Chapter 30: test day, "will you take that risk?"

// Ichinose's POV //

Despite Lucy's success, I do wish she would take a more peaceful approach to things. She's always causing fights and arguments wherever she goes, despite my disapproval of it I find myself smiling. In the middle of our important test, the only thing on my mind is the girl sat behind me. The way she manipulated everyone the other day sits in the back of my mind, I know it was a bluff.

In the end everything devolved into chaos, no agreement was made and that was her plan. It looks like her 'plan' to force her way into fighting class D failed but all she wanted to do was mess up any ideas Ryuen would bring up. She knew he would try to pull some crap so she destroyed anything he could have possibly done by ending the meeting early.

Naturally at the time I didn't know her intentions and brought it up to her after the meeting... all she said was "Don't worry, we will play against class D."

The only words I got from that was 'play against'. Doesn't she mean fight...?

*sigh* Oh well... that girl is a mystery.

Anyway, I finished my test with 20 minutes to go. Now I just have to sit, wait and look pretty. hehe~ that won't be a problem.

// 20 minutes later //

~ring ring~ "aaaand that's time!" sensei had said and there where sighs of relief resounding all around the room. I stood and walked straight to Lucy, "So, how'd you find it?"

Lucy looked me in the eyes and grinned, "Absolutely no problems what so ever." Her words where accompanied with a thumbs up.

I gave her a grin in return, anyway... I clap my hands loudly to stop the chattering everyone was making, "I just want to say, good work everyone!" I got cheers and 'hooras' from the class. "Also, remember everyone that were all meeting at the karaoke parlor at 4:00 PM!"

It's currently 3:05 PM and we have the karaoke booked for an hour from 4 to 5 PM. Anyway now that I think of it... "Hey Lucy, can we go to the dorms before making our way to karaoke?"

She gave me a weird look, "Hm? Why?"

I scratched the back of my head and gave her an awkward look back, "I- just... please"

// Lucy's POV //

Were in my dorm right now and Ichinose has this weird look on her face, I just can't figure out what it's all about. "So you gunna tell me what this is about or what? You've had this look on your face for the last 20 minutes you know?"

"mouuu" more pouting?

"Just tell meeee, you know you can tell me anything right?" I sat beside her and gave her my best supporting smile I could.

*huff* "Fine... Is there something going on with you and Miyu?" hm?

I smiled and looked up at the ceiling, "Don't worry about us, we haven't spoken in a while that's all. I know it looks like we've fallen out but trust me, this just makes everything more fun!"

Her face had an even weirder look on it, "I'm serious you know? Me and Miyu are perfectly fine, got that?"

*sigh* "I won't get a straight answer will I?" Ichinose gave a small smile to me, already knowing the answer.

"Hahaha! Come on, lets get going." I began to put my shoes on and felt two big lumps press into my back and hands wrap around my shoulders. I looked up to see her with a cheeky grin on her face, "Hey let gooooo!"

"Neveeeer!" We both laughed and I just accepted the embrace, she's so warm. I don't even want to go to karaoke anymore, just sit here with my girlfriend hugging me from behind sounds so much better.

That is until I got a call, I saw my phone vibrating on the floor besides me. "Sorry Ichinose, I have to get this."

On the phone it says K K, standing for Kushida kikyo. "No, take it with me hugging you. Don wanna let go."

"Haha! Fine, fine." I picked up my phone and swiped the green button to accept the call. "Hello? What's up Kushida?"

"It's done! Anyway, my class is all going out today do you wanna meet up?"

I laughed awkwardly, "Sorry Kushida... me and my class are meeting up for karaoke in 30 minutes. Another time?"

"Sure, how about tonight?"

tonight? I see, so this is an important meeting huh?

"Okay, how about 7?"

"Mh! Lets do it!"

"See you then Kushida. Bye"

"Bye!"

I hung up the call, "Hey Ichinose?"

I didn't get a verbal response but I felt friction against my hair, "Your going to do something for me later okay?"

