Archive of Our Own ^beta

One of the few things she enjoyed about Hyakkaou were the grounds of the school itself. Boasting three massive courtyards, two gardens, and adding the buildings the President designed herself over the past few years, there was no shortage of places one could go to enjoy the turning of the season. On this particular afternoon, Sayaka found a few minutes to herself after the day’s classes. With the President in a meeting with the school’s principal, her secretarial duties could be put on hold for just a little while. She was glad for it, taking advantage of the good weather before she needed to confine herself inside to finish any paperwork for the day. 

The secretary made her way across one of the courtyards, heading to the haven of the President’s office. The smell of blooming flowers in the air and the sun over her head. In this heat, she could feel herself begin to perspire just a little bit, a sign that it was almost time to change into their summer uniforms. 

Alas, she should have known the day seemed too good to be true. 

“Igarashi-san!”

The serenity shattered at the voice. Sayaka kept walking, ignoring the call of her name. 

“Igarashi-san!”

The call from behind seemed closer than the first time. Her steps sped up. Besides her, there were quite a number of students out and about to enjoy the incoming summer weather before hitting the gambling dens or taking the games outside. At the sight of the secretary, all of them knew to avoid her path, a perk of being a student council member. 

“Igarashi-san!”

A downside was that her status as a student council member caught everyone’s attention. It meant that with the eyes of the student body following her and her pursuer, Sayaka could no longer pretend not to hear the person trying to get her attention. Sayaka came to a stop. Spinning on her heel, she steeled herself for a confrontation. 

“Yumeko Jabami,” she greeted coldly. “What do you want?” 

Though her cheeks were flushed from exertion and her large chest heaved with heavy pants, Yumeko still smiled cheerily at the secretary. “Wow, Igarashi-san. You walk very fast.” 

“Get to the point,” Sayaka snapped. “I am not gambling with you today. I have places to be.”

“Oh!” Yumeko grabbed both of Sayaka’s hands in hers. “I’ll make it quick then. I’m sure you are very busy.” 

"Let go—” Yumeko was much stronger than she appeared. Pulling her hands away felt like tearing apart the joints in her wrists. 

“Close your eyes, Igarashi-san. I have a gift for you.”

Sayaka renewed her efforts to escape the iron grip. “You have nothing I could want, Jabami. Now, release me.”

A small pout formed on pink lips. “It’ll be really, really quick! I promise!”

Sayaka felt the corner of her mouth twitch at the pleading look Yumeko sent her. It almost irked her how someone that can cause so much chaos can appear so… sensitive. In the days after the tower, Sayaka had been dodging the girl’s invitations to gamble. With Yumeko’s disarmingly cheerful disposition, Sayaka struggled to admit that she hated Yumeko just a little bit less. 

She let out a sigh, resigning to the fact that she likely wouldn’t escape the situation until she gave in to Yuemko’s whims. “Fine. Give it to me.” 

That sunny smile returned. “Ah-ah, eyes closed, please.”

The secretary’s frustration returned, though with a lot less force than before. “This is ridiculous,” she muttered as her lids slipped shut. She then felt the press of Yumeko’s soft palm across her eyes. “H-Hey!”

“No peeking! Ready?”

All this for another stuffed animal?  

With only one hand now holding her own gently, Sayaka considered making a run for it, or even reaching for her taser. She could easily escape Yumeko now, but the girl was strangely persistent when it came to certain matters. Based on Ikishima’s whining earlier in their shared class, Yumeko is still pretending she doesn’t exist. With the rest of her afternoon already planned out, getting it over with now would be best for her case. She can just accept whatever Yumeko has for her and she can go about the rest of her day—

“Mmph!”

An overwhelming softness pressed against her mouth. 

The warm wind brought the sound of surprised gasps from the surrounding students. Not believing her senses, Sayaka opened her eyes, only to panic more when she realised Yumeko was still blocking her vision. Distressed, Sayaka used her free hand to shove Yumeko a step back. 

Their mouths parted with a playful and exaggerated, “Mwah,” from the red-eyed devil. 

“Y-You—” Sayaka was shaking, feeling violated. This was worse than treason. Kissing the President’s sworn enemy—in front of so many of the student body, no less—was the worst form of betrayal Sayaka could even imagine. Mouth too dry to scold the snake, she wet her lips, only to nearly gag at the cherry flavor she found there. 

