The Girl Watches
The girl watched.
She poked her head out from behind a pillar, ever so slightly.
Carefully, so that no one would notice her. Holding her breath, she observed.
Reflected in her eyes were the three people loitering beside the training grounds.
"Sol's Eyes. The worst. I don't want to drink it."
A woman so small she could only be called a kid. She had hair like a patch of clear blue sky, innocent of a single cloud, and she shook her head with a blank, mechanical expression and stiff, robotic movements.
"Father understands. I am a useless, incompetent human. Valedictorian, my ass. Heh heh heh."
A woman crouched alone in the corner. With her long, dark black hair tied neatly, she muttered self-mocking words to herself, as if laughing at her own misery from within her gloom.
Both of them possessed looks and poise so striking it was impossible not to notice them. They stood out from everyone else, so much so that one might wonder why no one around seemed to pay them any attention.
But the girl's gaze did not linger on them. It was drawn, instead, to another woman entirely.
"Tap, tap, follow along! Sol's Eyes is, without a doubt, the greatest drink in the world!"
She thrust her hand high into the air, shouting Sol's Eyes' supremacy to the heavens.
Messy, tangled white hair. Even her clothes hung in complete disarray — a person in whom the word 'composed' could find no home.
And yet, from within that dishevelment, an indescribable beauty bloomed. In her trembling amethyst eyes, a courage burned like flame.
The girl knew her name.
'So this is where you were.'
Eva Amethyst.
She'd heard the rumor that she was enrolling at Purity Academy, but she had never imagined the girl would actually set foot in this place.
"You know how shy our little darling is. Honestly, she depends on people far too much."
"Next time you meet her, be the one to reach out your hand first. Can you promise me that?"
At the sudden memory of those words, the girl's hands pressed against the wall tightened into fists.
She wanted to kick off and run. To throw her arms around Eva as she raised her voice, and whisper into her ear.
I wanted to see you.
To pour out everything in her heart.
'No, no! This is all wrong! Where's any consideration for the other person?!'
Needless to say, all of that had existed only in the girl's imagination. A phantom conjured in a reality that never happened.
She was still standing behind the pillar, watching the group from afar.
'Could I really squeeze in there, between them?'
The girl sank back into her daydream, straining to picture herself wedged among those students.
'No. It won't come.'
But no matter how she tried, the image refused to form. She stuck out among them like a wretched beggar standing in the middle of a crowd in formal dress. Try as she might, she simply could not see herself belonging there.
[Oh my, what are you agonizing over?]
[You will be alone forever, my dear. You are nothing like them.]
A voice tickled its way into her ears. The girl desperately tried to pretend she hadn't heard it, but the voice burrowed deeper, whispering as if to claw out the very core of her.
[Do you really think you could ever fit in? Absolutely impossible.]
[How hilarious. How utterly hilarious. Drenched in so much blood, and still you dare hope for happiness. Kikiki.]
Laughter drifted through the empty air.
The girl took a deep breath, calming her hammering heart as though pumping it back into rhythm, and emptied her dizzying thoughts. The witch's voice melted into the air and vanished almost at once — but her words lodged themselves in the girl's mind like an echo.
'I already know that much.'
Ruining someone else's life, and then daring to wish for happiness of her own. That was greed.
The cruel truth she had learned long ago: for her, even being alive was a sin.
Simply watching from a distance — watching that woman, watching Eva — was already more happiness than she deserved. She knew the right thing was to be content with that.
"Pipsqueak, promise me one thing."
"When our little darling grows up into a fine, dignified lady — become her friend."
"That will pay off the debt you owe me. How about it?"
And yet, she couldn't let it go.
She could not ignore the request of the person who had saved her at the edge of a cliff overlooking hell itself. Guilt and duty — the two emotions collided within her.
Unable to find her bearings in the tangle of her own heart, the girl finally turned her head away.
'That's right. This is enough. Watching over her, making sure she stays safe — that's more than enough for me.'
She wanted to reach out toward that place this very instant, but the courage wouldn't come.
Of course it wouldn't. She didn't belong there.
The students standing alongside Eva were anything but ordinary. Merely enrolling at Purity Academy was enough to be called a genius — and those people were exceptional even among them.
Her eyes told her so. The curse the witch had planted inside her told her so. They were the genuine article, utterly different from a clumsy imitation like herself.
They were blood of the same lineage as Eva, born to the same fate. Truly a perfect match.
