The instant she pictured it - herself nestled in Shikime Natsu's arms, wearing that bashful, melting little expression.
A chill crawled up Kushida Kikyou's spine and her stomach turned over. She was never, ever going to become that kind of woman!
Never!
Least of all in the arms of that insufferable Shikime Natsu, of all people!
She'd sooner throw herself off the roof of this dormitory building.
Kushida Kikyou stamped out the horrifying thought, drew a slow breath, and lifted her head to look at him.
"So what kind of conditions does Natsu want? If Natsu says it, I'll give it serious thought."
She kicked the ball straight back into his court. That way, if the terms he proposed went too far, she'd still have room to refuse.
Shikime Natsu heard the question and gave a small laugh, those pale gold eyes glinting with amusement.
"Honestly, I'm not really the type who's good at naming conditions."
Hearing that, Kushida Kikyou couldn't help sneering at him inwardly. The nerve of this guy. Not good at naming conditions?
As far as she was concerned, nobody on this earth was better at naming conditions than Shikime Natsu.
He was a jackal. Every deal he made, he devoured you whole and left not so much as a splinter of bone.
And the truly infuriating part was this: even when he was the one who wanted something, he refused to say it outright. He'd circle and hint and steer until you volunteered the terms yourself.
Kushida Kikyou hated that. Him proposing it and her proposing it were two entirely different things. If he named the price, then he was threatening her. If she named it, it started to feel like she had a bit of a masochist in her.
But she was the one asking for a favor now. However much she loathed it, she had to keep her priorities straight and swallow it down.
For the sake of her flawless persona. For the sake of her position as leader of Class D.
If she could squeeze tutoring out of this man and actually make herself smarter, nothing could be better.
It would solve every one of her problems in a single stroke.
And Kushida Kikyou knew exactly how monstrously good this detestable person was at teaching.
Anything Shikime Natsu taught you was almost impossible to forget afterward. That was probably one of the things that made him so unusual.
She raised her eyes to that half-smiling gaze of his and put on a faintly puzzled look.
"If Natsu won't tell me what he wants, it's really hard for me to guess."
She slid back into that pitiable, protect-me manner without a hitch - she could switch it on and off like a lamp, even though he'd told her once that she didn't need to keep up the act in front of him.
But she was the supplicant here. Was she supposed to grab him by the collar and start making threats? Obviously not.
"So... why doesn't Natsu explain it properly?"
She lobbed the ball back a second time. Shikime Natsu only kept watching her with that same smile, offering nothing.
Under that stare her skin began to prickle. What was he playing at?
His personality was genuinely rotten. Who in the world could possibly like someone this rotten?
Of course, she was well aware he had no shortage of girlfriends around him. The more she dealt with him, the harder she found that to comprehend. Still, she forced herself calm.
Then her mind drifted back to that night. He'd been the one who suggested touching her, hadn't he?
Which meant Shikime Natsu did have some interest in her.
At the very least, he wasn't completely indifferent.
Remembering how he'd toyed with her inside that tool box set her brain smoldering. He had taken every advantage of her there was to take.
And the fingerprint incident before that. This man, honestly!
When it was over that night, her body had reacted in a way she found shameful. She couldn't accept it, and yet that was the fact of it.
Could it be... that her body had actually come to like Shikime Natsu's touch?
The moment that terrifying idea surfaced, she shoved it out of her head. It was far too horrifying.
If she kept following that thread, her whole brain would be flooded with filth, and that wasn't acceptable to her either.
But... it occurred to her that maybe she could use this exact sort of thing to force an embarrassed look onto his face.
That hope died about as fast as it was born. Getting Shikime Natsu to look embarrassed was harder than climbing to heaven.
That night, while he was making her swell and shrink, he hadn't shown a flicker of embarrassment.
He'd gone about it like it was the most ordinary task in the world, his face without a single ripple.
What chance did some little stunt of hers have of unsettling a man like that?
Shikime Natsu had long since stopped being some easily handled virgin. No - from the very first time they met, he'd been impossible to get a grip on.
She'd assumed her own talents would be enough to wrap him around her finger. The gap between their levels was simply too wide.
The thought left her deflated. She looked at that face still wearing its maddening half-smile and ground her teeth.
Fine. If the soft approach wouldn't work, she'd go hard.
No, not hard either. She'd just lay her cards on the table.
No - laying her cards on the table meant handing herself over for free, didn't it? Was Kushida Kikyou the sort of girl who gave herself away that easily?
Absolutely not!
Except naming any condition at all was already giving herself away for free, and not giving anything wasn't an option. She weighed it up from every angle. However she looked at it, she was currently begging Shikime Natsu to take advantage of her.
The trouble was that she didn't have a single Private Point to her name, and there was nothing else she could hand over either.
As for helping him win over Horikita Suzune - the very idea made her skin crawl, and besides, he'd never agree to something like that.
Landing a girl didn't seem to present him with any difficulty whatsoever. The number of girls in this school he'd already claimed was hardly small.
All that remained was to give herself away, delicately.
"I can become Natsu's maid. An all-purpose maid. Whatever Natsu wants done, he can order me to do it."
