Either way…
“No, it’s nothing like that. I just wanted you to have it.”
I didn’t think he was the sort of guy who could be that considerate…
He did think the way he’d given it to him—casually, brusquely, on the way back from the library—had been just like Leo.
“………Hmm.”
Elliot let his eyes fall to the book, thinking he’d read a little further.
However, it felt as if he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on what he read, so he replaced the bookmark and shut the book with a thump.
The sky was cloudy, and on top of that, the shadowed back garden was chilly. Elliot thought, Yeah, I’m done. No more waiting, and decided to leave the garden. As he was about to set off, he noticed that one of his shoes had come undone. Elliot crouched down and retied his shoelace.
Just then, something smacked him lightly on the back. Elliot turned.
“Man, Leo. That was fas—”
“Mew?”
A blank cat’s face. Boy and feline gazed at each other.
…………A cat?!
At the violent shock from this unexpected sight, Elliot lost his balance and almost fell over. Somehow managing to keep from falling, he stood up, staring at the cat.
It had a ribbon tied around its neck, so he knew it was probably somebody’s pet. It was a pure white cat with striking, limpid, silver eyes. Elliot complained, holding his galloping heart: “D-don’t scare me like that, cat.” The white cat only gave an entertained “Mew! ”
Elliot glanced right and left, but aside from himself and the white cat, the garden was empty.
“…Tch! What idiot brought you in here?”
“Mew, mew. Mew, mew.”
The white cat meowed, pestering him to play. Responding to its voice, Elliot met its gaze. He’d heard that cats ran when humans looked them in the eye, but the white cat must have been very used to humans; it didn’t even hint at trying to run.
Elliot’s face grew stern.
“No. That’s no good. Listen, if somebody finds you here, there’s going to be trouble.”
He was right: It was Discipline Reinforcement Week.
After school, students tended to let themselves go a bit, and the disciplinary committee went on patrol. Elliot had passed several committee members already. If they found the cat, they’d catch it, of course, and they’d begin hunting for its owner.
Elliot didn’t care what happened to the owner. However, even then, he thought it would be best to make them take the cat home right away.
If only for the cat’s sake.
“Where’s your owner, cat?”
In response to Elliot’s question, the white cat only tilted its head and mewed.
It looked up at Elliot with big, bright, round eyes.
It was staring straight at Elliot.
“…………………………………………………………………………………………………”
Elliot was silent.
His cheek twitched.
“……M-man, I guess I’d better…”
With a slightly hoarse mutter, Elliot crouched down again, as low as he could.
He was trying to put himself on the cat’s eye level.
“Listen, you. It’s not safe for you to be messing around on campus. Get out. G’wan, get.”
He put out a hand to catch it by the neck, but the cat slipped out of reach.
However, it made no move to leave Elliot’s side. Not only that, it licked the hand Elliot had stretched out with its tiny tongue. The sensation that traced his fingertips was damp and soft and rough, all at once.
Lick, lick. Lick.
…………………!
Elliot was frozen in place, unable to pull his hand back.
He knew.
Of course he knew. This was no time to be playing with a cat. He was at school, and although there was no one around right now, Leo could return at any moment. Besides, there was no telling when another student might show up. A patrolling disciplinary committee member, for example.
If anybody saw him like this…
Yeah, this isn’t—
Lick lick. Lick lick.
Lick lick. Lick lick.
With no idea what Elliot was feeling, the white cat licked his fingers all over. Elliot stared at it, as if he couldn’t look away.
“What’s your name, cat?”
His question was almost involuntary.
The white cat stopped licking for a moment, turned its face toward Elliot, stared at him intently, and gave a soft “Mew.” There was no telling whether it was meant as a reply or not. It only looked straight at him with those silver eyes.
“They’re like…the moon…”
Elliot murmured, as if talking to himself. As if in a dream.
The white cat began licking his fingers again. Its tongue finally reached the skin between his fingers, at the base, and it tickled so much that Elliot shivered. He scolded the cat, hastily: “Hey, no, quit…!” However, his voice was weak, as if he was delirious with fever.
And his face…
Lick lick lick, lick!
“Hey, you! That tickles! Ah-ha-ha!”
His face wore one of the best smiles ever.
When, unable to take it anymore, Elliot drew his hand back, the white cat jumped up onto his knees, as if it was chasing the hand.
Then it playfully tried to crawl inside his coat.
Elliot could feel the cat’s fur and its soft body through the cloth, and he really couldn’t take it. He knew. Of course he knew. If he let the cat mess with him like this, his clothes would get dirty, and if anyone happened to see him, he’d have no way to cover for himself.
He had to chase it out of his coat. He had to.
He knew this. —But.
“Mew mew, mew mew, mew mew, mew mew, mew mew, mew mew, mew mew, mew mew.”
The cat played innocently.
Th-this little… What incredible cat power…!!
Elliot was astonished.
“Cat power” was cats’ fearsome ability to make anyone they were playing with happy, no matter what the person wanted or how much of a nuisance it was, and to drain their will and strength to resist. The source of this power was thought to lie, not only in their charming forms and expressions, but in their paw pads as well.
