Academy Entrance Ceremony (2)
Academy Entrance Ceremony (2)
"Haaaah...."
The Academy's entrance ceremony for the newly admitted nobles was just about to start, yet I was killing time in the restroom, even though I should have been heading in any second.
It wasn't a stomachache.
I'd holed up in here because...
'I've stalled this long. You'd think she'd take the hint and leave by now... Crown Princess.'
...the Crown Princess was waiting right outside.
So I was dragging it out until the last possible moment, hoping she'd get tired of waiting and slip away on her own.
If I ran into her again, she'd obviously end up escorting me into the hall.
That was a future I wanted to avoid at all costs—I wanted as little to do with the Crown Princess as possible.
But knowing her personality, she wasn't about to take the hint and leave.
If she had an ounce of tact, she would never have kept approaching me every Founding Festival.
The thought of that shameless Crown Princess made my lips curl.
'Seriously, why is she so fixated on me? I really do need to become an adventurer as soon as possible—even if it's just because of her.'
* * * * * *
A little before I barricaded myself in the restroom.
We'd entered the Academy grounds and were walking along, chatting with one another.
"It really takes me back... It feels like just yesterday I was walking around with Mar in our uniforms."
"Oh. Now that you mention it, I'm a little curious to see Albert in her uniform. I bet it looks amazing on her."
"Yeah? Then I'll try it on for you sometime. I still haven't thrown mine out."
"Really? I can't wait. Heehee. Charl, what about you? Did you throw yours out?"
"Me? I haven't thrown mine out yet either. ...Do you want to see it? Me in my uniform."
"Yeah!"
"...Heh. Very well. If you want to see it that badly, Yune, I don't mind wearing it just for you."
We were happily chatting about Academy uniforms when Maman clicked her tongue, clearly displeased.
"Yune. What's so appealing about grown women in school uniforms?"
"But I want to see it? Oh. Actually, I might want to see you in one too, Maman."
"...!?"
Thinking about my sisters in their uniforms naturally got me curious about hers, so I said it.
Maman's eyebrows shot up for a moment, but then she smiled a bittersweet smile and placed a hand on my head.
"Ahem. As much as I'd like to grant your request, your mother is forty-two already. I'm long past the age for an Academy uniform—in more ways than one."
"Tsk. I bet it would look really good on you, though."
"...Do you genuinely want to see me in a uniform? I doubt anyone would want an old lady like me dressing up like that."
"But you're the most beautiful woman in the world, Maman. I'm sure it would look incredible... well, if you say no, I guess that's that."
Maman had refused, saying it was a bit much to wear a uniform at her age.
I clicked my tongue in regret but said I understood, and Maman's eyes darted rapidly left and right. She checked the expressions on my sisters' faces, then kept stroking my head with a blank expression.
-Shff, shff.
"It's kind of you to say so. But as a noble of the Empire, I cannot show myself in public dressed like that."
"I wasn't just saying it... fine."
I let her soothing strokes calm my disappointment.
When the conversation ended, my two sisters, who'd been watching us intently, let out sighs.
"Phew...."
"Hm? What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Even if it's Mother, there's no way she actually would. Heheh."
"Right. The Head of House is a woman of her years. An Academy uniform wouldn't suit her. Heh."
Albert laughed brightly, looking relieved. Charl pulled up one corner of her mouth in a smile that was almost victorious.
And then...
-Shh.
Maman took advantage of both sisters' attention being on me to raise a finger to her lips, the corner of her mouth tugging into a mischievous smile.
I didn't get why everyone was smiling... but seeing my family smile made me happy, too.
So I broke into the brightest, most unstoppable smile I could manage.
-Beaming.
* * * * * *
Chatting like that, before we knew it, only twenty minutes remained until the ceremony.
It was about time to head inside. We quickened our pace toward the building where it would take place.
And then. The corners of my mouth, which had been lifted in joy just moments before, dropped straight down.
'Eep?! What? Why is the Crown Princess here?'
Because the Crown Princess was leaning against the wall in front of the building with her arms crossed.
I sucked in a sharp breath and stopped, and her gaze immediately locked onto me.
