It was a quite clear sign that the dinner was over when Kirari got up and nudged Sayaka that it was time to leave. Mary stayed put, she wanted to give Ririka some time to gather herself from the recent outburst. The blonde was fiddling an empty drinking glass and waiting for the footsteps from the corridor to fade and when she was sure the President and her assistant had gotten out of the earshot, Mary decided to ask about the situation.

"Are you OK, Riri?"

"…mm'hm… In a bit…" Ririka was drying her eyes and taking deep breaths.

"Just take your time," Mary tried her best to sound encouraging. Ririka had been avoiding any eye contact, Mary thought this to be because of the crying. This was not the first time she had witnessed the blue eyes filling with tears. It had been since Ririka started to follow Mary around, whenever they had a moment to themselves and Mary had insisted that the mask came off, it ended either in tears or so heavy blushing it was hard to get anything out of the Vice President. Seeing other people crying made Mary feel uncomfortable and she usually didn't know how to react in these types of situations.

They were interrupted by one of the servants entering the room, probably thinking it to be empty because it had been so quiet for a few minutes. The servant flinched when she noticed there were still people sitting at the table.

"My deepest apologies, I thought Momobami-sama left the dinner table already. I can come back later," the servant in her dark outfit gave another exaggeratingly low bow. Mary gave her an awkward smile but realized as soon as she twisted her face that the servant was facing the floor and couldn't see her.

"Uh, no need, I think we're ready. Right, Ririka?" Mary asked, getting up and extending her hand to Ririka, who gave a small nod and stood up, but didn't take Mary's hand. The Vice President took the lead and walked out of the dining room with quiet steps.

Once they were in the hallway, Mary kept looking at the taller girl's back walking in front of her, the distant behavior was starting to get Mary worried she had said something inappropriate during the sparky conversation with Kirari earlier. They reached the genkan in silence and Mary was putting her shoes on when Ririka finally broke the silence.

"Do you still want to stay?" she asked with a small voice.

"Do you want me to stay? It was the Prez who invited me, so if you don't feel comfortable about it, I'll just go home. It's not too late yet," Mary asked, carefully trying to tiptoe around the sensitive subject.

The whole conversation since they got off the car had been steered by Kirari and Mary, who kept dodging Kirari's baits. It felt like it had been longer, but the truth was that Mary and Ririka had just realized their infatuation for each other on this same day. Decision to stay overnight had just been a power struggle between the Student Council President and a very, very, stubborn Saotome Mary who refused to give in to such cheap provocations.

"I… I want to show you something and explain a bit what the screaming earlier was about, then you can decide if you still want to stay or not," Ririka sounded defeated.

"Sounds reasonable enough, I doubt it would change my mind, though," Mary kept trying to cheer the Vice President up.

They walked through the yard, Ririka seemed to suddenly realize the absence of her mask and changed to other side of Mary, grabbed Mary's sleeve and quickly dragged her forward. Mary looked around and saw no one. They soon entered another similar genkan and removed their shoes. Ririka seemed a bit out of breath.

"My apologies, I should have been wearing the mask," Ririka breathed out.

"Why? There was nobody around… You didn't wear it inside the other building either," Mary felt confused.

"Well, the staff is not allowed to directly look at us." Ririka said quietly.

"Ugh. I just don't get all the stupid rules…" Mary whined.

"Hmh, I never thought about it much, it's been like this as long as I can remember," Ririka looked thoughtful. The girls changed into cozy slippers and started walking down a small corridor.

"So, this wing is yours? Can I see your room?" Mary pried.

"Well, all of the rooms here are mine, but we should go to the bedroom, I want to show you something," Ririka said, inhaling sharply as if preparing herself to something unpleasant.

"You sound so serious, I'm getting a bit worried you have some serious skeletons in your closet," Mary tried to joke and keep the mood lighter. Ririka grabbed Mary's hand and led her to her bedroom.

The room itself was spacious, mostly due to the lack of furniture. It had a large bed in the middle, a dressing table against the furthest wall and some furniture that looked old and antique, that Mary assumed were there for clothing. Ririka turned and looked a bit miserable again.

"Actually, I still have my 'dare' I didn't get a chance to check out with you earlier. I know this is an odd request, but would you please kiss me? Like we did in your apartment earlier?" Ririka asked softly.

"Of course, but why? You don't need to use it for that," Mary was getting seriously anxious of the mood, she was unable to read anything off the other girl's expressions.

"I'm going to show you something and you can decide if you would rather leave and not see me again after that, I just really want to kiss you before you decide to leave," Ririka was staring at the floor, talking really quietly.

