Volume 4 Chapter 1 - To the End of the Peaceful Day Part 1
“Kazuki, between the sparklingly cute and feminine me, or the cool, conservative and adult me, which one do you like?”
…Please talk in Japanese, that was what clearly expressed in Kazuki’s bewildered expression.
Mio leaned her body forward even though they were in the middle of a meal, and waited for his reply while her eyes were shining in expectation. She was still in the cute maid uniform that she wore when they prepared the meal.
The dining table of the Witch’s Manor became quiet.
“What an extremely narcissistic way of talking isn’t it?”
When Koyuki ridiculed her while chewing (hamuhamu) her toast, Mio denied it with her red face.
“It’s not like that! Not the uniform or the Magic Dress or the maid uniform, but it’s just when I’m wearing my casual clothes, I’m concerned about what I should wear and what Kazuki thought!”
“It feels like Mio has an obsession in stylish fashion, huh?”
“It’s not to the degree of an obsession but…if they're a girl then of course they'll be concerned, right?”
When Mio said that self-conciously, Koyuki slightly hung her head down.
It appears that Koyuki was disinterested in that kind of thing.
“No, about that there are various kinds of girls, isn’t it fine?”
“Then for Kazuki it doesn’t really matter what kind of appearance the girl has? Even though you like the maid uniform so much.”
“That is, if the girl dressed herself up when she comes to meet me then I’ll be happy, thinking she is cute.”
Hoshikaze-senpai was laughing “ahaha” after she snapped a sausage (mogumogu) with her mouth.
“No, that is strange for senpai, right!? Please behave yourself like a girl properly!”
“But you see, in my situation, I'm happy when I wear men’s clothes. Moreover, could you imagine if I wore a skirt as part of my casual clothes? I'd look funny, wouldn’t I?”
“It wouldn’t", I said. "I want to see senpai in that kind of getup.”
“I'd look scary like that y'know, like when a boy is participating in a crossdressing beauty contest in a cultural festival of a boys’ school.”
You’ve got to be kidding, Kazuki was stricken with grief with all his words repelled back like he was standing in front of a wall of steel.
“Hayashizaki-kun, next time let’s go check out some clothes together. Occasionally doing shopping as bonding between men is cool right?”
“And I just said senpai isn't a man already…”
“All people in Japan are stylish desu. In Norse Mythology, being ostentatious felt like a sin. Though gods that were fashion-crazy like Freia-sama also exist desu.”
Lotte said so while sipping the miso soup. On top of the antique-style wooden table, two kinds of breakfast in Japanese and Western style were arranged. Of course the one who made all of it was Kazuki and Mio.
In addition to Lotte, with Leme there were seven people in the Witch’s Manor. Each of them had their own preference in food.
“Even though there seems to be that kind of Diva, I feel that Leme is someone who prefers practicality more than aesthetic.”
When Kazuki said that, Leme nodded saying “Unyuu” while chewing nattou in her mouth.
When Kazuki tried to wipe up Leme’s mouth from the side, Leme grew restive and struggled while saying “Sto-op”.
“Mio-chan is stylish, and your trademark twintails are cute too. That kind of style doesn’t suit me so I’m jealous.”
Kaguya-senpai who sat beside Mio lightly tugged her twintails repeatedly.
“I-I-I-I looked a little childish like this, that’s what I think tho-tho-tho-though.”
To the right, to the left, having her twintails pulled to the left and right alternately like operating a handle, Mio’s face and voice shook (kakukaku) around.
“…I-i-i-if I did my hair in the same style like when we were in the orphanage, I thought that when I reunited with Kazu-nii he would immediately notice me-me-me-me…”
“That, sorry I didn’t notice it.”
“It’s fine already. So, which kind of me does Kazuki prefer!?”
After shaking off Kaguya-senpai who fooled around cheerfully, Mio once again leaned her body forward to him.
