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The door to the student council room burst open. “Vice President! Vice President!”
Keito nearly dropped his papers before quickly composing himself. “Isara, please tell me you have a good reason for causing such a ruckus.”
Isara quickly bowed his head in apology. “Apologies, Vice President. But… um, we have an emergency!”
Keito sighed. The emergency better not have been some kids running in the halls again. “Yes?”
“It seems that—”
“Wahahaha~☆”
Keito’s entire body immediately stiffened. He knew that laugh anywhere, and with it, he could already feel the incoming headache that wouldn’t end until a week later, in which another one would probably begin. “And why must I deal with this?”
“Well…” Mao grinned sheepishly at him. “You’re really one of the only people that knows how to deal with him.”
“As much as I hate to admit it,” Himemiya piped up, “Saru has a point. Neither of us can handle him. We don’t have as much strength or patience as you do.”
“See!? Even Himemiya agrees with— Wait a minute, what did you just call me!?”
Himemiya stopped spinning in Tenshouin’s chair to meet Isara’s glare.
It was truly bizarre to see Himemiya side with Isara on any issue, but if the two of them managed to come to an agreement, they most likely had a good reason for doing so. Keito mourned the fact that Tenshouin was busy today. Tsukinaga had no problem listening to his old friend, but of course the day he was gone, Tsukinaga decided to cause trouble. “Very well, then. Allow me to deal with this issue. Isara, I am putting you in charge while I am gone. Himemiya, assist him with whatever he needs. I do not know how long I will be gone for, so please hold on for as long as possible.”
“Of course, Vice President.” Mao bowed slightly to Keito.
“Ugh, why is he the one in charge?” Himemiya whined. “Whatever, you can count on me, Vice President ♪” He turned on his phone and put it to his ear. “Hey, slave! We’re going to need you over here, so stop whatever you’re doing and come to the student council room!”
Keito sighed. Himemiya still had a lot to learn if he wanted to one day become president of the student council. But for the moment, Keito had to concern himself with the maniac rampaging around the school.
“Wahahaha- huh!?” Tsukinaga looked up from where he was crouched on the floor. “Keito, is that youuu~? Uchuu~☆”
“Tsukinaga. What are you doing?”
“Composing?” He tapped the papers he had apparently been writing on.
“Why are you composing here?”
“Is that a rhetorical question? Doesn’t Keito know me enough by now to know the answer to that question!? Uwahh, are we getting farther from each other even with all the time we spend together!?” Tsukinaga wiped his tears before smiling at Keito as if he was looking at a newborn. “Silly Keito, silly Keito~”
“Answer my question.”
“Because inspiration struck me here!” Tsukinaga tossed the papers he was holding into the air, laughing as they scattered around him. “Oh! OH! I feel it coming back again! Inspiration is coming to me! The scattering papers in the wind, the distraught look on your face as you witness how art is being treated so half-haphazardly—”
“That is not why I look like this.” Keito looked despairingly at the dozens of stacks of papers that littered the hallway. “Do you know how much of a mess this is going to be to clean up!?” He picked up a sheet to see an expertly composed piece stopping abruptly at the edge of the page. “Hold on…” He looked up from the paper back to Tsukinaga.
“Don’t worry Keito, I ran out of paper, so you don’t have to worry about me using more~” Tsukinaga was finishing the rest of the piece on the floor, the thick black magic marker in his hand scribbling on the floor at light speed.
“T-Tsukinaga!” Keito immediately lifted Tsukinaga by the scruff of his neck, causing the latter to start screaming. Keito tried reaching for the marker, but Tsukinaga waved his arm around to try to keep it away from Keito, and it began making marks on the nearby walls as they struggled.
“Please dooon’t, Keito! I’m going to lose my inspiration if you don’t let me go right now! You inspiration destroyer, you! AHHHHHHH!”
“Stop screaming in my ear! Are you ten!? I may be destroying your inspiration, but your inspiration is destroying this school!” Keito quickly realized that Tsukinaga had stopped trying to keep the marker away, instead flailing aimlessly in his hold, so Keito took the opportunity to snatch the marker from Tsukinaga’s grasp.
