When Shiki Natsu saw Sakayanagi Arisu make that expression, he found himself genuinely surprised. Those violet eyes of hers — always brimming with mockery and unshakeable self-assurance — were now, against all precedent, flickering with sothing that looked almost like shyness.
And there it was on that delicately pale face of hers: a faint, unmistakable awkwardness born entirely of embarrassnt.
In the entire sester he had spent around Sakayanagi Arisu, Natsu could count on one hand the number of tis he had ever seen this silver-haired beauty wear such an expression. Which was to say — essentially never.
He arched an eyebrow slightly. His pale golden eyes lingered on her face for a mont, and a quiet, private amusent stirred sowhere inside him.
So even this girl — this perpetually lofty, perpetually superior silver-haired beauty — was capable of looking just a little bit unsettled. How interesting. And more than that… this particular question, for Sakayanagi Arisu, carried a weight that was at least sowhat genuine.
Because it wasn't as though she had never asked him sothing similar before. The difference was that in the past, whenever she had, her expression had always been tinged with playful malice — the look of soone who wanted to watch a scene unfold, who was quite deliberately trying to rattle Shiki Natsu, hoping to catch so flicker of flustered emotion on his face.
Of course, every single ti, his response had left Sakayanagi Arisu thoroughly disappointed. It had even begun to make her question her own appeal.
It was as if Shiki Natsu didn't see her as a mber of the opposite sex at all — but rather as a mischievous little pest. A smug brat. That treatnt did not sit well with a proud young woman of Sakayanagi Arisu's calibre.
She had even found herself wondering, in quieter monts: did she truly possess zero feminine charm in this man's eyes? Not even a single fraction of it?
Did all her intelligence, all her beauty, all that singular aura of soone born to stand above others — did all of it amount to nothing more than childish tricks in front of him?
Faced with her question — one that carried just a hint of genuine hope behind it — Shiki Natsu made no move to answer directly.
Instead, he leaned back leisurely against the wooden chairback he had built with his own hands, drawing out a soft creak from the joints.
He folded his hands in his lap, utterly at ease, and let those pale golden eyes settle back on Sakayanagi Arisu.
"Sakayanagi-san."
He spoke slowly.
"Before I answer your question, I'd like to ask you one of my own first. Do you, yourself, think you have any charm?"
He turned the question back on her neatly, and kicked the ball straight to her feet.
"Rather than rushing to confirm how others see you, perhaps it would be more worthwhile to first establish where you stand in your own mind. If even you don't believe you have any appeal, then what does anyone else's opinion matter?"
Natsu paused, and the corner of his mouth curved into a faintly amused arc. His tone carried the easy certainty of soone stating the obvious.
"Take , for instance. I have absolute confidence in my own personal charm. Whatever the world might say about — even if every last person on earth declared that my personality was utterly reprehensible — I would still believe, without a shadow of a doubt, that I have sothing worth calling charisma. And honestly, Sakayanagi-san — even in your heart, I suspect, as much as you'd never admit it out loud, I'm soone you find quite difficult to dismiss. Am I wrong?"
Upon hearing this remarkably self-absorbed declaration, Sakayanagi Arisu blinked — and then, sowhere in the privacy of her own mind, she let out a long, involuntary sigh of exasperation.
This person, Shiki Natsu… was truly a shaless, insufferably self-centred individual.
That breezy, self-appointed certainty that he was the centre of the universe — coming from anyone else, Sakayanagi Arisu would have found it nothing short of idiotic.
But when those sa words ca from Shiki Natsu's mouth, she was startled to find that she couldn't bring herself to deny them from the bottom of her heart.
Because there, in the deepest corner of herself — the corner she kept carefully hidden — this man with his terrible personality, his blunt thods, and his inexplicable habit of producing miracles… did radiate sothing. Sothing she couldn't ignore. Sothing she was, in spite of herself, ever so slightly drawn into.
