章節 20: The Bales of a Classy Pendant
The next day came, and Arata woke up to the chaos of having three women in his house. Yesterday, he decided to let Tohru spend the night in his place since it was closer. Attori and Yukari jumped into the same boat, after sending the three unnamed girls home. Since it was rather late when they got home, they decided to do all the preparations for school before Arata wakes up during the 6 AM action time.
Then again, instead of three angels, he found three rug rats trashing the house. They were trying to make pancakes, but Attori wanted to make it fun so a food fight had welcomed the king. He was not mad, seeing them in nothing more than his shirts and their underwear, but he was worried about the furnitures. He did not think these girls would be spinning around like their clothes that whirred in the washer.
Arata cleared his throat, earning their attention. The three then giggled as they were caught red-handed by the king. The man then sighed with a smile. "I hope you're up to cleaning after all of that."
"I'm on it!" Attori raised her hand with some fingers dripping with batter. She then ran to the sink to wash her hands before getting cleaning materials.
Tohru only sat down a seat in the dining, laughing out at the mess they created. She watched Arata walk to her and sat on a clean seat as well. "Sorry about this. But it's fun to play with an energetic bunch." The she-jerk mused over the king. "How was your sleep?"
"I'm all good. Was it really okay that you girls slept in the living room? Wasn't the futons uncomfortable?" Arata scratched his head, remembering how Attori insisted that they sleep somewhere else. "Wasn't it cold? It was raining all night."
"Not at all. We had a nice talk outside of your ears so it was all fun." Tohru waved her hand to dismiss his worry. "Besides, I don't want to hear you snore."
"I don't snore." Arata wished he did not.
Yukari, who was back to making the batter and cooking what she could fit in it, looked over the two who were talking by the dining table. She would greet Arata good morning, but she'd rather do it with pancakes at hand. She worked in the kitchen, only to notice someone walking towards the gates. The best friend left the kitchen to get the door, only to remember something. She pulled down on the shirt that barely reached her crotch. She flung her gaze at Arata and reached out her hand. "Arata! Give me your pants!"
Successfully extorting the pants off of the man, Yukari wore it before going to the gates to greet Cora. The exchange student was confused, but Yukari chatted with her as she welcomed her. Cora heard about the locking, and flew past Yukari to see the king.
"Arata-sempai!" Cora barged in through the main door and saw him sitting among the chairs around the dining table. She made a glad face with her hands cupped before her chest. "Thank you for being safe! It must have been scary!"
"I'm good though." The king gave her a wink and a thumbs-up. He then patted a seat next to him. "Sit down for now, Cora. We're not yet ready. It might take a few more minutes."
"It's okay. I just wanted to-" Her gaze strayed to the places Attori was cleaning, seeing the girl go around with no bottom apparel. She then looked at the girl cooking, seeing that she was in the same get-up. She realized that only Yukari had pants on, and it was not even hers. She sat down and covered her face with her hands. "How vulgar."
Breakfast proceeded as well as preparing for school. Just in time for the bus, the four girls led by the school king came to climb on the vehicle. However, Arata asked the driver to wait for a few more seconds, spotting Keiko running towards the stop. She managed to get on with them, avoiding the gazes of other three but Cora.
The classes were alive, but nothing notable happened. Same with lunch and the afternoon bunch. After school was in session, and Arata had to attend the Student Council's meeting. The topics for the day were being written by Ruby on the board, and seeing that no one else was still there, he chose to sit down and stare at the figure.
From his point of view, he could trace Ruby's side silhouette through the dark of her figure against the light coming from the windows. The curves of her body showed as she had her arms out of the way, and her back straightened by posture. The president noticed the ogling at her. She smiled at him before tossing a closed marker at his face. He only closed his eyes in pain of the object hitting him.
"You're early today." Ruby went close and knelt down to reach the marker she just threw at him. She then leaned against his thigh, laying her chest on it. "I heard you were locked up with that rowdy woman yesterday."
"Wow, news travel fast." Arata stroked at the president's head. He noticed she was groping the floor for the marker, explaining her position. He reached down to collect it for her instead. "Yeah, but we managed to get out the same night." He used the marker to tap against her chest, watching it make impressions against the soft area.
Ruby snatched the marker and got up, chuckling darkly. She dusted her knees and skirt before walking to place the marker back to where it should be. Shortly, the other members arrived, making Arata whistle as a sign of admiration for Ruby's calculations. She knew they would be coming so she decided to cut the flirting.
The meeting continued and despite the wounded hand, Arata tried to participate as much as he could, knowing that it would heal soon. Pre-event tasks had been distributed, and Arata was to go canvassing for the materials in the city. They packed up an hour before the meetings normally end, so they could go ahead and start preparing. Ruby walked with Arata to the lockers, running into no one as club hours were still ongoing.
They took the bus to the commerce district and went around to check the price range of the building materials to be used for the banners and other props the Student Council should take care of for the cultural fest.
It was already the 6 PM action time, and so the somewhat-couple took their dinner in a family restaurant. They split the bill even though Arata would insist paying for the meal. As they waited for the food, the king watched the passing people through the glass wall next to them.
"Is something wrong?" Ruby hummed as she was on her phone, giving glances to Arata. "Are you missing anyone?"
"Well, I didn't get to have dates with you anymore, Ruby." Arata turned to her. "I was wondering if you're alright with hanging out with me and, somehow, some of the girls, too."
Taking the date-ables out on dates had always been the biggest source of Affection for any date-able. However, these was exclusive to routed playthroughs. Dates done in non-routed playthroughs only gave Affection points if scenes were triggered, and if gifts were presented. It used to be hard to gather Affection in a non-routed playthroughs, and that was why they introduced the Encounter Mode, which was also affected by a rate parameter. Then again, for better understanding of the date-ables, one must play their routes. Some affection scenes in non-routed playthrough might not go well if the player kept on answering the date-able in a wrong way.
