13. Circus Charlie (11)
13. Circus Charlie (11)
The moment Ella arrived at the school, she sprinted straight for her teacher's room. Friends called out greetings as she passed, but she barely acknowledged them, offering at most a distracted nod. Her mind was entirely consumed with how to persuade him.
When she pushed open the door and stepped inside, she found an old man sitting in a chair and a girl in an apron winding fresh bandages around his face.
"Ella, you're back?"
The brown-haired girl welcomed her with a warm smile. Her name was Anna, and her narrow, gentle eyes gave her a perpetually kind, approachable air.
"Was it time to change your bandages, Teacher?"
Ella's voice was perfectly innocent. In truth, she had already scouted ahead with Gudol and knew exactly who was in the room.
Along with Charlie, Anna was one of the oldest students here and had taken on the role of the school's caretaker. She cooked breakfast and dinner for the children, mended the clothes they tore during practice, and sometimes ran errands outside the village in the teacher's stead.
Because of this, the teacher found it hard to refuse her requests. Some of the children, knowing this, would go to her first whenever they needed a favor from him. She always lent them a willing ear, and most of them followed her lead without question—she was, after all, the closest thing they had to an eldest sister.
Ella figured persuading the teacher would be far easier with Anna in the room. She had deliberately timed her arrival to coincide with the bandage change.
"How was today's show? Make any money?"
"Of course. I landed a huge fish!"
Anna's eyes crinkled knowingly at her confident reply.
"Heh, judging by that look on your face... someone offered you a recruitment deal again, didn't they?"
"Huh? How did you know?"
"The others told me earlier. Said you were with some out-of-towner."
Ella glanced toward the teacher. His bandages concealed most of his face, but she caught the slight upward twitch at the corner of his mouth.
Tch. So he already knew.
"A bunch of tattletales."
"I would've figured it out even if they'd kept quiet."
The old man rose from his seat, his bandages now freshly replaced, and addressed her in a crisp, ringing voice. He pointed over his shoulder at the window and chuckled dryly.
"With Gudol lurking right outside the window like that, how could I possibly not know?"
Ella's face settled into a small pout. Of course he'd notice. He had an uncanny knack for sensing the presence of animals.
"So, have you already made up your mind?"
"No. To be honest, I'd only just heard the story from Anna right before you walked in. I asked her what was going on because I was wondering why you had Gudol spying on me. Well then—tell me, Ella. Where is it this time? I heard it's a young man. Don't tell me he's from some cabaret, like the last one."
"Oh, come on. If that were the case, I wouldn't have rushed back here like this. I don't want to go anywhere near those places either."
Ella was the only student here who spoke informally to Willy. Unlike the others, she had been raised with him as if he were her own grandfather ever since she was a baby, and that familiarity shaped how she addressed him.
Willy, for his part, had an immense soft spot for Ella. No matter how sternly he tried to handle a situation, the moment she beamed and called him "Grandpa," his anger dissolved. Some of the other children had learned to hide behind her whenever they sensed the teacher's temper flaring.
Ella told the two of them all about the man she had met today—Wonderstein. Throughout the story, she kept shooting sidelong glances at Anna, signaling for her to help with the persuasion.
"So? Not bad, right?"
But when Ella finished speaking, Anna's expression was dubious. She tilted her head.
"Hmm, don't you think it's a little dangerous?"
"What? Why?"
"Think about it. It's already odd for someone that young to be founding a circus on his own, and then his first recruitment target is a fifteen-year-old girl? That's suspicious. What if he's the type who preys on young girls? We've seen people like that before."
"B-but this man is nothing like those creeps! He recognized my taming show for what it was!"
"Maybe he was just feeding you empty flattery. Saying you've got a good impression, that he sees talent..."
"I'm telling you, it wasn't like that!"
Ella beat her chest in frustration at Anna's persistent skepticism.
She knew Anna was only speaking out of genuine concern, but all she could think about was the teacher shutting the whole thing down because of it.
Then Willy, who had been listening quietly throughout her story, finally spoke. Ella fixed him with a defiant glare, ready to argue no matter what he said. But what came out of his mouth caught both her and Anna completely off guard.
"If you like him, go ahead."
"Teacher?"
Anna looked stunned. She had never seen him accept a recruitment offer so readily. Even proposals from famous circus troupes never passed without him meticulously reviewing the contract, explaining the pros and cons to the student in question, securing their agreement, and only then making a decision.
Ella stared at him blankly for a moment. She hadn't expected this at all.
"Uh, Grandpa, are you serious? You're not just messing with me, right? This isn't some new joke setup, is it? You're not about to add, 'Of course, you'd need ten tons of gold as a signing fee,' or something like that?"
"I mean it. So... well, if he saw through your taming performance to that degree, then it seems I can indeed trust you with him. Although I'll make the final decision after seeing his face in person a few weeks from now."
"Really? No take-backs? You can't change your story later."
Ella bounced out of the room, giddy with excitement. Anna shot Willy a look demanding further explanation, but he merely shook his head, signaling he had no intention of saying more on the matter.
