You're Really Crying.
You're Really Crying.
"...."
Once we were paired up, a strange awkwardness settled between Trixie and me.
More precisely, Trixie was the one feeling awkward around me.
She had good reason.
We were about to face a duel, and even our last conversation hadn't ended on a particularly good note.
"Breakfast."
Trixie finally broke the silence. That was her first word.
Honestly, I would have preferred to wander around alone. I have my own plans, and she has hers.
But unfortunately, we couldn't act independently.
◎ If your pair is out of sight for more than 15 minutes before reappearing, ignore them. That is no longer your partner.
Because of that clause. In other words, we couldn't be separated for more than 15 minutes.
It's not that I'm afraid of some anomaly... the issue is Trixie. She'd get swept up in it.
Well, just this once.
Trixie von Fritz.
I've already marked her as a candidate for the Subjugation Festival. So, for the sake of that clause, I'll put up with her company.
"Let's have breakfast, I said."
She pressed. I gave a silent nod. I hadn't planned on skipping breakfast anyway.
"Let's go."
I'd completely grasped the geography of Sapour last night by studying the brochure. There wasn't a single space in this exhibition hall I didn't know by now.
"Wait."
Trixie tried to stop me.
"The restaurant isn't that way."
"Follow me."
"No."
But I ignored her and started walking in the direction I had in mind.
"...Where are you going."
In the end, Trixie had no choice but to follow me. She spoke again.
"What are you doing. That's not the First-time Section."
I was well aware of that. But what could I do when the only good-quality restaurants were outside the First-time Section?
I walked on stubbornly. Trixie trailed behind me with a disapproving look.
And before long, a sign came into view.
[ ♬ ]
The sign bore nothing but a single musical note. This was the restaurant I'd had in mind—Harmony.
"...You can't seriously be thinking of eating here."
"I'll be having breakfast here today. Just accept it."
Just then, a waiter in a neatly pressed suit approached us. He looked ordinary, but a golden pin was fixed to his chest.
"Good morning, sir. If you have a reservation, may I be so bold as to ask your name?"
"We didn't make one. We'll just be going."
Trixie stepped in to answer. The waiter's gaze naturally drifted to the white nameplates on our chests.
And after a moment, a troubled smile surfaced on his face.
"White nameplates... My apologies. Regrettably, for the safety of our guests, I'm afraid using Harmony will be difficult."
"No, it's entirely possible."
The discomfort on the waiter's face deepened. With a polite gesture, he indicated a sign-shaped roster.
"As you can see, even the pen for writing on the roster has a yellow nameplate attached..."
"What are you doing. Let's go. We have to follow the rules."
Trixie urged me on, but I silently reached out my hand.
The white nameplate attached to my uniform doesn't represent me. Nor can it bind me.
The pen in my grip moved smoothly across the sign. Soon enough, Trixie's name and my own were written down.
"Hm."
[ Kaplan ]
Out of habit, my hand had written my real name. Unavoidable, I suppose, since it's engraved into my very soul.
I considered striking a few lines through it but decided to leave it. It's not written in an easily readable script anyway, and it doesn't matter if someone sees it.
"...!"
Surprise spread over Trixie's and the waiter's faces at the same time. I calmly asked the waiter.
"Is that sufficient."
He nodded, looking dumbfounded. But he soon regained his composure and began to guide us in.
"C-certainly. This way, please."
"...."
Trixie looked at me with narrowed eyes. Paying her no mind, I strolled inside.
We must have arrived just as they opened, because we were practically the first customers. Securing a window seat wasn't difficult.
As I surveyed the restaurant's interior, I felt anew that my choice had been the correct one.
Unattended string instruments moved on their own to create melody, and every delicate decoration in the restaurant was antique and elegant.
"Sit down."
"...."
Trixie stared fixedly at me as I took my seat.
The reason was obvious. From the restaurant tables to the chairs, the forks, the knives, the spoons... every single thing had a yellow nameplate attached.
Snap—!
I snapped my fingers once.
By placing a thin film on Trixie's exterior, I arranged things so I could bear the burden for her. With Hera around, this level of mana usage is nothing.
"Now sit down. It's fine."
Trixie shot me a suspicious look. I only returned an impassive one.
Then Trixie's fingers moved. Ever so timidly, she poked the chair with her fingertip.
Poke, poke, poke.
"...."
After confirming three times that nothing happened, Trixie swiftly sat down on the chair.
"...How's that."
She said it while lifting her chin very slightly. Meaning she seemed to think she had endured it thanks to her own ability.
The waiter approached with a menu.
"Welcome, both of you. On such a fine day, what would you like to have?"
I handed the menu to Trixie.
She immediately started ordering around three salads alone.
