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Disclaimer: I don't own Tokidoki Bosotto Roshiago de Dereru Tonari no Alya-san or any of its characters...
Nodding to the direction of the stove, Alisa stood aside and allowed Yuki to get her share of today's breakfast.
Aside from herself, Masachika's younger sister was the only one who's awake right now, but there's no doubt that everyone else will follow suit. It's the start of the weekend, so it would make sense for them to have a late start.
…not that it matters, because they're still on this island, waiting for a miracle to happen.
Both girls didn't say anything to each other, which had been the case ever since the incident between Alisa and Ayano.
While they have acknowledged each other's presence at least, they haven't so much as uttered a single word since that day.
It was an awkward atmosphere for two people who were also the leaders of the student council in their school…
It's probably for the best, though. Alisa can understand why Yuki would feel angry with her until now, and she herself wasn't going to waste her breath on an apology when the other party wasn't going to listen anyway.
"Good morning, Suou-chan!" exclaimed Chisaki as she waltzed into the kitchen, looking more energetic than usual.
Yuki turned around to smile and wave at Chisaki, before taking her seat at the table.
"Morning, senpai!"
"Good mor—"
Chisaki's words fell apart just as turned towards the Russian girl, before looking away and focusing on getting breakfast instead.
Alisa raised an eyebrow at her a moment, before realizing the reason behind the strange silence.
"Of course they're still suspicious of me. Especially Sarashina-senpai. They think I can't be trusted. Even Masha. They think I might snap again and give in to violence…"
After Chisaki was done, she joined Yuki at the table so they could eat together. Alisa followed suit but she didn't sit with them; the girl sat at the couch instead, which was the place where she's been eating her meals for a while now.
…well, it's more accurate to say 'more than a week', but she hasn't exactly been keeping track of how long it's been.
This arrangement exists because of the atmosphere that takes over when she's around. Although the others have never said anything about feeling uncomfortable around her, Alisa could tell that they were enjoying themselves more when she's not there.
And it's understandable for them to think that way.
"But compared to way back then, it doesn't bother me anymore. That's because…"
Alisa looked up just in time to see Masachika — who had woken up and joined them for breakfast just now — standing before her with his plate of food in his hands.
"Morning, Alya. Can I sit with you?"
"...Поступай как знаешь," she mumbled and looked away, a healthy shade of red taking over her cheeks.
Despite what an individual would normally feel when they're isolated, the girl didn't mind sitting away from everyone else, and it's because of the person who was sitting beside her.
Alisa turned her head slightly to steal a glance at him, and found herself smiling in relief… while being unaware of the words that were coming out of his mouth from here.
"...there's someone who still accepts me. Someone who's still by my side. Someone who protected me even after I did something horrible to him. Кто-то... на кого я могу положиться."
She thought back to the day when she was about to become an outcast to the whole group because of her violent outbursts, in which two of them were borderline unforgivable.
It would have been the end for her, had it not been for Masachika's timely intervention.
The same person whom she had hurt deeply beforehand, was also the one to save her from a terrible fate.
While she did turn into an outcast in some form because of how little she interacted with the other girls, and because of how much they avoided her in return, it didn't matter to Alya.
"For everyone else… I won't force them to trust me. I don't care what they think of me. As long as Kuze-kun is by my side, everything will be okay…"
"—is that fine with you? Hey, Alya. Are you listening?"
"Eh?" Alya mumbled in confusion, before realizing that she had spaced out the entire time. She quickly shook her head to get her mind back on track. "No, what were you saying?"
Masachika clasped his hands together. "I'm sorry to ask you about this, but can we switch house-cleaning schedules this one time?"
Oh, so it was about that.
A week after realizing that they were stranded on this place, the group realized that as long as they were here, the house needed to stay in good living condition as well.
And so, they came up with a weekly chore where one of them would be assigned to the task of cleaning up the house. The responsibility was to be passed around everyone in a weekly rotation, and it was Masachika's turn this week.
While only a single individual was given the task every time, they were free to seek help from someone else provided that the other person was completely free and had nothing to do.
"Why would you want to switch schedules?" she frowned in confusion.
