I finally finished this chapter... yay!
On to chapter 3... Why do I do this to myself...
Chapter 2: Love Talk, Boxing Rings and Plans
Whilst Chika was preparing coffee for everyone, Kou was busy dusting the Student Council room. Both of them were waiting for the President and Vice-President in silence, which Kou didn't think was possible for Chika. In fact, it wasn't. Chika was talking at him, but Kou had his earbuds in and was listening to his music loud enough that he was certain it was audible throughout the room. Once he was finished dusting though, he had no choice but to turn his music off and converse with the bow wearing girl.
"So?" Chika questioned the boy who gave her a confused look in response.
"So, what?" Kou inquired with no clue as to what Chika could be asking him.
"So, do you want to walk Pesu with me today?" The cheery Secretary asked somewhat huffily.
"Sure. Just let me ask Lady Kaguya when I see her." Kou agreed as he started to put the cleaning supplies away. Once he was done he took a seat on the sofa facing the President's desk and took a sip from the cup of coffee in front of him, it was delicious as always. Thankfully it wasn't the Kopi Luwak stuff she had used the other day. While that coffee was delicious as well, once he heard the name he washed his mouth with soap. For an hour.
It was at this point that the President and Vice-President entered the room. Miyuki immediately headed for his desk and got to work whilst Kaguya sat across from Kou and took a sip from the cup in front of her.
Glancing at something he noticed earlier but disregarded, Kou picked up the magazine that had been left on the table. It was some generic teen love magazine.
"Aren't these kind of things banned on the Academies premises?" Kou asked no one in particular as he flipped through the magazine, one page caught his interest so he read through it properly. After reading a certain passage from the page, he did a spit take into his cup and started coughing.
"What the heck!" Kou yelled at the magazine. "Why would you admit that!?" He questioned the sanity of the people involved with the survey he had just read.
"What's all the fuss about, Akatsubaki?" Kaguya inquired as she took the magazine from her now red-faced attendant and read through the page he was on. "It's a survey... 'When was your first time?'" The Vice-President read aloud. "'In high school' answered thirty four percent of respondents... I see." She finished reading and set the magazine down to go back to her coffee.
"Lies! People can't be doing it that much!" Chika exclaimed with a flustered blush on her face. "I'm sure the number is only that high since they would have asked the type of people who read those kinds of magazines in the first place." She reasoned as she backed up to the President's desk.
"Naturally, it's a sample selection bias. Surely the actual number can't be that high." Miyuki agreed as he and Chika shared an awkward laugh, Kou joined in when he finally calmed down. However, no amount of laughter could suppress the shock from they heard next.
"You think so? In my opinion the percentage seems a little smaller than I'd expect." Kaguya admitted, taking everyone else by surprise. Especially Kou who thought she had no clue about this kind of thing.
"Um... Kaguya, I'm sure the answer is no, but... have you done it?" Chika inquired nervously, she and the two guys all dreading what the answer.
"Yes, quite a while ago with my nephew." Kaguya answered without hesitation.
Chika screamed in surprise, Miyuki looked through the phonebook for something and Kou realised that there was no way Kaguya was talking about the same thing they were.
His head wouldn't be on his shoulders if she were.
"Lady Kaguya... What do you think we're talking about?" Kou inquired carefully, this conversation could end very poorly for him.
"Kissing, of course." Kaguya responded, much to the relief of everyone else. "Why? What have you all been talking about?" Everyone froze, all thinking the same thing.
Who was going to tell her?
Miyuki and Chika looked to Kou who was staring at the coffee table, an incredibly nervous look on his face. That look stayed until he had an epiphany, a divine revelation that only the most faithful could receive.
"I don't get paid enough to answer that."
Miyuki and Chika looked horrified at the betrayal. They stared at each other, having a silent conversation. And before long, Chika steeled herself. As the only other girl in the room, she had a duty to explain everything to Kaguya. At least, that's what she told herself. Chika approached Kaguya from behind and began whispering in her ear.
Sixteen minutes later, Kaguya screamed the following:
"Isn't it illegal to do that before marriage!?"
"So today was fun." Kou summarised as he walked alongside Chika, who was making sure her dog didn't pull against his leash too much.
"You betrayed us." Chika deadpanned as she looked at the boy with hollow eyes.
