"Hmm?"
After rummaging through his desk, peeking into his backpack, and checking his locker in the back of the classroom, Masachika started to panic slightly. He couldn't find his textbook for the next class, and when he looked up at the clock, he realized he had less than two minutes before it started. He could sprint to the classroom next door and ask his sister to borrow her book, but he decided not to bother her. He had no choice but to lean to his left, clasp his hands together in supplication, and whisper, "Alya, sorry, but do you think we could share your chemistry book?"
"You forgot your book again?" replied Alya, rolling her eyes irritably.
"Yeah, I probably left it at home."
"Fine." She sighed.
"Thanks!"
Masachika hastily scooted his desk next to hers.
"How do you forget your book so often? You don't seem to have changed one bit even after starting high school."
"Hey, can you blame me? We have way too many textbooks."
Seiren Academy had an absurd number of textbooks required for their classes due to being a college-preparatory private school. Therefore, each subject demanded numerous textbooks and reference books, and some classes even had supplementary books created by the teachers themselves. And yet their schoolbags hadn't been upgraded once in the past few decades. Whether the school was simply being respectful of tradition was unclear, but what was clear was that one day's worth of textbooks was enough to fill their bags until they were on the verge of tearing at the seams. Therefore, most students left all their textbooks at school. This seemed a bit tricky for Masachika to manage, however.
"It wasn't in my desk when I checked yesterday, so I thought it was in my locker, but…it looks like I was wrong."
"You should have checked your locker to make sure, then. This only happens because you don't double-check which books you take home and which ones you leave here."
"Well, you got me there."
"I'm not in the mood for sarcasm."
"Oof. Harsh."
Alisa shrugged and rolled her eyes at Masachika's apathetic demeanor and monotone voice. She then pulled all her chemistry textbooks out of her desk and turned to Masachika with a questioning gaze.
"So? Which textbook did you need?"
"Oh, that one. The blue one."
After opening the blue reference book, she placed it in the middle of their desks. Masachika promptly thanked her and prepared for the teacher's lecture…when the sandman suddenly came out of nowhere and attacked.
Oh god. I'm feeling sleepy.
Having PE second period didn't help the fact that he was sleep-deprived. Although he resisted the sandman while the teacher was writing on the board, sleep instantly gained the upper hand when the teacher began asking the students questions. Their back-and-forth started to sound like a lullaby of sorts, causing Masachika to slowly doze off…
"Nnng?!"
Immediately, the tip of a mechanical pencil was jammed into his side.
I-it went…right between my ribs!
Masachika silently groaned in agony and shot a reproachful look toward the girl beside him…who instantly returned his gaze with a contemptuous stare, causing him to flinch. Her narrowed blue eyes were eloquently saying, "Wow. Pretty bold of you to sleep after begging me to share my textbook with you."
"Sorry."
Masachika whispered an apology while facing straight ahead, now wide awake and alert.
"Hmph."
But the only response he got was a snort of contempt.
"All right, then. Anyone want to guess what goes into the blank here? Hmm…How about you, Kuze?"
"Huh? Oh, okay."
Masachika stood up in a fluster after being called on by the teacher without warning. Of course, there was no way he would know the answer, since he'd been dozing off up until a few seconds ago. In fact, he didn't even know what problem the teacher was talking about. He looked to his side for help, but Alisa didn't even glance in his direction, pretending not to notice.
"What's wrong? We don't have all day."
"Uh…Um…"
Right as he was about to consider admitting he didn't know the answer, Alisa suddenly sighed while tapping on a certain line in the textbook.
"…! The answer is number two! Copper!"
Masachika internally thanked Alisa and responded to the teacher with the answer being presented to him, but…
"Wrong."
"Huh?" Masachika grunted with embarrassment after immediately being shot down.
The hell?! It wasn't number two!
Masachika screamed internally, swiftly looking over to his side, but Alisa was still pretending like she didn't notice him…However, after a closer look, he noticed she was faintly smirking.
"How about you, Kujou? Do you know the answer?"
