A/N: Random author side note, but I have now made myself a head canon in which Mary calls the reader "Bakabomi" (in place of Mibuomi) because why not lmao but I'll just write it in the story as Idiot Bomi for uniformity.
Also, thank you for you guys' input on the last chapter. Longer chapters on the way now ^^
~~~
"Ouch!" You hissed as you felt Mary's grip on you tighten. "Why'd you have to yank my hand all of a sudden? Actually, why are you even this ticked off in the first place? You just won!"
"No reason in particular, you... you Idiot Bomi!"
"Idiot... Bomi?"
The hallways were silent during this time of the day. Students would either go straight home or, as expected, visit gambling dens or just huddle around to take part in small or big gambles.
Mary was one of those people who decided to gamble, but instead of the usual self-gratification, it was all to revoke herself of her housepet predicament.
Currently she was dragging you by the wrist to god knows where as you tailed behind her, clumsily trying to match her oddly quick pace of walking.
Now that you think about it, everything that had happened in the last few minutes was a blur. All you could really remember after Mary won was how Momobami Kirari, this school's student council president showered you with physical affection (again), and how Mary forcefully pulled you out of the sly woman's grasp and out of the gambling den.
You shrugged as you looked forward and watched Mary's figure impatiently stomping towards some location you didn't know yet, her twin tails and the ribbons tying it waving back and forth with every step the both of you took.
With a slight smile, you let go of a long held in sigh of relief as it finally sunk into your conscience how prideful Saotome Mary was no longer a housepet. This meant no more discrimination, ostracization, and dirty desks for your blonde companion.
With your thoughts finally sorted into place, you quickened your pace to catch up with Mary and walk beside her. Even so, she refused to look at you, which you found strange.
You noticed her cheeks were a bit flushed, and her hair slightly disheveled. You even noticed her to be pouting subtly. Not putting much thought, you simply associated all those with successfully escaping that gambling den by a ridiculously narrow margin.
A frustrated huff escaped her lips. Mary couldn't understand it -- she couldn't understand you. Once again you had contradicted her perception of the "usual Mibuomi".
She was certain if you were anything like your brother, you wouldn't have put any effort in dissecting how that Yuriko was cheating, but instead you ended up saving her.
"Argh, damn it," she thought. "I feel indebted to her again."
The blonde heard your quickening footsteps and noticed your presence beside her, still choosing to look straight ahead.
She didn't want to look at you at the moment, not when you managed to stir up odd feelings in her chest when she saw the amount of attention Kirari was giving you.
Anyone could tell the longing in that woman's eyes as she stroked your hair earlier. Kirari was truly fascinated with you. The president's words echoed in her mind.
"But once you decide to put her in danger's way, just know you'll be making an enemy out of me as well."
And Mary had to admit, it didn't sit quite right with her.
For what reason exactly? She didn't really know.
For all she knew, maybe she was just projecting her image of Tsuzura onto you, the both of you had lots of similarities anyway. Maybe this was just her way of protecting you from that insanely unpredictable woman.
Maybe... this was just a way for her to face her own regrets.
"How long are you going to hold my wrist?" Your voice startled Mary enough to have her finally look your way. She realized she was thinking too deeply just now. You smiled as your eyes met hers, "Finally, you looked at me."
Mary only huffed once more as she let go of you. Now slowing herself down a bit, she only continued to walk in silence, so you decided to speak up again.
"Congratulations on paying up your debt, though!" You paused momentarily before adding, "Ah... but that means you'll be going after me now, right?"
"Not when I'm in your debt for saving me."
Now that she mentioned it, Mary realized all you had done for her so far was just save her from trouble. First was cleaning her desk voluntarily (twice, mind you), and now saving her from a lifetime of debt.
She was starting to doubt if her hatred towards you was any bit justifiable. After all, you and your brother are two different people.
You only looked at Mary with curious eyes.
"Mary-san, (Y/N)!" As if on cue, Yumeko and Suzui were walking the opposite way and approaching the both of you. Yumeko was practically happily skipping ahead while poor Suzui had to jog a bit to catch up to her.
With a grin reaching ear to ear, Yumeko walked quickly towards you and gave you a hug.
"Looks like you're in a good mood, Yumeko!" The taller girl nodded.
