A rustle came from behind him: fabric brushing against fabric, and Kushida Kikyo muttering under her breath as if she were arguing with someone.
Kazehara Tetsu leaned back in his chair and stared at the wall without turning around.
After a while, the sounds behind him stopped.
"All right..."
Kushida Kikyo sounded a little reluctant. "You can turn around now."
Kazehara Tetsu turned around.
Kushida Kikyo had changed into her school uniform and even fixed her hair.
She stood in the middle of the room. When he looked at her, her hands dropped awkwardly to her sides. Beneath that reluctant expression, though, there was clearly something else.
"Well? Satisfied?"
Kazehara Tetsu looked her up and down, then nodded.
"Yeah. It suits you better than the maid outfit."
"Do you boys all fall for this?"
Kushida Kikyo walked up to him, folded her arms, and looked down at him. "A girl in a school uniform, pretending to be all sweet and obedient?"
"You're not pretending. You already are."
"Me?"
Kushida Kikyo looked as though she'd heard a joke. "Kagihara, other people might not know what I'm really like, but you do. That sweet act is for outsiders."
"I know."
Kazehara Tetsu looked at her. "But you're not showing me this side of you for outsiders. You're showing it to me. That makes it different."
Kushida Kikyo froze for a moment.
She opened her mouth, but the cutting words on the tip of her tongue suddenly wouldn't come out.
She stared at Kazehara Tetsu for two seconds, then turned her face away. The tips of her ears were a little red.
"...Smooth talker," she muttered.
"Was that a compliment?"
"Like hell it was."
Kushida Kikyo sat down on the edge of the bed and set aside the paper bag holding the maid