“AHHHHH, no, it’s gone! IT’S GONE! Lost in the wind! Just like those papers I threw! Are you proud of yourself, Inspiration Destroyer!?”
“Yes, very.” Keito smiled down smugly at Tsukinaga, who only hung his head in defeat.
“Uwahhh, why, why, WHYYY… Wait, wait, WAIT, the sting of bitter defeat, the triumphant tyrant, YES, YES, I CAN FEEL IT COMING BACK! INSPIRATION!”
“Did you just call me a tyra— HEY!” Keito’s grip on Tsukinaga slipped, and he was knocked into the wall as Tsukinaga continued to flail his arms. As Tsukinaga’s arm left his grip, Keito also dropped the marker. Oh no.
“Oooh, finders keepers! Wahahaha~☆” Tsukinaga recovered his magic marker and started running down the hall.
Keito rubbed his arm that hit the wall and closed his eyes, taking a moment for himself to breathe deeply. How incorrigible… Buddha, give me strength. When he opened his eyes again, Tsukinaga was already turning the corner, and Keito started running after him.
Despite Tsukinaga getting a head start, Keito was able to slowly catch up to him. However, rounding the fourth corner, Keito heard a door slamming, and when he looked down the hall, no one was to be seen. Damn it. He tried the first knob. It was locked.
“Typical,” he grumbled to himself. He could hear raucous laughter from within the room, only irritating him further.
“Himemiya!” Keito called.
“HUH!?” Himemiya startled, and he teetered atop the bookcase ladder. “Woah, woah, WAHHH!” He suddenly fell and—
—was caught in Fushimi’s arms. “Young Master, are you alright? That was quite a fall.” Fushimi looked incredibly worried as he began feeling all over Himemiya’s body for signs of bruising.
“L-Let go of me! It wasn’t that tall of a height, and the floor is carpeted! I would’ve been fine!” He struggled in Fushimi’s grip until he was gently let down.
“I cannot take any risk with you, Young Master,” Fushimi insisted.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m important to my family, I know,” Himemiya said, waving him off.
Fushimi frowned. “And to me too,” he added quietly.
“I apologize, Himemiya. I should have been more careful.” Keito bowed as he apologized.
“It’s alright, Vice President,” Himemiya assured. “I should’ve been more careful anyway.”
Keito stood back up straight, adjusting his glasses. “Why were you atop that ladder? I do not believe any of the documents I was working with belonged there. There were only special writing and poster tools.”
Himemiya looked at Isara as if he expected Isara to explain it for him.
“What!? Why do I… okay. Well, Anzu stopped by earlier pitching poster ideas for Trickstar and fine to us. We wanted to sketch some of it, but we needed the tools first, so we asked her to come back later. But, um, did you take care of the issue with Tsukinaga?”
“Unfortunately, not yet,” Keito sighed. “He locked himself in the Handicrafts Club Room, and I cannot get in there if I do not have the key. Please give me the room keys.”
“Ah, of course, Vice President.” Isara reached into the president’s desk and pulled out a key ring. He tossed it over to Keito, who caught it easily.
“We wish you good fortune, Vice President-sama,” Fushimi said with a bow.
Keito nodded, and as he turned to leave, he heard Himemiya mutter, “What is that idiot doing?”
Keito unlocked the door and slowly pushed it open, suspicious of the uncharacteristically silent room.
“Non! Not a step further!”
Before he knew it, Keito was met with an extremely irritated Itsuki. The first thing Keito noticed was that Itsuki seemed much more disheveled than usual, as if he was caught in a whirlwind. “Itsuki… I, ah… what happened to you?”
“Hmph. Nothing concerning you, that is for sure.” Shu pompously tilted his head away from him.
“Well then… have you seen Tsukinaga anywhere? I believe I saw him coming into this room.”
Itsuki shot Keito an irritated glare. “I have, yes. Art is not to be rushed, but it seems as though despite being an artist himself, Tsukinaga has no grasp of such a concept. Be thankful that I was still gracious enough to lend such a favor. He is no longer here, so if you need nothing else, I suggest you leave.”
