Chapter Text
Ririka clutched the mask precariously in her hand. Her grip on it teetered more and more by the second. Her other hand clutched equally desperately at the material of Mary’s red blazer. Ririka’s throat was tight, not like when she had to cry, but more like when she wanted to say something but wouldn’t let it get past her lips. She was trying not to make a sound although it was proving difficult with Mary placing relentless kisses onto her jaw.
The blonde flicked her tongue one last time over the underside of Ririka’s jawline, before moving her mouth further south, onto Ririka’s neck. Mary’s mouth molded lithely over the curve of Ririka’s skin, pouring warmth onto it as she nipped and sucked, making her skin more and more sensitive to her touch. Ririka worried that Mary would leave a mark.
“Be careful,” she warned softly, finally breaking the silence within the dark utility closet that they were in at Hyakkaou.
She was supposed to be in biology class. She had gone to the restroom and on the way back, she had crossed paths with Mary. The blonde had caught her eye before smiling - no - it had been smirking, Ririka recalled. The next thing she knew, Mary had thrown open the closet door and dragged her inside.
At Ririka’s remark, Mary only grunted and pushed her harder against the wall.
At the sudden push, Ririka let out a little gasp. Her grip on her mask finally failed her and it clattered onto the floor.
“Leave it.” Mary raised her head, dislodging herself from Ririka’s neck. “You’re so pretty.”
“You can’t even see me right now.” The darkness in the closet was as good as pitch black.
“That doesn’t matter. I know what you look like.”
“I want you to like me for more than my appearance.”
“I do!” Mary huffed. “Kirari looks the exact same as you but I wouldn’t touch her with a ten-foot pole.” Her voice got softer, “Can’t I tell my girlfriend how pretty she is just because I feel like it?”
Their relationship was fairly new. The spontaneity and intensity of Mary’s affections still took Ririka off guard. Expressing every part of herself, including her affections, wasn’t something that Mary struggled with. It came to her so naturally to be so forthcoming.
Had Ririka not been pressed against the wall she would have shuffled her feet. “Shouldn’t we be… Why are we in a broom closet?”
“Isn’t this what you wanted?” Mary countered. “You’re the one who said we have to sneak around.”
She sensed Mary draw closer again, tempting her lips for a kiss.
“Those weren’t the exact words that I used.”
In response, Mary started pressing kisses to the corner of Ririka’s mouth. Maybe it was an attempt to kiss her lips, miscalculated from not being able to see properly. Or maybe it was a deliberate strategy to seduce Ririka into taking Mary’s lips fully herself.
Ririka murmured, “We should leave while the hallways are still empty.” The objection was weak, however. The invitation of Mary’s pliable lips at the corner of her mouth was quite persuasive, making Ririka involuntarily wind both arms tighter around Mary.
All Ririka had to do was incline her head slightly to the left and suddenly Mary’s lips were upon hers which hadn’t paused in their adorations. In the silence, the sounds of passion coming from the two of them seemed louder, including the movement of their lips against each other and the short but charged breaths that intermittently escaped.
Mary’s weight against her, with no space remaining between their bodies, made it easy to forget where they were. In this instance, everything that mattered was what Ririka could taste on her lips. Between herself, Mary, and the wall behind her there was nowhere she could go and simultaneously nowhere else she wanted to be.
Which also meant that when the door suddenly flew open, Ririka had no way to rip herself apart from Mary, instead standing in full view of the open door.
Without her mask on.
Horror filled her when she turned instantly and saw Midari in the doorway with an expression of genuine shock on her face.
Mary and Ririka were frozen with equally surprised and guilty expressions painted across their features. Mary was likely just embarrassed about having been caught frenching in the storage closet, while Ririka...
“President?!” Midari un-froze first and looked her up and down repeatedly as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
Ririka jumped to action next and her hand dove down to the ground. In a swift motion, she picked up her mask and repositioned it over her face again.
A flicker of realization crossed Midari’s facial features.
“What are you doing here?” Ririka stood at her full height. Her voice came low out of the mask’s voice changer with a tinny quality.
“I’m looking for my gun.” Midari leaned forward. “What are you doing here, Vice Pres?”
Ririka stiffened. “You don’t know where your gun is? Do I need to explain why that’s worrisome?”
“Don’t try to weasel your way out of answering my question! You and blondie? Really??” Midari’s voice raised in pitch.
Mary crossed her arms. “I’m gonna take that as an insult. Why would your gun be in a utility closet?”
“Why not? I didn’t expect to find you shoving your tongue down the Vice President’s throat here either!”
