The Flower Picnic (2)
“Mm? Are you already up?”
“Oh, yeah. I was heading to pick up Cecil.”
“Very good.”
The habit from living at home made me get up relatively early most days, but when that happened, I’d toss and turn in bed, kicking the sheets.
Then, just as Cecil arrived, I’d head out. Timing would match perfectly.
But today, I planned to be the one picking her up.
The morning pickup and evening drop-off had become a kind of routine for us, but sometimes it was nice to break it up.
The flower picnic was planned for the four of us—Sion, Bail, and the rest—but why meet just Cecil and me first?
Sion and Bail had some tasks to handle before we left, so the four of us figured we’d slip away quietly.
Either way, the girls’ dormitory was a ten-minute walk.
With mana rolling or even just a decent stroll on pure physical ability, we’d arrive in under three minutes.
“…”
Was it the day’s work or the irregular heartbeat?
My heart was fluttering somewhere, slowing my steps just a little.
Of course, I didn’t hate meeting Cecil.
I wanted to see her right now.
But.
For some reason, if I ran into Cecil like this—
“Ugh…”
The image from yesterday flashed through my mind, and I felt like I couldn’t think straight.
I steadied my racing heart and calmed the pounding in my chest.
I took a deep breath.
Ssssssssss.
I exhaled.
Hah.
…That did absolutely nothing.
In the meantime, we’d already reached the girls’ dormitory.
No choice. I’d wait while I calmed down.
That’s how I stood there waiting for Cecil, stealing quick glances from the corner of my eye.
“Hello?”
“You’re a first-year, right?”
Two fierce-looking girls approached.
“Yes, hello.”
I gave a casual reply and scanned them out of habit.
First, the one on the left.
Her shoes were plain—something you could buy anywhere—but the leather had warped.
It had been exposed for a long time in air thick with humidity, heat, and chemicals.
As far as I knew, this model was popular from the [Reforged] brand and carried the meaning of wishing luck on travelers.
That was why it was a common gift for soldiers heading to war, newlyweds, or academy entrants.
So she couldn’t be a first-year if the shoes she’d been given as an admission gift were already ruined.
From the warping pattern, she was almost certainly in the alchemy department.
The faint chemical scent on her uniform was being eaten away by the self-cleaning function, but it was definitely there, backed up by the herbal smell I could still catch.
Alchemy was an art that demanded absolute effort.
Even with standard recipes and measured ingredients, the results from skilled practitioners and beginners differed wildly.
So if the chemical odor was this strong, it was normal.
…Well, maybe the other person was putting in more effort.
In short, she was a second-year alchemy major who was slacking off just enough.
And now, the one on the right.
The mana she radiated, the spotless clothes, even the wand she carried—there was no doubt. Magic department.
Wands were used for practical magic or elemental magic, so one of the two.
But a wand was only an auxiliary tool.
It was like a four-wheeled bicycle when you couldn’t handle output and control on your own.
This one probably wasn’t particularly skilled either.
Without knowing or caring about my assessment, they both smiled and started talking.
“Alchemy department? What brings you here?”
“Thinking maybe you had some time?”
My first thought was blunt.
Normally, it would have taken me longer to figure out the hidden meaning.
The kind of affection I knew was between family, and romance was something I was slow to catch on to.
My experience had been like that.
But.
The last few months with Cecil, especially the recent days when things had been so intense.
That had given me enough to guess.
They were trying to fish.
It was a little embarrassing.
Not somewhere else, not a boys’ dormitory—why would a boy be here?
Surely they weren’t here to watch girls, so I figured they were waiting for someone who would come out of the dorm.
But still.
If they were going to approach so boldly and say something like that.
I wasn’t in a good mood.
And the reason for that displeasure wasn’t just the words.
I was thinking Cecil might have run into something like this while waiting for me.
“I’m a bit busy.”
So without meaning to, I let a cold tone slip out.
…It wasn’t that it bothered me, but I didn’t need to chase off an upperclassman from the wrong department.
