9. Black and Gold (16)
9. Black and Gold (16)
When Ella arrived at the Golden Carnival's lodgings, she was given Reina's room exactly as it was. The way here felt familiar. As it turned out, the villa they were staying in was right across the street.
She considered sending Gudol to Wonderstein, but decided against it.
Gaston had told her the time they were to contact each other. She only had to wait a little while to speak with him. There was no need to arouse suspicion here by letting a pigeon be seen coming and going.
She lay down on the bed and activated Inspira.
Spirit Link — the ability to share the senses of the animals she kept.
She sent out Jjiksun to scout every corner of the mansion.
In doing so, she ended up eavesdropping on the Golden Carnival troupe members gathered in the lounge.
"Is that man truly in his right mind?"
"He certainly follows our patron's requests to the letter."
"You mean the one about generating a newsworthy story every month?"
"So he kicks Reina out and brings in some girl nobody's ever heard of?"
"Selling a phoenix to buy a chicken."
Ella bristled.
She'd known she wouldn't be a welcome presence here. But dismissing her as a massive downgrade compared to Reina was going too far.
Luckily, the member who'd attended today's entrance exam was present. He came to her defense.
"Don't take your frustrations out on the kid. It's not like she asked to come here. Her skills aren't the issue. She's as good as Reina, or better."
"What? There's another one like Reina?"
"If that accident hadn't happened at the end, Reina would have lost 13 to 12."
"Ha. Two geniuses of that caliber in the same generation? Who'd have thought."
"There's Charlie, too. That makes three."
"Listen. The way she caught the incoming ball was—"
The troupe member laid out Ella's exploits at the school one by one. Surprise flickered across the faces of his listeners.
A private smile tugged at the corner of Ella's mouth as she nodded to herself. Mhm. That's more like it.
But the warm mood turned sour again the moment talk shifted to the draft.
On this point, even Ella had no excuse.
She, too, had never imagined Lord Fantastic would abandon his own daughter and choose her instead. The troupe members felt the same.
"There he goes again."
"Why's he so obsessed with tormenting Reina?"
"Probably some compulsion about being the best."
"Even so, this is too much."
Listening to their conversation, Ella felt relieved.
Every member of the Golden Carnival was already famous. The one who'd dismissed her as a chicken earlier was actually an acrobat she'd admired for a long time.
As a fan — and as a junior in the industry — her honest desire was to get along with them.
However, Lord Fantastic's intentions remained opaque, which made her hesitate.
From the sound of it, though, he hadn't brought her here out of some ulterior scheme. He seemed to have a habit of disciplining his daughter this way — he'd done it many times before.
She was startled that even someone who'd appeared so flawless had shadows. But pity didn't follow.
She couldn't afford to waste sympathy on that. The circumstances of her own school friends were far worse. Getting three square meals a day was blessing enough.
"So, I'll just treat this as a two-week study visit?"
They'd mentioned a group practice tomorrow morning. Just thinking about observing first-rate acrobats train made her hum without realizing it.
She rose from the bed and looked around Reina's room.
It was a villa owned by the Duke, but the room's layout wasn't much different from the place she was staying.
Exercise mats for Ground Acrobatics lined the floor. Light warm-up tools stood in one corner. And beside the head of the bed sat a collection of books.
Familiar covers. Mostly circus magazines.
She figured Reina was a one-track circus lifer just like herself — then noticed something odd.
A fine layer of dust coated the magazines on the shelf. Even last month's issue. It looked as though the books were shelved the moment they arrived and never touched again. Going further back, she found some that hadn't even been unwrapped.
Ella flipped through them.
A few places showed signs of reading. All of those articles shared the same subject. Interviews in which Lord Fantastic mentioned his daughter.
Ella took another look around the room. Several things she'd missed earlier now registered — invisible because they'd been absent.
The room's occupant, unlike her, had no poster of her favorite acrobat on the wall.
The room's occupant, unlike her, had kept no ticket stubs from performances she'd seen.
The room's occupant, unlike her, owned not a single circus souvenir or toy.
Ella pictured her — the girl who responded with coldness to a friendly overture. Who, upon nailing a difficult move, didn't smile, only looked back toward the seats where her father sat. She remembered what fellow acrobats said about the man.
She'd dismissed her as just some dull kid obsessed only with winning. Now, the other girl's face was becoming a little clearer.
'She doesn't do circus because she loves it.'
But in that case, how had she reached such an exceptional level of skill?
Ella felt a swell of jealousy rise in her chest.
She pulled the oldest book from the shelf. The most battered and worn — yet also the one most handled, its pages marked by countless fingers.
It was a family album.
Inside was Reina as a child, striking clumsy acrobatic poses while her father and mother beamed beside her.
'I don't even know my own dad or mom...'
Ella thought of Reina, who was probably with Wonderstein right now, and muttered under her breath, a pout in her voice.
"She should at least be grateful she has a family..."
She couldn't wait for the time she was supposed to talk to her partner.
***
The next morning, Reina arrived at the training grounds early.
Wonderstein watched her come out in her exercise clothes before the sun was even up.
He'd grown accustomed to rising early himself, since Ella always got up at dawn to practice. That hadn't been the case in Rouge, but here there was no helping it — she'd sulk if he didn't assist with morning drills.
