Time passed in the blink of an eye. On the bulletin board at Shuchiin Academy, the student council election notice and the announcement of its dissolution and reorganization stood out starkly.
The annual student council election was in full swing...
——Inside the Shinomiya residence——
Ever since the sports festival ended, Shinomiya Kaguya had fallen into the pathetic state she once despised in others. The fierce gaze she used to find utterly repulsive now seemed so captivating.
Ah, Brando-kun~ Brando-kun... How could there be someone so outstanding, someone truly worthy of the Shinomiya family? I like him, I like him so much...
A girl in the throes of love is always prone to sentimentality, and Shinomiya Kaguya was no exception. There was only one thing she was extremely troubled about, and that was...
Why on earth did I set so many flags back then?!
Why did I inexplicably go pick a fight with Brando-kun?!
Ugh... What do I do? I said so many harsh things to him... Will he think I'm a bad woman...?
I really want to know what kind of image I have in his mind, but if I take the initiative to see him again, won't it look like I'm lonely and empty without Brando-kun?!
So embarrassing...
Is there anyone who can act as a bridge between us?
Eh?!
Isn't there a perfect candidate right here at home?
Shinomiya Kaguya's eyes sparkled. Without hesitation, she shouted in a certain direction: "Hayasaka!!!"
Tap tap tap...
"What's wrong, milady?" Hayasaka Ai hurried over wrapped in a bath towel, shampoo bubbles still clinging to strands of her hair. "If it's nothing urgent, please let me finish my bath first."
"It's just..." Shinomiya Kaguya hugged her giant bear plush, eyes shimmering faintly, cheeks tinged with a light blush. She suddenly started stammering. "Hayasaka, you know... Brando-kun likes me, right?"
Milady, are you still deluding yourself?!
Hayasaka Ai's eyes widened. She stared at Shinomiya Kaguya like she was looking at a ghost and tilted her head, ready to listen to whatever ridiculous otome-drama nonsense came next.
"After the sports festival, we haven't seen each other at all, have we? Someone as stubborn as him... maybe right now he's feeling lonely because he can't see me..." Shinomiya Kaguya spoke with increasing conviction and growing confidence until she puffed out her rather flat chest and waved her hand in a helpless gesture. "Anyway, it's not like I like him or anything, but since I'm so understanding, I just wanted you to help..."
"Eh————, is——that——so——? That's great——" Hayasaka Ai dragged out her tone, dead-fish eyes in place as she turned to leave—after all, she hadn't finished her bath yet—leaving behind only one sentence: "If you're not going to be honest, I'm leaving."
"Eh, wait, wait!" Seeing Hayasaka Ai about to go, Shinomiya Kaguya panicked, eyes turning red as she hurriedly reached out to stop her. "Fine, fine, I... I'll tell the truth! It's me—it's me who wants to see him!"
"So I wanted you to help find out..."
Because Shinomiya Kaguya had clashed with Diego before, after their bet ended, the two had completely lost contact. They hadn't spoken since long ago.
Shinomiya Kaguya was actually collapsing inside... The student council election was coming up soon. Was she really supposed to take on the vice president role in this state?!
No way, not something like that!!!
Hayasaka Ai could only sigh helplessly.
Yare yare daze, what a selfish milady... Do I look like someone who'd cuckold herself? What is milady thinking, asking me to set up a date with her own boyfriend?
But who told me to like these two troublesome people? Compared to strangers, milady is still easier to deal with.
After Christmas, Diego stubbornly insisted that Santa Claus was just a creepy old pedophile. From that, Hayasaka Ai realized one thing: in a fantasy isekai world full of magic, the marriage system didn't seem as well-defined as in reality...
This was the collision between reality and fantasy!
So Hayasaka Ai had once subtly inquired about Diego's views on marriage and romance based on the education he received.
["Dio, if you had to choose one to marry among Miss Frieren, Miss Sui, Miss Mabel, or Miss Alicia, which one would you pick?"]
["Why would I have to choose?"]
["Never mind, don't worry about it. I hate isekai."]
This made Hayasaka Ai realize early on that isekai people's values couldn't be forcibly applied to the modern world.
There was no such thing as monogamy in the isekai world. As long as it was true love, polygamy or polyandry were both acceptable.
Diego, raised in the Zenin household that served royalty, had witnessed nobles with three wives and four concubines since childhood. To him, it was only natural for capable people to have as many partners as they wanted—especially someone as powerful as him.
Naturally: I want them all!
