I, the mastermind behind the scenes at Soubu High, refuse to be caught in a bloodbath.

Because Himekoji had a date with Kazusa over the weekend, Yoko very "sensibly" canceled the planned weekend date.

"Mother, you can start drawing Kazusa's portrait tomorrow morning."

"Huh...?"

The mother put down her knife and fork, pouted, and seemed a little unhappy.

"What's wrong now?"

Kazusa looked at him and asked, scrutinizing him.

"I was thinking that after the portrait is almost finished tomorrow afternoon, I'll take you to Hakone, stay overnight, play for a day, and come back on Sunday night to take you home. Otherwise, think about it, if we stay there on Sunday, we'll have to get up very early on Monday and come straight from Hakone to school."

Himekoji shrugged, realizing she had forgotten about this when she was drafting the unequal treaty with Kazusa.

Does coming to school with me bother you?

Kazusa gripped her knife and fork tightly and asked.

"Not at all. Rather, I wish you could stay here and go to school and come back with me every day. It's just too rushed to sleep in Hakone on Sundays and then get up early to come to school."

"Ah...Is that so?"

Her expression softened, and she began to think.

"Are you going to take me, all alone, with you?" Mom looked at Himekoji pitifully. Himekoji hesitated for a moment, but Kazusa shook her head and said, "I'm sorry, Aunt Daphne, Haruto promised me this."

"So, what do you think? Tomorrow afternoon or Sunday?"

"Let's go tomorrow."

Kazusa responded, while her mother seemed about to pull out her handkerchief and burst into tears again. Before she could cry, Himeko quickly swore to the heavens, "Mom, let's go abroad together during Golden Week!" (referring to the May Day Golden Week holiday.)

If I take my mom to a hot spring, her hair could fill the entire pool; it looks like a horror movie if there are no lights.

"Okay!"

She immediately beamed with joy, while Kazusa couldn't help but burst out laughing. After eating the food in her mouth, she pointed at her mother and said, "It feels like Aunt Daphne is jealous."

In the evening, Himekoji went to practice, while her mother taught Kazusa to play the piano. By the time Himekoji finished practicing, Kazusa was already asleep. Helpless, Himekoji took a shower, collapsed onto the bed, and fell asleep immediately. The next day, she slept in and woke up naturally, which was a rare treat.

After taking a bath, tidying up, and changing her clothes, Himekoji emerged from her room looking refreshed and casually asked the maid serving her in the hallway, "Where is my mother?"

"Well—, it seems that Madam took Miss Kazusa to the art studio."

Oh, I see. No wonder I was able to sleep in today. They didn't play the piano this morning because they were drawing to save time, Ji Xiaolu thought to herself.

So he casually grabbed a piece of bread from the maid's tray, chewed it, and went to the studio door. He finished the bread, knocked on the door, opened it, and went inside. He looked up...

Wearing only a plain, light veil, Kazusa reclined on a classic Renaissance sofa, staring blankly at Himekoji. Her face quickly flushed crimson, like a boiled crab, and she instantly covered her chest with her hands, curled up on the sofa with her legs pressed tightly together, and cried out with her eyes closed, "Waaaaaahh ...

On the other hand, the mother, who had been focused on drawing her naked body, waved to Himekoji with a smile and said, "Good morning~"

Good morning... Sorry to bother you.

Ji Xiaolu slammed the door shut in frustration, rolled her eyes, and leaned against it, thinking to herself: At least lock the door before painting nude pictures, you two idiots!

Not long after leaning against the door, Himekoji heard her usually gentle mother scolding Kazusa, repeatedly saying things like, "Your posture is completely different from before!" "Your expression is so strange!" "Don't cover your chest!" Himekoji silently thought to herself: Having just been seen naked, how could she possibly regain that composure...?

Himeko started practicing the piano in her room until there was a loud knock on the door. There were only two people in this house who would do that. If it couldn't be Yoko-nee, then it must be her daughter!

"Thump—!" Himekoji pressed down the unfinished piano key and opened the door with a tense face...

"Idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot!"

A barrage of punches rained down on his head. Himekoji ran around the room covering his head, panting heavily as Kazusa chased him until she leaned against the piano, then blushed and pointed at him, saying, "You, you saw it all, didn't you!"

"Would you believe me if I said I didn't see it? Okay, I really did see it." Ji Xiaolu said with a headache, "I really didn't expect Mom to be drawing you nude...that kind of drawing, so I knocked on the door and went straight in."

"Shut up!"

"Uh, sorry... I saw everything, it's my fault." Himeko lowered her head and said, "Should I add 'I will take responsibility for this'?"

"Humph."

She crossed her arms, turned her head away, and said nothing more.

"Aunt Daphne insisted on drawing it this way..."

After a long while, Kazusa finally muttered this sentence.

"That's because Kazusa has grown into a beautiful young woman in the making."

"Shut up, you idiot!" She glared at Himekoji and said angrily, "I've packed my things, I'm going to Hakone now!"

So the two got into the car together. The atmosphere inside was very awkward. Kazusa tried her best to keep her distance from Himekoji. Whenever Himekoji looked in her direction, she would glare at him. The servants had already spread the word about this, so neither the driver nor the head maid in the passenger seat smiled and said anything.

Chapter 029 No way, [Touma Kazusa] is actually at a hot spring inn...

Since it's a family-owned inn, I just called to let them know and booked it. Kazusa's room is next to Himekoji's.

"Whoosh—" Kazusa rudely flung open Himekoji's door and asked, "Are you going to take a bath first, or should I?"

"Do as you please."

