The chime rang.
Looking at the clock on the desk, it was probably lunch break.
“Well then, you shall be introduced to the students now.”
Kujou-san said.
“Introduced?”
“Yes. To the young ladies of the first year high school cla.s.s that you have been enrolled in.”
At that moment…
…*knock*knock*
A gentle knocking echoed.
“Yes?”
[It’s Arisugawa. All of my fellow first-year high school division students are here with me.]
It was the pretty voice of a girl, ringing like a majestic bell.
Kujou-san turned to open the door.
“Kagurazaka-san.”
The headmistress gently said.
“Most of these students haven’t talked to any men other than their fathers and they have never met a commoner before. Please don’t stir them up too much, okay?”
“…………”
Kujou-san turned the k.n.o.b and drew the door open.
My chest was throbbing due to nervousness. I hadn’t seen anything even close to ojou-samas my whole life. Plus, they had been sheltered and didn’t know anything about the real world… They were likely that kind of ojou-samas.
On the other side of the doorway were—— rows of girls in school uniforms.
Yeah, nothing compares, huh…
An atmosphere essentially different from that of the girls in my former cla.s.s.
Their countenance, cleanly straightened backs, even up to their fingers—all came together one by one like a puzzle, perfectionated a dignified aura. I was enchanted in an instant.
The young ladies slowly… entered.
Their posture was something else. Their grace was something else. I couldn’t even hear their footsteps.
There were approximately 30 of them in rows of six, and they stopped in the middle of the room.
I was—— overwhelmed.
“Arisugawa-san.”
“Yes.”
The girl standing at the head of the rows answered the headmistress.
“This is the commoner we’ve invited to this academy. Please, greet him.”
“Certainly.”
After a gentle bow, she faced and walked towards me ever so quietly.
After she was about one meter away from me, she firmly stopped. Following a moderate pause,
“I am the high school division’s committee president, Arisugawa Reiko.”
The ojou-sama among ojou-samas—— is what popped into my head.
From her bewitching, softly-curled hair, over her beautifully balanced curves, lovely fingers, and down to her toes, everything about her overflowed with elegance and grace.
She was more beautiful than anyone. Her smile was like a white rose, allowing me to feel her pure and gentle heart, that nothing in this world could make lose its temper.
“If it so pleases you, please take care of me.”
I was too scared. I leaked a gasp towards that beauty’s behavior before I knew it.
While I stood there bewitched, she had kept herself in a 45 degree bow, before finally restoring her posture.
Our eyes met. In an instant—— Arisugawa-san’s cheeks dyed a deep red and she cast her eyes down.
Her eyes moistened seemingly unknowing what she was supposed to do and she expressed a bashful smile.
An utmost innocent ojou-sama. Is what I thought.
“E… Ehm, I’m Kagurazaka Kimito.”
In that instant, the atmosphere in the room suddenly tensed.
There were hints of the ojou-samas behind her acting up.
“…I…”
“He said ‘I[1]‘…”
“It seems like commoner gentlemen really refer to themselves like that…”
Amazing…
They whispered among themselves.
And for some reason, they looked at me with their eyes sparkling.
“…?”
They seemed to be unable to resist staring and an aura of restlessness was emanating from them. Their curiosity towards me seemed to be the cause and that they conveyed with an incredible force.
“Everyone.”
Arisugawa-san cleared her throat with a small cough and the Ojou-samas quickly quieted down.
*Piriririri*… (Ringtone)
That sound—my cell phone? I felt my pocket, Ah, which reminds me, wasn’t it confiscated by Kujou-san——
Zawazawazawa…!
The Ojou-samas started murmuring loudly.
“W-What was that?!”
“What was that sound?!”
“E-Everyone, please calm down!”
At that moment, Kujou-san took my cell phone out of her ap.r.o.n.
When they saw the source of the ringing, they became noisy again.
With a face that seemed just about to cry, Arisugawa-san said,
“K-Kujou-san. Just… what in the world might it be?”
“This item is called a ‘cell phone’ that I have confiscated from the commoner over there.”
“Cell… phone?”
