CH 78

After declining the invitation to join the student council, I eventually decided to be part of the go home club.[1] I didn’t want to carelessly join a club just to fit in. I can see the villainess flags being raised if I did.

In a way it’s shameless but I’m not stupid enough to want to feel hurt. I’m terribly tired, especially mentally.

“Maria-chan, you’re not going to eat…?”

“… I don’t have much of an appetite.”

“You’ve been like that for a while now, if you’re feeling unwell you should return to your room.”

“I’m fine. I just feel a little exhausted since it’s gotten hotter.”

It wasn’t a lie. There was the school excursion incident and I picked a fight with the student council— that made my temperature change. My stamina, which had always been low, seemed to be at rock bottom.

“Yeah it’s gotten hot suddenly. It’s pleasant at school but I can’t be indoors all the time.”

Of course, the school rooms are cool. They don’t have anything like air conditioning, but the rooms are always at a pleasant temperature. They don’t get hot nor cold.

In this world, all scientific theory is supplemented with magic. The Magic Academy is one of the forefronts of such technology. After all, the future scientists and scholars are all gathered here.

And above all else, this school is where all the rich assets are gathered—you can buy state-of-the art technology with money.

“The long vacation is almost here so the number of parties is going to increase too…”

It’s rare for Primella to sigh but I understood her feelings. Only Eru tilted her head questioningly.

It’s almost the long vacation… Our so-called “summer vacation” will begin. I’m grateful for a vacation. I have been wishing and praying to be legally separated from the capture targets. I will be happy to no longer have to constantly worry about who, when, and where.

Nevertheless, when vacation comes, my work will increase. Parties. In other words, I’ll have to participate in high society events.

“In this season, wearing a dress is rough too.”

“I know right….”

As noble ladies, we are used to it since we’ve been preparing since we were young. The venue will be the same pleasant temperature as school. At first glance there isn’t any problem, but most dresses have poor breathability.

Furthermore, the events I was exempt from when first entering the school will be added on top as well… Please, someone stop this.

“It seems like I’ll be busier because I’ve made more friends too.”

“That’s true… I wonder if there will be things you have to do at the venue.”

“I’d be able to enjoy myself just by being with Maria-chan though.”

“It’s hard being a noble lady huh.”

Only Eru was acting like this was someone else’s problem. Certainly, she is a commoner, not a noble lady, but she is also a student here, so she must have some general or extraordinary assets.

In the end, she is still a commoner, so she doesn’t have any parties or the like… I’m jealous.

“But our vacation is long so we can go out and play on days that don’t have a party!”

“That’s true. Will you two be home for the whole break?”

“We’re making our travel plans when I return home, although the destination has been decided!”

“Same here, looks like I’m going somewhere.”

“I see… Maybe I should go home.”

Come to think of it, I haven’t been on a trip before…. I have been to my mother’s house to show my face but that was inside the country. My father is busy all year round so it’s rare for him to have a long enough break to go on a trip. In reality, it might be harder than I think.

My mother is the type to refuse to go out or on a trip. Me being myself, I just played with Keito all the time. And, my father won’t take a vacation on his own unless we pester him to.

Honestly, almost all things can be done within our property. We can shop by calling a merchant, our garden is so large that there’s no need to go to a park, and the rooms we use are on the same level as hotels, maybe even nicer. As guests we don’t like temporary service, but rather people who have served us for a long time and understand our lifestyle patterns perfectly.

… Huh, is there a need to travel?

“Maria’s house seems like the type to own a summer retreat, right?”

“I haven’t heard or been to such a place but… I wonder if we do.”

Well, there probably is one. A villa that’s probably also a shelter if something happens.

But, so far I haven’t been to one and I can’t imagine my father taking a break… In the past when I took a day off, having someone pick up my work seemed to have been very difficult.[2]

“Right now, I have nothing decided so if you like please visit me.”

“Really? I want to go!”

“Then, when my plans are decided, I’ll contact you!”

“If I end up going somewhere, I’ll let you two know too.”