Himekoji, who was reading, looked up at her. She had changed into a loose yukata and tied her long hair up in a high bun, a hairstyle somewhat similar to that of her head maid.

"It's starting to rain outside, a light rain. The bamboo is rustling, can't you hear it?"

Kazusa sat down opposite Himekoji for the time being.

"Oh, now that you mention it, I realize. I was too engrossed in my book, sorry."

Himekoji closed the book and yawned.

"Another Chinese book? No one taught you Chinese since you were little, but you can speak it. Your pronunciation and grammar are very standard. I've always found it very strange."

Kazusa looked at the strange Chinese characters above and said that for Japanese people, many simplified Chinese characters together seem to have no meaning and cannot be understood.

"Hahaha, well, I guess that's what you call talent." Ji Xiaolu continued to laugh. He got up and opened the window, and raindrops bounced in like mischievous little elves. Looking at the rain that seemed to be getting heavier, Ji Xiaolu muttered to himself, "It looks like it's getting bigger and bigger. It might turn into a downpour in a while. Shall we all go for a soak now?"

"...Yes, that's fine too."

Kazusa's eyes widened in surprise, then she turned to the side and pointed at her fingers.

"Sure...then, um?!"

Because Himekoji said it casually, he never expected Kazusa to agree. He was just joking around, and then...

The last time the two of them took a bath together was six years ago. At that time, Himekoji was eleven years old and Kazusa was twelve. Because of their confused mother's strange actions, Himekoji ran into the bathroom where Kazusa was taking a bath. However, Kazusa did not kick him out, so the two of them took a bath back to back for a while before their mother found out.

"Uh, well, never mind, I was just saying it casually. You go ahead, I'll wait until the rain stops before I go."

Himekoji opened "The Silent Majority" again and began to read. Kazusa's heart, which had been pounding just moments before, gradually calmed down. She stammered, "Ah...yes, I was just kidding. I'll go now, don't you dare peek!"

"Yes Yes."

Himeko nodded vigorously.

Was Kazusa joking just now? Himekoji thought Kazusa wouldn't joke like that. He put down his book and lay back down. His phone, which was lying next to him, started vibrating. He opened it and saw that it was an email from Yoko-nee.

"Will Haruto lay a hand on that child?"

"Maybe after I break up with Yaozi."

Ji Xiaolu responded that there had been no emails for a long, long time. He was almost asleep when the emails finally came again, and he grabbed his phone to read them.

"Break up? Were we ever dating? Xiao Qing is really cute. I like you, and I know you like me too, but liking someone doesn't mean we're dating."

"So you're implying I should make a move on Kazusa?"

This time, the email I sent received a reply very quickly.

“As a mother, I would not make such a suggestion, Haruto. I hope Kazusa can live freely and live the way she likes.”

"Since that's the case, you deliberately got me drunk and took me to your bed. Thanks to this, my relationship with Kazusa is now very strange."

"That's...that's...I'm sorry, this is the only thing I can't make up for. Please forgive me, this is my vulnerability as a woman. I also hope you will respect the child's feelings. Let's have another date next Saturday. I'm leaving for Vienna on Sunday afternoon."

"Ok."

After replying in this way, Himekoji quickly deleted all the emails.

The rain drizzled all night. After playing there for a while the next day, Himekoji and Kazusa returned to Chiba. Kazusa was sent home first, and then Himekoji went back.

"Ugh... my head hurts so much."

Ji Xiaolu sadly plucked a few soft white hairs from her head, blew on them in her hand, and they scattered.

Fortunately, after dealing with these special applications every month, Himekoji's workload was greatly reduced, so he was finally able to take some time during his lunch break to check on the adorable little angel, Mariya—cough cough, no, to see how the Service Club's tennis training was going.

"Having maids to serve you is quite the air of a young lady, your vice president."

As soon as she arrived at the stadium, Yukinoshita leaned against the wire fence and said this to Himekoji.

Young lady style? No! That's called young master style! Don't you understand? This is what young masters like these days!

"Don't you want to hire a servant to attend to you, Miss Yukinoshita?"

Kasumigaoka, who was also freed from work while following Himekoji, glanced at her and said.

"Thank you for your concern, but I am not disabled and I can handle my own affairs."

Yukino turned a page of her book nonchalantly, glancing at the Service Club members who were still training and the two student council members.

Actually, it was all because Ju was training, and Jasmine was cheering him on the side. By the way, Jasmine, from the angle you're squatting down, Ju could easily see your panties while you're doing push-ups.

Are you implying that all young ladies with servants are disabled?

"I'm just talking about myself."

The two immediately started arguing upon arrival, while Himekoji noticed from afar that Mariya was glancing at her. Seriously, why aren't you looking at Jasmine's panties right in front of you? Hmm? Perhaps before you...

"Hush!"

"Coach" Yukinoshita blew the whistle around her neck, pausing the training. Higashiyama Daiho, Hikigaya, and Totsuka, who had been running, all stopped. Mari, who was doing push-ups, was helped up by Jasmine. Her body was still too weak, and she was really pitiful... cough!

But that was an act. Himekoji knew very well that Mariya, as one of the ace archers of the archery club, would never need to be helped up just because of a few push-ups. Drawing a bow requires a lot of arm strength—and of course, a certain amount of skill.

"Since you're here, I'll lend a hand. As for you... Himekoji, I'll acknowledge your tennis skills, to be fair."

Just as she said "you," Yukinoshita suddenly remembered the conversation they had had in the Service Club. Seeing that Himekoji was about to retort, Yukinoshita quickly changed her words.

"Is this what they call a ministerial order?"

Himekoji shrugged; Yukinoshita's way of speaking was as annoying as ever.