"Yes, it's number eight: nickel."
"Yep. Good job. Kuze, stop daydreaming and start paying attention. Got it?"
"Y-yes, sir…"
Masachika sat down dejectedly but immediately started whispering complaints to Alisa.
"Why'd you tell me the wrong answer?"
"I was just showing you where the answers were."
"You liar! You were clearly pointing at number two!"
"That's quite the accusation."
"You're laughing at me! I can see it in your eyes!"
Masachika was on the verge of screaming out loud. Alisa smirked contemptuously and snorted with laughter. She then whispered in Russian:
"
It took everything Masachika had to keep his cheek from twitching, to the point that his hands were almost trembling, but he eventually managed to keep his composure and acted like he didn't understand her affectionate remark.
"What was that?" he asked her, keeping his voice low.
"I called you an idiot."
You liarrrrrr!!
He was shouting in his head, but he made sure to keep a straight face.
Masachika could understand Russian because his grandfather on his father's side loved Russia. It all started in elementary school when he temporarily lived with his grandfather, who made him watch countless Russian movies. Masachika himself had never been to Russia, nor did he have any Russian relatives. He never spoke about it at school, either, so the only person who knew he understood Russian was his younger sister, who was in the class next door. Furthermore, he told his sister not to tell a soul, so there was no way anyone else would ever find out. In hindsight, Masachika wished he had told Alisa sooner, but it was far too late now. This form of humiliation play, where the beautiful girl next to him only spoke affectionately of him in Russian, was all his fault, so he had no choice but to take the hit on the chin.
Masachika's cheeks turned red, his lips pressing together tightly as he desperately struggled to hide the indescribable embarrassment welling in his chest. Alisa, however, thought he was trying to control his anger and amusingly whispered, ""
Masachika suddenly imagined himself as a baby with Alisa poking his cheeks, a big grin on her face.
It's war she wants, huh?
Once he realized she was being condescending and toying with him, his expression instantly turned serious.
Who are you callin' a baby? I hope you're ready for this, you punk.
Masachika glanced up at the clock to check how much time was left before class ended.
Eleven forty. Looks like I've got ten minutes to get back at her—
Suddenly, his eyes opened wide as he had a shocking realization.
Oh, crap! I still haven't gotten my game's free daily character summon!
Masachika had made a critical mistake. He usually made sure to check before he left the house or on the way to homeroom, but he'd been so sleepy that morning that he hadn't been thinking straight.
That was a close one. Good job remembering, me. It looks like I'm gonna be busy during break.
His thoughts had completely shifted into nerd mode, and he completely stopped caring about how Alisa had treated him like a baby. It was probably inevitable for someone so simpleminded to be called a baby, but Masachika was oblivious to this fact. He idly sat and behaved until class ended…but the moment the teacher walked out the door, he hurriedly moved his desk back to its original position, whipped out his phone, and immediately booted up an app.
"Using smartphones on campus is against school rules unless it's for an emergency or for studying. Pretty bold of you to be doing that in front of me, a student council officer," scolded Alisa, her brow knit in disapproval.
"Then this isn't against school rules. It's an emergency."
"…Okay, fine. I'll bite. What's the emergency?"
She stared at him reproachfully, expecting his answer to be something absurd.
"The free character drop ends in ten minutes," Masachika replied with unwarranted confidence.
"Do you want your phone confiscated?"
"I trust you, homie. ☆ You wouldn't do that to me." Masachika awkwardly winked and gave her a thumbs-up, but Alisa's reproachful gaze only grew sterner.
"Wanna bet?"
"Oh man. I hope it's a rare drop… Now that I think about it, that was the first time I actually winked in forever. It's a lot harder than it looks, huh?" Masachika was rambling with his eyes locked on the phone in his hands as if Alisa's words had gone in one ear and out the other.
"What are you blabbering about?"
"You know, winking. You see idol groups do it sometimes, but there aren't even that many celebrities who can actually pull it off."
"You really think so?"