"She just won a gamble," Suzui answered for her, slightly panting from following Yumeko around, you assumed.
"What a coincidence!" You replied as you squirmed your way out of Yumeko's bear hug. "Mary just won a gamble too."
"That's wonderful! So you're not a housepet anymore?" Now facing the blonde, Yumeko asked, the smile on her face never disappearing.
Mary shifted a bit uncomfortably, unsure of how to respond, "Guess so, with her--" she gestured over to you before continuing, "--help."
The black-haired beauty smiled knowingly at the both of you, giggling a bit, "Seems like the both of you are getting along just fine."
You smiled back, failing to notice Yumeko's teasing tone, "I'd like to think so."
"No, no, you are absolutely wrong!" Mary interjected, her arms crossed and cheeks a bit red. You only laughed at her, thinking she looked cute.
"So," you started after clearing your throat a bit. "Are you still going to stay in the school for a while, Yumeko?"
"Probably...?" Yumeko spoke with a hint of fascination in her voice. "To tell you the truth, I am quite curious about the gambling dens in the school."
Your ears perked up slightly as your friend mentioned gambling dens. Yuriko's clubroom was a gambling den, was it not? If Yumeko were to enter and challenge that gambling den, you thought she might possibly be in a pickle, much like with Mary.
But before you could say anything to try to warn the girl, she had already run off with Suzui tailing behind her as always, saying her curiosity must be satiated in haste.
Your blonde classmate sighed again, "That Yumeko never changes."
After a moment of silence, you asked her curiously, "Do you have anything else to do, Saotome-san?"
"Go home, I guess? All I really wanted to do today is get rid of my being a housepet anyway."
Your eyes immediately shined with excitement, making Mary furrow her brows in worry. She thought she said something wrong, she was sensing you were up to no good again. That look in your eyes, she thought you must have had something up your sleeve for today.
"Why don't we stop by someplace along the way home? We live near each other anyway." With one eyebrow raised, Mary only looked at you quizzically, her arms still crossed. She was having second thoughts in joining you in your little afterschool adventure. Not liking the silence, you spoke up again, "Come on," your voice dragged a bit. "This'll be like some sort of celebration for you getting rid of that lousy housepet status!"
Mary didn't understand you at all.
But she would be lying if she said she didn't want to.
She glared a bit as she felt herself getting pulled along your whims once more. She was hoping to intimidate you a bit with her sharp eyes, but to no avail, your eyes shimmering with mischief and grin wouldn't seem to disappear from your features. As a way to convince herself, she decided this would be a good opportunity to get to know you better. Maybe, she thought, she would then understand you at least a little bit more.
She had lots of questions, but the biggest mystery to her was: why are you so friendly with her?
Mary was one of those who opposed Mibuomi Aoi and celebrated when he was kicked out of the academy. So technically, she was one of the reasons why your brother is serving his Life Plan as we speak.
Shouldn't you hate her then?
The next biggest mystery to her was: why does all this seem so natural?
Your teasing and your chumminess, and her reactions and retaliations. Right off the bat, she had noticed you were a timid girl. Someone as intimidating (to a certain degree) as her should be normally someone you'd be wary of, but that's not how things played out at all.
Mary always hated having questions unanswered. It would bother her to no end.
So with a heavy sigh, she shook her head, "Alright, I'll come along your little adventure."
"Nice!" You exclaimed. "Let's go get our schoolbags!"
This time, you were the one to drag the blonde by the wrist.
But this time, Mary was smiling a bit instead of her usual frown.
~~~
Mary reminded herself to not let her guard down, even though all the both of you were doing was just walking around the city.
Sure, this might be something normal for high schoolers to do, but you weren't a "normal high schooler" by definition, you were a Mibuomi. Someone with influence, with riches. She admitted she was curious to know what kind of places someone like you would visit after school.
But out of all places, she wasn't expecting you to lead her to some random café first and foremost. It was located in the first floor of a two-story medium sized modern looking building.
Chimes rang as you opened the door to the café, with Mary behind you, clutching her schoolbag. The enticing scent of coffee immediately entered her nostrils.
