CH 3

CHAPTER 3 – IT’S HIM OFFICER

The next day, Masachika came to school almost an hour earlier than usual.

There’s no particularly deep reason.

It’s simple, he woke up an hour earlier than usual.

In addition, Masachika woke up feeling unusually refreshed. He had a feeling that if he went back to sleep just like that, it would’ve been hard to fall asleep and he would’ve overslept after idling about for quite some time. That being the case, he’d rather go to school earlier.

Another reason was that he just happened to be on class duty today.

In this school, two students took turns taking up the class duty in order of student numbers and the two students’ seats were arranged so they were next to each other. In other words, Masachika’s partner in the class duty was Alisa.

Masachika was aware that he was lazy and someone who tended to find most things bothersome, because of that he tried to not cause trouble to other people (Within Masachika, forgetting his textbook and asking Alisa to show him her textbook wasn’t in the causing-trouble-to-other-people category).

Therefore, no matter how troublesome it was, he wouldn’t skip the cleaning and class duty work. Even so he precisely only did the work he’s in charge of, nothing more. That was the reason why Masachika was Masachika, but he had a different mood today.

“Yeah, it’s perfect if I say so myself”

Masachika looked around the empty classroom from the top of the teacher’s platform and nodded in satisfaction.

The desks and chairs were neatly and cleanly arranged. In addition, the notebooks returned by the homeroom teacher were placed in an orderly fashion.

There was no chalk dust on the blackboard at all and the blackboard eraser was clean like new.

Incidentally, these were things that Alisa always did on her own during class duty, and not part of her original class duty work but, since he woke up early today he wanted to try saying, “Eh? You’re the one who always does all of these? I’ve already done everything, though?”.

He returned to his seat and waited for Alisa, who would most likely come earlier than usual.

A few minutes later, Alisa did indeed come earlier than usual. She opened the door to the classroom, confirmed the figure of Masachika and opened her eyes wide.

“Yo, morning”

“….Morning, Kuze-kun”

Looking around the classroom, while knitting one of her eyebrows she noticed that all of the work she usually did was completely done. At such Alisa, Masachika said with a somewhat proud smile.

“This morning I woke up really early, you see. I had some free time so I got some stuff done”

“….To think Kuze-kun was up so early, I wonder if it’s going to snow today”

“You really speak fluent Japanese, Alya-san”

“At the very least don’t fall asleep in class”

“….I’ll do my best”

Alisa sighed as if exasperated towards Masachika who said that really confidently. Alisa then said in a small, but firm voice.

“….I’ll take care of the blackboard eraser in the morning”

Masachika showed a bitter smile at her attitude of never wanting to owe others anything.

It’s not like Masachika had intention to make her owe him but, this appeared to be a matter of pride for Alisa.

Masachika knew from more than a year of associating with her that saying anything at times like this would be useless, so he simply said, “Then I’ll leave it to you”, and obediently accepted it.

At such Masachika, Alisa nodded her head while her face still looked somewhat dissatisfied. Then she approached her seat with a slightly strange gait,

Feeling out of place with the way she walked, Masachika noticed that Alisa’s knee socks were wet.

He looked out the window but, no need to even check, it’s sunny weather outside. It seemed to be raining in the middle of the night but, there’s no sign of it now.

“That, what happened? Did you just shove your foot into a puddle?”

“I didn’t. I’m not you after all”

“Who are you calling an all year round daylight lantern1, huh!?”

“I didn’t say that far… haa, I got splashed by a truck”

“My oh my, that must be a disaster”

“Well, it’s my fault for walking near the roadway. I have spare socks so it’s fine, I guess”

Having said that, Alisa took a seat, and contorted her face as if in disgust while taking off her indoor shoes. And then, she placed her right foot at the edge of her seat and she started to swiftly take off her knee socks in front of Masachika

Her dazzling bare leg that had been wrapped in white knee sock was exposed to Masachika’s eyes. The long and slender, frighteningly white leg shone under the morning sun pouring in from the window. Her skirt slid down over her raised leg, causing her thighs to peek out slightly.