"I stand behind what I said." The butler-bodyguard defended himself. "Look, it was either you explain it, or we find out what happens when a teenage boy explains sex to a teenage girl. And I, for one, didn't want to put my life at risk." He added as an explanation.
It wasn't an exaggeration, Kou knew everything that would end with his head detached from his body. The situation from earlier was one of them. And Kou quite liked his head, it was a good head that had served him well so far. Definitely not something he would want to lose.
Chika sighed before changing the subject slightly. "Have you ever kissed anyone?"
Kou almost felt his heart stop for a second. "N-no." He answered as he undid the top button on his shirt, he suddenly felt quite hot.
"Is there anyone you want to kiss?" Apparently Chika felt the need to continue this line of questioning. Kou's mind went blank and he responded automatically.
"There is..." There had been more to the sentence but he didn't want reveal everything. Sadly, the brightness of Chika's face told him he would be subjected to further questioning.
"Who, who!?" The Secretary asked excitedly.
"A person." Kou joked as he tried to think of a way to curb Chika's enthusiasm.
Chika didn't seem to except the answer though. "Have you confessed to them? Or are you planning on confessing to them?"
"...She's a bit hard to read. And she doesn't let people see the real her that easily..." Kou started rambling on about the girl he was thinking about. Everything he said led Chika to one conclusion.
"You really love her don't you?" The question stopped Kou dead in his tracks.
"Yeah, I do." The boy nodded in agreement.
After that, the two spent the rest of the walk making small talk.
"And this is the last one." Kou grunted as he set down the last cardboard box. Opening it up, he rifled through the accessories and costumes. The drama club really had a wide variety of get-ups. Surely they didn't use all of them.
"Do we really have to cosplay?" Miyuki questioned sceptically.
"Definitely!" Chika exclaimed, right in Kou's ear much to the boy's chagrin. "This isn't any regular sister school visit. They're coming all the way from Paris, we have to show them our excellent hospitality."
"You just want a reason to play with the drama clubs' costumes." Kou guessed, bringing Chika's enthusiasm to a halt. She pouted at him before digging through one of the boxes. Chika pulled something out from the box and placed it on Kou's head before he could see what it was. Before Kou could ask what Chika had placed on his head, he picked up on the restrained laughter coming from the President and Vice-President.
"It looks good on you Akatsubaki." Kaguya managed to regain her composure as she took a picture of her attendant. Showing him the picture, Kaguya noticed Kou's expression go from confused to playful in a split second. The impish grin on his face going all too well with the dark brown fox ears on his head.
"Heheheh. Is this what I really look like to you Chika?" Kou asked teasingly as he placed his thumb to his middle and ring fingers and raised his index and pinky fingers, creating fox heads with his hands. "Kon." He said as his grin grew until it stretched from ear to ear.
Chika burst out laughing, Kaguya took another picture while laughing behind her hand and Miyuki pretended to cough into his fist while snickering. Kou took advantage of the situation to swipe three more sets of ears from the boxes and place them on the other Student Council members heads. Chika got a pair of pink rabbit ears, one of which was flopped downwards, Kaguya got black cat ears and Miyuki got a set of blonde dog ears similar to a golden retriever's.
The three were caught off-guard by the speed at which Kou did this.
"There, now we can all see what we 'truly' look like." Kou smirked playfully.
The Secretary seemed to really enjoy the sight of everyone wearing animal ears, while Kaguya and Miyuki looked... ready to kill each other? Knowing how the two typically react to things, Kou was certain they both thought the other was cute.
Not that they would ever allow themselves to admit it vocally of course.
Then Chika had an idea. "We should take a group picture!"
This did bring a smile to Kou's face. Well, a bigger one than there already was.
Taking out his phone, the volunteer opened the camera app. "Gather up everyone, let's make it one to remember."
Chika was the first to get into frame with Kou, holding onto his shoulders and leaning over him slightly as he knelt down. Miyuki was next and stood so that part of his body was obscured by Chika and Kou. Kaguya was the last one into frame and stood a noticeable margin away from the group, until Kou and Chika pulled her down next to them.
"Smile." Kou prompted. Once everyone was smiling, even if Miyuki and Kaguya looked a little awkward, the teen took the picture. "I might print this out and have it framed." He mused as he stood up and took the fox ears off.