In all honesty, spending ti with Shiki Natsu was not sothing Sakayanagi Arisu would have described as pleasant. It was, more often than not, an enormous nuisance. He had an almost effortless talent for ruining her good mood.
And yet… she could not stop herself from thinking highly of him. Could not stop herself from feeling sothing warr than re respect toward him.
Within a remarkably short ti after enrollnt, this man had claid her entire attention. He was, annoyingly, quite sothing.
Faced with his counter-question, Sakayanagi Arisu began to think about it in earnest — about her own worth, as she perceived it from within herself.
As Sakayanagi Narumori's daughter, she had received an elite education from the ti she could form mories. She possessed a mind that surpassed others. She possessed a face she could take pride in. The physical limitation that prevented her from running was a fact of life, but it was hardly a flaw that diminished her — and it certainly wasn't sothing that erased her appeal. If anything, it was simply a part of her. And after all — if Shiki Natsu, with a personality as terrible as his, could claim with a straight face that he had personal charisma, then how on earth could she possibly not?
Besides, hadn't she herself, in earlier conversation with Shiki Natsu, referred to herself as an adorable beauty? And now here she was contemplating whether she had any appeal at all? That would be a rather embarrassing contradiction.
And so, Sakayanagi Arisu smiled faintly. The light curve at the corner of her lips remained exactly as it always was, and she straightened her spine, eting Shiki Natsu's gaze with those violet eyes of hers, her composure returning to its usual degree of ease.
"Since Shiki-san has asked so directly, I'll give Shiki-san an equally direct answer. I, too, am a person of considerable personal appeal."
"And since Shiki-san seems unwilling to answer my question head-on — I'll simply take that as a tacit acknowledgent that I hold so appeal in Shiki-san's eyes as well."
Sakayanagi Arisu delivered this conclusion outright, and rather neatly refrad his silence as a form of implicit agreent.
With that, she fell quiet — though those violet eyes of hers did not move from Shiki Natsu for even a mont, watching his every breath, waiting to see whether he would deny what she had just said.
Because she knew this man far too well.
Whenever she showed the faintest hint of coyness, or even a trace of self-satisfaction, Shiki Natsu would invariably strike without rcy — dismantling it all with so perfectly venomous remark or a wholly unexpected action, sending her tumbling back into the indignity of being thoroughly outwitted.
It was deeply unpleasant. As if Shiki Natsu had been born specifically to be her natural predator — constitutionally incapable of letting her have anything nice.
In Sakayanagi Arisu's estimation, Shiki Natsu was a genuinely terrible, utterly graceless, zero-chivalry kind of person.
And yet — to her surprise — after she finished speaking, Shiki Natsu did not counter at all.
No mocking snort. No mood-killing remark of any kind.
He simply held his sa unhurried posture, watching her with that expression of his that hovered perpetually between a smile and sothing else entirely.
The seconds passed. The air inside the little cabin seed to stop moving.
Sakayanagi Arisu had already braced herself for a verbal blow — and yet this sudden, unexpected silence was sohow more unsettling than any sharp retort could have been.
She had absolutely no idea what was going on behind those pale golden eyes right now.
Did this non-committal silence of his an he actually thought she had charm? Or did it an her claim had been so absurd that he couldn't even be bothered to argue?
Which was it — yes or no? Just give her an answer!
What was the aning of this silence?
Was he really going to give her that sa infuriating non-answer even for sothing as fundantal as a woman's basic dignity?
If so — that was truly, genuinely unacceptable.
The tiny swell of girlish temper inside Sakayanagi Arisu rose another notch. She set her jaw, pushed herself up from the wooden chair, took a few steps forward, and closed the distance between them.
Now they were close. Close enough that she could catch the faint, clean scent coming off him — fresh, with a subtle trace of the forest around them.
Those violet eyes of hers studied Shiki Natsu's profile from up close — a profile so well-ford it bordered on flawless — and she forced herself to maintain her usual expression of breezy provocation.
"Shiki-san, if you keep this silence up… I'm going to take it as a yes~"
Her voice wavered slightly, but she held the steadiness of her tone through sheer effort.
