Chapter 11: Gentle Gyaru

“Oi, come with me, Kiyomiya.”

“…”

Lunch break had just settled in, and I’d barely finished my meal when a voice cut through my thoughts. I glanced up from my phone.

It was Iwakura Tomokazu, his flashy brown-dyed hair catching the light, his tall frame impossible to miss. A soccer club standout since middle school, they called him a promising rookie now in high school.

“Man, what a drag…” I muttered under my breath, slipping my phone into my pocket. “This is a far cry from an invitation from Maritsuji.”

With a sigh, I followed Iwakura out of the classroom. We walked in silence, leaving the school building behind until we reached the back courtyard. There, tucked away, stood an old incinerator and a garbage dump—relics from a time long past.

“Now all the trash gets picked up by contractors, huh?” I said, half to myself. “Hard to believe they used to burn garbage at school.”

“If I could, I’d burn trash like you, Kiyomiya,” Iwakura shot back, his voice sharp.

I let out a dry laugh. “Getting called out behind the school building? That’s so old-school. Like something out of a retro yankee manga.”

But Iwakura’s face stayed hard, no trace of a smile. He didn’t just dislike me—he looked down on me, like so many others did. It was the same old story with the upper-class types: indifferent to outsiders, but obsessed with their own pecking order. To them, someone like me—an illegitimate child with a tainted background—was nothing but an eyesore.

Even now, noble families clung to their traditions, marrying within their own circles to preserve their precious bloodlines. I’d read about Europe’s elite in the past, how they’d refused to mix with outsiders, even marrying cousins or uncles to nieces to keep their lineage pure. No one went that far anymore, but the fixation on pedigree still lingered. In their exclusive world, a “foreign object” like me was met with predictable scorn.

“Oi, Kiyomiya. What’s with that smug grin?” Iwakura’s voice snapped me back.

“My bad,” I said, keeping my tone light. “Is this about something serious?”

“You’ve been getting a bit too cocky lately, haven’t you?”

I didn’t respond, just held his gaze. Iwakura might hate me on his own, but I knew who was really pulling the strings. He was Fujikawa Koutarou’s lackey. Fujikawa ruled the basketball club, while Iwakura was a soccer star, so they didn’t cross paths often. But everyone knew Iwakura’s family was a branch of Fujikawa’s, still tied by an old master-servant bond.

“Lately, you’ve been cozying up to Hisaka, and there’s talk you went off somewhere with Maritsuji-san, just the two of you, huh?”

“You sure know a lot about me,” I replied, keeping my tone even.

No way an info broker’s been spreading my business around, right?

“Seriously, don’t get too full of yourself, Kiyomiya. Need me to teach you a lesson?” Iwakura’s voice turned sharp, his words dripping with menace.

Before I could respond, the sound of footsteps crunching on the gravel reached my ears. A quick glance over my shoulder revealed five familiar faces approaching—soccer club members, Iwakura’s buddies, and, by extension, Fujikawa’s lackeys. With this many, they could easily pin me down and rough me up without leaving a mark.

Iwakura stepped closer, his hand shooting out to grab my collar. “God, what a pain. Because a piece of trash like you got too cocky, I’m wasting my lunch break on this—”

“Ooh, now this is a scoop!” A bright voice cut through the tension, followed by the sharp click-click-click of a smartphone camera shutter.

“Wha… what the hell?!” Iwakura whipped around, his grip on my collar loosening.

Peeking out from behind the incinerator was a girl, her phone raised as she snapped pictures. And that girl was none other than Sogano Maki.

“Bullying at the prestigious Sōshūkan Academy?!” she declared, her tone almost gleeful. “Witnessing a shakedown in progress! This is gonna go viral!”

“Oi, Sogano! Quit screwing around!” Iwakura barked, his face twisting with frustration.

“I’m always screwing around. You know that, don’t you, Iwakura?” Maki shot back, unfazed by his glare.

This girl’s got some serious guts.

“Sogano! Delete those photos!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll make it like it never happened,” Maki said casually. She held up her phone for Iwakura to see, swiping through her photo app and deleting a few shots with exaggerated flair.

Iwakura wasn’t an idiot. He knew a deal when he saw one, and it seemed they’d reached an understanding. “Dammit, what a freaking hassle!” he spat, storming off with his cronies trailing behind him, their footsteps fading into the distance.

I turned to Maki, exhaling a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “Maki, you sure show up at the weirdest times.”

“Don’t you have something to say first?” she teased, tilting her head with a smirk.

“Thanks for the save, Maki. But you put yourself in danger too. Don’t be so reckless.”

“Aww, how sweet of you. I’m totally fine, though. I’m pretty confident in my getaway skills. Worst case, I’d have ditched you and bolted.”

“Well, that’s reassuring,” I said, my tone dry. “Seriously.”

Even if Maki was sharp as a tack, she was still a girl, and the thought of her getting caught up in this kind of mess didn’t sit right with me.

