Chapter 61 – Hayasaka Ai's Weekend
Saturday.
The servants in the Shinomiya household wake up very early.
Hayasaka Ai, as one of the few maids in the mansion — which has barely over a dozen people — usually gets up at five o'clock in the morning. After waking up, she takes a shower, and right after finishing her shower, Hayasaka Ai officially enters work mode.
By the time she finishes her makeup and tidies up her hair, it's usually close to six o'clock. After changing into her maid uniform, Hayasaka Ai becomes her usual "self"—as a maid, she needs to maintain beauty and elegance at all times; that's part of her job.
Hayasaka Ai: (*ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)ꕤ*.ﾟ
From six to seven o'clock, since there's no head maid or butler in the mansion, Hayasaka Ai — being the most senior — has to oversee everything. She must confirm today's menu with the head chef and instruct the gardeners to trim the garden. As the "face" of the mansion, the garden is extremely important and serves as a symbol of the Shinomiya family's prestige.
At seven o'clock, Hayasaka Ai stands waiting in front of Shinomiya Kaguya's room.
She will always wait until Kaguya calls for her, because as a maid, entering the room without the master's summons is improper etiquette.
"Hayasaka~"
Only after hearing young lady Kaguya's voice from behind the door does Hayasaka push the door open and enter.
Today is Saturday, a day with no school, so she can be a bit more relaxed than usual.
She doesn't have to worry about potential threats near young lady Kaguya, nor does she need to gather intelligence. But that's only if no guests come to visit; if there are guests, then Hayasaka Ai will likely spend the whole day on preparations.
"Hayasaka~ what's up with you~" Kaguya still hasn't fully woken up; she went to bed quite late last night, so her mind is still a bit foggy.
(っ˕ -｡)ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁
"Kaguya-sama, what would you like to wear today?" Hayasaka Ai asked as she walked to her side.
As a maid, she needs to help Kaguya get dressed.
"Uniform?" Kaguya tilted her head and asked back.
Hayasaka Ai sighed inwardly.
This kind of Kaguya was the type she least wanted to deal with, but last night young lady Kaguya just had to insist on reading shoujo manga!
And this is the result!
"Today is Saturday." Hayasaka Ai reminded her.
"Hayasaka~ can I not change clothes~" Kaguya shook her head back and forth, her face full of joy.
o(˶^▾^˶ )o
Hayasaka Ai felt her earlier question was really unnecessary!
It's better if she just goes and picks the clothes herself!
After spending a few minutes casually picking out some items from the wardrobe, Hayasaka Ai helped her finish changing.
"Hayasaka~ how are things between you and Sakurai-san~"
Shinomiya Kaguya had hit right on the topic she shouldn't have brought up. Because she stayed up late last night and was now sleep-deprived, she had turned into a zombie without a brain, only able to unconsciously speak about the subjects she was interested in.
And recently, the only thing she was interested in was one topic—that was the progress of Hayasaka Ai's boy-chasing efforts.
Shinomiya Kaguya felt she had proven that Sakurai Saki wasn't the hard-to-conquer type, so she was very curious why Hayasaka Ai still hadn't made a move?
Hayasaka Ai looked at her lady with a smile on her lips, saying nothing.
Go ask Fujiwara Chika about that!
Chika: ∘ ∘ ∘ ( °ヮ° ) ?
As an unpredictable and strange creature, Secretary Fujiwara was something very terrifying to someone like Hayasaka Ai, who specialized in intelligence gathering!
Last year, when she followed Shinomiya Kaguya to school, she already felt that girl was hard to deal with, impossible to grasp.
And after falling for Sakurai Saki, Hayasaka Ai suffered even more!
She had to face something called [variable F ( • ̀ω•́ )✧].
Question: What's the probability that [Sakurai Saki („• ֊ •„)] will be successfully confessed to by [Hayasaka Ai (*ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)ꕤ*.ﾟ], knowing that currently Sakurai Saki has no girlfriend and has an ambiguous relationship with Hayasaka Ai, but the chance of [variable F ( • ̀ω•́ )✧] interfering when Hayasaka Ai confesses is how much?
Answer: no idea!
