Vol. 1 Chapter 2.1 – Tried Piling Up Cash on a Gyaru JK

“Well then. Let’s get this cleaned up.”

A maid’s duties are wide-ranging.

Beyond the typical housework—cleaning, laundry, meal preparations—for the maids of the Goutokuji family, entertaining guests was also considered part of the job.

Furthermore, in her case—Itou Chitose—even tasks that typically fell under the butler’s domain were included in her responsibilities.

Managing the young master’s schedule, like a secretary, was also one of her many roles.

And right now, the task she was about to begin was tidying up the young master’s room…

If left alone, it would turn into a den of chaos in less than two days.

Only she knew that despite being a genius, he wasn’t perfect. Seeing his room in such disarray even made her find it a little cute.

“Huh? If young master has awakened to that kind of thing… then maybe, just maybe, there’s that kind of book hidden somewhere…”

No way, she thought, and yet—

Just as Chitose was starting to feel the thrill of a little treasure hunt—

“Chitoseee!! Are you here, Chitoseee—!!”

The young master’s voice echoed throughout the mansion.

◇

As soon as Issei spotted the maid rushing out of his room in a panic—he shouted loudly.

“Why—!?”

“Even if you ask me『why…』without a subject or predicate, I really have no idea how to respond.”

“You were paid a stack of money and showed your panties. But I offered money and didn’t get to see them. That’s why—I’m asking why!!”

Issei’s furious yell, something he would normally never raise, echoed through the hall. The window glass vibrated with the force.

Another maid who had entered the room with Issei let out a hyaaahhh! and crouched down, clutching her head.

“I didn’t show my pan—my underwear because of the money! Besides, I returned that money right afterward, didn’t I?!”

Chitose shouted back just as loudly, refusing to back down.

In this mansion, the only one who could argue with Issei was her.

“The whole amount has been deposited… under Senpai’s name.”

The crouching maid—Nanako—said timidly.

“Why—!?”

“Hyaaahh!”

“I never go back on my word. That money’s already been paid.”

“Then that would make it seem like I showed my under—m-my underwear for money!”

“That’s exactly what I’m asking. You took the money and showed your panties. But when I paid, that didn’t happen. Why not—”

“Okay okay okay! Haaai! I have a great solution to all this!”

Nanako raised her hand.

Issei and Chitose, who had been bickering, turned their eyes toward Nanako.

“If Senpai doesn’t want it, I’ll gladly take the money! ──What a brilliant idea!”

The two averted their gaze from Nanako and stared at each other again.

“Whether or not I accepted the money aside──I seriously don’t understand what went wrong here. What exactly was the problem?”

“Well, about that…”

Finally, between the two of them who had calmed down considerably, a real conversation began to form.

Issei began recounting what had happened at school.

◇

“So like, my boyfriend was being super clingy, right? Like, ‘You’re not replying to meee~’ and stuff! What is he, a baby or something? And this was at like, two in the morning!”

“Ahaha~, no way~!”

“So I sent him a lewd selfie, and boom—he shut up in one shot!”

“Gyahaha! That’s hilarious—totally tells you what he was doing!”

It was the short break between second and third period.

The gals in our class were getting fired up over a conversation that could hardly be called classy.

Sitting on the open window ledge, Issei stared outside.

The area around his desk was currently occupied by the gal squad. You could say he couldn’t return to his seat. But Issei wasn’t the type to get upset over the behavior of commoners.

He didn’t care even if someone’s oversized butt was sitting on his desk.

If there was anything occupying Issei’s mind right now, it was only that strange feeling that had suddenly welled up earlier—

“What’s wrong, Nico?”

One of the gals called out to one of her friends. That girl had been quiet for a while, deep in thought.

“Ah, yeah… Let’s get your butt off that. That’s Issei’s desk.”

The one who said that to her friend was one of the gals—Fujino Sakiko.

She was one of the gang with dyed brown hair, but unlike the others, she didn’t sit on someone else’s desk. In fact, she was even trying to get her friend’s huge butt off Issei’s desk.

“Ahhn? Who cares about『Yo』or whatever.”

Some of the classmates referred to Issei as 『Yo』 (an archaic, haughty first-person pronoun). They seemed to find his way of referring to himself amusing and nicknamed him after it.──Issei himself was completely unaware of this.

Some people mocked him like this, but others found his aloofness to be rather charming. Certain girls even had a different sort of fondness for him.

Those girls didn’t call him 『Yo』, but rather referred to him by his name—Issei.

“What’s this~? Nicooo~? Are you maybeee interested in Yo~?”

