He pointed at Alice.
In spite of herself, Alice came very near to screaming as if she’d just heard a horrifying ghost story. However, before she could, Break’s expression abruptly sharpened. “My lady is returning,” he told her. Then he turned on his heel and left the way he’d come in: through the window.
As he was leaving, he made one last, poignant entreaty:
“Smoochie Sweetruno Disease. That is the name of my lady’s affliction. Please, Alice-kun. It’s all right. It won’t kill you……”
He’d departed like a gust of wind. Alice could only stare dazedly at the window through which Break had made his exit.
And then Sharon had entered.
“—And that’s what happened.”
Alice wasn’t very good at explaining things clearly to people, and when she’d finished, she gave a small sigh.
“…”
Sharon, who’d listened carefully, was silent and expressionless. When Alice asked, “What’s wrong?” and peered into her face, concerned, Sharon smiled brightly.
“Is it. I see.”
“…Y-yeah.” Overawed, Alice nodded.
“You were worried about me, weren’t you, Alice-san? That was kind of you. However, I’m afraid it was quite unnecessary. He was only teasing you.”
“Teasing…?” Alice was dumbfounded. For a while, she stared blankly back at Sharon. Then: “Of course I picked up on that!!” Alice threw out her chest, arrogantly. She put her hands on her hips and laughed loudly—“Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!”—but the effect was so funny and sweet that Sharon only smiled pleasantly. She gave a decorous little laugh. However, behind her back, a rumbling, black aura was spreading ominously.
Alice didn’t register Sharon’s state.
“I-I’m very generous, you know, so when I heard the old clown’s stupid little story, I decided I’d play along with it, as a special favor to him. I mean it. —Oh, and I wasn’t worried about you at all, all right?! Not at all!”
She embellished this desperate appeal with a flurry of gestures.
“Alice-san.”
Sharon checked Alice, as if to say she understood. Her tone was perfectly calm, but it made Alice hold her tongue in spite of herself.
Sharon rose from the sofa. Her movements were elegant and polite…but a certain threatening weight hung about them.
She bowed to Alice; her expression was apologetic.
“…Alice-san. I haven’t shown you any hospitality yet, and I do apologize, but do you think you could go home for today? I’ll explain everything to Oz-sama and Gilbert-sama later. I’m very sorry, but our tea party will have to wait.”
The declaration of postponement came abruptly and without sufficient explanation. However:
“—Uh…uh-huh.”
Alice behaved, obediently leaving Sharon’s room.
4
“Alice-chan?”
After Alice had left Sharon’s room, just as she’d reached the Rainsworth mansion’s entry hall, a voice hailed her from behind. “Nn?” Turning, she saw an elderly woman in a wheelchair being pushed by a servant.
Alice recognized the lady; she’d seen her several times before. It was Sheryl, the head of the House of Rainsworth. Sheryl had a cape spread over her knees, and resting on the cape was a good-sized cardboard box, elegantly wrapped.
“Huhn. What do you want?”
“I’m terribly sorry about my Sharon-chan. She invited you, and then she didn’t even entertain you…” She held out the box, saying, “Please take this.”
“What is it?” Alice muttered. She approached Sheryl and accepted the box.
“It’s the confection Sharon-chan meant to give you. It’s a new offering from one of our favorite patisseries: a chestnut cake. They’re quite proud of it. If you’d like, do take it back to Pandora with you and enjoy it with the others.”
“…Oho. Cake, huh?”
Sheryl chuckled.
“I wonder if you wouldn’t have preferred meat instead.”
“Of course. I don’t hate sweet things, but if you’re asking me which is better, it’s obviously meat.”
Alice boldly declared herself a meat-lover. Then her face grew thoughtful. “But…”
Oz liked sweet things. If she took this back to him, it was sure to make him happy. He’d probably be grateful to her for bringing it— As she thought about it, Alice smiled, just a little bit.
