Chapter 319 Analytic snow chat?
Winter Break Arc.
(POV: Lumiere)
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For a moment I thought Lumila and I were going to kiss right on the spot.
It'd come as strange to me if I kissed a woman like her.
She didn't have any problems per se, however, it'd be strange for me to attract her "type" of women. Maybe she didn't say it out loud, but to me, she looked like the type of woman that would stomp a man to kill time and enjoy it.
Elise's face grew redder by the moment.
Her grip tightened on Lumila's arm as she urgently pulled her back.
Lumila blinked in confusion, her glasses glinting in the sunlight, and turned to Elise for an explanation.
"What's the matter?" she inquired.
Elise, her face now hidden behind the scarf wrapped around her neck, muttered softly with a barely audible voice. "You were... a little too close," she stammered, her cheeks tinged with embarrassment.
Lumila's hand rose to her chin, her slender fingers brushing against her delicate skin as she pondered Elise's words. "I suppose... you're right," she relented, her voice thoughtful.
Elise peered out from behind her scarf, her eyes wide with curiosity.
She hesitated for a moment before mustering up the courage to ask the question that had been gnawing at her.
"L... L... Lumila... were you really going to kiss me?" she whispered.
The expression in Lumila?s eyes remained the same; bland, her lips curling into a partly smug yet sadistic smile. "Ew, of course not..." she responded calmly.
"Jeez, you'd think the worst she could say was no.." Aidan shrugged.
I looked at Aidan. "I guess I know who's failing my next class..."
"Excuse me?"
Lumila gave such a quick response.
Almost like she planned to say it before Elise even asked.
I let out an awkward, pained chuckle. Lumila, her attention now focused on me, approached with intentional steps. "No, Elise," she said in her usually elegant and calm demeanor, "I was actually going to suggest that Aidan do the kissing."
"Eh?" said Ravenna and I.
"Tomfoolery of some sort, perhaps?" Aidan told Lumila.
However, it looked very obvious that Lumila wasn't joking in the slightest.
She turned her gaze towards me, her eyes scanning my form with a critical yet appreciative gaze. "I mean, Professor Lumiere certainly fits the bill of a woman, doesn't he?" she remarked.
I let out a weary sigh, my shoulders slumping as I tried to regain my composure. "That's enough, Lumila," I muttered.
Gently, Ravenna clapped with her gloved hands. "No, it's actually!"
"Don't..." I held my head in my palm. "...make this worse."
Lumila adjusted her coat, her fur collar framing her face perfectly as she leaned in closer to examine me. "Besides all that," she continued, her voice with a hint of indifferent admiration, "you have beautifully purple eyes, lush black hair, a soft expression, and rosy lips. Your figure is slender but at the same time with enough curves to shame a few women."
"Mhm." Aidan noded calmly. "That's definitely enough to get a good number of women excited."
Elise's face flushed an even deeper shade of red, small puffs of smoke seeming to emit from her head.
It was clear her innocent nature wasn't prepared for such explicit details.
Lumila's gaze lingered on me, analyzing every inch of my physique.
"In addition to those striking features," she narrowed her eyes a bit, "you possess finely-toned muscles, too."
She reached out and grazed her fingertips along my right shoulder, testing its firmness. "Truly the epitome of competence, I dare say," said Lumila.
I gently removed her hand from my shoulder, feeling a slight discomfort.
"Well, that's enough flattery for one day..."
Ravenna, who had been observing our interaction, stood up and lightly pounded my back with her slender fists which only looked bigger due to her thick gloves.
"Lumiere~" she called out.
I sighed, bracing myself for whatever Ravenna was about to say. "What is it?" I asked wearily.
It'd barely been an hour and I was already exhausted.
Ravenna's eyes widened as she explained her dilemma. "My snowman," she began with disappointment.
I looked at it. "Huh?"
"It doesn't have a face."
I pondered her dilemma for a moment before offering a solution. "Well, why don't you gather some rocks from beneath the snow? You can use them to create a face," I suggested, hoping to ease her disappointment.
Traditionally, most used either sticks to carve the face or small objects to form its facial features.
Ravenna straightened her posture, placing her hands confidently on her waist. "That's not something a lady should do, Lumiere," she retorted in a slightly sassy manner. "It's a man's job, especially since you're my husband."
Again with that...?
I let out a tired sigh, glancing over at Lumila and Aidan for solidarity. "Again, not my wife," I reminded them.
"Sure, Professor," both Aidan and Lumila chimed in unison.
Tch, sarcastic bastards.
I turned my attention back to Ravenna, deciding it was best to resolve her "problem" quickly.
"You've already caused me enough trouble," I muttered under my breath.
Focusing my mana, I formed small pieces of rock in the palm of my hand, molding them into several pebbles.
With precision, I controlled the pebbles, expertly attaching them to the snowman's face, forming dotted eyes and a joyful smile.
Ravenna's eyes widened, a smile spreading across her face. "Perfect!" she exclaimed.
"Finally, now I can rest..." I said.
"Hey, you don't have to be so negative about everything."
"When have I eve..." I sighed. "Sure."
Lumila, folding her hands confidently in front of us had a partly smug smile on her face.
I wouldn't necessarily call it a smile, but it was like she'd smile with just one word of flattery.
"Impressive, you both. But are you sure you can even begin to compete with my magnificent creation?"
I glanced at Lumila, my confusion evident on my face.
"What'd you mean?" I asked.
"Oh boy..." Elise said under her breath.
Lumila pointed with a delicate finger towards a towering sculpture in the distance. My eyes followed her gesture, widening in absolute awe. There, before us, stood a well detailed replica of our campus, entirely built from pure white snow.
"Woah…" we all exhaled simultaneously.
Our breaths were stolen by the snowbound masterpiece.
Ravenna?s eyes sparkled. She turned towards Lumila. "It's absolutely amazing," she gushed.
"Of course," Lumila blushed a bit.
"It looks exactly like this place, right down to the smallest details!"
"Campus, you mean?"
"Uh, yeah that, whatever."
Ravenna was too excited to consider anything else.
Confidently, Lumila calmly replied, "Well it's no surprise. My image training has been honed to perfection."
Aidan, adjusting his spectacles, chimed in with a touch of dry wit. "Well, that's certainly an impressive talent," he remarked coolly. "But let's be honest, Lumila, what use is it in the grand scheme of things?"
"Come again? I dare you." Lumila glared at him through her lens.
"In honest terms, it's an absolutely useless talent..."
Take a hint dude...
Lumila's eyes narrowed. "Useless? I beg to differ. Right, Elise?"
She turned towards Elise, expecting a supportive response.
But Elise was nowhere to be found. Lumila's brows furrowed in confusion. "Elise?" she called out, already worried.
Just as Lumila began to panic, we all noticed Elise, carefully adjusting the snowman that Ravenna had created earlier. Lumila's eyes widened, her body seemingly frozen in place. "What… what are you doing with their snowman?" she stuttered.
Elise turned towards Lumila.
"I'm just adding a few finishing touches," she explained. "I want it to stand out more, to truly capture the essence of what she was trying to..."
But as Lumila's gaze met ours, a wave of apprehension washed over her. Her hands trembled as she attempted to form a ball of snow, her breath quickening with each passing second. Slowly, her movements grew more erratic, as if her arms had lost all function.
Concerned, Lumila rushed to Elise's side, her voice filled with urgency.
"What's wrong, Elise?" she asked.
She was both worried and frustrated at the same time.
Lumila shook her roughly, hoping to rouse her from her frozen state.
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