Chapter 219

"It's cold today, isn't it...?"

We were in the car on the way home.

Renka brought up the weather out of nowhere.

"Yeah. It is."

"Right... It is cold."

"I turned the heater on. Is it not warm enough?"

"No... it's warm."

"Okay."

"..."

"..."

The conversation faltered and died right there.

Perhaps hating the heavy, awkward atmosphere, Renka cleared her throat a few times before speaking.

"You've been quiet... ever since lunch..."

"Does it seem that way?"

"Yeah. Was the food really that bad?"

"You think I stopped talking because the food was bad? Me?"

"...If not, never mind."

Ever since that kid busted her for buying the figure, she probably expected me to tease her mercilessly. My total silence on the matter was making her anxious.

I wondered if this counted as part of her training.

"But President."

"..."

"President."

"Fine! I'm a massive otaku! I like this kind of stuff! What are you going to do about it!?"

Renka shouted so suddenly that her voice echoed inside the car.

Startled by the unexpected confession, I looked over at her in disbelief.

"Hey... why are you screaming while I'm driving? You scared me."

"..."

Realizing her mistake, Renka snapped her mouth shut.

Seeing that, I forced down the laughter bubbling up in my throat and turned my eyes back to the road.

Given how she had suddenly snapped, the secret must have been weighing heavily on her.

She didn't want to suffer in silence anymore. Since she'd already been caught, she was probably trying to find some peace of mind by just admitting it, exactly as I'd suggested before.

She was probably also worried that if she kept playing dumb, I would just keep stringing her along.

Whatever the reason, her dramatic confession was both funny and oddly admirable.

Keeping my face as neutral as possible while I drove, I spoke.

"You hid a figure under your coat yesterday, didn't you?"

"..."

"It was super obvious. Doesn't it feel great to admit it? Good job."

"Shut up."

"Why are you swearing at me? If you wanted to be a closet otaku, you should've hidden your identity properly. You weren't careful, and now you're taking it out on me? This was bound to happen eventually. You should just be glad you didn't get caught by someone from the Academy."

"I told you to shut up."

"Earlier you were complaining that I wasn't talking... By the way, what anime is that RZ-78 figure from?"

"..."

She glared at me, her eyes burning with rage.

Feeling a bit sheepish, I licked my lips and quickly placated her.

"Alright. I'm sorry."

"Don't speak to me so casually...!"

"My apologies."

Her face was so red it looked ready to explode. She was incredibly cute.

It was a little disappointing that I hadn't wrung the confession out of Renka myself and had to rely on that kid's help instead. Still, it didn't really matter.

Regardless, it was no exaggeration to say that today had been a day of suffering for her.

Once she got home, she would probably dive under her covers, scream, and beat her pillow.

All while cursing out poor, innocent MK between blows.

"Aaaaaaah!"

Burying her face deep into her pillow, Renka unleashed a roar from the bottom of her heart.

She kicked her feet wildly, thrashing against the bed until she finally calmed down a bit and lay flat on her back.

Using steady breaths to cool her burning face, she thought about the kid who had humiliated her today.

That bratty, mischievous face... she wouldn't forget it even in death.

'It's driving me crazy...'

In the car, Matsuda had been acting so smug that she had confessed her secret in a fit of anger.

Sure, Matsuda already knew she liked subculture stuff... but that didn't stop it from being incredibly annoying.

If someone asked if she felt relieved, though... she would have to admit she felt a tiny bit better.

A very, very tiny bit. Barely a speck of dust.

Bzzzt—!

Her Cell Phone vibrated at the head of her bed.

Struck by a bad feeling that it was Matsuda calling, Renka cautiously checked her Cell Phone.

Just as she expected, the name [Trash Matsuda Ken] was flashing on the screen.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Renka debated what to do for a moment before pressing the answer button.

"What."

"Just calling. What are you doing right now? Admiring your figures?"

He was already teasing her.

Was her confession a terrible move after all? She should have stayed a little calmer back then... She wanted to turn back time.

"Shut up."

"You're so consistent. It breaks my heart when you use such harsh words."

Breaks his heart, my foot.

Judging by his tone, it was obvious he enjoyed it when she cursed at him.

Her face, which had just cooled down, flushed red with anger all over again as she spoke.

"Don't contact me."

"No. Do a good job on the opening shift tomorrow. And don't go talking to guys without my permission."

She was dumbfounded. Was this guy completely insane?

Despite being in a good relationship with Chinami, he was talking like a possessive boyfriend trying to monitor his girlfriend.

And it was incredibly infuriating.

He happily enjoyed the attention of female customers himself, so why was he putting restrictions on her...?

It was the epitome of inequality. He was the ultimate selfish jerk. It was so ridiculous she couldn't even form words.

"You're a total psycho. So you're saying I should just keep my mouth shut when a male customer orders?"

Wait, why was she even asking a question like that?

She should have just poured out a bucket of curses and blocked him instead.

Asking questions like that made it seem... like she was submitting to Matsuda.

"I'm telling you to behave properly."

"Why should I listen to you?"

"Do I have to say it again and waste my breath?"

"Shut up. Drop dead."

"Talk to me like that one more time, and you'll be punished."

"A piece of trash like you is going to punish me? I'm not scared at all."

"Then keep going and see what happens."

Where did that confidence come from?

Was he going to blackmail her using her otaku hobbies against her?

It wouldn't work. She was done being pushed around by that evil villain.

"I'm going to sleep."