“Errr, in short this is about which one is good between [cute group] and [cool group], right?”
Mio was a really girlish girl, but when she fights proudly and awe-inspiringly she also looked very much like a woman. Both [cute] and [cool], suited this girl.
“I think either of the two suits you.”
“What’s with that~, that crude reply.” Mio pouted her finely shaped lips.
“I thought that both sides of you looked good when I try to picture it in my mind. Because Mio has both cuteness and coolness in you.”
“I, is that so? As I thought, it’s like that? Ehehe.”
“But why are you suddenly asking that?”
Toward Mio who showed a bashful expression in great delight, Kazuki stopped his chopsticks and asked, Mio suddenly stood up from the dining table. Then she abruptly grabbed Kazuki by the scruff of the neck and pulled him up to stand.
“Come with me a little.”
“What’s with you so suddenly, we're still in the middle of a meal! Wait a little, I’m just starting to eat the grilled fish after all the difficulties I had in thoroughly removing the bones from it, you know!?”
“Otouto-kun, thank you for removing all the bones! I will eat it with deep gratitude inside! Wow, even the Japanese cuisine is very delicious~, that’s what I think.”
“Please stop Kaguya-senpai-! My grilled fish-!!”
“…Escort.”
Mio led Kazuki into the corridor and said that one word.
“Eh?” When Kazuki blinked, Mio suddenly opened the chest part of the maid uniform. His sight was absorbed into it against his better judgment but, a ruby silver necklace was shining at the girl’s shaking breast. The shining combination of gold and crimson was the girl’s trademark.
“Kazuki also has one of the pair, right? Are you wearing it?”
“Aah, it’s not visible in the uniform but I’m always wearing it.”
“When I gave that to you as a present, Kazuki, I said that as thanks for that you will give me a [princess escort] again!”
Kazuki finally recalled it in a flash. What she called princess escort was Mio’s alias for date.
“Aah! When we were going to date before, as the excuse for the next one…”
“It’s not a date! It’s because Kazuki said that he wanted to thank me no matter what, that’s why!”
Mio made a ruckus in embarrassment at this late hour while denying the word date.
“Tomorrow! The Sunday tomorrow! Wait in front of the station at noon!”
Mio thrust her index finger sharply at Kazuki.
Then without waiting for the reply, she returned to the dining room with her twintails trailing her.
“How one sided, though I don’t mind at all. …Somehow, it’s a really peaceful talk,”
A Saturday morning where there was nothing urgent.
If he had to say what worried him, it was something at the level of wondering whether the grilled fish was still there.
Speaking of the matter from before…The various regulations of the [Chief Student Council Election] would be decided in the staff meeting this weekend, it looked like it would be announced to the students at the beginning of the next week.
Because Kazuki had been chosen as one of the candidates too, next week he would start activities for the election.
The day where he could enjoy the peaceful days was only until the end of this week.
…Towards that end, he could have a pleasurable schedule.
—————
Mio chose their meeting place to be at the front of the station. Not to mention everyone in the Witch’s Manor, this was so anyone in the academy also wouldn’t see them going out on a date.
Kazuki had confirmed that Mio was still preparing this and that when he came out from the manor, so the result was that he would have to wait for a while.
Suddenly, someone covered his eyes from behind while talking in a mischievous voice.
“Guess~ who?”
It was not Mio’s voice. A voice that was forcefully high-pitched, a made-up voice like it was mimicking an anime character in an extremely clumsy effort, it made him unable to guess at all the owner of the voice.
“…Someone who would do something like this, Kaguya-senpai?”
Considering all that, there was no soft sensation at all hitting his back though.
Then might this be Hoshikaze-senpai that noticed the date and came to play a prank?
While he was hesitating, the palms that blocked his eyes opened to the left and right suddenly.
When Kazuki turned back to confirm the other party, there was Beatrix behind him.
Wearing the Einherjar’s black knight uniform on her body, Beatrix was standing there.
