At the door was Fellow Stalking Horse gazing at me with a frown. At Wakaba-chan's desk is me, from another class. And Wakaba-chan is harassed daily…

"…"

"…"

Cornered.

No way out.

Trapped.

…Those words cross my mind for this situation.

The Pivoine and student council are at each other's throat to begin with, and Wakaba-chan and I are on opposite sides. And a few months ago, I was suspected of vandalizing her locker. And I'm at her desk. Then the answer is…

Oh, I'm finished….

"Kisshouin Reika, you are hereby sentenced to decapitation!"

"Wait, magistrate! I had a reason!"

"Take her away!"

"Oh, noooooo!"

Fellow Stalking Horse stands behind me, pouring water over his sword. And I sit in the yard, dressed in white, and the blade descends!

"Kisshouin." I flee into the Edo period, unable to accept the dreadful present, but Fellow Stalking Horse drags me back. "One more time. What are you doing here?" He quietly shuts the door, and approaches one step at a time. "So early in the morning, before anybody else gets in." The silver wolf is just twenty steps away from tearing out the throat of the little tanuki… "…in a classroom not your own." Ten more steps. "What were you doing?"

The end of the road! It's over. I'm done.

"Kisshouin…?"

Even if it's false, if I'm accused of this, I probably won't get into trouble as a Pivoine member. No, I wouldn't. But until I graduate, I'll be seen in school as an underhanded pest who secretly harassed. Could I handle that? Kaburagi and Enjou wouldn't talk to me, and look at me coldly. Yukino-kun, Mao-chan, Yuuri-kun, and the kids in the Petit would no longer smile to me. The maidens, Iinchou and Iwamuro-kun, wouldn't be my disciple any longer. Mochida-san who defended my with her life would despair. And Serika-chan and Kikuno-chan…?

What do I do? What do I do?

I grow cold imagining a dark future.

"Hey, Kisshouin, are you listening?"

"…!" I flinch from fear at the touch of the executioner.

"Oh, sorry." He let go, surprised at my reaction. "Uhhh…." He brushed his hair back. "Anyway, could you look up?" he sighed.

I raise my head fearfully and see his eyes.

"Could you explain?"

Explain…

Why I, from another class was in Wakaba-chan's classroom. That the Pivoine member, Kisshouin Reika was cleaning her desk in secret. Nobody would believe that, right?

Fellow Stalking Horse tapped on her desk. "Did you do this?"

"By this, you mean…?"

The graffiti…?

"Cleaning Takamichi's desk." I gasped raising my head. "Someone seems to have been cleaning her desk and locker, lately." He knew!

"How?"

"How? You can see it. Takamichi herself said that her desk looks shinier by the day. Even now, her desk is clearly more reflective than every other."

… As you say. After waxing, Wakaba-chan's desk is incomparably shinier than any around her. The ordered cleaning supplies worked as well as advertised.

"It was strange why only her desk and locker were cleaned. Takamichi said that she was glad that it was clean, but that her handouts kept slipping off because of it, so maybe it was some new form of harassment…"

Huh?!

"Of course it wasn't!"

"Of course."

"Huh?" He was testing me!?

"It would be strange to clean every day to harass. Takamichi thought little elves were doing it."

Wakaba-chan's in a fairy tale.

Fellow Stalking Horse stroked his finger across her desk and checked for dust. I won't tell him that he looked like some mother-in-law doing that.

"Since the school trip, harassment against Takamichi started again. Mostly mud and graffiti. But that stopped after a while, or so we thought…" He glanced at me. "Were you cleaning it every morning?"

…Is it all right to admit it considering my position?

Fellow Stalking Horse scrutinized me. "Why are you helping Takamichi?"

"That's um… So Takamichi-san can begin the day fresh…"

"Huh? What's that?"

"Uh. What is it…?" I'm not sure what I'm saying. It's hidden at school that Wakaba-chan and I are friends. So I'm doing some early morning cleaning for an external student who has no connection to me? Too suspicious. But Fellow Stalking Horse is willing to listen. "The harassment starting with her desk may lead to others to follow suit, and it may be difficult to see your own shoe locker and such be sullied."