“Hmph!” Alice puffed out her chest. “Well, if you insist, I suppose I’ll take it off your hands.”
“Yes, that would make me very happy.”
As she chuckled, Sheryl was like an artless child. However, her expression abruptly clouded. She glanced upstairs, where the private rooms of the mansion’s residents were located, and gave a small sigh.
“Honestly, I don’t know what we’re going to do with Xerx-kun. Still—” At that, Sheryl’s eyes turned to Alice. “Thanks to you, Sharon-chan seems to have recovered somewhat. I’m grateful to you.”
“Recovered? So she actually was sick?”
Alice was worried. Sheryl shook her head.
“No, my granddaughter is quite well. She was afflicted by…shall we say, an emotional ailment. However, that seems to have greatly improved, and again, it was your doing. Thank you for your concern, though.”
“Um, no, I wasn’t really…”
Alice fidgeted self-consciously. Watching her, Sheryl broke into a smile. “My, how adorable. ” Apparently, blood did tell: She looked remarkably like Sharon.
Suddenly, as though she’d been struck by a good idea, Sheryl said, “Alice-chan, I don’t suppose you’d come to live with me, would you?”
“…Huh?” Alice’s eyes went round.
“If you lived with me, I’d make sure you had all the sweets and meat you wanted.”
“Meat?! As much meat as I can eat…?!”
Struck by a fearsome attack spell, Alice shuddered. She staggered, taking a step back. Sheryl smiled and added, “I hear Sharon-chan’s mentioned wanting to adopt you,” but Alice’s mind was completely occupied with meat, and the words didn’t reach her.
Meat. As much as I can eat.
How sweet the words sounded! Alice’s feelings wavered helplessly. She seemed a breath away from latching on to the offer.
Sheryl watched her, smiling cheerfully.
However, finally:
“No. I can’t. I can’t do that,” Alice said, flatly. All hesitation was gone from her face.
“Oh,” murmured Sheryl.
“This isn’t where I’m supposed to be. Not here—”
At Alice’s declaration, Sheryl nodded, satisfied. She didn’t seem at all disappointed.
Although her invitation had been rejected, Sheryl said, “Come and visit anytime.”
Alice responded arrogantly: “H-hmph! If I feel like it, I may grace you with my presence!” Then she headed off toward the rose garden and Oz and Gilbert.
As Sheryl watched her go, she murmured cheerfully, “Now, then— All that’s left is the kitten.”
5
“BREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAK!!”
Sharon raised her voice angrily as soon as she set foot in Break’s private room, in a corner of the Rainsworth mansion.
Break was standing by the window, looking out and crunching a hard candy. As Sharon entered, cloaked in an aura of wrath, he turned to face her, waving beamishly.
“If it isn’t my lady. Good afterno—”
In a motion too fast to follow, Sharon’s harisen flashed. Break went flying.
The strike had been so blindingly fast that Break was still smiling when he crashed into the wall. Sharon had run all the way from her room; she was panting for breath, shoulders heaving.
Break looked up, with his neck still bent at an impossible angle.
“Ha-ha-ha… That’s just like you, my lady. I didn’t even manage to fall safely.”
“That is of absolutely no importance whatsoever! You—! You put outrageous ideas into Alice-san’s head!”
“Did you enjoy it?”
“A-as if I would!” Sharon retorted automatically.
Break, realigning his neck with a series of pops and snaps, murmured, “Oh, really?” He sounded mystified.
“You seemed rather enthusiastic about it, for all that. When Alice-kun counterattacked, your response was a bit weak.”
“B-B-B-B-Breeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaak?!”
Sharon’s embarrassment was profound, and her face flushed so red it seemed about to burst into flames.
“Y-y-y-you… Were you…watching that…?!”
“No, I just said it off the top of my head. However, from that reaction, I can’t have been far from the—”
Sharon readied her harisen again.
