed warm and easy, and Matsushita Chiaki, with the other two there, found herself relaxing the tension she'd been carrying.
When dinnertime rolled around, Shikime Natsu invited the three of them to head to the school cafeteria together. Naturally, he took on the role of treating everyone — as he always did when sharing a meal with cute girls. It wasn't like he had to worry about points. He had so many of them they were practically overflowing, and he had no idea what to do with the surplus.
The whole "keep twenty million private points in reserve so you don't get expelled" thing that people stressed over? Shikime Natsu couldn't care less. He had cheats. If he still needed a twenty-million-point safety net, he figured he might as well restart from scratch.
These days, his private points existed mainly to pay for meals out. As for clothes and food — those two things he genuinely no longer needed to worry about at all. The cheat system had those covered in unlimited supply.
By the time they finished dinner, night had fully settled over the campus. The four of them said their goodbyes at the cafeteria entrance.
"Well then, I'll head back first."
Shikime Natsu checked the time and figured it was about right — he had other things to take care of.
"Okay, see you tomorrow — Na-Natsu!"
"I'll be heading off too."
The three girls said their goodbyes in turn.
However.
Just as Shikime Natsu had walked a short distance away and was about to turn the corner.
A flurry of hurried footsteps came rushing up from behind.
"Wait! Natsu!"
Shikime Natsu stopped and turned around.
Satou Maya came jogging up, slightly out of breath — she had clearly doubled back on purpose.
She was alone.
Matsushita Chiaki and Karuizawa Kei hadn't followed. Maya had probably found some excuse to send them on ahead.
"What's up, Maya?"
Shikime Natsu looked at her, smiling as he asked:
"Did you forget to say something?"
Satou Maya stood before him and drew in a few deep breaths to calm herself.
Beneath the amber glow of the streetlights.
A charming flush bloomed across the girl's cheeks. Her hands were clasped nervously behind her back, her body tilted ever so slightly forward — the picture of someone trying to be bold while still being hopelessly shy.
She lifted her gaze, those bright, expressive eyes fixed unwaveringly on Shikime Natsu, and gathered her courage to ask:
"Um..."
"Does Natsu... already have two girlfriends right now?"
Shikime Natsu didn't dodge the question. He nodded.
"Yeah, that's right."
Hearing the confirmation, the light in Satou Maya's eyes dimmed for just a moment — but it came back just as quickly.
She bit her lip and pressed on:
"Then..."
"How does Natsu see me?"
"I haven't... done anything that would make you dislike me, right?"
There was a faint, barely perceptible tremor in her voice as she asked.
This was probably the boldest probe she was capable of pulling off right now.
Shikime Natsu looked at her careful, tentative expression, and said in a gentle tone:
"How could I dislike you?"
"Maya is a wonderful girl."
"Warm, cheerful — being around you is easy and fun."
Hearing those words.
Satou Maya felt her heart turn to mush.
That rush of being truly affirmed flooded her chest all at once.
She nodded enthusiastically, a brilliant smile breaking across her face:
"Well then... in that case..."
"Can we still hang out together sometime?"
Shikime Natsu answered without a moment's hesitation:
"Of course."
"Whenever I have time, I'm always happy to go out with Maya."
So it wasn't a confession after all. Shikime Natsu had half-expected Satou Maya to come running back specifically to confess — but apparently not.
Then again... that made sense. Their time together hadn't been all that long. Just working up the nerve to ask him to use her first name was already quite a bold move for a girl like her.
Actually confessing would probably be a monumentally difficult thing for Satou Maya to do.
"Really? That's amazing!"
Satou Maya pumped her fist, the weight that had been sitting on her chest finally lifting.
"So then..."
"It's a promise!"
"Next time... I'll invite Natsu out again!"
"And you absolutely cannot refuse!"
Shikime Natsu laughed and nodded:
"Alright, it's a deal."
With that satisfying answer in hand, Satou Maya turned and headed off, heart full.
However.
The moment she turned around and stepped into the shadows.
The smile on her face collapsed immediately, replaced by pure, undisguised frustration.
She silently gave herself the most scathing internal lecture.
