Long Live Saturday!! (A Salvation for a Miserable Wage Slave-Tonight I Can Finally Get a Good Night's Sleep)

"Everything you're born with outweighs making the right choices and striving to the utmost."

"Human beings are creatures with limits." His voice was low and sure. "The genius you care so much about is merely one manifestation of talent."

Sakayanagi Arisu's pupils widened slightly.

She had never heard such a blunt and cold assertion.

Tanaka Yukishin stood up, his shadow falling across Sakayanagi Arisu's face.

"At the top of the world stand the strong. The strong have no place for the weak."

"There are only the strong defeating the weak, not geniuses crushing mediocrities."

His tone made it sound like an obvious fact.

Sunlight slanted in from the edge of the parasol, falling on the tabletop between them and forming a bright dividing line.

"It's time to broaden your horizons, Classmate Sakayanagi."

When he finished speaking, the three of them fell silent.

Sakayanagi's fingers absently rubbed the smooth surface of the paper, and her heart beat a little faster than usual.

For many years, she had lived in a world of "genius above all" that she had built herself.

The boy she had met in the White Room eight years ago—Ayanokoji Kiyotaka—was the standard by which she measured everything.

And now, Tanaka Yukishin's arrival was like a heavy hammer, shattering the framework of understanding she had clung to for so long.

"The strong...?"

She murmured softly, her gaze falling on the sharp handwriting on the paper.

The chatter of students carried from nearby, while Kamuro Masumi watched in silence.

Beneath the parasol, a silent revolution was quietly unfolding in Sakayanagi Arisu's heart.

She looked up, a flawless smile reappearing on her face. "An interesting theory. It seems I'll need to reconsider a few things."

Tanaka Yukishin merely nodded and turned toward the door.

When he pushed it open, sunlight poured in, casting his long shadow across the floor.

Sakayanagi watched him walk away, feeling for the first time that cracks had appeared in the world she had built.

She picked up the white sheet of paper from the table. The line of writing seemed to burn her fingertips.

The world had changed, and she seemed to have only just realized it.

"Let's go."

Kamuro Masumi's voice broke the silence.

She stepped forward and lightly rested her fingers on Sakayanagi Arisu's elbow, but the moment she touched her, she felt an almost imperceptible tremor and stiffness in her body.

Was she nervous?

Or excited?

"Are you planning to record a video?"

Kamuro Masumi suddenly spoke, her voice half a pitch higher than usual.

Sakayanagi Arisu came back to herself and realized Kamuro Masumi was watching her with those amethyst eyes.

Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the parasol, scattering flecks of light across her face and dividing her delicate features into patches of light and shadow.

"I am."

Sakayanagi Arisu heard herself answer with slight hesitation.

"But I'll do it when Tanaka-kun leaves the school."

She paused. Some indescribable emotion swelled in her chest, compelling her to add, "I'll record it with my student ID terminal and show it to him once."

A subtle smile suddenly lifted the corners of Sakayanagi Arisu's mouth.

She raised a hand and tucked a strand of silver hair behind her ear. The gesture should have been graceful, but the trembling of her fingers made it seem deliberate.

"Consider it tuition for Teacher Tanaka."

She spoke softly.

Kamuro Masumi noticed that when Sakayanagi said "Teacher," the tip of her tongue lightly brushed her teeth, as if she were tasting some unfamiliar ingredient.

She suddenly realized this was the first time she had seen Sakayanagi Arisu talk about someone in such a complicated tone—as though she both longed for him and revered him.

"You don't need to worry that he'll make you do anything extra."

Sakayanagi Arisu continued, the tip of her cane tracing half an arc across the ground.

"In his eyes, our squabbles might be no more than children playing house."

A breeze swept past, lifting the hem of Sakayanagi Arisu's skirt.

Kamuro Masumi saw her slender ankles peeking out above her black stockings, like fragile porcelain.

For some reason, the sight reminded Kamuro Masumi of the antique dolls she had seen locked inside glass cases during a childhood visit to a museum.

"He'll happily watch us play around, but he won't take part."

Sakayanagi Arisu's voice suddenly lowered.

"Even if he hasn't lost his childish side, he still won't take it seriously."

"By the way."

Sakayanagi suddenly stepped closer, the scent of her perfume mingling with the greenery around them.

"Kamuro, what exactly does he have on you?"

Kamuro Masumi's back stiffened at once.

She felt Sakayanagi's breath brush her earlobe, warm with a hint of minty coolness.