The place was called Junes (Pronounced ju-ness, and not as a made up plural word of the month of June). It was quite spacious for a lesser-known establishment; based on the amount of aesthetic looking wooden chairs and tables, Mary estimated the café to be able to attend to 25 people at most. It had a calming, flower motif for its interior design.
Mary noticed music softly playing in the background and noticed small speakers hanging near the corners. Mostly instrumental piano and violin. She admitted this was a nice place to cool off after a busy day.
Near the back, a woman was attending to a customer on the counter. Behind her were several wooden display cabinets filled with what seemed to be packs of a wide variety of coffee beans and tea bags. She looked to be in her mid-twenties and had her long light brown hair tied into a neat ponytail.
As the woman made eye contact with you, her face brightened up a little as she quickly wiped a glass clean, put it behind her on another counter near the display cabinets, and walked over to the both of you.
"(Y/N)-chan!" her voice sounded very mature. "You haven't visited in a while." She looked over to Mary, who was now standing beside you. "And you are...?"
"Saotome Mary," you replied as you gestured over to the blonde. "A classmate of mine."
The woman giggled a bit, sounding relieved, "And here I was feeling all worried when you told me you were transferring schools last time. I'm happy you found yourself a friend."
"Friend?" Mary thought. "I wonder... is it alright for me to have her as a friend?"
With no second thoughts, you nodded, "Yeah, my new school is pretty... different, but I'm glad to have her around."
The woman led you two to a vacant table and you and Mary sat down across each other. After placing a menu on the table, she retrieved a pen and a small pad of paper from her right pocket and asked in a soothing tone, "What would you like to order?"
Without sparing the menu a look, you immediately replied, "I'll have the usual, Himari-san. Just some Chamomile tea." You excused yourself to go to the restroom afterwards.
After the woman, whose name Mary just learned to be Himari, listed down your order, Mary followed, "Then I'll have some Organic Earl Grey tea."
"Got it." The woman looked at Mary, who was still scanning the menu items. "Saotome-chan, right?" At the sound of her name, Mary looked over to the woman and slightly nodded, not really knowing what to say.
"How's school? Is (Y/N)-chan doing alright?"
Feeling a bit perplexed at the sudden question, it took Mary a moment to ponder on it before replying, "She's doing really good in her studies."
"Is she getting along with everyone there?"
Mary hummed slightly in wonder. Many people did seem to flock over to you naturally because of your family name, and of course, there was the student council president's odd fascination and her. She nodded, "She gets along with most people, yes."
Himari sighed in relief, "That's good to know." She breathed. "You see, I've heard her brother is living somewhere else now after graduating high school." Mary winced a bit. "Unsurprisingly, her parents are always busy, and with her sudden transfer of schools... I was worried she would be all alone."
Mary stayed silent, partially urging her to continue speaking. "If you're wondering, (Y/N)-chan has been coming here since she was still a kid. So, you could say she's a regular customer, yes?"
Himari explained to her how the first time you went into the café was when you had an argument with your brother as a child, which made you extremely upset. You initially wanted to go someplace else, but because you were so upset, you didn't care to check to see what building you were going in to, and ended up at Junes.
Finding you adorable, Himari, who was still 18 at the time and was still working at the café as a waitress, treated you to a few snacks to make you feel better. Since then you've been regularly visiting the place, sometimes when you were upset, often times when you were hungry, or just when you felt like you needed a break from the "elite life".
As cute as the story seemed, Mary couldn't get over how you just willingly went inside a random building without double checking. Who knows what would have happened if you hadn't gone inside somewhere safe? You really were an Idiot Bomi.
"I've seen her grow up a bit more with each visit," Himari continued, softly smiling. "So she's kind of like a little sister to me now."
After a moment of silence, Mary asked, "What was she like?"
"Oh, she was such a cute girl!" Himari answered with a glint of pride in her eyes. "She was scared of new people at first, probably because she was a really sheltered child. She would always cling to me from behind, just sneaking peeks at people. Ah, but once other people started giving her snacks, she wouldn't hide anymore. Ahh also, don't tell anyone this, but when she became old enough, she volunteered to help out as a waitress sometimes without her family knowing."
"She got tamed... by way of feeding?"
"All these years though, I've never seen her bring along a friend here before. I've always thought she just wanted this place to be some kind of personal place to unwind, since it's rarely ever packed here," Himari flashed Mary a smile. "You must be pretty special, huh?"
