Chapter 58 Tsubaki’s Dilemma part 2

Tsubaki is bowing towards Sakura, “I’m very sorry for my behavior just now. Please forgive for my rudeness.”

“It’s fine. We understand your concerns.” Sakura held Tsubaki up.

“Thank you, but I’ll tell Kaichou what I did just now to receive my due punishment.” Tsubaki looked up and said sincerely.

‘Strict… and stubborn.’ They all thought.

“May you please tell me what happened yesterday?” Tsubaki pleaded to Sakura while getting up.

“Sure, but we’re having breakfast now, care to join us?”

“Thank you for your offer, but I already had one before coming here.”

“Then I’ll prepare some tea for you, please grab a seat.” Sakura went back to kitchen without waiting for her reply.

“Thank you.” Tsubaki went to the living room and took a sit on the couch. She then noticed Sona’s bag with files in it. Tsubaki didn’t notice it earlier as she was too focused on looking for anything magical in nature, ‘What a blunder, I shouldn’t disregard normal things just because they are normal. Maybe I could have reacted better if I noticed it. Or maybe worse.’

Tsubaki already calmed herself down sufficiently before Sakura came out with tea on her hand. She expressed her gratitude again and started sipping on the tea to calm herself further and arrange what she knew on her head and concluded that Sona couldn’t sleep this long without outside help or intervention, ‘I should confirm this later. I hope it doesn’t have any side effects.’ But based on her peaceful face, even if it had any side effect, it shouldn’t be big that a healing magic couldn’t fix.

Sakura narrated what happened last night to Tsubaki, of course, without saying anything about Ophis. All of them already received a warning from Kisuke that just mentioning her existence would bring them loads of trouble for them. Just imagine how would others react if they knew that the strongest being in the world is visiting them for some cookies. They’ll become the focus of attention of both good and bad fellows which is fatal for them who knew very little.

“The President lost her chess match again? And she agreed to the pajama party that Urahara-san proposed?” Tsubaki asked in disbelief.

“Sona-Kaichou lose so bad at their first match that she wasn’t able to accept it, but Kisuke-senpai told her that he won’t play with her if she doesn’t join the party.” Koneko supplemented Sakura’s words.

“…Seriously?” What Tsubaki is hearing right now seems like a fantasy to her, ‘She lost so bad that the very strict President chose to follow his demands? How bad exactly is it?’ Tsubaki thought for a moment and asked, “How many matches did they play?”, ‘The President should have win at least once if they played 3-4 matches, right?’

“We don’t exactly know for sure as they’ve been at it until early morning. If we’re to calculate with the time they spent, probably around 8-11 games. I woke up a bit when Kisuke-kun is trying to persuade her to stop.” Aika answered her while mulling over things.

“… How was their scores?” Tsubaki’s mouth is twitching while she imagine her master stubbornly refuse to accept defeat.

“If I remember it right, Kisuke-kun totally destroyed Kaichou’s confidence.” Aika said while tilting her head to the right trying to rack her noggin.

“She didn’t win even once?”

“Not even once.” Aika assured her with a smile.

“…” Tsubaki stayed silent and drank her tea to rearrange her thoughts and process the things she heard today. It is that surprising for her master to lose at the game of chess so badly that she couldn’t admit defeat as she is known in the Underworld as a genius chess player that had lost to no one. Even the condition she set for her marriage is her defeat in chess. That testaments her confidence as a player. Yet an unknown human suddenly appeared and played with her like a child.

Tsubaki sighed as she thought of how her master would deal with her supposed fiance, but she brushed it aside for now and ask another question that is bugging her, “How is the President sleeping until now?”

“What do you mean how?” Sakura asked in confusion as she refills the tea on Tsubaki’s cup.

“Ah, I’m sorry for not clarifying it, but the President always wakes up 6:00 in the morning regardless of how her day went by or how tired she was the previous day. I just can’t believe that, she, who is thinking and planning a lot of things for her dreams, could sleep so peacefully right now.” Tsubaki’s smile became warm as she reminisce how hard working is her master is just for the sake of the children of the Lower-Class in the Underworld to have a chance to achieve their own dreams. If not for her physique as a Devil, she would have collapsed long ago.

Sakura, Koneko and Aika looked at each other. They can see they can see how important Sona is to Tsubaki which trancends the normal relationship of a master and servant just from that smile alone.

“Kisuke-senpai probably used a certain spell on her.” Koneko answered her question.

“A certain spell?”

“Yes, although I don’t know its name, I already experienced it. It was when my mind is in a mess due to a certain news I received. When he use that spell a strangely soothing energy flows throughout your body. It’s not the type of spell that forcefully removes your emotions to calm you down, it’s warm… a kind warmth and reassurance that everything would be okay.” Koneko narrated her experience. Truthfully, she wanted to experience it again, she just can’t ask Kisuke as there is real need right now for that spell.

“How do you feel afterwards? Please tell me in detail.” Tsubaki fixed her glasses while intently listening to Koneko. If Kisuke really used this spell on her master, then she would need every information on it as it may have disastrous effect if not addressed. She haven’t heard Kisuke being particularly good at magic so being cautious for Sona’s safety is the right thing to do.

“In detail? I can’t tell you that much as I didn’t notice any particular change in me even after using my senjutsu to scan my whole body. All I felt after waking up is feeling refreshed and my body in tiptop condition.

” Thank you for telling me.” Tsubaki thought that she has to confirm it from Sona just to make sure as she is still sceptical about a magic which affects the mind not having any side effect, especially for those with high magic resistance.

“Then one last thing, Why can Kiryuu-san listen to this conversation? And she seems to know a few things. As far as I know, Kiryuu-san is just a normal human that came from a normal lineage.” Tsubaki eyed Aika as she said this which made Aika take a step back due to the pressure she is emitting.

“Due to my son’s recklessness, he accidentally showed her his magic.”

“Is that so? Then a simple memory erasure magic should suffice.”

“My son has special ability that can feel the aura of others very precisely. He already knew about the existence of the Sacred Gear inside her so she let her chose whether to stay or forget everything.”

“Hmmm? Did you get an invitation from someone for you to chose that?”

“I got an invitation from the President, but I didn’t accept it. I trust Kisuke-kun more than the President so he has taken me under his wings.” Aika looked at her straight by and answered her without cowering.

“… Is Urahara-san part of an organization?”

“I think, no. He did mention that he’s by himself.”

“Then you and him would be considered as a stray. Since you’re acquainted with the President and Toujou-san here, the Devils of this town won’t do anything to you as long as you don’t do anything that will jeopardize the safety of normal humans and Devils alike. As for any other organization, it’s better if you don’t make contact in any of them. You’re in for a hardship, but I wish you good luck as a former human and a fellow sacred.” Tsubaki stopped speaking and sip her tea waiting for her master to wake up.

“Thank you.”