You Can't Run Away.
You Can't Run Away.
Exclusive servant of the Ichinose family.
Second-year. Elaine.
Serving the family by their side is a very busy affair.
The schedules and chores to handle in a single day seemed endless.
Grooming the young lady's school uniform, coordinating next week's visitation schedule, and receiving reports from the servants in charge of each area.
Even before the morning sun rose, her hands were already busy.
Meal preparation, route to school, after-school schedule.
If even one detail was missed, a crack would immediately appear in the young lady's day.
That was why Elaine fought with her hands instead of raising her voice.
A single daily schedule affected the young lady's condition,
and a single piece of preparation could decide the family's honor.
Therefore, there was no time to rest.
The moment she raised her head briefly, the next task was already at the door.
The sound of knocking was always the same.
Short and urgent.
Without hesitation, Elaine stopped her grooming work and made a brief gesture.
As soon as the door opened, a junior servant who had rushed over spoke up without even catching her breath.
"E-Elaine-ssi."
"What is it?"
She asked curtly.
Her gaze did not rise.
The pen still ran across the paper.
Sagak, sagak.
The junior stammered for a moment before barely getting to the point.
"Today at school... the young lady..."
"...Lady Shizuku?"
"Yes. An incident occurred between the young lady and the student council president."
Ichinose Shizuku.
The one and only young lady whom Elaine served at her side, and the eldest daughter who would become the future of the noble family.
It seemed that young lady had stolen someone else's heart yet again. Having witnessed this since childhood, Elaine was familiar with it.
Letting out a light sigh, Elaine spoke.
"...Is it the student council president this time?"
"...Have you already heard?"
"It's nothing new. What happened?"
It was a daily occurrence.
Rare was the person who didn't fall for the young lady after a single glance.
Even more so for someone of the student council president's stature.
...Though the fact that it had been quiet for a year bothered her slightly.
"I heard the face was flushed all the way to the ears, couldn't speak properly... dropped everything being held, and yet kept staring as if unable to take eyes off. What's more, tears were even shed..."
As expected.
"It seems he's fallen pretty hard."
Elaine muttered calmly.
She had completely turned off her concern because things had been strangely quiet for a year, but it seemed trouble had finally broken out.
Letting out a light sigh, Elaine spoke.
Her hand moved again.
Sagak, sagak.
"So, I assume he didn't cause any bigger scene than that?"
"...Pardon?"
"I am asking if he acted impolitely."
She continued to ask calmly.
The pen tip drew another line.
It was hardly anything new for a man to be flustered in front of the young lady. However, if things took a strange turn, that would be a different story. Though it was unlikely a student council president would do such a thing.
"Well, she is a noble person in the first place. Would anyone even dare?"
In an instant, Elaine's movement stopped.
"...What? Noble?"
"Naturally, since she possesses an authority that no one can look down on..."
"What are you talking about? As far as I know, he rose to the student council solely on his grades."
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
For a split second, Elaine's pen paused.
Realizing a discrepancy in the context, she asked a question.
"....Wait, who are you talking about right now?"
"...The young lady."
Sagak—
The nib scratched across the paper, then froze in place.
A single dot of ink bled out.
A very slight silence.
"...Say that again."
For the first time, Elaine lifted her gaze.
The junior's shoulders flinched once more.
"The young lady... is said to be restless."
Hard-to-believe reports usually arrive like this.
A beat too late.
And in the most nonsensical form possible.
It was by no means a common occurrence for Elaine's pen to stop.
With the tip touching the paper, it moved no further.
A drop of black ink pooled and slowly spread.
A very brief silence.
Yet that silence was unnaturally heavy.
The signature that was being written down without hesitation froze.
"....Why?"
///
As soon as she turned the hallway corner, Shizuku almost slumped down with her back against the wall.
——What did he just say?
Her heart pounded.
Normally, climbing this many stairs wouldn't even disturb her breathing, but right now, just standing still made the area behind her ears burn, and her fingertips trembled needlessly.
Her face flushed hot.
She gripped her school uniform sleeve tightly. Cold sweat seeped into her palms.
Shizuku closed her eyes and lightly rested the back of her head against the wall. The voice she heard earlier kept playing back in her head. Like an unskippable video. At the exact moment she least wanted to hear it.
"You're pretty, and you even put in the effort."
That simple phrase sent goosebumps shivering down her spine.
She still remembered her breath catching the moment she heard those words.
"Ichinose must be having a hard time too."
It was a casual voice. Neither trying to look good in front of someone nor exaggerating——just a tone of voice as if his genuine feelings had spilled out as they were.
That was why she broke down even more.
And at that moment, another memory surfaced.
'......You worked really hard. You're pretty.'
Shizuku found herself tightly biting her lip without realizing it.
She recalled the sight of him genuinely worrying about her, understanding her...
The efforts that no one had recognized. The things that were taken for granted as invisible.
Shizuku slowly opened her eyes.
"..."
Why.
Why did those words linger in her heart like this?
It wasn't that she had never been praised before.
As the eldest daughter of the Ichinose family.
