Chapter 11
Translator: True Detective
011. Banquet (1)
"...Now you look a little less unsightly."
Clara touched me here and there.
It didn't mean anything weird, she was just fixing my clothes. This is super cool, hehehe.
So I bowed my head and greeted her. If she's from the Witri family, she should absolutely hate and despise me, but for some reason, Clara helped me.
"Then go to the masquerade ball in my place in that outfit. Hmph, I'm only telling you to go in my place because I'm bothered, so don't get any weird misunderstandings."
"Y-yeah."
H-ha, I almost totally misunderstood...
The misunderstanding that Clara actually doesn't hate me.
If I had thought that and just said it, I would have been in incredibly, absolutely huge trouble.
'Hehehe.'
I'm quite quick-witted. So I know incredibly well who likes me and who hates me.
But Clara somehow gave off the vibe that she doesn't hate me.
'Now it's become clear.'
I shouldn't just arbitrarily misunderstand and judge people however I want. Hehe. That's something not even Boksil, the dog Yuna used to raise, would do.
Boksil is a furry dog Yuna picked up from the mountain behind the academy.
As is typical for these types of games, Boksil was actually a very, very large wolf. So Yuna couldn't keep him and released him back into the mountain behind the academy.
Later on, he joins the party and helps Yuna an incredible amount. Should I say he bites to death any enemies that approach Yuna?
"...Ugh."
Then I shouldn't approach her. Because I'd probably get bitten incredibly hard too...
"It's time. You should go now. In return, later, definitely..."
Clara trailed off her sentence. I wonder why?
"Grant my request."
"Huh?"
What request?
I mean, I'd grant any request if it was Yuna's, but you...
It can't be a super weird request. Because I'll end up shaking my head side to side vigorously.
B-but I heard that if something goes, something must come back. Clara helped me an incredible, incredible amount.
So I was totally pondering it over.
"...Just once. You just have to go with me. I'll take care of everything that happens afterward."
Where...?
Just a moment ago, I mean earlier, I was almost kidnapped. If I had been kidnapped then, it was obvious I would have been kicked out of the academy.
Then I'd grow distant from Yuna and a whole lot of tears would come out too.
And... my body probably wouldn't be able to hold out anymore either.
I don't want to get kidnapped again. If I can't walk, I won't be able to see Yuna. Then I'll become incredibly sad.
I like Yuna, I like her incredibly much, but I don't want to be separated from her, whine whine.
But if Yuna wants it, I will separate from her.
Yuna's thoughts are much, much more important than mine, hehehe.
And, probably Yuna's thoughts are...
"Yeah."
I nodded my head willingly.
I realized it while going through all these incidents. I can't stay by Yuna's side forever.
So, I have to make it so that Yuna can avoid a huge crisis or something even without me. I have to make it like that.
Therefore, I just need to make a super huge amount of friends and helpers for her. Much, much more than now.
So that Yuna truly doesn't even know the 'L' in loneliness. And so she can just completely forget someone like me and reach a happy ending.
Hehehe. Setting up this plan makes me feel like my head is spinning around and around.
Ugh... it hurt.
"Hmph, you should go. Sister."
Clara said that and sent me out.
I stood in front of the full-body mirror in the entryway of Clara's dormitory.
And I examined my outfit incredibly closely.
It's an incredibly, incredibly cool Gothic-style tuxedo suit, but it doesn't really have that sharp, squared-shoulder suit fit.
But since I have a childlike body, that was kind of a given. Whine, I look completely like a little kid.
But Yuna likes little kids. However, I'm just like a little kid, not an actual little kid.
Wow, total mental breakdown... What kind of situation is this?
Incredibly contradictory...!
Hehe. Still, I liked Yuna. My heart pounded thinking of Yuna, who would be startled upon seeing me.
Hair neatly tied back and smoothed down entered my line of sight.
A total gentleman-like vibe!
That's right.
This is cross-dressing. Clara dressed me up in a male form to prevent my identity from being revealed.
It's a very strange position of a girl cross-dressing as a girl cross-dressing as a boy. But actually, I'm a man, you idiot!
Now, I wear a white mask that only covers the eyes here. Then Clara said I look exactly like her.
Because there is an incredibly big difference between Clara's purple pupils and my pitch-black pupils.
I put on the mask and left the dormitory. But the bridge of my nose kept touching the mask, so hehehehe it tickled.
Drag, drag.
To prevent dragging my leg and to hide it, I even held a child's walking stick. Since this is also considered a fashion item, no one will be highly suspicious.
On top of that, she even provided a gentleman's walking stick to hide the fact that I drag my leg.
But even with this, if I don't walk slowly, it'll obviously show.
I was incredibly leisurely making my way to the masquerade ballroom... Thud!
"...Are you alright?"
"Yeah."
Whine. Someone blocked my way in front of me, so I fell down.
But it's fine. I'm used to falling down.
But the face of the person who blocked me was also incredibly familiar.