Having taken off the wet knee sock, as if flooded by a sense of liberation, Alisa stretched her leg in one go, exposing her wet bare leg to the open air. At that sight, Masachika averted his eyes, feeling as if he had seen something inappropriate.

She was just taking off her knee socks, but he felt strangely guilty as if he had peeped at the sight of her changing clothes or taking a bath. After all this time, Masachika suddenly felt restless as he became strongly aware that Alisa was an incredibly beautiful girl.

“Fuuu….”

After taking off both knee socks, Alisa wiped her legs with a small towel she was carrying around for when it rained. Alisa then breathed out with a refreshed look on her face.

Then she casually looked to the side and there he was. Blinking in surprise, she found the figure of Masachika, his body facing in her direction, looking down diagonally with an awkward look.

When she saw Masachika, who was always easy going and never perturbed by anything having a somewhat embarrassed, flustered looking face… Alisa’s lips smiled.

Showing a somewhat sadistic, mischievous expression, Alisa turned towards Masachika’s direction and stretched her right leg. She nimbly grabbed Masachika’s pants with her foot’s thumb and index finger, and tugged it.

“Hey, can you get me a spare pair of socks from my locker?”

“Haa?”

“Because I took it off first I can’t go get it, see”

And then she nimbly crossed her legs, keeping her foot in the air as if to say, “You can understand just from looking, right?”.

In the moment when the area below her skirt and above the knee socks if she were to wear one now almost visible from the front, Masachika quickly averted his eyes, showing his agitation.

At such him, Alisa’s sadistic-like smile deepened and she rested her cheek on her chair.

How picturesque was the appearance of her smiling delightful under the morning sun.

She was just like a selfish princess who was amused by the unreasonable demands she thrusted to her servants, or a wicked female executive asking her subordinates something unreasonable.

(Dress and military uniform, if it’s Alya she would look good in either, yeah~)

While skipping thoughts like that in the direction of the day after tomorrow, Masachika hurriedly got out of his seat and headed for Alisa’s locker at the back of the classroom.

Confirming with Alisa with a glance, he opened the locker. What was inside were neatly organized textbooks and toolboxes.

At the inner part, under a folded umbrella was a pair of socks in a clear plastic bag.

Feeling like he was doing something inappropriate again, he grabbed the socks by the plastic bag and hurried back to his seat.

“Here”

Then, when he looked at the side of Alisa’s face and thrusted out the socks, she threw a bombshell at him.

“Then, can you put it on for me?”

“Huuuh!?”

When Masachika turned around while shouting strangely, he saw Alisa raising her right leg towards him.

Maybe because they were alone, different from usual, she didn’t even try to hide her amusement and tilted her head while grinning.

“What’s wrong?”

“No, rather, what’s wrong with you!?”

“It’s my thanks for getting my socks. It’s a reward for you, right?”

“Well, it’s a reward only to peculiar people….”

“Oh my? Aren’t you one of them?”

“I’m not! How’s this a reward!?”

While having an it-is-unexpected face, again, she recrossed her legs and Masachika shouted as he turned his head away from her with a jerk.

He intended to continue to say, “It’s enough, right!? Spare me already!!”… But before that, Alisa’s murmur in Russian reached Masachika’s ears.

【Me too though】

When he looked at her with a sidelong glance, the mischievous look on her face was nowhere to be seen.

Alisa was fiddling around with her hair while averting her eyes with a seemingly red face. Seeing such an appearance of hers, Masachika’s brain went full throttle towards a strange direction.

What’s the meaning of Alisa being sweet when speaking Russian.

Masachika had been thinking about that for a long time. However, the conclusion he came to was, “I think it’s probably because Alya is a mental exhibitionist”.

Alisa was a perfectionist and hard working. In order to be her ideal self, she was constantly disciplining herself and working tirelessly.

