Clearing Up the Misunderstanding
After all that crashing, clattering pandemonium had finally died down, I tucked myself away in a nearby café.
"Welcome, honored guest. Welcome to Moonbucks Café."
The glass door slid open on its own the moment it registered me, and as I stepped through into the shop, a beaming employee greeted me.
"I'm looking to borrow a seat. Would it be possible to rent one of the private rooms?"
"Of course, absolutely. Here's your key."
After taking my payment, the clerk produced a single key and held it out to me.
"Private Room 6 is up the stairs on the third floor—just follow the left corridor and you'll find it."
"Thank you. Keep up the good work."
Leaving the kindly employee who'd so helpfully explained the layout behind me, I set off in the direction she'd pointed out.
Following her instructions, I climbed the stairs at an easy pace, arrived at the third floor, and turned straight down the left corridor.
So this is Room 6.
A titanium plaque bearing the number 6 in stately, old-fashioned script caught my eye.
I slid the key into the door handle. At the click of the lock disengaging, I grasped the handle and swung the door wide open.
Stepping inside, I took in the private room's interior. Beneath the warm light spilling from a chandelier stretched a long table of solid hardwood. There was space enough to seat five people without the slightest squeeze. A place like this might just work even with a whole crowd in it.
"Move out of the doorway already. You're in the way."
The instant I unlocked the door, Chloe—who had been trailing right behind me—shoved my shoulder and pushed past. She swept her gaze around the room, confirmed the layout, and settled onto the sofa on the right side.
"Eva, you come in too."
"Mmmhmm!"
At Chloe's beckoning, Eva fidgeted her way through the doorway. She gave me a small, polite bow, then slipped past me and took the seat beside Chloe.
"Oh, there's a kiosk in here too. Let's order some drinks. What do you want, Eva?"
"M-Me too, please. I'll have the ma-matcha latte you always get."
"Okay, we'll take this one too. And let's add this as well."
The two of them, giddy as could be, scrolled through the menu and stacked up an order out of everything that caught their eye. It was enough to fill me up just watching from the sidelines. At this rate, even if I only ordered a drink, whatever they left unfinished would more than fill my belly.
"You too—hurry in and sit down."
A nod. At my words, Marin clip-clopped into the room on her uniform shoes and took the seat across from Eva and Chloe.
Once I'd confirmed all three of them were inside, I closed the door, locked it, and sat down beside Marin.
"Now that there's no one here but us, shall we get this conversation started?"
The room was well soundproofed, and with no way in or out except the door, it was a sealed space—no need to mind anyone else's eyes. Eva seemed taken with the quiet, cozy room as well; the anxiety on her face eased noticeably. Here, the four of us could open up a proper conversation in comfort.
"But first, let me order a drink too. Marin, what do you want?"
"Milk. Get me milk."
I accepted her order and added it to the list on the spot. With the order list stacked high, I pressed the payment button, fished my card out of my pocket, and paid. It was one of the perks that had come bundled with my certificate of acceptance from the Academy—so that students would want for nothing in daily life, a generous allowance was deposited onto the card every month. There was also the money Maten had handed over, but since none of it had been earned through legitimate means, and it was all in goods at that, this card would have to do.
"I'll cover the bill. I'm the one who called you all here, after all."
Guests deserved to be treated like guests, that was all. A small gesture like this could buy a person's goodwill, so there was nothing in it for me to lose.
"Hmph, we could've just split the bill. No need to make a show of it."
That bitch...!
Chloe gave a derisive snort. My fist clenched against my will, but I bore it with dignity. What had I even done to earn that glare? If it weren't for you, I never would have come to this world in the first place!
Calm down. Breathe. Losing my temper here is a rookie's move.
Even if I shouted, would that woman so much as blink? If anything, she'd brazen it out—claim she'd seen it coming—and draw her katana again, daring me to come at her. I had done plenty in Class A to make myself disliked in all sorts of ways, but she responded with a remarkable amount of venom. In the web novel, too, she'd brushed off the people who clung to Arlan in exactly this fashion, and I'd been one of the readers laughing along at those scenes.
Now that I'm the one on the receiving end of that hostility, it's infuriating.
"E-Eek... C-Chloe! H-Hate him all you want, but you don't t-treat people like that!"
"No, Eva, that's not what I—"
Thanks to Eva, at least, pointing out her behavior, the knot of frustration in my chest loosened for a moment. Thank you, Eva-scone.
"A-Are you mad?"
"Hm? I'm not, though?"
"Just now, I smelled something. Something b-boiling over. But now... mm, it's fine."
That's just because my mood had finally settled, that's all. And oh, this was rich—look at Chloe's face! Flustered, waving her hands, begging Eva's forgiveness like she'd been the one who misspoke! And all the while, not one word of apology to me, the person she actually owed one!
I will pry her away from Eva's side if it's the last thing I do.
