I was not good at expressing emotions. Happy, sad, fun… I had a straight face for everything.

Facial expressiveness was a communication skill about as important as words. If it was lacking, it would give a bad impression.

I had read in a book that when the first impression was bad, people tended to look for “bad points” in the other person, and conversely, when the impression was good, they unconsciously tended to look for “good points”.

‘Well, Hibari-san does respond when you talk to her, but… she always has that straight face.’ 

‘No matter how beautiful and excellent she is, if there’s no reaction, it’s kind of… boring, you know?’ 

‘If she’d just smile a little, it would be easier for us to approach her too.’ 

‘She’s like a flower on a high peak, and it would be presumptuous to even try to get close to her…’

Even knowing this from books didn’t change the current situation.

I was bad at making facial expressions. When I practiced smiling, I was told it looked fake and it had the opposite effect.

Since I was little, people around me found me creepy, didn’t understand me, and I was isolated.

In response to such situations, I chose to resign myself, thinking “I’m just that kind of person, so it can’t be helped”. I had no choice but to endure it.

It was the same in high school and university. And it would continue to be so…

But it was different now.

‘Hey Hibari~ Aneki has a sponsor who’s the president of a big company called Kasajma~’

Into my daily life that had no expectations or changes, in a conversation with my sister, who was a bit noisy but was the support of my heart—

‘That Kasajima-san apparently needs one maid. His only son is going to live alone when he enters high school, so they need one person as both a guardian and caretaker. Hibari, would you like to try it? If it’s hard or doesn’t suit you, you can quit~’

An opportunity to meet a very unusual person had presented itself.

◆

Recently… I felt like smiles had started to spring out from me. Not fake smiles. Not beaming smiles either. But still… In fleeting moments and sometimes from the bottom of my heart, subtle but natural smiles unconsciously formed.

The person who caused this was…

“Hibari’s going home already?”

Yuji-sama’s voice sounded disappointed.

“Yes. I’m going home. If you don’t return to everyone quickly, they’ll worry.”

“Ah, that’s true—”

“They might think you were taken away by the police.”

“No, police is going too far… though maybe not… If Hibari hadn’t come, I would have tried to wear elementary school swimwear…”

Since he looked serious about it, he probably really intended to wear it, and not as a joke either. I was glad I had noticed the forgotten swimwear right away.

“But you know…”

Yuji-sama was still moving his mouth as if he wanted to say something.

Probably because he felt sorry about the situation where I had to come specifically to deliver swimwear and then leave…

“Yuji-sama is really an unusual person.”

“Eh? Unusual in what way?”

Yes, Yuji-sama was an unusual person.

I had been serving Yuji-sama as a maid since a week before the entrance ceremony.

At first…

‘Hey, maid. Hurry up and prepare the food.’

I thought he would be rough in words and actions, proportional to his intimidating appearance. Such behavior was indeed prominent.

However, the day before the entrance ceremony, it was as if he had become a different person.

‘A complaint? If I have a complaint… Hibari, stop that habit of immediately taking responsibility for everything and apologizing. I don’t feel anything about being alone today. Besides, when I start attending the academy, I’ll be alone. I can think of it as just happening earlier than other students.’

He showed consideration for me.

‘It’s true that Hibari always has a straight face and it’s hard to tell what you’re thinking.’ 

‘But if you tell me verbally that you enjoyed something, that’s good enough.’ 

‘I rambled on, but basically… I understand Hibari. Hibari understands me. So… as people who understand each other, let’s have a relationship without reserve or endurance!’

He tried to understand and accept me.

‘Thanks for always driving me!’ 

‘Thank you for the meal. Phew, it was delicious again today.’ 

‘Thank you. Sorry for having you bring it.’

He thanked me profusely for ordinary things.

‘Not at all? I’m happy that Hibari is becoming more honest. Next time, let’s go somewhere even more fun than the amusement park or shopping mall.’ 

‘We couldn’t go into the pool together this time, Hibari… but let’s come to the pool again.’

He tried to go out somewhere with me.

‘You’re beautiful and your body is very lovely… if someone like me receives any more from Hibari like that, my heart won’t be able to take it…’

He genuinely got embarrassed because of me.

This person was truly unusual. I had never had anyone do such things for me before.

I was someone who always had a straight face, someone who gave up on efforts to change midway and chose to endure instead with only my sister to rely on.

Even someone like me, he looked at properly.

“You’re kind even to someone like me.”

“Not ‘someone like you’, that’s wrong.”

“Eh?”

I was surprised by his immediate response. Yuji-sama looked at me with honest eyes.

“I’m kind because you’re Hibari.”

“…”

Ah, this person really was…

Those words probably didn’t contain any special meaning. They were just part of his usual kindness.

But for me, that alone was enough.

“Yuji-sama. A year has 365 days, you know.”

“What’s with that way of saying it, like ‘white has 200 colors’!?”

“A year is still very long. Moreover, Yuji-sama’s summer vacation still has a long way to go, right?”

“Well, yeah…”

“Then… it’s alright.”

“Eh?”

Just as Yuji-sama had been completely honest, my next words also came naturally.

“Yuji-sama. You don’t need to be so considerate toward me… because by your side, I would always want to be together.”

“…”

Yuji-sama had a surprised expression.

It was an uncharacteristic statement for me. But since it wasn’t a lie, it was okay to say it, right? As he’d said.

“Well then, please enjoy yourself.”

“Eh, o-oh. Be careful going home!”

When I turned my back to Yuji-sama and started walking, I let out a sigh of relief. When I touched my cheek, even though it had been cold from eating shaved ice, it had become slightly warm.

“It’s troublesome when it shows on my face so easily. Hehe.”

“Hey. That person who just passed by was incredibly beautiful.”

“Right~ Her smiling face was lovely too~~!”

◆

‘Yuji-sama. You don’t need to be so considerate toward me… because by your side, I would always want to be together.’

What Hibari said was… probably consideration. Meaning don’t worry about me, prioritize yourself…

But I felt like there was something else to it too.

Of course I wanted to go out and play with Hibari, and I was indebted to her… hence I needed to make plans.

“Well, shall I go play too?”

Today I had decided to play with all my might with Yuito and the others. So I would play!!

Looking around the pool area, there were too many people and I couldn’t find Yuito, Mahiro, Riina, or Tajima anywhere.

“If anyone’s likely to be somewhere, it would probably be the water slide.”

I set my sights on the giant water slide, the most prominent feature in the pool.

“Alright, let’s go—splurt!?”

“Haha, I hit you~”

Suddenly, water was splashed on my face. Looking around, I saw Riina holding a water gun and laughing.

“Your swimsuit arrived, huh. That’s good.”

“It went up my nose, cough cough… Eh, Riina-san…? Why are you here?”

I was more surprised that Riina was alone than about being splashed with water.

“Where’s Yuito?”

There was no way Riina would leave Yuto behind and come to see me.

“Yui-kun is with my sister right now. We decided to share time with him.”

“I see.”

As expected of the beautiful sisters who loved Yuito. They naturally arranged it so they could each have alone time with him.

“So Kasajima. Keep me company while I’m bored.”

“Ehh…”

I could only sense that I was about to be dragged around… And where the hell did Tajima go?