First Meetings Are Far Too Hard
Droplets formed where the sunlight struck the snow and melted it, falling one by one and leaving marks along the windowsill.
Spring seemed to be creeping in at last. That meant the Academy's entrance season was drawing near—and that the day I would have to go there was almost upon me.
"I really don't want to go."
One day left. Tomorrow, I had to leave for the Academy.
Squalid discrimination and harassment, all of it carried out beneath a school rule that proclaimed everyone equal. Professors who were incompetent and devoid of common sense. And an evil organization that wandered in and out of the Academy as if the place were their own living room.
"Ugh..."
The sigh came out on its own. If I could just sprawl around in my room, do the research I actually wanted to do, and eat good food, that would be plenty.
Why couldn't the world just leave me alone?!
"...Is there no magic that stops time?"
Damn it. I should have made one ahead of time.
"Too late for that now..."
Sleep, open my eyes, and I would have to climb into a carriage bound for the Academy.
"Somebody tell me this is a dream..."
I rolled across the bed. Kicked the blanket, thump, thump, thump. Smacked the mattress with my hands, whap, whap, whap.
None of the tantrum mattered. The clock kept ticking, and time kept moving.
"Emily? You asleep? You need to eat breakfast."
A knock sounded at the door. I wondered whether I ought to keep pretending to be asleep, but that didn't seem like a wise choice.
Knock, knock, knock, knock.
The knocking continued. I couldn't ignore it forever, so I sighed and opened the door.
"Good morning, Ria."
"Mm. Morning."
I ducked my head to avoid the chest asserting its presence directly in front of my face.
"Did you just get up?"
"...Yes."
I could hardly admit I had been holding out because I didn't want to open the door. Fortunately Ria let it pass, and simply held out her hand.
"It would be a disaster if you tumbled down the stairs."
"I'm not that much of a child."
"Oh? You're not?"
Laughter colored her voice. She meant to tease me. But I was an adult. I was not about to get riled over something that small.
To demonstrate just how adult I was, I refused the hand she offered and went down the stairs on my own. I heard her laugh behind me, and ignored it.
And so I reached the first floor. There was the table where I always sat to eat, and standing beside it, a girl...
"Huh?"
A girl? Who? I had never seen that face before. More to the point, how had she gotten in here?
"W-who—wha—?!"
My feet tangled. By the time I realized it, I was already on the floor.
A loud crash. Then silence.
"...Um, are you all right?"
"Emily?!"
The voices overlapped. Behind me, Ria called my name. In front of me, someone asked if I was okay.
It didn't hurt. My heart did. I was mortified beyond words.
First impression: straight into the abyss.
"My name is Mariella Rosenberg."
A textbook aristocratic young lady. That was my first thought upon seeing Mariella. Dignity simply flowed off her, even when she did nothing but stand still. It was as if her entire body were crying out, I am a noble!
"She's my little sister."
Which was why Ria's words startled me. Even as empty flattery, it was hard to call Ria aristocratic. But once I heard that and looked again, the two of them did look rather alike. Her chest was a little smaller, and her hair a touch duller than Ria's, but still...
"Uh, I, um, that is..."
What was I supposed to do?
Not many people knew who I really was. Few enough to count on my fingers. But almost no one failed to know my name. I was famous, for better and for worse.
So how was I meant to introduce myself? Was it all right to give my real name? How much did she already know? Hadn't Ria just called me by name a moment ago? Was it fine, if all she had said was the name? If I used an alias, which one should I offer? The name I used when submitting papers? Or should I simply invent something on the spot...
"Th-that's, I mean..."
My head was spinning. What was I supposed to say? If I blurted out something strange, wouldn't I only cause trouble?
Something settled on top of my head. Warm. Reassuring.
"But Mari, why were you waiting out here? You should be resting in your room. The trip from the territory must have tired you out."
I surrendered myself to the warmth coming off Ria's hand. The sound of their conversation reached my ears.
"I am tired, yes, but I could hardly let an opportunity this important slip past me."
An opportunity? What opportunity? So there was another reason she had come all this way—
"I actually get to meet the Great Witch of the End, the one I've only ever heard rumors of. I can't waste a single minute. Not a single second!"
...Ah.
"So when does she arrive? I want to see her face as soon as I can..."
The dignified noble lady from a moment ago had gone somewhere else entirely, and in her place stood one idol fangirl. The problem was that I was the idol.
Damn it.
I glanced up and caught a rough sense of Ria's expression. Her chest kept me from confirming it properly, but she was unmistakably holding back a laugh.