…Of course, the only one who thought this was Elliot.
“Heh heh! Hey, cut that out… ‘Moon’!”
He’d gone and named someone else’s cat. Already. He was utterly enchanted by it.
In the House of Nightray, a family of dog people, Elliot was the one and only universally acknowledged cat lover. …And a terrible pushover, at that.
If the cat had continued playing for another few seconds, the thought that this was school and that it was Discipline Reinforcement Week would have vanished completely from Elliot’s brain, and he’d have been left utterly defenseless, body and soul. A smile that was just as adorable as the cat had already found its way onto his face.
—Then. Suddenly.
The cat jumped down from Elliot’s knees.
Just as Elliot, his face still one big smile, was about to ask it what was wrong…
His sixth sense picked up on danger.
His sense of hearing, which had sharpened instantaneously, caught the sound of footsteps. They were still far away but getting closer, coming up behind him.
Leo…?!
Elliot’s reaction was a sight to behold.
He stood and turned with a speed and sharpness that even someone assaulted by an assassin while they slept probably wouldn’t have been able to match. The motion was so fast that it kicked up a fierce gust of wind.
In that brief moment, the smile vanished from Elliot’s face, and his sharp expression returned. However, his heart was pounding away like an alarm bell. When he looked for the white cat out of the corner of his eye, it was already disappearing into the shadow of the flower bed.
Had he be
en spotted playing with the cat? No, there’d been a few moments between the point where the cat jumped off his knees and the point where he’d heard footsteps.
No one saw me— They can’t have seen!
“……Oh! Elliot…kun?”
At the sound of his name, he turned his piercing gaze straight in the direction of the voice.
When he saw the person who was walking toward him, Elliot felt himself going cold inside. The alarm bell in his chest calmed down, and his gaze, which had been rather threatening, became a glare filled with clear annoyance.
…Ada Vessalius…!
Silently, in his mind, Elliot said the girl’s name.
She was a daughter of the House of Vessalius, one of the four great dukedoms. Unlike the House of Nightray, Vessalius was a line of heroes that were showered with unadulterated glory and honor. Ada was in the sixth year at school, and Elliot’s senior.
The houses of Vessalius and Nightray were often compared to light and shadow.
“Hate the Vessaliuses. Despise them. Revile them.” His father’s words rose in Elliot’s heart.
Elliot had heard these words ever since he was small, and they were carved deeply into his heart.
…And so.
At school, where it wouldn’t do to cause trouble, Elliot had avoided interacting with her to the best of his abilities. Fortunately, since they were in different years, this hadn’t been hard. He’d only seen her a handful of times, at a distance, since he first entered the academy.
“Grrt…” Unconsciously, Elliot ground his teeth together.
Whether or not she’d noticed his attitude, Ada came right up to him, then stopped and fidgeted. She seemed tense. She also seemed rather shy.
Now there’s a face without a care in the world, Elliot thought, coldly.
“Um, uh…”
Ada pretended to straighten her perfectly tidy uniform, looking bashful.
“Elliot-kun, isn’t it? I, um, we haven’t spoken before, but I—”
“Don’t say my name like we’re friends, Ada Vessalius.”
He’d dropped the words on her like a ton of bricks, and the girl shrank back like a scolded child.
LATER, IN HIS ROOM IN THE BOYS’ DORM.
“Hey, why’s it gone?”
Elliot was flipping through the pages of Holy Knight again and again, then turning the book upside down and shaking it, when Leo returned.
On seeing Elliot, who was scowling in irritation, he looked perplexed.
“Why’s what gone?”
“The bookmark. The one you gave me.”
At Elliot’s answer, Leo’s expression changed to one of comprehension, and he came over. Peering down at the book in Elliot’s hands, he asked, “You did have it in the book, right?” Elliot nodded silently. The bookmark had been in the book, and he’d been carrying the book under his arm, so it was hard to imagine that the bookmark had fallen out.
…Which meant it shouldn’t be gone. And yet.
Leo seemed to have thought the same thing. He cocked his head as if to say, That’s odd.
“When was the last time you saw it?”
“Oh, it was…”
Elliot scanned his memory.
“I opened the book in the back garden while I was waiting for you… It was then.”
“I see. Then it must’ve happened after that, while you were on your way back here. Did anything unusual happen?”
“Unusual… Ada Vessalius talked to me.”
He spoke after a momentary silence, making no attempt to hide his bad mood. Leo gave a small, surprised, “Huh.” He followed it with, “That is strange,” but Elliot said nothing. He was remembering his exchange with Ada. Even though she’d been nervous, Ada had given him a gentle smile.
“Don’t say my name like we’re friends.”
She’d spoken to him, and he’d rejected her sharply.
He didn’t know whether Ada had understood why he’d been so harsh with her. However, even after having been rebuffed in that fashion, Ada hadn’t immediately tried to leave.
She might have had something she wanted to ask… Something she wanted to talk about. As far as Elliot was concerned, though, he had nothing to discuss with a Vessalius. And so, as Ada stood her ground, fidgeting and looking as if she were searching for the right words, he said it:
“I’m waiting for somebody here. You’re in the way. Get lost.”
