Wearing an expression that declared she had absolutely no idea what was going on, she pointed at the bushes from which Elliot had emerged:
“Elliot-kun, did you just…come from there—?”
As she spoke, Ada seemed to come to some realization. Her cheeks suddenly flushed red.
Very softly, her lips mouthed the words “Secret date…” Ada looked down, folding her hands in front of her, fidgeting with her fingers.
Elliot didn’t know what her reaction meant, and he had something far more urgent to worry about. Irritated, he glanced around the area.
Fidget fidget, fidget fidget.
As Ada fidgeted, she spoke:
“……Ah. Um. Lutwidge Academy doesn’t prohibit students from seeing each other, but, um, you really shouldn’t, um… Not in the bushes… Um, that…that sort of…i-immoral buh…behavior isn’t something I can allow as a disciplinary committee member, so to speak—Aaaaaaaaauau!”
Ada was in full confusion mode; her eyes were spinning.
“……………………………………………………………………What are you talking about?”
Elliot’s face was cold.
“Huh?”
Ada looked blank. With a merciless sneer, Elliot spoke:
“Hah! So the Vessalius girl’s head is always full of flower fields. It must be real nice to have things that easy. I don’t care if you play disciplinary committee member, but at least do a decent job. Thanks to you, I’ve been……!”
If the disciplinary committee had found the white cat promptly and caught it before it met Elliot…
This wouldn’t even be happening!
His logic was pure misdirected anger, but Elliot had a sharp tongue. He couldn’t possibly have been more irritated. Even as she shrank back a bit under his harsh words, Ada echoed the end of Elliot’s sentence: “Thanks to me, you’ve been—?”
Elliot had no intention of telling her, and he couldn’t have done so in any case.
“…Elliot-kun?”
“I told you, don’t say my—”
Name like we’re friends
, Elliot was about to say.
But.
—Moon?!
Behind Ada’s back, he saw the white cat slip smoothly into the school building.
Puzzled, Ada was still waiting for the words that came after “don’t say my,” and when Elliot suddenly made a mad dash at her, she gave a little shriek and almost fell over. However, Elliot didn’t even seem to see her anymore; he ran right past her and away.
“Elliot-kun…?!”
On reflex, Ada called for him to stop. However, without turning back, Elliot yelled at her over his shoulder and disappeared into the school building.
“Don’t let me see your face again, you addlepated disciplinary committee member!”
It was magnificently trenchant abuse. …And then Ada was left all alone.
Under the cloudy sky. Standing dumbfounded in a cold wind that was beginning to carry hints of the chill of night, she repeated:
“‘Addlepated’…”
Why had he said that to her? She worried a bit, but before long, she understood.
Oh, I see! Elliot-kun was—
Back inside the school building, Ada strode enthusiastically down the corridor.
She was raring to go, and she exuded an imposing aura that said “Discipline must be maintained!” That said, she hadn’t discarded her usual soft, benevolent atmosphere, which meant something about her felt undeniably mismatched. Still,
Ada herself was attempting to seem as strict as she possibly could.
Elliot-kun cheered me on. “Do a decent job,” he said. I’ve got to do my best!
She’d looked out into the back garden a little while ago because she’d been worried about Elliot and the someone he was waiting for. She’d tried to arrange it so that people wouldn’t go to the back garden, but she wasn’t sure it had worked. Were they having a wonderful time, undisturbed?
I wonder what sort of person Elliot-kun was waiting for…
That curiosity had also been there, in a corner of her mind.
He must have seen through it. That was why he’d scolded her so harshly.
“I don’t care if you play disciplinary committee member, but at least do a decent job.
“Don’t let me see your face again (until you finish your job)!”
She was sure that was what he’d meant.
In that case, she thought, after she’d fully performed her duties as a disciplinary committee member, she’d go to see him again, and she’d greet him properly this time. She was positive he’d return her greeting then. …After all, she was sure he was a good person. No doubt they could become friends.
Although she wasn’t aware of it, it was more that Ada wanted to believe this than that she actually did believe it.
