Chapter 12: The Maid’s Crisis

“Welcome home, Kiyomiya-kun.”

“I’m back,” I replied, finding Sayaka already home before me, as always. She had even changed into her maid uniform, ready to greet me like a true servant. It wasn’t so bad, really.

“Living alone has its freedom…” I mused aloud.

“…But it’s nice to have someone welcome you home.” She shot back instantly.

“That’s my line!”

Just when I was wondering what she was going to say! Is she so perceptive she can read minds? Or am I just that easy to read?

“Well,” she said with a slight tease in her voice, “isn’t it a bit too soon to be feeling lonely about no one being home?”

It hadn’t even been a month since I’d moved into this old mansion, so it was far too early to get homesick—not that I was likely to. Back at the Kiyomiya family’s main residence, the constant visits from other prominent families were suffocating. The peace and quiet of this old mansion was a comfort in itself.

I walked into the living room, dropped my bag, and was about to sink into the sofa when a hand grabbed my arm.

“Wait,” Sayaka said firmly. “Don’t move, okay?”

“Wh-hey, what are you doing!?” I yelped as she began to take off my blazer. “I can change on my own!”

Ignoring my protest, she started unbuttoning my dress shirt. “Just behave. I’ll be gentle if you don’t make a fuss.”

“What are you even talking about!?”

While I sputtered, her hands moved with surprising deftness, and in moments, my shirt was completely unbuttoned.

“I know,” she said, her tone suddenly serious.

“Eh?”

“Kiyomiya-kun, you were taken away by Iwakura and his friends, weren’t you? I wasn’t there at the time, but the entire classroom was in an uproar.”

“…”

She sits right next to me, yet she didn’t say a word about it at school?

“Iwakura and his friends aren’t stupid enough to leave evidence by punching you in the face,” she continued, her expression hardening. “In that case, I’m worried about your stomach.”

“You could have just said that without suddenly stripping me…”

“I wanted to take your clothes off as quickly as possible.”

“Don’t say things that could be so easily misunderstood!”

“It’s not entirely a misunderstanding, but… oh?” Her hand came to rest softly on my abdomen, gently stroking the skin. A strange jolt went through me. “…You’re surprisingly toned, aren’t you?”

“You’re not the only one with a nice body, Sayaka.”

“Sexually harassing a maid is a crime, you know,” she retorted, though her touch lingered.

“It’s a crime no matter who it is. Besides, I have to keep up appearances, at the very least. I have my father’s reputation to think about, after all.”

“I wish you’d maintain your grades as well as you do your appearance. Once I officially become your maid, I’ll take full responsibility for your studies, too.”

“I-I think I’d like to pass on that,” I said quickly.

Sayaka seems like a perfectionist. If she were my tutor… I have a feeling she’d drill the lessons into me relentlessly.

“Anyway,” I said, trying to steer the conversation back. “Wasn’t your goal to check for any injuries?”

“You’re right. So, is it completely fine?”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I managed to avoid getting hit. A friend helped me out.”

“Maki-san did… I’ll have to go and thank her sometime. I’ll tell her my master was in her care.”

“Master!? That’s the kind of phrasing that will definitely cause a misunderstanding!”

Won’t she take that to mean husband or something!?

[T/N: 主人 (shujin) can mean both husband and master of the house]

“There seems to be a modern trend where calling one’s husband ‘master’ is considered undesirable,” she stated calmly. “It’s meaningless to apply contemporary values to criticize words that have been used for ages.”

“I couldn’t care less about that kind of word-policing.”

Come to think of it, Sayaka is quite the bookworm, isn’t she? It’s fine for her to be particular about classic Japanese, but I’m still standing here half-naked.

“You’re right. Anyway, I’m glad you’re safe,” she conceded. “We need to resolve the issue with those people soon. Iwakura and whoever is behind him—they’re looking down on you.”

“Well, that can’t be helped. I’m a fake aristocrat, mediocre in both studies and sports… a worthless guy who just grins all the time.”

“I won’t let my master remain a good-for-nothing,” she declared. “Once I become your maid, I’ll thoroughly retrain your mental fortitude as well.”

“If you say things like that, doesn’t it lower your chances of getting hired?” I pointed out, terrified at the mere thought of her intense training. I quickly rebuttoned my shirt before finally sitting on the sofa. “Phew… You probably already know this, but there’s something I want to confirm, too.”

“Eh?” Sayaka’s face turned beet red.

“Hm? Wait, wait, this isn’t me saying I’m going to strip you!”

“O-oh, is that so,” she stammered, flustered. “I thought you were suddenly making a bold demand.”

“Have you been reading weird manga about maids?”

“Inappropriate relationships between masters and maids are a common trope in novels, as well.”

“Let’s try to distinguish between fiction and reality. Besides, if you want me to hire you, you can be open with me, right? No secrets.”

“Even maids need their privacy, don’t you think?”

