Discord link: [discord . gg / 4y5QVPj]
Disclaimer: I don't own Tokidoki Bosotto Roshiago de Dereru Tonari no Alya-san or any of its characters...
The young man stared at Alya, gobsmacked. He wasn't particularly affected by her refusing to apologize for her actions, but rather her conviction to stick with her beliefs despite the position she was in.
"Alya… why are you still…?"
"Apologize? To him? The same person who would rather be here instead of working to get back home? Why would I do something so laughable?"
Refusing to even look at the young man, Alisa turned towards everyone else with a hardened look, showing that she was ready to die on the hill that she stood on.
"Like I already stated, I'll handle things on my own. I never asked for his help, and I will never need his help. Whatever happened to him is his own fault."
Masachika felt a pang of hurt in his chest as he listened to those words but somehow, he wasn't surprised at any of it.
"So that's how she feels…"
Although Kuze was the target of her words, everyone else had an appropriate reaction on their faces nonetheless.
Maria was the most affected, due to her relationship with both individuals. She covered her mouth to try and minimize her reaction, but it was useless when the tears started flowing out of her eyes like waterfalls.
Ayano's stoic expression fell for a moment — giving way to a look of shock — before regaining her composure right away. Alisa was definitely making that hard for her, though.
Yuki was struggling to keep her cool after hearing all those things from Alya's mouth, all of which were about her dear brother. From the way that her fists opened and closed tightly several times, she could snap at any given moment.
Nonoa only had a little frown on her face; while she didn't have a connection with Masachika to be deeply affected like the rest of them, this whole incident will impact them in a negative manner and that's something they can't allow to happen.
Even the uptight Sayaka winced at what Alya said, and it was actually hard for her to keep up her stone-cold facade after all of it.
"Your words are cruel, and there was no need for you to be particularly harsh with your answer, Kujou-san," she commented.
"...well, if that's your answer, then I'm afraid you leave us no choice."
Chisaki shook her head in disappointment. She wanted to think that Alya was better than this because she was Masha's sister, because of how much Kuze believed in her, and because she also knew the girl to an extent…
But there's a limit to how much one can tolerate an attitude like this.
"If you're not going to apologize to Kuze-kun and Ayano-chan, or even feel remorse for what you've done, then maybe it's best if you're not in the same place as us for a while, Alya-chan."
"What do you mean?" asked the silver-haired girl in confusion.
"Your attitude clearly shows everyone here that we will never be on the same page again. And so, from now on, you're not allowed to be near any of us, especially when we're all gathered like this in one place."
Alisa froze.
"To put it simply, you can't eat your meals at the same time as us. You can only use the bath after everyone else is done. You can't approach us for anything. And you can't sit here with us while we're all here. You'll be responsible for your own work, and your own resources eventually."
"What…?!" the girl clenched her fists so tight that it seemed like she was ready to pounce.
Her eyes flew to their other companions, who were all either staring at her with blank expressions or looks of sympathy.
The only one whose expression she couldn't see was her sister, and that's because Maria hid her face from the rest of them. She didn't even look like she had any intention of speaking up for her…
"Until you apologize to Kuze-kun, I can't trust you to stay civil with the rest of us. What if you try to attack someone else like you did to Ayano-chan and Kuze-kun?"
"How dare you… I didn't do anything wrong!"
Alisa stomped over towards the 'leader' of their group and stood right before her, matching the serious gaze on the latter's face with a cold glare of her own.
"Just because you used to be our senior, you think you can do what you want? Because you happen to be the oldest among us, you can boss us around? What gives you the right to decide these things?!"
"I have to make the decisions that are best for everyone! And what's best for everyone is to steer clear of you for a while. You don't need anyone's help, right?"
Succumbing to her anger, Alisa was ready to give Chisaki a piece of her mind, even while knowing full well that she couldn't possibly win against someone like her.
Fortunately for her and everyone else, Masachika's voice rang throughout the lodge and drew the attention to him alone, saving the situation before things could get ugly.
"That's enough already!" he shouted at both of them.
"You… what are you trying to do this—?!"
"We're wasting valuable time arguing with each other," he immediately cut Alya off before she could say anything else. "Let's just move on from this whole thing."
