Chapter 3: Black Underwear

After school.

The window was open.

The voices of students could be heard.

Students heading home, students heading to their club activities, and the figures of female students heading to the Student Council office for after-school activities.

“No way, it can’t be true. That Shiga and the Student Council President were together.”

Next to the female student, a male student with glasses ridiculed Shiga Inui.

“Exactly. There’s no way our pure and proper president would be with a lowlife like him… The student who started that rumor must be purged.”

As they spoke, they reached for the door to the Student Council office.

But when they tried to open it, it was locked.

“? The president should be in there.”

Typically, the Student Council President was exempt from the final homeroom.

So she was always the first to start preparing in the office.

For the door to be locked was strange indeed.

“I have a spare key, so let’s use that to open it.”

Just as that voice was heard, a noise came from inside the room.

“Hurry up and put your clothes on, you idiot!”

“Hey, that’s my shirt!”

The voices of a male and female could be heard.

Wondering who was inside, she inserted the key and turned it.

With the sound of the lock disengaging, the female student opened the door.

“Huh, President?”

At the same moment she entered the Student Council office,

Shiga Inui jumped out of the window.

“Hm? Ah, yes… Is something the matter?”

Mineki Shian turned her back to the two of them and buttoned her blazer.

As she turned around, she licked her lips with the tip of her tongue.

She tidied her messy hair with her fingertips and sat back down at her desk.

“Hmm? …It smells kind of… raw in here.”

The female student’s nose twitched, reacting to the vital scent that filled the room.

Clearing her throat, Mineki Shian sat in her chair.

“…Ah.”

And then, through her black stockings, she noticed the feeling of bare skin.

She blushed with embarrassment and looked around.

(I forgot to put them on!… Where are mine?!)

Neither the female student nor the male student could be allowed to see.

As she was searching the room, the female student pulled out her chair to sit in her usual spot.

“Huh? What’s this…?”

She pulled on a piece of black cloth.

“Ah! That’s—!!”

Mineki Shian shot to her feet, pointing at the cloth the female student was holding.

The female student unfolded the cloth to see.

It was a black tank top.

It was Shiga Inui’s, the one he wore under his jinbei.

“Why is a black tank top here?”

The female student had a puzzled expression on her face.

Since it wasn’t hers, she let out a sigh of relief and looked around.

(Where are they? Where…)

Desperately… she was searching for her underwear.

(The president seems kind of seductive today…)

The male student thought as he looked at Mineki Shian’s face.

Mineki Shian’s underwear was with Shiga Inui.

(I thought I grabbed my tank top in a hurry, but it was Mineki’s panties… Crap. Is Shian-chan going commando right now?)

With that thought, Shiga Inui stuffed the underwear into his pocket and started for home.

Shiga Inui headed toward the Hiryuuin estate.

If he tried to return her underwear to the Mineki house, he’d only be blamed.

At the Hiryuuin estate, Hiryuuin Yuubi and the children she had borne were there.

Naturally, there would be underwear and such in the changing rooms.

He planned to sneak the underwear into the laundry pile in the confusion.

“Hey.”

He greeted the guards waiting at the Hiryuuin family gate and entered the mansion.

He walked from the gate and was about to head to the entrance when.

“Inui.”

His name was called, and he turned around.

A man with long hair was standing there.

“Heya, nii-san.”

Hiryuuin Yakumitsu.

He was the eldest son of Hiryuuin Yuubi.

Currently, he was chosen as the candidate to be the next head of the family.

Everyone else added “-sama” to his name, but Shiga Inui had a casual personality, so he called him “nii-san.”

It was by no means because he was planning to marry someone from the Hiryuuin family.

Shiga Inui called him “nii-san” out of respect.

“Have you heard from Mother?”

Yakumitsu asked Shiga Inui.

Caught by the sudden question, Shiga Inui shook his head.

“Haven’t heard a thing.”

The only reason Shiga Inui had come here was to mix Mineki Shian’s underwear in with the laundry.

“Today, a messenger came from another clan of sorcerers. To declare war. Naturally, a war will begin… And the opponent is… the Abarabana clan.”

At Hiryuuin Yakumitsu’s words, for a moment, he forgot all about Mineki Shian’s underwear.

