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Disclaimer: I don't own Tokidoki Bosotto Roshiago de Dereru Tonari no Alya-san or any of its characters...
"I humbly apologize for this, Chisaki-sama, but I believe it would be better if I'm not doing the same task as Alisa-sama."
Ayano spoke up while her arm was raised in the air, which immediately got the attention of all the other people who were there with her.
The entire group was gathered around the lounge, having finished their breakfast and ready to start another day of work, at least until the quietest individual among them raised her arm and spoke.
Because of how quiet and reserved she is, everyone listened to her as if she was going to deliver an important oration.
…but none of them expected her to request for such a thing.
"Ayano-chan, are you sure about that?" Chisaki asked her.
"I do not wish for yesterday's events to happen again. It would be better if we don't share the same task," Ayano bowed her head as if she was apologizing for a mistake she made.
A day after realizing that they were on their own, Chisaki rallied the remaining people of the group behind her and suggested that they divide a set of different tasks amongst themselves dedicated to their survival.
Each individual was to be assigned two tasks everyday. If they choose to do so, anyone can help out with another group's duty once they accomplish their objective for the day.
Ayano and Alisa received cooking duty as one of their tasks — necessary repairs and farming being the other ones, respectively — and they have worked together ever since, suffering no problems or setbacks the whole time until yesterday.
"You do make a good point…" Chisaki hummed in agreement, before shrugging in defeat. "Well, is there someone who wants to help out Alya-chan with our meals?"
The former StuCo vice president looked towards everyone else for a possible volunteer, but no one raised their hands amongst them.
Out of everyone who was there, only Maria had the intention of helping her younger sister. In fact, she was ready to raise her hand until Masachika's words yesterday reminded her that she should leave Alya alone, because it seemed to be what she wanted.
And so, as much as she didn't want to do it, Maria stayed her hand and waited for what would happen next.
"Don't bother asking, Sarashina-senpai. I can handle cooking on my own," Alya scoffed and rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"But we decided that at least two people will work together on one task."
"I don't need any help, and I don't have time to wait. Like I said, I know what I have to do, and I don't need anyone telling me about it. "
Alya turned around and prepared to leave for the daily surveillance of their farming beds, only for someone to grab her wrist and prevent her from going anywhere.
"...hang on."
The girl slowly turned around with narrowed eyes, realizing who it was from his voice alone and feeling a spike of irritation because of it.
"I'll help you," he spoke with a look of conviction on his face. "Your task is cooking, right? You can count on me, Alya."
Everyone else — apart from Yuki and Ayano — blinked in surprise at Masachika's action, but none more so than Maria herself because of their interaction yesterday.
"Huh? I thought we were supposed to leave—" the girl cut her train of thought midway after realizing what Masachika was trying to do. "I see. This is Kuze-kun's way of reaching out to Alya-chan so they can finally mend things. I hope it works then…"
"Eh? A-Are you sure about this, Kuze-kun?" Chisaki asked him, looking skeptical of this new development.
It wasn't just her. Sayaka bore a doubtful expression on her face as well. She wasn't surprised that Masachika would help Alisa in spite of everything that happened, but it seemed like he didn't really think about what she told him while they were out foraging a couple of days ago.
At this point, the only thing left for her to do is hope that Masachika knows what he's doing, otherwise she'll be giving him an earful for not listening to her when she had warned him beforehand.
"It's fine. It's just cooking, right? I can make time for helping everyone else if I'm needed somewhere. Just tell me if you do," Masachika turned to look at Chisaki, then to everyone else at the end of his statement.
"Well, if Kuze-kun's fine with it, then there's no problem having you two work on cooking. In exchange, Ayano-chan will work on repairs with me. Is that fine with you, Ayano-chan?"
As everyone's descended on her, Ayano bowed her head again. "I will gladly take over Masachika-sama's duty," she stated.
"Great! Now then, as long as Alya-chan has no problem—"
"Не прикасайся ко мне!" Alisa yelled at Masachika before breaking his grip on her wrist.
Her small outburst alerted everyone else as though it was something calamitous, which the girl noticed in an instant.
Not wanting to ruin this day with another issue involving her, especially this early in the morning, Alya simply turned around to hide her annoyed expression from everyone else.
"...just don't get in my way," she said coldly.