Once Anna had left as well, Willy let out a long sigh and rose to his feet. He leaned against the window frame and gazed out at the distant desert hills.
He replayed the story Ella had just told him, snorting quietly in amusement. Staring into the darkening sky, he murmured to himself.
"A handsome blond man. Wonderstein. Still wearing that face, are you? The face of someone you despise?"
***
News that Ella had received a recruitment offer spread through the school in no time. But contrary to her own excitement, the other children reacted with indifference.
"A one-man circus troupe?"
"Some unknown magician in his twenties? Sounds shady."
"The teacher said he'd decide after seeing his face in a few weeks. He probably just didn't want to argue with you, right? Since the guy probably won't even show up."
"Hey, you got scammed."
Their skepticism wasn't unreasonable. They had all watched the teacher be excruciatingly meticulous about contracts for years. Several of them had even received offers themselves, only to have them fall through because of his objections.
So the teacher was just going to hand over Ella—whom he treasured like his own granddaughter—to some random drifter?
It was incomprehensible. Every time Ella brought it up, the others either snickered or tossed out mocking jokes.
August, the oldest boy after Charlie, was the worst offender. He still called her by her childhood nickname, "Pipsqueak Ella," and never missed a chance to tease her. Each time he did, of course, he was rewarded with a furious kick from her. But he always just cackled and took the hits with a grin, thoroughly enjoying himself.
From the corner, Viola watched their brawling and shook her head.
"With that approach, August's going to stay a bachelor forever, isn't he?"
Veronica, who had half-wiped off her clown makeup, nodded with a thoroughly unimpressed expression.
"If he wants her attention, he should try a different tactic. What's all this? Picking fights, clowning around..."
"He'll be stuck in the friend zone for life."
"Guess he's fine with that, the hopeless idiot."
At Veronica's scoffing remark, Viola clicked her tongue wistfully. If August actually managed to win Ella over and carry her off, that would leave the spot beside Charlie wide open for her...
But she lacked the courage to make any bold move toward Charlie herself, so she was left with no choice but to wait and hope he'd eventually give up on Ella on his own.
Meanwhile, in another corner of the common room, Anna was inspecting the luggage the children had packed, her voice sharp.
"Mickey! What's wrong with you? You've only got three spare sets of clothes! I told you to wash them in advance, didn't I?"
"It's fine, I know my way around the Vegas streets. I'll just head to the clothing market by the east gate and swipe some."
"You little—! You swore you'd never touch thieving again once you started learning circus work!"
Anna grabbed Mickey, who was standing there awkwardly, and tugged at his cheek.
"Ow, ow! I was joking, Anna! I'll wash them! I will! If I wash them now, they'll be dry by tomorrow night!"
Anna had been with the school since its earliest days, but she had never possessed much natural talent for acrobatics. She still struggled with the basics—her skills lagged even behind Mickey's, who had arrived not long ago.
Of course, Mickey had spent his childhood picking pockets in the market streets of Vegas, which gave him a faster grasp of acrobatics than anyone except Ella and Charlie.
At some point, Anna had recognized that gap in talent and taken on the caretaker role as her own. Unable to make it as a performer, she sought another way to contribute to the school.
The red blotches covering half her face had come about for the same reason. Back when she used to go out and perform on the streets, she had once accepted a bleaching agent from a dye factory as payment for a show. She'd meant to share it during the group laundry session.
She hadn't realized it was an industrial chemical that needed to be diluted. The merchants had told her it was the best product they had, and she'd simply assumed it was an expensive detergent. She poured it into the communal wash water, and by the time the laundry was done, the children's hands were swollen and puffy. Anna herself, who had splashed the water directly onto her body, suffered chemical burns that peeled the skin from her flesh.
Time had healed much of her skin since then, but the scars of new flesh remained indelible.
Mickey felt a stab of guilt every time he saw those burn marks. Everyone else believed she'd tried to wash herself with the chemical and caused an accident, but in truth, Mickey had been fooling around and knocked over the basin of bleach-water onto her.
That was why he was so unusually meek around her.
After the accident, she had given up on the stage for good. But she hadn't despaired. She hadn't grown jealous of the other children. Instead, she supported her friends in every way she could outside of performance, and now she was working hard toward a different dream.
Given the nature of the work, she couldn't go around telling people openly—the teacher was the only one who knew—but she was currently in the apprentice training track to become an evaluator for the Christian Guide.
It had been the teacher who set it up for her, using his connections out of regret that she'd had to abandon the acrobat's path.
Her frequent trips to other towns over the past year, under the pretext of running errands for him, had been for that purpose. Now, with only a few weeks remaining, the entire fifteen-month-long process was nearly at its end. Soon she would be a full-fledged evaluator for the Christian Guide.
The final assignment was to attend the "Theater District Festival" in Vegas in a few days, observe the performances, and submit a report on them.
The timing was perfect.
The day after tomorrow was the one day each year when the entire circus school went on a joint field trip to that very festival.