Someday the day would come when I'd sweep that plank of a girl aside and give her the discipline she deserved. For now, though, it was time to endure. Clearing up the misunderstanding came first.
"Well, since fate brought us together at this café, let's start with introductions. I'm Solis. I'm from the Zerta Kingdom, and with a recommendation from the Academy's administrator, I passed the special admissions and enrolled at Purity Academy. Pleasure to meet you all."
"E-Eva Amethyst! Um... you've heard of House Amethyst, of course? I'm the eldest daughter of that very—ah, no, wait, that's not..."
"Marin."
"...Chloe Opal. That's enough of an introduction, don't you think? You've at least heard of my house."
A woman who stuttered horribly through her own introduction, a woman who fired off a single syllable of her name, and a woman who spat venom aimed squarely at me. Heh heh. What a mess.
"Now that introductions are out of the way, let me get to the point. I want to clear up this misunderstanding with you all."
"W-What m-misunderstanding would that be?"
"The part where I was observing her panties."
"Oh."
I pointed a finger at Marin. At my accusation, she raised her hand with a perfectly expressionless face—like a grade-schooler desperate to be called on in class.
"At last, you've realized your wrongdoing and confessed!"
"Eeek, y-you did that?! ...Huh?"
"Please, hear a man out to the very end."
I couldn't shake the feeling that trying to clear one misunderstanding was only breeding a worse one. If I dawdled here, my reputation would end up as utter garbage, so I hurried to explain the situation to them.
"I only looked because Marin herself flipped up her skirt and asked me to. There was no bad intent, I swear."
"Liar! Be honest! You found that Marin girl's weakness and toyed with her, didn't you?! Huh?!"
"If you don't believe me, ask the person involved. Marin, I'm right, aren't I?"
"Yes. I thought it would draw his gaze."
Marin answered without a heartbeat's hesitation. Thank you. Thanks to her, I didn't need to wind my way through some roundabout explanation.
"In the m-middle of the street?! She flipped up her—! No, wait, did I understand that right?!"
Chloe clutched her forehead, visibly anguished. She looked like a woman who simply could not process the situation.
"Still, that's not the point! Other people can see! You two are being a public nuisance!"
"Other people can't see me. Is it only you three who can?"
"EHH!?"
"Yes, it's true. Apart from the three of you here, no one else can see me."
"I-Is it some kind of magic?"
"No. I've been this way since birth. That's all."
"So in other words, rather than public indecency, it was more a case of consensual viewing."
"...Pervert."
"I won't deny that one. But with that, the misunderstanding's cleared up, right?"
The issue Chloe had raised—the accusation that I'd forced some helpless woman to bare herself—was now resolved. With the situation set straight, she wouldn't press the matter any further.
"...Sorry."
"Hm?"
"I-It's just that you enjoy that sort of play, huh. If that's all it was, well..."
Chloe apologized out of nowhere. I'd never once seen her this soft. Awkward as it was to admit, I might have been a little touched.
"You actually believe me? Now that's a surprise. No—if anything, I figured you'd despise me long before you'd ever believe me."
"I still think it's indecent. And a nuisance. But, well... skinship and, um, passionate displays of affection between people who like each other are natural enough."
Ah. Now I knew exactly what she meant. Apparently Chloe had taken Marin and me for a couple—lovers, more or less. By ordinary logic, it's hard to imagine anyone being close enough to show their underwear unless they were intimate.
"We're not lovers. Believe it or not, I'm seeing someone else. Marin just flipped her skirt up, so I blurted out a thank-you and stared. That's all."
"C-Ch-Chloe!"
"Let go, Eva. I'm going to kill that bastard."
Chloe drew her katana and lunged, and Eva barely managed to talk her down, straining to smother the uproar. Our protagonist really does have it rough, huh.
...
Somehow I managed to head off an actual incident, but the problem was what came next. Everyone seemed to have run out of things to say, and an awkward silence settled over the room.
Is there nothing else we could talk about?
With the main cast of the web novel all gathered in one place, breaking up like this felt like a waste, so I wracked my brain for another topic to keep them together.
Come to think of it, isn't now the perfect moment to bring that up?
The knowledge of this world I'd gained from reading the novel cover to cover had become my guidepost.
"By the way, it looks like everyone's finished with class assignments. Have you picked your teams yet?"
Before long, Purity Academy would be holding dungeon expeditions under the banner of practical training. Students would form four-person parties of like-minded comrades and explore artificial dungeons built with the Academy's own technology. This very moment was where the main scenario of Academy Yuri Princess began.
"No. I don't have one."
"I-I'm planning to go with Chloe."
"I'm going with Eva."
"So in the end, none of you managed to fill a team."
In the original story, too, Eva couldn't fill her party with Chloe alone, so the two of them had entered together as a stopgap. Marin, invisible to every other eye, had entered the dungeon by herself. And since I'd known all of that in advance, I made my proposal here, in this room where they'd all gathered.
"If your parties aren't full, then how about the four of us team up right here?"