“I don’t know but it’s really scary when it fits like this.”
Shima-senpai, in her underwear, hugged herself and pretended to be scared.
After getting out of the bath, we were led to another room with bath towels wrapped around our bodies. There, we were handed a pair of underwear, all of which fit us perfectly, without the slightest deviation.
However, there was no point in being surprised every time. I just had to accept that this was the kind of place to be.
The underwear itself was nothing suspicious. It was a luxury silk item, and as far as I could tell from the tag, it was a commercial product made by a domestic manufacturer. And what was given to me together with it was a colourful party dress. I had a mint-coloured dress and Shima-senpai had a lemon-coloured dress.
“I have the accessories here, so please wear them to your liking. As for hair arrangements, I am sorry, but we are short on staff, so please do it yourself.”
With that, the silver-haired maid bowed and left the room.
“She wants us to dress up for a dinner party? I really don’t get it…..”
“…right?”
Shima-senpai was in an unenthusiastic mood, but whatever the case may be, all the club members were girls so of course we would like to dress up. In the end, everyone spent about an hour picking out accessories and arranging each other’s hair, having fun without any sense of tension.
“Is everyone ready? Now I will show you to the dinner room.”
The silver-haired maid returned, and we followed her as she led us through the hallway.
A corridor extended where yesterday there was a dead end, and the silver-haired maid invited us in at the door at the end of the corridor.
As soon as we stepped through the doors, we couldn’t help but say [Waa……].
Although I had only seen it in pictures, it was a majestic, glittering gold hall, like the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles. A large table that could seat more than 20 people was sitting there.
Looking towards the wall, I could see the four people – Kishijo-san, Hotta-san, Saito-san and Mako-san – wearing maid uniforms, looking downcast and embarrassed.
They were wearing cute maid uniforms different from those worn by the silver-haired maid, like waitresses at a maid café, with short skirts and excessive frills.
“Now, as I explained earlier. Show everyone their seats.”
“Y, yes! Head Maid-sama.”
Mako, who had a strained smile on her face, came up to us and led the way, saying, [Ladies, this way please]. I looked at Amemiya-senpai, who happened to be next to me.
“Mako..those guys… are they being forced to do this?”
“Well, I suppose they are, but…..”
I was urged to sit in the so-called birthday seat and a few empty seats on either side of it, and I sat down in the exact middle of the table, with Shima-senpai on my right and Amemiya-senpai on my left.
On the table were some very expensive-looking tableware and cutlery. In the middle, there was a gorgeous flower arrangement.
“……This is silver, all of it. How much does it cost?”
As she poked at the cutlery with her fingertips, Shima-senpai let out a sigh of admiration, and I heard Amemiya-senpai muttering, [It’s like a wedding], in a whisper. It certainly had that kind of atmosphere.
“The semi-favored princess apprentices will enter.”
A short time later, the silver-haired maid announced this and Yui, Takasago-senpai and Shiratori-senpai entered the room, led by Kishijo-san, who was dressed in a maid’s uniform.
They were not in party dresses like us, but in gorgeous bell-line dresses with tight corsets.
Yui, haad an atmosphere of being used to wearing such clothes, while Takasago-senpai, still looked sleepy, and Shiratori-senpai, who looked sulky and unsociable, clearly had an atmosphere of being forced to wear the clothes.
“Now, the Second Favourite Princess will enter.”
That comment from the silver-haired maid caused tension on all of us.
The second favourite princess meant that she must be a different person from Masaki-sama. She was probably a strange person because she was the one who produced the large bathhouse that looked like a Showa-era bathhouse, which made no sense at all, but we hoped she was someone we could talk to.
But when the door opened and we saw the figure enter, we involuntarily rattled out of our seats.
“Hatsu-chan!?”
“「「「「 Ca,Captain!?」」」」”
It was natural for us to be surprised.
It was Captain Tashiro who appeared in a pure white dress like a wedding dress. It was that person.
She looked around at us and smiled softly.
“Umu, I’m glad to see that everyone seems to be okay. It seems like such a long time ago, even though the last time we saw each other was yesterday.”
“Hatsu-chan! You’re safe, right? I’m, I’m..”
Shima-senpai’s eyes began to moisten, and Captain Tashiro chuckled.
“You worried too much about me, Shima.”
Then, as soon as the Captain reached the birthday table, Yui, who was sitting closest to her, hurriedly asked.
“The Second Favourite Princess…… is it really you, Captain?”
“Umu, I’m not surprised that you would ask that question. I made a deal with the Confinement King and became his mistress. Don’t misunderstand me. I love the Confinement King with all my heart.”
We looked at each other involuntarily.
‘Isn’t this…..bad? It’s brainwashing or hypnosis…..’
Of course, we didn’t have the courage to say it out loud, but it was written on everyone’s face.
“But, but, didn’t you have a boyfriend?”
“Hey, hey, you idiot!?”
The air-headed Ota(little sister) and Adachi-senpai, who was sitting next to her, hurriedly covered her mouth. What was funny was that next to her, Ota(older sister) laughed, [Gahaha].
“Umu, indeed. But Hiratsuka-kun would surely understand. He was a good man too, but I should say that we didn’t have a future together. It was a fateful encounter with the Confinement King. It can’t be helped.”
“It can’t be helped?”
Shiratori-senpai muttered to herself with a pouting face, and Tashiro-senpai nodded broadly.
“It’s done. And I may already have a child of the Confinement King in my belly. We made love all through the morning.”
At that one word, a clamour, almost like a scream, filled the area around the table. The declaration that they had sex each other and it was until the morning.
“Well, I’m sure we have a lot to talk about, but let’s do it over a meal. Freesia-san. Can you do that for me?”
“I understand.”
