Chapter Text
Let me put it straight.
The job of the secretary of the student president of Hyakkaou Private Academy is indeed very tiring.
A full day begins with getting up in the morning, arriving at school an hour earlier than the president and entering the secretary office.
Then, I’ve got to organize today’s work, deal with the papers and respond to the mails. When the president arrives, I meet her at the school gate and accompany her to the student president’s room to report on the schedule and unresolved matters. My morning is finally over when the president and the other student
council members take their seats.
But there’s no time to catch a breather. For me, the day’s just begun.
There are many other meetings that the president has to attend, not to mention student council meetings. For example, there are regular meetings with teachers and education commitees. Sometimes, clubs within the school are visited by important politicians and financiers. I will have to accompany her to all of these and prepare the necessary information. Of course, the materials have to be organized beforehand. This requires careful reading at home and some extra investigation if needed.
I am reminded of the difficulty of this job when I am suddenly asked for my opinion or when I give various reports to the president.
“What do you think?”
The only person that I don’t want to be considered a fool by is the president, although she doesn’t seem to notice my efforts that much. Even so, every word she says to me is like a breath of fresh air.
Next, another wave of pressure begins.
The secretarial work is endless. Beside the paperwork, I have to pay attention to president’s every move, including her physical condition, and support her in all aspects.
After school, I’m finally able to take a break. But my leisure is not as important as hers, so in order for the president to comfortably spend time after school, I have to accompany her.
That was my daily life now.
“President, you have worked hard today. Would you like some black tea?”
I poured some from a teapot. For me who has never brewed black tea, it turned out better than expected.
“Thank you, Sayaka. You are so considerate.”
This is perfect. Twilight shines slightly through the curtain crevices while the warm air is accompanied by quiet classical music. It all gives me a sense of peace of mind for completing today’s work, and it’s all topped off by being praised by the president.
“Ara.”
It seems she has noticed something.
“Sayaka, where’s your share?”
There’s no way the president cares about me like this.
“Black tea? Ah, I don’t have to. It’s just for the president to enjoy.”
“Ah, is that so? In that case, your share is also necessary. Please bring another cup.”
“Yes…”
“There’s nothing special happening today. It’s a peaceful, quiet and boring day.
Let’s play a game.”
The president poured black tea into another cup I brought.
“At the end of the day, don’t you want some excitement?”
As the president said this, she took out a container from somewhere and opened it. She took out the powder with a spoon and put it in the teacup.
“President, what is this?”
“Citric acid. A lot of it~”
With the stirring of the spoon, the powder dissolved in the black tea and vanished.
“Then… It wouldn’t be exactly pleasant to drink something like this… Right?”
“Hmm. Didn’t I say this is a gamble? I am going to mess up the order of the two cups. I may replace the order or I may not. One cup has the ordinary delicious black tea that Sayaka made. The other one has black tea with a lot of citric acid.
Sayaka, you are going to choose a cup and drink it in one gulp. I’ll drink the one that you didn't choose, lets gamble this way"
Why do we have to play a punishment game?
“Have you ever drunk citric acid? It’s very sour~.”
She laughed and made an expression the same as that of a kid who played a prank.
“So what do you say? Of course, there isn’t going to be any benefit for neither of
the parties. Even if one wins, the other will have to drink the sour tea… But it’ll certainly help to get rid of boredom.”
“But I’m certainly not worthy enough to gamble with the president.”
“That’s not true. Be more confident. It’s going to be interesting.”
If the president said that, then, of course, I don’t have the option of rejecting it. If the president is bored, I have to do something to relieve her boredom.
And… the president’s expression when she drinks something sour… I really want to see it!
“Please turn around.”
I faced her with my back and the president began disrupting the order of the teacups.
“It’s ready. Please choose.”
It’s finally time. I didn’t expect that at the end of the day I would gamble with the president.
“Yes... Leave this to me.”
From my point of view, the right side was “ordinary black tea” and the left “black tea with citric acid added”. It feels like the position of the cups was truly slightly changed. That’s right, the president must have indeed moved the cups. But a swap between left and right is not certain.
I fixated my eyes on the inside of the cups. The citric acid has dissolved completely, so it seems it cannot be judged from this aspect. What about temperature? The "ordinary black tea" was poured out first.
