Ephemeral Ability Reflects the Heart

Upon waking up, he found that the girls were not in bed.

Then, after stretching and blowing away his drowsiness, Chihiro remained in the room for a while, in a daze.

After sorting out his feelings and thoughts, he left the room.

「Good morning, Izumi-kun」

「Good morning, Maria」

Maria is in the kitchen. He exchanged greetings with her, who was cooking in her underwear and apron as usual, and moved to the living room.

As he arrived in the living room, he saw Riko sitting in her seat, looking somewhat absent-minded. It seemed that she had already finished making her lunch, and two thin cloth packages were on the table.

↓ Advertisement ↓

Chihiro approached her, but she turned her head once and immediately turned red and turned her face away.

She looked different from yesterday.

Thinking that she might be embarrassed after a night of sleep, he called out to her.

「Good morning, Nishizaki-san」

「Eh」

And then *snap*.

The girl’s body trembled.

Riko turns to face Chihiro, and tears well up in her eyes.

A small sob began to leak from her open mouth. Chihiro, who saw her like that, rushed to her and gently supported her shoulder.

「Wait... What’s wrong?」

「B-Because...」

She looked up at him with a faintly reproachful tone in her eyes.

It seems she’s sulking because of some reason.

「...You just called me "Nishizaki-san"」

「...Oh」

So that’s why she was crying.

She must have thought Chihiro was angry because of what happened last night. She might have thought that he would give up on her, that he would release the photos he had taken...

It made him feel a little bad.

「No, it’s not. That’s not what I meant when I called you that」

「Then what do you mean?」

「Well. To train you, or something」

「?」

Riko tilted her head.

No wonder she couldn’t understand what he meant.

「...When I saw Nishizaki-san yesterday, I thought about it again. It’s important to call someone by their name」

At that time, Riko seemed to have taken calling Chihiro "Master" very seriously. Immediately after she called that, she was so shocked that she cried, and when she calmed down, she became obedient.

Seeing that, he realized again that the name they call each other expresses their relationship.

Of course, the reason why Chihiro had called her "Riko" until now was to clarify the relationship between Master and Slave.

But Riko’s hesitation to call him Master at that time must have been caused by Chihiro’s attitude. He allowed her to behave the same as before and tried to treat her naturally. As a result, he hurt her at a crucial moment.

But now, he wanted to be more like Riko and Maria’s "Master".

He wants to build a relationship in which Riko can feel safe and dependent on him.

↓ Advertisement ↓

「From now on, I will call Riko "Nishizaki-san" in general. However, when I hold you or command you, I will call you "Riko" as before. ...regardless of whether it’s in this house or at school」

「...Oh, that’s...」

Riko looked down in embarrassment, as if she understood the meaning of the word.

「Yes. I don’t know if it’s okay to call you by different names, but I’ll use different names from now on. I will treat you as a slave when I call you "Riko"」

In other words, a switch in calling.

When Chihiro calls her "Nishizaki-san", he means she is a classmate or just a roommate. However, when he calls her "Riko", he will dominate Riko without mercy. This is an indication that Chihiro is prepared to treat Riko as such.

After all, until now, he had kept his attitude consistent for the sake of publicity at school and Riko’s mental stability.

But last night, Riko showed her willingness to follow Chihiro. Then, it would be disrespectful to Riko if Chihiro did not respond accordingly.

「Good, Riko」

Riko’s eyes moistened as she was ordered to do so.

「...Yes, Master」

The words spun thinly and the emotions conveyed in her gaze both indicated subservience.

At any rate, he ordered Riko to behave as she always had at the school. Riko readily agreed, but surprisingly, Maria showed more dissatisfaction.

「Izumi-kun, is there something you can do to train me?」

Even though she said that, it was difficult to apply the same response to Maria.

「Do you want me to call Maria "Fukami-san" in general?」

「No, I don’t. I don’t like it when people call me by other names now. But you could call me [hey] or [sow].」

「...no, I’m not into that」

As expected, it’s uncomfortable.

For Chihiro, calling a girl by her first name is a very important thing, even if putting aside her feelings. In a way, it makes him feel that he owns the girl much more than if he treats her like an object... but well, it turns him on somehow.

When he told Maria that, she agreed.

「If it’s Izumi-kun’s hobby, I don’t have a choice」

She seemed to be saying that she would have rejected it for moral reasons.

However, she still didn’t seem to be satisfied, so he ordered her to give him oral service during the meal. Sure enough, Maria happily complied, squeezing out of Chihiro and sighing in ecstasy.

「... I guess I have to be like this, too, huh...」

It’s hard to say whether it’s true or not, but it’s a subtle feeling.