Red Flavor #4
Nike looked absolutely thrilled. From my perspective, she was making a huge fuss—clearing, sweeping, and polishing a tree stump that seemed no different from any other. Was she this excited because a celebrity was visiting her home? Come to think of it, Nike had shown goodwill toward Victorica from the moment they first met. It was like an ordinary person gazing at a celebrity with pure admiration.
“Do you think Victorica will like the tea leaves I picked? Hmm?”
“Don’t get your hopes up too high, Nike. She’s probably coming here to cause us trouble. She’ll definitely look for any excuse to slap us with penalty points.”
“Aw, no way…”
Honestly, I wasn’t entirely sure myself. Still, there was one thing I needed to make crystal clear.
“Nike, let me remind you in advance—we must uphold our agreement.”
Nike and I were, for all intents and purposes, in a contractual romantic relationship. If the truth came out that my infidelity was fake, it would cause all sorts of chaos. Maybe because I’d warned her so many times, Nike answered with overflowing confidence.
“I know. We have to keep it a secret, right? Just like when we kissed before…!”
“What kiss?”
“Eek! V-Victorica!”
Nike Mokemoke jumped like a squirrel that had just spotted a cat. The one who emerged from the bushes was none other than Victorica Arclight, the white coat of the Student Council draped over her shoulders. She even wore a scarlet armband marked with the word ‘Inspection’. But none of that mattered right now.
Had she overheard our conversation? If she had, how much had she heard? As I tensed up, Victorica asked,
“Mokemoke, who exactly kissed whom?”
“W-well… me and, um, Victor…?”
“What?”
Victorica looked extremely displeased for some reason.
“Victor, is that true?”
“……”
Both Ha Seungri and Victor had one thing in common: they’d never even held a girl’s hand. A kiss? Was I really supposed to lie about something like this? But I had to. Otherwise, things would get even more complicated.
“It is.”
Thanks to my Steel trait, I could answer without issue, but my stomach felt like it was turning inside out. Still, the bigger problem right now was the lie I’d just told—that Nike and I had kissed.
“So the two of you kissed. Hmph, I had no idea. Not at all. Of course you did. I’m just a clueless, stupid girl, after all.”
“No one called you a stupid girl.”
Lies are like debt. Keep piling them up and the interest grows until everything collapses. The best thing is to avoid situations where you have to lie at all. Today, I had to send this Victorica away as quickly as possible!
New semester. Spring. But the evenings still clung to the tail end of winter. The forest, especially, grew dark early. These days, with so many students searching for Fragrant Herbs, the nighttime woods were fairly lively. Even so, the chill remained unchanged.
Whoosh.
When I skillfully lit a campfire, Nike tossed in the dry firewood she’d prepared, building up the flames. Bubble bubble. I boiled some water.
“Nike, start preparing the ingredients.”
“Here!”
She added the mushrooms and berries she’d gathered, and I stirred them around with a ladle like I was stir-frying them.
Ding-!
A modest stew that somehow turned out successfully.
Effect:Slightly restores HP and grants minor cold resistance.
Tier:3
It was a decent third-tier dish that restored a small amount of HP and provided resistance to the cold. Its purpose was simply to warm the body and fill the stomach. Victorica, who had received her portion, asked,
“Aren’t you serving that soup or the bulgogi?”
“Those are for sale. Compared to the first-tier dishes I sell, this is shabby, but it’s still quite tasty. If you have complaints, feel free to leave.”
“I don’t have any complaints.”
The meal was simple and frugal. It felt like we were focused solely on the act of eating. Anything beyond that would have been a luxury. Since both Nike and I were used to eating in silence, conversation was noticeably scarce.
Perhaps sensing the awkwardness, Victorica spoke first.
“You two seem incredibly used to situations like this.”
Nike answered.
“Well, it’s been a whole week!”
It had already been about a week since we started camping outside. Time really flies. So much had happened in between. Subjectively, it felt like a whole month had passed.
“So, is the inspection over now?”
“There’s not much to see. The hygiene is reasonably well maintained.”
“Who do you think I am? I manage everything thoroughly—from ingredient storage to preparation.”
“……”
Victorica fell silent. Was she trying to find something to nitpick? Just leave already.
“It’s almost bedtime. Why don’t you head back to your dormitory, Victorica?”
“…Victor, why do you keep trying to send me away?”
Because having you here means I have to keep lying. It was the same reason I didn’t want Enio coming here. But it seemed Victorica had misunderstood something.
“You want to be left alone with her that badly?”
“That’s not what I—”
“More importantly, how do you two even sleep? Victor, you were expelled from the dormitory and haven’t entered any other building since, right?”
“For sleeping, we have this sleeping bag right here.”
I pointed at the sleeping bag beside the campfire. Victorica looked horrified.
“Are you saying the two of you sleep together? Did I understand that correctly?”
“We don’t sleep together. Nike sleeps inside the cabin.”
“Th-that’s basically the same thing!”
What do you mean, the same thing? The difference between having a roof and not having one is huge. She really was a sheltered young lady. Still, the fact that I had no money and no house, forcing us to sleep outside, was entirely my fault. There was no one else to blame. I needed to gather a ton of Rene and rent out a cheap inn for the long term. That would be the smart move.
“This is indecent. Completely…!”
But Victorica had clearly misunderstood something.
“You two aren’t doing anything that violates the school regulations, are you?”
“What would that be?”
“Well… impure acts between members of the opposite sex…”
Victorica’s face flushed bright red. Because her skin was so pale, it was extremely obvious. Was it my imagination, or did her face look even hotter than when she ate the Bomb Sauce Bulgogi at lunch?