Before Mary was able to ask once more, you arrived as if on cue, "I'm back!"
Himari smiled at you, then turned back to look at Mary, "I'll go on ahead now. If you have any other questions, it's best to ask from the source directly, is it not?" She excused herself as she gave Mary a knowing wink, pointed to the unknowing you who was still pulling a chair to sit on, and gave her a thumbs up.
Getting the message, Mary's face flushed red, "No...!" she thought. "That woman has got it all wrong."
"Are you alright?" you asked Mary, who was covering her face with her hands.
She quickly regained her composure and sat perfectly straight as she crossed her legs and cleared her throat, "...I'm fine."
You smiled a bit, trying to hide your worry, "If... If you say so."
Your drinks eventually arrived, and you started to slowly take sips while reading a novel you had brought with you. Mary did the same, except she was looking at you, her elbow propped on the table and her hand cupping her chin.
She thought you looked as normal as any other normal high schooler now. Again, she was doubting her wariness of you. She wondered if she really needed to take you down after all.
You took another sip.
"Tsuzura..." Mary muttered, making you look her way. "You asked about her once, right? You want to know what happened with your brother?"
You placed your cup of tea on the adorable looking pastel colored coaster that came with it, "Only if it's alright with you to talk about it."
Now feeling completely calm, Mary grinned and chuckled a bit before taking a sip of her tea, "Don't worry," she said between sips. "You've earned a bit of my trust for today, at least."
You smiled back at her. This was your first time seeing that genuine of a grin on her face. There was a part of you that wanted to see her that happy all the time. Maybe the ambience of the café helped.
"Tsuzura was one of the people I trusted the most in Hyakkaou. Actually, it would be more accurate to say she was one of the only people I trusted there. The other one being Yukimi, my other friend."
"You have friends?"
Mary rolled her eyes playfully at your sarcastic comment, "Hard to believe, I know." You giggled. "Anyway, unlike you I didn't really know about this gambling schtick Hyakkaou has. I was caught off-guard on my first day for sure. I got accustomed to it eventually though. One thing led to another, and I met the both of them. We even had our own gambling den since Tsuzura was actually a housepet."
You nodded as you followed along and continued drinking your Chamomile tea.
"You remind me so much of Tsuzura," she breathed. "Coming from an influential family, but isn't one to dive into gambles. Being timid and rather shy; you're like a version two of her or something." She paused for a moment. "Except you're way more annoying, Idiot Bomi."
"Thank you," you replied as you laughed a bit.
"Though, like her, you've ended up saving me at times too. I'm grateful for that." You nodded in affirmation with a soft smile. "Things started getting messy when I met your brother."
You mentally braced yourself for the hate that you expected to come next. No matter what Mary says, you've already decided to accept it.
"I mentioned this before, but he tried to get me to join him. I declined. Since then, he was set out to bring me down, manipulating anyone he thinks would be useful to him. But of course, his greatest goal was to oust the president. Needless to say, he failed at that." Her eyes looked solemn now. "But that doesn't mean no one got hurt." You took a deep breath as you waited for her to continue.
"Your brother... He challenged me to a gamble for me to join his side. Of course, he was cunning and had lots of tricks up his bastardly sleeve. I ended up losing, but Tsuzura couldn't accept that. She laid her life on the line too, just to give me another chance." Mary's breath hitched. She was trembling a bit now too. Her head was held down, but she continued to speak. "But I failed her. She had to go, I couldn't save her. It's my fault. In the end, your brother decided to not let me join after all. He just wanted to see me in despair."
You felt yourself frown, no wonder this girl was so hostile with you when you first came over to Hyakkaou. Your brother took everything from her.
"It worked, " she continued. "I really did fall into despair, as he wanted. I lost sight of things, our gambling den went down, and even Yukimi had to go too in the end. I failed everyone. Although I eventually picked myself up, and it ended with your brother getting kicked out of the academy, he took way too much from me." She faced you, and you noticed her eyes were getting watery. "I ended up turning that regret into anger and took it out on you too, I'm sorry, I just thought you were like your brother."