"Right then, back to business everyone." Miyuki ordered with a clap of his hands. No one bothered to mention that he hadn't taken the dog ears off.
As Kou put his tablet down he let out an exhausted sigh.
"Long day?" An all too familiar voice asked from behind the boy.
Jumping in his chair, Kou turned to find Ai standing directly behind him. Two mugs of, if his sense of smell was working correctly, coffee in her hands. Passing one of the mugs to her co-worker, Ai took a seat on the chair next to Kou and placed her mug on the dining table.
Kou had been working in the dining hall since it was left alone after dinner, which meant it was quiet enough for him to think about things. These things commonly being work and occasionally being something else.
The butler-bodyguard ran a hand through his hair and let out a small huff. "Yeah, had to rack my brain to make some of the decisions." A solemn smile appeared as he looked to the tablet he constantly had to use for work.
Taking a sip from the mug in front of him, Kou briefly pondered why he had to do half of the work he was assigned. He was Kaguya's attendant and bodyguard, not the secretary of the head of the family. Kou still couldn't find an answer as to why he had to make these decisions.
"But it's what I get paid to do, so I can't complain." The teen let out a light laugh as he reminded himself of that.
"You could discuss it with Lady Kaguya." Ai suggested.
Just the thought of going to Kaguya with his problems made Kou laugh. It's not like she's bad at problem solving and she probably would come up with an answer, but Kou refused to talk about it with her. Kaguya had more important matters to deal with than his problems.
Kou took a long sip from his mug as Ai spoke up again. "Or you could talk to me." She offered.
The two attendants stared at each other, waiting for the other to speak. It was Kou who eventually broke the silence.
"I'll do that next time I struggle with something." He told Ai as he stood up, mug in hand and tablet underarm, and left for his room.
"Ah, right. Lady Kaguya? I'll be busy after school, so I won't be able to attend the Student Council today and Hayasaka will be accompanying you home." Kou informed the Vice-President during their lunch period, Kaguya nodded in understanding and they left it at that.
As he left the school grounds, Kou walked to his destination in silence. He prioritised organising his thoughts instead of distracting himself. He had to sit through a performance review and then go to the local gym for his weekly exercise; Kou was glad that it was his exercise day. He could work out some of the stress that had piled up.
Sitting through the performance review, Kou resisted the urge to fall asleep. It was all the same stuff as usual. He was doing a good job. Had he experienced any problems? He might get a raise if he keeps up this level of work. Once the patronising was over, Kou made his way to the gym.
Once there, the boy changed into his spare clothes and headed for the boxing section of the gym. After warming up, Kou fastened his MMA gloves and approached a free punching bag. The teen walloped the punching bag with a right hook, the chains holding the bag rattled as it swung backwards with considerable force. Kou spent a good chunk of his time beating down on the defenceless piece of equipment, only stopping when the chain snapped and the bag thudded against the ground.
That's when one of the other people in the room approached. A man with a goatee.
"Jeez kid, you've got some power, huh?" The man chuckled as he scratched his chin. "You ever consider going pro?" He asked with an inquisitive look in his eyes, though his whole face contorted in disgust after looking at Kou.
The teen was unfazed by the look. Being the bodyguard of someone from high society such as Kaguya Shinomiya meant that Kou could recognise the subtlest hint of this look, mostly because it could belong to the more unsavoury types of people.
The man's eyes focused on Kou as he asked. "You're one of the Shinomiya's lapdogs aren't you?"
Kou didn't grace the man with a response and started getting ready to leave; he did move the downed punching bag first of course.
"I lost my sponsors 'cause of you!" The man yelled as he shoved the teen backwards.
The brunette cocked his head to the side slightly. "And you're taking that out on me? As you said, I'm just a lapdog; I would have had no part in whatever happened with your sponsors." Kou reasoned with the older man as he tried to go about his business.
The adult had other ideas apparently.
Mainly evident from the fact that he made sure to stay in Kou's sight as he continued to berate the boy, who had ceased listening. He'd dealt with these types before. They get mad, say their piece, and leave thinking they've hurt your feelings. The older man apparently had a lot to say or nothing better to do since he was still prattling on.
By now, Kou himself was getting a bit pissed.