“As you can see, it’s a handy telephone device that you’re able to carry around. They are widely used in society.”
Just as she said that.
“Wah!” the ojou-samas rushed over.
“A telephone?!”
“This?!”
They surrounded Kujou-san and fixed their eyes on my phone in Kujou-san’s hand.
“To think that such a thin and small object could be a phone…”
“Of course it’s not. Kujou-san must be trying to get the better of us, right?”
“That’s right. This is not what a phone looks like.”
…Do they… really not know about cell phones…?
No way, can the ojou-samas here even be disconnected that much…?
*Beep* Kaijou-san pressed the answer b.u.t.ton.
[Where the h.e.l.l are you right now?!]
Even from over here I could clearly hear the voice of my childhood friend, Ery.
[What does that mean ‘transferred’? I don’t get it and I won’t allow it. I’m done checking the script, so come over after school, make tea ‘n clean, alright? Ah, while we’re at it, go buy some Jaga*ko[2] too. The carbonara flavor (laughing)]
The voice of my abusive childhood friend reverberated in this high cla.s.s place. I felt embarra.s.sed that these ojou-samas were hearing something that I had no excuse for. By the way, the carbonara flavor had been discontinued for quite some time at this point.
“It… It really is!!”
“I can hear a voice!!”
With a ‘Wah!’, the ojou-samas became rowdy.
[…………]
Ery conveyed her speechlessness.
Kaijou-san faced the cell phone towards Arisugawa-san.
Arisugawa-san timidly brought her face closer and said,
“H… h.e.l.lo?”
As if it was some experiment from back when the telephone was first invented, the ojou-samas were enveloped by it.
[…………Who’s this?]
“! It went through!!”
There were high pitched shrills of joy. ‘This is amazing! This is amazing!’ they yelled out repeatedly.
“I am pleased to meet you! My name is Arisugawa Reiko!”
“……Huh……?”
“Reiko-sama! I want to chat too!”
“I do too! By all means!”
“Everyone, we’re scaring the other side—— I’m terribly sorry for troubling you. To tell you the truth, it’s the first time for any of us to hear about this thing you call a ‘cell phone conversation’. I feel terribly embarra.s.sed.”
[……………………]
“I am really envious to think that commoners would have this kind of wonderful thing. I am deeply moved. Following this, I wonder if it is fate. By all means, may I know your na…”
*clack*—— The call ended.
“h.e.l.lo? ……h.e.l.lo?”
As Arisugawa-san repeated herself again, the other girls watched attentively.
“…She hung up.”
The young ladies became uneasy and heaved ‘My…’s.
“What might have happened?”
“Hanging up so suddenly is no common thing.”
“Could… her health suddenly have worsened?”
“Oh no! Ooh, what should we do…!”
“I will write a get-well letter!”
“How heartrending! If only I could be in her stead…!”
“Everyone, please stay calm.”
The second Arisugawa-san said that—— everyone quieted down immediately.
“Surely she must’ve had some important business to attend to. However, she did seem healthy.”
And everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
“If Reiko-sama says so, then there can be no mistaking it.”
“Well then, everyone, let us pray that her business goes well.”
“””””Yes, Reiko-sama.”””””
And so, the ojou-samas joined hands and prayed.
“…………”
While watching their sparkling appearances, I was dumbfounded.
Not even knowing about cells…
These ojou-samas really are super sheltered.
It was beyond imagination that such a place actually existed…
“All things considered, it was a real phone call!”
When they had finished praying, they observed the phone again.
“Kujou-san, would it sit well with you if I held it in my hands?”
“Go ahead.”
“Thank you very much—— My, how light!”
“You fold it up like this, don’t you? Amazing!”
While rotating my phone, the ojou-samas were deeply engrossed with genuine awe.
“That such wonderful, wonderful things would be used daily…”
“Amazing…”
“Commoners are amazing!”
Then Arisugawa-san looked at me,
“Oh, I’ve forgotten! Everyone, this is Kimito-sama’s property. We must return it at once.”
“My, that is true—”
And then, after they’d looked at my cell phone, they shifted their gazes towards me and—— their cheeks blushed slightly.