"Right, the Great Witch. If you want to meet her now, you can..."
"Really?! When? Where?!"
Ria's voice trembled. Mariella, however, was in such a state of extreme excitement that she didn't seem to notice. Swallowing her laughter, Ria sent me a signal.
So that meant I was allowed to reveal who I was.
Calmly. I only had to open my mouth calmly. Surely she wouldn't fly into a rage and shout that the Great Witch she had imagined wasn't some bitch like me... right?
Ria gave my back a light push. My body took a natural step forward, and Mariella's gaze turned to me.
"I... I'm Emily Staria..."
"...Pardon?"
Silence fell. Not a complete silence. From behind me came the sound of someone choking on a laugh.
Mariella stared at me, her face gone blank and foolish.
"...A namesake?"
That was what she managed to get out.
"A n-namesake—pfft, ahahaha!"
The laughter from behind was a bonus.
Mariella's eyes darted this way and that. Once toward me. Once toward Ria, laughing at my back.
"...Emily Staria?"
"Yes."
"The Great Witch of the End?"
"Yes."
"...The author of A New Mechanism of Magical Manifestation, and the Changes That Follow?"
I nodded. It was my first paper, and one of the two I had written under the name Emily Staria. Mariella had just spoken its title.
"...Really?"
I nodded again. The color of Mariella's face changed. Red, blue, white. And then she dropped.
...Huh?
Dropped?
"Mari?"
"Huh?"
She had fainted.
"...Didn't see that coming."
"Allow me to introduce myself again. I'm Mariella Rosenberg."
"H-hello. I'm Emily Staria..."
Mariella had not been out for long. Fatigue from the journey, combined with a sudden mental overload—that was the conclusion Ria reached. It was almost impressive how quickly she woke after being laid down for a little while.
In any case, we began our introductions over again, as if nothing had happened.
"...I-I'm sorry about earlier. I had no idea the Great Witch would be such a young girl..."
"I'm eighteen."
"...What? You're older than I am? I'm seventeen."
"Pfft!"
Ria had been working very hard to hold in her laughter for some time now.
"...So, Ria. What is all this?"
"Mm. I'll explain."
After several dry coughs, Ria began, her face serious.
"This here is my little sister, Mariella. She's enrolling at the Academy with you."
"She is?"
"Mm. Remember the documents I showed you before?"
"Yes."
At my answer, Ria nodded, looking satisfied.
"Miriel Rosenkranz. That's the identity you'll use once you enter the Academy."
Miriel. I had thought the same thing when I read the paperwork. It was an absurdly lazy alias.
All she did was reshuffle the letters of Emily.
This was only my personal opinion, but Maria had no talent for names. The alias I used when writing papers, Milaine, was also nothing but Emily's letters tossed together at random. At least that one had an N crammed into it. Miriel was a pure rearrangement, and nothing more.
"House Rosenkranz is one of the branch families of our house. No one from it is still alive, so if you claim to be one of them, there won't be anyone around to object."
Ria's explanation continued.
"You'll enroll at the Academy as Mariella's attendant. You don't want to sit the entrance exam, do you?"
I nodded. We had agreed on it beforehand. I hated deliberately getting questions wrong. My pride would not allow it. But if I actually solved them, attention would come pouring in, and I hated that just as much.
How difficult could a freshman entrance exam at the Academy possibly be? With Ria's help I had worked through the past papers from last year and the year before, and sure enough, perfect scores.
"Even if you're called an attendant, you won't actually have to wait on her. Mari manages just fine on her own."
"Of course I do."
Mariella smiled with perfect confidence.
But being told not to work was the heavier burden. Watching the little sister of someone important struggle with something right in front of me, and simply standing there, weighed on me more. What if Mariella nursed a grudge and said something unkind about me to Ria...
Ugh. The very thought gave me chills.
"Anyway, that about covers it! We leave tomorrow, so both of you, get some rest!"
The moment those words ended, I retreated to my room. Linger even a little, and I might hear something along the lines of, Well, the two of you are going to be seeing a great deal of each other, so how about sharing a room? Maybe not. But the probability was not zero.
I went upstairs, crawled into bed, and buried myself in the blanket.
"As expected. Outside the blanket is dangerous."
Once I reached the Academy, even this would be difficult, so I had to roll around to my heart's content while I still could.
Knock, knock.
"Emily? You do need to eat."
"Ah."
I had forgotten. Right. It was time for breakfast.
"Hnnn..."
Outside the blanket was dangerous, but an angry landlady was worse.
With great effort, I dragged myself out the door.