“Wait, what do you mean by a ‘favor’?”
“I really must get back to sewing. I will be free to talk later. Would that be all?”
“A-ah… yes, of course. Thank you for your time, Itsuki.”
Keito felt as though he had searched up and down the entire school looking for Tsukinaga, but he had yet to come across him. He had been running himself ragged searching through the halls, and he probably looked ridiculous if the way Hakaze was snickering at him was any indication. It made Keito envy the ability to not care about one’s responsibilities, until he remembered that he would rather be a stuck-up lecturer than a lazy skirt chaser any day.
Keito had been beginning to worry about the destruction Tsukinaga was causing to school property the longer he couldn’t find him. He had even tried contacting Tenshouin to put an end to the chaos, but Tenshouin insisted that he was still busy. Thankfully, when he had left the main building, Kanzaki had come across him and said that Tsukinaga was in one of the classrooms.
Making his way toward the empty classrooms, Keito once again heard a familiar boisterous laughter. Peeking inside, he saw a sight that almost made him faint.
“INSPIRTATION! GIMME! GIMME! GIMME! FANCY! STIMULI! VIBRATE!” Tsukinaga chanted happily. He had the black marker he used before in one hand while somehow manifesting the first five colors of the rainbow in the other. Holding the rainbow in his left hand, he ran it across the wall to make a music score before filling in the music notes with the black marker.
“TSUKINAGA!” Keito shouted at the top of his lungs.
“UWAHH!?” Tsukinaga jumped like a wet cat, his head then turning comically slow and eyes cartoonishly wide. But upon seeing Keito, he grinned. “Is that Keito!? Hello Keito! Uchuu~☆” He playfully tilted his head to the side, sticking his tongue out. “What are you doing here~? And why are you yelling?”
“Did you seriously forget what happened half an hour ago?”
“Half an hour ago? Hmmm, I think I was composing my latest masterpiece, ‘We’re running out of time, but because Yumenosaki students never give up, we’ll do our best until the very end,’ and then… I saw Keito, and… ah!” Tsukinaga quickly took an aggressive stance, appearing as though he was a tiger, ready to pounce. “Are you here to take my music away from me!? I won’t allow you to, you fiend! GRRRRRRRRRRR!”
“My mistake for saying anything,” Keito groaned. “Stop growling at me. And why are you on all fours, are you an animal? Also, did you really have to write on all the walls!? You know that we always carry paper in the student council room. By the way, you should work properly on your song titles—”
“Gah, stop lecturing me! I hate you, you big meanie!” Tsukinaga put his hands on his ears as he started screaming incoherently to drown out Keito.
“You really are immature,” Keito muttered. He walked over to Tsukinaga and lightly knocked the side of his head.
Tsukinaga let out an overdramatic cry of anguish. “Owieee~! Did your parents never raise you right!? Did you have mean parents!? Or maybe you are one of those mean parents. Please don’t hit me, Mama Keito!” He pouted childishly. “That’s not a nice thing to do~!”
“Do not call me by that name. Have your parents not taught you to respect your superiors?”
Tsukinaga’s pout turned into a sharp grin, his face shadowing. “Just because you’re in a position higher than me doesn’t make you superior in any way. You would know that from your time in DEADMANZ, wouldn’t you?”
Keito’s eyes widened at the alarming change in demeanor, but before he could think of a response, Tsukinaga’s face reverted back to an expression of childish glee as if nothing happened.
“Hey, Keito, wanna go visit Little John?”
Keito ignored the flutter of joy that name brought him. “Are you trying to distract me?”
“Of course!” Tsukinaga admitted. “I promise I won’t write on anything I’m not supposed to if we get to visit her ♪”
“I doubt that, but…” Keito sighed, looking around at the state of the classroom. He didn’t know how many hours it would take to clean up all the marks from the hall, the classroom, and whatever other places Tsukinaga may have touched. Even if he normally refused to believe anything Tsukinaga said, he was desperate. “Very well, then.”