Masachika nodded, seemingly unaffected by the continued display of her unpleasant attitude towards him as he watched her leave.
"I won't. Let's just do our best together."
So far, so good.
Masachika was being careful not to do anything that could anger Alisa in anyway, because he didn't want his hard work to go to waste.
This was the longest interaction he's had with the girl lately. For once, she acknowledged his existence, and he didn't want to screw this up.
One little mistake might just lead to Alisa ignoring him completely for the rest of their time together or worse, she'll leave him to deal with the cooking on his own.
He was facing the stove, waiting for the hot water in the pot to boil. On the other hand, Alya was about two meters away from him, chopping up some fresh vegetables that were harvested recently and placing them into several bowls.
It should be noted that instead of giving him the bowls full of ingredients, Alya placed them on the dining table for him to get them himself.
Masachika expected something like this, because there's no way things could be that easy. He willed himself to stay calm, and carefully thought about what he should say lest he mess this entire thing up.
"Already done getting everything prepared? You sure don't waste any time…" he commented upon noticing that she was in the midst of washing her hands as well as the knife she used.
"Of course I don't, unlike you."
Alisa huffed, not even turning her head to look at him. On the bright side, she responded to him almost immediately, which was still a good thing.
"Woah, take it easy. I'm not here to create trouble. I just wanted to help you," he explained himself.
"Help? Didn't I already make it clear that I don't need any help? Especially from you, of all people. Вы где-то повредили слух?"
"You did. I acknowledge what you said. But I'm still going to help you because I want to. I've got plenty of time to help out."
A moment of silence took over them, and there was a rising tension on what could happen next.
While he allowed the soup to simmer and waited patiently for it to be done, Masachika noticed that Alya had appeared right beside him with her arms crossed, which almost made him jump in surprise.
"I refuse to believe that you're doing this simply because you wanted to," she narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Do you think I feel lonely about being on my own? I don't need your pity at all, Kuze-kun."
The fact that she was bringing up the topic of being lonely on her own was strange in on itself, and it made Masachika wonder if Alya is aware of her own feelings or if she's in denial.
However, it's clear to him that his sister was right about her current state.
"That didn't even cross my mind… but I'm sorry if my presence makes you uncomfortable. I know that we haven't really seen eye-to-eye for a while now, and I'm not going to pretend that the last few days never happened."
"Finally, something I can agree on," she rolled her eyes and turned away, although she didn't leave… yet.
Masachika took this as his chance to continue, because she hasn't told him off yet nor has she ignored him like all the other times back then.
"That being said, did you really have to hurt Ayano yesterday? She didn't mean to offend you in any way."
"She wasn't in any place to tell me that I should take a rest. I'll decide what I want to do, and the words of a maid who only follows orders mean nothing."
"If it meant nothing, then you wouldn't have been affected by them," he thought about the obvious contradiction in his mind, before clearing his throat. "Okay, that's understandable… but you know that you could have just told her what you think, right? There was no need to get physical."
Alya continued to hide her face from him, but there seemed to be a hint of remorse in her eyes if one were to look closely at her face.
"I know that you're still mad at me and Yuki, but there's no need to direct your anger towards everyone else. If it makes you happy, I'll gladly take in all your anger until you're satisfied. Will that be fine with you?"
Alya frowned, "What are you talking about?"
"Everyone's worried about you, you know? Even the people that you don't want to associate with right now. We're all worried, because you're not like this. We all know that this isn't who you are, Alya."
The girl froze in her place, her eyes growing wide when he heard those words from him. They were the exact same words that her sister uttered towards her, when she thought she had turned into a villain in everyone's eyes.
It also seemed like it was the first time she's heard this from him, despite his numerous attempts in the past.
Alisa was actually listening to him this time.
All Masachika had to do now is to show Alisa that she had his support and prove that she's not alone at all.
"Back at school, you're a responsible leader who looks out for every student. The student council president who's admired by almost everyone. Many of them doubted that you could even live up to the legacy that Kenzaki-senpai left behind, but you've succeeded so far. Some even say that you'll end up surpassing him once you're done."
He smiled upon remembering how he stood by Alya's side as she climbed up the ranks of the student council through the years.
From being the treasurer, the vice president, and to finally being the president, Masachika was glad to have witnessed all of it up close.