“Hey, don’t do that. Let’s sit down somewhere for a bit and talk.”
“Yeah. Just a quick chat.”
But seeing them so stubbornly cling, I wondered if I should have been harsher.
It was annoying.
It was starting to grate on me.
How could I shake them off without leaving later and blushing in front of my face…
The very idea of that worry was annoying.
But there was no benefit to making myself look bad.
If I bolted now, people would think I was strange.
Let me try being nice one more time.
“There’s someone waiting for me.”
I said it outright.
“Owner present. Over here.”
“Hey. We were just gonna chat until the person got here. Anyway, I heard you’re in the magic engineering department, right? That one has a lot of perks if you get close to alchemy. Oh, by the way, I didn’t say I was in alchemy, did I?”
“I’m in the elemental magic department. Do I need to consult you?”
By now both sides knew.
I was pushing them away bluntly, and they were forcing their way in.
It still felt… no, a lot worse than that.
Thinking about it, no matter how upperclassman they were, they were people who had to be cut some slack.
I had no obligation to maintain bad relationships, but I also didn’t need to bend over backward to keep this one.
And at this point, wouldn’t backing them into a corner be acceptable?
Chasing a man with an owner was something neither side could do.
I should just back them into a corner…
…Ah. The white forehead.
Cecil.
“Thank you, but could you move aside? I can’t see what’s in front of me.”
Because she’d come out in a hurry today, Cecil appeared with her hair tied up roughly and her breathing quick.
The anger that had spiked earlier vanished instantly.
Thinking back, my reaction had been lower than usual.
It would be better to settle things nicely, right?
“The person waiting for me arrived.”
“…Really? Well, I guess I have no choice.”
“Yeah. L-let’s go.”
The two of them looked at Cecil and instantly bolted away as if chased.
I thought it was fast compared to how stubbornly they’d been clinging earlier.
But, as I said before, it was a good thing.
“Have you eaten breakfast?”
“…No.”
While thinking that, I asked Cecil.
She stared down the path where the two had disappeared.
Then, suddenly—
“What did you say?”
“Say what?”
“Just now, with those people. What did you say? It looked interesting.”
She was saying weird things.
“I didn’t say anything specific.”
“How exactly?”
I recalled our short conversation with the two of them for a moment.
“I asked if you had time, so I said I was busy.”
“Yeah.”
“I said I was waiting for someone, so you went to meet them. So you told them to wait.”
“…Is that all?”
“Yeah.”
“…”
Cecil looked at me with a puzzled expression.
I didn’t know what to think—my answer seemed too plain.
I didn’t want to suspect her, though.
It would have been nice if I’d said something more believable so she could tease me and lighten her mood.
But by being too strict, I ended up the one feeling embarrassed.
She must have looked pretty serious earlier.
So I just—
“…Ugh?”
“Let’s go.”
I grabbed Cecil’s hand tightly and headed toward the park.
Today had too much on my plate to waste energy on such trivial things.
“Wait, let go.”
“I won’t.”
“Why!”
“Because you suspected me.”
“Ah, I didn’t…”
***
Woman Derin walked toward the back of the girls’ dormitory with her friend Jeri.
Her face was full of fear, and her steps were hesitant.
The hands they held were already soaked in cold sweat for a long time.
And how long had it been?
Just when I thought maybe they’d been used and thrown away—
“Capture complete. Left side—capture complete. Right side—capture complete.”
“Hah. Aren’t you ashamed? Stop doing childish things and finish quickly.”
“Confirmed.”
The voice from when they’d been cornered before echoed in my ears.
Right.
Derin and Jeri had been caught in the weakness of someone unknown.
It was a weakness big enough that it could make both their families and their guilds collapse.
To keep the nobility of noble life and the wealth of merchant life, they had no choice but to do exactly what that crazy woman ordered.
Even if it made no sense at all.
At first, they planned to talk about the windblown boyfriend when the white-haired girl came out of the exam.