But Hayasaka Ai felt that probability was definitely not low!
Because Fujiwara Chika was practically clinging to Sakurai Saki every day, aside from class time, she would occasionally come find him during breaks to chat; at lunchtime, the two of them could be together in the student council room, and after school as well.
For Hayasaka Ai, who couldn't step into the student council room, this was a huge disadvantage! In this love battle, she was already standing at a disadvantage! Hayasaka Ai understood well that a drawn-out war of attrition wouldn't do her any good, so she had chosen to attack!
'Did he understand my feelings that day or not?' This was what Hayasaka Ai cared about the most.
What she said that day was essentially no different from a confession, just phrased a bit more indirectly.
But on that Friday, Sakurai Saki acted as if he hadn't heard anything. Ai-chan at first thought he was just pretending to be clueless, but thinking it over carefully, that guy usually acted like a block of wood anyway, so it was completely unsurprising that he didn't understand her confession.
It could only be said that Sakurai Saki, who had been pretending to be a block of wood for the past year, was truly talented at it, pretending so well that even a veteran intelligence agent like Hayasaka Ai couldn't see through him!
"Kaguya-sama, I still need a little more time."
Hayasaka Ai could roughly guess Kaguya's thoughts — it was just that last year she had been teased by Sakurai Saki a few times, plus that terribly humiliating ping pong loss. That's why now she was hoping Hayasaka would conquer Sakurai, to help her get revenge.
"Then Hayasaka~ do you want me to help~?" Shinomiya Kaguya asked in a cute tone, saying the very thing Hayasaka Ai least wanted to hear.
(❁˃́ᴗ˂̀)~
Last time, just out of spite, she had pulled a stunt, and yet Shinomiya Kaguya had actually managed to make Sakurai Saki blush with embarrassment!
That was something Hayasaka Ai had never expected! In her mind, there was no way Sakurai Saki could ever develop feelings for Shinomiya Kaguya. The two of them were always clashing like fire and water — how could they possibly develop something called [liking]?
"No need, Kaguya-sama." Hayasaka Ai said gently.
Otherwise, we might not even be able to be sisters anymore!
૮₍ ˃ ⤙ ˂ ₎ა
"Pft! You stingy!" Shinomiya Kaguya pouted and grumbled.
( ,,⩌'︿'⩌,,)
She still wanted to tease Sakurai Saki a few more times — what a pity! But Hayasaka Ai just wouldn't allow it!
"Kaguya-sama, that's the person I like." Hayasaka Ai reminded her.
"I'm just playing around with him, that's all." Shinomiya Kaguya innocently explained.
Hayasaka Ai looked at her mistress's silly face, momentarily unsure whether she was lying or not.
'Just playing around?'
So many people, when interfering in someone else's love, say that line too.
[It's fine, we're just hanging out a bit]
[Eh, it's normal for friends to go to a love hotel, right? We're just playing, he's not planning to betray you]
[Are you jealous? He just has one more female friend, you can't even handle that?]
Hayasaka Ai silently added Shinomiya Kaguya to her list of love rivals.
Current threat level: C
By the way.
The love rival list, besides Shinomiya Kaguya, included a total of five others——
[Fujiwara Chika ✧｡٩(ˊᗜˋ )و✧*｡: Threat level S, an unpredictable woman, could suddenly steal him away at any moment, must stay vigilant!]
[Shirogane Miyuki ( ╹ -╹)?: Threat level D, so close that even his sexual orientation is questionable, but the likelihood is low!]
[Shirogane Kei (๑✪ᆺ✪๑): Threat level B, little sister type, has a very good relationship with Sakurai Saki, apparently even stayed over at Secretary Fujiwara's house this week, the two might form an alliance, so heightened caution is needed for now!]
[Iino Miko （￣へ￣）: Threat level F, Sakurai Saki's new plaything, very cute, but has absolutely no romantic intentions, an extremely safe girl.]
[All the other female students at school ଘ(๑♥‿♥๑)ଓ: Threat level C, cannot rule out the possibility of a "dark horse" appearing, needs to be monitored!]
And just like that, Hayasaka Ai spent her weekend morning full of suspicion toward her mistress and her swarm of love rivals.