"So, you are pretty serious about this… I'm still not accepting this as my dare, doesn't seem right," Mary said and closed the distance between them. She raised both of her hands to Ririka's face and lifted her chin gently to meet with her eyes. Mary saw the blue eyes getting watery again and added a soft whisper, "You do not have a permission to cry before I make my decision about leaving, is that clear?"

This small effort of control was enough reason for Ririka to regain a hold of herself. She placed her hands on the blonde's hips and pulled her slightly closer until the hips softly collided with hers. Mary let her other hand slide behind the taller girl's neck and leaned in for the kiss. Their lips met, starting slowly and softly first, Mary was getting the familiar fuzzy feeling back and gently added a bit of tongue to gesture she wanted more. Ririka complied without hesitating and the kiss deepened.

For what felt like minutes, it was just hushed moans, heavy breathing and tongues caressing each other. Hands started to wander; blazers flew across the room. Mary was gently guiding Ririka closer to the bed, she was halfway buttoning down the older girl's shirt when the kiss was abruptly broken by Ririka.

"I really need to show you what Kirari was talking about when we had the dinner," Ririka said, pulling the blonde back on earth.

"Oh, right…" Mary wiped her cheeks with the back of her palm and took a seat on the bed, still catching her breath. Ririka went to retrieve something from the top drawer of one of the antique looking dressers. It looked like a heavy folder. Mary had a faint idea what it might be.

"This is what I need you to see, it's not a scrapbook per se, but I have read through it several times. It's only fair you know, uh-, that you know how much I know…" Ririka looked apologetic when she returned with the large folder in her hands. She passed the folder to Mary and took a seat on the bed.

Mary examined the large folder, there was a rather faded label on the front that had her name and student number on it. She opened the folder and was surprised to find a long index page with references to files contained within the folder.

"Student contact details, copy of the entrance exam, copies of past report cards…" Mary read out loud quietly and ran her index finger along the index,"…debts and account information, personal data… wait… what the heck is personal data?!" Mary gave the older girl a puzzled look.

"Uh—well, it's all kinds of things the Student Council has collected during the years you've spent in Hyakkaou Academy," Ririka said, her voice fading when she saw Mary flip through the files.

"…Student Saotome Mary, surveillance report, date…" Mary started to read out loud and her eyes flew open. "Wait… what is this?! Someone was following me?! …There are even photos of me… eating? Who cares what I eat? And this one with me and Yumeko when we won against Kiwatari… This looks like surveillance camera footage?! Why is this relevant for anyone?"

"I—, I promise this is strictly confidential Student Council—"

"The Student Council wants to know what I have for lunch?! Follow my every footstep throughout the school—" Mary was getting agitated.

"I CARE! I care about the small things!" Ririka cried out.

"So, you ordered someone to tail me? Why would—" Mary started but Ririka cut her off.

"No, I did not! That was a decision made by the Student Council, not me," Ririka explained.

"So, the Student Council, including you, wants to know what I eat, where I go, who I gamble with, who I hang out with… Wait… Why do you have this here?" Mary just realized this folder should probably be hidden somewhere in the Student Council's records.

"I brought it home when they asked me to follow you, just to get to know some basic things about you," Ririka looked nervous and kept playing with the hem of her skirt.

"You could have just asked… " Mary said, she had a lot of things on her mind, mostly she felt violated but couldn't exactly point out why. This had to be something the Student Council had done for other students as well that they considered a threat in some way.

"They also asked me to fill more details there, if I found out something useful. I didn't add anything there though, I promise. And I'm not following you anymore because they ask me to," Ririka said, defending herself.

Mary was still shifting through the personal surveillance files, mostly staying quiet apart from the few 'tsk' sounds she let out when she found material she'd rather not have been included in her file. Ririka kept eyeing Mary cautiously and held her breath.

"So, uh… You wanted me to know you have this?" Mary finally asked.

"Yes, I thought it would be unfair if you didn't know that I knew all this about you, based on the conversation you had today with Kirari, she does not mind if you know, she seemed rather eager for you to find out, actually."

"And she thought I would do what exactly if I found out about this? More I think about this, less surprised I am that the Student Council has something like this about any student in Hyakkaou Academy." Mary summarized her thoughts.

"I guess she though you would be angry and leave, so did I, to be honest." Ririka said, blushing and looking very guilty.

"Well, the fact that you know all this, and you said you read this through many times is a bit weird. I feel strangely violated by all this—" Mary started to explain her feelings but Ririka cut her off.

"I never meant to use any of this against you and I can pretend I don't know any of this!" Ririka started to sound a bit panicked.

"Can I please finish what I was about to say?" Mary asked and got a small shy nod in response. "So what I was saying, is that yes, this does make you a bit… weird and definitely a borderline stalker, even if you did not ask to see this, you still read it, and like you said yourself, you've read all of this several times."

