In the boys' dormitory.
Suzune was in the kitchen, preparing breakfast for Ryunosuke.
Since the two of them had made things official, all three of his daily meals had become her responsibility.
Her reasoning was simple: eating convenience food and instant noodles every day had no nutritional value and was harmful over time. On those grounds, she took over his eating entirely.
Before this, his lunches had been handled by Asuna, though that arrangement had been purely transactional, with no other meaning attached. He had lent her some of his personal points when her finances were running short, and in return she made him a lunch each day.
The reason Asuna was always struggling financially was that she spent the majority of her points on video games. It left her with almost nothing to spare. Since arriving at this school without her mother watching over her, she had quietly shed the composure of her former self and become a dedicated, borderline compulsive gamer. The poised young woman she had been in her previous life had dissolved into someone who stayed in her room and played games. In front of others she still kept up appearances, so to the outside world she remained as put-together as ever. Behind closed doors, she was thoroughly a shut-in. Ryunosuke knew her real face, so in front of him she didn't bother pretending. She often invited him to play with her and had even urged him to sign up for the beta test for the game Aincrad, launching the following year.
Ryunosuke could only mentally refuse.
(I haven't lost my mind. There's no way I'm touching a death game. You're going to regret this.)
One day, Suzune noticed that someone had been preparing Ryunosuke's lunches. She went to find Asuna directly and made herself clear. "From now on, you don't need to make anything for Ryunosuke. His meals are my responsibility."
Asuna felt the world collapse around her. She stood motionless on the spot. Ryunosuke was her personal ATM. Without his points, how was she supposed to keep up with her game payments?
Suzune, however, had no interest in the particulars. She said what she came to say and left, abandoning Asuna to question the meaning of her existence.
Life had not been treating Asuna well lately. First she had been forced into a leadership role that ate into her gaming hours, and now she had lost her only reliable income. She was beginning to feel there was nothing left to look forward to.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
It was now the holiday period. Japanese schools generally offered around three weeks of vacation per season, with three long breaks per year plus national holidays and weekends, adding up to somewhere between 150 and 170 days off annually.
(Tsk. Thinking back to my previous life, there was no such thing as holidays this long. Getting home from school before nine in the evening without extra classes was already something to be grateful for.)
Ryunosuke sipped his tea. Across the table from him, a lovely girl was setting out side dishes for him. Life really was a beautiful thing. Only once she had finished serving him did Suzune pick up her own chopsticks.
In Japan, many wives and mothers ate after their husbands and parents had been served. Suzune had apparently begun to see herself in that role. Her brother had entrusted her to this man, and she had accepted that. After the meal she extended her hand and asked for her share of the grocery money. The system was split evenly down the middle.
The day's shopping had come to 380 yen for four dishes. Genuinely frugal. Ryunosuke had been prepared to cover the whole thing himself, given how little it was and how far things had come between them, but Suzune refused.
"We're not married yet, so there's no shared budget. Of course we split it."
Since she stated it so logically, he handed over the money, then took a chance. "Tonight, would you want to stay over?"
Suzune, who had been clearing the dishes, went completely still. She looked up and delivered her most lethal stare.
Two hours later, Suzune left Ryunosuke's room with a garbage bag in hand to take out the trash.
Ryunosuke lay on his large bed with a deeply satisfied look. "Life really is beautiful. I want it to stay like this forever."
The sentiment was fine, but he had no idea what was coming.
When Megumi eventually learned of their relationship, she saw her opening and told Suzune everything directly. They were close friends, after all, and they happened to share a man. Megumi's real motive was to pull Suzune onto her side, the same way Airi had pulled in Haruka, so she wouldn't be fighting alone anymore.
When Suzune discovered just how many rivals there were, and that she was eighth in line, she erupted and rained down punches and kicks on Ryunosuke without restraint.
He could only accept it.
He had no one to blame but himself.
But Suzune had already given a part of herself over to this situation. There was no way she was walking away from it now. That would be an enormous loss on her end.
And so Horikita Suzune formally joined the ranks of the Espada as the Eighth.
Megumi finally had a proper ally. Even so, both of them remained under Ai's careful watch.
Ai gave no one any space to move unsupervised around Ryunosuke. Every night she slept beside Megumi with their wrists linked together to prevent any midnight maneuvering.
Megumi exhaled slowly. She could see no opening anywhere, at least not as long as they were still at this school.
The full assembly of Espada welcomed their newest member. Ai, sitting at the head of the table, restated the rules. "First, no stealing opportunities in secret. Second, physical contact is limited to holding hands and hugging. Anything beyond that is absolutely forbidden."
Suzune wasn't listening. She stood with her arms crossed, looked past Ai entirely, and walked out.
Morishita Ai: 😐
Her authority had been openly disrespected again. Masumi had done the same thing. Now Suzune was doing it too. Where exactly was the dignity in being ranked first if no one paid any attention?
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