"Ughhh! Satou Maya, you are absolutely useless!"
"That was the perfect moment to just go for it!"
"Why didn't you just ask him straight out — 'can I be your third girlfriend?'!"
"You had the guts to double back and find him alone... so why did you chicken out the second the words were right there?!"
Seriously...
She was so disappointed in herself it hurt.
But...
She quietly talked herself down.
It's fine. It's not that big of a deal, really.
After all, Shikime Natsu already had two girlfriends. The coveted "number one spot" was long gone.
If she couldn't be first, then third or fourth didn't make much of a difference.
If he were still single, she'd have been sprinting, watching her back every second.
But now...
He already had two. She didn't need to be so anxious.
All she had to do was slowly build up his affection for her. She'd get her chance eventually.
Still...
"Ugh, but affection isn't something you can see or measure..."
Satou Maya let out a troubled sigh.
Just how high had Shikime Natsu's rating of her as "a wonderful girl" actually been, anyway?
Was it just a Friend Card — something purely platonic? Or was it one of those "you're great, but I think of you as a little sister" brush-offs?
"Forget it!"
"Next time!"
Satou Maya balled her fist, giving herself a silent pep talk.
"Next time I invite him out, I'm going to ask him directly!"
"...If I can work up the nerve by then."
She tacked that last part on quietly in her head, then quickened her pace to catch up with her friends ahead.
...
After parting ways with Satou Maya.
Shikime Natsu didn't head straight back to the dorm. He wandered around the campus for a bit.
By the time he made his way back to his dorm room door, the night had gone completely dark.
The motion-sensor lights in the hallway cast a faint, dim glow.
And yet — standing in front of his familiar door was a small, slender figure who had clearly been waiting there for some time.
Sakayanagi Arisu.
This girl had actually shown up and was already waiting at his door.
And by the look of it, she'd been there for a while.
Yet there wasn't a trace of impatience on her face. She stood with the same elegance that seemed etched into her very bones, as composed as ever.
In her hand was a small, neatly presented bag.
In all likelihood... that bag contained the maid outfit that was a source of considerable humiliation for its wearer.
When she noticed Shikime Natsu approaching.
Sakayanagi Arisu lifted her chin slightly, wearing that signature smile of hers — restrained, a touch imperious — and said in a soft voice:
"Good evening, Shiki-san."
The utter composure of it was striking — as though the humiliation she'd been put through hadn't happened at all.
Shikime Natsu returned the greeting politely:
"Good evening."
Internally, though, he was quietly amused.
As expected of Sakayanagi Arisu — her recovery speed was genuinely impressive. He had put her through a thoroughly comprehensive humiliation not long ago, hammering away especially at the "genius" title she valued above all else. And yet, after just a few days of not making her come fulfill her end of their agreement, she had returned completely stone-faced — even managing to recapture that signature smug brat energy in her tone. The psychological fortitude was something else.
Shikime Natsu didn't think too much of it, and had no idea how long she'd been waiting out here — though it probably wasn't long. If it had been, then given Sakayanagi Arisu's physical condition, she wouldn't have still been standing so elegantly outside his door when he spotted her.
Still... she'd come all the way to his dorm and hadn't even sent him a message. Was she prepared to turn right back around at any moment?
"Come in."
Shikime Natsu glanced over at Sakayanagi Arisu and slowly pushed the door open.
Tonight was maid service time. Kamuro Masumi and Sakura Airi had both indicated they weren't planning to come over.
The moment they stepped inside.
Sakayanagi Arisu placed the bag she was carrying on the table with practiced ease, then turned to face Shikime Natsu.
The mask of serene composure seemed to slip by the tiniest fraction, and a lightly teasing expression crept onto her face.
"Speaking of which..."
"What has Shiki-san been so busy with these past few days?"
"To be so 'generous' as to give me several consecutive days off?"
This really didn't seem like Shiki-san's style — the type who liked cornering his prey with no way out.
The barb in her words was unmistakable, a deliberate attempt to seize the conversational high ground.
However.
Shikime Natsu wasn't about to take the bait.
He shrugged off his jacket and hung it up, then turned his head and fixed Sakayanagi Arisu with an amused, half-smiling look:
"Oh?"
