Chapter 527

“What is it?”

I frowned at the blunt voice coming through the Cell Phone.

“Come out.”

“What?”

“I said come out.”

“What... where are you right now?”

“In front of your house.”

After a moment of urgent rustling, the window to Renka’s room slid open. Her head popped out, then instantly disappeared.

She had checked for my car.

“Are you crazy? Why did you come without even telling me...!”

“Should I go back, then?”

“Th-that’s not what I meant, but...”

“I’ll give you ten minutes. Come out.”

“Ah, jeez...! Stop talking down to me...! I’m hanging up!”

Exactly ten minutes later, Renka opened the Main Gate.

Wearing a worn-out tracksuit and a hat, she clearly hadn’t gotten ready at all. I wondered if she had set a stopwatch for ten minutes and only come out when it went off.

Click.

Renka pulled open the passenger door and silently glared at me.

Grinning at her, I recited the title of the post I’d seen on AnyShare the day before.

“The manga I read today is a female-oriented one, titled I Ended Up in an Arranged Marriage with a Holy Knight—”

But my mockery never got the chance to finish.

Hearing the title of her AnyShare review come out of my mouth, Renka lunged at me with incredible speed and clamped her hand over my nose and mouth.

“Mmph...!?”

Her grip was so intense that both my cheeks stung and my airway was instantly cut off.

It was astonishing that she possessed this kind of strength. With power like this, swinging a shinai would be more than enough to crush an opponent’s skull.

Tap, tap.

I patted Renka’s waist to signal her to calm down, but she just kept smothering half my face, her own face bright red.

Eventually, I forcibly pried her hand away. I worked my jaw around to ease the stinging where her fingers had dug in, then looked at her.

“What are you doing?”

She wildly thrashed the arm I was holding and exploded in anger.

“What do you mean, what!! I told you not to read my reviews!”

“I couldn’t breathe. Were you actually trying to kill me?”

“Yeah! Die! Just die!”

“Calm down.”

Renka, who had been shrieking loud enough to make the inside of the car ring, took deep breaths through her nose to steady herself.

However, my next words set her off all over again.

“But is it any good?”

“Is what good!”

“That holy knight thing.”

“You...! I’ll really kill—”

“I’m not trying to tease you. I just want to read it too if it’s actually fun.”

“Ah, jeez...! If you read the review, you should already know!”

“I only read the title of the post, so I don’t know what the review actually says.”

“...Really?”

It was hilarious how quickly she settled down after all that screaming and shrieking once I admitted I didn’t know the contents.

“Yeah.”

“You’re not lying?”

“If I had seen it, I would’ve teased you about the contents. Why would I lie and say I don’t know?”

Did she think my logic made sense?

Renka’s expression softened significantly.

“St-still, going out of your way to look for it when I specifically told you not to is too much...!”

“Am I not allowed to?”

“Of course you aren’t...!”

“As a master, I have an obligation to check up on what my slave is doing.”

“What kind of bullshit is that! You aren’t my master! And I am most definitely not your slave!”

“Rebelling again, huh.”

“N-no...! It’s just because you keep saying things that piss me off...!”

Rustle.

The moment I started rummaging through the shopping bag in the backseat, Renka urgently leaned forward and blocked the space between the front seats, as if she already had a terrible premonition about what was coming out.

“What are you trying to do...! Don’t do it...!”

“Do what?”

“You’re going to make me do something weird...!”

“No, I’m not.”

“You aren’t...?”

“Yeah. I bought you a present.”

“It’s a dirty present, isn’t it?”

Her paranoia was really peaking.

Among Pomeranians, there was a specific breed that looked like it absolutely refused to listen to anyone.

With wide-set eyes and a mouth permanently turned down at the corners... the kind that looked angry just by glancing at it.

Renka looked exactly like that right now.

Her suspicion had completely flared up, making her look like a pet that didn’t trust its owner in the slightest.

She gave off the vibe of a Chihuahua mixed with a Pomeranian, which was both amusing and a bit pitiful.

“I told you, it’s not.”

“Then why are you getting annoyed...! You always lie like this and bring weird things, so obviously I have no choice but to be suspicious...!”

“I never got annoyed.”

“You just did...!”

“Alright. I’m sorry if you felt that way. Here, take this.”

The item I pulled out of the shopping bag was a blueberry-flavored jelly.

More accurately, it was a squeezable water jelly pouch.

When food popped out instead of some SM prop, doubt lingered in Renka’s eyes for a moment before deep relief washed over them.

“What... what am I supposed to do with this...? You want me to eat it here?”

“Eat it whenever.”

“Why did you even buy this?”

“I just saw it while buying gum, so I got it to feed the President. I thought it would suit you.”

“You say the weirdest things suit me...”

“Want me to give you some candy too?”

“N-no thanks...”

Snatching the jelly from me, Renka absentmindedly fiddled with the innocent packaging.

She seemed to be in a much better mood. To be that delighted over such a trivial gift... my slave truly was good-natured.

“Thanks. I won’t promise to enjoy it... but I’ll manage to eat it somehow.”

At her subsequent words, I barely bit back the laughter threatening to burst out.