"If milady answers my questions properly from now on, I'll agree to set up a meeting with Dio." After only a brief hesitation, Hayasaka Ai smiled playfully.
Shinomiya Kaguya was dissatisfied with Hayasaka Ai's suddenly dominant attitude and instantly reacted with a shout: "Huh? Why do I have to obediently answer questions? I'm clearly the master here!"
"Milady, remember—right now, you're the one asking me for a favor." Hayasaka Ai lifted her leg to leave.
"You big dummy! You're going to regret treating me like this today..." Shinomiya Kaguya bit her lower lip hard, eyes reddening as she fought back tears at the impending "servant overthrows master" humiliation plot. "I'll cooperate properly... Please don't go."
In shame and anger, Shinomiya Kaguya walked to her room door and slammed it hard.
Bam!
The sudden noise startled Hayasaka Ai.
Big dummy...?
Calling me a big dummy, huh...
Time to properly discipline milady.
Hayasaka Ai raised an eyebrow, eyes lighting up. From somewhere she produced a pair of rimless gold-framed glasses, put them on, and with great interest took out paper and pen to start taking notes.
"Milady likes Dio so much that you want me to do this, right?"
"No way, it's him who likes me so much. I just have to say it a few..."
"Ahem!"
"Waaah... Fine! Yes, I like him! Are you satisfied now?" Shinomiya Kaguya was on the verge of tears, but her mouth stayed stubborn. "If he likes me too, then aren't we true love?!"
What kind of "if" is that? That's way too cunning...
Hayasaka Ai nodded, bowed, and continued her routine check with the next question.
Shinomiya Kaguya had completely thrown caution to the wind. Her inner monologue went like this: It's only telling Hayasaka anyway. Hayasaka's a good girl; she won't tell anyone else. Rounded up, it's basically only I know.
"Milady likes his fierce dinosaur eyes?"
"Yes! That sharp, piercing, sparkling look is amazing!"
"Milady doesn't think his smile is annoying anymore?"
"Yes!! A confident person who doesn't care about others' opinions is the most charming!"
"Milady has decided to give me three days off?"
"No waaaay!!! Eh? What holiday..."
Snap!
The notebook slammed shut.
"Good! Thank you for your great kindness, milady. I will gratefully enjoy these three days off." Having achieved her goal, Hayasaka Ai gave a faint smile, fully satisfied, and left. "I'll go ask Dio right now what he thinks of you."
Shinomiya Kaguya's eyes instantly filled with hope: "Hayasaka! I knew you were always a good girl!"
"...Then before I agree, what exactly am I in milady's heart?"
"Ahahaha..."
Definitely not human...
After an extremely forced laugh, Hayasaka Ai sighed, got up, and headed to the degenerate's lair.
...
——Today Diego was experimenting with sprite magic and accidentally blew up his house. In short: the degenerate's house got degenerate-blasted——
"Omnipotent boyfriend-kun, are you there?"
Seeing the place in ruins, Hayasaka Ai poked her head in. A completely frazzled blond appeared in her view. She asked curiously: "Whoa, what happened to your hair?"
Diego was frozen in the pose of reaching for something, hat fallen at his feet, clothes blasted full of holes everywhere.
"Maid-san..." Diego spread his hands and sighed. "As you can see, my house is gone."
Hayasaka Ai asked in confusion: "So why did this happen?"
"You know electrolysis, right?"
Hayasaka Ai looked blank but still nodded.
"Water can be electrolyzed into hydrogen and oxygen. So I got the wild idea to ask the water sprite and the electricity sprite to do an experiment—see if we could create hydrogen and oxygen sprites that way. It kept failing until the sprites got tired, and one little slip-up blew up the house." Diego gestured vaguely, eyes full of puzzlement as he rubbed his temples and grumbled, "I really don't get it. Even abstract concepts like memory have sprites."
It was too short. Time Stop for 13 seconds was still too short. Even with time stopped, he could only rescue forget-me-not, leisurely brew himself a cup of coffee, sit in a chair, and calmly wait for the explosion.
Diego shook his head lightly and continued: "Then the water sprite got mad and wanted to flood the whole planet to use as an experiment site—said quantitative change would definitely lead to qualitative change and we had to achieve Lord Dio's noble goal.
"The electricity sprite joined in the fun and said it could keep striking lightning for a thousand years and would definitely succeed.
"I had to work so hard to calm the sprites down. You have no idea how much I sacrificed for the survival of Earth."