Reina had clearly tried to wash away the traces, but the swelling around her eyes from tears was still distinct. She'd likely spent the night crying.
He approached her from behind.
"Shall we follow Miss Ella's usual training regimen?"
She'd just finished her warm-ups and was surveying the training equipment set up in the yard. At his words, her body stiffened for an instant.
Ella.
At the mention of that name, her expression hardened into stone.
Losing to Charlie hadn't stirred any particular feelings toward him personally. But Ella was different. The girl who'd stolen her father. Who'd spent the entire exam chattering about this and that — exactly the kind of circus fanatic she detested.
The training that girl normally did?
Reina ground her teeth, unseen, and turned to face Wonderstein.
"Fine."
The two of them stood facing each other at a distance of about ten meters.
Ella's scheduled morning drill for today was 'board breaking.'
Wonderstein hurled the prepared boards and called out the movements. She followed his directions — shattering boards with a straight punch, splitting them with a knife-hand strike, snapping them in two with a kick.
The boards spun through the air. Unless her attacks landed at exactly the right moment, she'd catch a corner and get hurt. But she smashed through them in sequence, her timing and speed near-perfect.
'I'm competing with her right now. Father is watching.'
She repeated that inwardly and sharpened her focus.
Wonderstein smiled, watching her snatch boards out of the air whether he threw two or three at once, or sent them from multiple angles. Her skill genuinely lived up to her billing as 'the best in the setting.' She handled Ella's training without visible strain.
As two hours passed, the troupe members emerged into the yard for breakfast. They stopped to watch the pair practice.
"That kid's the same age as the deputy and Miss Maya?"
"Looks a few years older to me..."
Everyone nodded at Bandik's remark.
"Anyway, she's a real beauty."
"Right?"
Umon agreed without thinking, and one of the triplets shot him a gotcha grin.
"Umon, you little punk! Lose your head the second you see a pretty older girl, huh?"
"He got all goofy when Maya joined, too..."
"I — I never did that!"
"At first you were following Ella around 'cause you liked her."
"Stop making things up! Grrrr!"
"Yikes! Umon's mad!"
"Scatter!"
"Hehehe!"
The triplets lived for the regular sport of teasing this big, good-natured ten-year-old boy. Umon glanced at Maya, who stood beside him, and fidgeted.
Maya herself — the one he was worried about — merely gave him a sideways glance and paid no further attention. Yurakne stifled a chuckle at the sight of Umon's red skin turning even redder.
Just then, Sven, who'd been quiet, spoke up.
"Ho-ho, now that I think about it, don't they look like father and daughter?"
It was the moment the last board was thrown.
He'd meant nothing by it. The sight of the blond man and woman throwing and striking the boards had reminded him of a dad and daughter playing a friendly game of catch.
Going strictly by the age gap in their appearances, they looked more like older brother and younger sister, of course.
"Ah."
The word 'father and daughter' fractured Reina's concentration. She missed the timing on the final board.
Thwack — the edge of the board glanced off her fist and fell away.
A failure. One board short of a clean sweep.
'I lost again.'
She hunched her shoulders and squeezed her eyes shut. A tremor ran through her body.
It was a reflex ingrained over the last ten years. The instant she made a mistake, a frigid glare would fly straight at her.
But no reprimand came. Instead, cheers and applause followed.
"Incredible! Look at all the broken board pieces scattered around!"
"So this is the girl who beat Ella?"
"Wow, amazing! I couldn't even smash one while it was flying!"
"I can't even break one just standing still holding it!"
Wonderstein approached her with a smile.
"Well done! Heh, you certainly live up to the name Golden Libra."
Reina remembered then: this wasn't the Golden Carnival. This hadn't been a real contest. Her father wasn't watching.
The moment that fact sank in, something like liberation tickled past the hollow of her arm.
She looked up at Wonderstein, who'd extended a hand toward her. Far from scolding her for the mistake at the end, he'd praised her. Judging by the mood of the surrounding troupe members, this wasn't special treatment just because she was a guest.
'So this is the kind of atmosphere she practiced in.'
But in that case, how had she reached such an exceptional level of skill?
Reina felt a swell of jealousy rise in her chest. She shoved Wonderstein's hand aside and got to her feet on her own.
On her way here last night, she'd finally realized. The two figures she'd seen from above a few days ago, climbing the alley hand in hand — a man and a woman.
That laughter. Those voices.
Replaying the memory, she understood now. It had undoubtedly been the troupe leader here, and the girl who'd stolen her place.
She'd told herself her path was different from theirs. She'd looked down on their easy harmony.
And what was this? Defeated even in the acrobatics she'd prided herself on. Her father's expectations, too — snatched away by that girl.
"If practice is over, let's eat together!"
"We prepared all this yesterday as a welcome party for the new member!"
"Ho-ho, I've never sampled it myself, but everyone acknowledges Miss Yura's cooking skill!"
Reina looked at the monster troupe members and the meal laid out on the garden table. An image rose in her mind: Ella, sitting happily surrounded by people who cared about her.
A surge of defiance rose in her. She turned her back toward the building.
"I'll eat in my room alone."
It was exactly the cold, detached persona she normally wore. She threaded through the bewildered troupe members and walked back inside.