Chapter 45: An Unexpected Reply
“Kyaa!?”
Grabbed by the back of her collar, Emera let out a cute little yelp, almost like a puppy.
“You’re sleep-deprived, right? Why don’t you just go back to bed already?”
“Y-you don’t have to treat me so blatantly like a nuisance…!”
“Getting into fights first thing in the morning is just loud and annoying. And stop blushing.”
I didn’t know whether she was reacting to being grabbed by the back of her collar or to being handled roughly, or if she was actually enjoying being treated like a nuisance. Either way, it was a serious problem.
At this rate, plenty of students would end up misunderstanding things if they saw us interacting like this at school.
What people thought of Emera was her own problem, or rather, her own doing, so I didn’t care. But if I started getting labeled some kind of extreme sadist, that would be a problem.
“Shirayuki, aren’t you sleep-deprived too?”
“Yes, thanks to you.”
When I spoke to her with the implication that she should go back to sleep as well, she answered with an accusatory look.
…Damn it. Did I just poke the hornet’s nest?
“But I want to wash up, and I’d like to eat something too, so I’ll just go downstairs like this.”
“What about school?”
“I’m not going.”
Yeah, she really does hate school, almost impressively so.
Well, in her case, she was forced to enroll by Emera even though she never needed to attend in the first place…
Ah. Maybe that’s why she dislikes Emera a little.
That time at school, Shirayuki-san blamed me for it, but it seems she understood properly that Emera was actually at fault.
“Honestly, you might as well just drop out already… You were only forced to enroll so you could beat me up, right?”
Since her family has served the Tenjouin family for generations, her future is basically set already.
If she’s going to keep serving the Tenjouin Conglomerate as a maid from here on out, there’s no real need for her to attend school, and if she hates studying that much, it’d probably be better for her if she quit sooner rather than later.
She probably wants that too.
“That’s a wonderful idea…! I’ll take care of the paperwork today!”
“Yeah, even the master who forced you to enroll is saying that, so I guess it’s fine. Wait… you said you’re handling the paperwork today. Aren’t you skipping school today too, Emera?”
“I’ll just take care of the paperwork and then go home.”
“Seriously, you really do whatever you want…… That wasn’t a compliment.”
Emera smiled happily and let out a soft “hehe…”, so I immediately made sure to correct her.
Besides, the way she was so eager to have Shirayuki-san withdrawn from the school made it look like she was treating her as nothing more than a nuisance. In that sense too, she was taking her selfishness too far.
Well, if Shirayuki-san is fine with it, then I guess that’s all that matters.
—Or so I thought.
“Unfortunately, dropping out isn’t possible. Starting next week, I’ll be attending school as well.”
Unexpectedly, it was Shirayuki-san herself who denied the idea of withdrawing.
Character Summary (non-official)
- Aima Eito (愛真 英斗) — A second-year high school boy and twin brother of Hina. Level-headed and cautious, he knows more about the Tenjouin sisters’ cruelty than most after being in their class last year. He tries to stay quiet and unnoticed to avoid trouble, especially from the Tenjouin sisters who despise men.
- Aima Hina (愛真 雛) — Eito’s twin sister, a tiny 148 cm girl who’s adorable, clingy, and very attached to her brother. Sweet-natured and polite, but easily frightened, especially upon learning she’s placed in the same class as the Tenjouin sisters.
- Tenjouin Emera (天上院 翠玉) — One of the school’s notorious “twin queens.” A beautiful girl with long straight hair: a single streak of her bangs is white while the rest is gold. She has heterochromia—right eye red, left eye blue, and a flat chest. Cold, arrogant, and dangerously influential thanks to her powerful, wealthy family. Devoted entirely to her sister Furei.
- Tenjouin Furei (天上院 風麗) — Emera’s twin sister, with opposite hair colors—one golden streak in her bangs, the rest pure white—and mirror-image heterochromia: right eye blue, left eye red. She has a bob cut and a voluptuous figure like a gravure idol. Quiet, expressionless, and mysterious, yet incredibly dangerous beneath her calm. Furei doesn’t care about anyone except for Emera and the girls she favors, and even then, she treasures them more like pets than equals.
- Tenjouin Maria (天上院 真莉愛) — Maria is the foster parent who took Eito and Hina in from the orphanage when they were in second grade. An unbelievably beautiful woman who looks to be in her twenties—and still insists she is in her twenties—she has striking half-gold, half-white hair parted cleanly down the middle, brilliant blue eyes, and an ample chest. Though she appears elegant and composed, Eito describes her as a “demon in human skin,” having put him through countless extreme punishments whenever he failed to meet her expectations. Yet despite her terrifying side, Maria is helplessly weak to cute things, which is why she absolutely adores Hina and has spoiled her since they were little.
- Shirayuki Koori (白雪 氷) — Shirayuki Koori serves under the Tenjouin twins. She is a petite girl with pale blue twin-tail hair and an adorable, youthful face, paired with an icy, emotionless gaze. Despite her doll-like appearance, she is a highly trained combatant raised under special training since childhood. Competitive and proud, she hates losing and becomes flustered or emotional when things don’t go her way, revealing a childish side beneath her cool exterior.
- Shirayuki Hitomi (白雪 仁美) — Koori’s mother and Maria’s loyal maid. Like Maria, she is an unbelievably beautiful woman who looks to be in her twenties despite her age. Her appearance and personality resemble Koori’s, though with greater maturity, and she possesses the uncanny ability to read people’s thoughts at a glance. Despite her gentle demeanor, she may also have sadistic tendencies, given how she smiled gracefully while “punishing” Emera, all the while calling her pitiful.