Chapter 3: Declaration of an Exclusive Maid
The first bell after summer vacation had already stopped ringing.
As a result, there wasn’t a single student or teacher in sight in the hallway.
I walked along the corridor—built from some kind of marble or whatever it was supposed to be—wearing the red indoor slippers we were required to use. They were color-coded by grade level: second-years wore red, third-years blue, first-years green.
Though honestly, no matter what color they were, they still looked exactly like bathroom slippers.
So why was it that when Student Council President Yuki Ohira wore them, they looked like something from a luxury fashion brand?
Did she possess some supernatural ability that made everything she touched look beautiful?
Staring at the slippers that somehow seemed completely different from my own, I obediently allowed myself to be led away.
Every time her long silver hair swayed, a sweet fragrance drifted through the air. Drawn after that sweetness like a bee following nectar, I eventually arrived at our destination:
The student council room.
From our classroom on the third floor, it only took a few seconds to reach the student council office on the fourth. The surrounding rooms were all special-purpose classrooms, so just like the third floor, there were no students or teachers around at this hour.
Actually, being here at this time was suspicious in itself.
From an outsider’s perspective, seeing Ohira and me alone together here might look pretty questionable.
Completely unconcerned about that, she smoothly pulled a key from her pocket and unlocked the door.
With a rattling scrape that suggested terrible maintenance, the student council room door swung wide open.
This was my first time here.
I wasn’t a student council officer, nor had I ever run for one. I was just an ordinary student. Naturally, someone like me had no business ever entering the student council room, and I was probably not the only one.
Feeling like I was experiencing something unusually rare, I followed her instruction—delivered with the excessive politeness of a prison guard escorting an inmate.
“Please come in.”
Back in middle school, a friend of mine had joined the student council, and I’d once helped with his campaign speech. I’d entered the student council room then.
That room had basically been nothing more than a few benches thrown together.
The high school version was a little different.
Two sofas faced each other like in a reception room, with a coffee table between them.
Beside that were three desks arranged in a triangular formation. Beyond them sat a much larger desk, paired with a luxurious chair that looked like it belonged to a company president.
It wasn’t hard to guess.
The three smaller desks probably belonged to the vice president, secretary, and treasurer.
The large desk belonged to the student council president.
A neat stack of documents sat atop it. A few pages, however, appeared to have been blown loose and now lay scattered on the floor.
Click.
The sound of a lock turning came from behind me.
Hold on.
Why are you locking the door?
Before I could ask, I swallowed nervously.
I was less concerned about questioning her and more worried about what was about to happen to me.
What exactly was going to happen now?
I’d barely ever spoken to Yuki Ohira.
She was the student council president, my classmate, and also known as the Fairy Queen Titania.
She was always busy, and the overwhelming gap in our attractiveness made it difficult to approach her casually. Sure, I wouldn’t have minded becoming friends with a beautiful girl, but I’d never felt any need to force it.
From her perspective, I was just another ordinary student. Someone who shared neither her interests nor ambitions.
Naturally, she’d never had a reason to talk to me.
So for her to approach me first thing after summer vacation…
There was only one explanation.
The maid café flyer-distribution job.
At our school, part-time jobs were prohibited unless special permission was granted. Even then, certain types of work were off-limits.
Whether working at a maid café counted as “inappropriate” probably depended on who you asked.
The school would almost certainly say yes.
If she got caught, she’d be forced to quit. Suspension was practically guaranteed.
If she was still doing it despite that risk, she probably had some unavoidable reason.
Not that I cared enough to dig into her circumstances.
The problem was that I’d seen her working there.
And that meant…
Silencing me.
That had to be why she’d brought me here.
“Morigami-kun…”
She slowly, slowly walked toward me.
Then she passed right by.
Picking up the papers near the desk, she neatly returned them to the stack.
“Y-Yes…?”
Summer vacation might be over, but the sun was still blazing outside.
Bathed in sunlight streaming through the window, Ohira slowly turned around.
Scary.
What was she about to do?
She was the school’s beloved student council president. Practically unbeatable.
If someone like her threatened me, refusing would be next to impossible.
“Please!”
The word burst from her mouth.
At the same time, she bowed deeply.
“Please keep my maid café job a secret!”
“…Huh?”
I froze.
The desperate plea, delivered with the deepest bow imaginable, completely caught me off guard.
She was speaking so humbly that my brain needed several seconds to process what was happening.
This was the student council president.
Popular with students and teachers alike.
I’d been mentally preparing for something more along the lines of:
“If you tell anyone what you saw, I’ll erase you.”
Apparently, that fear had been completely unfounded.