Her presence there would only get in the way. It was as plain as day that she would be treated as a suspicious character and regarded with wariness.
'I should go back.'
Confirming that Eva had enrolled at Purity Academy was already a great harvest in itself.
The girl turned to leave.
"What are you doing here?"
"Uwah!"
And then — a man appeared before her eyes. At the sight of the towering, intimidating figure, the girl fell flat on her rear.
A woman hiding behind a pillar, watching Eva and the others. I stood behind her, staring at that very sight.
"Oooooh! Writer, can you see it? She's there! Right there!"
"Like hell I wouldn't be! The character I most wanted to see in all of Purity Academy is standing right in front of me!"
It felt like watching my beloved idol wave hello at me from across the stage. I tried to keep my composure, but my heart just wouldn't settle down.
"Writer, am I seeing things or what? All I can see is the back of her head and her butt, so I can't be sure."
Krwaaaaaagh!
The Writer wailed in outrage. Her fury rode the wind and pricked against my skin.
Ah, yes. Yes, ma'am.
Go ahead, rage all you like. Like I'd so much as blink.
I couldn't hear her answer — but that was fine. That furious reaction of hers, and that modest head of auburn hair. All I could see was her back, but there was no mistaking it.
Arlan Carnelian.
A heroine of Academy Yuri Princess, and the star of its second act. My number one candidate to pair up with Eva.
'Never thought I'd run into her in a place like this.'
My top priority right now was prying Chloe away from Eva, so I hadn't gone looking for her on purpose. Even if I'd pretended to know her, she'd only have grown wary of me, and if I'd tried to force her next to Eva, she'd have only dodged away.
"Hmm. What to do, what to do..."
"I'm thinking about how to link her up with Eva, so don't talk to me for a minute."
Brain, full throttle!
If I played this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity right, I could leap our plan — mine and the Writer's — forward by leaps and bounds. And as it happened, Chloe was still reeling from her pathetic defeat at Marin's hands. If I could use this opening to bind Eva and Arlan closer together, that alone would be a massive win.
'Think, me. There has to be a way.'
I'd read the web novel well past a hundred chapters, and pored over the setting guidebook enough times to memorize it. Put my mind to work, and the perfect approach was bound to surface!
"Writer, didn't I tell you not to talk to me until I came up with a good idea?"
"Mm."
Silence.
That was my answer to the Writer.
She was annoyingly right, so I had nothing to say.
Until now, there'd been no natural opening to connect Eva and Arlan. If I'd explained the situation to Arlan and tried to bring her to Eva's side, she'd have treated me as a suspicious character for sure. And even if I'd told Eva about Arlan, the Eva of today wouldn't remember her — so we'd be right back at square one either way.
Focusing on separating Chloe from Eva was the best I could do.
But now?
Our fair Lady Arlan had descended in person, handing me the perfect opening on a silver platter. Letting her slip away now would be the act of a complete fool.
"Alright, alright. You win — I'll do it your way."
Deliberation concluded and resolve settled, she turned around.
And the timing? Absolute perfection.
"What are you doing here?"
"Uwah!"
Arlan crumpled onto her backside. She must have been startled, sensing no one approach before I was suddenly behind her.
Can't blame her — when I came back from buying drinks earlier, I thought I'd spotted some rat of a person peeking at us, so I crept up on her quietly. Who knew it would come in handy like this?
"Wh-who are you?"
Pushing herself up off the ground with difficulty, she asked who I was.
"That's my line. Why were you spying on my group from the shadows?"
"Your group...?"
Arlan's eyes darted between me and Eva. I gave a firm nod, doing my best to advertise my relationship with Eva.
Judging by her reaction, she must have spotted Eva sometime while I was away from the group.
"I'm sorry. My eyes just drifted over without my meaning to. As you know, that black-haired woman over there is Chloe Opal, the academy's valedictorian. She's quite famous, so I couldn't help but look."
Oh ho, so that's how you plan to slip out of this?
Eva was famous too, but her face wasn't all that well known. The academy students only recognized her because they trailed after Chloe like leeches, and pieced together that she was the eldest daughter of House Amethyst.
For an answer improvised on the spot, it wasn't half bad.
But that little remark of yours? You just handed me the perfect opening.
"So you're interested in Chloe, huh."
"Y-yes! That's right."
"Well, perfect timing, then."
"?"
I grabbed Arlan's hand without a moment's hesitation.
"Come with me. I'll introduce you."