"Huh? You don't think it's hard? Your cheeks and the corners of your lips don't awkwardly rise when you wink?"
"No."
"Oh, really? Then let's see it. Show me a good wink."
He lifted his head and curled his lips into a provocative smirk. One of Alisa's eyebrows suddenly twitched over her glum expression, and the nearby students who were eavesdropping began whispering. Alisa immediately felt their gazes on her while she turned to face Masachika with incredulity, and she sighed deeply.
"Sigh… Like this?"
She then tilted her head and shot him a superb wink. No unnecessary muscle in her face moved as she perfectly and naturally batted her eye.
"Whoaaa!"
The classmates who were fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of the solitary princess's once-in-a-lifetime wink exhibition squealed while sparsely clapping with admiration and astonishment. And yet Masachika, the guy who had asked her to wink in the first place…
"The SSR Tsukuyomi?! Yesss!! …Oh, sorry. I wasn't paying attention."
"Say good-bye to your phone."
"Noooooo!" screamed Masachika as Alisa mercilessly yanked his phone out of his hand.
She stood there with a hand on her hip and looked down at him. It wasn't clear if the faint tinge of red in her cheeks was because she was blushing or infuriated. It incidentally almost looked as if Masachika was getting back at her for what she did to him during class, but that wasn't even on his mind. Some could argue that his lack of malice made what he did all the more wicked, though.
"H-hey, did you get a good picture of that?"
Alisa instantly noticed the three male classmates who were muttering with their heads together.
"I tried, but I couldn't from this angle."
"Heh, I got you, fam. Snagged a pic the moment she winked."
"Whoa! Seriously?! You're a freaking god!"
"You better send me a copy! I'll give you a thousand yen!"
"Say good-bye to your phones."
"""Ack?! Kujou?!""" the three boys shrieked in unison as the phones with Alisa's nonconsensual photograph were confiscated.
"Why are you taking our phones?! We weren't—!"
"You weren't what?"
"Oh, uh… Nothing… Never mind…"
The once-tenacious male student promptly cowered under her sharp glare. And who could blame him? Even the toughest of men would probably flinch if Alisa looked down at them with her eyes wide and her jaw firmly set. It was equivalent to facing a furious blizzard on the tundra. Their classmates, who had also been excited to see Alisa wink, suddenly and swiftly averted their gazes and held their breaths, hoping to go unnoticed and wait out the storm. Alisa slowly returned to her desk with four smartphones in hand as if she were walking through a desolate field of snow. Her classmates simply hung their heads and waited for her to pass—and yet there was still one student who wasn't intimidated in the least by her imposing appearance.
"Please forgive meee. I beg you, have mercyyy."
Masachika threw himself before Alisa's feet with his hands together as he pitifully begged for his phone back. The fact that he was still joking around was the reason why everyone stared at him like he was a hero (or an idiot).
"Come on, give me a break. Who wouldn't be excited to get an SSR character during the free daily summon? I couldn't not look."
It didn't help that he was trying to justify his actions, either. His peers raised their eyebrows as if they couldn't believe what they were seeing. Her expression still contemptuous, Alisa looked down at Masachika's confiscated smartphone.
"…The SSR version of Tsukuyomi? Isn't Tsukuyomi a god from Japanese mythology? Why does she have silver hair instead of black?"
"Huh? Oh… Beats me. Probably wanted her to look moon-ish, since she's the moon goddess. Anyway, it doesn't matter. She's cute, and that's all that matters."
"…Hmm."
Masachika had a smug grin on his face, causing Alisa to narrow her eyes. The temperature plummeted until it was as cold as the North Pole.
"Huh? What the…?" he mumbled as his smile grew tense.
"…Anyway, I'm going to be holding on to this until school's over. I'm turning it off as well."
"Wait! I haven't saved yet! It might not autosave if you just shut it off!"
He legitimately panicked as Alisa mercilessly hovered her finger over the power button.
"It's me you've got a problem with! Tsukuyomi had nothing to do with this! I don't care what happens to me, but please don't hurt her!"