“N-not at all! I-I mean seriously! I-I don’t think anything of him!”

“Suure? I mean, his face is kind of handsome, riiight?”

“That’s not it! He’s been looking over here this whole time! So I just thought maybe he was thinking something!”

The gals were chatting excitedly about the same kinds of topics as always.

What was different this time was that he was the one being talked about—but even so, Issei paid it no mind.

The gals always talked about love, boyfriends, and that kind of thing.

Issei had no interest in such matters.

There was only one thing that interested him—

“It’s not like that! It’s not like that! It’s not like that!”

“Nico’s so cuuute! Can I bully her more?”

Every time Fujino Sakiko raised her voice, the hem of her tight mini skirt fluttered. It was on the verge of showing—but didn’t.

What was inside that skirt… right now, he wanted to see it desperately.

Yo—wants to see her panties.

“Oi, Nico.”

“I told you it’s not like that! And wait, you’re calling me without honorifics!?”

“Oi, Fujino.”

He was told not to speak without honorifics, so he corrected himself by using her surname.

“What is it, Issei?”

So she could use no honorifics, but he couldn’t. Why was that? Well, whatever.

Issei decided to get straight to the point.

A genius does not waste time.

“Oi, Fujino, show me your panties.”

“…Huh?”

Sakiko stood there, her mouth slightly agape in shock.

Hmm. Not good.

He’d accidentally slipped into his usual commanding tone.

“My phrasing just now was inappropriate. ──Please show me your panties.”

“No, that’s basically the same thing…”

“You still don’t understand? I’ll repeat it however many times it takes. I want to visually confirm the object known as panties, or underwear, or shorts, that reside beneath your skirt. Do you understand now?”

“What even is this? Like… is this some kind of apology thing, where you’re asking me to show them?”

“An apology for what?”

Ah. She must be referring to the incident earlier, when her friend’s oversized butt was sitting on his desk.

He hadn’t cared one millimeter about that incident. He’d even struggled to remember it.

“Gyahaha! Yo—you’re way too honest! You just say it straight out like that!? Nico’s panties are high-end, y’know! If it were mine, I’d show you all you want for just one Souseki bill! Gyahaha!” one Souseki bill¹

One of the gals let out a shrill laugh.

I see. So they’re expensive.

Issei pulled out his smartphone from his pocket.

Nearby, one of the boys muttered “For real…!?” while checking his wallet, but Issei ignored him and quickly typed out a few characters on his phone.

Send.

“Wait—!? Issei! You’re not seriously… believing that rumor, right?”

“What rumor?”

“You know, the one about me… doing that thing…”

“What is『that thing』?”

“You know, that! …The en—stuff…”

“I can’t hear you.”

“Enkou! Geez! Don’t tell me even you believe it now!? That’s seriously NOT okay! If you actually fell for that crap, you must be insane!” Enkou²

“I don’t care about this Enkou thing or whatever it is. …Anyway, just show me your panties.”

Issei said it plainly.

As a genius, he never forgot anything he’d seen or heard—but this『Enkou』term was one he had never encountered, so he didn’t know what it meant. Though it had popped up plenty in his classmates’ conversations…

Right now, that didn’t matter at all.

He just wanted to see panties. ──Yo wants to see panties!

It must have been several dozen seconds since he typed on his phone.

Hearing hurried footsteps running down the hallway, Issei’s lips curled into a smile.

“Sorry to keep you waitinggg!”

With a garaaan the door slid open, and a long-haired girl burst into the classroom carrying an aluminum briefcase.

“It’s a maid! A maid’s here!!” the boys shouted excitedly.

She was, in fact, a real maid. A servant from Issei’s mansion—Mita Nanako.

However, though she was a maid, she was far from being a perfect one like her Senpai, Itou Chitose. Rather, she was a klutzy maid, a useless maid, a good-for-nothing freeloader maid—proudly holding all three shameful titles like a triple crown champion.

“Nanako. You’re late.”

“I ran all the way from the school gate, you know! Carrying this heavy thing! Praise me, please! Give me a special bonus! I’d be happy with just one percent of what’s inside this case!”

Issei ignored her pleas—and issued a command.

“Stack it up. Vertically.”

“Yes! Vertical stacking! Again, huh!”

Don don don, the sound of heavy impacts echoed.

Voices from the classroom murmured, “Whoa, aren’t those all Yuki—real bills?” but neither Issei nor Nanako paid any attention. Nanako, being a maid in his household, was used to handling this much cash. Yuki³

“You’re about… 159 cm tall, right?”