Another opportunity for conflict had arrived.

Shiga Inui bared his fangs.

He wasn’t angry. He was smiling.

“Invasion, conquest, oppression… Time to prepare for the festival, eh?”

His arms were itching for a fight.

Shiga Inui was thrilled to be able to go on a rampage for the first time in a while.

Originally, there had always been skirmishes between the sorcerer families.

Even so, they maintained the status quo, fighting half-heartedly and never settling things for good.

This was because there were considerable benefits to simply maintaining the current situation.

An income of tens of millions a month from the collection of rent from their territory.

The benefit of the ley lines that ran deep underground.

So, if you weren’t greedy, it was possible to live comfortably without fighting.

Still, it all had to come to an end eventually.

In the modern era, it had become possible to unify the territories.

And that was because of the appearance of Shiga Inui.

“Well… there are preparations for war, but…”

He turned his eyes to Shiga Inui and approached him.

The Hiryuuin family had many beautiful members, and his face was captivating to all.

“If you distinguish yourself in this battle… you should be recognized by the Hiryuuin clan members. If that happens… you might even be able to take a wife.”

It was not uncommon to bring in blood from the outside to produce stronger descendants.

“Nah, I’m not really interested in that stuff…”

He was interested in holding them, but he had no intention of marrying one.

“I want you and I to become family.”

Hiryuuin Yakumitsu said, touching Shiga Inui’s cheek.

“N-Nii-san…”

“I hope that one day, the respectful title you use for me will become one of a familial bond.”

With a faint smile, Hiryuuin Yakumitsu revealed his true feelings.

The Student Council work was over.

It was only about two hours of officer activity, but Mineki couldn’t concentrate.

Mineki Shian’s body was filled with Shiga Inui’s bodily fluids, and she had been worried it might overflow, but she somehow managed to finish her miscellaneous tasks.

“That’s all for today. Good work.”

Though her face was faintly red, her iron mask never cracked.

She stood up and adjusted her appearance for the fourteenth time that day.

(In the end, I couldn’t find my underwear… That mutt, he took my underwear…!!)

She had looked everywhere, but since they were nowhere to be found, she simultaneously felt relief and glared at the image of Shiga Inui in her mind.

But she couldn’t bring herself to hate him.

There was something she had come to understand by joining their bodies.

From the first night to today’s reckless outburst, there was still no such thing as love.

Mineki Shian was convinced it was a counterfeit emotion.

(A mutt is a mutt. By letting him have me, I finally understand… This feeling was nothing but simple lust.)

She nodded, concluding that Shiga Inui was an insignificant person.

However, if that were the case,

she probably wouldn’t have spent all of her work time thinking about him.

This was a woman who had spent the time brooding, replaying her tryst with Shiga Inui until her breath grew ragged. Still, she couldn’t be honest with herself.

Even after having a physical relationship twice, she was still deceiving her own heart.

“Um, President.”

The female student spoke to her.

Hearing her voice, Mineki Shian turned to face her.

“What is it?”

“I happened to hear a rumor.”

A rumor.

At those words, Mineki Shian tensed up.

There were all sorts of rumors.

It could be related to the sorcerers.

Carefully, Mineki Shian listened to the female student’s words.

“Um, I heard that you and Shiga are dating… that’s a lie, right?”

At the female student’s words, Mineki Shian’s eyes widened.

She was slightly flustered, wondering where such a story had come from.

It would have been best to deny it immediately, but deep down, she couldn’t bring herself to, and the words caught in her throat.

“Of course it is.”

And in her place, the male student answered.

He was like a worshipper who admired Mineki Shian.

No, he believed he was the one who was worthy of her.

He was born into a family with excellent social standing, was good-looking, and excelled at both sports and studies.

He prided himself on his perfection, maintaining an appearance and demeanor that had earned him confessions from girls many times over.

If there was a woman worthy of him, it could only be Mineki Shian, who was his equal, if not his superior.

They would be considered a perfect couple by themselves and others, so he apparently couldn’t forgive the rumor that she was lovers with Shiga Inui.

“For a piece of societal trash who thinks in simple terms, a person with such poor intellect that they can only express themselves through violence and intimidation, to be lovers with President Mineki is nothing short of an insult. How tiresome… More importantly, President, what do you say? After this, would you care to join me for a meal…?”

