Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: For Tomorrow☆ (4)
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“Oh—! Hohohoho! Judging by this delightful reaction… it seems the minds of mere mortals lack the space to contain my noble form! I shall graciously forgive you! Hmph~”
Shimmering blonde hair.
Glowing red eyes.
Delicately protruding fangs.
A casual dress, its hem revealing her calves.
“Ho—hohoho!”
The suddenly-appeared vampire girl stood in the center of the grand conference hall, striking a pose to show off her noble figure. She looked like she was trying to imitate an ancient Greek statue.
‘But she’s just going to have to sit down again… Why on earth…?’
Hilde, who needed to proceed with the meeting, spoke.
Her voice was gruff, yet tinged with weariness.
“…Take your seat, [The Amber Mist].”
“Hoh—! Hohoho! Brynhildr! To command me—how truly rude—! As one in a position of brilliance, I understand your duty to lead others. But to deprive these mortals of the chance to admire my form, the noblest incarnation of the night and the very pinnacle of beauty…! You are a cruel one indeed!”
“…Astrid. No one is doing that.”
“Hohoho!! Of course—!! For in all of creation, there exists no being who could despise my beauty—!! Now, gaze to your hearts' content, you mortals—!”
“…Astrid. No one wants to stare at you. If you do not take your seat, I will consider you absent from the first joint conference.”
“Hmph…! What a bore! To think I went to the trouble of preparing seventeen performances, the likes of which you mortals could never even imagine, all to celebrate your love—!”
“…I’ll accept the sentiment.”
“Hmph, you’re no fun.”
Hilde pressed her fingers to the corners of her eyes and rubbed.
“Huuu…”
A weary sigh, something truly rare to hear from Hilde. But Astrid paid it no mind and began to walk proudly toward her seat.
The cheerful sound of her shoes.
*Click.*
*Clack.*
With each step, the girl’s voluminous blonde hair swayed, releasing the scent of cheap soap. A sharp minty fragrance, the kind you’d find in a public facility or in relief supplies…
‘She’s not a real noble, just a girl from an ordinary family…’
Looking closely, one could see that the light-colored midi dress she wore had sloppy finishing and faintly discolored spots. In terms of quality, you could believe it had been pulled from a clothing donation bin.
Overwhelming looks and confidence. It was those two things that perfected the image of a chuunibyou girl cosplaying as a dense noble, making her Astrid, [The Amber Mist].
“Fufu~”
Astrid twirled a lock of blonde hair around her finger, her red eyes searching for anyone who might be admiring her.
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
The mood…
We had all grown tired of playing along with her cosplay for so long. We subtly averted our gazes from her sparkling red eyes.
“…”
Even Skadi, a third-year who had never met Astrid before, seemed to have grasped her troublesome nature from her entrance alone and was looking away.
Skadi muttered under her breath.
“Why are all the [Unique Aether] users in Academy City…”
Well, she had a point.
Except for me, the ordinary pink-haired girl, I had to agree they all had quite the personality.
‘Is it because I’ve been stirring things up? Everyone seems even more unrestrained and vibrant than in the original story…’
Even Alvitt, sitting next to me, was silently bowing her head, trying to avoid eye contact.
…
‘She’s not a bad kid… just a bit tiring.’
Mosquitoes… Vampire girls tended to be attention-seekers, but Astrid was on another level.
Haze Girls' High School was located in the fog-filled northwestern forest, the most geographically isolated of the nine allied schools.
‘Maybe she has a complex from being stuck in a corner, because she always pulls some kind of stunt whenever she’s out…’
[The Amber Mist], Astrid, was its representative. Unlike Vel, who knew when to stop, her role-playing was endless.
Even I, who felt a certain parasocial bond with her as a gamer, found it difficult to constantly play along with her cosplay.
Well… aside from that…
There was nothing particularly strange or bad about Astrid. You just had to moderate the amount of attention you gave her, and she was like a potted orchid that grew well on its own.
Just as everyone was thinking this, a metallic sound echoed through the grand conference hall.
*Click—!*
Everyone turned to look.
Hilde was pulling a watch from her pocket. A luxurious silver light glinted from the pocket watch in her hand.
*Gulp—*
Astrid, thinking the watch was very ‘ladylike,’ swallowed and stared at it intently.
“Wh-what an elegant timepiece…”
“…”
Of course, Hilde noticed the stare but ignored it.
“…”
After checking the time, Hilde hesitated for a moment, then spoke in a business-like tone.
“…Hmph, it seems we’ve been delayed. There was an event scheduled to take place before the meeting, but we will postpone it.”
“Ahaha…☆”
I let out a small laugh, but inwardly, I was breaking out in a cold sweat.
‘Do we… really have to do that? Can’t we just say the congratulations from earlier were enough?’
The representatives of the nine schools. The ten students gathered here began the meeting, their eyes shining.
\*
It was time for each of us to speak about the strange situations we had witnessed in Academy City. Brief reports from the representatives of each school followed.
The representative of Hel Annex High School, the second-year Knight Commander, Helina.
Clad in gloomy black armor, Helina spoke a single sentence, her voice muffled and booming from within her helmet, and concluded her report.
“…No abnormalities on the dark side of the World Tree's roots.”
“I see.”
*Huuu— Psshh—*
“…”
Then she sat down with an exhale.