"...Hmm? Lady Clara? Oh my, how rude of me. Are you alright?"
"Not particularly."
It's Yuna's pink-haired friend, Rachel.
An irreplaceable, precious friend. The kind of friend who stays with Yuna until the very late stages of the game.
So I like her even more. She's an angel, even if not as much as Yuna. A-also, that part of her body is as big as Yuna's too...
But I'm not a pervert, so I don't really care about things like that.
"I heard you newly enrolled. I look forward to your acquaintance from now on."
"Yeah."
But why is Rachel so interested in Clara?
To know all of that.
"...By the way, is that person doing somewhat alright?"
"Who."
"I mean Miss Aria Witri. I heard she is your relative... Ah, excuse me."
Hehehe. You've got it wrong.
We're not relatives or anything like that. I was born from an affair, so we don't share even a single drop of blood.
But seeing as we look similar, it is incredibly fascinating.
...I was thinking that, but.
"...Ahem, ahem."
Suddenly, I coughed a dry cough, cough, cough. And my mouth started to taste like blood.
I hurriedly turned around in a rush. And I began to walk reasonably fast in the opposite direction of Rachel.
"Because I have a cold. I'll go ahead then."
"Ah, yes..."
Leaving Rachel, who was staring at me blankly with strange eyes, behind, I entered the banquet hall.
The banquet hall is truly super huge. It's a total of 4 floors and has incredibly many rooms.
According to the rules, any academy cadet can participate. I mean, according to the rules...
If I hadn't come cross-dressed, I probably would have been blocked at the entrance. Under all sorts of faults and reasons.
Honestly, I'm a little scared. Because when I checked earlier, I felt like the hinges on some dormitory door were loose and rattling.
I'm very slightly, incredibly slightly scared that someone might come looking for me. But I'm originally fearless, yet I'm scared.
Hehehe. Still, it's a relief that I have the pendant that makes me feel at ease. I absolutely always carry it around with me.
"Aren't you Lady Clara? Cross-dressing suits you very well. If it wouldn't be a bother, would you care to dance a song with me?"
"...I'm a bit busy right now."
Invitations to dance and things like that keep coming in from around me. Ugh. Move aside... I don't need you guys.
I have to find Yuna. I have to push my way through this crowd and confirm Yuna's face.
S-still, nothing will happen on the first day. It'll certainly be like that.
But I'm so anxious I can't stand it.
So I started to look for Yuna a little harder and faster.
My- my... leg feels a pain like it's being chewed up into tiny pieces.
But this much is fine. Compared to my feelings for Yuna, it's at an incredibly, totally completely weak level? Hehehe. It doesn't even count as pain.
'B-but where is Yuna...'
Whine, whine. Even with a lot of people, I thought someone with Yuna's appearance would catch my eye right away, but that wasn't the case either.
Because she's a total angel, she's in a place that's too dazzling, so I can't see her or something, hehehe.
If you want to hide a person, hide them in a forest? There's a saying like that too, so it perfectly fits the current situation!
The first day will be fine, right.
The first day will be fine, right.
The first day will be fine, right...?
I tried hard to soothe my mind like that.
And decided to look all around the banquet hall to the very end.
Because I hadn't found Yuna yet.
"Why are you so late?"
Yuna welcomed Rachel wearing a pure white dress embroidered with golden embroidery.
Her golden hair was rolled up in an up-do and tied with a red ribbon.
As for why it's an unfitting and tacky red ribbon...
'Would that person be here too?'
She received it from that person as a birthday present last year. Saying this was the only thing they could afford to get her.
A high-quality ribbon made of intricately woven velvet.
Yuna always cherished it and would wear the ribbon whenever there was an important event.
"...A total angel."
"What did you say?"
"A-ah, nothing..."
Upon seeing Yuna's appearance, Rachel inadvertently let out an exclamation.
Of course, Yuna's actual personality was a little, no... very far from being an angel.
Putting it nicely, she is resolute, and putting it badly, she is hasty.
However, she wasn't an evil person.
"Because I met the lady of the Witri family."
Flinch.
"...Aria?"
"No, it was Clara Witri. She was so cute I wanted to bite her, so I was staring blankly and ended up bumping into her, you see? But..."
She did feel a slight sense of incongruity.
Why would she go out of her way to bring such a small walking stick here, where it's crowded with people?
She wouldn't even be able to dance holding that.
'Hmm, could it be?'
Probably not.
Rachel decided to stop making wild guesses.
There's no reason for her to go out of her way to appear at the ballroom with a disabled body...
'A disabled body?'
"Hmm, a walking stick?"
"What did you say?"
"Ah, nothing. It's nothing."
Yuna examined Rachel's reaction with curiosity.
And.
For some reason, Aria's warning began to surface in her mind.
To be careful.
Why?
'...Because it must all be that bitch's trickery.'
She won't believe it.
Because it would be a lie.
...Probably. Yuna unconsciously fiddled with the red ribbon.