Chapter 2

    (A/N no more Honami-sama, it is just Honami now… Btw if you feel like it let me know what American state/countries you are reading from, I’m intrigued)

Kiyotaka POV

    The first day of the month came, I walked to school with Hirata and Honami. The topic of our conversation was how we didn’t get any points at the start of the month. We three were fine on points, however, he had seen poor spending habits from our classmates and there was little doubt that many people were close to, if not, at zero points.

    While we were walking I ran into someone I unexpectedly became friends with in the past month.

“Hey Ayanokoji, what are you up to?” Miyake asked

“Not much, we are just heading to school. How was archery club last night?”

“It was ok, though the senpais were hazing us pretty harshly”

“Did you complain about it to anyone, isn’t hazing of any kind against school rules?”

“It wasn’t that bad, plus they bought us dinner to make up for it”

“That’s good”

    Miyake Akito is in the archery club, he doesn’t really hang out with many people, though I met him while walking home from school one day. He is a pretty nice guy.

    We sat down in our seats and immediately after Chabashira-sensei walked into the room Yaumuchi voiced his complaints in regards to not receiving any points.

    She proceeded to go on a rant about how worthless and stupid we are, then announced the results from a quiz we took last week and let us know that anyone who failed the midterm exam would be expelled from the school.

    There were 9 students below the point of expulsion and many other people who were uncomfortably close to that line. The last thing announced was the existence of class points and a hierarchy. Class D was on the bottom and Class A was on the top.

    We had zero points, we were both in an overwhelming position of disadvantage when it comes to how much it would take to rise to Class A, and we would be getting zero private points this month.

    This was very bad for the class morale, we would have no points for the start of the next month, and the next midterm would bring a risk of expulsion.

    We went home like normal and Honami asked me to come to her room right away. I made tea and she just stared at the floor for a little while. Even if I have only been with her for 7 months now, I know that she is currently lost in thought.

    A study group is the obvious first step, though there is nothing we can do about the points situation. I contacted Hirata and invited him over for dinner. When he arrived he realized it would be better to let Honami think for a while before getting involved.

    We made dinner together and shared our cooking techniques, I learned that he prefers meals that are lighter on calories, but he is not a very picky eater at all. We made a lasgaganga and iced tea.

    We took it to the table, though we startled Honami who completely forgot about our presence. We apologized then sat down to eat. We decided on times and dates for our study group. It would be announced in class tomorrow and for now, we just had to prepare materials and worksheets. I finished eating first and then got ready to leave.

“It’s only 6 o’clock, where are you going Kiyotaka?”

“I’m sorry Honami, but I will leave the clean up to you, I will prepare all of the study materials for tomorrow, this will include practice problems and photocopies of all of the notes, though I plan on asking Miyake to help me with all of this”

“Thank you very much Kiyotaka, if I recall correctly you have already learned the whole high school curriculum, right?”

“That is correct”

“I’ll leave everything to you then” Honami saw me off with a smile and I called Miyake immediately after leaving

    We arrived at my dorm at the same time, I made him some tea and asked him to look over my notes and see if there was anything I should clarify more. I made the notes in a way a high schooler could understand because these were meant for Honami to look over, but I wanted the reassurance just in case.

    I did make some parts too complex and Miyake pointed those parts out to me and I rewrote them, while he was reading through the notes I was making a worksheet with practice problems.

    I had Miyake run to the library and use the photocopier there and made a few packets of notes with subjects that would be on the upcoming midterm. I then printed out the one hundred problem sheet of practice questions.

    In the morning Miyake, Hirata, Honami, and I walked to school together, we discussed how we should split up the study group. School was like normal, I took lots of notes in a way easy for Honami to understand and I ate lunch with Honami in the classroom.

    After school, we went to the library and started the study session, I was in charge of teaching Miyake, Sato, and Hasebe. They were good listeners and sharp students so it went by easy peasy lemon squeezy. Though this was not the case for everyone else, in fact, it went by pretty poorly.

    I made the questions slightly harder than the ones that would likely be on the midterm, and this killed the average grade on this practice test.

    I probably could have gone around and explained the material better, but I didn’t because talking to that many people likely wouldn’t have gone well for me.

    Once 6 o’clock hit we dispersed and I headed straight to Honami’s dorm so that I could prepare dinner. Though I made a huge error, I used the keycard and entered her dorm without knocking.