At Elliot’s ruthless words, Ada had said, “Oh, um, well, I’ll see you later, then, Elliot-kun.” On that carefree note, wearing a smile that had probably taken everything she had to summon, she went back into the school building.
Did she take that attitude even though she knew about the discord between the House of Nightray and the House of Vessalius, and that they were on nothing resembling good terms? …Or did she act like that because she didn’t know?
Either way, Elliot thought.
“That girl’s about as sharp as a marble.”
His mutter drew a “Hey” from Leo.
“You’re talking about an upperclassman.”
“Like I care?”
“Didn’t you scold younger students for not respecting an upperclassman just last week?”
Leo spoke reprovingly. For a moment, Elliot saw red; he shot a glance at him.
“That was different.”
“Oh, so it doesn’t matter when it’s you. I didn’t know you were the sort who could compartmentalize your head like that. I hear it’s really convenient.”
At that, Leo stepped away from Elliot. His tone had been indifferent, but he’d as good as said, I know you really know better. Elliot was exasperated by Leo’s attitude, but he couldn’t find a comeback.
“—And? Could you have dropped it then?”
Leo smoothly set the conversation back on track.
Elliot, feeling rather off-balance, searched his memory.
He hadn’t been able to leave immediately, not after he’d run Ada off by telling her he was waiting for someone, so he’d dutifully stood there for a few minutes. When, as expected, Leo hadn’t come back, he’d left the back garden and returned to the boys’ dorm. If he’d dropped it then, there was no way he wouldn’t have noticed.
“……No,” he concluded briefly.
Leo folded his arms. “Hmmm…”
Elliot also looked as if he was thinking hard. However, at Leo’s next, casual words, his expression froze.
“Anything else? Did something happen before or after that?”
Mew, mew.
“……‘Moon’…”
He’d accidentally said the word aloud, and he shut his mouth hastily. Leo looked perplexed: “???”
“Moon? …Like the one in the sky, you mean??”
“Nuh, no, it’s nothing. I didn’t mean that…”
He didn’t know what he should say.
When the white cat had appeared, and he’d messed around with it for a while…
It was true that, right then, he’d forgotten about the book. He’d been holding it under his elbow, and he wasn’t entirely sure that he hadn’t come pretty close to dropping it a few times. No, he thought he probably had. …But if he said that to Leo…
The things Leo would say…
Elliot’s gaze swam. It would have been obvious to anyone that he was being evasive.
All he said was, “…I…might have dropped it.”
“While you were playing with the cat?”
Leo’s careless bombshell startled Elliot so much he thought his brain might boil over. His field of vision seemed to somersault.
He was confused, and upset, and his face was bright, bright red—
“Y-y-y-y-you jerk!! You were watching that, Leo?!”
He grabbed Leo’s shirtfront as violently as if he meant to hit him.
If he’d been seen, it would have been the blunder of a lifetime… No, much worse than that. If… If he’d been spotted enjoying himself that much, with his guard completely down…
He’d lose every
last shred of his prestige as a master!
“Elliot, calm down.”
Moving nonchalantly, even though he was being shaken back and forth by the flustered Elliot, Leo dropped the corner of the book he was holding onto his master’s head. The motion was casual, but it had serious power behind it. Elliot yelped in pain, but it soon turned to anger; determined to give as good as he got, he glared fiercely at Leo and raised his fist.
Just as he did so—
“You’ve got animal hair on your uniform. It’s white, so it doesn’t stand out, but it’s there.”
At Leo’s words, Elliot froze.
“I didn’t see what happened, so the rest is inference. The hair is short, so it’s probably cat hair. If you think you might have dropped the bookmark then, you were probably playing so enthusiastically that you forgot about the book. …And it looks like I was right. You really are easy to read.”
“……Ngkl…”
“Ah, I made you say ‘uncle.’”
Leo sounded rather pleased.
Then he smacked his palm with a fist and said, “Oh, I see,” as if inspiration had just struck. With no idea what was going on, Elliot flinched. Leo—obviously entertained—spoke with the refreshed expression and tone of a detective who’d just solved a cold case:
“So ‘Moon’ is a name? Elliot. That cat. Did you—”
“Don’t say iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!”
A devastating punch flew at Leo.
—Still.
Leo wasn’t the type to stand there and let himself be punched, and, as was only natural, Elliot’s fists were met with a counterattack.
The dramatic cloud of dust raised by the conflict was nothing anyone would expect from a master and valet.
Sometimes these things happen.
Ada Vessalius
AFTER SHE’D LEFT ELLIOT.
Ada was walking down one of the school corridors. Her shoulders drooped slightly.
“Elliot-kun……”
She murmured the name of the boy who’d chased her out of the back garden.
Elliot Nightray. He was a boy in a different school year, but Ada had known his name since he began attending the academy. After all, like Ada, he was a child of the four great dukedoms, and they were going to the same school. And, as had happened with her, his name had traveled throughout the school soon after he entered it.
PandoraHearts ~Caucus Race~, Vol. 2 Page 3