Chapter 327

Tap.

"Eek!"

The moment she stepped inside, I gave her butt a light pat. Renka jumped, her eyes flaring.

"What, are, you, doing?"

Her stiffness had doubled.

Realizing she would act like a robot in bed at this rate, I spoke.

"Can't you do something about that tone? It's awkward."

"Ahem... ahem...! A-ahem...!!"

Renka cleared her throat several times, seemingly aware that she sounded strange.

She brought a fist to her mouth and cleared her throat a few more times before taking a deep breath and speaking.

"I asked you what you were doing."

The awkwardness lingered, but it sounded much better.

Satisfied, I nodded and held out a candy to her. She couldn't even meet my eyes.

"Eat it."

"Eat it yourself."

"Stuff it down my own throat?"

"You, eat it."

It was hilarious how she reverted to that robotic tone the second she felt cornered.

What was Renka thinking right now?

Her mind had to be a tangled mess of modern art. I genuinely wanted to take a peek inside.

"Don't be like that. Just eat it. I brought this specifically for you, President. Why do you want to reject my sincerity?"

"..."

Renka pouted and grumbled with clear reluctance before finally parting her plump lips.

I popped the candy right in. I patted her back in praise, and—

"Stop, it, you jerk...!"

She raised a hand as if to strike me, snapping like a petulant child.

My dear Renka... what was I going to do with someone this adorable?

She wasn't threatening at all.

"Now, shall we talk about your punishment?"

My voice dropped a fraction, and Renka's entire body flinched.

"W-why do I have to be punished? There's no reason for that...!"

And now she was speaking normally again.

Did she naturally return to normal when the situation got truly urgent? Fascinating.

"Why wouldn't there be? You deceived me this whole time. And do you know what's really amazing?"

"What...!"

"President, you acted as if you knew my AnyShare nickname was MK."

"W-what's so amazing about that!"

"It would be more accurate to say you acted like you already knew MK was me. You figured it out a long time ago, didn't you?"

"..."

She clamped her mouth shut in silence, like a mute who has eaten honey.

It was proof that I had hit the bullseye.

Seeing her delicate frame freeze up, her eyes darting around in a panic, just made me want to pull her into a tight hug.

"Since when did you know?"

"I d-didn't know."

"You should have said that immediately. Do you really think I'll believe a denial this late?"

"I, I have no idea what you're talking about. So you were MK. Hmm."

"Then why didn't you ask if I was Matsuda when I sent you a message from MK's account yesterday?"

"That... I deduced it from the contents of your message."

"You mean the 'Hello, President' part?"

"Exactly."

"I see. I'll let that slide for now."

"W-what do you mean, let it slide? I have, nothing to hide."

Nothing to hide, my ass. She looked like a criminal guilty of a dozen felonies.

"Sure, let's go with that. But I distinctly remember telling you—if Ino-chan turned out to be the President, I'd give her a massive punishment."

"I don't, remember that."

Oh, she definitely remembered. Good girl, Renka.

I took a long look at Renka, whose frantic expression completely betrayed her feeble denial, and spoke.

"Do you want to know what it is beforehand, or take it without knowing?"

"K-know what?"

"Your punishment."

"I'm not taking it."

"Then you'll take it without knowing."

"I said I'm not taking it...! Are your ears plugged...?"

"If you take this well, I'll refrain from bringing up Ino-chan from now on. Not a bad deal, right?"

At those words, Renka's mouth clamped shut.

The inclusion of Ino-chan in the bargain seemed to tempt her. She really must have wanted to keep that persona a secret.

Especially now that she had already been caught.

It made sense. As a closet otaku in real life, she had unleashed all her otaku tendencies on AnyShare, so the thought of me reading the posts she wrote while geeking out must have been incredibly mortifying.

"..."

Renka rolled the candy around in her mouth, deep in thought.

It looked like she was trying to gauge just how severe the punishment would be.

I waited in silence. After a few more clacks of the hard candy against her teeth, she cautiously asked.

"What... is it?"

"Nothing much... it's similar to when I made a wish to you back then, President."

"Ah... something like that...?"

"Yeah."

In reality, it wouldn't be similar at all.

The severity alone would be as different as heaven and earth.

The reason I said that was because the situation was similar.

That way, it wouldn't be a lie.

"I'll, I'll think about it."

Renka likely had a vague idea as well.

That the severity would be incomparably higher than back then.

"Think about it? You're going to think about it?"

"W-what! Of course it has to be mutual, so we have to negotiate the terms...!"

That was like her last shred of pride.

A mental victory that she wasn't submissively accepting the punishment, that she was doing it of her own will rather than being forced into it... something along those lines.

"All right. I understand."

"I can leave now, right...?"

"Yeah."

The moment the permission fell, she immediately turned on her heel.

