“...HE’S in the middle of socializing...” Satsuki whispered to herself as she closed her third eye.
Satsuki fully understood that networking was an important job in and of itself. Despite that fact, she generally took the attitude “When I say come, you come running!” Yet today she was of a mind to let Shindo spread his wings.
“...I’ll have to carry these myself.” She slipped her hands under the mountain of books stacked four high.
It was awfully heavy. Even if she managed to carry the stack for a while, there was no way she could hold it for long. After briefly deliberating over her dilemma, her lips curled into a mischievous smile. This was a grin only Shindo knew.
“Sorry, Shindo!” she apologized in a cute, quiet voice before directing her concentration to her hands under the books.
The moment she did, the books began to levitate a fraction of an inch—no, the breadth of a sheet of paper—above her hands...
“Great! I should be able to carry them now,” Satsuki exclaimed and started out.
While the books were naturally weightless to Satsuki, it would look as if she were carrying them to anyone who saw her. Everyone in the library who saw her leaving gawked in surprise. Each of the four books was heavy in its own right. Seeing as she was carrying all four at once, the shocked stares she earned were warranted.
“Miss Tsujikawa! I’ll deliver those to you later! Please don’t strain yourself!” the librarian fussed as he frantically tried to get around the front counter to help Satsuki.
But Satsuki simply offered him one of her “angelic smiles” and replied, “No, thank you. I’m quite all right.”
It wasn’t as though she was actually carrying the books. Satsuki imagined she could handle the load on her own just fine. She exited the library and proceeded down the corridor that connected the annex building she was in to the school’s main building.
“I bet Shindo will have a fit if he sees this,” Satsuki whispered somewhat excitedly to herself. She giggled as she imagined how he might react.
As a rule of thumb, Shindo did not approve of Satsuki using her powers. Of course, he made allowances, such as the door to her heart, which would open if she let her guard down. While there was no harm in playing with the flowers and trees at the mansion, he was afraid she would grow accustomed to relying on her powers if she used them in her daily life. It was a point he had stressed since she was a little girl. If he caught her abusing her powers like this, he would undoubtedly throw a fit.
“He has a surprisingly short fuse,” Satsuki said to herself with a giggle as she walked along the corridor, eager to see his reaction. But someone else caught her first!
“What do you think you’re doing, Miss Tsujikawa?!” a surprised voice cried out. The owner of the voice quickly snatched the books out of Satsuki’s arms.
“These things weigh a ton! What if you hurt your fingers carrying them?!” he pushed. He drew his face close to hers, but instead of angry, it looked terribly concerned.
“M-Mr...Kurihara?” she choked. It was Satsuki Narusawa’s attendant, Tadayuki Kurihara.
Noticing Satsuki batting her eyes in surprise, Kurihara must have realized he lost his composure for he coughed to clear his throat. “...A young lady such as yourself shouldn’t carry these heavy books...”
It didn’t look like Narusawa was nearby. In which case, he was probably on his way to the classroom to get her.
“I swear, you nearly gave me a heart attack...”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you...” Satsuki apologized.
“Where is Mr. Shindo? It’s his job to do this sort of thing for you,” Kurihara said in an accusatory tone.
Before the conversation could go any further, Shindo came hurrying down the corridor from the direction of the main building. “Is there a problem?” he asked.
Angrily dumping the books he had snatched from Satsuki into Shindo’s arms, he yelled, “Your precious charge was carrying these bricks! Can you believe it?! Where the hell did you wander off to?! Be more careful!”
Shindo looked back and forth between the books, which seemed too heavy for Satsuki to carry and the unusually guilty young lady. His expression grew apologetic as he turned to face Kurihara. “I’m sorry. It would appear I came a little late... I will take over from here.”
“Yeah, yeah. Just do your job!” Kurihara snipped, sounding somewhat disappointed. He faced Satsuki with his head lowered in a bow. “If you’ll pardon me, Miss Tsujikawa.”
“Of course. Thank you, and I’m sorry, Mr. Kurihara,” Satsuki replied.
“Think nothing of it.” Upon lifting his head, he offered her a big grin. Then he returned to the main school building.
“...Miss...” Shindo said, his voice snapping Satsuki from the daze she had fallen into while watching Kurihara’s back fade into the distance.
I-Is he mad?!
“You couldn’t possibly carry all of these yourself, now could you? ...You used that, didn’t you?” he accused.
She was busted... Shindo wouldn’t fail to notice what she did. It was obvious Satsuki used her powers.
“Uh... Shindo, look...” Satsuki quickly stole a look at him through her lashes. Shindo was crossly looking down at her with narrowed eyes.
“Shindo...it looked like you were taking a break, so I figured you wouldn’t mind if I used it over something this trivial...” she said in an attempt to explain herself.
“So you ‘saw’ me?” Shindo asked.
“Well...yes...”
“Haven’t I told you time and again not to do that in your everyday life?”
“Are you angry?” Satsuki checked.
“Do you want me to get angry?” he asked back.
...Yes. In her mind, Satsuki slightly nodded.