Ririka raised her hand to her mask again, making sure it was securely fastened. “Midari, I would appreciate it if you didn’t mention this to anyone.”
“The part where you obviously have a thing going on with blondie or the part where you’re Kirari Momobami’s clone?”
“Both, please.”
Midari chuckled lowly. “Your secrets are safe with me. Guess this means you owe me one. This is my lucky day!”
Then, even as Ririka and Mary exchanged a look before walking away in opposite directions, the dark-haired girl doubled over in laughter, keeling over herself maniacally like a hyena.
*~*~*~*
“I’m telling you, she spent a good 20 minutes waffling about during her presentation, saying absolutely nothing of substance. It was like listening to a hollow balloon slowly losing air.” Kirari drew a breath, putting a momentary halt to her mid-morning rant. She, Sayaka, and Ririka were walking down the halls of the school together, just having been let out of class for a break.
Ririka found herself barely listening while Sayaka hung onto every word. She was still worried about her accidental encounter with Midari the previous week. Mary had tried to comfort her countless times that Midari would do as she was told but it had fallen on deaf ears.
Kirari pushed the Student Council doors open and the three strode into the room. Kirari took her place at the head of the table and Ririka sat down next to her as Sayaka immediately went to make the tea.
Kirari continued, “This is why I say going to class is an utter waste of my time. Sayaka-” Kirari turned to face her secretary who was across the room, busy with preparing a tray. “Let the teachers know that I will not be attending class for the rest of the semester. Or better yet…” Kirari then looked at Ririka. “How about you pretend to be me and go to my classes in my place?”
Ririka looked up from where her eyes had been trained on the table. Her blue eyes behind the mask would have betrayed that she had missed half of Kirari’s story, hearing only the conclusion.
“Um… What about the classes that I have to attend?”
“It’s not like you ever say anything in class, do you?”
“No. I suppose not…” Ririka looked down at the table again. “Do you really want me to switch places with you for the rest of term?”
A spoon rattled harshly against a saucer nearby.
“President, I don’t think this course of action is wise.” Sayaka protested yet nevertheless hurried to pick up the dropped silverware.
“Why?” Kirari smiled to herself, raising a hand to her chin. “I’m sure we could pull it off. Don’t you think so, Ririka?”
This time, Ririka didn’t snap her attention back to Kirari right away, her mind lost in thought as she stared a hole into the long table before her. She didn’t realize she had been addressed until Kirari reeled her hand and nudged Ririka on the shoulder with it. Those void-like, black holes on the mask instantly locked with Kirari’s eyes again; a disgruntled expression on the latter’s face.
Kirari admonished, “What’s gotten into you? You’ve been so distracted lately.”
Sayaka returned with the tray and placed it onto the table. She gave Kirari a steaming cup of tea with biscuits on the saucer.
While Kirari's attention was divided, giving Sayaka a brief thanks, Ririka used the opportunity to think of an excuse.
Her time was up when Sayaka walked away to retrieve the new issue of the school newspaper and Kirari gave Ririka a patient look again.
“I haven’t been sleeping well recently,” Ririka said quietly, which in itself wasn’t a lie. Even when she knew she should turn her bedside lamp off and go to sleep, she remained awake while texting Mary late at night.
Kirari peered at her curiously as if searching but before she could respond, Sayaka beat her to it. With the newspaper in hand, she came back and took a seat to Kirari’s right.
“Have you tried a white noise machine? I’ve never used one personally but many people swear by it.”
“Thank you for the suggestion. I will look into it.” Ririka felt bad for lying but telling the truth would feel even worse.
“Yes, you should...” remarked Kirari. But her eyes still held a twinkle of suspicion. But whatever was going through her head, she decided not to voice it. Instead, she took the school paper and opened it up.
The Student Council had recently started publishing a weekly paper to keep students updated on the outcome of significant gambles, rankings, and even debts. There was no sign of anything remotely related to schoolwork or sports printed in the paper.
Despite that, the paper did include a gossip column. It was the section of the paper that the student body talked about the most, with many seeking it out on purpose, even those who wouldn’t admit it.
What was published usually revolved around relationships between students. Sometimes it was used to embarrass housepets further, orchestrating nasty rumors about them or their family. Once or twice a teacher’s private affairs were aired, much to their mortification. The majority of the content was usually unverified. But everyone started paying closer attention to it when the column had accurately predicted Itsuki and Kaede’s relationship before it had been known publicly.
Kirari skimmed the paper without much interest, already being informed of most, if not all, of its contents. However, her eyebrow twitched and she made a noise that sounded like a laugh when she came across the column that captured so many people.
Sayaka leaned over to see what was so funny. When she saw the column, she frowned.
