I was glad I got to talk to Mom that night. The next day, I went to school as normal, then the next, and the next, and the next. I continued to be the target of rude and speculative rumors, but besides that, nothing much happened. Days turned into weeks, and soon it was that dreaded time of year: finals.
From the grades delivered to my phone, I could see that I had climbed slightly in the rankings since midterms. Reaching the villainess’s baseline had been tough, but maintaining it was easier. She had high stats but slow growth, which wasn’t surprising given her less-than-industrious attitude toward, well, everything. This left me with enough free time between studying to call Shizuku and relax.
At school, I often found myself studying with Asuka and Sayaka. I still hesitated to appear too hardworking in public, but I made an exception for them since they were the ones who approached me for help.
During one of these study sessions at a school café during lunch break, I heard hushed conversations from a nearby group of students. They were careful enough not to name names, but not careful enough to talk about us within earshot. Well, I knew this day would come sooner or later, I thought with an internal sigh. I wasn’t exactly hurt, just resigned. It hurt when I’d betrayed Nonoka, Rikka, Ruki, and Riku, but not so much when faceless strangers gossiped about me. Pretending not to hear them, I conveyed another forkful of shortcake to my mouth. Sayaka and Asuka froze, looking like they’d explode at any moment.
Swallowing my food, I told them to stand down.
“But Ms. Mio,” Asuka said, looking at me pleadingly.
Sayaka and Asuka. It was funny; I used to think of them as nothing but two mindless stooges, one-dimensional and identical in all but name. But after spending time with them, I quickly realized they were quite different. Sayaka was reserved, while Asuka was outgoing. This meant in situations like these, Asuka was the one more affected and likely to get carried away.
“I don’t care,” I said. So, neither should you, I added with my eyes.
She maintained her gaze on me for another second before nodding and returning to her notebook.
But then the hushed conversation beside us grew less hushed.
“And I just can’t fathom what those two are thinking, cozying up to her,” one of the gossiping girls said.
“Really,” the other replied. “Like, goodness, have a little shame!”
Hm. So they were talking about Asuka and Sayaka now, were they? You know what? Fine. If they were so eager to offer themselves up as sacrifices as to gossip right in front of me, who was I to deny them?
I took my fan out of my pocket, snapped it open, and held it in front of my mouth. “Asuka, Sayaka.” My voice carried, ensuring the entire café could hear. “What is it that you’re after by cozying up to me? Power? Protection?”
Almost instantly, the bustling café’s chatter ceased.
“What?” Asuka proclaimed, alarmed. “Neither!”
“Neither’s right,” Sayaka added—the classic Asuka-Sayaka one-two punch. “We’re no longer the girls we used to be.”
“That’s what I thought,” I said. “But I do wonder. Would it truly be so wrong for either of you to curry favor with me just because I hold a position of great power and influence?”
They began to speak at once. “Of course, that’d be—”
I shushed them with a wave of my hand. “Oh, but I wouldn’t mind. In fact, some would say it might even be the wise thing to do. But then again, I suppose there wouldn’t be much benefit to you, would there? It’s not as if, say—” I flicked my fan shut with a snap and locked eyes with the first girl. “Your families’ livelihoods hinge on my favor. Or say—” Then I locked eyes with the second. “The Sakurazaka Group bankrolls your parents’ companies.” I turned back to Asuka and Sayaka. “Imagine you opposed me then. Now that would be foolish at best and maliciously incompetent at worst, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Yes,” Asuka replied. “Crossing you would be foolish indeed.”
“Never again,” Sayaka added. “Never again will I find myself on your bad side, Ms. Mio.” They shared a look, a smile, then a giggle.
Nothing I’d said was a joke, despite them finding it funny. The first girl was a daughter of a managing director, and a hefty chunk of her parents’ company’s business came from the Sakurazaka Group—not out of any necessity but rather a courtesy, an acknowledgment of the fact that they had a daughter around the same age as Shizuki. The second girl’s family owned a moderately successful small business; they were trying to expand (rather unsuccessfully) to a new market and had been heavily reliant on Sakurazaka Group investments to do so. A single word from me, and that financing would vanish. We wouldn’t miss them; we weren’t getting a return from them anyway.
I shifted my gaze to see if my two little busybodies got the message. Sure enough, they stood up and dashed out of the café, their faces as pale as sheets. The chatter in the café never returned to normal after that, and the glances toward us became more furtive.
That went about as well as it could have. As I silently expressed my appreciation to the retreating girls for unwittingly taking part in my demonstration, I suddenly noticed Asuka and Sayaka were still staring at me, their eyes glinting with some unknown emotion.
Uh. What was going on now? I might have silenced our detractors, but quite heavy-handedly. Surely that wasn’t praiseworthy behavior by any standard?
Suddenly, two heads were bowed low before me. “Thank you for standing up for us, Ms. Mio!”
“What are you talking about?”
“There’s no need to be shy. You were angry on our behalf, weren’t you?” Sayaka insisted; Asuka nodded.
So that was how they interpreted the situation.
Was it just me, or were Asuka and Sayaka slowly turning into Nonoka clones? At least these two were supposed to be clingy, so I chose not to dwell on it.
And now, back to my shortcake.