Chapter 6: What's wrong with you today?

Masachika arrived at school the next day an hour earlier than he usually did. It wasn't for any special reason. He merely woke up an hour earlier than normal. It was unusual for him to feel so refreshed first thing in the morning, so he decided to go straight to school. He didn't want to risk falling back asleep and not being able to get up in time for class.

There was another small reason he came to school early, though. He just so happened to be on homeroom duty today. Not only were students seated at this school by their school number, but it also determined homeroom duty, which students did in pairs with the classmate sitting next to them.

In other words, Masachika was going to be working with Alisa today. Although he acknowledged he was lazy, he always took care not to inconvenience anyone (asking Alisa to show him her textbook when he forgot his didn't count as far as he was concerned).

Therefore, he never skipped school when he was on homeroom duty, regardless of how boring cleaning was to him. Usually, only doing the bare minimum of what he was asked to do was what made Masachika who he was, but today was slightly different.

"Hmph. I impress even myself sometimes." Masachika nodded with evident satisfaction as he surveyed the empty classroom from the teacher's podium.

The seats and desks were beautifully aligned, with each student's notebook lying neatly atop their desk after having been checked by their homeroom teacher. There wasn't a speck of chalk dust on the blackboard, and the erasers had been perfectly cleaned as well. Alisa typically did this on her own during homeroom duty; it wasn't a requirement.

But since he got up early today, Masachika wanted to see Alisa's expression when he said, "Huh? Oh, you mean the things you usually do? Yeah, I already finished all that." Thus, he returned to his seat and waited for Alisa to arrive early as she usually did.

Only a few minutes had gone by when Alisa finally arrived. The moment she opened the classroom door and saw Masachika, her eyes widened in disbelief.

"Yo, yo, yo. Good morning."

"…Good morning, Kuze."

Alisa furrowed her brow as she looked around the room and realized that her usual tasks had been completed in their entirety.

"I woke up really early today and had a lot of free time, so I thought I'd clean the place on my own." Masachika looked cocky.

"…You got up early? I need to go outside to check if pigs are flying."

"Ah, Alya. You've always had a way with words."

"You'd better not fall asleep during class."

"…I'll see what I can do," was Masachika's half-hearted response.

Alisa rolled her eyes and sighed, then said quietly yet resolutely, "…I'll take care of the blackboard erasers after our morning classes are over."

Masachika smirked. It was clear she simply didn't want to feel like she owed him anything. In no way was that what he was trying to do, but after getting to know her over the past year, he realized Alisa was a proud person, and there was nothing he could say to change her mind.

"All right. Thanks," he replied.

Although she still seemed somewhat discontent, she nodded and awkwardly shuffled over to her seat. Curious as to why she was walking like that, Masachika eyed her up and down until he noticed her knee-high socks were wet, but one look out the window made it evident that it was a bright and sunny day. It had rained last night, but there wasn't even a dark cloud in the sky anymore.

"What happened to your socks? Step in a puddle or something?"

"Please, I'm not as bad as you."

"What kind of idiot do you take me for?! You think I'm a twenty-four-seven space case or something?!"

"I never said that… Sigh… Anyway, a truck passing by splashed water on me."

"Oh man. That sucks."

"I suppose it's kind of my fault for walking too close to the side of the road, though. I have a spare pair of socks to change into, at least."

Even though Alisa made it sound like she didn't care, she took a seat at her desk and cringed with disgust as she removed her shoes. She then placed her right foot on the corner of her chair and hastily began pulling off her socks in front of Masachika. Her radiant, slim, milky-white legs wrapped in white knee-highs were exposed in all their glory right before his eyes as they glittered in the sunlight coming in through the window. Her thigh faintly peeked out from under her skirt as the sock slid down her lifted leg.

Once it was off, Alisa stretched her wet, bare leg out as if she was basking in newfound freedom.

Masachika swiftly averted his gaze, feeling as though he was looking at something he shouldn't have been. Despite only watching her take off her socks, he felt a strange sense of guilt, as if he had been peeping on her getting undressed or taking a bath. Her beauty was nothing new to him, yet Masachika felt like he'd just remembered exactly how beautiful she was. His heart started racing.

"Phew…" Alisa exhaled in obvious relief after taking off her other sock and wiping her legs dry with a small towel that she always had on her just in case it rained. When she casually glanced beside her, she noticed that Masachika was awkwardly looking off to the side, averting his gaze.

Alisa blinked in surprise—the typically carefree Masachika looked oddly flustered and embarrassed…and that made her smile. It was a sadistic, mischievous smile. She swiftly turned to face him and extended her right leg, skillfully grabbing and tugging at his pants with her big toe and index toe.

"Hey, can you go grab some spare socks out of my locker for me?"

"What?"

"I accidentally took these ones off before grabbing my spares, so now I can't go get them."

She crossed her left leg over her right as if to say, "Did I really even have to explain that?" Masachika quickly looked away before he could see too much, making his nerves even more obvious.

Alisa's sadistic grin grew as she rested her chin on her hand with her elbow on the desk. Seeing her smile in amusement with the morning sun behind her was nothing short of picturesque. She was like a selfish princess who was enjoying watching her servant perform an almost-impossible task, or a cruel boss or sergeant who was being unreasonable with her subordinate.

Alya would probably look good in both a dress and a military uniform…

With his thoughts flying off in that direction, Masachika stood up from his chair and then walked over to Alisa's locker in the back of the classroom. He glanced at her once more to make sure it was hers, then opened the locker door, revealing textbooks and a pencil case neatly organized inside. In the very back were a folding umbrella and some socks in a clear plastic bag. He grabbed the bag of socks, still with a lingering feeling of guilt, then promptly returned to his seat.

"Here."

He thrust the socks toward Alisa while glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Good. Now help me put them on," she demanded, dropping a verbal bomb while casually leaning back against the window.

"Whaaat?!" shrieked Masachika, but when he turned to face her, she'd already lifted her right leg in the air for him. She was tilting her head smugly.

Perhaps since they were the only two in the room, she made her amusement no secret.

"What's wrong with you today?"

"What? Me? What's wrong with you ?"

"I'm rewarding you for getting my socks."

"Rewarding me? Uh… Maybe some people are into that, but…"

"Oh? So you don't want to?"

Alisa looked surprised as she crossed her arms and recrossed her legs.

"No, I want to!" shouted Masachika, swiftly turning his head at the same time to avert his gaze.

He was planning on following that up by saying, "You've had your fun, so could you stop messing with me already?!" However, before he could even say another word, he heard Alisa whisper in Russian:

""

When he glanced to his side, her once-mischievous smirk was nowhere to be found. Alisa was playing with her hair while averting her gaze, a soft blush on her cheeks. The sight alone sent Masachika's mind straight into the gutter at full speed.