The silver-haired maid clapped her hands and Mako and the others brought in the soup, which was laid out in front of each of us.
“Today is the debut of the second favoured princess, Hatsu-sama, so please enjoy a course meal from the famous French restaurant Petit Le Tour.”
Yui immediately widened her eyes.
“P-Petit Le Tour……!?”
“Do you know that …… Miss Bowel?”
When Shima-senpai asked in a somewhat theatrical tone, Yui’s voice trembled slightly.
“It’s a famous restaurant in Paris that has maintained its three-star rating since its establishment. It’s also famous for being sought out by leaders of each country to serve them food at summit meetings in France.”
At that statement, everyone went into an uproar.
Leaders of each country… I didn’t even know what level she was talking about anymore.
“Captain, no, Hatsu-sama! Please tell me. What kind of person is the Confinement King?”
Yui asked Captain as if to bite her, and she chuckled as she held the spoon in her hand.
“What kind of man…… is he? He is not a handsome person. But I have nothing else to complain about him. Generous and honest…..though there may be some favouritism towards the man I fell in love with.”
“And he’s rich, isn’t he?”
“Rich? I don’t know about that, but I suppose so. He said if I begged him, he’d give me anything I wanted, even jewellery……”
At that moment, I heard Yui gulp.
“Are those pieces of jewellery you are wearing also Hatsu-sama’s?”
Then, Captain’s cheeks flushed red, as if she were embarrassed.
“I said I didn’t want it, but…… Confinement King told me to always keep it to make me pretty.”
×××
All the food served at the dinner was unbelievably delicious.
Even I, who had been fed delicious food day after day as an interrogator, thought it was exceptional. I wondered how it would be for most of the members who had been fed only oatmeal until this morning.
In fact, except for Yui-chan, who kept asking questions, and Captain, who kept answering her, everyone else seemed to be absorbed in the food.
As the main dish began to empty, Captain smiled at Yui-chan who was still trying to ask a question, stopped her with her hand, and looked around at the group.
“I want you to listen to me while you eat. I’m talking about the treatment of everyone after this……”
It was not something that could be ignored. Everyone stopped and looked up at the same time.
“First of all, as for Kishijo, Hotta, Inui, and Saito. They’re punishment was to be cut up into little pieces……but somehow I managed to reduce their sentence to one year of labour as an apprentice maid. I know you want to go home, but even with this, the Confinement King was adamant. I’d appreciate it if you four could bear with it, thinking it’s better than the death penalty.”
When I turned my eyes toward the four, they were standing by the wall with their faces down.
Perhaps they had already heard the story. But if it meant that their sentences had been drastically reduced from death to one year in prison, I didn’t think they had anything to complain about.
“Next, Kayama, Takasago, and Shiratori were supposed to serve the Confinement King as semi-favored princess apprentices, but…… I begged and pleaded, and somehow they were allowed to go home.”
As soon as Captain said this, Yui kicked her seat and stoof up.
“No, please don’t do anything unnecessary! I will stay here no matter what anyone says!”
“Kayama, you say that, but you live alone with your mother. She must be feeling lonely.”
“That’s……”
When Yui clammed up, someone unexpectedly spoke up.
“I want to stay too.”
It was Shiratori-senpai. She looked around with her usual unfriendly face at everyone who looked surprised, and then opened her mouth.
“Isn’t this a chance to get rich? Right, Miss Bowel?”
By all accounts, Yui-chan was also in it for the money, but she didn’t like to be told that, so she turned mushy.
Then the Captain folded her arms and made a thoughtful gesture, [Fumu].
“How about you, Takasago?”
“The dessert is delicious. I like it.”
Apparently, she wanted to stay.
“Then, let me put it this way. As for you, I will ask Confinement King to allow you to travel back and forth between here and outside, as I do.”
I didn’t understand the nerves of wanting to stay here even though they said they would release us.
Even if I could understand Yui for money and Takasago-senpai for dessert, I could not imagine what Shiratori-senpai was thinking when she said she wanted to stay behind.
“As for the others, all of you will be released tomorrow. I’ve been told that some of your memories of what happened here – about people – will be sealed.”
“About people?”
When I asked that, Captain nodded her head.
“You will forget that I have become the favourite of the Confinement King, and those who have been flogged will remember that they were flogged, but will not know by whom they were flogged. And vice versa.”
“Uwaa…..isn’t that just going to make things even more awkward?”
When Shima-senpai let out a complicated voice, Amemiya-senpai raised her hand and said, [Umm…..].
“What’s wrong, Amemiya?”
“If you can come and go, I’d like to stay too…..”
Immediately, surprised gazes gathered towards Amemiya-senpai. That was probably true. It was 100 per cent Yui’s fault, but Amemiya-senpai was the person who had been whipped the most here.
“Hmm, Freesia-san. What do you think?”
“It’s up to Confinement King-sama to decide, but if she’s someone’s servant…… I’m sure he’ll allow it.”
When the silver-haired maid replied, Amemiya-senpai looked down in embarrassment.
“Th,Then, I will be Yui-sama’s servant……”
“Yui?”
“-sama?”
When Shima-senpai and Captain looked at each other and tilted their heads, Yui-chan twisted her mouth into a grin and said, [Oh, you say the cutest things].
“If that’s the case, Hatsu-chan. How about I be Hatsu-chan’s servants too?”
“Hmm, I don’t mind.”
“How about you, Moribe?”
Shima-senpai turned the conversation towards me.
I didn’t know why anyone would want to stay here, and more importantly, I had a decision to make.
“N,no, I have something I want to do when I get back.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Well, the thing I regret most about before coming here is that I didn’t tell the person I love that I love him, so I’m going to try my best to tell him…..”