"The way Sakayanagi-san says that..."
"Don't tell me you're actually a closet masochist?"
"That eager to play maid for me? You can't go a single day without waiting on me hand and foot?"
"Or rather..."
He stepped a little closer, gazing down at her from above:
"Has Sakayanagi-san already developed a 'maid addiction'?"
"...!"
At that.
The bright, composed expression Sakayanagi Arisu had been maintaining on her face clouded over in an instant.
Just as she'd thought...
There was absolutely no winning in a battle of words with this man.
Before she could fire back.
Shikime Natsu pressed on, his tone carrying a faint edge of mockery:
"Not that it's surprising."
"After all, what I've been busy with lately... is the kind of business that only real adults deal with."
"For someone like you — someone who spends her days playing make-believe and calls herself a 'genius'... it's a little hard to explain."
"That kind of thing would be way over Sakayanagi-san's head at this stage."
As he said it.
He gave Sakayanagi Arisu a deliberate once-over, passing her a look that was pure provocation.
The unspoken message couldn't have been clearer: What would a little kid like you know about any of this?
"You — you..."
Sakayanagi Arisu's grip on her cane tightened slightly, her knuckles going faintly white.
Being looked down on as a child — being dismissed that way — was even more infuriating than being outright insulted. Especially since she had been the one to start this exchange, trying to tease him through his connection to Kamuro Masumi.
But she hadn't expected Shikime Natsu to come right back with "you're a child." That was the one thing Sakayanagi Arisu hated most — and when paired with her petite, underdeveloped figure, his words landed with devastating effect.
They'd barely even entered his room, and he was already making her this angry?
She had thrown the first punch, sure — but what Shikime Natsu had said was genuinely going too far.
Shikime Natsu paid her indignation no mind. He nodded toward the bag on the table, with a quiet smile:
"Since Sakayanagi-san's maid addiction is acting up, let's not waste any time."
"Now — put on the maid outfit."
"Then do a proper job of rubbing my shoulders. I just got back from outside and they're feeling a bit sore."
Seeing Sakayanagi Arisu rooted to the spot — clearly turning over how to counter what he'd just said, or formulating some new attack — Shikime Natsu raised an eyebrow, his tone carrying a teasing lilt:
"What's wrong?"
"A whole month without playing maid — have you gotten rusty? Forgotten how it's done?"
"Don't worry, though..."
"We've got plenty of time ahead. I can walk you through it step by step... help you remember."
The naked threat made Sakayanagi Arisu's breath hitch.
Her mood was absolutely catastrophic.
She had come here intending to take a jab at Shikime Natsu — to claw back just a little ground.
Instead...
She'd been shot down before she'd even gotten started.
Not only had her jab failed to land — he had counter-jabbed her from every possible angle.
Especially that line trampling all over her "genius" title.
Even she knew that after losing to Kamuro Masumi, a seed of doubt had taken root inside her — a quiet, nagging suspicion that perhaps she didn't quite deserve that label after all.
But...
Hearing it from Shikime Natsu's mouth, in that condescending, you're-just-a-kid tone of his.
It made her blood boil.
Sakayanagi Arisu bit down on her frustration, picked up the bag from the table, and turned to walk into the bathroom to change.
She had anticipated that Shikime Natsu would fire back after she poked at him — but she'd still underestimated the sheer lethality of his tongue. He could effortlessly stir her emotions and leave her genuinely furious.
Once inside Shikime Natsu's bathroom, Sakayanagi Arisu glanced around. It looked more or less the same as the last time she'd been here. Well — it hadn't been that long. How much could a bathroom possibly change?
She took a slow, steadying breath and began to change into the outfit. Once she was dressed, she stood before the mirror, regarding her reflection with those violet eyes, and methodically rebuilt her expression.
Poker face at all times. She could not let Shikime Natsu get to her emotions so easily. Once she had coaxed her face back into that poised, imperious look she always wore, Sakayanagi Arisu finally pushed open the bathroom door and stepped out.
"Shiki-san, you said I'm not a born genius — so then... who in this school do you think is?"
____
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