10. Demon in a Bottle (3)
10. Demon in a Bottle (3)
Two mornings after the draft concluded, Ella and I made our way to Tetromino Square.
The reason was a school announcement during yesterday's Rekachev entrance ceremony.
The six great theaters issued every competition participant a set number of complimentary tickets to their own shows as a matter of course.
The Rose Windmill Cabaret was no different.
They provided tickets not only to Halls 2 and 3, where the circus troupes would clash, but also to Hall 1.
Hall 1, however, was an opportunity we never got to use.
The cabaret offered risqué dances and songs for an adult audience.
Ella and Maya couldn't make use of it, and Yurakne, a guileless country woman, was too embarrassed even to consider the place.
Anais had been too swamped with engagements after the opening ceremony to spare the time.
Sven and I were the only ones in any position to go, but when I casually floated the idea of sneaking over after the exams were done, Yurakne, Ella, and Maya hit me with three consecutive Member Quests, and I had to drop it.
Rekachev, like the other theaters, also offered opportunities to watch its performances.
Its approach, however, was unlike the rest.
It was called a theater, but in essence, it was a school.
The only shows it staged were small-scale student productions, rotated periodically by club.
So the school decided to offer the chance to audit classes alongside the usual free tickets.
At yesterday's entrance ceremony, Vice-Principal Elpara had announced that any teenager belonging to a Circus Grand Prix team was entitled to sit in on classes as an auditing student at Rekachev.
The school had its reasons for dropping this announcement mid-competition.
The opening ceremony had been on May 31st.
The following three months—June, July, and August—aligned with Rekachev's summer break, offering no suitable opportunity to make the announcement.
Announcing it before the ceremony would have run the risk of unscrupulous troupes abusing the privilege to take the money and enroll minors en masse.
To prevent that, the school had kept it under wraps until now.
She also laid out the requirements for observing classes.
First, the student's circus troupe had to be currently based in Yeterinpurk.
In other words, a troupe couldn't simply dump the kids off to enjoy school life and then depart for another city.
And, fairly obviously, uniforms had to be worn inside the school grounds.
The professors didn't relish the prospect of hundreds of teenagers in street clothes roaming the halls and unraveling discipline.
The place already had a reputation for a staggering number of injuries; if the atmosphere turned disorderly on top of that, the chaos would spiral out of control.
That uniform regulation was why Ella and I were out in the square today.
She wanted to attend Rekachev's classes, and for that, she needed a uniform.
Of course, I could've simply dressed her in one instantly using the Costume Room feature.
But when money could solve the problem, there was no reason to waste precious Devoluts.
She understood those circumstances too, which was why she'd carved time out of her practice schedule to come buy a uniform in person.
Back when she'd been over at the Golden Carnival's camp, I'd explained why I couldn't keep a voice link open with her constantly.
My magic had finite resources.
The alley next to the school was crammed with shops catering to students.
Props and supplies for magic tricks and acrobatics.
A shoe store advertising the latest high-performance athletic shoes.
A pet shop for the Taming curriculum.
Even the souvenir outlet for Slagbort Confectionery, visible all across the city, had a branch here.
We rummaged through the alley and finally located the uniform shop.
The interior was already swarming with teenagers.
Kids from other troupes, new students, current students—all mingled together.
"Male students, please head to the shop across the way!"
"Female students, this way!"
Clerks wove through the crowd, arms piled high with stiff gym uniforms, calling out directions.
We managed to snag one elderly staff member who shuffled back and forth clutching a limp measuring tape.
She pushed up her thick glasses and scanned Ella head to toe.
"New student?"
"No, auditing!"
"Oho, loud and clear, aren't you. What specialization are you aiming for?"
"Taming!"
"I see."
She traded questions and answers while briskly taking the tape to various points on Ella's body.
"Hips, waist, bust, measurements are... ."
"I'd be grateful if you kept those to yourself!"
Ella glanced over at me, her face coloring, and near-yelled it.
"Very well. You'll be attending for a few weeks?"
"Excluding exam prep period, hm, about a month?"
"Is that so? Then five sets of gym clothes should serve you well."
Ella's eyes went wide at that.
"Five whole sets?"
"Even that's conservative. Students here tear through clothes about as fast as they get injured. Some of them are in for repairs multiple times a week. At Rekachev, gym clothes are consumables."
I lifted a sample set from a hanger.
"Isn't that because the fabric's so flimsy?"
The elderly clerk groused at my remark.
"Aren't you with a circus troupe? Of course the clothes would survive if you made them thick and tough. But then they'd get in the way of acrobatic practice."
"Ah, point taken.".
Ella had never so much as frayed an outfit during any practice session so far.
She routinely pulled off difficult acrobatic feats in the very scarlet tailcoat, skirt, and heels she was wearing even now.
That, however, was a quirk specific to her.
It seemed the average student, even in lightweight gym clothes, was used to scuffed knees, bruised tailbones, and fabric caught and torn open in the course of routine practice.
Because of that, the uniform shop kept its gym stock remarkably deep.
We got everything we needed right there on the spot, no waiting.
"What about those?"
Ella dumped the purchased gym sets into my arms and pointed to a corner of the shop.
There hung white dress uniforms that combined crispness with a touch of flair.
"Those are for attending official ceremonies. An auditing student would hardly ever have occasion to wear one... . You're planning to attend the Freshmen Welcome Party as well?"
