Chapter 5
It's a little hot when I'm by myself.
Even the cicadas' incessant squawking is getting on my nerves.
With Miyuki gone, I'm even bored.
My friends have been contacting me, but it would be a waste to squander precious time building affection...
After lying in the empty room and thinking about this and that, I sat up.
Let's go to the Academy right now.
If I clean the bathrooms, Miyuki might come by.
She sometimes stops by the Academy to pick up things she's forgotten.
Honestly, it was a gamble, but it was worth it.
In dating-sim terms, I'm still at the very beginning, when I need to diligently build up a solid foundation.
So wouldn't I have to use every method available to encounter the heroine?
Once I'd finished thinking it over, I changed clothes and headed straight to the Academy.
The morning public transportation wasn't very crowded, so I arrived in no time.
Unlike the bustling Academy on weekdays, it was quiet starting at the main gate.
“What's going on... Huh? Aren't you Matsuda-kun? Wait.”
A security guard who looked to be in his forties stopped me as I tried to pass through the main gate.
Maybe it was because I caused trouble so often. He recognized me right away.
I approached him as he peered at me suspiciously through the open window and said,
“I came to clean the bathrooms.”
“Clean... the bathrooms...?”
“It's a disciplinary punishment.”
“Disciplinary punishment? Ah... that? The molestation incident?”
“Yes.”
“They told you to do it on weekends too?”
“They told me to do it every day, and that I'd be expelled if I skipped even one day, so I suppose that means weekends too.”
“Is that so...? Write your name in the visitor log first.”
I went to the security office, picked up a pen, and quickly scanned the visitor log as I wrote my name.
There were hardly any visitors, probably because it was the weekend.
Miyuki...
‘There she is.’
Directly above the space where I was about to write my name, Hanazawa Miyuki's name was written in a beautiful hand.
It was a very lucky day.
Had I received a beginner's-luck buff because this was still the early game?
I scribbled down my name and was about to bolt out of the security office, but I hesitated and turned my head.
Then I said to the guard in an offhand tone,
“Take care.”
“Yeah. You too—huh?”
Is this the first time he's ever seen me greet someone? I suppose it is.
Leaving the startled guard behind, I entered the Academy and headed straight for the first-year corridor.
Miyuki's in the classroom right now, right? I wanted to check, but deliberately doing that would be insane.
The cameras would catch it all, and I might arouse needless suspicion.
Fortunately, Class 1-A was right beside the stairs.
It's only natural to start cleaning from the far end.
If I made enough noise cleaning here, Miyuki wouldn't just pass me by.
I fetched a hose from the cleaning-supply closet and started working.
I wiped the urinals with my now-practiced skill, sprayed down the toilet I had cleaned yesterday once more, and then...
“Matsuda-kun?”
Miyuki's questioning voice reached me.
Just as expected of Miyuki. She never let me down.
I cheered inwardly and turned around.
Miyuki was wearing plain jeans and a white T-shirt.
A simple outfit, yet she still shone.
I did my best to hide my true feelings and raised my voice slightly.
“You're Hanazawa, right? What are you doing here? No, wait, let me guess.”
When I raised my index finger, Miyuki folded her arms with an intrigued expression.
She seemed curious about what kind of bullshit I was going to say.
She'd come a long way in a short time. Before, she hadn't even wanted to exchange words with me.
After standing still for a few seconds, I said,
“You were trying to sneak a look at the midterm exam papers, right?”
Miyuki sighed with an expression that said she'd expected as much.
“Haa... With a brain like yours, I understand that you can't think of anything else. To answer your question, I'm not a person like you, Matsuda-kun. No, come to think of it, someone like you wouldn't even think of stealing a look at the exam papers, would you? I compared you to the wrong person.”
That was a nasty counterattack. It stung because she was right.
I smacked my lips and asked,
“Then what were you doing?”
“I came to look for something I'd forgotten, and I studied because it was quiet.”
“And then you came to check when you heard me cleaning?”
“You got it right this time. Why are you cleaning the bathrooms right now?”
“Why? Because the professor...”
“You should call him Professor.”
“.... Fine, this Professor or whatever said I'd be expelled if I skipped even one day.”
The corners of Miyuki's mouth lifted slightly after hearing my explanation.
“He didn't mean you had to come out and clean on the weekend... So you came today too?”
“That's right. There's another reason too.”
“Another reason? Were you worried that people who came to school over the weekend might use the bathrooms and make them dirty?”
How naïve... If she knew what kinds of things happened here, she'd be shocked.
I decided to tell Miyuki just a little about the Academy's secret happenings.
“Hanazawa.”
“Hm?”
“Aren't you a little too innocent?”
“What are you talking about?”
I clicked my tongue as I looked into Miyuki's guileless eyes, then began explaining.
“Our Academy has dormitories, right?”
“Yes, it does.”
“There are couples in the dormitories too, right?”
“Yes.”
“Some of those couples probably don't have much money, right?”
“I suppose so?”
“The next day is a weekend, and spending it alone in the dorm would be a waste. But if they spend it together in the dorm, the men's and women's floors are separate, and security is tight... Meeting outside costs money. So what would those couples, burning with passion, do?”
Miyuki tilted her head at a fifteen-degree angle.
