The process of applying to be a security guard went even more smoothly than Takumi had expected.
The school's interview was, in fact, nothing more than a few simple physical tests and tactical ability assessments—just enough to ensure that the hired guards were capable of protecting students and were reliable enough not to pose any danger themselves. For the former, Takumi merely demonstrated physical abilities that far exceeded normal human limits and passed with ease. As for the latter, with letters of recommendation from both the Fujiwara family and the Shijō family, Takumi cleared the evaluation without any difficulty.
"Our school's security staff operate on a four-shift, multi-team rotation system. You'll need to work six consecutive hours per shift, four days a week with three days off. Your patrol area will be relatively fixed, but in the event of an emergency, you must be ready to respond at any time. As for the pay, we'll start at this amount. Is that acceptable?"
After confirming Takumi's capabilities, the interviewer spoke to him in a solemn tone, clearly already regarding him as a special operative trained by higher-ups.
"Completely fine. I can start work at any time."
Takumi nodded earnestly in reply, then took his leave of the interviewer.
By then, Maki had already gone to class, so she simply left Takumi a message telling him to first try adapting to the job. If he couldn't adapt, it would be fine to quit on the spot. After all, she and Chika had only helped Takumi find a suitable identity that allowed him to appear at school. Takumi himself didn't actually need to fulfill this role at all—and even without performing the duties, he would still get paid. It could hardly be any more relaxed.
Wait… why am I starting to feel more and more like I've turned into a kept man?
Having realized this, Takumi felt that something was off. He was, after all, a bona fide double-S-rank clear player—someone who had walked the path of the strong through multiple blessings and physical enhancement—yet in the real world he was being financially supported by two seventeen-year-old girls. Did that make any sense? Was it reasonable? Was it acceptable?
He had to do something about it. He couldn't just keep sinking like this, Takumi!
Thinking so, Takumi took out his phone and discovered that a new episode of Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village had been released. So he sat down in the pleasantly cool, air-conditioned security office, connected to the school's Wi-Fi, and comfortably watched the episode. Only after finishing did he realize that it was already time for the students' lunch break. Maki was standing outside the security office window, looking at him with visible irritation.
"Even if I told you that you don't need to fulfill your work duties, you shouldn't just slack off in the security office like this. It's really easy to stir up dissatisfaction among the other guards. Since you're receiving special treatment, it's better to keep a low profile, you know."
After Takumi stepped out of the security office, the somewhat dissatisfied Maki reached out and lightly knocked him on the chest, speaking to him in a casual tone.
"Yes, yes, yes—Miss Maki's lesson is duly noted. But, by the way, is it really okay for you to talk to me like this? A student and a security guard being this close—won't that invite gossip?"
Takumi replied just as casually. Then, vaguely recalling that Shuchi'in in the original work was a school where gossip spread at lightning speed, he couldn't help but remind Maki. The expressions and gestures she was showing him right now were exactly how the two of them usually acted on dates. If some student were to notice, secretly take photos, and upload them to the school's online forums, Takumi felt that would be at least somewhat problematic.
"That kind of thing doesn't matter. And you've got some nerve saying that. It's precisely because of what you did last month—running into the school and hugging me in public—that the entire student body now thinks I was emotionally manipulated by some adult from outside society. I had to explain things to my parents for a long time before I finally managed to come up with a barely passable excuse to calm them down."
As for Takumi's worries, Maki was completely dismissive. But soon, recalling that incident, the girl's cheeks flushed slightly, and the look she gave Takumi carried a faint trace of resentment.
Although that hug at the time had indeed been quite satisfying—comfortable, even—
Still, this kind of intense, no-sense-of-occasion display was something she really couldn't handle.
Couldn't he take things slowly?
This guy—always so impatient, always getting handsy at the slightest provocation—was practically like some kind of pervert.
Still, he was the dependable kind of pervert, at least.
"Have you eaten lunch yet?"
After thinking for a moment, Maki spoke up to ask.
"Not yet."
Takumi answered honestly.
"Then come with me. Mm, let's find somewhere a bit quieter. I specifically asked the chef to prepare an extra bento today."
Having already made preparations to eat lunch together with Takumi, Maki blinked as she spoke, reached out to grab his sleeve, and, without giving him a chance to object, pulled him along.
Such an unreserved attitude naturally drew the attention of quite a few passing students. But since Maki herself didn't care, Takumi didn't say anything either.