Mary kept a small break, idly shifting through the endless records of her daily activities.

"But… What I've gathered here, is that this information is not even particularly interesting. Why would you be interested to read this? I'm barely invested to read anything in here after few pages," Mary was quite unimpressed by the files, it wasn't like they even saw any effort analyzing the data they had gathered. It was just plain boring details of her daily life; most files were not worth to be kept on the records. She'd think if the Student Council decided to dig dirt on someone, they'd actually find something.

"I just… I wanted to find something that would help me get to know you better, if there was something that I could do to get your attention—"

"But you have my attention, and I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with these stupid files. I'm intrigued by you. Sure, I was never interested to get acquainted with someone who decided to hide behind a mask but ever since we started to hang around, I've grown to like you a lot," Mary was sounding rather frustrated.

"I don't like you because of the things in that folder!" Ririka was taking a defensive tone. "There's a lot about you, Mary, that I find very intriguing. Small things, like behavior patterns you do in certain situations."

"Like what?" Mary huffed.

"I noticed you keep an arsenal of strange items in your pockets for different occasions—" Ririka started.

"You went through my pockets?!" the blonde was astounded.

"No-no-no, I never did that. I've just seen you take something out every once in a while, and it's always not what I thought it might be. Like the small hairclip with flowers, didn't that belong to—" Ririka tried to remember the name of the girl.

"I don't want to talk about her, and I think you know why," Mary's voice was cold, her face had turned sour.

"Right, I understand… But there are other things too! Like the melon bread you eat; it's like a ritual you do, I can't stop staring at you when you get your hands on one," Ririka's face lit up when she talked about the things she likes about Mary. "There's a specific way you open the bag, which part of the bread you eat first, how you fold the bag when it's empty… It's just hypnotizing to watch you sometimes."

Mary took a long careful look at Ririka. Her expression softened.

"So, what you're saying is that you're a weirdo who likes to watch me eat?" Mary teased.

"Uh, I guess you could say that," the older girl replied shyly.

"Uh-huh, so if I were to let you off the hook here, with this paper mess that you have, was there something else you wanted me to know about?" Mary said, trying to remember what the President had been baiting at the dinner table. "Kirari was hinting something about the staff, if I remember correctly…"

"Hmm… Yes. It was not entirely my fault! She was playing her games with me and she doesn't really care about the consequences." Ririka gave out a long sigh.

"Sounds about right, she gives me the chills." Mary didn't find it so hard to believe Kirari would have done something and not give a crap about how that would affect other people.

"So, this was a while ago, we had a rather attractive girl working with our staff. About our age, I think she was the daughter of one of the drivers," the silver-haired girl was nervously staring at her hands while talking.

"Let me guess, Kirari saw you eyeing her, right?" Mary was already guessing where the story was going.

"Uh-huh, and I guess Kirari dug up some dirt on her, blackmailed her to make advances towards me. I didn't even know this was her idea," Ririka turned bright red, "I was just thrilled that this girl saw something in me as well, she was very believable and very inappropriate."

"So, you two went too far, right?" Mary asked, now feeling certain she knew the outcome.

"Uh, yeah. I eventually gave in to some of these advances." Ririka's voice was getting smaller when she progressed in her story. "Kirari arranged a situation where we were caught, this girl was of course fired as a result and I feel awful for her. I would have wanted to apologize after I heard what actually happened, but I never got a chance."

"So, that was the thing Kirari was hinting at? Of course, you need to find this girl and apologize properly, but I don't see how that'd affect me at all?" Mary was trying to find the right words.

"Doesn't affect you at all?" Ririka felt like the air had just escaped her lungs.

"No, not really." Mary totally failed to notice the other girl's distress.

"I see." Ririka stood up and walked up to one of the dressers. "Maybe we should call it a night and go to sleep, if you still want to stay here, that is." The tone of her voice had turned unnaturally neutral.

Mary was starting to pick up on the sudden change of mood in the silvery-haired heiress. "Whoa, Riri, did I say something wrong?"

"No, just your honest opinions. I'm fine," Ririka turned around to face the blonde and forced a smile. "I just want to know if you are going to stay or not, I know to ask the staff to prepare the guest room for you."

"Wait… Guest room? Right… Uh." Mary was lost in her thoughts.

"So, you would like to stay, then?" Ririka pressed, the absolute neutral tone was starting to freak Mary out. Even Kirari couldn't match this level of intimidation, or maybe it was just the fact that Ririka was usually so timid that made this change even more drastic.

"Of course, but I—I'd like to know why you're acting like this so suddenly. I told you before, that I'd accept any feelings you have, right? So, if something I said hurt you in some way, I'd like to know what it was." Mary tried to get Ririka to open up about whatever had upset her.