"Alright, what is it gonna take to shut you up!?" Kou snapped at the man, who flinched at the sudden acknowledgement.
The man stayed silent for a few seconds as he thought. Then he looked to the boxing ring in the middle of the room, then to Kou, then back to the ring as a smile crept up on his face. Sighing in resignation, Kou entered the ring and claimed a side.
"I can't wait to crush you." The goatee man sneered as he climbed into the ring. "And if a small 'training accident' happens, well you won't complain, right?" He added, letting his true intentions show.
Kou's only response was to do the 'come at me' gesture and shift into a defensive stance. The grown man snarled and charged, drawing his arm back for a left hook. The smaller fighter stepped into the attack and ducked under it before throwing an uppercut at his opponent, who managed to shift his head so that the boy's fist only just grazed his cheek. Both fighters backed off and assessed the other. Then Kou charged in and drew his arm back for a right hook. Once the man had begun moving to counter, Kou dropped his arm and went for a tackle instead. Bringing the adult down with a thud, the younger fighter slithered around his opponent and pinned him with an armlock. The man struggled, but found more pressure being applied to his arm the more he moved. Kou contemplated giving the man's arm a good pull, but decided against.
Kou released the man's arm and stood up. Looking down at the grown man, he smirked.
"You can't even win against a kid, no wonder your sponsor dropped you." The teen mocked. He placed his foot on the man's shoulder and shifted some of his weight onto it. "Now remember, this could have been a 'training accident'." Kou warned the man before leaving the ring and heading for the showers.
It was right on time for him to leave anyway.
As Kou entered the foyer of the manor he heard an unmistakable voice yell:
"But I keep waiting and waiting and he still hasn't contacted me! He has no intention of initiating the conversation!"
Dumping his bags at the bottom of the stairs, Kou briskly headed for Kaguya's room. Upon reaching the door, the boy quietly slipped into the room. Kaguya and Ai were mid conversation while the lady of the house read the newspaper and the attendant stood by the bed.
"The average high school students bedtime is between eleven-thirty and twelve. In my case, I'm in bed around ten." Kaguya explained to Ai. "Therefore, it would be inappropriate for Shirogane to text after ten. Surely he will wait until the last minute!" The young lady declared, completely sure of herself.
Kou sighed in amusement at the one flaw in that idea. "Does the president even know your bedtime?" He asked as he made himself known.
The young Shinomiya looked at Kou with a shocked expression, once again she hadn't thought things all the way through. The male attendant stayed silent as Ai swiped Kaguya's phone off of the desk their master was sitting at.
"Shirogane, I look forward to-" Ai spoke as she started typing out a text on Kaguya's phone. Though as soon as she heard the attendant speak, the young lady jumped up and snatched her phone back.
"What are you doing!?" Kaguya screeched.
Seeing as this situation was probably going to end about as well as the battles at school, Kou left the room and meandered back to the foyer. Picking his bags up, the teen headed for his room so he could sort his things out. About halfway through his journey his phone buzzed, pulling the smart device out of his pocket the boy checked the notification.
It was from the Student Council group chat.
Apparently Chika was having some fun with an octopus.
Seeing the message gave Kou an idea.
After reaching his room and sorting his clothes and other effects out, the butler-bodyguard sat on his bed and made a call. Tapping on his bed as the beeping of a call waiting to connect assaulted his ear, Kou mouthed a "yay" to himself once the other end picked up.
"Hello?" An unfamiliar voice greeted the boy.
"Hello. This is Kou Akatsubaki, I called to speak with Miyuki Shirogane. To whom am I currently speaking?" Kou inquired, he knew for a fact that he had called the Student Council President and the voice that had picked up the phone certainly didn't belong to a high schooler.
"This is Miyuki's father." The man on the other side of the call answered.
Kou nodded to himself as he made sure to remember the voice. "Is Miyuki available right now?" The boy asked, using the President's first name felt a little awkward to him but his business mode kept him from stumbling over it.
"I'll call for him right now." Miyuki's father informed the boy. "Miyuki, you're friend is calling you!" The man yelled out.
"What? Big brother has a friend?" A feminine voice teased.
"Shut up! And dad, you can't just answer my phone!" Miyuki scolded his father as the phone was, presumably, handed over to him. "Hello?" The President greeted.