"What a coincidence, Yune! ...Hm? The Grand Duchess is here too."
'I thought maybe it'd be okay since she's in uniform, but that wand is still there...!'
The Crown Princess greeted me like she'd been waiting.
My vision went dark the moment I saw her attire.
She'd slightly loosened the front of her sacred Academy uniform to openly display the heart-shaped Magical Girl Wand tucked between her breasts.
When I was ten, I'd presented that Magical Girl Wand to the Kaiserin at the Founding Festival. And the Kaiserin had appeared at the festival with it wedged between her breasts.
After that, high society was thrown into upheaval. After all, the Kaiserin herself had debuted an accessory no one had ever seen before.
I wish the upheaval had ended there. But that wand became a trend in high society for a while afterward.
How dizzy I'd felt at the next Founding Festival, seeing most women walking around with jewel-studded wands stuck between their breasts.
That sight left eleven-year-old me traumatized. It also filled me with shame—knowing my rash actions had led the Empire down that degenerate path.
Fortunately, the trend died down before long... but the Kaiserin and the Crown Princess stubbornly stuck to that accessory.
I understand the Kaiserin doing it—she literally can't separate herself from it. But why that girl walks around like that, I have no idea.
When the Crown Princess was eleven, the wand had been loose, threatening to fall out at any moment. Over time, it became firmly secured by her fuller chest. Which only made it more problematic.
So I'd had no choice but to avoid the Crown Princess all this time. Because every time I saw her, I was hit with a wave of guilt—guilt that I'd corrupted the Empire's sun and its rising sun into shameless women who walked around with Magical Girl Wands stuck in their chests.
That wand—the symbol of my dark history and my sins.
I glanced briefly at the pink heart poking out from the Crown Princess's chest, then averted my eyes as always.
'Ugh, what is that? Doesn't this place have school rules or something? Isn't that a violation?'
But Maman greeted the Crown Princess warmly, as if her getup wasn't a problem at all.
"I greet the Crown Princess."
"...I greet you."
When Maman greeted her, I had no choice but to follow suit, though I absolutely refused to meet her eyes.
Afterward, Maman glanced around the Crown Princess's vicinity.
"By the way, why are you standing here without any escort knights? Has something happened?"
"No. Bringing an escort feels stifling, you see. And if I loiter inside, it'll obviously make the other nobles uncomfortable. So I was out here killing time while admiring nature... but as luck would have it, I ended up being the first to see Yune in his uniform. Fortune favors me."
The Crown Princess had been waiting outside the building to avoid making other nobles uncomfortable.
I bit my lip at her pretentiousness.
'What? The nobles would be uncomfortable? Am I not a noble?'
I'd avoided the Crown Princess every time I saw her, but she'd persistently tried to talk to me anyway. If Kir hadn't helped me, I might have even been forced to dance with her once, halfway through a festival.
The Crown Princess had clung to me obsessively, making every single Founding Festival unbearably uncomfortable.
And now she says she's considerate of nobles? Hah. She can't even be considerate of me, the youngest son of a Grand Ducal House, so sure, I'll believe that.
But rotten or not, she's still the Crown Princess. I couldn't exactly shout "Liar!" in her face.
I puffed out my cheeks, showing the maximum amount of discontent I could manage.
But as always, the more I openly showed my discomfort, the more she smiled.
"The ceremony will start soon, and I think we're the only ones who haven't entered. Let us go together."
"...."
'Don't tell me she's been waiting in front of this building this whole time just to run into me so we could enter together?'
And when she suggested we accompany each other into the hall, I struggled to keep my expression from crumbling.
'...So that's how you want to play it? Then I have my own methods, you know.'
"I appreciate the offer, but... I fear I cannot accompany you. I have an urgent matter to attend to."
I immediately switched to the polite, formal voice I reserved just for her.
When I smiled with my eyes, as if I were truly sorry I couldn't join her, the Crown Princess raised an eyebrow.
"I see... I thought you might say that. So, what is it this time? Explain this 'matter' of yours."