However, Masachika heard somewhere that people who kept themselves in check like that on a daily basis, wanted to release the stress they had accumulated somewhere else.

And then, from Alisa point of view becoming sweet when speaking Russian was also probably such a case.

Just like a maniac who walked around in public without wearing underwear, he thought she probably enjoyed the thrill of being on the edge of being exposed or not by making embarrassing comments in front of others.

That was Masachika’s theory. In other words, what he was trying to say was…

(If it’s consensual, it’s safe!!)

According to Masachika’s theory, Alisa was someone who enjoyed embarrassment. In other words, Alisa was happy and he was happy. Yes, this is a WIN-WIN situation!

….If anyone were to hear this, “what kind of logic is that”, “What the hell is a mental exhibitionist”, “All criminals say it’s consensual, man”, etc.; there would inevitably be such retorts flooding, but sadly, there was no one to retort Masachika’s brain.

But at this stage, Masachika still had doubts. What he thought as consent has been reached, that’s in Russian. As expected, he would also like to hear the words in Japanese.

“Just now, what did you say?”

Masachika asked, turning to face the front, with the idea of a completely evil person. Then, Alisa immediately smiled provocatively. Masachika expected her to deceive him.

“Nothing much though? I just said, ‘What a coward’”

Masachika had awaited such words. Masachika made a guts pose inwardly while having a really regrettable face on the surface. She smiled with a snicker, looking down at such Masachika. Alisa then straightened her crossed legs.

“Well, it’s fine. I’ll put it on myse–”

“No, that won’t be necessary”

“Eh–?”

When she was about to ask him to hand her the socks, Masachika knelt there with the sock in hand. That caused Alisa to blink in surprise.

In the next moment, however, Masachika’s hand was on her right leg and her eyes widened in surprise.

“Hyaa!?”

At the feeling of another person’’s fingers crawling from her heel to her ankle like it’s ticklish or disgusting, Alisa raised her voice wildly. Her legs jerked up reflexively and she hurriedly pressed down her skirt with her hands.

“Whoa, don’t struggle okay”

“Ah, what’d you mean struggle, ah, wai–!?”

While raising a weird voice, she held her skirt down with her right hand and quickly covered her mouth with her left hand.

Despite shock filling Alisa’s eyes, Masachika only smiled towards her and said.

“What the hell, you’re the one who told me to put them on, right?”

“That’s, right, but–!”

“Being called a coward was… As expected, even I’ve got my pride too, see”

“Wait a sec, I still haven’t prepared my–”

Even so, disregarding Alisa’s words, Masachika hooked the mouth of the sock on both thumbs and quickly put the sock on Alisa’s leg.

The sensation of the sock creeping up her foot sent a tingle down Alisa’s spine.

“Ah, no–”

Afterwards, Masachika’s thumbs touched Alisa’s thigh through the thin sock–

“~~~Where do you think you’re touching!!!”

“Habushii!?”

Right away, Alisa’s leg kicked up and beautifully hit Masachika’s jaw. Masachika fell on his backside and hit the back of his head on his chair.

“~~~~~kuh!!”

“Ah, I-I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

Falling on the floor, Masachika curled himself up as if at his wits’ end, fainting in agony. As one would expect, the worry inside Alisa’s mind prevailed. In front of Alisa, who temporarily forgot her shame and anger to worry for Masachika, Masachika tremblingly reached out his right hand on the floor and traced the floor with his index finger.

It was like a dying person who was leaving a dying message in his own blood.

Of course there was no blood on Masachika’s finger. His finger was just tracing the floor but Alisa’s eyes could clearly see the words Masachika was trying to write.

It was just one word. “Pink”.

“!?!?”

The moment she understood it, Alisa quickly held her skirt down. Her face instantly turned bright red in anger and shame.

“~~wah, kh~~”

She seemed to not know how to take out her anger on someone who was lying on the floor. Alisa’s right hand was opening and closing while she was leaking out inarticulate voice for a short while. Though suddenly, she quickly grabbed the other sock from on top of Masachika’s desk and quickly put it on her left foot.