Second, they would seduce the black-haired boy.
They didn’t have boyfriends themselves—only their fathers as close males—and they didn’t particularly like the boy, but…
They just did as ordered.
To maintain the comfortable life they had now.
It had been a time in hell.
The bath they were enjoying right now.
The wine they’d drunk yesterday.
It was meant to disappear like bubbles in a dream.
It was an issue that the guard unit could come for at any time without suspicion.
They had only done what they were asked.
Hoping this life wouldn’t sink into the abyss.
And now, would he be seeing the light?
“Yeah. Good work. Go.”
From the woman with her face hidden behind a mask, they could hear the words they had longed to hear.
With their own strength, they had protected everything they had enjoyed!
“R-really?!”
“I-I won’t even look at him again!!”
In case their hearts changed, they vanished at the same speed as before.
—Task complete.
“They’ll be fine until tomorrow. At least they can laugh like that.”
Her partner finished her part just as quickly.
“Why do the kids seem so dumb overall? Do they really think they’ll get away with it? Right, Sion?”
—No one wants to think in the future. If it’s just pretty and sweet, that’s fine. It’d be nice if the story was good too, but…
“Well, romance novel fans tend to be a bit dumb. Maybe that’s the influence.”
The girl Bail pulled off her sky-blue mask and spoke into her earpiece.
Unlike what she’d said about sending them, Sion had already submitted evidence to the empire.
No, she hadn’t said they were being sent, so was it a lie?
While thinking that, the smile on her face was so bright it was hard to describe, and her tone was a bit rough, but her voice stayed clear and high.
She could handle clothes that were a bit out of place with reality.
But, separate from the pretty things, how should I describe this outfit?
—Is it like a magic girl… something like that?
“Ooh, sharp. You’re sharp, huh? Magical Bail. Call me that from now on.”
-Magic girls don’t speak like that.
“Whatever. There are no magic girls in this world. If I am, then that’s the root. First generation?”
—Yes, well.
Fluttering, dragging. The fabric was clearly high-end, and the patterns were geometrically beautiful. The frills made it feel deeply mysterious.
The clothes perfectly fit the description of the magic girl from her previous life.
Moreover, it looked like combat gear, assuming no intense movement.
Bail was wearing that and hitting people over the head with a staff enhanced by magic.
…She was scary.
“But, Sion.”
—Yes.
While thinking that, Bail opened her mouth.
“What are we doing now?”
…Hmm.
The evil matchmaker duo of Sion and Bail.
The original purpose had been to clearly link Cecil and Jaden, but…
“It looks like it’s already done.”
—Indeed.
They had already finished the whole thing.
Not just gone, but finished it.
They’d prepared backups to act in their place, like those women, and even made a guideline for how to act depending on the upcoming event.
But it had ended anyway.
They just hadn’t mentioned it.
It was acceptable to say they were dating, and both of them thought so.
Moreover, as Sion, the roommate, he naturally knew quite a bit.
—I think our role is already outside our ability to handle.
“I think the same.”
They had already finished preparing.
It looked like they’d already passed the finish line by trying to support.
Success. Or failure.
Since the goal was achieved, it was good, but the plan to watch the fluttering, tickling feeling between Jaden and Cecil had failed.
—Still, well. They didn’t get married, did they? Watching their romance would be a feast.
“Hmm… I guess so. It’s nice to be flustered and excited, but to become everyday for each other without the love fading… Ah, what do I call this.”
—In other words, hugging casually?
“Right! That kind of thing!”
—Yes. Since it’s come to this, let’s just watch. …Ah, this.
“Why. Did something happen?”
—No. The mini boss has already been handled, but the smell is bad. We should have brought some related hidden pieces.
“Ah, him. Patrick of the rotting flesh.”
—Yes. For now, there will be no academy intrusion.
“Okay.”
Bail and Sion finished their preparations and agreed to meet.
They had no intention of skipping the flower picnic with the four of them, but they had to sneak and watch.