"Oh, no touching the tea cups"
Of course, the president saw through my thinking. Both sides emit almost the same amount of vapor, and the smell is nothing special except the fragrance of black tea.
There’s nothing different between the two cups… Except one thing.
The cup on the left is slightly more concentrated.
What does that mean? The “ordinary black tea” was poured out first and is, of course, slightly less warm. The degree of vapor divergence should be different.
But the vapor divergence of the two cups of black tea is the same. That is to say…
Yes, there’s only one way to think.
In order to make the temperature of the two cups of tea similar, the president added tea to the “ordinary black tea” which was poured out first.
The tea cup on the left side with more amount is “ordinary black tea”!
“Fufu. You look very confident.”
“Yes, is that so?”
“Ah, you’re smiling!”
“!”
So embarrassing. The president saw through my defenseless expression. But there’s nothing I can do about it. I really am happy.
I don’t care about winning this gamble. I’m happy because the winning rate is by half.
“…Fufu…”
In fact, I have prepared countermeasures beforehand.
The amount of black tea present in the cup really is different. It may be a hint to get close to the answer, but it may also be a trap or camouflage.
The president may have expected that I would judge that the side with more is “ordinary black tea”, instead adding black tea to the “black tea with citric acid added”. On the contrary, it is possible to anticipate that I have also thought of this.
There’s no end to thinking about it, and I don’t think you can win over the president with logical thinking.
Hence, the plan I have prepared is to decide in advance which cup of tea I’m going to choose.
Even after the gamble started, even if information and clues were found, it was still necessary to choose beforehand.
That is to say, the odds of winning or losing this game are equal, so I choose…
“Hmm. I choose this one. Right!”
“Then, the long awaited moment has finally arrived. Let’s drink. I’ll choose the one on the left. Are you sure it’s the one on the right?”
“Yes, please!”
I replied my answer affirmatively. The president picked up the tea cup on the left. I picked up the one on the right.
“So…I’ll drink it now.”
The president lifted the cup and drank it in one gulp. It was the first time I saw her drink tea like this. I stopped drinking uncounsciously because I was captivated by her expression.
“Um…”
The president frowned and lowered her teacup. She showed a very rare, gloomy expression.
Did I win? Did I win in a gamble with the president?
“Well, it’s really…”
This is the first time! It feels like dreaming! I can’t suppress the excitement. But, now it’s not the time to celebrate. First, let’s finish the gamble and enjoy the taste of victory.
“…It’s really delicious.”
Very sour!!!!!!!
“Cough, coo, whine… Cough, cough!”
Clang! I dropped the cup and it fell to the ground.
This is… the black tea… it’s extremely sour! Why? Clearly I have won, the president… Isn’t this cup supposed to be “ordinary black tea”…?!
“Fufufu~”
The president smiled gracefully. Her expression was as if the clouds had never appeared on her face.
“Anyway, it’s just a sour drink. It’s no big deal if you are aware of it. But what if you weren’t expecting it?”
I was deceived…! In order to make me react carelessly, the president made a frowning expression deliberately while drinking “ordinary black tea”!
“President…”
Sure enough, I can’t win in a gamble with the president. I chose the “black tea with citric acid” just because of my bad luck. It had nothing to do with the amount of tea in the cups.
However, if the “black tea with citric acid” was chosen instead, the president would’ve surely drank it without hesitation. Just like she said, it’s not a big deal to drink it if you’re prepared. As a result, I almost puked out the tea. This would only happen when the two conditions of surprise and selecting “black tea with citric acid” are fulfilled. I had no chance of winning since the beginning. Although it was a game to relieve boredom, I recognised the overwhelming power gap between me and the president.
“I’m sorry. I went a little overboard with my prank.”
The president took out her handkerchief.
“Thanks to you, a boring day has become an interesting memory. Thank you.”
The president gently wiped my lips with the handkerchief.
“Sure enough, my secretary has to be Sayaka Igarashi. No one, but you.”
At that moment, my emotions went up and down intensively.
The position of secretary of the president student council of Hyakkaou Private Academy is indeed very tiring. But there is no job I enjoy more than this one.
---End---
Tl Note: I think Kirari added citric acid into both cups just so she could see Sayaka’s cute expression. Not to mention Kirari was being so gentle to Sayaka. This is just too cute!
This one I know is really technical and shows how brainy both Kirari and Sayaka.