5. Old Eight, Ruined by Their Games

What kind of person is Kiyomizu Matsudaira?

As his ex-girlfriend, Akatsuki Yanami had her own exclusive insights.

This was the ancient Japanese god who presided over the Wall of the Heart!

His personality was straightforward, never indulging in ambiguity.

Not only was he socially inept, but he was also adept at making himself invisible, blending into the air!

Despite having high emotional intelligence, he deliberately chose to behave like a blockhead; despite knowing the right answer, he would pick the wrong one; and though he harbored thoughts of love, he would treat every girl who confessed to him with the same detached indifference—a super contradictory oddball…

Akatsuki Yanami knew him all too well. So when he asked, “How do I look right now?” her first thought was, “We’re basically an old married couple without even the spark of desire left, so what’s there to look at?”

But in the very next moment, she was stunned.

At first glance, Aki was still just Aki.

That handsome, expressionless face—she was long used to it.

But on closer inspection, something felt off.

“Wait!” Akatsuki Yanami’s eyes went wide with shock. “Why do I feel like you’ve gotten a bit more handsome?”

“Mm.” Kiyomizu Matsudaira nodded.

Charisma +1—from 8 to 9. The change was so obvious that even those closest to him noticed he’d grown more attractive.

“And… you don’t seem cold anymore. You’ve become so approachable.” Akatsuki Yanami murmured, disbelief shining in her eyes. “It feels like… even if you said you’d take me to Myanmar and feed me well, I’d trust you without question.”

“Anything else?” Kiyomizu Matsudaira asked.

“Uh, I don’t think so?” She shook her head uncertainly.

“I see…” Kiyomizu Matsudaira mused.

Simply by wearing it, without doing anything, the basic effect of the [Leader] tag was already powerful enough.

Next, he needed to test the Gratitude Mode.

“How about now?” he asked, activating the [Leader] tag’s advanced effect.

In an instant, it was as if a bright light flashed.

Akatsuki Yanami squinted, as if staring at the dazzling sun.

Before she could comprehend what was happening, her nose tingled, her eyes grew hot, and a wave of warmth surged in her heart.

All the gratitude that had built up over more than a decade of being cared for erupted at once.

Then Kiyomizu Matsudaira saw the girl raise her hands, tears streaming down her face as she cried, “Aki, you’ve been so good to me. I can never repay the kindness you’ve shown me since we were young…”

Yanami looked devout and fervent, reminiscent of the loyal widow after Emperor Gaozong’s death, utterly bereft.

The effect of gratitude was almost overwhelming.

Kiyomizu Matsudaira guessed that perhaps because Yanami was already deeply grateful to him, the system had amplified that feeling.

If so, he’d need to try it on someone with whom he shared a shallower connection.

“Aki, let me repay a part of your kindness now…” Akatsuki Yanami, wiping her tears, flung herself at him.

“Huh?” Kiyomizu Matsudaira was caught off guard.

Before he could react, Yanami dove into his arms, her arms tightening around his neck.

“Wait, what are you doing?” he asked, puzzled.

“Ugh, I have nothing else to offer you—just this body, still untouched by anyone else.” Akatsuki Yanami sobbed like a kitten.

“Are you serious?”

“As the only girl you’ve ever liked, isn’t it fitting I help you end your celibacy?”

“I won’t argue with the first half, but shouldn’t you reconsider the second?”

“No need—it’s fine right here.” She sniffled hard and started unbuttoning her clothes.

“Hold on a second!”

“Not waiting~!”

Her voice trailed off playfully, and her hands moved quickly. In a blink, she’d undone the ribbon at her collar and the buttons on her shirt.

Delicate, snowy collarbones, a well-developed D-cup wrapped in a white bra—suddenly exposed before Kiyomizu Matsudaira’s eyes.

The sight of those pale, round curves made him swallow unconsciously.

He’d never actually seen Yanami’s body before.

Now, watching her undress so close, Kiyomizu Matsudaira suddenly realized—she really was a stunner.

No wonder the system had given her the [Enchantress] tag.

“Ugh, Aki, go ahead and eat this first.” Yanami was still sniffling as she pushed her chest forward. “You’ve fed me so much over the years, I can’t repay you—so I’ll let you have some too…”

Eat?

You want me to eat… there?

“All right, get a grip!” Kiyomizu Matsudaira, afraid he’d lose control, hurriedly switched the tag to [Loyalty] mode.

In an instant, the weepy Yanami straightened up, her expression turning solemn as she looked at him. “From now on, I am your dog!”

Kiyomizu Matsudaira: “…”

Sitting on his lap, shirt gaping open, the beautiful girl saluted him.

“The master’s orders are the dog’s mission!”

“Loyalty!”

Her eyes gleamed with determination, as if pledging herself to a higher cause.

If Kiyomizu Matsudaira were even a little less principled, she’d probably help him count the money if he sold her off right now.

“Yanami, come to your senses!” he called, removing the tag.

“Ah? Mmm…”

Yanami trembled.

Sitting on his lap, staring at his face, her expression was dazed, as if she hadn’t quite processed what had happened.

She looked a bit like someone who’d been messed with too much.

“Akatsuki, Kiyomizu, I’m back!”

“Kiyomizu? Is Akatsuki’s ex-boyfriend here?”

With Tsukimi Rifu’s bright, cheerful voice and another girl’s cool question, the clubroom door was flung open.

…

The two at the door stared, dumbfounded by the scene within.

The two inside were equally stunned.

Eight eyes met.

The atmosphere had never been so awkward.

Moments later, the new arrival—a black-haired girl with straight locks—sighed, massaging her temple in exasperation. “Akatsuki, is this the ex-boyfriend who cried under your building all night begging you to get back together, and you still refused? Then please explain why you’re now shamelessly sitting on his lap, breasts exposed?”

“Ahhhhhh!!”

Akatsuki Yanami’s face turned beet red.

She leapt off Kiyomizu Matsudaira’s lap, hastily buttoned up her shirt, and dashed out of the clubroom in utter embarrassment.

From this moment on, she was dead.

It’s said that a person dies three times in life: when their body ceases to function, when they’re buried, and when the world forgets them.

But right now, Yanami experienced a fourth kind of death—

—social death.

Watching her flee in panic, Kiyomizu Matsudaira almost felt sorry for her.

But then he remembered how she’d spread the story about him crying all night to beg for reconciliation, and his sympathy vanished.

In fact, he thought she deserved it.

When he saw her in class later, he’d have to come up with a savage greeting to tease her.

“Yanami, your chest is really big.”

“If you’re my buddy, let me have some fun!”

That felt a bit too much—maybe not.

While Kiyomizu Matsudaira pondered, the other two girls at the door still looked at him as if he were an alien.

It was getting awkward.

This was no place to linger, so he got up to leave.

“Your club application has been approved. Activities are on Wednesdays and Fridays. The rest is up to you,” Tsukimi Rifu reminded him. As he walked away, a strange light flashed in her eyes behind her glasses.

“Sigh, Rinko, do you think he’s a top or a bottom?”

…

Rinko—the black-haired beauty—moved away from the fujoshi with a look of pure disdain.