And so, first of all, she’d perform her disciplinary committee duties properly—
As she was thinking this and similar things, she turned a corner in the corridor and came face-to-face with Elliot again. Elliot was running without looking where he was going, and they very nearly collided.
“Waugh!” Their voices overlapped.
I’m sorry
, Elliot was about to apologize, when he realized it was Ada.
“You?!”
“Wa-wa-wa, I didn’t meet you, I haven’t seen you, I—”
“……Huh? Dammit, whatever, just
move
!”
She’d thought she’d be scolded again, but Elliot only pushed her out of the way and ran off, without taking the time to yell at her. He was looking this way and that, and he wasn’t watching where he was going. Ada tilted her head, puzzled. What had happened to the secret date? Was it over?
No, that wasn’t it. She remembered their exchange in the back garden.
“What are you talking about?”
As he’d responded to Ada’s unfounded suspicions, Elliot’s face and voice had been cold.
From what she could tell from her memories, that had been an honest reaction.
In that case, her idea about a secret date might have been mistaken. In that case, what was he doing? He’d seemed to be looking for something. If he was, in fact, looking for something, she wanted to help him. …She
did
want to, but Ada shook her head, erasing the thought.
I have to perform my own duties properly.
He was kind enough to scold me, after all. He wouldn’t want me to set aside my work as a disciplinary committee member to help him. I’ll do my best at my own job.
Right!
Ada thought, firing herself up again, and began to walk faster.
And then.
Everywhere she went, Ada ran into Elliot.
She ran into him in a deserted classroom, peering under the teacher’s desk. When he saw Ada, Elliot started, sent a sharp glance her way, and went off somewhere.
She ran into him outside the bathrooms. Unless she’d been imagining things, Elliot had just emerged from the girls’ lavatory. As before, when Elliot noticed Ada, he was startled, but this time he ignored her and ran off.
The next place she saw him was outside another restroom. She began to worry that his stomach might be troubling him—But, again, Elliot saw Ada, started, glared at her fiercely, and ran off.
She ran into him in the cafeteria, where preparations for the evening meal were being made. She ran into him in the chapel. And in the music room. And in the reference room. She ran into him everywhere. Every time they met, Elliot started, and every time, he seemed to have grown more tired.
Finally, as Ada was passing by the main gate, there was Elliot again—
The instant he met her eyes:
“…You…!”
This time, Elliot didn’t ignore her. He strode up to her, as if he couldn’t take it anymore.
“Uh, um…”
Overawed, Ada wondered whether she should encourage him with a
You’re working very hard, aren’t you!
Elliot said, “What are you, a stalker?! Are you following me or something?!”
“N-n-n-no! No, that isn’t it!”
At the unexpected accusation, Ada explained in a panic.
She told him she was only patrolling the school in order to properly carry out her responsibilities as a member of the disciplinary committee. Elliot just happened to be wherever she went, and she hadn’t meant to startle him or get in his way. Of course, she said, it was perfectly all right for him to ignore her completely.
Ada spoke emphatically, seriously, earnestly, with an expression of utmost sincerity on her face.
“…Oh, yeah…?”
Even as he listened, Elliot’s brow was twitching. He seemed to be getting more and more irritated.
At last, when he’d heard her out, Elliot said:
“Ada Vessalius. You, you…”
Calling to Ada in a very low voice, glaring at her with dangerous eyes, he jabbed his index finger straight out at her in accusation:
“
You
—have
rotten timing
!!”
“………I-I’m sor…ry…?”
Bewildered by his intensity, all Ada could do was apologize.
“Aaah, dammit!”
Elliot spat the words out, kicked the ground lightly with his toe, and turned his face from Ada.
“I don’t have time for this. I’ve got to find it fast, or else—”
With that, he ran off. Left alone once again, Ada murmured, “So he
is
looking for something…” What could it be? If she knew that, she might be able to find it for him while she was out on patrol.
I wonder what Elliot-kun could be looking for so desperately…?
She was sure it must be something terribly important.