“I can’t quit the maid café job. Please… please keep it confidential.”
“Uh…”
I could only stare at her awkwardly.
But honestly…
She’d dragged me into a private room first thing after summer vacation just to ask this.
I’d practically forgotten about it already.
My answer had never changed.
“Yeah. I wasn’t planning on telling anyone.”
Everyone has secrets.
Having them exposed hurts.
And worrying that someone might reveal them is only natural.
She’d probably spent the past several days wondering whether I’d already told someone.
So I tried to reassure her as gently, kindly, and clearly as possible.
“Seriously. Don’t worry about it.”
I even made an effort to sound extra reassuring.
But—
“…I don’t.”
“Hm?”
“I DON’T TRUST YOU!”
The next instant, she closed the distance completely.
Her face was suddenly close enough that I could feel her breath.
Looking up at me through anxious eyes, she stared straight into my face.
“So you’re going to calm me down with that sweet voice and then tell everyone later, right!? That’s what you’re planning, isn’t it!?”
“No, wait—too close!”
Aaaahhh.
She smells amazing.
That unmistakable scent girls have.
The sweet fragrance mixed with the stuffy, unairconditioned air of the student council room, leaving my head spinning.
“What do you want!? What are your demands!? Just say it! Come on! Come on! Come on!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.”
Like I was calming a panicked horse, I tried to settle her down.
She suddenly snapped back to her senses and stepped away.
“I-I’m sorry. I got a little carried away.”
“No worries…”
Thank you for the meal.
That scent alone was enough to get me through three bowls of rice.
If I ever told her I wanted to bottle her scent and run it through a humidifier to fill my room with it, she’d probably kill me.
“Anyway,” I said, “I’m not going to tell anyone I saw you handing out flyers for a maid café. There’s literally nothing in it for me.”
“You never know. You could blackmail me with it.”
“Who does something that scummy?”
“Morigami-kun is a man. Men can’t be trusted.”
“What am I supposed to do with that!?”
Objectively speaking, I should’ve been the one holding the advantage here.
So why did it feel like I was the one getting cornered?
As I struggled for a response, Ohira suddenly seemed to think of something.
Placing a hand over her chest, she declared:
“I’ll do anything you ask.”
She just casually dropped a line straight out of an erotic manga.
Wait.
Did she really just say anything?
Anything?
So theoretically, would that mean I could collect her sweat and—
“Even if you say that…”
And there it was.
The response of a painfully normal virgin high school boy.
Instead of pursuing the questionable possibilities my imagination had immediately generated, I gave the most generic answer imaginable and personally sealed off every route that could have led to a more exciting development.
Idiot.
You absolute idiot.
You’ll never get another chance like this.
“If I don’t offer something, I can’t feel at ease!” she insisted. “Equivalent exchange! I’ll do anything you ask, and in return, you keep my maid café job a secret!”
“I already told you, I wasn’t going to tell anyone.”
“No! It has to be official! Absolutely official! That’s a student council president’s order!”
She was astonishingly bad at abusing authority.
Still, this was a problem.
She wasn’t thinking clearly, but it was obvious she wouldn’t be satisfied unless I agreed to something.
I could always throw my personal fetishes onto the table, but then my secrets would be exposed, and school life would become unbearable.
I’d rather avoid that.
So what now…?
I rested a hand on my chin and thought.
Anything…
Maid café…
Then a simple idea occurred to me.
“In that case… become my personal maid.”
Time stopped.
The problem was that I’d spoken before thinking.
She’d said anything, and I’d casually verbalized the first desire that popped into my head.
What the hell was I saying?
“Just kidding…”
Too late.
Once words leave your mouth, you can’t take them back.
My stupid comment had already been engraved into Ohira’s memory, and there was no delete button.
Judging by her expression, she seemed completely put off by what I’d said.
“Understood.”
“…Huh?”
Wait.
Did she just say understood?
“I, Yuki Ohira, will become your personal maid starting today.”
She placed a hand on her chest and declared it with a dignified, unwavering expression.
Like a knight swearing loyalty to her liege.
“Then our negotiations are concluded.”
“You’re serious?”
“Completely serious.”
Then she smiled.
A very dangerous smile.
“If you ever break your promise, Morigami-kun…”
“If I break it…?”
“You know what a period means, right?”
The end.
In other words, this woman intended to end my life.
“Then I look forward to serving you from now on, Master♪”
Student Council President Yuki Ohira—
also known as the Fairy Queen Titania—
offered me a lovely, graceful smile.
The only problem was that anyone with functioning eyes could tell her smile never reached her eyes.