"Why are you acting like I'm the bad guy here?"
Masachika made it sound like the love of his life had been taken hostage, so Alisa couldn't help but simultaneously look down at and on him. She then sighed and shoved his smartphone back into his hands.
"Thank you, kind madam. Thank you."
"…Hmph." Alisa, now in a foul mood, snorted unapologetically and scrutinized Masachika as he remained prostrate with his phone between both hands. She ended up returning the other three smartphones to their owners as well. The storm seemed to have passed; she made sure they deleted the photo of her, and she returned to her desk, plopping back down in her seat.
"Man, it really is Tsukuyomi. I still can't believe I got her…"
"…"
Alisa twirled her hair with her finger and glanced at Masachika, who stared at his smartphone with sparkles in his eyes. She pouted.
"
Jealousy from out of left field. Masachika froze.
"…What was that?"
He lifted his head, his expression tense, as if he couldn't simply let that comment slip by. Alisa stopped twirling her hair.
"I just called you a degenerate gamer, that's all," she hissed in disgust, shooting him a chilling glare.
"Hey, come on. That was rude."
"H-hmph."
Alisa recoiled at Masachika's unusually sharp tone and severe expression, but she almost immediately added:
"I didn't say anything that's not true."
She sternly glared back at him, and the mounting pressure piqued their classmates' attention once more.
"You're calling me a degenerate even though I play this game for free? Don't you think that's rude to real addicts who blow through their life savings on these games?" protested Masachika with a completely serious expression.
"You're right. I'm sure they feel insulted to be lumped into the same group as you."
"Ouch?!"
Alisa glared at Masachika's smug expression as if she were looking at garbage, and he clutched his chest in pain as though her gaze physically hurt him. After his theatrical performance, Alisa sighed deeply like she couldn't put up with him anymore.
"Ugh… And here I thought you were being serious for a change."
"Hey, now. I'm offended. I'm always serious. You could even say that being serious is one of my strengths."
"That has to be the biggest lie of the century."
"We're only, like, a quarter of the way into the century, though!"
"Sigh… Just put your phone away."
After shrugging, she rested her chin on her hand. She looked exhausted.
"Yeah, I probably went a little too far." Masachika shrugged, too, after he saw the look on her face. But right as he was about to put his phone away, his ears were greeted again with Russian, and he stiffened.
""
A tingle went up his spine, and he instinctively turned to his side.
"What was that?"
"I said, 'I shouldn't have expected anything from you.'"
"Uh-huh…"
"Yep."
Masachika inwardly screamed, You liarrrrrr! Alisa also inwardly stuck out her tongue at him, and his cheek twitched because he knew exactly what she was thinking.
Ahhh!! I…understand…everything…you're…thinking…and…saying…!!
He wondered how good it would feel to scream that, but it would only hurt him in the long run if he did.
Grrr…
It was still frustrating, despite knowing he couldn't say anything. He ground his teeth as he thought about how he was going to outwit this tsundere in disguise…when all of a sudden, the classroom door opened.
"Okay, guys. I know I'm early, but I've got a big lesson planned for the day, so let's get started… Wait. Kuze, why do you have your phone out?"
Only when the teacher pointed it out did Masachika notice he was still holding his smartphone.
"Oh, uh… I was just looking up something for one of our assignments…"
"Kujou, is he telling the truth?"
"No. He was playing a game on his phone."
"Hey?!"
"Figured. Get over here, Kuze! I'm taking your phone!"
"You 'figured'?! What's that supposed to mean?!"
Alisa let out a sigh as she watched Masachika plead with their teacher every step of the way.
"Haaah… What an idiot," she muttered with clear disgust. Never would her classmates know that her lips were actually curled into a faint smile…
"Whoa?! Is Princess Alya smiling?!"
"Whoaaa! Now's our chance!"
"Work, dammit! Work! Why isn't my camera app working?!"
"Teacher, these three are playing with their smartphones, too."
"""Nooo!!"""
…with the exception of those three idiots.