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
The four of us who had reached the Apex or higher stared at her for a while. But Helina remained unfazed by our gazes.
‘Oho, she’s a [Unique Aether] user and everyone knows it, yet she maintains a poker face? She’s weaker than us, but she controls her presence well…’
Finally, it was our turn.
Hilde looked our way and said.
“Then, it is Central Prism Academy’s turn.”
“Yes, it’s a pleasure to meet you all officially. I am Alvitt, the student council president of Central Prism Academy.”
“Waaa—☆ Applause—☆”
“S-Senior?!”
*Clap, clap, clap.*
“H-Huh? Should we be clapping now?”
“Hyaah!! Three claps, let’s go!!”
*Clap, clap, clap.*
A few students, swept up in the mood, joined in and applauded.
Alvitt shot me a dumbfounded look. But Hilde glanced our way with a fond expression before telling Alvitt to continue with her report.
“First of all, our school is very small, so we haven’t had any trouble or incidents on our grounds… but we have witnessed most of the major events. To start from the beginning, one of our students was caught up in the mass kidnapping incident that began early in the first semester.”
Alvitt’s presentation, which followed, was surprisingly diligent.
She recounted the incidents Central Prism Academy had pursued and witnessed during the first semester… and the reasons they had sought to help.
As they listened, the eyes of Eir, Freyja, Anna, and Astrid lit up with a look of considerable approval.
‘Well, due to circumstances, she can’t talk about instigating the Mimir Industrial High School airship rampage… but thanks to us going around helping people for free, we’ve suddenly secured the position of a trustworthy third party.’
In truth, Hilde already knew about most of these matters from her phone calls with me.
But she didn’t interrupt, listening patiently to Central Prism Academy’s story.
Alvitt finally concluded her presentation.
“That is all for my report. …Senior Clara, you don’t have to clap.”
“Ah, you caught me—☆”
Alvitt shot me a glare, then bowed and returned to her seat. Anna, Eir, Freyja, and Skadi, who had either been helped by us or had a good impression, spoke as if proud of her.
“Ooh, a first-year is the student council president over there? That’s so cool~”
“Rushing to help whenever they see injustice… Hehehe, she’s got potential.”
“Fufufu, that’s our proud junior—☆”
“W-Well… w-we did receive help from Central Prism Academy in the end… H-Honestly, I think they were more helpful than Gjallarhorn.”
“…Not bad. It’s good to have neighbors who can uphold morality. Though it’s a shame Maya uses it as a hideout when she skips class.”
Ah…
Maya, you got caught skipping class…☆
“F-Finally, I suppose it’s Public Vana Boarding School…”
The last report, of course, was from Public Vana Boarding School, which had been at the center of the first semester’s biggest event.
Things had been so complicatedly messed up.
Even with their best efforts to summarize, there was no end to it.
Still, you could see traces of their efforts to organize and present a summary everywhere.
It was like watching a PowerPoint presentation with purple illustrations that came to life, using all sorts of magic.
“Hah, haah…”
Freyja finished her long presentation with a weary face.
“Th-That’s all… for the d-details of this incident… A-Any questions?”
Eir raised her hand.
“Uh… so what’s the damage report? Honestly, it was too long, I couldn’t follow.”
“Th-The northwest of the Golden District is completely wrecked… The aristocratic faction leadership was wiped out… The research faction is cleaning up the mess… 30% of Public Vana Boarding School’s public funds have vanished… a-and they signed a document saying, ‘We will never act up again’…”
“Aha. Got it. You’re good at explaining.”
“A-Anyway, because of that, Public Vana Boarding School p-probably won’t be able to hold a summer-autumn festival this year…”
“Want us to do it for you? The kids said the Rampage Festival we held last time was a big hit.”
“N-No, thank you…”
The machinations of the Eastern Alliance and Ratatoskr.
Once the report summarizing that incident was over, Katrin, who was attending as the acting representative for Svart Industrial High School, turned pale and lowered her head.
‘Well, they say she didn’t actively follow Andrea’s orders… but she must be terrified. She has to face the resentment for the damage her seniors caused.’
If it were me, I would have been too scared to even show up and take the heat. The fact that she came here to nominally hold the representative position was quite respectable.
Skadi seemed to feel the same way about Katrin, as she crossed her arms and offered some quiet advice.
“…Hmph. The responsibility is yours now. No one here is going to harm you, so raise your head. That’s your job here.”
“…Yes, ma’am.”
As we exchanged information and damage reports about Ratatoskr, we truly began to share information as a ‘union.’ This was undoubtedly a situation where we had united far more quickly than in the original story.
‘I’m glad we could have this meeting…’
\*
“…”
Before me was a white wedding dress.
Somehow, it was sized to fit my measurements with spine-chilling accuracy. The atmosphere, adorned with pink ribbons and embroidery, was like something a bride on a fresh spring day would wear.
And next to it was another dress, this one with a restrained design, embroidered in silver and blue.
“…”
No…?
This isn’t… that, is it…?
Tell me it’s not.
But Hilde wrapped an arm around my shoulders and whispered sweetly.
“…I couldn’t get your proper measurements, so I referenced some old records. Sorry…”
“…”
“Let’s receive everyone’s blessings…”
Hey…
Th-This is a bit…