Lunchtime soon comes. Yui turns her back so that she could look at me.

   ‘Let’s go have lunch at the rooftop, Akira-kun.’ she tells me.

   ‘Sure.’

   Instead of asking, Yui is actually leaving no room for negotiation. I guess this is the punishment she’s giving me. I look at Saya. She’s showing no sign of moving. She notices me staring at her and gives me an evil smile.

   ‘Sorry Akira-kun, but the punishment I have in store for you is something much worse.’ she tells me.

   ‘You’re not even going to join us for lunch?’

   ‘Nah. I’d love to, but you’re Yui’s for now.’

   ‘You can join us too if you want, Saya-chan.’ Yui tells her.

   ‘Yui, stop being so kind! It’s okay to be selfish every once in a while, you know?’

   ‘Well, if you insist. Let’s go Akira-kun.’

   ‘Right behind you.’

   As usual, the rooftop is devoid of people. To be honest, you can never be alone if you’re at the rooftop in real life. Scene like this is only available in animes and mangas. Then again, the weather’s getting colder nowadays. Maybe that’s why students don’t come up here.

   Right after I sit down on one of the benches here, Yui proceeds to sit on top of my lap while facing me.

   ‘This is my punishment to you, Akira-kun. You’re to eat lunch while having me sit on your lap.’ she tells me.

   ‘I don’t mind, but is this really a punishment for me when you’re the one who’s getting embarrassed?’

   She starts getting all flustered. Her already red face got even redder.

   ‘Y-Y-Y-You don’t have to say it out loud, you know!’ she pouts.

   ‘Sorry, I just couldn’t help it.’

   ‘Geez~…’

   The two of us take out our lunchboxes and start to eat them. It’s a bit difficult to do that while Yui is sitting on my thighs, but I could more or less manage it.

   ‘Is this making you uncomfortable, Akira-kun?’ Yui asks as if she could read my mind. ‘I’ll move if it is.’

   ‘Don’t worry about it. Like Saya said, it’s okay for you to be selfish every once in a while.’ I tell her while patting her head.

   As usual, she purrs like a cat the moment I start stroking her head.

   ‘Fuyukaze-san is so unfair. I mean, she always gets to sit on your lap and getting head pats from you.’ she tell me while having an expression of absolute bliss. ‘Maybe I’ll start to fight over it next time.’

   ‘That’s the spirit. But don’t fight for real, okay?’

   ‘Of course not. We’ll decide by playing cards or some other harmless games.’

   Halfway through our meal, we started to feed each other. When we’re done eating, we just stare at each other for a few seconds. And then I lean in for a kiss.

   ‘Your lips taste like breaded shrimp.’ Yui giggles.

   ‘And yours taste like fried chicken.’

   We kiss each other for a few more times before she gets up from my lap.

   ‘Well, that concludes your punishment from me. It was enjoyable.’ she tells me.

   ‘I had fun too.’

   She puffs up her cheeks.

   ‘Well you’re not supposed to Akira-kun! This is your punishment, remember?’ she chides.

   ‘Oh, right. My bad.’

   The next punishment comes from Sakuya. She wants me to patrol the school with her and inspect the conditions of each clubs. I’m also given a pen and a clipboard with a few pieces of notepads on it to write down anything important.

   ‘You’ll have to do this after you become the new student council president, so you might as well get used to it. I’m sure that Ichika-chan will do her best to assist you, but it’s better to know the basic know-hows.’ she tells me as we begin.

   ‘Got it. I hope I get you learn lots of thigns under your guidance, senpai.’

   As we’re walking around, we passed by quite a lot of students who are staying back for club activities. A lot of them wave enthusiastically at Sakuya as a form of greeting. The second year president waves back with a smile. A lot of them are also staring at me. I try not to meet eyes with them.

   ‘Just look them straight in the eyes, Akira-kun.’ Sakuya tells me. ‘It’s not like we’re doing anything wrong.’

   ‘Um, I’m not avoiding eye contacts because of our complicated relationships. It’s because I’m bad with people in general.’