"There's something like that? Wonderful! One of those, please!"
"Heh, hold on. Unlike the gym clothes, these need exact measurements to hang properly."
The elderly staffer studied the garments on the rack and shook her head.
"Nothing in stock that'll fit the student perfectly. Unlike the gym wear, these can't be used straight off the rack. They've got to be fitted. Will need some alterations."
"Will it take long?"
"With all these customers right now, I can't do it immediately. Come back in about three hours."
The trip from here back to the villa took an hour and a half each way.
If we went back, we'd have to turn right around and come out again.
So we decided to kill the time somewhere near the square.
"We'll have to eat lunch out, too."
"We will. If we go back, it'll be suppertime."
"Ah, then should we go to that place we went a month ago?"
"You mean that café. Sounds good."
We'd come to the school a few weeks back to submit our exam application.
The food where we'd had dinner that day had been decent.
The old woman who ran the place had been friendly, too.
So we walked through the square together.
She naturally looped her arm through mine.
It had been over a month since she'd lost her memories.
I'd stopped being startled by it and accepted her arm without awkwardness.
Along the way, we passed the confectionery factory we'd visited the previous weekend.
She'd been sneaking glances at my reaction, then pointed at a banner hung outside.
"Oh, look! Slagbort sells custom-order cakes for special occasions now."
"So they do."
Her expression tightened slightly at my neutral response.
"Mm... ."
"Is something the matter?"
"No, it's not— I mean, do you suppose custom-order cakes taste better?"
"Probably. Though if you use too many decorative ingredients, it might throw off the balance somewhat."
Even that answer earned a vaguely dissatisfied look, and she muttered under her breath.
"...Right?"
She walked on in silence for a good while after that.
She'd been cheerful when we started walking together.
Now her mouth was clamped shut, annoyed at something.
Just as I was about to press her on why, she abruptly spoke.
"Come to think of it, it'll soon be exactly one year since I left my hometown."
"Has it been that long already?"
Five months had passed since I'd crossed into this world.
At that point, she and Wonderstein had known each other about half a year, so one year sounded right.
"Remember?"
She stole a glance at me.
"The day I left the village was my birthday."
"Ah, was it?"
I nodded, then froze as understanding dawned on me.
If her birthday had been a year ago...?
I finally realized what she'd been getting at.
I threw my head back and let out a bright laugh.
"Ha ha ha ha."
"Hmph. What's so funny? Why are you laughing?"
She must've figured out why I was laughing too, because her lips twitched into a small smile even as she kept shooting me glares.
['Member Quest - Birthday Cake' has been activated.]
The system chimed in with a Member Quest notification.
I could hazard a guess why it hadn't triggered before now, despite her wishes being painfully obvious.
It must've been because two conflicting desires had been warring inside her.
'Hoping I'd pick up on it without being told,' and 'wanting a cake for her birthday.'
Those two wishes had clashed, suppressing the Member Quest, until I satisfied the first one—which let the second one surface and activate.
I moved softly over to where she stood with her lips still stuck out in a slight pout.
"I'm sorry. I can't believe I forgot Miss Ella's birthday."
She hesitated a moment, then shook her head.
"It's not only about the birthday."
"Pardon?"
She let out a small sigh.
Deep disappointment settled over her face.
"When you think about it, that day is also the founding anniversary of our circus troupe. The day you and I started traveling together."
"Ah."
I understood then the source of the disappointment in her expression.
To the two of us, that day held a significance far deeper than a mere birthday.
Sulking, she strode on ahead of me.
Before I could follow, another Member Quest window popped up, blocking my path.
['Member Quest - You Don't Know What Day Today Is?' has been activated.]
It was from her, all right.
The condition was simple.
I had to soothe her irritation before we reached the café.
I frantically placated her and managed, just barely, to complete the quest twenty seconds before we arrived.
In return, she demanded that I feed her lunch with my own hands.
It was the sort of demand that turned the speaker's own face bright red from sheer awkwardness, but with the café a mere twenty meters ahead, I had no choice but to accept.
Once we stepped inside the café, we discovered an unexpectedly welcome face.
A pale, white-faced girl in a sweater and suspender skirt sat demurely at a table, a beret on her head.
"Maya!"
Ella called out to her with genuine delight.
"Troupe Leader. Deputy Leader."
Her voice, greeting us, was remarkably flat.
"Is this the place you come to every day? This café? Is it good?"
"It's not exactly about the food."
Behind them, the expression on the face of the elderly owner bringing out the menus grew deeply crestfallen.
"I have business around the square, so I end up sitting here for long stretches."
I spotted the patterns she was floating in the air, and the diagrams sketched in her notebook, and realized what she was researching.
The riddle of the Tetromino Square paving.
"Ah, that thing."
I pointed at it, about to say something knowing, but she cut me off flatly.
"I'll handle it myself. Don't interfere."
I withdrew, feeling distinctly awkward.
Why the cold shoulder?
It was enough to make me wonder whether her Affection level for me had glitched.
The food arrived shortly after we'd ordered.
The elderly owner set our meals down in front of Ella and me.
"There we are. Let's eat well."
Just as I was about to pick up my spoon, I noticed Ella staring fixedly at me.
She'd folded her arms without touching her own spoon.
Maya, not understanding why, glanced between us.
Ah.
My promise to her.
At that moment.
The third Member Quest of the day popped up.
['Member Quest - Ah~' has been activated.]