After fidgeting for a moment, Victorica—whether to gloss over the situation or because she couldn’t hold it in any longer—shouted,
“I’m staying here tonight too! As a member of the Student Council, it’s my duty to watch over what you two are doing!”
“I don’t mind, but we don’t have a blanket for you.”
“Hehe~”
Nike was in a fantastic mood. She was even humming while brushing her teeth. The reason was simple: the incredibly famous Victorica Arclight—someone everyone at Ludens knew—would be spending the night in her cabin.
“How is it? Victorica, it’s not too cramped, right? I added more straw to the floor!”
“…Yes. It’s better than I expected.”
Since enrolling at Ludens, Nike had gone a long time without any friends. Sleeping under the same roof as someone else felt incredibly nice. After brushing her teeth at the nearby stream, she put on pajamas made from stitched rabbit pelts, crawled under the same blanket, and lay down.
Sniff sniff.
Victorica, lying beside her, smelled incredibly good. Soap? What kind of soap was it?
It must be some amazing soap I could never even imagine. Maybe one that costs around 50,000 Rene?
Everything about Victorica sparkled—her silver hair, golden eyes, clothes, even her toes. Her staff sparkled too.
“What is that staff?”
“This is…”
Victorica lifted the staff she’d been hugging to her chest.
“This is the Arclight family staff. Right now it’s nothing more than a stick to me. But once my offensive ability reaches B+ rank… Wait, why am I even explaining this to you?”
Victorica sounded angry. The current girlfriend of her ex-fiancé. Why should she explain anything to someone like that?
She didn’t tell me anything either.
Because of that, something that could only be called pettiness flared up inside her.
“Mokemoke, when and where did you first meet Victor? I think I have the right to ask at least that much.”
“Me? I first met him in this forest a few days before the start of the semester…”
Nike clapped a hand over her mouth. She had almost revealed that she and Victor had only met a week ago.
“Th-the semester I mean is last year’s. Not this year.”
“Really? Then that means you’ve been hiding your relationship with Victor from me for an entire year. Aren’t you two completely shameless?”
“…W-well… maybe.”
Nike laughed it off with a sheepish giggle.
Victorica thinks I’m Victor’s mistress… It’s only natural that she’d hate me…
She was experiencing the incredible event of sleeping together with Victorica—the girl everyone admired like an idol. Yet because of a lie, that same Victorica now hated her.
I didn’t ask in detail, but why on earth did Victor break off his engagement with a girl like this?
She was everyone’s idol. People even made reservations just to eat lunch with her. From Nike’s perspective, Victor had to be out of his mind to break up with someone like that.
Then again, I’m the one going along with Victor’s act, so I’m hardly in a position to judge…
How had things ended up like this? Just then, someone pinched her side.
“Ouch!”
“Hey, are you ignoring me right now?”
“Uh, what did you say?”
“Both Victor and you… the two of you are really… Never mind. Anyway, I’m worried about you two. I wonder if you can withstand the resentment of the Arclight family.”
“The resentment of the Arclight family?”
At Nike’s question, Victorica slowly sat up.
“Are you pretending not to know, or do you really not know? You’re the cause of the broken engagement. Do you even realize how massive the losses the Arclight family suffered because of you two?”
Losses! The word made Nike suddenly afraid. Losses meant debt. And debt had to be repaid. Her head spun and she felt dizzy when Victorica pressed on without pause.
“Mokemoke. Are you truly confident? Confident enough to turn the entire world against you for the sake of love?”
“U-um…”
“It’s not too late. Give up on Victor now. You might still be able to turn things back. Of course, I’ll have to send Victor back to the Arclight family so he can receive appropriate punishment.”
Even if it was punishment, it probably wouldn’t be that bad. Maybe a month of being grounded? Or a year of chores? That should be enough.
I could make him run errands for me too. And order a ton of cooking from him now.
While Victorica was thinking that, Nike asked in a quiet voice.
“…Would that really be okay with you, Victorica?”
“What do you mean, okay?”
“I mean, would it really be fine to restore your engagement with Victor to the way it was before?”
“What?”
“Victorica, you actually like Victor, don’t you?”
Victorica was flustered that the question had been turned back on her. She hadn’t expected it, but Nike Mokemoke from Reshguard Forest was tougher than she looked.
“Like him? It was an engagement arranged by our families. Such feelings aren’t important. You wouldn’t understand, Mokemoke.”
She decided to brush it off for now. Liking Victor? She had never even thought about it.
“Marrying someone you don’t even like… I don’t understand that at all.”
Nike’s words made Victorica suddenly curious.
What if the engagement had continued? Would we have just gotten married like that? Then we would hold hands, kiss, and then…
For some reason, her face grew hot. Then she remembered that the girl lying next to her had done impure things with Victor, and anger surged up again.
“Now that I think about it, you two kissed, right?”
“Y-yeah! We did!”
“When? Where? How?”
“That was… um, probably in front of this cabin. It was daytime. The flowers were in full bloom.”
“Really? What kind of flowers?”
“Fairy flowers…? Actually, I don’t really know! I wasn’t exactly in my right mind at the time!”
“Hmph, is that so? Fairy flowers bloom in autumn.”
“Y-yep! It was a nice cool autumn day.”
Nike belatedly realized that sleeping with the famous Victorica wasn’t purely joyful. Having to keep telling lies made her extremely anxious. Perhaps sensing Nike’s feelings, Victorica stopped asking questions.
Thank goodness— thought Nike.
But Victorica hadn’t simply closed her mouth. A hunter holds their breath when they want to lure their prey into letting its guard down before striking.
“Fairy flowers—Fairie Flowers only bloom in spring. Mokemoke, you’re lying to me right now.”
“…Ah…!!!”