Another nod, "I need to borrow your phone for a while... pleaaaaaase!"

hehe~ huh? She's giggling? "Of course you can silly!"

"A! Hey why are you laughing at me!?" I looked at her with a stern face.

"Hahahaha! No reason! Anyway, get your shoes on. We have places to be!"

"I was trying to!"

I swear, there's no winning with this girl!

// kiake mall //

Me and Ichinose was walking in comfortable silence through the mall until we reached the karaoke parlor where we met with Kanzaki and Himeno, we chatted for a few minutes before entering our room where the rest of the class was already. We showed up 10 minutes late as the walk here took longer than expected.

Now that we are here though... "IT'S TIME TO PARTY!"

The volume in the big booth fitting over 30 people in it doubled, the atmosphere became even more lively and I went off to have a good time with my classmates. I started off by singing!

we thought it would be a good idea to keep our class in high spirits so we had a class discussion and the room was payed for by the class bank so it was split between everyone equally. Of course I payed a whole 25% as it was my idea, I don't mid though.

After I finished singing 'King' which is a famous song in Japan, I went over to Himeno who was laughing. "Hahaha! You can't sing for your life can you!?"

A! I thought it was kinda good... That explains why everyone was grinning and holding back then. *sigh*

I hung my head in shame, I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE TAKEN THE VOICE LESSONS MY FATHER OFFERED ME! Now i've made a fool of myself.

"Himeno you can stop laughing you know..."

// Himeno's POV //

I'm happy she can't sing, before now I was under the impression Lucy could do anything. It's good to know she's as human as the rest of us. I just can't get this stupid smile off my face now, "Lucy I just can't stop bwahahhaa!"

My cheeks and stomach are aching now, It's just too funny. "Himeenooooo, your so meeeaaan!"

"I know, I know. Hey have you tried their ice cream Sundays? they're really good you know." She tilted her head and saw the glass I had in my hand. She smiled and went to the tablet to order herself one.

I went to sit down next to her and looked up at the stage to see Ichinose in the middle of a song, surprisingly it was a... metal song? It was called Aishite Aishite Aishite, which translates to love me, love me, love me in English.

Surprisingly she's REALLY good! Hitting all the notes perfectly, I didn't know she could sing this well.

// kushida's POV //

Iv'e been here for an hour now, it's 8 PM. Where is she?

Suddenly I heard footsteps coming form the main building, "Your late you know?"

She snorted in response, "And I remember you were late the last time we met up, to be honest i'm surprised your even still here."

Well I didn't have a choice did I? This is important after all. "Ryuen came to me." I looked at her for a reaction but there was nothing, just a blank stare. "Your not shocked about that at all?"

"Of course not, you went to him for the sport festival didn't you? I imagine it has something to do with your Horikita problem, so it's only natural that something like this would happen."

What? How does she know about that? Did she hear everything? Did Ryuen tell her? Horikita? Ayanakoji maybe?

*sigh* "It doesn't matter how I figured it out, what matters is that you have a lot of people trying to use you at the moment."

Am I that predictable?

She walked up to me and grabbed my cheek, stroking it gently. "Poor Kushida... How pathetic."

Pathetic? Me? "I'm not being used, it's a deal. I get something out of it too."

"You have tunnel vision Kushida, all you think about is how to get Horikita expelled. What about after that? Is Ayanokoji next? Then Ryuen? Then you think your able to get me expelled? Kushida, if by some miracle your able to, by the time that happens you would have dug class D a grave far too deep for you to climb out of. It would have all been for nothing..."

By this point, Lucy had walked toward a bench and sat down. her arm draped over the back of the bench and giving me a smug look, "Your wrong... Me and my friends can get to class A. With you out of the picture, class A is useless. With Ryuen out of the picture, class C is useless. Our only enemy is class B, and we WILL overtake them."

I've never felt this confident and determined before...