"Even if Shiki-san won't say it out loud — it seems that I do, after all, hold quite considerable feminine appeal in Shiki-san's eyes."
She was trying to use his own words against him. After all, he had just used that exact sa logic on her — telling her that he was undoubtedly charming in her heart, even if she wouldn't admit it. Surely she was entitled to turn it back on him.
Of course, as she said all this, Sakayanagi Arisu had already prepared herself, deep down, for another rciless rebuttal.
Only… this ti, she had asked in earnest. If this terrible man actually denied it — Sakayanagi Arisu had the quiet, private feeling that her small, perpetually-wound-tight heart would actually hurt.
Wouldn't that be tantamount to confirming that she held not even a sliver of feminine appeal for him?
The mont that possibility crossed her mind, a fierce, burning refusal rose up inside Sakayanagi Arisu.
Because when it ca to ti spent together, when it ca to depth of mutual understanding — Sakayanagi Arisu was confident that she had known Shiki Natsu for longer, and understood him more thoroughly, than the vast majority of the girls currently in his orbit.
Especially during those days when she had served him as a maid — that period had seen more ti between them than any other, and no one understood just how terrible his personality could be better than she did.
If there was a ranking for the person Shiki Natsu had targeted most often, Sakayanagi Arisu would claim second place without hesitation. No one else would dare claim first.
And yet — at the precise mont when she was bracing herself for sothing along the lines of "Sakayanagi-san really does have quite the imagination" or "Does Sakayanagi-san truly believe that modest figure of hers constitutes charm?" —
Shiki Natsu said nothing of the sort.
Those pale golden eyes of his still held an emotion she couldn't quite read as they rested on her — but whatever the answer behind them might be, what mattered most, what mattered above everything else, was that he had not denied it.
Sakayanagi Arisu's heart gave a sudden, hard thump.
Could it be… could it actually be that Shiki Natsu, once you peeled away that disagreeable outer shell of his, genuinely harboured so degree of feeling for her sowhere underneath?
The mont that possibility took shape in her mind, the small heart she had kept so ruthlessly suppressed beneath layers of reason gave several rapid, unsteady beats — as though it were trying to knock its way out of her chest entirely.
That giddy, bubbling feeling. That joy almost too full to contain. It made her feel as though her feet had left the ground entirely.
She had charm, after all. Whether other people thought so — Sakayanagi Arisu found she didn't particularly care. What she cared about was whether she had it in Shiki Natsu's eyes. And now it seed that she did. That was, honestly, quite wonderful.
Just as Sakayanagi Arisu was quietly swimming in this small, private happiness — she suddenly caught herself. Rembered who she was dealing with. Realised that the most efficient mont for Shiki Natsu to deal her a crushing blow was precisely when she was at her happiest, because the damage would be at its peak. And Shiki Natsu, with that terrible personality of his, was entirely capable of doing exactly that. So she quickly reined in the expression on her face.
Shiki Natsu smiled — and when he spoke, it ca laced with his trademark sharp tongue.
"Sakayanagi-san — I have to admit, your personality really is quite awful. One might even say it's terrible to the extre."
Upon hearing the first part of this, Sakayanagi Arisu's brow furrowed involuntarily. What did he an, her personality was awful? His wasn't exactly a shining example either. On what authority did he presu to critique anyone else's character?
But then she heard the rest of it, and the crease in her brow smoothed out in an instant.
"But — I also have to admit, Sakayanagi-san, that when it cos to feminine appeal… you do possess a certain… undeniable radiance that is difficult to look away from."
He finished saying it with a quiet, easy laugh.
Those words, reaching Sakayanagi Arisu's ears, were more pleasing than any eloquent phrase she had ever heard.
To receive even this much acknowledgent from a man like Shiki Natsu — even this small, carefully hedged amount — was perhaps the most quietly happy, most deeply satisfied she had felt in a very long ti.