"Don't apologize," you replied, giving her a solemn smile of your own. "With how unfairly he treated you, I would be angry too." Mary only nodded slowly as you continued to solemnly smile. You had no idea she was carrying this huge of a regret on her shoulders.
Having had enough of your brother's actions, your body began to move without thinking. You stood up, leaned over the table (luckily, the table wasn't that big, so there was only a short considerable distance between the both of you), and pat her head gently. Mary looked at you in wonder, but you only smiled at her kindly. "Having to act tough all this time while you had those regrets... It must have been hard on you all this time, huh?"
Normally, Mary wouldn't want anyone to touch her at all, but she thought your warmth felt comfortable, like it belonged there. She didn't want to let go of that. As you spoke, she felt her heart waver. She's been acting tough all this time, she eventually convinced herself she didn't have the time to reflect on how she really felt.
Mary slowly nodded.
You smiled at her a bit as you went back to your seat and packed your things. The next thing Mary knew, you were standing up and were once again holding her by the wrist. It was only by now when she realized she had already finished the tea she was drinking.
"Himari-san!" You yelled a bit as you placed money on the table. "Sorry for the short notice, but we'll be going now! Thanks for the tea as always." You turned to look at Mary and pulled at her arm a bit, making her stand up. "Come on, you just won over a billion yen! Time to celebrate, no?"
Mary softly smiled at you. To her, you were as bright as the sun right now.
The both of you head to the door leading outside, but didn't forget to bow in respect towards Himari and say your goodbyes before heading out.
Himari giggled as the chimes on the doorway sounded once more, "Ah, you've grown up again some more, (Y/N)-chan."
~~~
You ended up taking Mary to lots of places. A bookstore, an arcade, the mall, you name it. Mary didn't mind, she had to admit, she was even starting to enjoy your presence. Along the way, though, the both of you ended up holding hands because you were dragging her around too much.
Mary felt her face flush red as she took a peek at both of your hands. Strangely enough, she didn't really feel the need to let go. Currently you were walking beside each other, hand in hand.
Your grip on her hand tightened a bit, and Mary looked at you.
"You know..." you started. "I may not know Tsuzura-san personally, but if I'm anything like her then..." you looked at Mary with a smile. "I'm sure she would want you to always be happy."
It was around this time when Mary noticed something she should have noticed a while ago: you were too close, dangerously close, and the both of you were holding hands.
She immediately felt her chest pounding at the realization. She suddenly became self-conscious and wanted to melt to the ground in embarrassment. What if someone she knows would see her holding hands with you, what would they think?
But even then, she didn't want to let go.
She noticed every little feature on your face as you flashed her a smile.
"She's... she's really pretty." She thought as she stared at you, her face beet red now.
Before you could ask Mary why she was so quiet all of a sudden, rain began to fall harshly.
"Now, of all times?" You said to no one in particular as you rummaged through your bag for an umbrella, but by the time you opened it up, the both of you had already been soaked.
Mary frowned a bit as your hand left hers, "I'm sorry, I forgot to bring an umbrella..."
"No worries," you looked at your friend. Her hair and clothes were soaking wet. "But first, we need to get you dried up. My place is close here, let's stop over there for a bit? At least until the rain stops."
Mary didn't really have much of a choice.
~~~
You stood in front of your house's large gate. You called it a house, but Mary called it a mansion.
There was some kind of keypad with a screen near the gate, and you hurriedly pressed a few buttons. The screen lit up and showed a mirrored view of both you and Mary. It was a camera system. "It's me, (Y/N). I brought a friend over, please open the gate."
As expected, the gate slowly opened.
You turned to Mary, grabbed her hand once more, and hurriedly made your way inside, "Welcome to my house!"
The blonde gulped as the both of you slowly approached your mansion of a house, "Sorry to intrude..."
Two thoughts formed in her head.
First, your place was huge. As in, super huge. Your front yard had everything you could imagine in a rich person's front yard: grass, a pool, a fountain in the middle, and shrubs that were trimmed in different shapes. It was extremely spacious, she thought it could pass off as a venue for certain events.
And second, as she got a good look at the place, she realized: she had been here before.
The rain continued to fall.
~~~
A/N: Some backstory about the reader soon, maybe? Maybe.
By the way, school starts for me really soon, updates might be slower than usually, sorry :(