“It’s just nonsense.”
Kirari responded, “I can know that while still thinking that it’s funny.”
Ririka asked, “What is?”
Kirari only folded up the newspaper in response.
“It’s just Midari’s silly gossip column.”
“Midari’s… gossip column?” Ririka’s eyes grew wider behind her mask. She felt immediately uneasy, thinking Midari had decided to spill the beans after all. But the way Kirari had reacted to the paper didn’t indicate that the one-eyed girl had written about the scene she had witnessed between her and Mary in the utility closet.
Kirari handed her secretary the newspaper. “Would you please recycle this, Sayaka?”
“Of course.”
Later, when Ririka left the Student Council room to go back to class, she was still wondering what had been so funny about today’s gossip column.
*~*~*~*
Throughout her days at school, Ririka watched Mary from where she thought nobody would notice her.
At the bottom of the staircase, the soulless eyes of her mask seemed to survey all the students equally like a watchman. In the hallways, the Vice President walked straight ahead with no outwardly discernable thought in her head aside from wherever it was she was heading towards. The crowds in the hallways always parted for her automatically. At all times, she appeared with a masked expression, completely unreadable and intimidating.
But in actuality, the mask helped to conceal how her eyes trailed after Mary whenever she was in her vicinity.
On this day in particular, however, Ririka noticed considerably more frenzy around the blonde and her group of friends. Students whispered and giggled to each other when Mary and the others walked past. People standing further away even pointed and jeered at them. In her usual cheery disposition, Yumeko wasn’t bothered at all, acting as if she didn’t notice. Whereas Mary deliberately jeered back, sending her peers running away, cowering with their tails between their legs.
What had happened to cause this change, Ririka had no idea. She eventually resolved to confront the matter directly when at lunch she saw that even Itsuki had joined in on the mocking and teasing.
As she approached the courtyard where the group was sitting, such a scene was playing out again. Yumeko and Mary were sitting together on a bench. Yumeko was occupied only with drinking from her juice box. Mary had her arms crossed and was trying to tune Itsuki out, who was jokingly making kissy noises at them before laughing and jovially slapping Ryota’s arm when all Mary did was grimace.
When Itsuki noticed Ririka approaching, she was still wiping tears of laughter from her eyes.
“Oh, hey, Vice Pres!” Itsuki announced her presence.
Mary’s head instantly turned around to look at her. Ririka definitely noticed the minuscule way Mary’s posture straightened and her crossed arms loosened.
Ririka moved around the bench and regarded Mary and Yumeko directly. When she spoke, she spoke not as the version of herself that existed in dark storage closets or late at night on the phone. But rather she spoke as a member of the Student Council at Hyakkaou Academy.
“Jabami. Saotome…” After thinking about it, the only logical explanation that there was for the entire student body teasing the pair of girls the whole day long was that they had gambled together again.
She continued, “If the two of you have accrued a sizeable gambling loss today, it needs to be reported to the Student Council within 24 hours or else you will be issued a fine.”
Mary looked at her confused. “A fine? But we didn't gamble today.”
“At least, not yet,” Yumeko joked.
Ririka asked them expectantly, “Then why has there been so much commotion surrounding you two since this morning?”
Yumeko giggled into her hand and Mary groaned.
“I see the source of your confusion,” answered Yumeko. “I guess you haven’t read the paper yet today, Vice President.”
She pulled it out of her bag and as she was handing it over to Ririka, Mary snatched it from her.
“I’m sure the Vice President has better things to do than to waste her time with dumb things like the school paper.” Mary tucked the newspaper under her arm to keep it away from Ririka.
Ririka extended her hand. “I would like to see it.”
“It’s stupid,” argued Mary.
Itsuki supplied with a grin, “Come on, give it to her. You’re just hiding it from her ‘cause you’re embarrassed!”
“I’m not!”
“Give me the newspaper, Saotome.”
The slight muffle of her mask and the voice changer made her sound extra demanding as if she was not to be messed with or else the wrath of the Student Council would fall upon whoever she targeted.
That menacing tone of Ririka as the Vice President made Mary pause. Especially, with all eyes on her, her resolve crumbled. Reluctantly, she put the paper in Ririka’s hand more forcefully than she had intended to.
Ririka opened the newspaper and flipped through it scrutinizingly in search of anything related to Mary.
Then, finally, she found what she was looking for towards the end of the paper in the infamous column reserved only for lascivious rumors and hearsay.
Printed in bold, the headline was, “YUMARY IS REAL.”
Ririka didn’t utter a word as she read the full length of the gossip column, undoubtedly written in Midari’s prose.