"I watched you all night, dodging Kirari's attempts to get under your skin. I was in awe how well you kept your cool and to be honest, I really appreciated it when you took my side defending me too." Ririka was still speaking in uncharacteristically dispassionate tones but seeing her slightly shaking hands, Mary noticed how the older girl was really trying to make an effort not to let herself fall apart. "And it did not really occur to me before you said you were not affected at all when I just told you what kind of feelings I had for someone else. I let my guard down around her and let her sleep in my bed. I couldn't even imagine how I would feel if you told me something like that—"

"Riri, I—"

"I need to say this! That girl's life is probably ruined, because my sister was bored and I couldn't stand up for her." Ririka took a small break, she had trouble keeping calm, her hands were still shaking, and she clenched them into fists.

"But you didn't—, " Mary tried to speak.

"Please, let me finish." Ririka pleaded and Mary nodded. "So, what occurred to me was that maybe you don't have feelings for me. That's why it was so easy for you to not be bothered by anything Kirari had to say and that is acceptable, I'm not saying that you need to feel for me as I feel for you. I know I got a bit carried away with my affection for you, but I just realized after everything that happened today that if we keep going on like this, further we go, more painful it will be if you can not respond to those feelings."

There was a short silent moment. Mary rose up, letting the folder in her hands drop to the floor with all the papers splaying across the floor, Ririka winced slightly in surprise.

"Can I say something now?" the blonde asked in a demanding manner. Not even waiting for a response, she continued and started walking towards where Ririka was standing. "Thing that you fail to notice, probably on several occasions, is that you are completely unreadable when you are hiding behind the mask. All this time you've been following me around at school, I never got to notice those small things about you that you notice about me. It's a bit unfair for you to expect me to be on the same level of affection when I've only had this afternoon to think about all of this."

Mary made it to where Ririka was standing with few decisive steps, Ririka opened her mouth to say something but Mary gave a piercing glance and quickly placed her palm on Ririka's face, covering her mouth.

"My turn to speak… I've grown to like you despite the fact that most of the time we've spent together so far, you've been hiding under the hideous mask. That's a lot, if you ask me or anyone decent. I understand that you've spent all of your life in your sister's shadow but I'm quite certain you're wrong about her motives," Mary took a small break, still holding her hand on Ririka's mouth, "your sister seems to care about you a lot, whether you see it or not, she's not messing with you because she is bored."

"But… what comes to my feelings, you can not just blatantly decide I don't have any and suddenly start acting so coldly towards me. Could you just give me a chance to get to where you are at? So far, the only thing I know about you is that you're a weirdo who likes me and I like that and don't get me wrong, but when you get all scary and serious, I strangely find that attractive as fuck. But at the same time, I also like that you show it openly how vulnerable you are, even if it's just for me or because it's especially for me, that's why I ask now, please don't shut yourself away and give me a chance. That's all. You may speak now," Mary said, feeling out of breath after venting out. She let her hand slide from the taller girl's mouth.

Ririka took a moment to consider her options and contemplated on Mary's words.

"You were the one who told me to figure out what I want; to decide what I want for myself. Well… That's you, Saotome Mary, I want you to be mine. Only mine." There was sincerity and resolution in Ririka's words that gave Mary goosebumps.

"Eh… Riri, dear, that sounds a bit possessive," the blonde said, laughing nervously.

"That is just what I want. Is that a problem?" Ririka asked, her own insecurities were starting to take over.

"Well… No, it's good that you know what you want now. But I'm not going anywhere, so there's no need to hurry. Uhm… do I still have to sleep in the guest room tonight?" Mary asked, now taking Ririka's hands to her own.

"So, you want to sleep here with me?" Ririka sounded almost surprised.

"Of course, silly." Mary watched as the pink color rose back to Ririka's cheeks and her face lit up to a beautiful, excited smile. "Just… don't take pictures of me when I'm sleeping, OK?"

Authors Note: 'Genkan' is the hallway area when you enter a house in Japan, it's usually a bit lower than the rest of the floors and that's where people leave their shoes when they come in. Forgot to mention in the earlier chapter, apologies.

"OMAKE" Chapter 3.5 ~Alternative scene~

"Eh… Riri, dear that sounds a bit possessive," Mary said, laughing nervously.

"Why are you laughing? I'm serious." Ririka said, inching her face closer and staring Mary intensely.

"Ahem, that was just because you made me nervous," Mary said, trying to keep a straight face. "And scared."

"Is it working?" the blue-eyed girl asked, staring deep into the golden eyes.

"…"

"Is it?"

"This is because I said you're attractive when you're all serious and scary, isn't it?"