"Heya, Prez!" Kou greeted energetically, he was so going to use what he overheard against blonde.
"Akatsubaki? What do you need?" Miyuki asked he took in a few breaths.
"I heard that you and Lady Kaguya need to make plans for something, so I just wanted to let you know that she's usually in bed by ten. Try to have everything sorted out by then." Kou told his fellow teen.
The sound of water sloshing about had Kou raising a brow, though he assumed the President was probably washing some dishes or something to that effect.
"I see... Thank you for letting me know, I'll call her once I'm out of the bath." Miyuki thanked.
"No prob, I'll let you get back to enjoying your bath time." Kou laughed before hanging up.
Standing up and stretching, Kou headed to the baths to enjoy a good soak of his own. He had taken a quick shower at the gym, but nothing beat a relaxing dip in a wide bath. There was just something about submerging himself up to his neck that washed away all the boy's troubles.
The next day, it rained.
No, "rained" didn't cover it. Absolutely chucking it down was better, but still didn't quite fit. Apparently whatever otherworldly force that was out there wanted to make sure that Kaguya and Miyuki didn't spend the day together. At the rate the rain was coming down, a person would be able to swim in the streets by midday. Kou briefly pondered if anyone would actually do such a thing, but quickly dismissed the thought. You would have to be either insane or desperate to go out in this weather.
Seemed like it would be a good day for Kou to get some work done at least.
And it was, surprisingly. Kaguya hadn't bothered the boy at all, according to Ai the young Shinomiya was too busy sulking in her room to pester either of her attendants.
A few days later, the Student Council members were leaning against the walls just outside of a grand hall, all of them were exhausted.
"Thank you for all of your hard work." The Principal thanked the Student Council. "I know we didn't give you much notice, yet you managed to pull all of this off pretty well." The man smiled contentedly, as if he had actually done something to contribute aside from giving everyone a heart attack in the form of a deadline.
"Thank you for the compliment sir, but next time we'll need more than three days' notice." Miyuki warned the man. "It's not my policy to overburden the Student Council officers."
"Haha! I understand! It won't happen again!" The Principal laughed, likely not taking the warning seriously. "Now then, go and enjoy yourselves." The man said as he ushered the Student Council members into the hall.
Kou took this as a chance to do a quick survey of the room. He wandered around, smiling and partaking in conversation as he made sure everything was going smoothly. It wouldn't do if an event that a Shinomiya helped set-up was found lacking, it could be harmful to Kaguya's reputation.
Making his way back to his friends, Kou was approached by Miyuki.
"Akatsubaki..." The President said defeatedly, a look of mild panicked plastered over his face suggested something was off.
"What is it Prez? Has something gone wrong? I'll fix it right away." Kou automatically replied in French, which only seemed to worsen the look on Miyuki's face. Without answering the question, the President just walked off. Kou followed the teen with his eyes for a while, until the boy engaged in conversation with a girl from the sister school.
Whilst continuing his rounds, Kou eventually made his way back to Kaguya's side. Though he was confused by the fact that she was currently verbally destroying one of the French students, that confusion turned to shock after he heard some of the words the Young Miss used. Watching on as the verbal assault stopped, Kou followed the French student that slinked off. If she had incurred the wrath of Kaguya Shinomiya, then Kou had a few words to share with the girl.
Catching up to the girl, the boy noticed she was mid-conversation with the Principal. And the dots connected in Kou's head.
"Mr. Principal... You, me and this girl need to have a conversation outside." The butler-bodyguard ordered, earning a gulp from his two victims.
After lecturing the Principal and the French student to the point that Kou himself was sick of his own voice, the boy helped pack everything in the hall away and walked home with Kaguya. Kou had offered to call the limo, but apparently Kaguya wanted to take a night-time stroll for once. The bodyguard obliged, but only on the condition that the young Shinomiya didn't leave his side for even a second during this stroll.
"The stars are out tonight, huh?" Kou said in an attempt to make small talk.
Kaguya hummed in response.
"The event was successful, I think the Prez earned a few brownie points with the Principal." Kou changed the subject, hoping to get a proper response out of Kaguya.
The Young Miss simply hummed in response again, this time wobbling slightly before releasing a short yawn.
Kou smiled at his charge and took her bag so that he could give her a piggyback ride back to the manor.