The Former Swordmaster Who Pretends to Be the Worst, and the School’s Top-Ranked Chairman’s Daughter Who’s Way Too Sweet in Public, It’s a Real Problem
[Last night, Saito-kun’s parents told me they’d been assigned a long-term business trip. So I told them I’d take care of you.]
――I also thought it all seemed a bit too convenient.
Until last night, my parents and I had spent time together as usual, and we’d exchanged goodnights. Though, to be fair, I’d left them in the living room and gone back to my room. Did the business trip come up after that?
Even so, it felt strange that they wouldn’t say a single word to their own son.
“……That said, if it means protecting Rika, maybe it’s for the best.”
I harbored those doubts, but I tried to look at it that way.
Besides, my parents’ lack of planning isn’t anything new. They’ve often planned trips without warning or acted on sudden impulses. To put it nicely, they’re a dynamic pair, but for those of us being dragged along, it’s no picnic.
Still, just this once, I’ll take advantage of it.
“I’m all packed up for now. …Alright, let’s go.”
And so, I stuffed my belongings into a travel suitcase and left the house.
◆
“It’s still an incredibly grand mansion… isn’t it?”
And now I was standing in front of my childhood friend’s family home—the Agatsuma residence.
I called it a mansion, but you could just as easily call it a research facility. And that makes perfect sense, since the Agatsumas were one of the world’s most renowned magical families. Next to the house, which looked like something out of a fantasy world, stood a reinforced concrete research facility.
From what I’d heard, they apparently conducted analyses of magical power there.
“Anyway, um… where’s the intercom?”
Feeling slightly intimidated, I pressed the intercom button.
A small camera activated, allowing me to speak with whoever was inside.
“Excuse me, this is Aragaki Saito. I’ll be staying here for a few days starting today.”
“Aragaki Saito, is that you? My master has told me all about you.”
The voice that came through was that of a man speaking in an absurdly polite tone.
Given that the Agatsuma family is of noble lineage, it was only natural that they employed “domestic staff.” It felt somewhat out of touch with reality, but practically speaking, there was no doubt that managing a mansion of this scale required it.
A few seconds after hearing that—click.
“Please, come in.”
It wasn’t the front door; the security system on the gate in front of it had been disarmed.
The security was so incredibly strict it was almost laughable, and I couldn’t help but smile wryly as I stepped inside. Before me lay a beautiful garden filled with flowers.
A few gardeners—presumably hired staff—were pruning the trees.
As I walked through the garden, the mansion’s entrance finally came into view.
“Well then, once again—”
Here, I pressed the standard intercom button.
There was a simpler response than at the gate, and Rika’s voice came from inside.
“Hello! Come on in, Saito-kun!”
“I’m coming in? Well then, excuse me for intruding—”
Responding to her, I finally stepped inside my childhood friend’s house.
And it was the moment I closed the door and turned to face the room.
“Welcome home, honey. Dinner? A bath? Or maybe—”
There she was, Rika, blushing, dressed in casual clothes and a cute apron.
Tilting her head slightly, my childhood friend looked up at me with eyes slightly moist—perhaps from nervousness—holding a ladle in her right hand and pointing to her own lips with the index finger of her free left hand, she said:
“Me…?”
……Wait, what is this? It’s like a romantic comedy.
I instinctively let go of my suitcase and stood there speechless. Rika, for her part, seemed anxious at my lack of reaction, but she held her ground, trying not to break her posture. In that moment, the silence—where even the ticking of the clock felt unnaturally loud—seemed to drag on forever.
It might have only been a few seconds, but it felt like several minutes.
During that time, I racked my brain desperately and finally replied:
“……Dinner.”
“U-uh…”
Then my childhood friend, looking somewhat resigned, slumped her shoulders and nodded.
You shouldn’t do things you’re not used to.
And so, my life at the Agatsuma household began.
Maiban