"Well, you know that I'm the person who does the lifting and physical labor around here, right?" he scratched the back of his head nervously. "Sarashina-senpai said that the raft is almost done, and she wants me to help out for the finishing touches. And I also have to help the others once I'm done. I don't think I'll have enough time to clean the house today…"
"The others…" the girl looked away as her frown deepened.
"I should have done this earlier in the week, and it's my fault that I waited this long to think about it. Don't worry though, I'll come help you when I'm done and I can do the cleaning once it's your turn by myself. What do you say?"
"No," Alya shook her head. "There's a better way to do this, anyway."
Masachika blinked in surprise. The moment he heard her refuse, he was ready to call it quits, apologize for bothering her, and leave before Alya gets mad.
But when he heard that she had a better idea, he stayed where he was for now.
"You can just… do it together with…"
Alya struggled to put her thoughts into words, which was evident from the conflicted look on her face, to the point that she almost gave up on speaking altogether.
However, after taking a deep breath to calm herself, the girl was finally able to get the words out of her mouth.
"A-Anyway, if we clean up the house together, we can finish faster and you can leave after that. I only need to do the cooking today, and I have nothing else to do. We'll be done in no time if we do it together," she explained further.
Masachika stared at her for a few moments, as though he was seriously considering her suggestion in his mind.
But what she heard next from him wasn't quite what she had expected…
"You know what? Forget what I said. I'll figure something out," he waved her off with a smile.
"Eh…?" she stared at him with wide eyes, shocked and confused at the sudden change in his decision.
And not only that, he stood up from the couch with his plate and sent her an uneasy look.
"Sorry for that. I'll just ask Ayano. Thanks for cooking breakfast, by the way."
"Wait…" she breathed out, standing up from the couch as well just as he walked away without another word. "Kuze-kun!"
In the end, Alisa chose not to follow after him because Masachika went straight to the dining table where everyone was and she didn't want to go there.
Her eyes followed his figure nonetheless, and she could only watch as he joined the ongoing conversation there almost seamlessly.
"Что за…" Alisa thought, feeling a familiar sense of loneliness wash over her as she stared at them.
Asking Ayano was an easy task, and it was even easier to get her to help him.
When he approached her while she was checking the solar panels, he had asked if she could help him, and the maid immediately jumped to her feet at the opportunity to serve him.
Masachika had no idea how things would have went if he did this with Alya, but one thing is for sure…
Ayano can be relied on for anything, which is not only a testament to her abilities, but also proof of how dedicated she is to her role.
After he was done helping Chisaki with finishing the raft this morning, they broke out the good news during lunch, which everyone [except for both Kujou sisters] took as a reason to celebrate.
When Nonoa asked if their raft can get them back to Japan, Chisaki reiterated again that its purpose wasn't to bring them home, but rather to look out for nearby ships as well as to catch fish in the water.
Once they were done with lunch, Masachika and Ayano remained behind and got to work. Both were quick and efficient with everything that needed to be done and because of that, they were able to finish in about an hour.
Right now, they were at the kitchen where Ayano handed the young man a glass of water, which Masachika was grateful for.
"I have a suggestion, Masachika-sama."
He looked at her in surprise. Ayano rarely spoke her mind and even when she does, they're mostly about offering her services to everyone around her.
"This should be interesting. Go on," he urged her to continue as he drank some water to quench his thirst.
"You are planning to fish for food from the sea with Chisaki-sama tomorrow, Masachika-sama?"
He nodded, "Yeah."
"Therefore, would it be a reliable alternative to set up traps within the forest?"
"Traps?"
"Traps that can ensnare and capture the small animals that lurk through its depths," she confirmed. "I believe it would be beneficial for us to have another source of food if we are not as fortunate to be able to obtain anything from the water."
"You don't have any faith in us, Ayano?" he asked, hiding a smirk to himself.
The stoic expression on her face faltered for a brief moment.
"That is not what I was trying to—"
Masachika waved off her concern with a chuckle. "Jokes aside, your idea sounds good. There's really no guarantee that we'll be able to get a catch on the first try. And if there's anything I know from fishing, we'd be extremely lucky if we even get more than one catch."
"I can accompany you and Chisaki-sama for a higher chance of success, Masachika-sama."