Whenever she achieved results.
She was naturally praised.
She was told she did well.
However.
That was strictly.
Because she did well as the eldest daughter of the Ichinose family.
Not as herself.
"..."
He was different.
The results she achieved.
The value she held.
The role she played.
He... acknowledged it all. He understood her.
"......Huuuh."
Startled by the sound that escaped her lips, she covered her mouth with her hand, but it was already too late. The corners of her eyes grew hot, and the tip of her nose tingled with tears.
"Huu... hic—"
Even as time passed, recalling that day made that ticklish feeling become all the more vivid.
That was why she yearned even more desperately.
What had Akira thought upon looking at her?
....Surely, he must have thought it was pointless.
"When she put in that much effort."
"...."
"It's a bit sad if nobody acknowledges it."
Yet he had acknowledged her. He had been cheering on the efforts she secretly made behind the scenes.
He recognized her. In fact, he was asking so that she could take a rest.
Without nitpicking, without finding fault. Instead, he recognized her.
"....Why didn't you confess then?"
"Well."
"..."
"Because Ichinose would get put in an awkward spot."
Shizuku's mind was completely filled with Akira, the student council president.
The warmth of his hand holding hers so gently.
Her face flushing hot, and a sensation as if her body were floating up gently.
"Ngh...!"
Shizuku leaked a groan without realizing it.
This was it... This was it.
Back then too, she was swayed by this emotion... that was why.
....This is dangerous.
Feelings she shouldn't harbor as the eldest daughter of the Ichinose family.
A dark, insidious, and dangerous... scorching emotion.
".....Akira."
Shizuku murmured that name.
Her heart was still thumping loudly.
It was a feeling that became even more certain as she kept reflecting on it.
She was confused at the time, but now she knew.
"Lady Shizuku."
"...."
At that moment, her servant approached her.
"Is something the matter?"
"It's nothing."
"If you say it's nothing with a face like that, it makes things difficult for me."
"...?"
"I don't know how long it's been since I last saw you smile like that."
"...Ah."
Shizuku fiddled with her lips.
Indeed, her mouth was curved into a distinct arc.
Before she knew it, a smile she hadn't even realized had leaked onto her face.
Shizuku believed that this smile was simply because the bread was sweet.
It was definitely not because she was happy about receiving a confession from someone.
///
Affection Level
Ichinose Shizuku ♥♥♡♡♡(31/100)
Current Status: Distraught
Interest Level: 78%
Obsession Level: 1%
"...."
Someone save me.
I'm not joking, seriously someone save me.
Signs have been unusual since yesterday.
With every passing day, the affection level goes up by 1 every single hour.
'Fuck, why won't this stop?'
Yeah, dropping my guard during the conversation with Kanna was my mistake. I can't deny that.
But why is it still going up even now...?!
It's driving me crazy from the unfairness.
"President, what kind of face are you making?"
A voice came from the seat next to me.
Shijoin Kanna, a student council executive and an accomplice to this situation (as I unilaterally classified her for now), glanced over at me while opening her bento lid.
"I wouldn't even wear a face like that at a funeral."
".....Shijoin."
"Yes?"
"You talked about me to Ichinose yesterday, didn't you?"
"...."
The hand raising her chopsticks subtly slowed down.
"Nope?"
"Don't avoid my eyes."
".....The rolled omelet looks delicious today."
"..."
Kanna was silent for a moment, then turned back to me with the expression peculiar to someone who has given up on lying.
"It's not like the two of us talked after that...! But it seemed she was listening to yesterday's conversation right from the start."
"......."
I pinched the bridge of my nose.
A headache surged in.
─────────────────────────
Notification
─────────────────────────
[Ichinose Shizuku]'s affection level has increased.
31 → 32
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I didn't do anything.
Really, this time I truly didn't do a single thing.
'....Fuck... fuck...!!'
I feel like I'm being backed into a corner step by step.
Kanna popped a piece of rolled omelet into her mouth and spoke nonchalantly.
"Today, Lady Shizuku was smiling so beautifully."
"......."
"It's rare, an expression like that. It was my first time seeing it too."
I put down my chopsticks.
My appetite vanished.
First of all, I have to push Shizuku away.
I slowly stood up from my seat.
"Shijoin."
"Yes?"
"Starting today, I'm going to avoid Ichinose."
"...."
Kanna's chopsticks stopped.
"Pardon?"
"Thoroughly."
"...."
"Without encountering her."
"...."
"Without talking to her."
"...."
"I won't even make eye contact."
Kanna stared at me for a long while.
And then.
"President."
"What."
"Isn't that......"
Kanna spoke very cautiously.
"Isn't that how people act toward someone they like?"
"..."
"You know, how people avoid someone because they're shy..."
......Absolutely not.
Exiting through the door like that, a female student giving off a distinct atmosphere stood there.
Neatly arranged hair.
A school uniform without a single wrinkle out of place.
And calm eyes from which emotion was hard to read.
"...What brings you here?"
"I have come to see you regarding Lady Ichinose."
.....Evade strategy ended.
The family's servant came to find me herself.