"I will heed to your every command, my lord."
A certain light brown haired and green eyed boy said a startling declaration, while he engaged the currently alone black haired teen that was lazily walking through the school hallways.
"Why is that?"
Takei was very exasperated at the boy that was looking at him with gleaming eyes. The boy himself, Ryuto Inuzaki, was looking at Takei with admiring eyes that seemed to imply that he was looking at his new master.
"After I saw the goddess at your side, I recognized you as a special individual worthy of my praise. As a result, I spent several days observing you just to make sure, and the conclusion is obvious..."
Ryuto paused for a second in order to catch a breath, but he soon continued.
"...I will serve you faithfully, since I admire your actions and ideology of living."
Takei was still dumbfounded about the sudden revelation that he had such a loyal servant at hand.
"Aren't you mad that the goddess rejected you?"
This was the question that had been in the forefront of Takei's mind.
"Initially, I was very angry. However after I saw the relationship that you two shared, I reached the conclusion that there was no way I could interfere. That sugary sweet atmosphere is too scary..."
As Ryuto shivered in fear, Takei began to nonchalantly walk in the opposite direction without even replying to the person that was planning to serve him faithfully.
"Wait up!"
The little puppy exclaimed in worry, as his master tried to abandon him.
"What is it?" Takei asked, with an obvious air of annoyance surrounding him.
Ryuto bowed down at a 90 degree angle, with a look of determination on his face. "Give me your first command, my lord."
A vein in Takei's head popped up as a result of Ryuto's insistence. "Oi oi oi, I thought you hated me? Weren't you a snot nosed brat with a huge ego until recently?!"
Ryuto slowly nodded with a grim expression on his face. "Yes, I was ignorant in those times. I thought I was better than everyone else just because I was handsomer than most. However, even when I was so handsome, the goddess didn't look at me. She looked at you."
He explained the situation with a nostalgic tone as if it was a past era long gone.
"That's when I realized...I was no better than a mere bully. Seeing the goddess choose such an ordinary guy to be with, really changed my perspective on life."
Oi, don't use my average looks as a way to better yourself!
"I decided to become a better person thereon. As my first duty of becoming an upstanding citizen, I decided to offer my services and pledge my allegiance to the one who instilled the change within me. Takei Tanaka, order me however you like."
"Leave me."
"I refuse!"
Takei tried to get him to agree to leaving him alone with a fastball order, but Ryuto seemed to have anticipated his answer.
Since this conversation was dragging on for too long, which resulted in Takei's patience being spread thin. Takei decided to make Ryuto a functioning person at the bare minimum.
"Your first orders: Refer to me normally and as a friend."
This was the only solution that Takei thought of being able to alleviate the situation. Instead of outright refusing Ryuto's help, he decided that it would be easier to negotiate how they interacted instead.
I wouldn't mind having a butler, it would save me time if I had him do all the odd tasks that I need help doing.
"Very well, Takei. Let's get along now!"
The energetic butler was pumped up and ready to go and save his master as a result of having his first set of orders being given to him.
"Yeah, yeah. Sounds good."
Takei waved goodbye with a disinterested expression on his face and left the area that they were in.
The reason being that he had received a text from Akari to go to a certain part of school.
It wasn't that far away in terms of distance, but his next class would start soon so Takei had little breathing room to just move around at his leisure.
Akari apparently had something that she wanted to show him in private, so she had him move to that specific place.
That specific place being the small storage shed outside of the school that housed a lot of miscellaneous items, but was actually mostly comprised of random sports equipment.
The reasoning being that no one ever went to the storage shed since it was barely ever used for anything.
Arriving at the specified location, Takei slowly slid open the door of the storage shed. The lock wasn't there, since a certain goddess must've borrowed the key from an adult using one of her special tactics or rather excuses.
The goddess's reputation amongst the school faculty was at an all time high, so there was no reason to even ask if they would trust her with something simple like a key to an unused storage shed.
Walking into the shed, Takei noticed Akari sitting on a chair in the corner of the room while also hiding something behind her back.
"Hey, what's up?"
Takei asked her this with a questioning tone.
Noticing that Takei had finally arrived, Akari stood up while still hiding her belongings.
"I made something in culinary class today, and I wanted you to be the first one to taste it..."
Akari opened the bag that had been hidden behind her to reveal a batch of cupcakes that she had made. They all had varying flavors for the icing such as strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, and many more. It was a glorious sight to Takei who had been feeling a bit peckish since lunch was steadily approaching.
"May I try some?"
"Sure, I made them for you."
After getting the goddess's approval, Takei reached in and grabbed a strawberry cupcake.
Pulling the wrapping on the bottom slightly back, Takei went in for a big bite that had a perfect mix of icing and muffin in order to have the best possible cupcake experience.
He started to munch on the cupcake for a little while, and a satisfied expression assisted on his face as a result.
"It tastes heavenly. Thank you for putting so much love and care into this."
Once he finished chewing completely, Takei decided to give his thanks to the chef.
"N-no problem..."
Surprisingly, Akari was being bashful even though she was the one to invite him in order to partake in such an event.
It seemed that her plan had somewhat backfired on her.
Takei decided to take another bite of his cupcake while also pouring on the compliments.
"It's really sweet in a good way... You should become a professional chef. Akari Akazawa, the chef of the people, has a good ring to it."
Without a shred of hesitation, Takei suggested Akari pursue a career in the culinary field.
"Um, I wouldn't really want that. I only want to cook for you..."
However, his compliment also backfired on him.
Akari declared that her cooking was for him alone which resulted in an increased heart rate for the normally aloof black haired boy.
Both of them had increasingly reddening cheeks after both of their plans had backfired on them.
Eventually, they cleaned up and returned to class, albeit with slightly reddened cheeks that adorned both of their faces.
---
Akari's True Affection Meter: 80 -> 82%
+1 Servant
Akari: I'm happy that Takei is being recognized more, but I'm a bit jealous...
Sugar-san: How did you even get here?!
Serious-san: She just broke the fourth wall, didn't she?
Author-san: Don't underestimate the power of a maiden-in-love.