"In their eyes, you're a role model whom they should follow… and the rest of us agree. With you at the helm, you've gone out of your way to make the school year one to remember…"
As quick as her earlier mood change, Alya felt anger and irritation build up inside her after listening to everything he said.
"You dare…?" she growled, turning around to approach him.
"What is it, Al—"
He was suddenly cut off when Alya slapped him across the face with enough strength to knock him out of balance.
"Argh!"
Masachika was completely caught off guard that he wasn't able to recover in time, causing him to spin around and fall. To make matters worse, he also felt a sharp pain in his foot as he fell down.
He landed on his arm, but his head was safe from hitting the hard floor. The same can't be said for another body part of his that hurt like hell, though.
"Damn it, I sprained my left ankle…"
Masachika gritted his teeth in pain, but he made no further action yet. Moving might only make his sustained injury worse than it already is, and a proper assessment is what it needed.
He looked up at Alya in anger, unable to hold himself back anymore. While did say that he would gladly take in her anger, she came at him out of nowhere!
"Wh-What the hell is your problem?! What did I do?!"
"ЗАМОЛЧИ!"
The silver-haired girl sent him an icy glare that made her look like she was staring into his soul, which also caused his angry look to fall apart.
"If you had somehow gone blind all of a sudden, let me remind you of something,Kuze-kun."
Clenching her fists tightly, Alisa stomped over to where he was and stood before him in a domineering way, while she stared down at him as if he was a bug to be crushed under her.
"Because of your oh-so-magnificent sister, we're not even at school, are we? Because of her, we're stranded on this island with almost no way of getting home! And why is that? Because you made everyone think that our goal should be staying here instead of returning back to Japan!"
"Look, I only said that because I don't want anyone to get hurt! Why can't you understand that?!" he yelled back, forgetting about his plan to handle this in a calm manner.
In response, Alya stepped on his foot hard . The same foot where he suffered a sprained ankle, and it made him scream in pain.
"AGH, FUCK!"
He tried to remove his foot from underneath hers, causing Alya to apply even more pressure on it. Masachika had to slap a hand over his mouth to keep himself from screaming even more.
"And for how long will that last? How long until we get rescued like what you hope would happen? You'd rather stay here for as long as we need to? Instead of making it back by any means necessary?"
"ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT, I GET IT! JUST STOP!"
Satisfied with that answer for the moment, Alya took her foot off his. With that, Masachika took the opportunity to crawl away from her before she could do anything else.
Once he was at a considerable distance away from the girl, the young man tried to get a feel of how badly injured his foot is.
Fortunately, the damage wasn't too bad and it was only a minor sprain, but it still hurt to apply any kind of pressure on it. With that being said, a pack of ice, proper elevation, and some rest is what he needs right now.
"You say that I'm not what I used to be? Конечно, нет! I'm not even a student council president! I'm a normal person struggling to survive while we're here! I'm the only one who has enough sense to realize that the longer we stay here, the worse our situation gets!"
The girl was fuming red in anger, her mind too clouded with her impulsive emotions to even comprehend the fact that she hurt another person.
That person being someone who was close to her, even.
"Stop pretending like everything is okay, because it isn't! The sooner you and everyone else here realize that, the sooner we will finally start seeing eye-to-eye."
Her emotional tantrum took a lot out of her to the point that she was breathing heavily afterwards. But even so, Alisa continued to glare at him until she turned her head away.
"Stay away from me. I don't want to see your face right now. I'll handle cooking on my own, as I should have from the beginning."
Having no other choice for the moment, Masachika slowly got up on one foot, before limping away in search for some ice to deal with his injury… and to get away from Alya like what she wanted.
All he could do was sigh in defeat, feeling as if he just lost his biggest opportunity to finally mend the broken bridge between Alya and himself.
There was a sharp pain in his chest as well, but it's completely different from what he felt in his foot.
It was the pain from the realization that their relationship might be beyond repair at this point.
Translation notes:
- "Don't touch me!"
- "Did you damage your hearing somewhere?"
- "SHUT UP!"
- "Of course I'm not!"
MINASAN, YONDE KURETE ARIGATŌ! AISHITEMAAAAASUUUUU! *starts playing air guitar*
-Lance