"Hm, very tempting offer." The girl tilted her head to the side. "But it depends on where we are headed, and what you want to do there." She then giggled lightly. "Yes, Arata," -she could not help but to blush as she pronounced his name- "you can ask me out."
The food came, and they dined in silence, as how Ruby would like it. While eating, it was Arata's turn to watch how elegant and graceful Ruby was. She would not make eating noises, and kept her immaculate beauty, dabbing tissue against her mouth as soon as she was free to take any dripping off of her lips. Her gaze flew to Arata's direction, only to smile at him.
"Excuse me, sir, madame, there's a gentleman who wished to sit with you." A waitress came to them, She then gestured to a gentleman by the door.
Ruby's eyes widened at the sight. She glared at the man, but she did not want to cause any further commotion. The woman smiled at the waitress. "Ah, please, sure, we've been expecting him after all." She almost scoffed after the waitress left to prepare plates and utensils. She then eyed at Arata, with a mixed tone of sadness and annoyance. "No matter he says, do not answer. My good father saw us together."
Arata only nodded, surprised at how he managed to unlock two special scenes in the week. Special scenes were scenes imported from the routed playthrough. It was a way for players to get an insight what the routes would be like, and it was quite an effective way to convince players to play this certain date-able's route after the current one. It was the non-routed playthrough exclusive, before the new ones that had been added after the major patch.
The man sat with them after the preparations the Ruby welcomed with a smile. He looked at Arata and studied him, earning a polite smile and nod from the man. He would introduce himself , but Ruby told him not to bother. He then spoke as he was handed the menu. "The last I saw you, you did not appear to be dating anyone."
"Father, please. He's not my boyfriend." Ruby hummed with a huff. She only smiled to the waitress as her father gave her his order. She recalled the smile when she was gone.
For some reasons, it was Arata's cue to present himself even though Ruby said not to. "I'm flattered, Tohsaki-san. My name is Hamasaki Arata. I'm a member of the Student Council. We came here for activities related to the upcoming cultural fest. Are you going to see what her class would be doing?" He earned the attention of the two, more importantly that shocked face of the president.
"Ah, a cultural fest. When is it?" The man replied, paying more attention to examining the man before him.
"November third."
"What a shame. I have an appointment on that day." The man chuckled with a shake of his head. He then turned to Ruby who was rather bothered by the interaction. "Come, Ruby, do not starve yourself." He gave his attention back to Arata. "Hamasaki-kun, do you see my daughter in school often? How is she doing?"
"..." Arata frowned at the question, staring the father who seemed to be good at keeping his smiling poker face. However, he just grinned at the father. "I don't see her often, Tohsaki-san. We're in different years." He hummed as his eyes slid to the side to think, but soon brought his gaze back to the father. "But I always see how hard she works as the president of the Student Council. The school had become better compared to last year where she was not yet president. She's hardworking and tough, but she is also kind and considerate. She's a perfect leader."
"You flatter my daughter too much." Tohsaki laughed out. He only stopped when the food came. However, he continued to chuckle as he started eating. "She's a flawed creature. She makes a lot of mistakes, ones that she cannot even own up herself. Calling her perfect makes my stomach upset."
Ruby gasped in surprise. Her grip on her chopsticks tightened, but she felt Arata's bandaged hand tap against her hand near the water glass. She turned to him, and received a reassuring smile.
"You think so, Tohsaki-san?" The king chuckled, keeping his struggle to eat with his non-dominant hand a secret. "Then that would be nice, isn't it? Giving her the opportunity to learn more through life experiences. I'm not old enough to say this," -he took a deep breath- "but I think Ruby's still young and would grow into a woman you could be proud of. There's no book anyone can study to be successful in the future, so it's good that she makes mistakes, right? So she could learn and be better."
"Did your parents tell you the same thing?" Tohsaki hummed with intrigue, rather than a frown as deep as what Ruby was wearing towards her father.
"My father did." Arata meant his real father, the one he lost when he was in middle school. "He always said you can only be right when you know what is wrong. Depriving Ruby of her accomplishments just because she's learning feels... irresponsible of you." He almost murmured the last line. The king fixed his strong gaze at the father. "You're the one raising her after all."
"Aren't you a brave to say that to me?" Tohsaki leaned against his seat. "Do you think I'll still favor you after what you said?"
"With all due respect, it doesn't matter, Tohsaki-san. It's Ruby choice after all." Arata kept on chuckling as if they were talking about light matter. Deep inside, he was crying so much, scared that he could have chosen the wrong invisible choice dialogues, if there were some.
Instead of getting insulted, the man just laughed out, causing Ruby to frown at him. Tohsaki mellowed down to a chuckle before nodding at Arata. "I like this guy. Come by our house sometimes, even though Ruby seldom wanted to see me." He then reached out and patted the king's shoulder. "You're a good chain to my pearl daughter. She'll need you a lot in the future."
"Thanks for the compliment, Tohsaki-san."
[You have unlocked a special scene from Ruby's Route! This scene can now be accessed through Albums! Congratulations!]
After a few minutes, the father left as he finished his meal. Arata and Ruby strayed in the mall for at least another hour. The king had been depleted of energy for facing such a scary father, but the school queen was ecstatic about the outcome. She then asked if they could sit on the viewing deck of the mall and admire the sunset. For a while, they stayed next to each other, with the woman of high status rubbing her face against the arm of her worshiped king.
創作者的想法 
droopyghost
droopyghost Hi! Thank you so much for your support! The update for Sunday might get delayed because I would have to leave the house for an appointment.
Bales are the beads in the chain that holds the pendant around one's neck.