I'd used that excuse to slip away several times at Founding Festivals before, so the Crown Princess crossed her arms and stared at me, as if asking what I'd come up with this time.
"...Must I really explain what my business is?"
"Yes. I'd very much like to hear it, if you please. If it's something I can help with, I'll help."
'You've fallen for it. My ultimate technique!'
The Crown Princess had casually offered to "help" without knowing what I was about to say.
I probably couldn't shake off her fixation through normal means. I'd already used up every standard excuse at least once.
But... even the Crown Princess, brazen as she is, wouldn't be able to cling to me after hearing this, right?
"I meant I'm going to take a piss. 'Attending to a matter' can also mean a trip to the restroom."
"Cough?! Th-that kind of matter?!"
The Crown Princess looked appalled the moment I finished. My family members coughed dryly and turned their heads away.
It was a natural reaction for women—I'd straight-up used the word "piss." A typical young nobleman would never, or almost never, say it so directly.
But I'm not some prissy generic young nobleman—I'm a manly man. I felt not an ounce of embarrassment or hesitation about saying I was going to take a piss.
Still, pretending to be embarrassed seemed like it'd be more effective.
So I lowered my head slightly and looked up at her, letting my voice tremble just a little.
"...So you did know what it meant, Crown Princess? And yet you forced me to say it out loud. How terribly cruel of you...."
"Cough! Khm! Khm!!"
'Yes! Get more flustered! And run away!!'
Once I finished, the Crown Princess coughed over and over in embarrassment.
Inside, I was smiling triumphantly.
"So, as I said. I shall go attend to my business. I am most terribly sorry to refuse your offer of escort, Crown Princess...."
"...Do you know the way?"
"Huh."
But the Crown Princess's counterattack turned my expression the color of dirt.
"Th-that is. My family can guide me...."
"No. Even if it was unintentional, I've put a gentleman through such humiliation—I must make amends somehow. As the Crown Princess, I shall personally guide you through the Academy. Follow me."
So the Crown Princess proposed to me: I'm sorry I made you say such a thing. In return, I'll personally show you around the Academy.
If I accepted this, I'd have to walk around the Academy with that pink-haired obsessive who strolls around with a Magical Girl Wand stuck in her chest.
Kir would hit the ceiling, and I hated the idea with every fiber of my being.
I racked my brain trying to find a way out...
'...I can't refuse this, can I?'
If I refused with some excuse now, she'd obviously get angry—'The Crown Princess humbled herself before you, and you ignore that? You cur!'
I looked around with pleading eyes, but the people nearby just smiled fondly, not understanding why I was acting that way.
"For the Crown Princess to personally guide Yune around... Good heavens. What an incredible honor for him."
'Even Maman?!'
Even Maman nodded and pushed me forward from behind, so I spoke in a tearful voice.
"Th-then for now, please show me to the restroom...."
"My. You must really be in a hurry. Let's move quickly."
'That's not it, you flipped-over failed pancake of a Crown Princess...!'
* * * * * *
After that, I holed up in the restroom, trying to avoid my inevitable fate. Unlike me, restless and on edge, the Crown Princess happily chatted and laughed with Maman and my sisters while waiting.
And so, led by the women who'd grown a little friendlier in that brief time, I had no choice but to head toward the ceremony hall.
The Crown Princess was grinning ear to ear. I was hanging my head in despair.
When the two of us entered the hall together like that...
"Ah! Young Lord Yune is... the Crown Princess?!"
"What? Why are the two of them appearing together?"
"What's going on?!"
A massive stir erupted around us.
No wonder. Normally I'd enter first, and the Crown Princess would enter last. But the two of us came in at the same time, as if we'd arranged it. Of course they'd be surprised.
"Now, Yune. Since we're here, let's sit together."
"I, I'm with Kir...."
-Press.
"...I understand."
I tried to bring up Kir's name, hoping to escape somehow, but Maman gently pressed my shoulder as if telling me not to, so I gave up.
And so the Crown Princess and I sat at the same table.
...As a bonus, I felt Kir's gaze drilling holes into me from the very next table, as if her stare alone could bore right through my clothes.
'Sorry, Kir. This is really out of my control...!'