"…I see."

"Huh!?" Even I think that sounded like a lie. "Umm, you believe me?"

"I guess so," he nodded.

"Why…?"

"Why? What do you mean?"

"Because I'm Pivoine."

"I know that." He looks at me strangely.

"As the student council president, you'll believe me, a member of the Pivoine, so readily?"

"Kisshouin. I don't know how you think of me, but I don't think of everybody of the same affiliation or position as the same." Oh, so just! The very picture of the student council president!

"Thank you very much…!"

"Besides, someone else said, Kisshouin wouldn't bother with some roundabout harassment. You'd just get rid of them by raising a finger, right?"

"I can't. What's with that exaggeration in a bad way?"

"Since you're a high ranking Pivoine member."

"Will you think back to what you said a minute ago!?" The picture of the student council president has cracks!

"By the way, what are you cleaning with? You're not just wiping with water are you?"

Oh? You want to see my cleaning collection? Hmm… Well, he believed in my innocence, so I might as well show him the evidence. I pull out the best of the cleaning supplies, the tubed cleaner.

"Oh, I've seen that somewhere."

"This is the number 1 American super cleaner, capable of cleaning anything."

"Yeah, it was supposed to clean kids drawing on the floor with crayons easily. And make a dirty cloth white when soaked in water…"

"Oh, you know about it."

"Does it really clean a dirty cloth just by soaking it?"

"Yes, I tested it as soon as I received it, and it turned white like the demonstration."

"Wow!"

"Would you like one if you're interested? I received 2 for the price of 1 during the limited time offer."

"No. No thanks…"

"Is that so?" He doesn't have to hold back. "And this, and this, and this…"

"Oh, so many more." He looked impressed at all of the supplies placed on the desk, but I still have many more at home waiting to be used. "Oh, is this the magical whatever?"

"The magical cloth that doesn't require a cleaning agent. No need to wipe more than once."

"And it can be reused repeatedly after washing."

"Yes, but it gets less effective with use, so it's not as good as the commercial said."

"I guess not."

I go on to explain the wax he picked up, and he started to use it.

"Do you have the machine that steam cleans?"

"I'm thinking about purchasing it. I really want it, but since it uses water, it's limited in usefulness."

"Oh. I guess it's for outside use." Yeah. If I used it in the classroom or the locker, they'd get soaked. But I want to try it once!

But… I glanced at Fellow Stalking Horse who was testing the tubed cleaner on the plastic folder he wrote on with an oil-based marker. Our conversation matches too well.

"You're awfully familiar with the infomercials."

His hands froze for an instant. "…When I turn on the TV at night, it's always on, so I end up watching."

It stands to reason. "Late night is the golden time of infomercials."

Fellow Stalking Horse was a fellow in a different way, also. But, through silent eye contact, we decided to keep this secret between the two of us. It's a little embarrassing to be high school students watching infomercials night after night.

"Kisshouin, will you look for the culprit with me starting tomorrow?"

"Huh!?" I was putting away the supplies as it was about time other students begin to arrive when he proposed this.

"You're going to be here anyway, right?"

"Well, yes…"

"That's a good thing, but it doesn't solve the problem. We have to get to the source."

"As you say, but…"

"The work with me. We'd stand a better chance together."

Uh, I don't mind looking for the culprit, but isn't it bad for the student council president and a Pivoine member working together? Wouldn't we be seen as traitors? That's a little… But even if I turned him down, he was going to show up at the same time, so we were going to meet anyway. Having nowhere to run, I reluctantly agreed.

But if we find the vandal, only Fellow Stalking Horse will confront them. I make him promise I can quickly withdraw. If I'm spotted, I'll play dumb. He can't tell about me to anyone. Fellow Stalking Horse agreed.

"Well, see you tomorrow."

Maybe I should bring the eraser that gets rid of scratches and scrapes from the walls and floor tomorrow…