   She smiles. ‘Ah, yes. I’ve completely forgotten that my beloved boyfriend is an introvert. You might want to get used to talking with random strangers before you take over my position.’

   ‘I’ll try my best.’

   After checking up on a few clubs, we eventually reach the Kendo Club where Ichika is. She’s dressed in her kendo training uniform, and she’s holding a bamboo sword while overseeing the training of her fellow club members.

   ‘Ichika-chan, we’re here to play~!’ Sakuya says loudly.

   Ichika’s face brightens up the moment she sees me, but her expression immediately turns serious.

   ‘President, please keep your volume down while you are inside. You are distracting the others.’ she tells Sakuya.

   ‘My bad~! Anyway, I brought Akira-kun here, as you can see.’

   Ichika looks at me. She’s putting on a complicated expression.

   ‘So, what do you want me to do? Spar with you? Help you out with overseeing the training?’ I ask.

   She shakes her head.

   ‘It is, um, something much simpler than that.’

   Her voice is kind of soft, so I could barely hear what she said. Her face is also getting redder by the minute.

   ‘What is it then?’

   ‘I want you to help me with my warm-up.’ she whispers.

   ‘...That’s it?’

   She got very flustered and points her bamboo sword at me.

   ‘W-W-W-W-Whatever do you mean by that? Warm-ups are very essential in every training! Are you perhaps underestimating warm-ups?’

   ‘Whoa, calm down Ichika. I never said that.’

   ‘Ichika-chan, remember what you said about keeping the volume down?’ Sakuya reminds her.

   Ichika gasps and puts down her bamboo sword. She puts her fist in front of her mouth and clears her throat.

   ‘Anyway, that is the punishment I am giving you. As it is a punishment, you have no right to refuse.’ she tells me.

   ‘I never had any plans to. Is it okay if we do this first, senpai?’

   ‘Of course. This is why I brought you here, after all.’

   And so, I begin to help Ichika with her warm-up. I help her do stretches usually done by two people like the back stretches and the split stretches. All this while, Ichika is being extremely stiff.

   ‘You won’t be able to stretch properly if you don’t relax.’ I tell her.

   ‘I-I will try my best…’ she stutters.

   While we’re doing this, all the other kendo members have stopped their practice and busy looking over here. A few of them are letting out a snicker or two. Ichika heard the giggles and glares at the general direction. The members immediately resume their practice.

   It took us around ten minutes to finish the warm up. By the time we’re done, Ichika is sweating profusely, even though the stretching session wasn’t intense at all. Sakuya giggled when she saw the state of her vice president.

   ‘My my Ichika-chan, were you so nervous when you got touched by Akira-kun that you sweated buckets?’ she laughs.

   Ichika is so embarrassed she didn’t say a thing.

   ‘This concludes my punishment to you. You are free to go now.’ she says to me instead.

   ‘Thanks.’

   ‘Is there something the club needs, Ichika-chan? Anything at all?’ Sakuya asks Ichika.

   ‘Well, we need lots of bandages and plasters.’

   ‘Please write it down, Akira-kun.’

   I quickly take the clipboard I left on the floor and starts writing. Now that Ichika mentioned it, I notice that most members have plasters and bandages on at least one part of their body. Some of them have at least four to five on them. Ichika notices me staring at them.

   ‘They received those wounds from sparring. I swear that I did not go too far!’ she quickly explains.

   Some of the members start to bawl their eyes out without having actually tears coming out of their eyes.

   ‘How could you, Kurogane-san? Did you actually forgotten that time when you made us go through the hell of six hours sparring?’ a girl whines.

   ‘There was also another time when you took it out on us when Kagenashi-kun didn’t come to our club for observation.’ another complains.

   Ichika glares at them and gives them a ‘I will get you all for that later’ look.

   Sakuya sighs. ‘I’m not going to judge you on how you run your club, but you should at least treat your club members kindly, Ichika-chan.’

   ‘...I shall do my best.’

   ‘You say that a lot, but you don’t really do that, do you?’

   While she’s getting lectured, a few female students come over to talk to me.

   ‘Won’t you join the club?’ one of them pleads. ‘She’ll be much kinder with you around.’