Petty weeds can be withered at any time
When, after his fall on the stairs, Gerald dragged his aching body back to his own room, he found that another slip of
paper had been pushed under his door. Gerald read its contents, then immediately crushed it in his hand and pressed the hand that gripped the paper to his forehead.
“Dammit, dammit, dammit…”
The message was written in an intentionally bad hand, just like the warning to resign from being prefect.
The “weeds” were probably him. And the “can be withered at any time”…
When he’d been pushed down the stairs, they’d gone easy on him, but if they felt like it…
At any time…they could…?
Did it mean they could kill him?
For an instant, he shuddered. Then anger welled up.
“That little creep Marcel…”
He said the name as if he were squeezing it out between his clenched teeth.
As a prefect, he was doing a good job. The only one he could think of who would harbor malice toward him was his assistant Marcel, who’d realized that he was secretly issuing orders to the younger students.
Prefects were expected to abide by even stricter rules than the other students, so that they could serve as models for them and give them guidance. Gerald’s treatment of Marcel had been a way to slightly relieve the pressure of his constricting life at school.
He hadn’t considered it as anything more. He’d even thought of himself as toughening up the effeminate Marcel. Educating him.
And even so.
“…That little rat!”
Gerald struck the door violently.
“I’ll find out for sure,” he muttered. Although he was convinced, he had no positive proof that Marcel was the culprit.
In that case, he’d interrogate the boy himself and make him confess. Once he’d confessed, he’d hurt him so badly he’d never be able to bare his fangs at him again, and that would be that.
That was all it would take.
Gerald stepped away from the door to his room and began walking down the corridor.
Then. Suddenly.
“Elliot isn’t likely to forgive you.
“If Elliot won’t forgive you, neither will I.
“Remember that,
senpai.
”
The words Leo had said to him in the first-floor entry hall rose in his mind. Since Elliot was a son of the House of Nightray, Gerald couldn’t help but be aware of him, but up until now, he’d barely even noticed his valet Leo.
Not only that, if the spacey underclassman hadn’t been Elliot’s valet, Gerald might have used him as a target to burn off stress instead of Marcel. He hadn’t thought of him as anything more than that.
However.
“Remember that,
senpai.
”
The instant he’d heard those words, a strange chill had raced through his entire body. Leo’s tone had been peaceful, and the expression hidden behind his hair had been a sunny smile. …And yet Gerald had felt as if he’d had a knife…no, fangs, pressed to his throat.
What had that sensation been? No matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t understand it.
It had been all in his head; he’d been shaken by his fall down the stairs. Forcing himself to think that, Gerald chased Leo’s words from his mind.
He set off for the large room where Marcel lived.
…There it is…!
As he was running all over the school grounds, Elliot spotted the white cat in the maple grove. As soon as the cat noticed Elliot, it turned tail and ran deeper into the trees.
“Wa…WAaaaaaaaaaaaaAIT UuuuuuuuuP YOOooooooooooooo!!”
With enough force to completely use up his remaining strength, Elliot launched into a furious sprint…
…Trailing the end of his yell behind him.
“oooooooooooooooooooooouuu—!!”
Ahead of him, the white cat leapt and ran, as lightly as if it were dancing. In contrast, the two words “Catch It” had risen in Elliot’s glittering eyes. The spell “Catch-it-catch-it-catch-it-catch-it” was monopolizing his entire brain.
The sky was getting darker and darker. If he lost sight of the cat again, that would be that. He was going to catch it, no matter what. He was absolutely, positively going to catch it.
Elliot had become a hunting dog completely controlled by the thought “catch it.”
…Maybe that was why.
Ahead of him, the grove ended, and as his field of vision opened up, he saw a building. When the white cat went through the back door and into the building, Elliot ran in after it without a moment’s hesitation.
Chasing the white cat, he dashed down the straight corridor that led from the back door. Before long, the corridor turned left, and he saw a stairway leading up to the second floor. When it came even with the beginning of the stairs, the white cat changed directions with a bound and began to run up them. Like a gale, Elliot rushed up the steps as well.