There are two ways to contact someone in this world. One is by phone and the other is by letter. However, generally people use letters—there are many houses that don’t have a phone. It’s… not a high class item but most people are satisfied with letters. Our house has one, but we rarely use it.

It’s not that the mail system is developed. Actually, mailmen don’t exist.

It’s just, in this world, the mailboxes have a simple transfer magic enchanted on them. It’s a non-attribute spell so it’s easy to use. So, handwritten letters are delivered at the same speed as e-mails. Depending on your magic power, the number of times you can use it is different but that’s plenty useful isn’t it? As expected of a magical world, I’m blown away by the convenience.

That’s why there are two mailboxes in each house, one for receiving and one for sending. If you accidentally put your letter in the receive one it’ll never come back, so be careful. By the way, there’s no need to write an address, but you do need to know approximately where the recipient lives.

“I wanted to see your home, Maria-chan. I’ve been to Eru-chan’s house many times after all.”

“Me too. I can’t imagine a majestic mansion that matches you.”

“Well, you are childhood friends. It looks like you have some expectations, but I don’t think it’s particularly unusual?”

“You think that because it’s where you were born and raised, but a Duke’s household can’t have the same sense of values as me right?”

Well… I see, that’s true. I should say, when I was born I also thought, “it’s too vast.”

I got used to it someway or another, but if you look at it normally, maybe just its size is unusual enough. The inside is quite normal…. No it’s not. My standard is that it’s not showy, to a certain degree.

“After all, Keito lives there too right? Just based on that, it must be big.”

“Come to think of it, Keito-san is going to go home too right?”

“I haven’t asked but probably.”

I wonder if Keito will return, I bet he will. Uncle[3] probably wants to see him since it’s been so long, and Keito is probably worried too. They were separated suddenly after living together just the two of them for such a long time after all.

The first thing Keito did after having to enroll in the academy was apologize to Uncle.

I did get him involved. Perhaps I was the cause of Keito’s attribute being decided. Uncle’s treasured only son; it appears as if I’ve stolen his family.

I’m sorry. Uncle had said with his head lowered towards me, “Thank you. Thanks to you, Keito’s world will expand with this wonderful experience.”

For a father, his son’s growth makes him happy even if it’s not by his own hands. This is parental love beyond my understanding, a father’s feeling that I will never understand in my life.

Even though normally Uncle is so simple-minded that it makes Keito seem like the grown-up, Uncle is still an adult. I remember thinking, “he really is a dad.” At the time, Keito’s secretly laughing face was child-like as usual.

“Do you think I should send my things with Keito?”

“You live in the same house so why not?”

Actually, we live on the same property, okay. Saying like that sounds like we live together.

I have my own room at home so there isn’t much of a need to bring things home but… I want to put away the things I haven’t used all these months.

In Keito’s case, he brought all of his clothes, so he probably has a lot of luggage… He probably only left his overalls for gardening training there.

I’ll discuss with Keito. If he’s sending things over then I’ll have it sent with my things.

×　×　×　×

So, after school I immediately went to the back gardens where Keito was.

He was in the midst of his acclaimed club activities though. There weren’t many members and their policy is to let members grow whatever they like. Thanks to that, no one will say anything even if I go in. If I’m clumsy, it won’t be noticed.

I am prohibited from places like the greenhouse, something about things being delicate there. Let’s not dwell on the fact that our school has facilities like a greenhouse, let’s get used to it.

“Keitooo, do you have time now?”

“Aah, wait a bit.”

“Okay.”

His hands and clothes are already browned from getting dirt on them. The front of the flower bed was full of irises, they were not yet bloomed and just planted.

Usually Keito would be tending to one thing or another so this was rare.

I sat on a nearby bench and waited a few minutes. After a bit, as he said, Keito sat down next to me while removing his work gloves.

“Sorry, were you busy?”

“No, don’t worry. There’s someone who wants to use this flower bed over the break so I’m just preparing it.”

Oh, how timely. As expected, when a break draws near, those types of topics come up.