"What are you doing?!" Chisaki stared at him incredulously, breaking her serious look for the moment. "That's not what we agreed upon, Kuze-kun!"
Chisaki wasn't the only one who was taken aback. In fact, everyone aside from Yuki looked at the young man as if he had gone crazy.
"In the end, this is about me, right? I'm the one who got hurt," he pointed out calmly. "If I say that I don't really care about what happened, then can we put this issue to rest?"
"That is not the issue here, Kuze-san. What we are dealing with is Kujou-san's attitude," Sayaka explained with a frown.
"—which only became a huge issue because you decided to make it so, and that's after Ayano told everyone about what happened to me."
Masachika had no idea how things would go from here on out, but he was going to make the most of it while the attention was on him.
This might be his final gambit to tip the matter in his favor and worse enough, Alisa wasn't making things any easier for him.
…but he was still going to try.
"Look, Alya hasn't been slacking off. You can't really deny that, can you? She said so herself. She knows the work she needs to do for our survival, and she's complied with that so far. Even if she's angry about it. It'd be an actual problem if she wasn't, but she's done her part."
By now, Chisaki had distanced herself from Alya, feeling a bit horrified with herself for nearly losing her temper just now. She may be disappointed and angry with Alya for the things she's done, but she would never resort to inflicting violence on another human being.
"Don't you think that outing someone from the group would only cause a bigger problem? We'd be down one person, we'd have to think about what to do all over again, tension will continue to escalate, and a big hit will be dealt to everyone's morale."
On the other hand, Alya only stared at him with a blank expression, with no clear sign of what she felt at the moment. However, because of how she remained quiet after he spoke, it's clear that she was listening.
"Nothing good will come out of this, so let's let bygones be bygones and move forward."
Chisaki frowned. Masachika was basically saying that they should let Alya off again with a mere slap on the wrist instead of handing down proper judgement but at the same time, she understood the possible consequences of the former.
In the end, she chose to prioritize the well-being of everyone here as she had always done.
"...fine. If you're sure that you're fine with this, Kuze-kun…"
Masachika nodded in response, feeling incredibly relieved that Chisaki listened to him.
"But this will be the last time. Do you hear me, Alya-chan?" Chisaki looked at Alya with a more sympathetic expression this time. "I'm asking you in good faith and because of how much Kuze-kun believes in you, in spite of everything. Don't cause any more trouble."
"Пофиг…"
She huffed and turned around to continue on her way but before leaving, Alisa turned her head to look at Masachika with a frown, but her expression wasn't as hostile as before.
"Don't expect me to thank you."
He didn't say anything, because he was already expecting those words to come out of her mouth. Alisa had spent all this time hating his guts, of course she won't change her opinion in a snap.
However, this was good. She acknowledged what he did for her instead of straight-up ignoring him, and that's a step in the right direction more than anything.
When Alisa left the house to proceed with her work for the day, the group began to disperse as well. Chisaki headed outside with Yuki and Ayano, while Maria rushed upstairs to her room.
Sayaka approached him with a disappointed frown, while Nonoa was already working to calm her down.
There's no doubt that she didn't like how this whole thing unfolded, especially with his sudden intervention by the end.
"I hope you are happy with your decision, Kuze-san. That was an opportunity for us to finally get rid of a thorn in our side, and you pushed for it not to happen."
Masachika could almost roll his eyes at that.
"For someone who made it clear that she wasn't talking out of spite, you sure sound disappointed that Alya didn't get punished, Taniyama. I wonder why that is?"
"Do not misunderstand my intentions. I am merely disappointed that you chose to continue holding Kujou-san's hand as if she was a child, when she continued to act as she did while being fully aware of the consequences of her actions."
"Well, unlike you…" he narrowed his eyes at her, before walking away to move on with his day. "I don't abandon the people I care about. No matter how far they might seem out of reach."
Masachika knew he was being hypocritical when he made a certain decision in the past, but he wasn't going to repeat that same mistake.
Not this time.
Later that night, Masachika hummed a little tone to himself while rinsing another plate and setting it aside. It was his turn to wash the dishes today, which he honestly needed after the events that played out earlier this morning.
While other people would think otherwise, this moment of solitude granted him a temporary feeling of peace, so he worked in a laid-back manner instead of finishing the task as soon as possible.