“Anyone who gets summoned by the school is suspicious. At the main residence, we do a thorough ‘body inspection’ of all the servants.” And by ‘body inspection,’ I don’t mean measuring their height and weight. It’s an investigation to confirm there are no issues in their past and no current associations with anti-social organizations. The Kiyomiya family is a distinguished and wealthy clan; they meticulously vet anyone they let inside the house. The hiring for this mansion has been left entirely to me, so whether or not to investigate is at my discretion, but still…

“I’m not interested in gossip,” I said plainly. “The students at Sōshūkan Academy have more than enough family and clan drama, but I make it a point to have absolutely no interest.”

“Being interested in gossip isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” she countered. “Sōshūkan is different from a normal school. You need to know the hidden side of each family. You should consider yourself already caught up in a conflict between the great families.”

“Just who am I, exactly?” I may be the son of the head of the Kiyomiya family, but I’ve always tried to avoid getting involved with distinguished families, high society, socializing, or competition.

“You’ve also caught the eye of the Maritsuji family’s young lady, haven’t you? There’s no harm in having her as an ally. Even if she’s an elegant young lady, she’s still a first-year high school girl. Why not train her well and make her understand with her body?”

“You’re the one who should talk like a first-year high school girl!” Training her? Making her ‘understand with her body’? That’s how an old man thinks! “Maritsuji is the kind of person you’d be in deep trouble with if you got involved carelessly. If you’re thinking about the family’s interests, you need to keep an appropriate distance.”

“Maritsuji, huh…”

Sayaka’s eyes narrowed, seeming to catch the fact that I’d dropped the honorific. “Well, fine. If you absolutely refuse to get involved in the school’s social politics or the high society of the great families, so be it. But my situation is something you don’t need to know, Kiyomiya-kun.”

“The one who called for you was the chairman, wasn’t it?” I blurted out, unable to keep the information I got from Maki to myself.

“Maki-san, I see,” she said, her expression unreadable. “None of the students should know that yet.”

“So you admit it. The chairman getting involved means it’s serious.”

Even I, who intentionally distances myself from worldly affairs, knew of Sōshūkan’s chairman, Toyohara Shuuichirou. He was a distinguished, silver-haired man who looked as if he’d stepped out of a painting—suave and imposing. It wasn’t just his name, either; the Toyohara family was a great house that rivaled both the Kiyomiya and Maritsuji families. While several prominent families were involved in the founding of Sōshūkan, the Toyoharas were said to have played the leading role.

“What did the chairman want to talk about?” I pressed.

“I see, so even Maki-san doesn’t know the details. Well, I suppose there’s no way for her to find out.”

“But there is a way for me,” I said pointedly. “After all, we live in the same house.”

“I’m in your care. If you press me, I can’t remain silent… however.”

“Hm?”

“If you just drop it and don’t ask anything more,” she said, her voice dropping to a near whisper, “I’ll… j-join you in the bath and wash your back. And I won’t do something cheap like wearing a swimsuit. I promise I’ll wear something appropriate for a bath.”

“Alright, I won’t ask another thing,” I replied instantly.

I already feel a bit guilty for asking Maki to dig into her meeting with the chairman. I’ll stop pursuing it any further. Yes.

“Kiyomiya-kun, you’re pretending to be understanding, but you’re just being true to your desires…” she sighed.

“I mean, it was a joke! You should have shot me down sooner. You’re making it sound like I was serious.”

“But, Kiyomiya-kun.”

“Yeah?”

“If you hire me as your maid,” she said, her voice soft but sincere, “your back or anywhere else… I’ll make it clean for you.”

“If anything, I’m the one who wants to clean every nook and cranny of you, Sayaka.”

“In your case, it seems your mind is dirtier than your body.”

“By the time you’re in high school, you can’t stay pure and innocent,” I retorted.

“You’re only half-heartedly pure, you know.”

“…”

Putting aside the sudden switch to polite language, something—an aura—was radiating from her. It was an aura I was familiar with, one that only those of noble birth possess. The same kind that even Fujikawa has…

“Ah, my apologies,” she said, the strange presence vanishing as quickly as it appeared. “How impertinent of me. Of course, I’ll tell you what happened. Since I’m in your care.”

“…What happened?” Was I just seeing things? She was back to being the same elusive Hisaka Sayaka as always. But right now, the summons during lunch break was the most important thing.

“As a maid, is it alright for me to speak of personal matters?”

“It’s fine, just tell me,” I urged, and she gave a small nod.

“You know that I’m a special scholarship student at Sōshūkan, right?”

“Yeah, you’re the only one right now, aren’t you? Your tuition is completely waived or something.”

“It seems they’re abolishing the special scholarship system starting this fiscal year.”

“I see, there haven’t been any students using the system for a while, so it can’t be hel—wait, what!?”

“I have to pay tuition starting this fiscal year.”

“That’s too sudden! And to have it start this year, of all times!”

Just because it’s a private school doesn’t mean they can do whatever they want. It’s true that Sōshūkan is different from an average school, and I’ve heard the chairman has a lot of authority, but can he really get away with something so unreasonable?

“That’s what I think, too,” she said with a sigh. “But it seems the decision is final. Because it’s so sudden, they’ll apparently make this year’s tuition cheaper than the standard fee.”

“…Just how much is it?”

“Exactly one million yen.”

“…”

“For the record,” she added, her voice flat, “my entire fortune amounts to 3,250 yen.”

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