( so we blame it on the summer heat )

[upcaste]

[ Summer's coming. The temperature's risen steadily over the last week, a truly terrible combination of both humid and hot, and all the students in the school are suffering through positively sweltering conditions. A girl in the first year comes down with heatstroke and has to be sent to a hospital. In the second year hallway, which is a little better shaded from the sun for most of the day, the conditions are marginally better, but even still — everybody's sweating through classes.

It's disgusting, Karino thinks, but he keeps that thought to himself.

The room set aside for the personal use for the king is air conditioned. Naturally, it's why Karino's found it amusing to keep Azusa out of it the entire time, making sure that the other students in the class keep him out of the other air conditioned rooms in the building — the library, the infirmary. It's a game, he figures. Azusa will lose eventually, he's sure, but it's just a matter of when he loses.

And when the temperature hits 100 for the first time in a record-breaking heat wave, Azusa finally shows up, sweat dripping down the back of his neck. It's kind of erotic, Karino thinks. Sensual in a visceral sort of way.

He moves immediately, to block Azusa from entering, using every bit of his height to loom and actively look down on him, wearing his fake-polite smile with all the charm that he does whenever he sits in the classroom. ]

What do you think you're doing? This place isn't for you, you know.

[ His smile widens by a margin until he's positively leering. ]

Well, I might let you in. If you beg for it.

[ Just another game. ]