Episode 14: A Uniform Inspection in Front of Everyone… That’s Indecent.

October 1st. The switchover to winter uniforms.

Which meant, for the discipline committee, the opening bell of war.

Precisely because everyone let their guard down on the first day, if I didn’t lay down the law here and now, the whole school’s standards would crumble.
The beginning was everything.

“Hey, you boys! No hoodies under the blazer!”
“And you! Your skirt is folded way too short!”

I surveyed the chaotic classroom with a furrowed brow.
Keep your eyes sharp. I don’t miss things.
And — sure enough — there were the biggest offenders.

“Oh, morning, Maya.”
“…Hiyori.”

Hiyori was standing in front of my desk. Behind her,

“Ahhh, Mama-pi’s hard at work as always~”

Airi, Yuina, and Meiko — the usual trio — were watching with knowing grins.

Under the classroom’s fluorescent lights, ash-grey hair catching the light and demanding attention.
Blazer hanging completely open at the front.
Underneath it, a beige cardigan from outside the approved list, with oversized sleeves from which only her fingertips peeked out…
Was that what they called moe-sode? Sleeve-paw hands, deliberately cute?

And the crowning touch: her collar. First button undone, necktie dangling loose as a necklace.
What was the point of the cardigan then?
Was she cold? Was she warm??

As I approached, that cloyingly sweet musk grazed my nostrils, right on schedule.

(…Well. Since I’ve been made to wear it too, I’ll let the smell slide for now.)

“That outfit! Pull yourself together!”
“Ehh? I’m cold though. Also the winter uniform digs into my shoulders — can’t you do something about the fabric, committee chair~?”
“If you’re cold, do your buttons up!”

Hiyori smiled back at me, entirely unrepentant.
Watching that composure, my heart gave a delayed lurch.

Was calling her out going to poke a hornet’s nest?

One word and she could shield herself with the video — “I’ll send it” — and I’d have nothing left to say.
But Hiyori was just standing there smirking.
No sign of using that against me here.

(…she’s not going to say it.)

Unexpectedly, she seemed to be the type to keep things separate.
Or maybe she was simply enjoying teasing me.

Either way, the reason didn’t matter.
If she wasn’t going to fight back, I had no grounds to overlook a uniform violation standing right in front of me.

Let them call me Yamami-mama.
Whether the offender was Hiyori or anyone else, what needed correcting would be corrected.
That was who Yamami Maya was.

◇◆◇◆◇

“Stop complaining! Hold still!”
“Huh, wait, what are you doing?”

I grabbed her hopelessly loose necktie first.

“I don’t like things tight around my neck.”
“You’re doing up the top button properly!”

Ignoring her protests, I worked my fingers at her collar, just below her chin.
Fastening the first button, straightening the knot of the tie with precision.
Throughout, Hiyori made no attempt to escape — she just looked down at my face with a fixed gaze, occasionally letting out a pointed little “mm” of breath.

“…Hey, Maya. You’ve been touching me a lot.”
“Touching what.”
“My chest. …Is it on purpose?”
“Excuse me?!”

Behind us, Airi burst out laughing. “Kyahaha! Mama-pi’s getting bold~!”

Well, obviously, I had to get my face close to see what I was doing, and yes, the back of my hand and my fingers had been moving around in the vicinity of Hiyori’s chest, but that was absolutely not—

“I am not touching anything! …Right, the tie is done!”

But it wasn’t over.
Dropping my gaze, I noticed the pocket of her cardigan bulging unnaturally.

“…Hang on. What have you got in your pocket?”
“Hm? Nothing in particular…”
“That’s a lie. Snacks or your phone, isn’t it. Take it out.”
“I told you, there’s nothing! …If you’re that curious, search it yourself.”

Hiyori threw both hands up in a provocation.
I wasn’t letting her get away with it. I circled round behind her, slipped my arms through the gap of her open blazer, and plunged both hands into the pockets of the cardigan underneath.
The position left me more or less wrapped around her from behind, my chest pressing softly against her back.

Rustle, rummage…

“Mm, hey, wait — M-Maya—!”

Hiyori grabbed my wrists.
I thought she was trying to stop me — but instead she yanked them, hard, toward her own stomach.

(What?! Why?!)

Which meant my palms were now receiving the soft give of her abdomen in full, with no intermediary.

“Stop moving! It’s gone further in—”

Inside the unexpectedly deep pockets, my fingertips kept finding her hip bone, the soft flesh of her stomach.
Trying to locate a foreign object, I ended up pawing at the contours of her body through the thick fabric.

“Ah… mm♡”

Without warning, a distinctly sultry sound escaped Hiyori’s lips.

“…What?”
“That spot… tickles, ah…♡”
“Don’t make weird noises!”
“But Maya just went and… touched me there all of a sudden…”

Hiyori turned her glistening eyes up at me, twisting her body with theatrical effect.

“…That’s indecent.”

And then it hit me.
Right now I had my hands shoved inside Hiyori’s clothes, groping at her waist and stomach. I was the very image of a groper.

I suddenly became aware that the whole classroom had gone still.

“…Oh wow, seriously.”
“First the chest, now below the waist.”

The boys’ flat, retreating voices were drowned out by the gyarus seizing their moment.

“Mama-pi’s way too passionate~!”
“A ‘public body inspection’ first thing in the morning — that’s next level?!”
“And Hiyori, you are way too into it~?”

Airi, Yuina, and Meiko cupped their hands around their mouths like megaphones.
That was the signal — laughter and jeering exploded from every direction.

“Yamami-mama, bold move… pent up, are we?”
“Hey, those two are absolutely that, aren’t they.”

Hiyori whispered in my ear with a smirk.

“…And there you have it. Hey, Maya. Planning to undress me right here?”
“Th-that’s not — it’s a uniform inspection! Contraband check!!”
“Mm, it got pretty intense though? You were going around in sensitive spots~”
“I was not!!”

The blood rushed through my whole body at once and I wrenched my hands out of her pockets.

What my fingers had seized and dragged out in the end was — a small handkerchief with an embroidered cat on it. Just a handkerchief.
I stood there frozen, clutching that small square of harmless cloth with an expression of pure vacancy.
Its innocent, peaceable existence only threw into relief the aberrance of my “overzealous body inspection.”

“Oh wow, Mama-pi, all that rummaging and it’s just a handkerchief!”
“She literally just wanted to touch Hiyori~!”

At that, Hiyori made a show of trembling, turning glistening eyes up at me.

“…Wuu, Maya, that was awful. False accusations. Groped in front of everyone like that…”
“W-wait, no, that was—!”
“I’m hurt… I cooperated in the name of discipline, and this is what I get. I don’t think I can recover without a thorough comforting session after school…”
“What—?!”

“Did you hear that~? Mama-pi’s got a lot to answer for!”
“She made Hiyori cry~! Take responsibility and comfort her~!”
“After-school comforting session, confirmed~!”

From every corner of the classroom: the warm, collectively entertained stare of “Yamami-mama’s done it now…” and “wonder what kind of comforting that’ll be…”

Completely outmanoeuvred.
My official duties had been deftly reframed, without my noticing, into an extension of a lovers’ quarrel.

“S-severe reprimand!! Reflection essay, on my desk by tomorrow!!”
My last desperate show of authority was swallowed whole by the classroom’s laughter.

Just before I dropped into my seat, I caught a glimpse of Hiyori.
The fake tears, gone without trace. She was grinning at me, bright and unbothered, flashing a peace sign.

(…Hiyori!)

I slumped face-down onto my desk, ears burning.

…I want to go home.