And then, she put on her indoor shoes; facing towards the still lying dead on the floor Masachika; and shouted in Russian.

【Unbelievable! Idiot! Just die!!】

She screamed just like a child and Alisa walked out of the classroom with rough steps. Two of her girl classmates who were just about to enter the classroom hurriedly made way for her while being surprised by her unusual state.

“Eh? What? Princess Alya just shouted like crazy, though?”

“It was in Russian, right? What on earth? Eh? The princess descended into madness?”

The two of them saw off Alisa’s figure with a blank stare. They casually looked at the classroom and there, they found Masachika rubbing the back of his head.

“Morning, Kuze…. Did something happen?”

“Yeah, morning…  No, not really?”

“Morning, Kuze-kun… What happened to your head?”

“Well…. I think, I got a pimple here”

“Fuu~un?”

Both of them took their seats while tilting their heads doubtfully. While pretending not to notice the doubtful eyes of these two, Masachika took out her phone and started the messaging app, and sent a message to his little sister.

『Hey little sister, there’s a problem』

She was probably exactly in the middle of going to school inside a car. Immediately there was a ‘Read’ mark and a reply was sent.

『What’s the matter, my beloved onii-chan-sama』

『Don’t get surprised when you hear this, actually….』

『Gulp』

A sticker of an anime character trembling in fear was sent. While looking at the sticker overflowing with a sense of urgency, Masachika typed the message with a look of utter bitterness on his face.

『I… maybe have leg fetish』

『What, did you say….!? You bastard, weren’t you a genuine boob guy?!』

『Aah… Kuh! I never knew, I had such fetish!!』

『I see… you bastard finally, have come to understand the splendor of legs, huh… 』

『Yeah, seems like it』

『Legs are good, right? Plump thighs are fine and all but, the well-trained antelope like legs are also irresistible』

『Aah, as expected of my little sister』

『Uhuh… By the way older brother』

『Hmm?』

『What’s with this shitty conversation』

『Sorry』

Masachika’s face turned serious as her little sister poured cold water on him through the phone.

He put down his phone and plopped down on his desk with dead air.

“What to do now, eh”

He himself was self-aware that he had overdone things in various meanings. He felt like he should have gone apologize to her right now. But with Alisa’s pride being so high, he felt that if he were to go himself now, it would instead get returned with stubbornness.

“Well, let’s think about it when she comes back”

Even Alisa was not a child. Once she cooled down, she might have come back unexpectedly looking like usual.

◇

Conclusion, it wasn’t anything special.

“Eee~eh well then, that’s all for today. Aah, no need to do greetings. Well then”

After rapidly saying that, the homeroom teacher quickly left the classroom. The morning homeroom was over quite quickly and there was still almost five minutes left before the first period.

However, the students of first year class B didn’t get up from their seats, and they started to talk to each other in whispers. There was one reason why the teacher ended the homeroom early and the students were somewhat nervous.

It was because our Princess Alya’s usual expressionless face was nowhere to be seen. She had a sulky aura running full-throttle on her expression while resting her chin in her hands.

“(He-hey … that, what’s going on here?)”

“(I don’t know… I heard something about Kuze-kun got something to do with it, though)”

“(Well, it’s not unthinkable Alya-san’s displeasure was because Kuze-kun made her angry, isn’t it. To be exact, what happened?)”

“(I did hear Princess Alya screaming, you know?)”

“(Eh? Why?)”

“(Who knows? It’s in Russian so I don’t know)”

Within the classroom where various kinds of speculations flew about in whispers, Takeshi left his seat sneakily and sneaked over to Masachika.

“(He-hey)”

“(What)”

Somewhat overwhelmed by the surrounding atmosphere, Masachika also responded in a whisper. Takeshi then brought his mouth to Masachika’s ear and whispered to him.