"No, just stay here with everyone. They'll need you for setting up those traps," he told her. "I'll tell Sarashina-senpai about it later. I have a feeling she'll agree to that suggestion, because she's definitely tired of eating vegetables all the time just like the rest of us."
"As you wish, Masachika-sama."
Unbeknownst to the two of them, a certain girl with silver hair was watching the entire interaction by the door, her eyes green with envy and her lips trembling from melancholy.
"Well, I'm gonna go see if the others need help. Thanks for the help, Ayano."
Masachika stood up from the table and stretched his limbs for a bit, before walking off.
"It's my pleasure to serve you, Masachika-sama," Ayano bowed her head politely, grabbing the glass he just used and bringing it to the sink so she can wash it.
"Why…?" Alisa asked herself as she watched with an intense gaze, wondering why this whole thing even happened in the first place.
She offered him her help and a better solution earlier, so the girl didn't understand why Masachika would choose to ask someone else instead.
"We could have done this together…!"
Alisa had no idea how, why, or when, but her legs suddenly began taking her to where Masachika was… and the two found themselves in front of the other as a result.
"Alya? Don't you think it's too early to be cooking dinner?" he asked whilst raising an eyebrow at her unexpected appearance.
She tried to say something but once again, Alisa struggled to get the words out of her mouth and had difficulty in expressing herself. She was able to eventually, mainly due to the spike of jealousy she felt at seeing him with someone else.
"I… I want to…" she muttered.
Masachika raised an eyebrow. "You want to what?"
"...I want to help you!"
"Oh," he blinked a few times in realization. "You mean cleaning this whole place? We're already done with it."
"Fine, but… I just wanted say that… I want to help you the next time this happens!"
A deep blush took over her cheeks as Alisa mustered up the courage to look at him straight in the eye, in order to make her point clear.
"So… if it's your turn to clean the house again, just… tell me."
Masachika stared at her again — the same way how he did earlier — seemingly taking her words into serious consideration, before shaking his head.
"Actually, there's no need for that. Asking Ayano turned out to be a great decision, and we didn't take too long to clean the house. I'll go to her again when the time comes, you don't have to worry about that anymore."
Alisa had no idea why, but it felt as if her whole world just shattered into a million pieces after hearing those words.
"Just focus on your own work, and that's it. Okay?" he reminded her. "I'll see you later, I'm heading out to help everyone else. You can call me if you need help with dinner."
"Wait!" she cried out, grabbing his wrist to keep him from leaving.
Masachika quickly turned around to face her, and he noticed that a slight look of panic had formed on Alya's face.
"D-Did I do something wrong, Kuze-kun…?" she mumbled.
"Huh?" he frowned.
"Why Ayano-san…? I-I mean, I can do the same things as her! I'm just as capable as Ayano-san, you know? I'm not even doing anything right now…!"
The panicked expression Alya had gradually became worse, especially when her breathing pattern became more erratic and somehow unsettling.
"S-So why her…? I just think it's weird, that's all… I could have helped—"
"Why do you care so much, Alya? I can ask who I want to ask. If I wanted your help, then I would ask for it. I was about to, but I didn't. Did I?" he spoke in a cold tone that actually sent shivers down her spine. "And don't just touch me like that out of nowhere."
Masachika broke free from her grip rather forcefully, to the point that Alya took a step back and recoiled from his action.
"—u-uhm, yes… sorry…" she lowered her head out of shame, only to realize what she said. "—!"
Alya immediately slapped her hand over her mouth to stifle a gasp, in disbelief over what she just did. Subconsciously, even. Or maybe she was aware of what she was doing the whole time?
"Did I just… Did I just apologize to him…?"
She slowly raised her head to look at Masachika, who continued to give her a cold expression for a few more seconds, before finally leaving the house… and her.
"What… What am I doing…?" the girl thought aloud, looking down on the floor as she tried to process her own actions just now, as well as the sudden shift in Masachika's demeanor.
…what's even weirder, is that it reminded Alya of her own attitude towards him not too long ago.
Translation notes:
- "...suit yourself."
- "Someone... whom I can rely on."
- "What the..."
MINASAN, YONDE KURETE ARIGATŌ! AISHITEMAAAAASUUUUU! *starts playing air guitar*
-Lance