"Hold on."
I couldn't take it and stepped in. At this rate, breakfast was about to be completely ruined. I spoke to the waiter.
"Prepare three salads for now. Each with a different dressing."
I pointed precisely to three dressings listed on the menu.
"Don't bring them all at once, but at exact intervals of 6 minutes and 14 seconds. Understood?"
"Yes. Will that be all?"
"How could it be. Two steaks for the last course. I'll specify the cuts now. Have both cooked thoroughly."
I slowly detailed the cuts of meat and the seasonings.
"Understood. For Harmony to have the honor of serving such wonderful first guests, we must be feeling lucky today."
The waiter, a smile on his face, bowed politely and withdrew.
"...."
Trixie stared at me with a slightly stunned face.
In the silence that settled once the waiter disappeared, Trixie made a comment.
"You've been here a lot, I see."
"Do you think I'm some kind of beggar."
"You are a beggar."
Her eyes narrowed slightly. Come to think of it, Trixie believed I was a commoner.
"Let's just say so."
I gave a nod. Compared to my past life, it's not exactly wrong to say I'm a beggar now.
This time, I said something.
"And you're a daughter of nobility... yet you placed an order like that."
"I only eat salad."
I was pointing out her overall ordering method, but she thought I was criticizing the fact that she'd only ordered salad.
Of course, eating nothing but salad is hard to understand regardless. From a magical standpoint, it's not a balanced diet.
"Why not eat something else."
"I can't. Not if I'm doing ballet."
"...You?"
Did she have time for ballet with a duel coming up?
Is this overflowing confidence, or desperation?
But Trixie appeared to have taken my meaning slightly differently again. Her face slowly reddened.
"What."
Trixie's gaze shifted down to her absurdly voluptuous chest. Naturally, my eyes also moved in that direction.
Seeing it now, there were other issues with her doing ballet.
"Why you carry around something so absurdly massive is beyond me."
Exactly as the words say. The 'her' from my previous world had also been proud of her chest... but it hadn't been quite that large.
Trixie's face went red. As if it were about to burst.
"...A-absurd? This isn't fat you can just lose. What would you know."
"No need to know."
"And you can do ballet even if you're large."
I don't have any particular interest in other people's chests. Though, it must be inconvenient from the perspective of operating magic.
I offered her some advice.
"Engrave a magic circle there. Then it might become useful."
"Are you insane? To someone's chest...!"
Tch, I clicked my tongue and ended the conversation.
From personal tastes to interests... she and I differ so greatly that we can't even manage small talk.
I was simply admiring the string instruments' melody without any conversation when a familiar woman caught my eye.
An elf with golden hair and pointed ears.
She was perfectly disguised as staff with a golden pin on her chest, but I saw right through her identity.
The Blood Demon I'd encountered in the library. She was poking around nearby.
"It seems you'll have to eat alone."
"...What?"
"Don't worry about it. I'll be back within 15 minutes."
Leaving a dumbfounded Trixie behind, I headed out of the restaurant.
The female Blood Demon was busy snooping here and there. I quietly called out to stop her.
"Hey."
"...!"
She flinched hard, not knowing what to do with herself. She must have been poking around because of me.
"You're itching to blow your cover, aren't you."
"S-sorry. It's just, I had something to report to Lady Maeve...."
First, we moved to a secluded spot. A place that looked clearly deserted, where no one else would set foot.
"Take it."
I handed her a Trivia.
Before coming to Sapour, I had prepared two extra Trivias.
I intend to use these Trivias solely for communicating with the Blood Demons.
"From now on, contact me through this. I can't bear to watch your foolish antics with my own eyes any longer."
"Y-y-yes...."
"Name."
At that single word, her face grew even more subdued.
"That's... I've told you more than twenty times...."
"Must I remember every single one of your names."
"It's T-Teresa!"
Teresa.
I nodded at her.
"Now, what was it you had to report."
"Yes. I'll report it now."
Teresa swallowed once, then opened her mouth.
"First of all, the object 'Witch' has been confirmed. The artwork named 'Dream' is itself a magic tool."
"Next."
"We've confirmed that the midterm evaluation has commenced. We also plan to move in step with it."
I unconsciously furrowed my brow. The midterm evaluation, begun.
...This must mean Maeve has already taken action.
I spoke in a roundabout way.
"So you aren't completely clueless. I was quite worried you might be so underdeveloped you wouldn't even notice."
"I'm not that hopeless. I'm saying I can recognize magic of Lady Maeve's level immediately."
Does that mean Maeve uses magic with that much distinctive flair? My curiosity is naturally piqued.
"Shall I use it on you once."
"P-p-please, spare me!"
Teresa waved her hands furiously from side to side.