It was ridiculous how she tacked on such an unnecessary remark, as if simply saying ‘thank you’ hurt her pride.

Even her expressions of gratitude were incredibly Renka-like.

“Right. So you’re agreeing to go together on the first day of school, then?”

“What... I never said I’d go with you, so what do you mean agree? Was this a bribe meant to force my agreement?”

“Nothing like that.”

“Then we’re good. I’m meeting up with Chinami, so just remember that.”

“You’re going to get in my car after meeting up with Master? Understood.”

“No, when did I ever say I’d ride in your car? I’m going to meet Chinami and—”

“Too noisy. I’ll just assume that’s the plan.”

“Hah... I knew this would happen. It’s not like I actually have a choice anyway.”

Grumbling complaints, Renka popped the lid off the jelly with a somewhat aggressive jerk, wrapped her lips around the built-in straw, and sucked some down.

She looked exactly like a baby gnawing on a bottle, which was cute.

Tap, tap.

“Finish eating and then go rest.”

After I patted her thigh with a pleased expression, Renka glanced back at me, swallowed the jelly in her mouth, and asked.

“I can just go...?”

What was with that tone, practically asking for permission?

I figured it was proof of just how much she depended on me now.

“Yeah. If you’re disappointed, should we do it here?”

“Wh-what are you saying...! I’m leaving...!”

“Then go.”

“I haven’t finished eating yet, so why are you telling me to go!”

“No, I told you to finish eating and then go.”

“You just sounded like you were kicking me out!”

“Delusions acting up again? That’s a sickness.”

“You made me this way...!”

Hmm. That was a rather arousing thing to say.

She kept begging me to devour her, so should we really just do it once right here before leaving?

I wanted to, but I held back. Instead, on the first day of school, I would take Renka somewhere deserted in her uniform and devour her.

“So, are you stressed out?”

“Why are you asking the obvious...! Hey...! Don’t touch me!”

Sucking enthusiastically on her jelly, Renka slapped away the hand groping her body.

After spending some time with Renka like that, I parted ways with her and made my rounds to the other heroines’ houses to prepare for a fresh start to the semester.

“Matsuda-kun, wake up.”

One of the worst things about a new semester was having to wake up early in the morning.

The vast majority of people probably despised that first day of school right after a vacation... when just waking up made annoyance surge.

But this time, I didn’t mind it at all.

Because Miyuki was right beside me.

And since the other heroines were scheduled to be beside me later, I sat up with a refreshed face the moment I woke up.

“Wh-what the...?”

At that, Miyuki shook my shoulder in bewilderment.

“What are you doing?”

When I rubbed my eyes and asked, Miyuki let out a sigh that could have been relief or pure absurdity and replied.

“No... you just shot up like a zombie, so I was wondering if you were okay...”

“You told me to wake up, so I did. Why would you think that?”

“You usually dawdle.”

“I suppose I do. Did you finish washing up?”

“Yeah.”

Looking out the window, it was still a bit dark.

There was none of that bright morning sunlight, only a gloomy dawn.

Tilting my head at that, I asked.

“What time is it right now?”

“5:20.”

“Why did you wake me up so early?”

“Don’t we have to wake up early to pick all three of them up?”

“I think waking up at six would have been fine. If I doze off during class, it’s your responsibility.”

“Don’t shift the blame onto me when you’re going to doze off anyway. And I’m going to pinch you every time you nod off.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

Letting Miyuki’s not-quite-a-threat go in one ear and out the other, I stood up.

Afterwards, to recharge my energy, I tightly hugged Miyuki from behind as she was about to go dry her hair. I briefly breathed in the sweet scent of plums wafting from her still-damp hair before heading into the bathroom.

Ssshhh—!

Washing my body in the warm water, everything felt fresh somehow.

In the past, even if I felt physically refreshed, a corner of my heart had always remained slightly heavy, but now there was absolutely none of that.

I guessed it was because all the problems had been completely resolved.

When I finished washing and stepped out, Miyuki was watching TV in her uniform.

A white dress shirt, and a long, bright navy blue skirt that covered her knees.

It was a plain design no matter when I looked at it, but because Miyuki was wearing it, nothing else could have suited her better.

“Aren’t you going to dry your hair?”

Miyuki asked, staring blankly at me.

Smiling wryly at her, I replied.

“I wasn’t planning on it.”

“Why not?”

“My hair is short, so what’s the point of drying it.”

“You still need to dry it. Sit down. I’ll dry it for you.”

I had said I wasn’t going to dry it precisely because I was hoping for this.

As if Miyuki had caught onto my intentions, a helpless smile formed on her lips.

A relationship where we could figure out each other’s thoughts without having to say a word... It was fantastic.

“You must be happy you’ll get to see your friends?”

At my words as I sat at the vanity in nothing but my underwear, Miyuki shrugged.

“They’re Matsuda-kun’s friends, too.”

“Are they?”

“Yeah.”

Then would a threesome with Bread Girl be possible too?

With the Vice Representative as well?

Swallowing those words, I obediently accepted the touch of Miyuki’s hands on my hair and closed my eyes against the hot air from the hairdryer.