   ‘Um, I’m pretty sure she won’t go soft just because I’ve joined.’

   ‘Actually, that’s exactly what she did!’ another tells me. ‘Not long after all of you have started to go out, she-’

   I couldn’t hear the rest since my ears suddenly got covered by a pair of hands. They belong to Ichika.

   ‘Why are all of you slacking off? I believe that I have asked you to do 1,000 swings.’ Ichika reminds the girls with a volume I could barely hear with my ears covered.

   The girls oblige and continue their training. Only then Ichika let goes of my ears. She lowers her head and fidgets around for a bit.

   ‘I would love you to join us. I truly do.’ she tells me. ‘But I would understand that you do not want to. For one thing, I can be overly strict. But more importantly, you are not polishing your skill in the way of the sword.’

   ‘Nah, I don’t mind being taught harshly every once in a while. As for the not-a-swordsman part, what’s the big deal? I’ll just join the general training like what I did in your father’s dojo.’

   Her eyes widen immediately.

   ‘Does that mean you’ll join?’ she asks hopefully.

   ‘Not as a member. I’ll join your training once in a while, in addition to the ones we do every morning.’

   ‘I, I see…’

   Now she’s smirking from ear to ear. Man she’s cute.

   ‘Now that we’re done here, let’s go to the next club Akira-kun.’ Sakuya tells me.

   ‘Yes, senpai. We’ll be seeing you, Ichika.’

   ‘Yes. Good luck in your patrol.’

   We head over to the Dodgeball Club. Saya was very eager to see me.

   ‘About time you’re here! You and I are having another dodgeball match as part of your punishment!’ she tells me while holding two rubber balls.

   I look at Sakuya. She smiles and nods. Since I got her permission, I hand the clipboard I was holding to her.

   ‘Sure, if that’s what you want. I believe the score so far is 2-0.’

   ‘You don’t have to keep track of that, okay? You just watch, I’m definitely getting my revenge today!’

   She places the two balls on her hands at the middle of a court. We then get into positions. I stand at one side of the court, she stands at the opposite. At the signal in the form of a blown whistle, the two of us charge towards the middle of the court. We reach our ball around the same time.

   ‘I have something to tell you, Saya.’ I say to her as I’m picking up my ball.

   ‘Don’t you think now’s a really bad time-’

   ‘I love you, Saya.’ I made sure to look into my eyes before I said it.

   ‘...Hwat?’

   I hear a collective squeals of excitement coming from the audiences, particularly from the female students. I’m getting a bit embarrassed, but I managed to fight it off. As for Saya, she’s frozen stiff, and she even dropped the ball she was holding.

   ‘I was always too shy to say this, but I meant what I said. I love you from the bottom of my heart.’ I continue to say.

   She shakes her head rapidly in order to calm herself down.

   ‘You’re just trying to distract me, right? I won’t fall for it!’ she cries while closing her eyes and covering her ears with her hands.

   ‘Too late.’ I say as I lightly toss my ball towards her stomach.

   Saya slowly opens her eyes and looks down at the ball that just rebounded against her stomach. I look at the referee.

   ‘Did I land a score?’ I ask him.

   He makes a huge circle with his arms.

   I smile at Saya. ‘Nice match, short as it was.’

   Saya glares at me and makes some incomprehensible noises. It took her a while to calm down.

   ‘I’m going to get my revenge one of these days. Mark my words.’ she hisses.

   I shrug. ‘You’re welcome to try. By the way.’

   ‘What?’

   ‘What I said just now? I meant it with all of heart.’

   More girlish and high-pitched squeals. Her face gets red in an instant. She pouts and looks away.

   ‘Yeah, I know. Still doesn’t mean that you get to cheat like that.’ she grumbles.

   She tackles me all of a sudden. Her arms are around my waist, and she’s tightening her grip by the second. The audiences are so worked up most of them are taking out their phones and taking pictures or videos.

   ‘Are you hiding your embarrassment?’ I ask.

   ‘Yup. So don’t you dare move, or I’ll crush your ribs.’ she threatens.

   ‘You’re already halfway there.’ I inform her. ‘I can already feel that my ribs are about to pop. I’m also starting to have difficulty in breathing.’