A cold sweat droopingly ran through his back.
It felt like there was a thick darkened wall of steel towering right in front of his eyes.
“Did you think it was a cute girl? How unfortunate! It’s Beatrix-chan!!”
Beatrix puffed her chest proudly as if to say ‘how do you like that?’.
“U…UOWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!?”
Kazuki screamed out loud while stepping back and put his hand on the katana at his hips.
Why did he bring a katana despite this being a date, that was because in the middle of the date with Mio before he had an experience of being attacked by a [Stigmata Hunter]. For knights, and conforming to that, the knight candidates were permitted to possess swords freely.
“Fufufu, what are you panicking for? I’m not especially here to fight with you, you know?”
While Beatrix laughed with a broad grin, she chided Kazuki who was taking a battle stance.
“Also I’m quite happy that you showed me how you lost your cool befitting with your age. You get like that just from noticing me and my greeting. Though I should say, how unfortunate, I became completely unable to fight Kazuki anymore.”
“…What did you say?”
Finally Kazuki separated his hand from the handle of his katana. However, in front of his rival who he had fought a bitter fight three times already, he couldn’t shake the nervousness that burdened the bottom of his stomach.
“This country's suddenly changing its policy. Hayashizaki Kazuki should be in protective custody, or Charlotte Liebenfrau should be taken into humane consideration, things like that. To change their policy so suddenly like this, I don’t know anymore for what reason we came to this country.”
Beatrix complained mixed with a deep sigh and an astonished expression.
The government’s sudden change in its policy was probably because of Headmaster Otonashi’s research that had veered off course from the path of humans came to light, resulting in many of the politicians that were related with that to lose their standing.
The large faction of politicians that were favoring the Magica Stigma had completely become powerless.
“But the period of cooperation between the Einherjar and the Knight Order of Japan that is being done in the surface is still going to continue for a while. On the surface, the reason is that Loki still hasn’t been captured, we cannot break off the promise of cooperation this late in the game. That’s why there also might be some occasions where Kazuki is going to cooperate with us when you challenge a quest. Fufufu, this time there might come an occasion when you and I join hands together to defeat Loki, don’t you think?”
“…You’re really going to withdraw your hand from Lotte that easily?”
“My own country of Germany is lodging a protest to the government of Japan, but I don’t know myself what will happen.”
If she said that she wouldn’t do anything to Lotte…then there was no reason anymore to be antagonistic to Beatrix. She was an opponent that he had fought a few times, but from the beginning he didn’t have a definite relation of hostility with her.
However even so, he couldn’t even begin to imagine doing something like joining hands together with this person.
“Now I’m just cooperating in patrolling together with Japan’s Knight Order. For some reason with the lack of personnel, there is no one to go around the area of this academy’s surroundings. And then I happened upon Kazuki, like this…I’m playing a prank peacefully that was different until now. Wasn’t it amusing?”
“It’s so amusing that I though my heart was going to stop.”
“Fuffuffu. …But you were really careless huh? The man that is going to become this country’s King is just going to loiter around in town without even bringing any guard. If the one from before was not [Guess~ who?] but [Thor - Lightning Double Finger Attack] then your life would be gone.”
“If you approached with killing intent then I will notice it. No wait, what kind of technique did you say just now?”
The cheeks of Beatrix that talked jokingly with a good mood was faintly showing red, he could see that she was purely having fun in her exchanges with him.
However to even say something like King…at most he was just a lone high school student, something like guards for him was too much.
“Well, if it’s a swordsman at the level of Kazuki can you do something like that? I had heard a legend before that the swordsmen of the orient could somehow sense an attack immediately even if they are asleep and counter-attack.”
“That’s not a legend…well, it’s an area of a master that had brought their Iaijutsu to the extreme though.”
In the past it might be a state that was nothing more than a legend, but now it was not something impossible. Because in this era there was the magic technique <Trance> that was able to control the subconscious mind.