Too close—this distance had crossed the usual boundaries between classmates.

"Now we're all on the same side," Sakayanagi continued, lightly tapping Kamuro's shoulder with her fingertip as if playing an invisible piano key.

"Share it. It'll be fun."

Kamuro Masumi swallowed.

How could Sakayanagi Arisu say something like that at a time like this?

Had the shock Tanaka Yukishin had given her just now forced her to quickly find a distraction to keep herself composed?

"After you record the video," Kamuro Masumi replied, her voice raspier than she had expected.

"Then we'll be on the same side."

Her words were like a small knife, precisely slipping into the fragile balance between them.

Sakayanagi Arisu's smile froze. She stepped back half a pace, tightening her grip on her cane until her knuckles turned an unhealthy bluish white.

Laughter erupted from students in the distance, making the silence beneath the parasol feel even heavier.

Kamuro Masumi watched Sakayanagi Arisu straighten her back and put her flawless mask back on.

But sunlight never lied—in the shadows cast by those trembling lashes lay fear and anticipation she herself hadn't even realized were there.

"Then it's settled."

Sakayanagi Arisu finally said, her voice returning to its usual composure, as though her momentary lapse had never happened.

As she turned, her skirt swept through an elegant arc.

Kamuro Masumi remained where she was, watching Sakayanagi Arisu's retreating figure.

The sunlight stretched her slender silhouette long, almost to the steps of the school building.

Where shadow met substance, Kamuro Masumi thought she could see two Sakayanagi Arisus: one a proud genius, the other a bewildered girl whose understanding of the world had just been overturned.

Still...

"Wait for me. Take care of yourself."

Chapter 39: Long Live Saturday!! (A Salvation for the Miserable Worker—Tonight, I Can Finally Get a Good Night's Sleep)

For Japanese students,

their favorite day of the week during the school term was Saturday.

They had to go to school from Monday to Friday.

They weren't eligible to compete.

Saturday and Sunday were lazybones' days of celebration, when they could sleep until they woke naturally.

By comparison, Saturday had only one advantage over its little sister: Sunday's little sister was Monday.

Having fun was human nature.

Compared to Sunday, when the thought of school on Monday kept them from enjoying themselves fully,

Saturday was clearly the better day.

They could spend two whole nights in a row, Friday and Saturday, partying without restraint.

That was why it was everyone's favorite.

After eating and resting, Karuizawa Kei's pain had eased considerably.

When Tanaka Yukishin returned, she picked several outfits from the closet, all of which she had brought over yesterday.

Karuizawa Kei shook out a beige knit sweater and pulled it on. Her legs beneath the short white skirt were tinged pink from her recent bath.

As she bent to pick up a hair clip, the air conditioner happened to lift the hem of her top.

A sliver of black lace from her bra was faintly visible at her lower back.

"Yukishin, do you think it looks good?"

After changing, Karuizawa Kei spun around for Tanaka Yukishin.

"Looks good."

Tanaka Yukishin's expression didn't change at all. He sounded perfunctory, like a mannequin in a clothing store.

Karuizawa Kei smiled and shot him a sidelong glance, then took it off and changed into another outfit.

The girl's graceful figure was on display before Tanaka Yukishin.

His Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily.

His gaze followed Karuizawa Kei's jade-like hand as it moved.

Karuizawa Kei changed into a light blue dress and over-the-knee socks, then sat on the table.

As she swung her legs, the band of her over-the-knee socks framed her thighs, swaying back and forth in front of Tanaka Yukishin.

When she spun around, the ends of her hair brushed the silver chain pendant on her chest. The pendant caught in the hollow of her collarbone, flashing in the light as she turned.

"What about now?"

"Looks good."

Karuizawa Kei pouted, a little unhappy.

That was way too perfunctory.

She suddenly realized asking the man in front of her for his opinion had been a mistake.

Could he only ever say "looks good," unless something really looked bad?

She took the outfit off again. As she changed, she glanced toward the closet beside her.

By chance, she saw in the closet mirror Tanaka Yukishin's Adam's apple bobbing, and his gaze following the path of her fingertip as she unzipped the side of her skirt.

He was so halfhearted when judging her outfit, but completely focused when it came to the lewd stuff.

A mischievous smile curled Karuizawa Kei's lips.

She quietly swapped the outfit in her hands for a crop top.

After she changed, she saw Tanaka Yukishin's expression shift. Karuizawa Kei walked up and lightly pecked his cheek with her pink lips.