“YAYYYY!”
“Danna, what’re ya doin’ out here?”
“Ah, Kiryu.” Keito smiled in greeting. Despite Tsukinaga’s promises, Keito insisted that he hold onto his arm, lest Tsukinaga get away again and cause more mayhem. “Tsukinaga just wanted to go to the archery grounds.”
At those words, Kiryu glowered at Tsukinaga. “Oh, do ya? You better not cause any trouble, ya hear me?”
Tsukinaga smiled cheerily. “Of course not! I’m better than that~ Don’t worry your little head. Pat pat~♪” He stood on his toes and barely managed to pat the top of Kiryu’s head. Kiryu’s frown only turned even more downwards.
“Okay, stop bothering him. Farewell, Kiryu.” Keito roughly pulled on Tsukinaga’s arm, dragging him towards the archery grounds.
“GOODBYE, KURO! I’LL SEE YOU LATER!” Tsukinaga screamed.
Keito turned around to see Kiryu face-palming. Never had he felt such a desire to copy someone else’s actions. Facing Tsukinaga again, he asked, “Is there no way for you to calm down for more than two seconds?”
“I am calm! Don’t you see how calm I am!?” Tsukinaga attempted to accentuate his point by pretending to fall asleep right on the spot, taking Keito down with him.
“OW!” Keito fell on his side hard, and his glasses flew off his face. “You bastard. You idiot. Can you think before you act for once!?” He rolled so that he laid on his back.
“AH, KEITO, ARE YOU OKAY!?” Keito could make out the outline of Tsukinaga shouting in his face. “PLEASE DON’T DIE, I DIDN’T MEAN IT!” The pale color in front of Keito turned orange, meaning Tsukinaga must have turned around. “Oh wait, I think I can hear Little John~! He must be calling for us! Papa is on his wayyy, Little John!” The outline of Tsukinaga began furthering itself from Keito as he sprinted into the distance.
“How incorrigible,” Keito muttered to himself. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of glasses, wiping them a bit before placing them on his face. Afterwards, he checked the vicinity of where he and Tsukinaga fell to see that his other pair also survived the fall. A sigh of relief left his mouth as he picked them up from the ground to clean them later.
Quickly making his way to the front door of the archery hall, Keito found the door was still open. He stepped inside and saw two people with bows in hand.
“Keito!” Tsukinaga cheered. “You’re not dead after all! Thank goodness, I guess I can scrap the song I had planned for your funeral.”
“A funeral!?” Suou put down his bow and looked back and forth between Keito and Tsukinaga. “Did SOMETHING happen to him?”
Keito pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation before clarifying, “No need to worry, Suou. Only Tsukinaga’s typical…” he gestured to the entirety of Tsukinaga.
“Ah, I see.” Suou looked at Tsukinaga with a mix of disdain and fondness. “Oh!” He turned back to Keito and held up his bow. “Look! I have practiced a lot since our last practice together, and my aim has IMPROVED!” Suou attached an arrow to his bow before pointing it at the target. “Observe.” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. A second passed by before he opened his eyes again and let go.
The arrow soared through the air, hitting the bullseye.
By the time the arrow hit the target, Suou already loaded another arrow, and releasing it, he watched as it split the other arrow in half. “Look! See! I had such PRECISION as to split the other ARROW!” Suou’s eyes shone pridefully.
Keito patted the top of Suou’s head, causing Suou to squawk. “Very good, Suou. I can see that you have been working hard, and your aim has improved greatly. If only other individuals could learn from such an admirable example.” He glared pointedly as Tsukinaga, who was lolling about the floor, bow still in hand.
“Huh?” Tsukinaga shifted his gaze to meet Keito’s and grinned. “I don’t need to worry about my shooting if I have my composing~ But I guess I did promise to not write on the floors or anything. Wahhhh, I shouldn’t have made that promise!” He haphazardly gripped three arrows without looking and sloppily attached them to his bow. “Weeeee!” Tsukinaga started rolling around and without warning, the three arrows shot out, making Keito flinch and Suou scream. Tsukinaga sat up and cheered as the arrows hit the bullseyes of three adjacent targets.