Yet, she couldn't say it with confidence.

Just hearing Matsuda's voice made her feel like she was shrinking away.

It was truly a bizarre phenomenon.

"Good night."

His voice was so pointlessly nice... That just made her annoyed all over again.

Click.

Hanging up without another word, Renka repeated the concept of clear mirror and still water, one of the essential virtues of Kendo, to soothe her troubled mind.

"Ah, damn it...!"

When that didn't work at all, she kicked her blanket straight up into the air.

She couldn't stop thinking about it. The memory of Matsuda catching her at Comiket, right after she had told a lost passerby to enjoy their otaku time.

'I'm ruined...'

Whenever she got tangled up with Matsuda, her peaceful inner world was shattered to pieces.

She never should have introduced that guy to the Boss in the first place... It was her own mistake.

But what could she do? It had already happened, so her only option was to face it head-on.

Thinking that, Renka opened AnyShare and checked her notifications.

There were several comments on her recent review of Girlfriend Training Journal.

Some people asked if she had developed a taste for BDSM, while others said they got curious from her review and looked it up—some found it fun, and others didn't care for it.

Looking closely at the overall reaction, the majority of people strongly disliked it.

Given the nature of the genre, it couldn't be helped. People with those kinds of sexual preferences were in the minority.

'I thought it was fun, though...'

Like most people, she used to be on the side of disliking it. But she had taken an interest after reading 'Master and Me,' which MK had recommended first, and she had gotten quite a lot of enjoyment out of Girlfriend Training.

Anyway, that wasn't the important part. MK was the issue.

There was a high probability that this guy was Matsuda.

They had the same initials, they both liked the training genre, and even their smug way of talking was similar.

Of course, it wasn't confirmed yet, but she figured there was a seventy... no, an eighty percent chance or higher.

If her guess was right, she had just gained a wonderful outlet for her anger.

Matsuda, not knowing the true identity of Run Ino-chan, getting cursed out and fuming in anger...

Her lips naturally curled into a smile just imagining it. It was a little... no, very pathetic, but as long as it made her feel good, wasn't that enough?

Giggling at the thought of a fuming, frustrated Matsuda, Renka closed the app and shut her eyes.

Too many things had happened today.

She also had to wake up early tomorrow... so even though it was early, it was time to sleep.

'That bastard...'

Pouring out curses at Matsuda in her head, Renka tried her absolute hardest to empty her mind and fall asleep.

Letting out a long yawn, I got out of my car and walked into the cafe.

Inside the cafe, a gentle ballad was playing. When Renka spotted me walking in, she aggressively scrunched up her eyebrows.

"D-did I do something wrong...?"

The customer ordering a drink flinched.

Realizing what she had done upon seeing the customer's reaction, Renka hurriedly bowed her head.

"Ah...! I-I'm so sorry... I suddenly thought of something weird... I apologize..."

Amused by how flustered Renka was after unintentionally expressing hostility toward a customer, I clocked in, changed my clothes, and came back out.

Then, as Renka called out a farewell to the customer—who was practically fleeing the cafe with their drink—I walked up to her and spoke.

"Why were you making faces in front of a customer?"

Did she think I was being a pain, making sarcastic remarks first thing in the morning?

Gritting her teeth, Renka glared at me.

"It's because of you...!"

"I just walked in, but you're throwing a fit all by yourself. Have you been keeping your promise?"

"...What promise?"

"I asked if you've been behaving properly."

"I never made a promise in the first place. You're the one throwing a fit...!"

"So you didn't keep it?"

"Shut up and get to work."

"You didn't keep it?"

"I said get to work."

Her rebellious streak had gotten stronger.

I had a way to deal with this.

Crossing my arms, I stared intently at Renka, whose face was starting to turn red, and uttered a short word I had meant to save for later.

"Hmm."

The reaction was immediate.

Her eyebrows twitched, and she bit down hard on her lower lip.

Examining my face, which clearly looked like I was hatching some sort of sinister plot, she averted her eyes and obediently confessed.

"To begin with... no male customers even came in..."

"And if they did?"

"What was I supposed to do if they did...! They're customers...! I have to take their orders...! Do you want me to get fired?"

"That would be problematic. In that case, I'll let it slide if you're just taking orders."

"There's nothing for you to 'let slide.' I'm just going to do what I want. Am I your property or something? You're talking complete nonsense...!"

She had a good grasp of her situation. I should put a gold star sticker on her butt.

"That hurts my feelings."

"So what? Don't stress me out."

"President."

"What? Why...!"

"Do you hate it when I do this?"

"Do you even have to ask?"

"I think it's great that we've reached a point where I can talk like this with the President, who used to completely despise me."

"Even so, how do you think the person listening feels when you selfishly just say whatever you want?"

She hadn't realized that I was subtly showing interest in her.

Tact was an essential virtue for a slave... What a shame.

I hoped she would carefully ruminate on my words later when she went home.

"Should we make a deal then?"

"A deal...?"

"You hate it when I pressure you so forcefully, right?"

Renka blinked a couple of times.

She seemed flustered by my suddenly serious attitude.

"...Right? Ah, and it's not so much that I hate it... it's just so obvious that you're only doing it to make me mad..."

If she hated it, she hated it. Why the long excuse?

A sufficiently trained Renka... I loved it.

At this point, wouldn't it be okay to try giving her a hug?

Entertaining that thought, I put on a gentle smile and asked.

"Shall I hold back a little, then?"

"...You're just going to do that for me?"