She seemed to be thinking, The only way to shut him up is to kill him! However, even faced with Sharon’s overwhelming aura, Break laughed impassively. Then, quite casually, he said:
“Really, I’ve never seen anyone less uncoordinated than you. You have nothing to worry about.”
“!”
Sharon gulped. She stared at Break, aghast.
“Could I possibly be?”
“Could I possibly be uncoordinated?”
This was the private worry that had been depressing Sharon for the past few days. Of course, she hadn’t said a word about it to anyone.
However, Break continued easily.
“Having a bit of trouble learning swordsmanship isn’t anything to fret over.”
He knew all that…?!
Sharon was clearly disturbed.
—It was true: For the past few days, she’d stealthily practiced with a sword at night, in a spot where she wouldn’t be seen from the main house. All by herself.
She had no ambitions of becoming a master swordswoman. She’d simply wanted to change.
Ordinarily during fights, she was completely reliant on the Chain to which she was contracted. With that Chain sealed, she was powerless. She’d wanted to change that, even a little bit.
When things got rough, at the very least, she wanted to be able to protect herself.
“—”
Sharon glared at Break. Her eyes were slightly misty with shame and wretchedness.
If I can’t do at least that much, then I can’t walk beside Break—
No, she thought. Beside Xerx Nii-san. That was what I thought, so I—
Xerxes Break.
He was her subordinate at Pandora, a servant of the House of Rainsworth, and someone she’d spent so much time with ever since she was small that he felt like a big brother to her. He was self-centered, secretive, and he’d start acting arbitrarily if left to himself for a second.
If she were going to be with him, it wouldn’t do for her to tag along behind him, constantly being protected.
That was what she’d thought. And so…
She hadn’t wanted him to know she was practicing alone.
She certainly hadn’t wanted him to know it wasn’t going well.
She felt embarrassed and pathetic.
“Did you think no one knew?”
Break’s voice was warm, without a hint of ridicule.
That only made Sharon more uncomfortable. Fighting back the urge to run away, she gave a small nod.
“We know. Everyone’s worried about you. They’re afraid you may hurt yourself.”
“Everyone?!”
Sharon couldn’t believe it. How many people did “everyone” cover? Really everyone? Every last person at the main house? Even though she’d gone late at night, and chosen her place carefully, so that no one would find out?
“Yes, every last person in this house. For the past several days, it’s all they’ve been talking about.”
“…I had no idea.”
At Sharon’s stunned confession, Break laughed heartily: “Ah-ha-ha-ha-haaaah!”
Sharon’s shock was so great that she came very near to collapsing to her knees on the floor.
Then she came back to herself with a jolt.
“Then you mean Grandmother also—”
The response to those words came, not from Break, but from the woman herself, in the doorway.
“Of course. As a matter of fact, I was the first to notice.”
“Grandmother!” Sharon whirled around.
There was Sheryl, in her wheelchair, pushed by a servant. She smiled brightly and waved a hand at Sharon.
On seeing her, Sharon’s mind replayed the conversation they’d had when her grandmother had summoned her.
Come here, Sharon-chan.
Yes, Grandmother. Did you need me for something?
Oh, it’s nothing important. I had something I wanted to ask you, that’s all.
Something to ask me?
That’s right. Did you know that a cat has been sighted on the manor grounds recently?
A…cat? No, I didn’t.
The kitten seems to be practicing hunting.
Practicing hunting…
It’s been worrying me a bit, you see. Don’t you know anything about it?
No, I…
“Oh, I did forget to mention…?” Sheryl turned an affectionate smile on Sharon, who was in a daze. “The kitten always appears late at night.”
Sharon wished the floor would open and swallow her up. As she watched her granddaughter—whose face was as red as it could possibly get—Sheryl’s expression grew tranquil. Then she turned slightly reproving eyes on Break.
“Xerx-kun. As pleased as I am that you wanted to divert Sharon-chan…”
What is she talking about? Sharon thought.
“…I can’t approve of the way you used others to do it.”