“(You, did you make Alya-san angry and got Enzuigiri-ed no joke?”)

“How it became like that!?”

He screamed unconsciously and lowered his head at the sight of Alisa’s eyes glancing his way.

By the way, Enzuigiri2 was a spinning kick that was fired at the back of an opponent’s head while jumping.

It was something that even a bad kid should never imitate.

“(There’s no way Alya would use such a dangerous technique, right)”

“(I-I guess so)”

“(Yeah, at best it would be a somersault kick to the jaw, I say)”

“(No, if that’s the case that would be amazing. Isn’t it?)”

Thinking it was a joke, Takeshi gave a wry smile, and Masachika smiled ambiguous while thinking, “I’m half serious, though”.

“(So, why is Princess Alya in bad mood to that extend?)”

“(Err, that was….)”

“(It’s because you messed up something anyway, right? Cmon, spit it out)”

“(Hm~mm, well, I guess you could say I did something?)”

If it were said honestly, he’s done it. He messed up. However, right now if he were to say something like, “I touched her leg and saw her panty after that”, he could see that he would immediately be put through a class trial and unanimously executed in public.

Because of that, he elusively dodged Takeshi’s questioning while wracking his brain to think how to cheer up Alisa.

“Aaah~…. Alya?”

First of all, he called out to Alisa, who was resting her chin in her hand looking out of the window, to apologize. Alisa then only turned her gaze towards Masachika while replying in a sharp voice.

“….What is it, Kuze-kun”【You dirty leg fetish man】

Somehow, a second voice channel could be heard. At the end of her Russian words, “Kuze-kun” was written in small letters.

Even Masachika had a lot of things to say to her about that but, as someone who was pretending to not understand Russian, he couldn’t say anything.

Well, if he offered an objection with something like, “Too bad, I’m a boob person”, Masachika’s stock price inside Alisa would be at an all time low. In addition, all of the girls in class would inevitably be selling their shares of Masachika’s stock in droves because of that. Ultimately, It might’ve been the right choice to not say anything at all.

(But you know~ come to think of it, I didn’t do anything that bad, didn’t I?)

Alisa’s cold response brought such thought in Masachika’s mind.

From the beginning, it was Alisa herself who told him to touch her legs, and it was Alisa who kicked her foot up out of shame.

As a result, the fact that her panty was visible was an unavoidable act of god. And then pointing it out afterwards in a dying message style perhaps was unnecessary, he thought. And that was too because he was trying to make Alisa to not worry about him because of her violent antics… As for Masachika, he was a little dissatisfied only himself was to be the bad guy.

However, he also understood that in this kind of situation, the position of a guy was sometimes weak. He decided to go apologize without saying anything lame.

“Err, I’m sorry, okay? For many things earlier”

“….I don’t particularly mind? I’m also at fault too, I’m not angry anymore, okay?”

Masachika’s inner voice was saying, “Then why do you look so in a bad mood~”, and the classmates’s inner voices who had been listening were piled up one after another with, “That’s definitely a lie….”.

But the truth was, it’s not a lie. Actually, Alisa wasn’t angry already.

The only thing inside Alisa’s mind right now was the shame of her legs getting touched and her panty being seen.

In addition to this, no matter how she was reacting to this, she willingly said, “Put it on for me?”; and was ashamed at herself for having done it.

Also, the shame that she had screamed like a child and all other things that she had done filled Alisa’s mind. If there was a hole, she felt like going in, putting a lid on it, soundproofing it, and screaming inside.

So that her inner feelings didn’t surface, purposefully, she’s pushing the aura of “I’m in a bad mood!!”, to the front.

However, Masachika couldn’t understand such a maiden’s heart and could only be at loss.

In the meantime the bell rang, the teacher came and the first period began.

“Heya~ the class is starting~.. Then, today’s class duty– Kuze. Greetings”

Checking the name responsible for today’s class duty on the edge of the blackboard, the math teacher casually turned towards Alisa and called Masachika as if it’s natural.