There. She'd thrown herself off the cliff. She'd actually said whatever he wants done, gambling that Shikime Natsu wouldn't demand anything outrageous.
After all, judging from their previous encounters, as rotten as his personality was - as much as he enjoyed needling her and watching her squirm -
when it came to the real lines, he did hold himself back.
At the very least, that night in the tool box, he hadn't done anything genuinely beyond the pale to her.
So a little excess here and there wouldn't kill her.
And thinking that, her thoughts floated back to that night again.
The changes in her body. That tingling, numbing sensation, like current running under her skin. Even now, remembering it stirred up an inexplicable heat.
Her thighs pressed together and rubbed, just slightly. Color rose in her cheeks, and even the tips of her ears burned.
She dropped her head quickly, refusing to let him see her like this.
But how could a little movement like that possibly escape Shikime Natsu's eyes?
He took in the flush on her cheeks, the way her legs had closed and shifted without her meaning them to, and the smile at the corner of his mouth deepened.
He didn't call her out on it, though. He simply looked at her and gave a small nod. "Alright. Since Kikyou's gone that far, it'd be rude of me to refuse."
Hearing him accept, the tension went out of her chest.
Thank goodness he'd agreed. If he'd turned her down, she genuinely had no idea what she would have said next.
She could hardly come right out and offer to let him touch her, could she?
Kushida Kikyou would never agree to that. Although - if it was only as far as that night had gone, she wouldn't have had any problem with it at all.
If anything, some part of her was looking forward to a repeat. Setting aside the swelling and shrinking, his technique alone was dangerously easy to sink into.
She had never had the slightest interest in that sort of thing before. He was the one who'd stirred up what should never have been stirred.
The man deserved to die a thousand deaths!
"Well then, Kikyou, go and fetch your maid outfit. Once you've brought it over, I'll start tutoring you," Shikime Natsu said, smiling at her.
Kushida Kikyou froze, then lifted her head and stared at him in disbelief.
"Right now?"
She still couldn't quite believe what she'd heard.
"Mm." He smiled, his tone perfectly matter-of-fact.
"If you're going to be a maid, you ought to look the part. Maid service starts today, doesn't it?"
Pinned under that gaze, all she could do was nod.
"Mm."
She bit down on her teeth and cursed him a hundred times over where he couldn't hear it.
This guy!
Still as insufferable as ever!
Making her go all the way back just to fetch a maid outfit and put it on for him to look at!
What a pervert!
But she'd come this far. If she refused now, every bit of effort up to this point would be wasted.
Kushida Kikyou drew a deep breath, raised her head, and shot him a venomous glare.
"Fine!"
"I'll go get it!"
With that she stood and walked to the door without looking back. Not long after, she was standing in Shikime Natsu's dorm again, a paper bag in her hand holding the very same maid outfit.
She hadn't worn it in a while, but she'd kept it spotless all the same.
"Then I'll leave the changing to Kikyou-chan," Shikime Natsu said with a smile.
Being called Kikyou-chan sent another chill through her. Was he choosing whichever option made her skin crawl the most?
She didn't bother arguing. With practiced ease she went into the bathroom and shut the door behind her - without locking it, since she had no worries about him peeping.
She shook her head, then stripped off her uniform, pale, fine skin showing, and pulled on the maid outfit. The black and white fabric traced every curve of her figure, and beneath the hem stretched a pair of long, slender legs sheathed in black stockings.
The simple headband added a touch of playfulness and charm.
There was no denying it: Kushida Kikyou in a maid outfit was a genuinely lovely sight.
She was in no mood to admire herself, though. She opened the door and walked straight out.
Hearing the movement, Shikime Natsu raised his head and looked her way.
She really did suit it. The black and white skirt swayed lightly with each step.
The slim waist, the long legs, the ample swell of her chest, and that delicate little face carrying equal parts embarrassment and irritation - all of it was quite something.
"Mm. It has been a while since I saw Kikyou in that outfit. I'm feeling a bit nostalgic," Shikime Natsu said, his smile openly teasing - which of course irritated her all over again.
She had already tucked every trace of that anger away, of course. A faint smile sat on her cute little face.
"There. I've changed into the maid outfit exactly like Natsu said. So now you can start teaching me, right?"
She spoke a little too fast, a thread of unease creeping back in. She'd resolved to give herself away, and yet she was still afraid he'd use that whatever he wants done clause to do something unspeakable to her.
People were always this contradictory - especially her. She thought of herself as an extremely contradictory person.
"Of course. Though... hasn't Kikyou forgotten something?" Shikime Natsu turned toward her, smiling.
"Forgotten what?"
Seeing that half-smile of his, she got the distinct feeling something unpleasant was about to happen.
"Kikyou is a maid now, isn't she? So what should she be calling me?"
Wonderful. Now she knew exactly what he was scheming. He wanted to play this pointless little game again, did he?
Still, that was a minor problem as far as she was concerned. She'd done this for him more times than she could count.
As long as nothing worse came of it, she could live with it. This fell well within acceptable limits.
Kushida Kikyou put on an adorable smile and called out to him in a voice dripping with sweetness.
"Master~"
____
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