His words trailed off.

Mineki Shian’s glare looked as if it could shoot him dead.

“Someone like you… has no right to insult my mutt!”

Hearing Shiga Inui spoken of badly had put her in a foul mood.

The male student fell on his butt, intimidated.

The female student asked timidly.

“Um, that rumor… is it true? And what you just said…”

Being asked, Mineki Shian came to her senses.

She shook her head.

“Of course not… Come on, let’s go home.”

She denied it, but that only made it seem more suspicious.

As she went to sling her school bag over her shoulder, her cell phone vibrated in her pocket.

Caught off guard, she flinched in surprise, but immediately realizing it was a call, she took out her phone to see who it was from.

“Umm… let’s see… huh…?”

She squinted, fumbling with her cell phone.

It wasn’t a call; it seemed she had received a text, but she wasn’t very good at handling these things.

Even opening the message was a struggle, but when she finally managed to see the contents, she forgot all about not wearing any underwear and broke into a run.

A summons was issued by Hiryuuin Yuubi.

Shiga Inui and the other sorcerers gathered in the conference hall.

“Oh, Shian-chan.”

Shiga Inui spotted Mineki Shian.

He still had her underwear clutched in his pocket, so he took them out.

“Here, this is—Gah!”

The moment he tried to return the underwear, Mineki Shian closed the distance in an instant and buried her fist in his abdomen.

“Wh… you…”

Shiga Inui clutched his stomach and stared at her in disbelief.

“This is a public place… Don’t you dare try to hand that to me, you fool! You must really want to humiliate me, you pervert!”

Mineki Shian scolded Shiga Inui, her face bright red.

Shiga Inui writhed in agony, clutching his stomach.

“No… I didn’t mean to… Wait? Shian-chan, you’re still not wearing any?”

“I was summoned by Mother… Of course I’m not. I didn’t even have time to change clothes.”

Mineki Shian was still in her blazer.

And apparently, she hadn’t changed her underwear either.

“I know… this is gonna sound perverted, and I know I’ll probably get weird looks for asking, but… how does your lower half feel right now?”

This time, Mineki Shian’s fist connected with Shiga Inui’s right cheek.

“Drop dead, Inui!”

With that curse, Mineki Shian headed into the hall first.

Shiga Inui, collapsed on the floor, repeated her words as he rubbed his cheek.

“She just casually called me by my first name… The distance between us is shrinking so fast it’s actually scary…”

Rubbing his cheek, Shiga Inui also began to walk slowly.

Mineki Shian’s underwear was still stuffed in his pocket.

In the great hall that served as the venue, Hiryuuin Yuubi sat at the head seat, flanked by Hiryuuin Yakumitsu and another daughter. Mineki Shian sat at the front of the two rows of seats, and Shiga Inui, who had previously dealt a major blow to one of the Ten Houses, sat next to her.

“Everyone, thank you for gathering… Today, we will discuss our advancement… Starting tomorrow morning, we will commence battle with the Abarabana house.”

Hiryuuin Yuubi picked up an item that had been placed beside her.

“Now then, you all, you may take out your, what do you call them, ‘smartphones’.”

At that, a murmur went through the Hiryuuin clan members.

To think that Hiryuuin Yuubi, an analog person, was telling them to take out the latest technology.

“What’s wrong, all of you… Does no one have one of these ‘smartphones’?”

“Well… we are the venerable Hiryuuin clan. Even without relying on the technological trinkets of the fleeting world—”

Towards the retainers who rejected the present in favor of the past, Shiga Inui suddenly stood up.

“You damn information illiterates!!”

Shiga Inui shouted.

It was a rebuke to the hard-headed members of the Hiryuuin clan.

“Times change, and so does strategy! The era of digging around for porn mags is over! Now you buy it from porn sites!! You relics! That’s why you people with heads as hard as boiled eggs are still running things!! Make way for the new generation!!”

He shouted, then took a breath.

And then he gestured towards Hiryuuin Yuubi.

“…is what the clan head wished to express.”

He added at the end.

(Don’t lie!)

Mineki Shian thought to herself, but Hiryuuin Yuubi just smiled and nodded.

For some reason, she was always soft on Shiga Inui.