The feeling of being recognised by her greatest rival. The feeling of receiving approval from soone toward whom she quietly, stubbornly harboured sothing more than re rivalry. It made her feel as though she were walking on clouds.
Just as Sakayanagi Arisu, heart full, was about to say sothing more —
The wooden door of the little cabin, which had been firmly shut until now, was gently pushed open from the outside.
And then a light, cheerful voice drifted in.
"Natsu, I'm back… oh?"
The person who stepped inside was none other than Sakura Airi — who had left earlier to retrieve her luggage. She was cradling a small travel bag in her arms, those blue eyes of hers sweeping across the scene inside the cabin.
In the fading amber light of the evening sun, Shiki Natsu and Sakayanagi Arisu stood facing one another inside the cabin — at a rather close distance. Or rather, it was Sakayanagi Arisu who had closed the gap unilaterally, since Shiki Natsu was still seated in his chair and could hardly be said to have moved toward anyone.
As his actual girlfriend, Sakura Airi's feminine intuition needed no prompting.
The two of them had clearly just been having quite a aningful exchange. Whatever it was, Sakayanagi Arisu's mood at this mont was visibly, unmistakably good.
Even so, Sakura Airi showed no sign of displeasure. Instead, the corner of her mouth lifted into a soft, gentle curve.
Her gaze returned to Shiki Natsu, and she spoke to him with a warm smile.
"Natsu, I'm back. Got all the luggage sorted."
Then, as though only just noticing Sakayanagi Arisu standing nearby, she affected a little expression of surprise.
"Oh, Sakayanagi-san is still here — perfect timing, then."
Sakura Airi walked over to them, her tone perfectly natural.
"Sakayanagi-san, if you don't mind… would you like to stay here with us tonight?"
At those words, not only Shiki Natsu but Sakayanagi Arisu herself blinked in mild surprise.
Those violet eyes turned toward Sakura Airi — clearly not having anticipated that she would say any such thing.
A direct invitation to join their little world of four?
Was she truly not worried about an outsider intruding on their sweet ti together?
Sakura Airi, however, paid no mind to Sakayanagi Arisu's puzzlent and simply continued with a smile.
"There's sothing I'd quite like to talk to Sakayanagi-san about, actually. And… this little cabin was built rather generously — with one more person, it wouldn't feel cramped at all."
Sakayanagi Arisu snapped back to herself — and the imp in her personality promptly seized its opportunity.
Since the official girlfriend was extending the invitation herself… she was, naturally, quite happy to accept.
After all, as long as she was present, it would beco considerably more difficult for Shiki Natsu to get up to anything intimate with his girlfriends here. And on this deserted island, with six nights and seven days stretching ahead of them, causing a little havoc with one evening's worth of cosy atmosphere — playing the role of a brilliantly blazing, maximum-wattage third wheel — was sothing she found she didn't dislike in the slightest. If anything, she was quietly, faintly looking forward to it.
Decision made, Sakayanagi Arisu deliberately turned and directed her gaze toward Shiki Natsu.
"And what does Shiki-san think?"
The smugness in her tone was practically dripping off the words.
Shiki Natsu, for his part, had no particular reaction at all. He simply smiled and agreed — as though Sakayanagi Arisu's presence made absolutely no difference to him either way — and then rose from his chair and moved to Sakura Airi's side to take the travel bag from her hands.
"If Airi's already said so, then let's do it."
Since this was a wilderness survival exercise, Sakura Airi hadn't brought much — just a few changes of clothing and so basic necessities.
Once Shiki Natsu had helped Sakura Airi put her things away properly, Sakayanagi Arisu glanced at the two of them from the side — and then took her leave with elegant composure.
"Well then, Shiki-san, Sakura-san — I'll go fetch my things. I'm rather looking forward to a pleasant little conversation with Sakura-san this evening."
With that, she let her gaze pass over both of them one final ti, and walked out of the little cabin with the unhurried grace of soone entirely unbothered. As for what the rest of Class A thought about her moving into Shiki Natsu's cabin — that was simply not sothing she concerned herself with.
____
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