"I don't want to go inside the frame. I'd rather die than be taxidermied alive. P-please, I beg for your leniency!"
Taxidermied alive... It seems approachable as a fusion of Malleability and Harmonization.
I've confirmed Maeve's Inherent Ability. Now I just need to run the calculations accordingly.
Teresa bowed her head deeply.
"Then I will see you in two hours. Pride of the clan."
I nodded quietly. I could also deduce that the Blood Demons' midterm evaluation would be taking place in two hours.
Two hours, was it.
More than enough time to craft a plan.
◈
"...What the hell."
Trixie was left all alone.
But she didn't feel like trying to stop Plan. She knew by now that he was a person who acted even more willfully than she did.
'His ordering was remarkably skilled.'
He hadn't been nervous when dealing with the waiter, and there hadn't been a trace of hesitation when choosing the menu.
That would be impossible unless he frequently dined on high-class cuisine... To Trixie, Plan was constantly a new discovery.
Right on cue, the food was brought to the table. The girl left alone picked up her fork and knife.
Was a restaurant with a yellow nameplate really that different?
...She finished her meal in less than five minutes. She even ate all of Plan's portion too.
"Ahem."
Trixie coughed pointlessly and wiped her mouth with a napkin. Plan should be coming back soon, but there was no sign of him.
'Should I wait in front of the restaurant?'
For the moment, that was most rational choice. If Trixie also started wandering around, there was a high risk of missing each other.
But then, her eyes fell on the roster sign.
[ Kaplan ]
The handwriting flowed so much like water it was hard to make out, but Trixie had definitely seen this script before.
Besides, even if you couldn't decipher it, you could still tell the penmanship was extraordinary, couldn't you?
Even within the Fritz family, handwriting of this quality was rare.
First, she copied it down onto a memo page of her Trivia. She felt like she'd remember where she'd seen it with just a little more thought.
"...?"
Then at some moment, Trixie's eyes went wide.
'I'm completely thinking about Plan, aren't I.'
Me? Thinking about another guy?
She shook her head fiercely. This couldn't be helped. They were assigned as a pair, but her partner had disappeared.
"...Where did he go."
How many minutes were left until 15 minutes? She didn't want to get caught up in an anomaly.
But that was when.
"...Ugh."
A sudden dizziness struck her head. At the same time, a fierce wind gusted.
Trixie squeezed her eyes shut. Her hair whipped around wildly.
When she opened her eyes a moment later, an unfamiliar space lay before her.
Just a white room.
In front, to the side, behind, above, even on the floor... mirrors in the form of frames were plastered all over.
Trixie happened to examine one of them.
"...?"
And she flinched, stepping back without realizing it. The mirror did not reflect her image as she was.
'What is this.'
The Trixie in the mirror was standing before a gravestone. Trixie remembered that day clearly.
Not long after losing her mother. In other words, a day from the past.
Noting that what was inside the mirror was reality, Trixie began examining the interiors of the other mirrors.
"The Knight Department's arena?"
Judging by the exterior, it was unmistakable. An arena packed full to the spectator stands. Someone stood at its center.
Blue hair, a flickering blue flame... It wasn't hard to recognize that the figure was herself.
'This is me too.'
Even with her whole body battered and bruised, she stood there proudly, receiving a shower of cheers like rain.
'...I don't remember this.'
She had no memory of experiencing something like that. She'd never even seen it in a dream.
Yet the scene inside the mirror was playing out as vividly as reality.
Crack—!
The moment she tried to look closer, the mirror cracked like a spiderweb and shattered.
"...."
Trixie swallowed dryly. Left with no choice, she approached a different mirror.
This time it was the largest one.
Twilight had fallen, dyeing the whole world orange. At some unknown location, the Trixie in the mirror was on her knees.
Only her back was visible. But.
'No way, is she crying?'
The Trixie in the mirror's shoulders trembled violently. Something transparent and glistening fell incessantly from beneath her chin.
'...She's really crying.'
The version of herself in the mirror was definitely sobbing.
And she was clutching someone collapsed in her arms while doing so.
She pressed the fallen person's hand against her own cheek and cried like a madwoman.
It was heart-wrenching. Even without hearing a sound, the emotion was palpable.
'Why is she like that.'
Trixie unconsciously furrowed her brow.
Kneeling on the ground, holding onto someone else, shaking her whole body as she wept... all of it was something she couldn't even imagine doing.
She knew best herself that she didn't possess the kind of temperament to care about another person that much.
It was around then that the Trixie in the mirror turned her head this way.
At the same time.
The face of the one collapsed in Trixie's arms came faintly into view.
The moment she confirmed his identity.
"...!"
So shocked was Trixie that she couldn't even scream.