Of course Lucy wouldn't allow me to feel this way for long, "Friends? You? Hahahahaha, Don't make me laugh!" With no warning her laughter just stopped, like a switch had been flipped. "You don't have friends. Sure they may think your friends but at some point you will get too anxious and start eliminating them one by one, do you want to know why?"

I didn't grace her with a response, just kept up the hard look I was giving her. She pulled out a phone from her hoodie pocket, "Because everyday from now on, I have to manually disable the automated text message to half the students in our year about all your shenanigans back from middle school."

// Lucy's POV //

This is fun, I hold this girls dreams and nightmares in the palm of my hand. She angrily walked over to me and snatched the phone from my hand, "Give me that!" I let her of course.

"Careful now," She looked up from the phone in her hand to see me holding another one, "If the message isn't disabled from THAT phone everyday then this phone will also send the text to a random 50% of the year 2 students." I pulled out a third phone (Himeno's), "And this one here will send the text to 50% of the 3rd years!"

She looked up in shock, "What!? T-theres no way! Your lying!"

Her eyes went crazed, the information truly sinking in. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. But do tell me Kushida, are you really willing to risk that?"

Kushida didn't move, didn't speak, paralyzed from indecision. I guess I should break her out of her trance, "Kushiiidaaaaaa, come here."

She didn't move but she did finally start to stutter out some words, "I-I... H-how could this happen? Why is this happening to me?"

"Kushida I want you to look at the phone your holding right now, how long until that alarm goes off?"

She clicked the power button and on the home screen was a timer for 8:30 PM, "T-twenty five minutes."

"And can you guess what's going to happen within 5 minutes of that alarm going off? If I didn't have my phone when that reminder goes off... I can only imagine what would happen." I looked up in the sky as if to think.

She gripped the phone harder, her arm and hand shaking. "Come here Kushida, give me the phone."

She still didn't move from that spot, I could see the stress getting to her as she grits her teeth. With the device itself in her hands, the thought of 'I might be able to do it myself' is at the forefront of her mind.

"Okay, I see you've made your decision. You have roughly 30 minutes to figure out my password and then find out how to disable the message, of course you have a limited number of guesses on that password before the phone locks you out."

I stood up and began walking back toward the dorms, she'll never figure out what the password is. It's a mix of 35 random letters and numbers, I changed it earlier and thanks to my perfect memory it will be easy to log in myself and change it back to what it was before later on.

// 3rd POV //

Kushida's desperation to get out of the situation had her standing there trying to figure out the password, she tried Lucy's birthday, Lucy's name, her last name and more. After sitting on that bench for 15 minutes trying to figure it out she got a notification saying she had 5 more attempts before the phone locks her out for an hour. By the time the phone unlocks the messages would have spread around the entire school.

Dried tears covered her cheeks and her jaw was chattering against the cold air. At this point the phone was on her lap as she gripped her hair and pulled, the stress was at it's peak. Kushida Kikyo in this moment was fearing the inevitable outcome, she knew she could never guess the password. She should have known right from the beginning, the password could be anything...

With only one way out she ran, she ran as fast as she could toward the dorms which where a ten minute walk from where she currently was. New tears streamed down her face as she lamented the shame she would feel as she begged Lucy Hall for forgiveness and to undo her greatest nightmare form coming true.

It took 6 minutes to get to the dorm building and another 3 minutes to convince the lady at the front desk of the dorms to give her Lucy's room number and another minute to get the lady to stop worrying about her current state.

By the time she had gotten to Lucy's door she was out of breath, knocking over and over again on the door that separates her from both her current greatest enemy and the only person who can keep her secret safe.

The door opened and Lucy stood there with a smug smile, "And so she returns..."

Kushida was in a sorry state, repeating the words "Please" and "I'm sorry"

Lucy just giggled, "Sorry? Sorry for what? I don't think you've done anything to apologize to me for. The fact of the matter is that you've just found yourself in an unfortunate situation."

Kushida didn't know what to say, she just stood there stuttering.

"Come inside, it must be cold." Lucy led her inside and took the phone out of her hands. Kushida put up no resistance.