   ‘Good. Consider this my punishment then.’

   ‘Wait, what about that dodgeball match just now?’

   ‘I don’t remember saying that it’s one punishment per person.’

   ‘I guess that’s, fair enough.’

   ‘I’m so glad that you understand.’

   She continues this for three more minutes before finally pushing me away.

   ‘Now scram. I still need to practice.’ she mumbles.

   ‘Actually, I can’t.’

   ‘Why not?’

   ‘Sakuya-senpai is still talking to your president about this club.’

   ‘Oh, that’s just fantastic. Well, if you can’t leave, I will. Things are awkward enough as it is.’

   With that, she joins the other for her dodgeball practice. As for me, I go over to Sakuya and take the clipboard from her. I can’t have her doing my job for me.

   It took Sakuya and I two hours to finish with the patrols. It’s not just because this school has lots and lots of clubs, but Sakuya was very thorough in her job. No details were too small and therefore negligible to her, and she takes the opinions and complaints of each student very seriously.

   ‘What do you think of the patrol just now, Akira-kun?’ Sakuya asks me at the end of the patrol.

   ‘I was reminded that senpai is actually the student council president.’

   ‘...My my, it’s been a while since I’ve heard one of your rude remarks. I can’t say that I miss it.’

   ‘Can you blame me? Did you know that Ichika complains to me pretty much every time we train together about how much you slack off from your duty?’

   She averts her eyes guiltily.

   ‘That said, you proved that you could get things done when it’s required of you. You’re definitely fitting for the job.’ I tell her sincerely.

   She chuckles all of a sudden.

   ‘What’s so funny, senpai?’

   ‘Oh, it’s no bog deal. It’s just that your skill in smooth-talking have improved a lot compared to when we first talked.’

   Now it’s my turn to look guilty.

   ‘Well, I have been talking to lots of girls, after all.’

   ‘You sure have.’

   A few seconds of silence.

   ‘Well then, is there anything else you would like me to do as my punishment?’ I say in an attempt to break the silence.

   ‘Nope, that’s it from me. You can go to the other girls now.’

   ‘Speaking of them, I wonder where are they?’

   At this moment, my phone rings from getting a LINE notification.

   ‘I’m at my room right now. You can tend to the others first since my punishment needs to wait until night falls.’ Madoka.

   ‘How on earth did you know that I was asking about the rest of you?’ me.

   ‘Some secrets are best remain hidden. This is one of them.’ Madoka.

   ‘The hell it is. Did you plant a bug on me or something?’ me.

   ‘I would never do that.’ Madoka.

   ‘I’ll talk to you about it again tonight. What do you want me to do, Kaoru and Mashiro?’ me.

   ‘Well, I would love it if you go to convenience store with me to get some ice cream and other light snacks. After dinnertime, of course.’ Kaoru.

   ‘Mashiro wants you to accompany her to the arcade.’ Mashiro.

   ‘In that case, let’s meet outside the school gate, Mashiro. I’ll call you later Kaoru.’ me.

   ‘Got it.’ Mashiro.

   ‘Got it, aniki.’ Kaoru.

   ‘Hey, what about me?’ Madoka.

   ‘Why bother telling you beforehand? You’ll find out anyway. And it’s not like we won’t be meeting in my room.’ me.

   ‘Well, I’m off senpai. Thank you for today.’ I look up from my phone and tell Sakuya.

   She raises her eyebrow. ‘You’re actually thanking me for giving you a punishment?’

   ‘I did learn something out of it, after all.’

   ‘Are you sure that you didn’t awaken something inside you?’

   ‘Yes, I’m very sure.’

   ‘If you say so. Off you go.’

   When I got to the school gate, Mashiro is already there waiting for me.

   ‘Sorry for making you wait. Were you here for long?’ I ask her.

   She shakes her head.

   ‘Mashiro just got here. Now that you’re here, let’s go.’

   We head to the arcade we go every once in a while. Saya joins us every once in a while but it’s only the two of us this evening.

   Mashiro walks to a crane machine and points at it.