The sight of her pondering with her eyes turned upward was incredibly beautiful.
After staying like that for a moment, Miyuki asked,
“What would they do?”
“They'd come to the bathroom and have sex.”
“Ah... I see... Have se—wait... What did you say?”
Miyuki had been about to nod in understanding, but she froze when she heard the word that had flown out of my mouth, then gaped at me.
Her face turned red in an instant.
I snickered and twisted the knife.
“Have sex.”
I wanted to shake my hips too, but that would make the affection points I'd carefully built up plummet.
It was best to leave Miyuki merely embarrassed.
“M-Matsuda-kun! That's taking the joke too far...!”
“No, I just answered your question honestly. Why are you getting angry? Want me to show you proof? If you go to the Class 1-F bathroom, there'll definitely be a clogged toilet. If you unclog it, there'll be a condom...”
“S-stop...! I don't want to know...! And you don't have to put it so explicitly...!”
“What?”
“That... That... having relations...”
“You think ‘having sex’ is an explicit term? If I'd said ‘sex,’ you would've fainted.”
“Matsuda-kun! You really...!”
Let's stop here.
I'd always had a vulgar mouth, so she'd probably let me off for this much.
I shrugged and started spraying the toilet again.
“Your question's been answered, right? Now go.”
“What do you mean, answered...? I'm telling the professor about this...!”
“What...? Are Academy students elementary schoolers? Middle schoolers? You're forbidding grown adults from having sex?”
“B-but this is the Academy... Besides, the school rules say that serious deviant behavior on Academy grounds is subject to penalty points... If penalty points are imposed, that means it goes against the Academy's wishes... So you can't do it...”
That was a rule that the future me and Miyuki would gleefully break.
“Think about it another way. Even though it's ‘serious’ deviant behavior, the Academy imposes penalty points instead of expulsion. Doesn't that mean the Academy understands youthful passion to some extent?”
At my words, Miyuki's eyes widened.
“I thought someone who violates the school rules as often as you would hate this reward-and-penalty point system... But you're talking as though you're defending the Academy?”
“Surprised?”
“Very.”
“Strictly speaking, I was defending the students, not the Academy, but whatever... Let's let it slide. Besides, can't they be flexible? Why are you being so rigid? No wonder you're the class rep...”
“I-I don't look favorably on the reward-and-penalty point system either. I only said that in the heat of the moment... because I was surprised...”
“That was awfully detailed for something you said because you were startled. You even brought up the school rules...”
“Don't be sarcastic... I mean it...”
I know.
You aren't actually that conservative.
“If you understand, then hurry up and leave. You're getting in the way of my cleaning. If you want to study, go to the library or something.”
“It's packed because it's exam period...”
“You should've gotten up early. The early bird...”
“Catches the worm?”
“Yeah, that.”
“I don't want to hear that from Matsuda-kun, who doesn't even know his proverbs.”
“You did this on the subway last time too, and now you're doing it again? Am I supposed to just keep my mouth shut?”
“I'm kidding. Sorry if that upset you.”
A joke? From you, to me?
It was worth coming here today.
I forced down the sense of accomplishment spreading through my entire body and said,
“Since I'm not upset, just leave now. Or help me.”
“Okay. How do I help?”
At that unexpected answer, my body went rigid.
“Huh...?”
“I asked how I should help.”
“.... You're really going to help?”
“Yes. I'll help.”
“Seriously?”
“I said I would. So what do I do?”
I quickly came to my senses and pointed toward the cleaning-supply closet.
“Wash the mop and wipe the floor.”
“I'm helping out as a favor. You should ask, not order. Is it so hard to add one word?”
Even though she could have let it go, she always had to add some unnecessary remark. She must enjoy teasing me.
Miyuki's change of heart was proceeding exactly as I wanted, and I felt like cheering.
With a deep frown, I said,
“You were the one who offered to help first.”
“Matsuda-kun, should I just leave?”
“.... Are you having fun?”
“I'm leaving?”
Miyuki turned her back and started to leave the bathroom.
I hurriedly called her back.
“Hey... hey...! I'll say it! I said I will!”
Miyuki looked back at me and said,
“You really don't want to clean, do you?”
I want to clean! I want to clean with you while looking at your face!
Those words were about to burst from my throat.
“Who likes cleaning...? Anyway, there's a mop in the cleaning-supply closet... right?”
“Yeah.”
“Could you... wash it in the sink, then... wipe the floor... for me...?”
I was practically trembling as I made it painfully obvious how much I didn't want to say it, but Miyuki smiled brightly at me.
It was a beautiful smile that instantly brightened the dreary bathroom.
I felt like my head was swimming.
“See? You can do it. From now on, try to phrase things this way whenever possible. It'll make the listener feel good, and Matsuda-kun, the person speaking, will feel good too. You feel good now, don't you?”
“Not at all. Hurry up and help me.”
“Okay. I'll get the mop first.”
A fresh grapefruit scent wafted from Miyuki's hair as she brushed past me.
Sniffing secretly like a pervert, I decided that today's harvest had been exceptionally bountiful.
Jokes, helping with the work, and wordplay... The atmosphere was fantastic.
I should go make an offering at the nearby shrine tomorrow.
I should pray and thank TokiAka for letting me come here.