Suou sighed in frustration. “Of course, Leader has no trouble even when he never comes to practice.”
“Tsukinaga is just… an abnormality. Worry about your own skills; you are doing quite well,” Keito assured.
“Anywayyyy, that’s not what we’re here for!” Tsukinaga sat up and began scurrying around the room. “Little John, hello~!”
“Mrow?” A striped, gray cat stepped out from the shadows and approached Keito.
“Awww, how are you doing, Little John~?” Keito cooed. “You’re still growing big and strong, yes you are~ yes you are~” While petting Little John affectionately, in his peripherals he could see Suou stifling his laugher and Tsukinaga watching starry-eyed. Coughing awkwardly, he removed his hand from Little John, gently nudging her towards the other two.
Tsukinaga began petting Little John energetically. “Aww, it seems Mama Keito is still shy about petting you, but don’t worry, your papa still loves you~”
Suou watched the scene with interest before pausing. “Wait… if Hasumi-senpai is the mama, and you’re the papa…”
“Do. Not.” Keito said harshly. There was absolutely no way he would allow an inkling of such a misunderstanding of his and Tsukinaga’s relationship. He did have to admit that his and Tsukinaga’s tendencies tended to gear towards those parental figures. He sighed his own admittance.
From where Little John came emerged five little kittens.
“Ah, there you are!” Tsukinaga cheered. “Now we have all of ‘Nyaitsu’ here!”
Suou giggled, and Keito allowed a smile to grace his face as the kittens swarmed the pair.
“OH NO!” Tsukinaga suddenly shouted, causing Little John to startle. “I’m sorry! Papa’s sorry for scaring you~ Suo~ I got some toys for these little guys, but I left them in the Music Room. Can you go fetch them for me~?” He made puppy-dog eyes at Suou, which Little John seemed to take as a cue to use her baby-doll eyes on Suou as well.
“Ugh, please have more self-respect, Leader,” Suou scolded. After a few moments of Tsukinaga refusing to let up, Suou’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Oh!” He bowed towards Keito. “I should do as Leader says, but I hope to see you again. We have not gotten the chance to practice today, after all. Allow me to gather my belongings.”
While Suou started rummaging about, Tsukinaga drew Keito’s attention towards him again. “Look! Little John wants some head pats from his mama~”
“I told you to stop calling me that.”
After a long day, Tsukinaga skipped alongside Keito, who had already given up on trying to stop him from running away. “Today was a fun day; we did so many things. Ah! I can feel it coming! INSPIRATION!”
“You idiot, hold on!” Keito mourned the fact that he forgot to ask Suou for some of the blank music scores that he knew the young heir carried on him just for situations like this. “We’re almost at the student council room, and I have papers for you there.”
“Wahahaha, you’re always so reliable, Keito. That’s why I love you~♪”
“Please refrain from uttering such confusing statements.”
“But it’s not confusing…? I mean exactly what I say!”
“How incorrigible…” Keito then breathed a sigh of relief. “We have arrived.” He stepped inside the Student Council room, only to find it empty. “Huh…?” Isara and Himemiya must have left to take care of some other business. Still, at least one of them should have stayed behind. How are we meant to answer the concerns of our students without diligence? He reached into a drawer and pulled out a few sheets of paper, handing them to a practically vibrating Tsukinaga.
“YES, YES, IT’S FINALLY COME! INSPIRATION!” Without wasting a second, Tsukinaga crouched onto the floor and began scribbling furiously on the paper. “Wahahaha~☆ This will work perfectly! I knew that I just needed a little more! As expected of a genius like me ♪”
Keito rolled his eyes. Tsukinaga was a lot, but as long as he wasn’t leaving any messes for Keito to clean, Keito supposed he could be considered tolerable.
“IT’S TIME! IT’S TIME!” Tsukinaga suddenly stood up, startling Keito. “Keito! It’s time! It’s time! I’m so excited!” Before Keito could even begin to wrap his mind around what Tsukinaga was saying, the composer darted into the hall, laughing maniacally.