“JABAMI Yumeko’s arrival at Hyakkaou Academy just a few months ago unexpectedly stirred shit up and she’s been a total pain in the ass for the President and the rest of the StuCo ever since. Not only did she fall into debt and become a housepet straight away (LOL), she immediately made back her millions in that all too sexy gamble at the Debt Swapping Game together with SAOTOME Mary. Since that day, I’ve had a feeling that something’s up. I can smell it in the air whenever Yumeko and Mary are in the same room together. They’ve gotta be fucking, right?! Or they’ve at least thought about it. You ever notice they go everywhere together?! It makes me want to DIE!
“Gamble with me instead, Yumeko! Just once and I can die happy. I’ll keep begging forever so you might as well just gamble with me again, yeah? You know where to find me! Don’t bring that bitch, Mary. I have plans for just the two of us.”
Ririka slowly lowered the newspaper.
“I see…” was all that she said.
Mary suddenly stood up. “It’s just the ramblings of a lunatic! None of that is true!”
Her outburst made Itsuki start laughing again.
“True or not, it’s what everyone is thinking!” Itsuki said as she slapped her knee.
Mary’s face took on a bright shade of red.
Ryota protested, “I wasn’t thinking it!”
Ririka rolled up the newspaper.
“I have to go. Thank you for clueing me in.”
“Wait,” Mary almost reached for Ririka as she started to leave but caught herself in time. “You believe me, right?”
Ririka knew that Mary couldn’t read her expression under the mask at all. Should she give weight to Midari’s words? Was it right for her to feel mad?
“Why do you care so much?” interrupted Itsuki. “The Vice President doesn’t give a shit who you’re sleeping with.”
Mary’s complexion went almost purple. “I’m not sleeping with anyone! Least of all with Yumeko!” She clenched her fists at her sides.
Ririka finally replied with an authoritative tone, “What you do is none of my concern unless it relates to matters of the Student Council.” She took a few steps before she turned back, finally recognizing what she was feeling. “And calm down, Saotome. At this constant rate of vexation, you’ll be the first to get facial wrinkles.” With that, Ririka walked away while clenching the newspaper tightly in her fist.
Just before Ririka had turned around fully, she had managed to catch the moment when Mary’s jaw dropped. That intentional blow to Mary’s ego had sent Itsuki into another fit of laughter while Yumeko chuckled alongside her, though she patted Mary’s arm in a comforting gesture.
Oh yes, Ririka thought to herself. I’m definitely feeling angry.
…
With the newspaper in hand, Ririka marched down to the basement where she would find the girl who had penned the infuriating tirade of gossip.
She threw the door to the room open and found Midari sitting at the steel table, polishing the silver of her revolver with a rag.
Ririka shoved the newspaper in her face.
“What is this?”
“It’s a newspaper, Vice Pres. Can you not see clearly with that thing on your face?” Midari put the rag over her shoulder and stood up.
“You are to cease and desist these rumours at once. The Student Council will not tolerate any gossip of this nature about-“
Midari suddenly tore the mask off of Ririka.
“Hey!”
“You really think your Halloween mask can intimidate me? Please. I let Kirari take out my eye.”
Ririka huffed, quickly feeling like she was being toyed with.
“Why would you publish this?! You know they’re not together!”
“How do you know they’re not?”
“Because I’m together with Mary! And you’ve known that since you caught us kissing in the storage closet last week!”
“Just because she wanted to makeout with you, that doesn’t mean she’s not getting some of Yumeko on the side.” Midari let out a cackle and twirled the revolver around her finger with a cheeky grin.
“Mary is my girlfriend. And our relationship is strictly closed.” Ririka threw the newspaper down onto the table.
“Why are your panties in such a twist? Aren’t I doing exactly what you asked for? This way, nobody knows about you and Legally Blonde!” She shrugged, adding, “Not that anyone would believe it if I wrote about you and her anyway.”
“I don’t want you writing about Mary at all!” countered Ririka, that being the point she had wanted to make all along. “Especially if you’re going to call her insulting names.” Ririka’s blue gaze hardened.
“All right!” Midari raised her hands begrudgingly in surrender. “I won’t write about your dumb little girlfriend anymore.” She waved her towards the door. “Now will you scram? You’re fucking up my zen. I need my zen because in half an hour I’m meeting a cute freshman who’s gonna play Russian roulette with me.” Midari sat back down and resumed cleaning her gun.
Ririka only rolled her eyes, putting her mask back on her face before she left. As she was leaving, she got a text from Mary.
Mary 1:31pm
sooo about earlier...
are you mad at me???