Asked by Nanako, Sakiko nodded in response, overwhelmed by the energy and momentum, dipping her head as if folding her neck.

“Done! I’ve finished stacking it to her height!”

Nanako gave a sharp salute. Despite all eyes in the class being on her, she cheerfully and energetically reported back to Issei, full of brightness and confidence.

“Well done. Good work.”

He praised meee!! Nanako’s beaming smile lit up. Issei turned his eyes away from her and looked toward Sakiko.

Then he spoke.

“With this money, show me your panties.”

“……”

Sakiko was silent.

“Holy crap! Whoa! How many Yuki—how many 10,000 yen bills is that!?”

The other gals were in an uproar instead.

“Nico, just show him already! Look at all that—it’s all real cash! Forget just showing—why not sell ’em while you’re at it!?”

“Shut it.”

Shooting a sharp retort at her friends—Sakiko turned and glared at Issei with fierce eyes.

Her brows were furrowed deeply, a harsh vertical wrinkle forming between them.

With her brown hair and flashy appearance, that intense expression gave off serious intimidation.

Even Issei, for a moment, flinched.

“W-what? I-Is it not enough? If it’s not enough—hey, Nanako.”

“So that’s what you think of me, huh, Issei. ──Got it now.”

“Hmm? You understand?”

“Yeah. …You really did believe it, didn’t you? That I’m selling myself. That stupid rumor. You believed it?”

“Indeed. I intended to buy. ──I even stacked it to your full height. So, with this, your panties—”

“LIKE I’D SHOW YOU, YOU IDIOOOOOOT!!”

Nico’s hand came slicing through the air in a single sharp motion.

◇

“──And that’s what happened.”

Issei recounted the entire incident at school to Chitose.

Chitose listened to the very end without interrupting, and then let out a long, deep sigh.

“Haaah… Are you an idiot?”

“No. Yo is a genius.”

“No… I misspoke. O-bocchama, you absolutely deserved to get slapped. If it wasn’t a punch, she was actually being kind.”

Chitose said this while looking at the clear handprint left across half of Issei’s face.

“Getting slapped is irrelevant.──The question is why? Why didn’t she show me her panties?”

“Of course she didn’t! …I apologize for raising my voice.”

Irritated, Chitose had instinctively snapped, but quickly apologized.

She understood that Issei genuinely didn’t comprehend the issue.

“But you showed your panties when money was offered. I stacked that money to her full height. And yet, I wasn’t allowed to see them.──Why?──Why not?”

“I didn’t show my panties because of the money… No, never mind… You clearly won’t understand, so forget it.”

Chitose spoke with the resignation of someone who had completely given up.

“Honestly, you’re just as much at fault.──Nanako.”

“It was Master’s direct order, after all~”

Nanako replied without a shred of remorse.

“There are commands that should be followed—and those that shouldn’t!”

“The only one allowed to object to Yo’s commands is you.──Chitose.”

“Well… I suppose that’s true, but…”

“Never mind that. What matters is the reason. You seem to understand it. Explain. Why was Yo denied the sight of panties? Why was I rejected?”

“I can’t say I’m confident I can explain it in a way that O-bocchama would understand, but…”

After a preface, Chitose began to speak with a resigned expression.

“First off… Let’s assume that people have something like a『favorability score.』”

“Hmm. Favorability… score, is it?”

“Because of this latest foolish… no, because of O-bocchama’s thoughtless attempt to repeat a past success, that score has likely plummeted to minus one billion.”

“M-minus one billion…?”

Surprise spread across Issei’s face. He had sensed things hadn’t gone well… but he hadn’t realized it was that bad…

“S-s-so what do I do… h-how can I…”

His panicked expression made him look like a boy his actual age—a normal high school student—and for a moment, Chitose found it… cute. Her heart skipped a beat.

But she quickly reminded herself of their positions.

“The girl in question… she’s your classmate, correct?”

“Indeed. Fujino Sakiko. She sits beside me.”

“Then it’s quite convenient. Try to spend as much time with her as you can.”

“We already share all our classes.”

“Outside of class as well, if possible. Like between class transfers, lunchtime, those kinds of moments.”

“Hmm. Understood.”

“She’ll likely look at you with scorn at first, but bear with it—endure the thorny seat.”

“You mean her glare. Yo doesn’t mind it.”

Ah, of course he’s that kind of person… —so thought Chitose.

“You should start by raising her favorability score. I’ll teach you various ways to do that.”

“Excellent. I’m counting on you!”

Issei smiled.

That smile should be illegal, she thought, then sighed internally: Why did I end up serving this guy…?