“I could’ve handled it myself, you know,” I said, brushing off the lingering tension. “Those guys would’ve been satisfied with a few punches.”

“Hmm, I wonder about that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m just wondering if I saved you, or Iwakura and his goons.”

“Obviously me,” I shot back.

If things had escalated, Iwakura would’ve landed at least a couple of body shots on me. No doubt about it.

“Well, when a ‘piece of trash’ like you starts flirting with a beautiful honor student like Hisaka-san, of course you’re gonna get some dirty looks. Your family status barely scrapes you into B-rank at school, but Hisaka-san? She’s straight-up SS.”

“Sayaka’s that high up, huh?” I muttered, raising an eyebrow.

“By the way, Maritsuji-san’s also SS,” Maki added. “But her grades are only, like, top thirty or so. Not great at sports either. Her rank’s mostly thanks to her family status too.”

“Yeah…” I nodded, my thoughts drifting.

In Maritsuji’s case, her specs outside of family background and looks weren’t exactly top-tier.

“Maritsuji-san’s apparently aiming to be a ‘good wife, wise mother,’ which is pretty rare these days,” Maki continued. She’d heard it from Maritsuji herself a while back.

That’s something Maritsuji had mentioned to me too, I recalled.

“Since she’s not planning to go out into the workforce, she’s fine with just decent grades and sports skills,” Maki went on. “Well, it’s her life, her choice. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind skipping work and being taken care of myself!”

“In your case, Maki, you just want to be a NEET,” I said, my voice dry.

I had no clue if the Sogano family had enough wealth to let her live without working for a lifetime.

“Whatever about me,” Maki said, waving a hand dismissively. “The point is, your recent antics are rubbing people the wrong way. I think it’s hilarious, but to guys like Iwakura…”

I fell silent, her words sinking in.

I wasn’t hurting anybody, so what I did should be my business, right? But honestly, this whole Sōshūkan—or rather, this upper-class society—felt suffocating.

“You’ve always brushed off whatever people say with that smug grin, but now you’re making waves by hanging out with Hisaka-san and Maritsuji-san,” Maki said, her tone half-teasing, half-pointed. “You should’ve just stuck to flirting with me.”

“Flirting with you?” I blinked, caught off guard. “Wait, people actually think that?”

“I don’t have any memory of flirting with anyone but you, y’know,” she shot back, smirking.

“You sure you’re not fabricating those memories?” I countered.

I’d never really thought of Maki as a girl in that way—she was just Maki, always teasing, always poking at me.

She shrugged, undeterred. “Well, yeah, standing out too much is probably a bad idea. Maybe you’ll just keep your head down from now on… huh?”

Before I could respond, the school’s intercom chime cut through the air, sharp and sudden.

“First-year Class B, Hisaka Sayaka-san. First-year Class B, Hisaka Sayaka-san. Please report to the career guidance office.”

“Huh? Sayaka?” I muttered, my stomach twisting.

“They called Hisaka-san’s name, didn’t they?” Maki said, her brow furrowing. “A first-year getting summoned to the career guidance office?”

I exchanged a bewildered glance with her, the unease settling in. A personal summons for a student was rarely good news, and the career guidance office made it even stranger.

“No… no way…” I whispered, my mind racing.

Could they have found out that Sayaka’s working as a maid at my place? But wait—I hadn’t officially hired her as a maid yet. She was just a classmate living with me—

Was that even worse?

If she were working for me, I could at least cobble together some excuse. But if they’d found out we were living together, a summons to the career guidance office didn’t add up.

“Keiji, you got something on your mind?” Maki asked, her eyes narrowing.

“N-no, not really,” I stammered, shaking my head. I knew I sounded suspicious.

Maybe it was something else entirely—Sayaka, the top student in our grade, being scouted for a top university or something. No, overthinking this wouldn’t help. That announcement alone told me nothing.

“Hmmm… Keiji, I’m gonna go pick some flowers for a bit,” Maki said, her voice dripping with mischief.

“You’re going to snoop for info, aren’t you?!”

“Maki-chan’s info sources aren’t just students, you know.”

This girl’s got her hooks in the teachers too? I couldn’t help but wonder if she was blackmailing them for info.

Still, if it was about career guidance, digging into school sources might be the best way to get answers.

“Maki, if you find out anything, let me know. I’m willing to make a deal.”

“No hesitation in trying to buy your classmate’s secrets, huh, Keiji? You’re not just trash—you’re downright sleazy.”

“…Who wouldn’t want to know someone’s secrets?”

Especially when it was about a standout beauty like Hisaka Sayaka—nobody could resist wanting to know. But for me, it wasn’t just curiosity. I was worried because I was living with her, and her secrets weren’t something I could ignore.

Iwakura, Fujikawa—those guys didn’t even matter anymore. My focus was on Sayaka and whatever was going on with that summons.