Yumeko smacked her own, as if savoring it. “Your lips are so soft, Igarashi-san! The President sure is lucky!”

The secretary’s hand balled up the lapels of her red school blazer. “Don’t…”

“Oh, you look a little red,” Yumeko’s concern was dipped in venom in Sayaka’s ears. “You should get inside soon. It is getting a little hot out here.” Yumeko reached out again, aiming for her forehead. 

Sayaka’s arm swatted away the offending limb. “Don’t touch me!” She turned and ran the way she should have earlier. Regret and shame burned her insides. She should have known better than to give Jabami Yumeko the time of day. 

Her skirt fluttered as the school blurred past. Other students practically jumped out of her way as she ran past, looking for a way to remove the pink on her lips and her cheeks. 

Hyakkaou had two gardens. One that the general student population can enjoy, and the other reserved for the indulgence of council members. Though there were nine seats on the student council, only Kirari and Sayaka ever used it on the regular. It was why there was a small table with only two chairs in the middle of it, and it was the only place Sayaka could think of where she wouldn’t get interrupted. 

Sayaka pulled at her blazer, almost sending the buttons flying in her haste. Ripping the sleeves down her arms, she tossed it unceremoniously at one of the chairs, not bothering to see if it even landed. With her outer layer off, she could feel the warm breeze cooling the sweat that collected down her back, but that wasn’t what she came here for. 

Against the wall of the school, Sayaka picked up the garden hose that was coiled into neat loops. Turning it on, she watched the water burst forth from the end of it, and the dirt soak up the mess she started to make. Holding it higher, she thought that if she ended up drowning here, that was the least she could do for her misgivings. 

***

Kirari hadn’t realized just how inconvenient it would be not to have access to her twin all the time. The meeting with the school principal had been unnecessarily long and many of the issues brought up could have been resolved with an email. It was all so painfully dull. Now, she slowly made her way to her office where her dear secretary was probably waiting with a perfectly steeped pot of black tea. 

Just as her hand met the handle of her office door, her phone buzzed in her pocket. Curious, she pulled it out and was pleasantly surprised by a message from her twin. 

Riri: You may want to check on Sayaka 

Rari: Any particular reason?

Riri: Consider her mental state collateral damage from today’s truth or dare game

Kirari tilted her head, perplexed. Sayaka wasn’t one for games. That was almost common knowledge. 

Riri: Yumeko

Reading the name, a grin split her mouth. And here she thought the day was going to end just as unremarkable as it began. 

Kirari entered the room, prepared to find Sayaka furiously wiping down the table or the glass of the aquarium. Perhaps needlessly organizing the files she fixes whenever she’s particularly stressed, which is an unfortunate constant. Alas, the only thing that greeted her was the bubbling of the tank and no secretary. 

She was well aware that Sayaka knew her schedule better than herself. She would have known what time the meeting was scheduled to end and would have been prepared with their day’s work set aside and her afternoon tea nearly ready. Her absence was puzzling, and now, Kirari was on a hunt to find her dear secretary. 

There were few places Sayaka would be. The most likely places would be the student council room or Kirari’s office. The first location has already proven to be fruitless, and after looking even underneath the long table, the council room was also eliminated. On days where she wanted to be alone, Sayaka confined herself in the back corners of the library where no one bothered to linger. There was no use for books at a school like this, except maybe for Sayaka. As she expected, the library was completely empty save for a housepet stationed at the front desk, clicking away at the monitor. 

She announced her presence with an, “Excuse me.” 

The housepet jumped, turning her attention to Kirari. “P-President!” She fixed her glasses which had gone askew. “W-What can I do for you?” She clasped her hands together, trying but failing to control her fearful trembles. 

Not minding the girl, Kirari’s eyes roamed towards the large shelves, hoping to catch a glimpse of a white ribbon in the midst of books and dust. “Has Sayaka been here?” 

“Sayaka? Oh! The secretary!” The housepet turned back to the computer. “The last time she checked out a book was two days ago—”

The sentence trailed off as Kirari left without a word. Sayaka was not there. As she re-entered Hyakkaou’s winding hallways, she overheard a curious conversation. 

“Did you see what happened with the student council secretary and Yumeko Jabami?”

“I didn’t realise they were like that. I thought they hated each other.”

The two boys were coming in from one of the school’s side doors, smelling of sunshine and grass as they walked by. And with that, Kirari knew exactly where Sayaka would be. 