    When I entered I saw Honami changing, she was beautiful with large breasts, a skinny waist, and wide hips. It was likely only a second or two, but it felt like an eon. I stared like this sight would be the last thing I would see.

“GET OUT STUPID BUTLER!” she shouted with a face as red as a tomato

“Sorry…” I shut the door and waited for about 5 minutes

    The door opened soon after and I found Honami in pajamas with cats printed on them. Her face was still bright red as she invited me in, my current strategy was to act as casually as possible while taking in the cute beyond belief sight of embarrassed Honami.

    I was boiling the water and preparing the noodles when I sensed Honami peaking around the corner. I turned around and she hid around the corner. I walked around the corner and found her leaning against the wall with the same bright red face as before.

“Honami, what are you doing?”

“...stupid butler” she whispered while looking away embarrassed.

    I came up with my next brilliant plan, Honami is a super good person right? I decided to use that empathy that makes her liked by basically everyone against her. I made tears come from my eyes and looked away, I could create tears but not a crying expression, so I just looked away. She responded to this by hugging my back and apologizing a lot for the mean words.

    Her soft breasts pressed against me and she said nice things to me, mission successful. My master plan was to get a hug and some new facial expressions from her by fake crying.

“I don’t even mind Kiyotaka, truly, if anything, I'm glad it was you who saw me naked”

    I wiped my face using my handkerchief and went back to cooking feeling satisfied, teasing her is so much fun that it should probably be made illegal or I might take it out of hand, though in fact, I probably did that already.

    She angrily sat down at the table while pouting after realizing what I did. When I made her tea and put it on the table in front of her she just looked at it, then me, and said

“... stupid butler”

    I went back to cooking, she eventually went into the kitchen and put her cup in the sink after finishing her tea, and she looked at me and said.

“... stupid butler”

    I finished making the Pad Thai that I made for both of us, but after putting it on the table in front of her she just looked at it, stood up, and called one of her friends and asked if she wanted to go out to eat with her and left, though only after sticking her tongue out at me.

    After getting shut down really hard I just looked at my food and wondered what I was going to do with two people’s worth of Beef Pad Thai, so I asked Hirata if he wanted to have some and he came by and we ate together. When he asked what was up with us eating in Honami’s room I lied and said that all of the cooking utensils were here.

“Hey, Hirata, how do you know if you are in love with a girl?”

“I’m not sure, however, when the time comes and you feel that love, it will be instantly recognizable. The fact that you are asking this question to me right now should be a pretty good hint about your feelings”

    Such an amazing answer from such a reliable man, we ate while watching the news on the TV. Even if we were detached from the rest of the world it is still nice to keep up on current events, due to the fact that they might come up in conversation some time, and I don't want to appear as a gremlin who spends all of his time in his room.

    I already finished the problems for the next practice test I would give during the next study session, so I was really tired. Hirata left and I just felt like resting my legs a bit so I sat in a chair at the corner of the room and watched the news, though 5 minutes into my resting session I fell asleep.

    When I woke up it was morning and Honami was making eggs, I had a blanket over me, and I slept really peacefully. When she saw I was awake she looked at me with a warm smile. This threw me off a little bit because I was expecting to get the same cold treatment as I got yesterday.

“Good morning Kiyotaka, did you sleep well?” she asked with the same smile

    Again I was thrown off, she always left the cooking to me, and the look on her face was like a mother found drugs in their kids room and was waiting for the right time to bring it up. She put coffee and the eggs on the table in front of me and just sat down while looking at me. I had taken my first bite when she started talking.

“So… Kiyotaka. Would you like to tell me about the White Room?” I was stunned, I had expected that something was up, but I didn’t think it would be this, I prepared an excuse and opened my mouth, but she cut me off immediately “Don't think of some bullshit excuse, I already know about everything, but… I wish you told me, why did I have to learn about it from the news of all things? Why didn’t you tell me Kiyotaka?”

    I tried to open my mouth to say something, but she was right. I had selfishly withheld all information about myself down to the smallest detail, I had forced my way into her life hoping to learn what love was, but I refused to open up and be loved.