“So that means, you’re going home, too right?”

“Yeah. I’m worried about my old man and I want to visit my mom’s grave.”

It seems like Keito’s mom was originally a gardener at our house along with Uncle. She passed away before I was born so I’ve only seen her in pictures but, she resembled Keito and was beautiful… I guess in this case, it’s Keito who resembles her.

“Our place is probably a mess by now so first thing I’ll have to clean.”

“Even though he can clean…”

I remembered the time when we were young, Keito’s cold had gotten worse. Uncle was attentive towards cleaning to the point where clothes and tableware were always pristine, and dust was nowhere to be found. He even did all that while easily caring for the sickly Keito… However, for some reason the floor fell into ruins.

Even though Uncle can create a beautiful garden by himself skillfully with tools—he has good taste too. He can cook properly, do laundry, and dust, but when it comes to putting things away and tidying up, he can’t do it for some strange reason.

It’s a mystery why he can’t do that.

“Then, can we send our things together? Because I don’t have much, just some pictures and such.”

“Ah, that’s fine. Then the next time you’re free, bring it to my dorm.”

“Okaay!”

Okay, now our business is done. Even though I was thinking of running away so that I wouldn’t be a nuisance to his club activities any longer, for some reason Keito was staring at me intently and showed no signs of getting up.

Eh, is there something on my face? Or, there’s seaweed in my teeth… I didn’t eat any though.

“… Is that it?”

“Eeh…?”

“Something happened is what my sixth sense is telling me.”

I tilted my head to indicate that I didn’t know what he was talking about but if I don’t answer then I’ll probably be found out.

Primella and Eru exposed my declining appetite but I had planned to act the same as always in front of Keito.

How did he know, am I that easy to read?

Or, is this the power of childhood friends who have been together for more than half their lives?

“Can’t you see nothing’s wrong?”

“Okay, since you don’t want to say.”

“Really, I don’t think anything’s wrong.”

“My sixth sense is accurate, especially when it concerns Maria.”

“You’re too confident…”

It’s vexing but, he hit the bullseye. This guy…

Precisely because of what the problem is, I don’t want to tell Keito but, he most likely won’t ask me. He’s familiar with me when I really don’t want to do something or when I’m troubled.

“… Nothing’s wrong, I’m fine.”

“Is that so, then I won’t ask.”

See, like I said, he doesn’t force information out. I wonder if he’ll get mad if I say, “even though you used to be so curious!”

Thanks to his curiosity, I’m the way I am now.

I won’t believe Tuvalu’s words at all. I definitely don’t believe that something like Keito using me would happen, it’s impossible. But, if it were to happen…

I would surely happily cooperate with him.

“Then, I’m going to go back.”

“Ah, yeah. Thanks. See you.”[4]

“Mhm.”

With a wave, Keito returned to his club activities.

It’s going to be the first long vacation after many months, but there are too many things to do that I feel like my sense of time is getting weird. It feels like the entrance ceremony was yesterday, but I already can’t remember the feelings of nervousness and oppressive dread I had felt.

There was the incident with Saashia too, even though I tried to avoid him so much…

We sit next to each other and we even did a test of courage together… If my baby-self heard about this then she’d probably faint. And, she’d be bewildered by the me who is used to such things and keeps moving forward.

“… Well, I won’t have to meet them for a while after this.”

Even if I think about it, there’s no point.

Since I’m not part of a club, there’s nothing for me to do if I remain in the school. I’ll go back to my room and collect the things I’m going to entrust to Keito.

On this day when I gathered my things and gave them to Keito, it was about one month from break. Then, our long vacation, summer vacation, began.

[1] In Japan, if you’re not in a club then you’re automatically part of the “going home” club. It’s not an actual club.

[2] She’s talking about her past life’s job.

[3] She calls Keito’s dad “oji-san” which can be used for close family friends similar to Uncle in English. He’s not actually her uncle.

[4] She says “itterashai” which usually means something along the lines of “have a safe trip”, but she’s not saying it in that way here, so I changed it.