"Anyway, until SPW Foundation rebuilds my house, I'll probably be sleeping under a bridge."
After finishing his pitiful speech, a spatial rift appeared behind Diego—created by the space sprite as his storage space.
Expressionless, Diego rummaged inside and pulled out a wooden sign bigger than a person, planting it in front of him as he crouched down, fully embracing the down-and-out aesthetic~
The sign boldly read in large characters: One homeless dragon seeking shelter from a rich young lady.
Below, in tiny print almost impossible to read unless you looked closely: Shelter accepted means default sponsorship to buy Manhattan, plus cook me two side dishes to try. (Interpretation rights belong to Diego Brando)
"So Maid-san, could you take pity and bring poor Dio home?" Diego lay on the ground like a puddle of mud, face full of world-weariness. "This world is too cruel... This great one actually has nowhere to go..."
"Dio, you know I live in the servant dorm provided by the Shinomiya family..."
"Shinomiya family dorm... Right, right! I still have the Shinomiya family!"
Scare!
Diego clapped his hands once, regretting that he'd somehow forgotten about the perfectly accessible Shinomiya family. His exaggerated reaction successfully startled Hayasaka Ai.
"Thank you so much, Maid-san. You solved the century-old question of where I'll sleep the moment you arrived." Diego grabbed Hayasaka Ai's hand, making her blush. "So, what did you come to see me for?"
"Oh oh, I wanted to ask what you think of Kaguya-milady as a person?"
Hayasaka Ai inexplicably achieved objective one: getting Diego out for a meeting.
"Uh... as a person?"
"...Can you be more specific?"
"Let me think... Shinomiya Kaguya is actually quite capable. Matching wits with someone under Heavenly Restriction, competing in dynamic vision with a dinosaur, betting on horsemanship against a pro jockey—I acknowledge someone like that." Diego blinked and gave a thumbs-up, sparing no praise. "As expected of the great conglomerate Shinomiya family—their foundation runs deep."
"Can you be a little more serious?"
"Sigh— Why do you have to dig into every detail? I was already trying not to think about it because you and Shinomiya Kaguya are so close..." Diego let out a long breath and stared motionlessly at Hayasaka Ai. Those deep blue eyes seemed capable of seeing straight through to the deepest secrets in a person's heart.
Diego's lips curled again without hesitation: "I hate Shinomiya Kaguya. That woman is irritating. Whether it's her condescending attitude or the way she inexplicably treats me, Dio, as her imaginary enemy—it all reminds me of that dogshit past. Even though I shouldn't transfer my hatred for the Zenin family onto her—she's innocent in that regard—I still feel annoyed because of it. Is this answer satisfactory?"
"Mm... I more or less guessed as much. Not exactly surprising." Hayasaka Ai lowered her gaze slightly, lips parting before she ultimately gave up on making the request and returned to her playful, cute tone. "Well then, I'll head back first. If you have nowhere to sleep tonight, remember to come find me."
Can't do it, can't do it. Looks like I should give up the three-day vacation and go apologize to milady instead.
Milady's inner world is cute, sure—but someone who doesn't spend every day with her like I do would never realize it. And her personality absolutely won't let her show that side easily in front of Dio. It won't change how he sees her.
Wait... inner world... Dio can read minds, can't he? Oh no!
"Wait, Maid-san, don't go yet. When did I ever say I was unwilling to interact with her?" Diego's face darkened as he suddenly appeared behind Hayasaka Ai.
Hayasaka Ai guiltily turned her head away and coughed twice as if nothing was wrong.
Leaked, it leaked!
Noticing Hayasaka Ai was holding something back, Diego secretly stopped time and asked the memory sprite to retrieve what she hadn't said.
Got it—this is the power of mind-reading!
From the source, he could prevent hundreds of episodes of melodramatic soap opera plots born from unspoken words.
Diego exhaled a long breath, expelling the irritation and gloom from his body. He frowned: "Why is Dio so unlucky today? Always running into a bunch of dishonest people—it really pisses me off. People who can't honestly express their feelings are doomed to suffer greatly."
"Take me back to the Shinomiya house. Let me see the difference between the Shinomiya family and the Zenin family."
On the way to the Shinomiya residence, the freshly cursed Diego's eyes turned dark and menacing. The skin at the corners of his eyes cracked slightly, giving off an eerie aura.
If it's no different from the Zenin family... I can't guarantee what I'll do...
I was too merciful back then. Maybe this time I can make up for that regret?