Lucy let go of Kushidas hand and sat on her own bed, "Now, Kushida. Kneel, know your place." Lucy's voice was cold, devoid of emotion. This unsettled Kushida even more.

Now on her knees, Kushida had her head hanging.

"Good girl." Lucy's voice suddenly became nurturing and soft as she gently lifted Kushida's chin so they were looking each other in the eyes.

Kushida hadn't heard genuine praise in a long time and it stunned her to the core, this was what she wanted after all and being deprived of that for a long time made her more 'sensitive' to the praise she wishes to hear, especially when it came out as genuine as Lucy had said it, the eye contact only made it seem even more real.

Of course Lucy had meant it, she likes when she's above others and rewards those who show obedience. She knew from the light novel that Kushida just wants to be noticed, in fact Lucy had genuinely sympathized with Kushida's character back in her old life. A girl that just wanted what any young girl would want and will go to any lengths to get that... how pitiful. Lucy had cried when she read what Kushida had gone through due to her broken personality.

The loud alarm that went off on Lucy's phone broke the moment and Lucy had turned the alarm off, it was silent. "Now Kushida, tell me what you want me to do."

Kushida felt exhausted, in a quiet tone she spoke, "Please turn off the automated message."

Kushida was saw the soft smile and heard the almost inaudible sound of approval escape Lucy's lips. "Okay, I'll do that for you." Lucy had done it and finally Kushida could breath a sigh of relief.

Kushida just felt tired now, she slumped fully onto her kneeling legs and felt her eyes getting heavy, After all she had just gone through a lot of intense emotions in the pat half hour.

"Hey, no going to sleep yet. Stay kneeling there while I go get you some left overs from my dinner, you need to eat." Kushida just nodded before Lucy had gone to warm up some food in the microwave.

5 minutes later and she she had a bowl of food on the low table in the center of the room, it was egg fried rice with mixed vegetables and meat. "This should fill you up."

"Mh." Kushida had started eating, slow and small fork fulls at a time.

Lucy clapped her hands together, "Now that the hard parts over I'm going to give you a couple of rules to follow understand?" A nod from Kushida, "Good!

Rule number one is that you will remind me every night to turn off the automated messaging system.

Rule number two is that when it's just the two of us in rather my or your room, you will kneel. I don't want you to get any ideas that we are of the same status now.

Rule number three, you will do as told. No matter the order you will follow through with it, don't worry I won't ask anything bad nor order you to intentionally lose any exams.

Rule number four, if find yourself or think you will find yourself in a situation that is detrimental to you, you will tell me immediately.

Finally rule number five, you are my pet and will be treated as such. That means I will be responsible of having you fed and comfy! You are in my hands now and I will take care of you, that includes making sure you buy anything you need out of my own pockets.

Oh actually there is another rule, anytime you ask me for something, you will make sure you get a receipt and send me a picture. I can't have any disobedient pets now can I?" *giggle*

Kushida just sat there in shock, "W-what?"

Lucy had a sly smile on her face, "Naturally if you don't feel like following these rules then it only takes you one night of not sending me a reminder at 8 PM for me to understand that you wish to exit this relation ship of ours. Oh and by the way, there will be punishments for not following my rules, that includes spending your own money on necessities such as food for the fridge, tooth paste, clothes and such understand?"

This is not how Kushida imagined this to go, she thought she would become Lucy's personal slave but this? Never in a million years could she have expected this.

Lucy grew impatient and gently slapped Kushida's cheek, Witch a stern tone she repeated herself, "I said; do you understand?"

Kushida just slowly nodded her head, mouth agape.

"Use your words pet." Lucy was looking down on her.

"Yes... I understand." Kushida's brain had short circuited, unable to comprehend the events of today.

"Oh and one last thing, I hate repeating myself." One of Lucy's biggest annoyances was repeating herself. Just the thought of people not listening to her every word grated her, throughout the years of getting her way had led to her superiority complex growing larger and larger.

Will this lead to Lucy's downfall in the future?