“…” With an exhausted look almost instantaneously gracing his facial features, Keito rescinded his previous thoughts. He was getting closer and closer to punching a wall the more he had to babysit this man-child to maintain peace. Hopefully Tenshouin would be around to stop the madness the next time it happened.
Keito lost sight of Tsukinaga again a while ago. However long he had spent chasing after Tsukinaga or trying to make sure he didn’t cause trouble, he had yet to be able to predict his actions at a satisfactory rate. Kanzaki, ever the faithful junior, said he had once again seen Tsukinaga entering the gymnasium this time, even offering to assist in catching the rascal.
“The doors of the ‘jim’ are in sight, Hasumi-dono! Our time has almost arrived.”
“Hopefully we can put an end to this nightmare…” Tsukinaga was much more persistent in causing trouble than usual. Perhaps today he wanted to try coffee for the first time for his inspiration, or he consumed too much of a new sweet. Either way, Keito had to find out to make sure it didn’t happen again.
“…Was it still not a good opportunity for a break though?”
“Huh?” How could Tsukinaga’s presence be associated with something good!?
“What I mean to say is, Hasumi-dono… and forgive me for being presumptuous… But if not for Tsukinaga, would you have not been doing paperwork by yourself all day?”
“…”
“Even if Tsukinaga was being a disturbance to the peace, you were able to stay active while not having to worry about the responsibilities piling up. Meanwhile, your comrades had a good opportunity to experience for themselves what it would be like to take over your responsibilities. One day you will graduate and leave us, but the only way for them to be prepared is if they know what is coming. You should share some more responsibility with them…” Kanzaki snapped himself out of his thoughts as he bashfully scratched his cheek. “Ah, I apologize if I sound as though I am lecturing you.”
“No, it’s quite alright, Kanzaki.” He’s right… “Perhaps I should… share a bit more responsibility.”
Kanzaki’s eyes lit up. “Of course, Hasumi-dono! Maybe then you will be able to dedicate more time to performing as an ‘aidoru,’ or play more with the kittens like you did today ♪”
Keito’s head turned to Kanzaki so quickly that he was surprised it didn’t crack. “How do you know about the kit—”
“It is time, Hasumi-senpai! We have cornered the criminal!” Kanzaki shouted. He placed a hand on his katana. “Please, as leader, go first. I will follow right behind you in case he tries to slip by through any underhanded tactics.”
“Okay…” For some reason, Keito was starting to get a bit nervous. As he opened the door, only the darkness of the gymnasium met him. Taking a steady gulp, he steeled his nerves and stepped in, looking for any sign of Tsukinaga.
BANG!
The lights of the gymnasium turned on as a few party poppers went off simultaneously, followed by a sudden joyous chorus almost singing, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!”
“I-It’s my— What!?” Keito adjusted his glasses, which had slipped down from the shock.
“Seriously, Danna?” Kiryu laughed. “Guess he was right, after all. You really didn’t notice that it was your own birthday.”
Keito looked around to see many other students in the gymnasium enjoying themselves. Among them, he saw the rest of AKATSUKI, the archery club, and the rest of the Student Council, including… “YOU…!”
Eichi strolled over to Keito and Kiryu with the biggest shit-eating grin Keito had ever seen. “Nice to see you doing well, Keito. How have you been? I’ve heard you were getting quite the leg day in.”
“…”
“Why so silent? Are you not happy to see me at your birthday party?” Eichi’s grin only grew wider and smugger.
“You said you were busy… and that’s why I was the one who had to struggle through getting Tsukinaga to stop his rampage… then that’s why…!”
“It seems you have reached the truth.” With a gentle smile, Eichi continued, “Yes, I masterminded the sequence of events of this day to throw you a birthday party. I knew you were so engrossed in your work that you would most likely forget it was your birthday, so I thought up a plan to take you a step away from the paperwork as we got everything ready. And of course, the only way to do that was to enlist Tsukinaga-kun’s help ♪”
“Tsukinaga...!” Keito had forgotten that he had been chasing Tsukinaga. He looked around the crowd until he saw the culprit standing on top of a table, surrounded by a small crowd.
