Sugar Daddy

“You’ve given me a lot to think about. Can you give me a few days? You don’t have to help me with the election anymore.” Mamie flashed a weary smile, tired but the most natural I had seen her in a while. She didn’t continue pushing me to have sex with her, which ironically could be a good sign. So I left her be.

Once I got back to my room, I already wanted to call her to ask whether she had made a decision yet. I held myself back, of course, mainly because no one at our age would call people anymore. A grim urge then crossed my mind—a desire to buy all of Professor Silva’s work again, all so I might get the slightest guidance, even if it would be an illusion. Anything to help me reflect on our confrontation, about whether I had said the best words or made the best choices.

But I knew that I could do nothing but wait.

I really wanted to have faith in her, but my brain just wouldn’t cooperate. When I wished to settle into sleep, my thoughts would swirl into a makeshift tornado, crashing away any chance of peace of mind. Lullabies, white noise, counting sheep, these methods barely stood a chance. So, I took the elevator down to the gardens, hoping that the trip would soothe my head enough to sink into unconsciousness.

The stone path was illuminated with the bare minimum of lampposts, and most of the light just stopped short of reaching the grass, so the lawns appeared to be patches of shadows under the cover of night.

Just when I was about to complete a lap around the campus, I spotted a silhouette hunched over on a bench. A quick glance at my phone showed that it was well past midnight. Who would be here so late into the night?

On the off-chance that it was a depressed Mamie, I would… well, I would pretend to be sleepwalking and leave, because I could make things worse in my sleep-deprived state.

A few wary steps forward got me right before the figure. Upon closer inspection, the golden hair and smooth skin became clear to see, even in this dim environment. The woman, who turned out to be Hanawa-senpai, seemed to have noticed my presence and stared up at me. The moment our gazes overlapped…

She flipped her head to the side and started whistling with unsteady notes. It’s a bit late to pretend not to see me… The act didn’t seem to be out of spite or disgust. Maybe. The dark circles around her eyes and the slack state of her arms told me plenty.

“Good evening, Hanawa-senpai. Trouble sleeping?” I plopped down on the unoccupied end of the seat.

“Kohai, what’s up?” She still managed a weak wave, but after that, her whole torso drooped, as if her body was about to fall apart. Just when I wanted to advise her to seek medical help, something peculiar happened. Slapping her own cheeks, she suddenly straightened her posture. Her eyes sharpened, and a confident smile crawled its way across her face. I wouldn’t be surprised if a demon had just possessed her to give her this second wind.

“I’m here to admire the night view.” Fatigue still clung to her voice, but she seemed more alert than I thought she could be.

“You don’t have to put on the hooker face in front of me. Mamie asked me not to help her anymore.” I gazed up at the crescent moon, hoping that my distant focus could make things less awkward. Why did I sit down anyway? I could have just left without a word. Or pretend to sleepwalk. It wasn’t like I owed this succubus anything.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Sure you don’t.”

Hanawa-senpai let silence be her reply. At the edge of my vision, her body folded as she huddled into herself, and her manicured fingers rubbed against her cheeks.

“Do you hate me?” she practically squeaked out the question, bringing to mind a cute rat that waited for a chance to bite.

“Nope,” an automatic answer escaped my lips. Years of social instincts had programmed me to say whatever would please the other person the most. However, a conflict-free life would no longer make me happy, not in the slightest. I wanted something more.

“I think you are a wolf in shit’s clothing… Sorry, sheep’s clothing.”

She chuckled, actually chuckled, instead of a glare or a snide comeback. “That’s a roundabout way of saying ‘yes’.”

“No, I don’t hate you. Maybe I did so when I first found out, but now I just want to stay as far away from your venomous fangs as possible.”

“Yet you are here.”

“Because we don’t always get what we want. Rather, there might be something else that we want more, and that’s when we have to make sacrifices.” I puffed out my chest, glad that I had just said something that sounded cool.

“Are you talking about how you had to give up your sigma male books?”

My head snapped to face Hanawa-senpai so quickly that I heard a concerning crack in my neck. The muscles around my eyebrows and lips strained enough that I must have looked like I snorted wasabi through my nose. “Don’t even joke about that.”