(((We know how you feel)))

The feelings of the entire class were united except for one person.

“….Stand up, bow. Please take care of u~us “

“““Please take care of u~us”””

After they naturally did unnatural greetings, the lesson continued with a strange sense of tension.

As expected, the side effect of getting up earlier had brought drowsiness to Masachika but Masachika wasn’t a man who could doze off in this atmosphere.

Having said that, there was no way he could concentrate on the lesson in the class, so Masachika was earnestly thinking up a way to fix the princess’s mood in his head.

“Well then, that’s all for today. ….Kuze, greetings”

“….Stand up, bow. Thank you very much~”

“““Thank you very much~”””

The math teacher left the classroom, obstinately not looking at Alisa’s until the end. Following suit, Masachika too immediately rushed out of the classroom and quickly made his way to the vending machine set up near the emergency exit. After he obtained what he wanted, he immediately rushed back to the classroom and reverently presented it to his neighbor, Alisa.

“Princess, about what happened today, please kindly spare me with your forgiveness”

What Masachika presented after saying that…. for 14 years consecutively has magnificently taken the first place of “Where’s the demand for that in Seirei Educational Institute?”. Its name was “Sweet~ red-bean soup”. Incidentally, its content was without doubt liquid red bean paste and it’s a very sweet thirst-quenching drink.

(((Why red-bean soup!?)))

The classmates were, “Are you crazy? Are you asking the princess for a fight?”, thinking that with their eyes looking at Masachika but, Masachika knew. He knew that Alisa sometimes drank this blood-sugar-bursting drink.

“….Didn’t I say earlier I’m not particularly angry at you?”

“Hehe, You did of course. This is the least I could do to apologize”

“…Then, I’ll take up on your offer”

“Haha~”

When Alisa received the can of the red-bean soup from Masachika’s hand, she opened the pull-tab, and drank its content in one gulp. A shuddering look came from within the class.

“Thank you for the drink”

“Ah, I’ll take care of the empty can”

“It’s fine, no need to do that much”

“No no, I don’t want to cause trouble to princess”

“If that’s the case stop that weird little act”

“Roger”

Although her tone remained harsh, Masachika felt that Alisa’s mood had somewhat cheered up a bit. Relieved by this, Masachika returned to his seat and…. realized something terrible.

(Ah, this is bad…. I don’t have the textbook for the next lesson)

If it’s the usual, he would ask Alisa to show him her textbook. However, in this kind of situation if he shamelessly said “Can you show me your textbook?”, Alisa’s slightly improved mood could perhaps take a nosedive.

If that happened, he was sure the whole class would be looking at him with criticism.

(Can’t be helped….)

Alisa’s suspicious gaze turned towards Masachika, who froze after checking the inside of his desk and bag. Masachika turned his face away as if to escape her gaze and called out to the girl next to him.

“Sorry, could you show me your textbook?”

“Eh? Aah… yeah, it’s fine”

The girl next to him smiled bitterly as if she had guessed what was going on, and she nodded pleasantly. Feeling thankful for that, Masachika stuck their seats together and patted his chest that he had somehow managed to do so. Immediately after that.

【Adulterer】

Together with such murmur in Russian, the atmosphere in the class became even colder again.

(Why the middle-age-years-like word)3

Despite Masachika’s lamentation, lessons filled with tension were unfolding  in the first year class B classroom that day.

Note:

^1. The state of being dim, like a lantern lit in the daytime. An expression used to describe a person who is so dim and useless.

^2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling_strikes#Enzuigiri

^3. The original Japanese lines are these. Not really sure if I got that right.

【浮気者】

そんなロシア語の呟つぶやきと共に、教室の空気がまた一段と冷たくなった。

（どないせえっちゅうねん……）

Gotta add Misunderstanding tag on NU after this one yeah? Maybe Dense Protagonist too, but I’m still not really sure about it I’ll see to it until I’ve read the whole volume.