   ‘Mashiro wants one of those soft toys. Please help her get one.’ she tells me while pointing at the machine.

   I take a good look at it. The interior of the machine is full of medium-sized fluffy rabbit plush toys. I believe they had been here since two months ago. Looks like Mashiro had her eyes on them for around just as long. I take out some coins from my wallet.

   ‘All right. Here goes nothing.’ I mumble.

   ‘It’s quite difficult. Mashiro tried it several times, but she always fails’ she informs me.

   ‘Gee, thank you for that confidence boost.’

   I got one on the very first try. Both Mashiro and I are dumbfounded on my luck.

   ‘Mashiro…did not expect this to happen.’ she says dumbly. ‘She thought you have to do this for hours.’

   ‘Well, I did it in less than three minutes. What now?’ I ask while handing the plush toy to her.

   Mashiro thinks for a while. She then looks at the some of the games we played when we were here before.

   ‘Is it okay if we play some of those?’ she asks.

   ‘Of course.’

   And so, we played arcade games with each other until it’s time to have dinner. I’ve already called Kaoru. She said that she’ll head over here once she had her dinner with her family. A shame that she won’t be joining us, but I did told her to prioritize her family just like I told Yui. However, she arrived even before the rest of us are halfway through our dinner. That’s a fast eater for you.

   ‘Do you want something to eat while you wait?’ I ask her as she’s sitting at the counter with the rest of us.

   ‘It’s fine, aniki. I’ll be eating once we reach the convenience stores anyway.’ she says.

   ‘Okay, then. Just give us some time to finish our food.’

   ‘Yes. Please take your time.’

   We head out right after all the dishes and the cutleries had been cleared. I’ll just be accompanying Kaoru since my stomach is still full.

   ‘Remember to come to my room once you’re done with Ueyama, Akira.’ Madoka tells me before we leave.

   ‘...Hold on. You want me to go to your room? Your room, as in the one on the opposite side of the boy’s dorm?’

   ‘The one and only.’

   ‘You do realize that there are guards to make sure that no boys can ever go inside the girl’s dorm, right?’

   She has the nerve the give me a smug smile.

   ‘This is a punishment, remember?’

   ‘...Yeah, yeah.’

   Sakuya and Saya go over to her and ask her for high-fives which she returned.

   ‘So, what will you be having once we got there?’ I ask Kaoru while we’re walking towards the nearest convenience store.

   ‘I’m thinking of oden. The weather has become quite cold nowadays.’ she says with a little shiver.

   Well, I’m not going to be the insensitive idiot who tells her that it would have been better if you didn’t get out of your house in the first place.

   ‘Oden, huh? I haven’t eaten those in ages. Maybe I should have some too.’

   ‘And salmon onigiris, and karaages, and egg sandwiches, and…’

   …Yup. Totally not surprised. The clerk who worked there was, though. After helping the store clear off at least half of their stocks on oden ingredients and at least one tenth of the stocks of some other foods, we head outside to eat the food we bought. Like Kaoru said, it’s kind of cold out here, but at least we’re eating something warm to warm our body.

   Ah, this is nice. No worrying about exams. No worrying about earning money. No worrying about world-ending threats (yet). Just sitting down and enjoying some peace and quiet while munching on some food together with one of my girlfriend.

   ‘I need to make sure of this, Kaoru. Are you sure that this is all the punishment you’re giving me?’ I ask her to confirm.

   ‘Definitely, aniki. I can’t think of anything harsh to be considered a punishment, so this is good enough for me.’

   ‘Well, if you’re satisfied with it…’

   It didn’t take Kaoru long to finish off the food I bought for her, even though they could have easily fed at least eight people. It took us a longer time to clean up than for her to finish them. After we’re done eating, I walk her back to her house which doubles as the headquarter of a yakuza gang.

   ‘Thank you for tonight, aniki. Good night.’ she tells me as she waves her hand at me.

   ‘Good night, Kaoru.’ I tell her while waving back.

   Now, only Madoka remains. The problem is going to her room. I can’t even refuse since she definitely have everything she needs and some more in order to blackmail me. I head back to the dorm nervously.