She didn’t know what state she’d find her secretary in, but as she came around the corner, it was decidedly not what she expected. 

“Oh, my…”

Over the poor gardenias, student council secretary, Sayaka Igarashi, was waterboarding herself with the garden hose. Kirari took in the sight with mild interest. On the table they usually occupied was Sayaka’s red uniform blazer, one sleeve hanging off the edge and nearly dirtying the cuff in the grass. The stream of the hose appeared to be on the highest setting and had quickly drenched everything in the surrounding area, her secretary especially. Her secretary, who was gurgling and gasping for air every few seconds. It was certainly unbecoming of the girl who was usually so poised and proper. Fascinating. 

Deciding that Sayaka had wasted enough water and with the fear that she’d actually drown, Kirari reached for the nearby faucet and shut off the stream. It gradually slowed down to a trickle, which finally made Sayaka aware of another presence. 

“P-President!” She dropped the end of the hose at the sight of her. It fell at her feet, splashing mud over her shoes. 

The state of her secretary was worse than she thought. The front of her uniform was soaked through, showing off the white camisole underneath. Water droplets continued to fall from the ends of her hair and the soft point of her chin. 

Kirari approached, pulling out a handkerchief from her pocket. “Sayaka, you’ve made quite a mess.”

Distraught and ashamed, Sayaka’s hands balled up in the fabric of her wet skirt. Kirari stepped closer, into the circle of mud Sayaka created. She wiped at the excess water on her face and down her neck.

“Sayaka, dear,” Kirari began. “There’s no need to get all worked up over a silly game of truth or dare. Yumeko—”

The younger girl’s face became horror stricken. “Truth or—Yumeko Jabamai kissed me for a dare ?!”

It appears Sayaka was just as oblivious to the situation as Kirari was. The damp handkerchief hovered between them. “…Pardon?”

Sayaka’s shaking hand came up between them, tracing the edges of her lower lip. Her mind raced back to what transpired just a few minutes before. Despite her best efforts to cleanse her mouth, she could still feel the phantom touch of plump lips and glossy balm. And what had Yumeko said? Lucky? There was no such thing as luck for someone like Sayaka, especially when she was the one being ambushed in broad daylight. Embarrassment and anger heated her cheeks. 

“I have a gift for you.”

“Shut up…” Sayaka said to the voice in her head, a sickening sweetness to it that could rival Runa’s candies. 

“Your lips are so soft, Igarashi-san!”

Red eyes that looked at her like Valentine’s day hearts. “No…”

“Mwah!” 

How dare Sayaka lay her lips on someone that was not the President?! With a shout, Sayaka reeled her head back, ready to strike the wall above the gardenias. 

“This won’t do,” Kirari said, not that Sayaka noticed. And so, she did the one thing that would grab her attention and in turn, erase that vile memory. 

For the second time that day, Sayaka was attacked by a pair of lips, though this time they were colored in her favorite shade of blue and were very much welcomed. All the tension that was in her body seemed to flow out of her at the sudden contact. It was gentle but sure. It was delicate like the thumbs that were stroking her cheeks, cradling her face in an adoring embrace. 

With her mind finally catching up, Sayaka returned the hold by wrapping her arms around Kirari’s waist. This action served to only provoke the President more. The kiss intensified, their mouths coming apart just to fall back into each other, Kirari paying special attention to her top lip. It was far too easy for Sayaka to lose herself in the sensation, forgetting they were on school grounds and despite being in a relatively private area, there was still a slim chance of someone seeing. But even if she did remember, she would’ve hardly cared. 

Eventually, Kirari pulled away, sadly parting from Sayaka’s lips with a gentle bite on her bottom lip. She laughed at the way her secretary chased after her. 

“Oh, Sayaka,” she hummed. Kirari took in the girl’s dazed expression and hot blush, one that suited her far better than the angry red from earlier. Paired with the smears of blue across her mouth, Kirari was quite satisfied with her work. “You’re so cute.” She planted one last kiss under dark bangs, leaving just the faintest mark behind. “Now, I believe we have some work to finish.”

“Yes, President.” Sayaka fell into her usual place behind her, seemingly unaware of her current state. 

If others were to notice Sayaka’s missing blazer, the unusual color on her face, or Kirari’s own missing color, well, that will just erase whatever rumors Yumeko started. And if Sayaka were to somehow recall that event, Kirari knew just how to get it off her mind.