They mutually locked eyes with each other, as if worried.
What should we do~……
Just by thinking about it, my heart seems to leap out of my chest~……
When they whispered something in soft voices again——
“……I shall do it.”
Arisugawa-san tightly clenched her fists.
And with that, all the ojou-samas at once turned a look full of respect towards Arisugawa-san.
Why would the atmosphere tense up so hard just from returning my phone?
And so, while she politely held my cell in both of her hands, she walked up to me.
“Kimito-sama. I humbly thank you for having the chance to look upon this magnificent item.”
To address me in such a manner naturally was also incredibly ojou-sama-like.
“Ah, no problem…”
Just when I was about to take the phone from her, “R-Reiko-sama!” from behind came a voice that seemed fl.u.s.tered for some reason.
“!! F-For me of all people to…!”
“?”
“P-Please hold on for a moment, Kimito-sama! I shall write up a letter of grat.i.tude in just a moment!”
…Huh?
As Arisugawa-san turned around towards the door, a maid seemed to come in like the wind and held out a letter set.
“Ah, but what should I do, I wonder… To do something like writing while I stand would be quite immodest.”
“I don’t mind you using the table over there, you know?”
“Headmistress, I give my grat.i.tude.”
Arisugawa-san faced the reception table and smoothly finished writing out a letter with a fountain pen.
She then tied that letter of grat.i.tude up with a ribbon, along with the cell phone and a small cookie bag with cute wrapping, placed them in a seemingly high cla.s.s box, and then once again tied that all up with a ribbon——
“Please accept this—!”
With a *whoosh* she presented it to me.
“…………”
“——Ah!”
Arisugawa-san suddenly realized. She then put the box in a simple shopping bag that she had received from the maid.
“For you!”
It had become a lot easier to hold.
“As expected of Reiko-sama!”
“She is thorough to the very end!”
The ojou-samas praised her.
“If it was I, then I would’ve felt content with just writing the letter of grat.i.tude!”
“For me, I would’ve thought myself finished after only tying up the cell phone with a ribbon!”
“Ara, this is marvelous in its own way.”
“My, I thank you.”
I think I hallucinated the appearance of a royal flower garden right there.
…………Is this really j.a.pan?
For a moment I wondered whether I hadn’t just gotten lost in some kind of parallel world.
They were just way too different from the girls I had seen up until now.
While I felt like the ripples on my brain diminished, I took the paper bag from Arisugawa-san.
And as I did, our fingers touched ever so slightly.
“…………!”
With a *poof* Arisugawa-san turned so bright red that it looked like steam was coming out of her ears.
“Reiko-sama!”
“Do you not feel well?!”
“N-No, I’m fine… For just a short moment, Kimito-sama and my fingers…”
With a *flop* her body started to fall over.
“! Watch out!”
I extended my hands right away and—— caught her in my arms.
“””””~~~~~~!!”””””
The ojou-samas surrounding us also turned bright red and hastily backed away.
Once Arisugawa-san’s eyelashes moved out of the way and her eyes had opened enough, she looked at me.
“Ah… Fu…”
After letting out some incomprehensible murmurs,
“…Hau.”
She fainted.
“””””REIKO-SAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!”””””
Screams echoed throughout the room.
While I was perplexed with an, “Eh? Eh?”, a maid came in from the side and took Arisugawa-san. She seemed to glare at me a bit.
“It’s fine, Kiryuu-san. He has bears no interest in anything but muscles.”
Kujou-san said something that didn’t help me at all.
At that moment.
*BANG*
The door flew open all of a sudden.
We all turned around simultaneously, and standing there was——
A lone girl.
Semi-long twintails with ribbons on both sides that felt ojou-sama like and a lively ambiance about her.
Her eyes were big and wide with a small angle to them. Small nose, pink lips.
She had a cute flush on her face like the color of strawberries picked too early in the season. And she was all tensed up.
Translator notes and references
[1]He uses ‘ore’ the masculine p.r.o.noun for ‘I’ instead of more formal versions like, for instance, ‘watashi’.
[2]j.a.panese potato snack, shaped like a fry.