“Wahahaha~☆ It’s time you finally made iiiit~ Let’s start this! The Birthday of Our Music!” Right after those words, music filled the gymnasium, and Tsukinaga grinned toothily seeing some of the students start cheering. “This is my newest piece: ‘Birthday of Music’! How do you like it~?”
“You…” Keito looked around to see most of the people he had run into while chasing Tsukinaga smiling at him. “You were all in on this!?”
“Yep, but that idiot almost ruined the whole thing.” Himemiya gestured towards Tsukinaga.
“I definitely didn’t expect him to lead Vice President back to the Student Council room.” Isara chimed in. “For half a second, I thought we were gonna get busted when we tried to get the tools for that poster.” With a chuckle, he pointed towards a birthday banner hanging above them.
“…Why does it look like that?” Keito asked flatly. Even with his glasses, Keito couldn’t tell what the banner was meant to depict, aside from the words “Happy Birthday.” There were splotches of color that looked oddly familiar, forming a vaguely humanoid shape. “Wait… is that supposed to be me!?”
“Are you happy with it, Vice President-sama?” Fushimi smiled, seemingly pleased with himself. “I admit that it was a bit of a challenge, but it turned out better than I thought it would.”
“Speak for yourself!” Itsuki cut in. “Hmph, this teddy bear can at best be considered mediocre. I had not realized Kagehira had developed enough independence to take his own commission from Tsukinaga. He could have done the bare minimum and at least seen it through to the end!” He held up a plush teddy bear, sewn with perfect proportions. “Of course, I was not aware of this transgression until Tsukinaga came by, wanting to see if Kagehira had finished the gift. Meanwhile, Kagehira somehow passed out!”
“Probably ‘cause you’re overworkin’ him.” Kiryu pointed out.
“Do not speak as if you know anything about Valkyrie!” Itsuki shot back. “We must strive for perfection, and that perfection is not earned by lazing around.” He placed the teddy bear on the table as he turned to start arguing with Kiryu.
“Apologies for deceiving you, Hasumi-dono.” Kanzaki bowed deeply to Keito. “Kiryu-dono and I oversaw patrolling the exits of the main building in case Tsukinaga-dono lost your trail, leading you to search for him outside. If you would like, I can apologize by committing—”
“Please don’t.” Keito hurriedly interrupted.
“Still,” Suou added, “he should not have made it outside. Kiryu-senpai expressed his FRUSTRATION at Leader changing the PLAN by taking you to the archery grounds. I suppose it was a good idea to take you out to see Little John, but he should have given us a WARNING. Luckily, he managed to warn me ahead of TIME, and so I was able to ACT natural before you saw me taking the equipment for the PARTY GAMES.” Suou motioned towards the mini archery practice, his eyes sparkling in excitement. “I meant it when I said I wanted to PRACTICE together some more, Hasumi-senpai. When you hope to, I will be READY to compete in target practice with you ♪”
“Fufu,” Eichi chuckled. “Your reaction was certainly worth all the trouble it took setting this party up.”
Keito glared at Eichi, which only caused Eichi’s grin to grow wider. “Was there really no easier or more foolproof way to accomplish this?”
“Of course,” Eichi answered easily. “But this plan was much more fun to watch unfold ♪” He pulled out his phone and showed the screen to Keito. “We even made a whole group chat just so we could track your movements and actions. It made the whole affair feel so cunning: a fly forced to track the web the way the spider wishes, if you will.” Despite the darkness in Eichi’s words, the emperor’s face and tone remained serene.
“Keito! Keito! Mama Keito! Perv Glasses! HELLOOOOO!” Tsukinaga shouted as he strode over towards Keito, beaming brightly.
Despite the course of the entire day, or, if he was honest, perhaps because of the day he had, Keito felt a small smile creep its way onto his face. “What do you want now?”
“I just wanted to say… Happy Birthday, Keito ♪”
Keito shook his head, and unable to keep out the miniscule amount of fondness in his tone, he grumbled, “How incorrigible.”