"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT NAME!?"
Lev's voice pierced straight through the wall.
A couple of people in the room flinched.
Soren just sighed.
"Lev, we're in the living room!" he called back.
Fast, angry footsteps echoed in the next room over, and a second later, the door was thrown open with enough force that it bounced off the stopper.
Lev stood there, eyes wide, expression twisted between outrage and disbelief.
"President," he said, voice flat and offended. "What the hell is that name?"
Soren met his gaze and smiled bitterly.
"Welcome to The Sweetheart Society, the club that makes and tastes desserts."
Lev stared.
"President."
"Mm?" Soren replied.
"Answer me properly. If you don't, I'll drop out. There wasn't anything in the contract about having to stay after I signed up for the club."
Soren's eyelid twitched.
'...Right. I didn't write anything about that.'
He had been so focused on locking Lev in as an exclusive alchemist that he hadn't thought about the club loophole.
It was his own fault.
Soren exhaled.
"Listen," Soren said, rubbing his temple. "I didn't pick the name. Hell, I even wanted to change it."
"Then who did?" Lev demanded.
"If you'd let me do introductions, you'll learn. So sit down."
Lev clicked his tongue, but he walked in anyway and dropped into an empty armchair with his arms crossed.
"Fine," he muttered.
Soren nodded, then turned to the others.
"Well, everyone, this is Lev. He's my personal alchemist that I recently contracted with. He's in class A of Academic Studies, and he skips all of his lessons besides alchemy. In short—"
"Wait," Lev cut in. "How the hell do you know all of that?"
Soren didn't even pause.
"He's an alchemy-obsessed weirdo," he finished with a sigh. "And to answer your question, it's all stuff that's pretty easy to find by asking a professor."
Lev shot a look at Lilliana for a moment; her expression was calm, but there was a faint, amused glint in her eyes.
Lev grimaced.
"Now it's everyone else's turn," Soren continued. "From left to right, we have Amelia, Lilly, Esper, Felix, Olivia, Alex, and finally, the one who names the club, Louise."
There was a brief silence.
Lev's gaze slid over the group, then fixed on Louise.
"For starters, that introduction was dogshit."
Everyone reacted differently: Esper snorted, Felix rolled his eyes, Olivia tried not to laugh, Alex smirked, and Amelia just blinked.
"But more importantly," Lev went on, "why the hell did you think this was a good club name?"
His tone was rude, but nobody stopped him.
Because, honestly, they were all curious too.
Louise fidgeted with her hands on her lap, the tips of her ears turning slightly red; she stared down at the floor for a moment, then forced herself to speak.
"I thought… that it was cute…" she murmured, voice barely above a whisper.
Lev stared at her.
"Are you a child?" he asked in disbelief.
Louise's shoulders flinched.
"Is it really that bad?" she asked, her expression falling.
"It makes me want to puke, it's disgusting."
"Alright, that's enough, Lev."
The air in the room shifted ever so slightly.
Soren's expression was calm, but his eyes weren't.
"Don't overdo it."
It wasn't loud or threatening.
Just flat.
But it shut Lev up.
He clicked his tongue again and looked away, rubbing the back of his head.
"Fine," he muttered.
Soren didn't soften his gaze immediately.
Lev wasn't someone he put in the same category as the others.
He wasn't someone Soren had decided was "his"; he wasn't someone he could relax around completely.
That line in his chest, between "safe" and "dangerous", was something Soren had learned to keep sharp.
Strangers sat on the other side of it.
Men especially.
It wasn't intentional.
If anything, it was automatic, carved in by too many bad experiences in too short a time.
Everyone else in the room noticed.
They had all seen how Soren usually was.
He was warm to the people he cared about without thinking, soft in ways he never acknowledged.
The kind of person who would take a beating for someone and complain about it later, but leave it at that, like it was no big deal.
Seeing him suddenly drop the temperature like that, even for a moment, was jarring.