“……I’m sure I don’t know what you mean. Ha-ha-ha!” Break gave a patently evasive smile.
…In other words, he’d put strange ideas into Alice’s head and teased Sharon, all to force Sharon’s mood up and out of her depression—
Was that what it was about? Sharon thought.
…Either way, she couldn’t bring herself to meekly thank him.
Even if he’d done it out of concern for her…
There’s no doubt he was entertaining himself as well. This is Xerx Nii-san, after all.
Sharon sighed.
“—ach you?”
Break had said something, but Sharon, deep in her own thoughts, hadn’t heard.
“What?” She turned to look at him, answering his question with a question. “Did you say something, Break?”
“I said”—Break closed an eye—“if you’d like, shall I teach you?”
Swordsmanship.
She’d assumed he’d be against it. Not only Break: She’d thought every member of the Rainsworth household would say, There’s no need for you to swing a sword around.
She thought they’d only worry she’d get hurt.
I mean, Sharon thought, a bit resentfully, earlier, when I first tried to cook, all I did was cut my fingertip a little, and Break hasn’t let me hold a kitchen knife since—
…However.
“My, what a splendid idea.”
When even Sheryl voiced her approval of Break, Sharon’s mood shifted into a confused mixture of all sorts of feelings. She felt at a loss, and depressed, and…happy.
What wasted effort, she thought.
Break was a master swordsman. If she’d let him instruct her, she would have improved to some extent, she wouldn’t have worried about her abilities, and she might not have worried anyone else.
The next time she saw Alice, she thought, she really would have to apologize to her for having gotten her involved in this mess.
“Yes, Break. I should have done it that way from the start.”
It was true. She would have done better to ask Break to teach her at the outset.
Self-centered, secretive, and ready to act arbitrarily if left to himself for a second—that had been her assessment of Break. Still, thinking about this incident, she realized with embarrassment that the assessment described her as well.
Sharon steadied her breathing. Resolving to ask meekly, she looked at Break.
Break smiled cheerfully.
“That said, if you injure yourself in the slightest, I’ll make you stop immediately.”
Sharon was aghast.
“That’s raising the bar rather high, don’t you think?!”
Inwardly, she fumed. She was being treated like a child.
Self-centered, secretive, and ready to act arbitrarily if left to himself for a second—her assessment of Break.
But that wasn’t all.
Xerx Nii-san is…
Sharon thought, resolutely, that she’d have to add one more item to that list.
Xerx Nii-san is overprotective!
That was precisely why she’d wanted to learn to use a sword so that she could stand beside him, without being constantly protected.
Wasn’t this putting the cart before the horse?
Just watch, Sharon thought. Someday, for sure, she’d make him acknowledge that she could do more than just let herself be protected. Someday, she’d leave Break speechless.
The young lady was all fired up.
Meanwhile…
“Sharon-chan still needs a bit of looking after, doesn’t she.”
“Yes, we’ll have to keep an eye on her.”
Genially, cheerfully, Sheryl and Break exchanged eloquent glances.
~ Fin ~
1
Eight months and twenty-two days.
That was the amount of time Reim Lunettes had worked without a holiday. Reim—who handled paperwork at Pandora and also served Rufus Barma, the head of the House of Barma and one of the four great dukes—performed a staggering amount of work every day.
Reim had an established reputation for doing quick, dependable work. In particular, the reports he drafted were renowned for their accuracy and the beautiful perfection of their text.
That said, as far as Reim was concerned, it was only natural for reports to be accurate and watertight. He didn’t think it was anything special enough to warrant praise.
In those eight months and twenty-two days, Reim had not gone a single day without drafting a report.
He’d drafted, and drafted, and kept right on drafting.
…And now. Today.
Finally, after eight months and twenty-two days, Reim had gotten a day off. It was his first in a very long time. A whole day of freedom.
PandoraHearts ~Caucus Race~, Vol. 1 Page 14