    Honami ran out the door with tears streaming down her face, I sat at a table without moving. I didn’t know what to do, or think. All I could do was finish my eggs, and go to school. I was leaving her room when I saw a notebook in the corner with her phone on top of it. It seems she stayed up all night going over the leaked files and testimonies from people suspected of involvement in the experiment.

    I took the notebook with me and left for school, when I arrived Honami was nowhere to be seen, and when class started another person was absent who I wouldn’t expect to be.

    About 2 hours after class started he opened the door breathing heavily and looking disheveled, he apologized for oversleaping and sat down at his seat near me. The teacher just ignored him and continued his lesson.

    While class was going on Hirata never stopped looking at me, when lunch came he approached me and asked if I would join him. He dismissed anyone who wanted to come along and we went to the rooftop so we could be alone.

“Ichinose-san came to my room this morning with tears in her eyes, she said she couldn’t face you and asked to stay at my place until she gets the courage to talk to you again”

“I see, and how much did she tell you?”

“She told me something horrifying happened in your past, something she couldn’t even speak of”

“Then, please take care of her for me”

    I got up to walk away when he grabbed my hand from behind with a worried look in his eyes, he said “if you ever need help, please rely on me Ayanokoji-kun, I consider you a very dear friend” I nodded and walked away.

    The rest of the day was a haze, none of our classmates understood what was happening, but the atmosphere was heavy. Noone chatted after class, or went home with another person, they just dispersed. No study session was held today, none of the people I was tutoring asked where I was.

    I fell laid down right when I got home, I havn’t been this stressed about anything in a long time, I don’t even know why this was wearing myself down. It is not like I felt regret, or sadness, this was something else.

While I was on the verge of passing out it came to me, I felt love for the first time without realising it, and this feeling I have now is the punishment for ignoring that feeling of love. This feeling, that is punishing me for my ignorance, is heartbreak. Before I could fall asleep, my phone went off, I got a text from Hirata telling me to…

Honami POV

    I sat in Hirata’s room thinking, I was wrapped up in a blanket when he came into the room. He made me hot cocoa and sat down leaning against the same wall I was leaning against, he didn’t speak and just waited to hear my words.

“I can’t face him, he suffered so much, he was still suffering when I met him, and yet I never realized it. I have failed him, and I don’t know what to do”

    Hirata just stared at the wall in front of him, he could have spoken in that moment and tried to console me, but he didn’t. There is probably something he realized that I hadn’t, and is waiting for me to find that conclusion on my own.

“I just… don't know what to do. My chest aches, and I desperately want to see him again, but when I do see him again, what would I say, what would I do, what could I do” I started crying once again“I think the words you are looking for are…” Hirata spoke for the first time, I couldn’t hear how he finished that sentence, but I know what he said, and he was right.

    Hirata gave me some final encouragement and I left and went behind the school building, that place was famous around the school for only one thing, and I was hoping that the many of this same conversation that had already happened in this spot could give me courage.

    About five minutes later Kiyotaka walked around the corner, with the same apathetic expression and his unzipped hoodie flowing in the powerful wind we were getting today. The sun illuminated the side of his face and he walked towards me, stopping about five feet away from myself.

    While there was 40 kilometer per hour wind everywhere surrounding us the school building shielded the two of us. It was peaceful and the sun was setting in our background. I gave myself encouragement and spoke the words I wanted to say, but I only mumbled it.

“I'm sorry I couldn’t understand you, can you repeat that?” he replied

    I took a deep breath, and shouted those words with all my might, though no sounds where made. I had made a deap exhale. At this point I was embarrassed, worried, sad, happy, confused, I made one final effort to say those words, took a deep breath, and shouted

“I SAID I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU STUPID BUTLER!”

    He was slight stunned by those words, but recovered instantly, he just walked forwards past me. When we were standing side by side he turned and looked at me in my eyes and said

“If you love me so much, then go out with me”

“Wha…” this answer confused me, I was expecting a rejection, or my an acceptance, but instead he just reverse uno carded my confession.

“I love you Honami, go out with me” he pinned me in between the wall and himself and confessed to me

“I will”

    We just stared into each others eyes for probably 10 minutes before we went back together. He made dinner for me. When he left I fell onto my bed and began to rest. It was the most stressful day of my life, yet it was the happiest day of my life aswell.

    I don't know if he will accept me after I failed him, but whether he accepted me or not, I will love him with all my heart, because that is my duty as the mistress of my butler.