It somehow felt like Maki was more proactive than usual today. Was it because Chika had provoked her?
Speaking of which, after being repeatedly provoked by that girl Chika several times last night, he had ultimately been unable to hold back and pushed her down. Thinking back on it afterward, he couldn't help feeling a bit sorry toward Maki. Sure enough, this was something he still couldn't bring himself to say out loud for the time being.
He wondered whether Chika was still asleep at home right now. She had mentioned that her family's discipline was rather strict—skipping classes for an entire morning like this, would that cause any trouble?
Many thoughts and concerns flashed through Takumi's mind.
And at the same time he was following Maki forward, not far away, in a teaching building, a young girl was quietly standing behind the curtains, observing the movements of the two of them.
She was a girl with long blonde hair, who had deliberately tied her school uniform jacket around her waist and dressed in a very casual manner—none other than the Shinomiya family's maid, Hayasaka Ai.
And the target of her gaze was Takumi himself, currently dressed in a security guard's uniform.
"The young lady of the Shijō family… it seems her fondness for him has reached the point where she's unwilling to hide it anymore."
Ai frowned slightly.
She was observing Takumi here for two reasons.
The first concerned the young lady she served, Kaguya-sama—specifically, the strategy plan Kaguya had proposed: [make a man fall in love with oneself].
That is, a plan aimed at [making the man named Takumi become infatuated with Shinomiya Kaguya and be conquered by her charm]. Even now, it had not produced a single effective approach. It was a plan that, just hearing about it, made Ai feel an urge to resign; she truly had no idea how to describe such a bizarre strategy.
Young lady wasn't this foolish before…
Why had such a drastic change occurred over the past two months?
It seemed that it was after Takumi started becoming active that the young lady herself began to change.
At the very beginning, after the young lady's clothes inexplicably became tattered that day, she began to change her original course of action of cold detachment and solitude, and started having frequent contact with the young lady of the Shijō family. After that, the young lady often fell into deep thought, though it was unclear what she was thinking about, and she also began ordering her to collect all kinds of strange and miscellaneous information—part of which, for reasons unknown, Ai herself found she could no longer clearly recall.
Her level of attention toward the man named Takumi also continued to rise. It seemed that no matter what she was doing, no matter when it was, she would end up thinking about matters related to this man.
This was truly far too strange. Clearly, before this, there had been no overlap whatsoever between the social circles of these two people. And yet, it was as if Kaguya-sama had suddenly come to know him, and not only that, she placed an extraordinary level of trust in this man. Even the attitude of the main family toward him was extremely ambiguous, leaving Ai completely unable to make sense of the situation.
But no matter what, a servant was still just a servant. Although her mind was full of questions, and her heart filled with doubt, as long as no order came from above, she would not concern herself too deeply with the matter—at most, she would simply worry a little about whether Kaguya-sama might be getting deceived by some bad man. Yet now, Kaguya-sama had explicitly made a request: she wanted Ai to follow Takumi, analyze and study all of his personality traits, behavioral patterns, preferences, and so on, and then formulate a plan that would make Takumi completely fall for Kaguya.
Young lady, I may be your servant, but I'm really not meant to be used like this. I'm just a seventeen-year-old girl with absolutely no romantic experience—how could I possibly have the ability to devise this kind of plan…
Ai very much wanted to complain like this to her master.
But at the time, Kaguya simply grasped Ai's hand with unusual firmness and called out words like "Hayasaka, help me", clearly having no intention of considering her feelings at all.
"Based on the intelligence collected so far, a little over a month ago, this man was still someone who almost never left his home—a transparent person who showed no discernible interests beyond games. And in the month that followed, Takumi left his home a total of fourteen times."
"Of those, five times were gatherings with Kaguya-sama and Miss Shijō together, while the remaining nine times were dates with Miss Shijō. Across all recorded dates, Takumi kissed Miss Shijō on the lips a total of seventy-eight times. Of these, all seventy-eight were initiated by Takumi himself, accounting for 100%. Seventy-one kisses ended with Miss Shijō breaking free and fleeing, while seven kisses resulted in Miss Shijō nearly fainting afterward.
As for taking advantage by touching Miss Shijō's body, there were forty-seven instances, nineteen of which involved Takumi escalating rather than restraining himself after having already been warned. And finally, the act of pressing Miss Shijō onto the bed, forcefully kissing her, and attempting to push her down—ending with her resisting, kicking him away, and escaping—occurred once."