It was a reminder.
He was still hurt, even if he joked and smiled.
Then, as quickly as it came, the tension cracked.
Soren let out a small breath, and his usual faint smile returned, smoothing over the edges.
"Anyway," he said, shifting his tone back to normal. "The club's name is set in stone now. There's nothing we can do about it, so let's just forget about it. We might hear a joke here and there, but it's not that important. Besides, who would tarnish the name of a club with royalty in it?"
He said it lightly, but his glance at Louise was clear.
Louise's lips curved up into a small, relieved smile.
"Sorry. I didn't realise it was that bad…"
"I think it's cute," Esper chimed in. "It was just fun to watch everyone's reactions."
"I like it too," Olivia added with a nod. "Also, I was meaning to ask, why a dessert club, Soren?"
Soren shrugged.
"To be honest, there wasn't much thought behind it. I was eating at a cafe with Sis, and she suggested a club about making sweets. Then I changed it to desserts in general, since not everyone here likes sweets. And that was it."
Lilliana's cheeks tinged slightly pink at his words, her expression softening.
He had thought about everyone's tastes, even when making something as small as a club.
"Anyway, let's finish everything we need to do today. Is that alright with everyone?" Soren said, straightening up.
He looked around the room.
Everyone nodded.
"Right," Soren continued.
He picked up a pen and a sheet of paper from the table.
"Then let's split up the tasks."
He scribbled down a few headings as he spoke.
"We need a group to go shopping for ingredients. A group to go shopping for furniture. A group to put together a research plan for the semester. And finally, a group to handle all the administrative tasks like getting our budget, filing paperwork, all that fun stuff."
He tapped the paper with his pen.
"Lev, you're on administrative duty."
"Huh? Why me? Aren't you the president?"
"Check your contract," Soren said without looking up. "I made sure to write it. Felix, you're with him."
"What? Why am I on paperwork duty?" Felix protested.
"Because I don't trust him alone with the Student Council. You're there to make sure he doesn't blow anything up," Soren replied calmly.
Lev quickly pulled out a folded copy of the contract and skimmed through it.
His eyebrow twitched.
"This bastard… It really is in here. I'll seriously quit if you overwork me, dammit."
Soren smiled, completely unbothered.
"For ingredients, let's have Olivia and Alex."
"Sure!" Olivia answered immediately, her eyes lighting up. "I've been wanting to try some new recipes anyway."
"That's all good with me," Alex agreed.
"For research planning—"
"Can I do it?" Louise asked, raising her hand slightly.
"Don't worry. I was already thinking of asking you."
Louise's expression brightened.
"Great!" she said happily.
"Essy, can you help her?" Soren asked, turning to Esper.
"Why not? Could be fun~" Esper replied with a grin.
"Then me and Amelia will go shopping for furniture," Soren said, jotting down the final pairing.
He placed the pen and paper back on the coffee table.
"What about me, Ren?" Lilliana asked.
Soren blinked, then tilted his head.
"You're the supervisor," he said honestly. "So you can do whatever you want, can't you? I'm just in charge of the students."
Lilliana nodded slowly, but she didn't say anything else.
Soren rubbed his neck and looked away.
"Then… I guess Amelia and I will go out now," he said, standing up.
He avoided looking directly at Lilliana; he was a little embarrassed.
He had half-expected Lilliana to immediately say she would come with him.
The fact that she hadn't said anything made him feel awkward in a way he couldn't quite put into words.
Amelia stood and stretched lazily, then held out her hand out toward him.
Soren grabbed it and let her pull him to his feet.
"After everyone finishes their tasks, feel free to do whatever you want. You can stay here or leave, I don't mind. Lev, make sure to tick everyone in the attendance report, got it?"
"Sure, whatever, President," Lev replied, already rummaging through the forms on the table. "Now screw off on your date."
Soren flinched at Lev's casual words for a moment, but turned to leave nonetheless.
————「❤︎」————