Chapter 245: Shinomiya Un'yo's Conspiracy
"Ai-chan! Sakurai-san is sitting together with Shinomiya-san talking! Do you want to go see?"
"Right at the lounge on the first floor! They even look super close!"
In the girls' room.
Hayasaka Ai was thinking about how to explain everything to Shinomiya Kaguya when suddenly her gyaru friends she usually hung out with cut her off.
Hinokuchi Mirin and Suruga Subaru — the rare few she considered "surface friends."
Why call them "surface friends"? Because in Hayasaka Ai's eyes, they were merely "reliable sources of information." Their news was always fast and accurate, and on top of that, these two never guarded against her, gossiping about everything.
'Kaguya-sama and Sakurai-chan?'
Why are those two meeting up alone like this?
Though full of doubts inside, Hayasaka's face still maintained calmness:
"They're just friends, both members of the Student Council, it's normal to exchange words."
"But Ai-chan, between boys and girls there's no such thing as pure friendship!" Hinokuchi Mirin said worriedly.
She really didn't want her best friend get cuck.
Though Hayasaka only saw her as a "surface friend," Mirin always truly regarded Hayasaka as a friend.
"Desire, that's right, between men and women there's always desire. Just by being close, they'll end up being attracted and then… making mistakes!" Suruga Subaru nodded in agreement.
"...No, no, I trust Sakurai-san." Hayasaka waved her hand, pretending to be magnanimous.
But in reality — that was only a disguise!
Hayasaka's heart was in chaos at that moment!
Hayasaka: ((ᕙ( ᗒᗣᗕ )ᕗ)) gahhhhhh!!
Why… why are those two meeting alone?!
It was the same last time! Going to watch a movie together without telling me!
"Anyway, Ai-chan, you're really cute, but your opponent is Shinomiya Kaguya. She's the eldest daughter of a super-powerful conglomerate, a lot of boys at school like her, they just don't dare admit it." Hinokuchi Mirin said as she nudged Hayasaka's shoulder. "Sakurai-san might like her too!"
Of course I know that too! — Hayasaka screamed in her heart.
"Love is war!" Suruga Subaru said solemnly.
"Just from the news you tell us or what we've gathered, that's enough. Last time a girl from class 2-C even had her boyfriend stolen. She didn't know anything, and by the time she realized, she had already been dumped."
Hinokuchi Mirin nodded, then seriously lifted Hayasaka's face, forcing her to look straight at her:
"Let's go check it out."
Under the strong urging of the two, even if Hayasaka Ai didn't want to, she couldn't refuse.
Like that, she was dragged along the entire way. By the time the three of them arrived at the lounge, Sakurai Saki had already finished his conversation with Shinomiya Kaguya and returned to his room.
Seeing that, Hayasaka Ai let out a sigh of relief.
If it's just meeting for a few minutes, then it's fine.
Once she successfully quit being a maid, she would have plenty of time to bind Sakurai Saki to her side, never letting him get involved with other girls.
( ＾◡＾)っ✂╰⋃╯
...
That night, inside a black limousine parked next to the hotel Shuchiin had booked.
In the back seat, a man with shoulder-length hair, a cold face, dressed in a suit, lightly tapped the ash from his cigarette into the ashtray.
That was none other than the third son of the Shinomiya family — Shinomiya Un'yo.
Just like Ice Kaguya, he too received the elite education of the Shinomiya clan, the type who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals.
"My little sister must be enjoying herself right now." Shinomiya Un'yo looked toward the hotel not far away.
"Amano, don't forget the mission I gave you."
Opposite him, a man wearing glasses, with a slightly panicked expression, stammered: "Y-yes, but the target is currently inside the hotel."
"I never told you to act right now. Idiot." Shinomiya Un'yo cursed.
For some reason, all his subordinates were useless like this.
Such a small matter, and they still couldn't handle it.
Hayasaka Ai, as Shinomiya Kaguya's close maid, surely possessed no small amount of information regarding his two brothers. He absolutely had to pull her over to his side.
'Kaguya probably won't interfere, the thing she hates most is a traitor.'
Hayasaka… Just seeing that surname, Shinomiya Un'yo immediately recalled his former attendant — Hayasaka Nao.
'That mother and daughter pair are both worthless!'
All traitors!
In the past, Hayasaka Nao betrayed Shinomiya Un'yo, reporting his information to Shinomiya Oko — the eldest son of the Shinomiya family, the one currently with the greatest hope of succeeding the headship, and also the one with the strongest influence in the clan.
Now, Hayasaka Ai was just like Hayasaka Nao before, handing over Kaguya's information to Shinomiya Oko.
The current power struggle within the Shinomiya clan was a battle of intelligence and connections. Whoever held information held the initiative!
As the eldest daughter, with nearly no possibility of inheriting, Kaguya could only struggle between her three brothers, living in that fragile gap.
In this situation, as Shinomiya Kaguya's maid, Hayasaka Ai surely held quite a lot of information.
"But tomorrow there's something important at the Inari Shrine, won't Un'yo-sama be going?" Amano Yakumo, as his subordinate, was obliged to remind him.
Tomorrow, at the Inari Shrine, the head of the family and the Shinomiya stewards would all be present.
"Benefits like that don't fall to me." Shinomiya Un'yo raised his cigarette, exhaling a faint, hazy smoke.
The benefits that woman promised, they would never reach his hands.
The current head of the Shinomiya family, in order to help that yokai obtain god, had paid no small price these past few years.
Though real-world money could buy items from the underworld, the number was by no means small.
In return, that woman said she would help the Shinomiya family members fulfill their wishes.
Especially the current head — Shinomiya Gan'an.
"Immortality, huh?"
Don't you find it funny?
That old man is old, that's why he believes in such things.
It seems that even dragons or phoenixes among men, when their lifespan is nearly spent, will resort to madness.
"We just need to eat a little of the leftovers, that's enough."
Someone like him, just a hyena, didn't need too much. Shinomiya Un'yo knew very well his own weight.
"She's only a little girl, doing this… isn't it a bit too much?"
"Don't you understand?" Shinomiya Un'yo's voice was cold: "She's turned her back on the Shinomiya family, and still wants a good ending?"
"Yes."
Amano Yakumo lowered his head in response.
————
The next day.
Sakurai Saki woke up as usual.
He checked his ability again, still the same, nothing remarkable.
He got out of bed, went to his luggage, took out a pair of glass and put them on. Today's ability was evil eyes, similar to Medusa, whoever he looked at would die.
These lenses were specially made by his mother, quite effective, almost immune to most of the effect.
Jinguji Tamaki, as someone who once served as guuji, really did have some tricks.
Morning.
Shirogane Miyuki met Sakurai Saki in the cafeteria.
Sakurai: (⌐⎚-⎚)⋆˙⟡
"Sakurai, today you're wearing glass?"
"Wanted to try changing my look a bit."
"Looks a lot more scholarly." Shirogane Miyuki glanced at him a few times.
It's just that scumbag aura was a bit hard to hide.
…Or was his prejudice too deep? Shirogane Miyuki thought to himself.