After carefully reviewing the intelligence she had gathered, Ai quickly arrived at a conclusion.
If she wanted to make this man become infatuated, all she needed to do was sleep with him once.
By every possible measure, this guy was far too much of a carnivore. To be honest, if the person he was involved with hadn't been Miss Shijō, but instead some other girl from Shuchi'in, Ai felt that either the two of them would have long since completed the so-called rite of ascension, or Takumi himself would already have been escorted straight into a detention cell.
This guy was truly frightening. If possible, she really didn't want to come into direct contact with him—but avoiding contact wasn't an option either…
Because the second reason she was here had to do with the Shinomiya main family, and with Kaguya's elder brother, Shinomiya Oko.
After having Ai observe Takumi for a full month, this man had finally decided to try making contact with Takumi. He therefore ordered Ai to go find Takumi, convey his intentions, and arrange a time for Takumi to meet with his people—most likely because he wanted Takumi to work for him.
As for why Oko refused to use his own subordinates and instead had a spy like Ai act as the intermediary, it was probably because Takumi was now entangled with both the Shijō family and the Fujiwara family, and people from both sides were also in contact with Kaguya. He likely didn't want to expose anything unnecessarily. However, this only made Ai feel even more disgusted, because such a move meant that, in a certain sense, she herself was already a disposable piece—even if her side were exposed, it wouldn't matter at all.
Fine then—anyway, next she would find an opportunity to make brief contact with this man. Judging by his attitude, though, he would probably be too lazy to pay any attention to Shinomiya Oko's invitation at all. That was fine as well. That idiot with lofty eyes and shallow abilities—who clearly had not yet truly inherited the Shinomiya family—paraded around all day as if he were something special. Did he really think everyone would bow and scrape before him?
Thinking this, Ai watched as Takumi and Maki left that passageway, then quickly shifted her position and quietly followed after them.
As for Takumi and Maki, the two of them walked at an unhurried pace to a bench in the woods and sat down there.
"This one's for you."
Maki handed a bento box to Takumi. Keeping her expression unchanged, she opened her own bento, yet the corner of her eyes remained firmly fixed on Takumi's side, watching his every movement.
What she did not tell Takumi was that his bento had actually been made by Maki herself.
Originally, she had planned to make something like a heart-shaped bento, but she simply could not bring herself to draw hearts on a lunchbox—nor did she have the courage to say something like, "I made this for you." In the end, she could only lie and say that she had asked the kitchen to make an extra portion.
"Oh, thanks for the young lady's bento. Then I'll dig in."
Takumi himself did not pay it much mind. He opened the bento box and started eating right away.
That reaction was that bland?
Seeing Takumi eat the bento with his expression completely unchanged, Maki felt a faint sense of disappointment and dissatisfaction. She did not show it, however, merely opening her own bento in silence and picking up her chopsticks to eat as well.
"Mm—?!"
Just as she opened her mouth, Takumi casually picked up a side dish and fed it to her.
"Mm-mm-mm, y-you—you—what are you doing?!"
Eyes wide, the girl was forced to swallow the sweet-flavored side dish. Meanwhile, Takumi had already lowered his head and taken a single bite of the food Maki had been holding with her chopsticks, chewing a couple of times before swallowing it.
"Don't you think this feels more romantic? By the way, it tastes sweet—really good. Here, ah—"
Takumi gave Maki a thumbs-up in praise, then picked up a slice of fresh sashimi and smiled at her as he spoke.
"You really do have way too many tricks for bullying me…"
Maki muttered softly. In the end, she still opened her mouth, letting Takumi feed the fish into her mouth, and then followed up by picking up a dish from her own bento.
"Come on, be good, ah—"
Deliberately adopting the tone one might use with a kitten or a puppy, Maki spoke—only for Takumi to eat without the slightest hesitation the food she had lifted with her chopsticks, which instead made Maki's face flush even redder.
One bite for you, one bite for me.
One of them was calm and unabashed, the other kept averting her gaze, her expression shy and bashful.
The two of them played like this, turning it into a feeding game.
Meanwhile, Ai—who had no choice but to hide in the woods to carry out the plan and keep watch—could only endure it on an empty stomach. Without realizing it, she had clenched her fists, her teeth grinding together.
Want to resign…
Really, really want to resign and quit this job…
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