I tossed a playful remark at her back as she grabbed the doorknob.

"I really enjoyed reading your reviews, President."

"Ah! Eek!"

Renka let out a bizarre squeal, her entire body shuddering.

So embarrassment could be expressed like that. It was hilarious, yet adorable.

Click!

Staring at the door that had been closed somewhat forcefully, but not enough to cross the line, I figured it was about time to prepare the tail plug.

Suddenly thrusting the plug at her would obviously trigger massive resistance...

Before that, maybe I should lower the severity a bit and make her wear the outfit I had in mind?

Either way, it had been quite a while since Renka and I did any spanking play, and my hands were itching for it, so I needed to do one this weekend.

Doing both would be even better.

"Sunbae!"

The next day.

I was trying to quietly slip into the school building when Hiyori called out to me.

I glanced back and saw her approaching with a lively face.

"What is it."

"If you saw me, you should have walked over! Why are you just standing there blankly?"

"It's only natural that the person who called out is the one who walks over."

"Is that how it is?"

"That's how it is. Are you doing a good job with the surveillance?"

I was referring to Nishida, the guy who had caused trouble recently.

Hiyori nodded.

"Yeah. But why do you care about those guys, sunbae? You're not even on the Student Council."

Why else? If those idiots caused trouble again, the Student Council would find out. Miyuki was busy enough as it was, and I hated the idea of adding to her workload, so I was handling it on my end.

I swallowed the words, 'And to give myself an excuse to interact with you...' and replied.

"I care because I saw them. Hand over some Suichu if you have any."

"I'm all out."

"Hello, Mitsushima."

When I waved a hand at Miho, who had leisurely followed behind her, she offered a polite bow in return.

It would be really nice if Hiyori took after Miho even half as much... no, even a quarter as much...

Would Renka-style training work? Definitely not, it would only breed rebellion.

"Asahina! Mitsushima! Are you two just getting here?"

A student approached the two girls in front of me and spoke to them with a glad expression.

Seeing him flinch after looking me up and down, he seemed to be one of Hiyori's classmates who had been sitting in the classroom when I chewed out Nishida last time.

I gave a rough wave to Hiyori and Miho, who were exchanging greetings with the student.

"Go about your business. I'm leaving."

Then, before Hiyori could say anything, I moved my feet and left the spot.

It was because I absolutely hated it when my surroundings got noisy.

It was also because I didn't want to watch Hiyori, who already had high tension and talked a lot, leave me standing there while she chatted with someone else.

After changing into my indoor shoes and entering the classroom, I leisurely strolled over to my seat and sat down.

Tetsuya had his head planted on his desk, watching something.

I could faintly hear something like shouting coming from the earphones in his ears, making me wonder if he was watching a sports video.

Since it was none of my business at all, I set up the books on Miyuki's empty desk.

Then, the Vice Representative, who had been chatting with Bread Girl in the seat ahead, turned her head and smiled meaningfully.

"Did you set it up so Miyuki can jump straight into class as soon as she arrives?"

"Yeah."

"You're being really sweet, huh? It genuinely doesn't suit you."

Hmm. She must have gotten a lot more comfortable around me lately.

To think she could even play jokes like that.

She had braided her hair into twin tails today for whatever reason, and I wondered if she would still be able to say such things if I used them as handles.

"You think? That hairstyle suits you, by the way."

"Thanks."

I also exchanged a brief greeting with Bread Girl before lowering my Cell Phone under the desk to send a message to Renka.

Naturally, I used the AnyShare app.

[What are you up to?]

It didn't take long for her reply to pop up.

[Die.]

I could easily picture Renka's face turning red the moment she saw the message.

She was restless like this right now, but she would become comfortable later.

Thinking that, I moved my fingers.

[Have you thought it over? Keep a day open this weekend. Friday is fine too.]

[Eat shit. I don't have time then.]

[I know you have plenty of time.]

[Don't make me laugh. How would you know?]

[It's not like there are any doujin conventions happening this weekend.]

[Shut up. Die. Please just die.]

It was funny how Renka poured out curses the moment I deliberately brought up subculture talk.

[I hope the weekend comes quickly. You think so too, right, President?]

[Fuck off.]

[Why do you keep cursing at me?]

The read receipt never appeared, and no reply came.

Class hadn't even started yet... Had she blocked me? It seemed like it.

It wasn't even vacation, so we could meet during break time, lunch time, or even club activities...

It was cute how she lashed out at me, letting her immediate embarrassment outweigh her fear of retaliation.

I seriously considered whether I should visit Renka's classroom during this free time, but I shook my head.

For something like this, rather than saying something right now, it would be better to pay her back properly with interest at the Hotel.

Renka would probably find that more exciting too, wouldn't she? I believed so.