At that time, panicked sounds of footsteps could be heard coming from the direction of the academy.
“Kazuki-! Sorry to make you wai…teEEAAAAAAAAAHH~? Be, Beatrix!?”
Mio who came dashing here, as expected she too was screaming.
“So you are waiting for a woman alone huh, I’m jealous. Today you are wearing casual clothes that looked quite mature aren't you, magician of the fire bird. It’s cuteniedlich even looking from me who is a woman…”
“I got commented on by a weird guy from the very beginning even though I’m dressing up for Kazuki!?”
GA―N! Mio received a big shock. Then Beatrix turned back abruptly toward Kazuki.
“Kazuki. The you right now looks completely like a normal boy don't you? I’m feeling attracted even when this is the case but…let me give you one piece of advice.”
Suddenly the smile was gone completely from Beatrix’s face and she turned completely serious.
“You had already lost your [usual ordinary days] and the like. If added with your strength, one or two countries aiming for your life will surely appear. Germany is a moderate country so that’s why that kind of dangerous direction still hasn’t come yet. Though it’s unfortunate for me.”
“…Thank you for the warning.” Kazuki finally replied with a tone of cynicism.
Other countries…did that kind of matter really exist?
Right now a country that had normal diplomatic relations with Japan didn’t exist anywhere in the world. Kazuki too was raised until now without even imagining what was out there beyond the sea. For other countries to aim at his life was a story that really exceeded his imagination.
“You're welcome. After all, I will be troubled if you got killed by someone other other than me. Fufufu, actually the truth is, since I crossed swords with you, I keep thinking about you even when I'm asleep or awake.”
Beatrix suddenly said something strange, her sharp eyes looked like they were in a world of her own.
“Although just talking with you is interesting, but facing you like this, I can’t stand it, I want to immediately pull out my sword and come swinging at you. Completely like an animal that cannot stay calm in its mating season. I want to kill you, even right now I want to cut your neck and make it my distinguished achievement.”
…Kazuki and Mio were becoming speechless together.
“Looks like somehow I've grown to like you! I am in love with you!”
Leaving behind the two that were drawing away because of her speech, Beatrix put even more heat into her voice and yelled.
“That’s why someday again without fail…let’s try to kill each other once more! Farewell!!”
After declaring that one-sidedly, Beatrix turned her back.
That back was going far away with leisurely steps, but maybe because she felt embarrassed with her own actions gradually, she abruptly changed into a fierce dash and was gone from their sight in a flash.
“Kazuki, to be confessed by another girl while I’m not here, you’re heartless!”
“…No, that kind of approach also makes me troubled, such a thrill-seeking confession.”
“There is that, isn’t it?”
After putting his feelings in order, Kazuki turned back to Mio.
Mio was dressing her slender body stylishly with a dungaree shirt that had a dry texture.
Her hairstyle was also not the twintails but a ponytail, changing the impression of her altogether in a big way.
“You are dressing yourself in the cool group huh. But on the contrary, the childish part of Mio is emphasized.”
She wore a miniskirt softly below the shirt and carrying a girlish bag in her hand, so there was no boyish impression on her. She had probably calculated everything to take that kind of balance.
“Really!? Ehehe, just as planned.”
Mio came flying at Kazuki’s arm excitedly. Her breast that was protruding from the shirt changed its shape (muni-) when it pressed into Kazuki’s arm. The inside of his head that had been poisoned by Beatrix brightened like a blooming flower.
Escorting is something like this right, while trying to remember, Kazuki embraced Mio’s slender hips tightly. Mio leaned coquettishly against Kazuki’s neck. A sweet smell was floating around.
“Well then, what kind of date shall we have? Where to?”
“I said, this isn't a date! First is eating lunch, after that a place to play with the both of us is fine! Not something like a movie theater, something like sports center or game center where we can compete. Otherwise something like in a park where we can chat for a long time-!”
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