He wasn't alone though, as Yuki volunteered to help him with it by wiping the rinsed ones with a clean towel.
Masachika didn't mind, because his sister was the only one he could talk to around here without hiding anything.
"You should be proud of yourself, Onii-chan. I genuinely thought things were about to go south earlier, but everything started to straighten out when you spoke," she remarked with a proud grin.
"I honestly don't feel like I accomplished anything, Yuki. All I did was just buy more time for Alya, even though it seems like she's dead-set on hating me."
"But it's still amazing that you can be kind towards Alya-san, you know? I didn't know much longer I could keep quiet when she started saying all those bad things about you."
"Kind?" he frowned in confusion for a brief moment. "Ah. I guess that's what it looks like to everyone, huh?"
"What do you mean?"
"You think I'm being kind? I'm just making up for my mistake."
Masachika took a deep breath, thinking back to the night where Yuki told him about why Alisa was acting this way.
At the time, they sounded more like educated guesses based on what she observed but as the days passed, everything that his sister said was making more and more sense.
"The thing you told me about Alya… that she feels as if I betrayed her back then, I believe it. I guess I also understand why she'd be attached to me. If anything, I'm the same because I don't want to give up on her. No matter how hard she tries to push me away, I'll still be there for her."
"This is the same guy who denied that he was in love with her several times," Yuki snickered in her mind.
"You were also right about the two of you being the same, Yuki. I don't know why, but I can easily imagine that you could have been exactly like Alya back then… when I left the household."
He stopped in his actions, taking a moment to imagine that scenario in his head as a reminder of how things could have turned out if he wasn't very fortunate.
"The thought of it scares me, and I wish I could have realized it sooner. I just didn't think about it because we were only apart for a year. It was weird that you acted like nothing happened between us, but that only made me oblivious as to what could have happened."
After cleaning the last of the dishes, Masachika washed his hands and turned around to lean against the sink behind him.
"I'm glad that I didn't screw things up again with you this time around, but now I have a new problem to deal with. It's a tough challenge to get through, but I've been with Alya long enough to know that's a given."
"So that's what you've been thinking of this whole time…"
"Pretty much," he sighed and folded his arms. "So even if Taniyama's getting annoying lately with her nagging, I guess I can see her point about continuing to tolerate Alya's attitude…"
"Are you kidding me? If anything, this just proved how amazing you are, Masachika-kun!" she looked at him with stars in her eyes.
He blinked at the sudden praise that his sister gave him, before a sense of awkwardness washed over him.
"Ah. You think so?" he scratched his cheek while looking to the side in embarrassment.
"This is why I'm excited for everyone to see this side of you! Come on, let me kiss you as a reward. Chuuuu~"
Yuki stood on her tiptoes and tried to lean in for a hug and a sweet kiss on the lips, only for Masachika to move away.
"Ugh… not here, okay? Just wait until we're alone," he scolded her.
"Okay, fine…" she puffed her cheeks in a big pout, before flashing him a seductive smile. "But we're gonna do more than kissing if that's the case~"
"Saw that coming from a mile away."
Yuki giggled at his deadpan response, which was amusing to see and hear every time. However, it became a rare sight to see because Masachika wasn't as laid-back anymore.
"By the way, regarding Alya-san, you have to keep on being nice to her."
"You don't have to tell me that. Not like I was planning to stop, anyway."
She puffed her chest in pride. "As expected of my amazing Onii-chan! Alya-san won't ignore you anymore because of what you did for her today and if you keep it up, she'll come to her senses soon."
"Now that you mention it, I think Alya got even angrier with me earlier," he muttered, remembering the exact words she spoke right in front of him. "What happened to me was my own fault… not that I disagree, but she was really brutal with the things she said earlier."
As soon as she detected the slightest hint of sadness in his tone, Yuki quickly wrapped her arms around her brother and brought him in for a warm hug.
"I think I know why she said that… but the answer might surprise you, Onii-chan."
He patted her back a few times as thanks for the gesture, before pulling away with a serious frown on his face.
"I'm listening.
Translation notes:
¹ - "Whatever..."
MINASAN, YONDE KURETE ARIGATŌ! AISHITEMAAAAASUUUUU! *starts playing air guitar*
-Lance