I had no idea how serious I was being, but Hanawa-senpai was already clutching her stomach in laughter. “Your face… hahaha… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry for jumping to conclusions…”

She settled down after a few more heaves, and her lips dropped into a frown. Her head followed through with a slight bow. “Yeah, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told people about the cringe things that you said while… how do I put this elegantly… um… you know, while I gave you head. I have bad memories when it comes to this sigma male stuff. Not that it justifies what I did, I just want you to know, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

I glanced at her slouched form. Maybe it was the inner child in me, but I gave her a light smack on her back. “Come on. You can’t be apologizing so easily in this industry. An asshole once told me that only the slimiest, most toxic bitches could survive.” Hmmm, maybe that wasn’t Uwabe-san’s exact words, but close enough.

Hanawa-senpai sat up straight while rubbing her back. “I’ll manage. But thanks for… everything? I guess?”

Sizing her up again, I realized that her insomnia might have been caused by worries over the election. “Why do you want to be the representative so badly?”

A proud smile suddenly surfaced on her face, and all traces of fatigue vanished. “I want to become a famous escort and get a sugar daddy.”

I did a double take before hanging my mouth open. My eyes drilled into the serious face that declared this utterly ridiculous statement. Hanawa-senpai propped her hands on her waist and gave me a slight glare. “Look at the statistics. Most of the richest women in the world were all trophy wives who inherited a fortune from dead rich guys. Not to mention how many of them were once hookers that signed a marriage agreement.”

“Good luck then.” I managed to hold back laughter, but a goofy grin came out despite my efforts to control it.

She sighed and leaned back on the bench. “You know, Kuronuma-kun. I left halfway before we could do anything more. The DCRs are open twenty-four hours a day. If you want to, we can go there now and finish what we’ve started.”

It took me a moment to remember what the ‘DCR’ stood for. My heart beat faster once I fully comprehended her invitation. Traitor. I maintained a calm expression, at least I hoped I did. “You won’t get anything from me that will help you beat Mamie.”

“I can’t say that didn’t cross my mind, but… I just want to make it up to you.”

“Even then, I have to say no. Sorry.”

“Yeah, I get it.” She took the rejection much better than I could have imagined. “After all, you are in love with Mamie-chan.”

“Huh?”

There it was again. Her smug face. “Wait, are you not aware? Don’t tell me you are this dense. I thought this was only possible in a romance anime.”

I shifted on my end of the bench. “No, I know that. I just didn’t think that other people would know about my feelings too.”

“Are you kidding? Don’t you remember the…” Hanawa-senpai gestured wildly and mimed tearing up a book. “I’m done with the sigma grindset!”

“Hey, it meant a lot to me!” But my grin betrayed how much I liked her impression.

She grabbed her stomach again, chuckling. “Yeah, I know a lot of us had a good laugh too. It was so cringe that it was endearing, actually.”

I pursed my lips and crossed my arms. “Hanawa-senpai.”

“Yes?” She made an effort to contain her laughter, but I could still hear her irregular breathing.

“If you want to make up for what you did. Just promise me one thing. You won’t become someone who bullies her mentees by leading them on with a late-night date and forcing them to do cheap labor cleaning your house.”

“That sounds oddly specific.”

“Well, it’s a recurring nightmare I have.” Indeed, a certain someone had already been hounding me for the next cleaning session.

Hanawa-senpai raised her eyebrows, not understanding what I was getting at. It was fine. I just wanted to throw shade. After a few seconds, she seemed to have given up guessing and just smiled at me. “I hope that you will have sweet dreams from now on, kohai.”

“I hope that you won’t cry too much after losing the election, senpai.”

“Hey, I still have a chance. How can you be so mean to your dear senpai?”

I responded with a smile of my own, no longer caring whether sleep would decide to grace me with its presence tonight. Regardless, this impromptu amble in the frigid night had been worth it. Encouraged by a genuine conversation with a person whom I thought I could never connect with, I knew that Mamie and I would be fine.