Chapter 42: The Enemy Recon Date, Part 2
“KEEP spacing out like that and you know what will happen?” Reseda poked Iris’s nose, then snatched the cookie heart from her ice cream. “I’m gonna devour your heart.” And with that, he took a bite right in front of her.
Iris stared at him in shock. Wait…is this…? The blood drained from her face.
“Aww, I’m just messing with you. Here, I’ll give you my heart.”
As Iris stood there, frozen, he slid his own cookie past her lips. Kyaaaa, kill me now! I’m gonna die of shame! Public humiliation! End me!!!
After that, Reseda went back to eating his own ice cream like nothing had happened. Why does this feel like such a date?! You can tell he’s a veteran playboy… Good grief. Camille must have a heart of steel to endure all this, because I sure can’t!
Defeated, Iris chewed the cookie in her mouth. The lightly salty flavor paired nicely with the sugary ice cream.
“After we finish, do you wanna go do that enemy recon?”
“Oh, er, yes, let’s!”
Iris quickly snapped back to her senses. Today, their goal was to check on Camille’s current progress. This was not a date!
“See that line of people? That’s the clothing store where Miss Camille works part-time. It’s so popular, they have to limit entry,” Reseda explained. It was yet another new store, and the line was full of people their age.
“It doesn’t look like we’ll be getting in anytime soon,” Iris mused.
“Let’s just peek through the window.”
And so, they looked in through the large display window out front. Because they only allowed so many people inside at a time, the interior wasn’t all that crowded. Iris could see Camille in there, wearing a skirt that hung to her thighs—an unusual fashion among the common people.
Yes, that’s right! In the game, Iris chose to wear a miniskirt and limit entry, too. That was the advice Mégane gave. The goal was to make miniskirts into a popular fashion trend around town.
Some of the people in line were clearly only there to see Camille. Through the window, it felt like they were looking in at a stage performance; all the girls shopping inside were well-dressed, suggesting they were fully conscious of the public eye.
“I like how they’ve staged everything.”
“Apparently, it’s a Pont Company store.”
“Oh, that’s Miss Camille’s family.”
“Yep. These people really know what they’re doing.”
Reseda looked at Camille, looked back at Iris, and blushed. Then she remembered: Oh, that’s right! That miniskirt raises affection points with the love interests!
“Oh, Cherry, you dirty boy!” Iris teased him.
“Wha?!”
“You were looking at Miss Camille’s legs, weren’t you?”
And if so, he certainly wasn’t the only one. Camille’s legs were shapely and plump—beautiful and sensual. Anyone would fawn over them. Trust me, I get it! I would touch them myself if I had the chance!
“No, I wasn’t!” Reseda hissed.
“You don’t have to hide it. She’s a very pretty girl.” Iris nodded.
“No, I was just trying to picture you wearing that,” he mumbled, averting his eyes.
“What? Me?” Iris blinked at him.
Summoning all his courage, he looked up at her, his eyes sparkling. “Can I buy it for you?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Why don’t you ever accept any gifts from me?” he asked, pouting his lips.
“That’s not true at all! You give me things all the time.”
“Liar!”
“Just now, you gave me a lot of free information. Plus, you do things for me that I could never do on my own. At this point, I can’t possibly repay you for what you’ve already given me—so no, I can’t accept any additional gifts,” Iris declared firmly.
Blushing, he turned away. “That’s cheating, you know.”
“What is?” She blinked at him again, and he smiled bitterly.
“We’re partners in crime, remember?”
He patted her head through her headscarf—his usual “let’s move on” signal.
“Let’s go to the café that sells those cookies next. We’ll probably be able to get in since we’ve confirmed that Miss Camille won’t be there.”
“Right!”
Sure enough, they managed to get inside the café without waiting in line. For some reason, the waiter seated them at a table with a two-person loveseat—the kind of spot you’d seat a well-dressed couple to make the café look good.
Iris ordered a strawberry jam sandwich off the specials menu. It came with one slice of white bread and one slice of pink bread; each slice had a heart-shaped piece cut out of it and swapped with the other. What is it with otome games and hearts, anyway? She stared wearily into the distance.
Camille was the one who suggested these loveseats, and the maid-style waitress uniforms were her idea too. Iris knew this because they were options in HanaKoro. Apparently, this was yet another Pont Company store—that was probably how she managed to have so many different part-time jobs.
All around town, Iris could see Camille’s influence scattered everywhere. Any mention of her was sure to be met with talk that she was “going to be the next Holy Maiden.” Slowly but surely, she was spreading her influence! That’s my girl, Camille! I knew you could do it!
“I have to wonder, though…does she have some sort of money problem?” Reseda whispered.
At this, something occurred to Iris. In the game, she saved up money from her jobs to make her dress…but if the Pont Company was backing her, then surely they could have made one for her, right? Was it just a plot hole?
In Iris’s past life, it was pretty normal for students to work part-time on weekends, so she never questioned it, but Reseda brought up a good point. Among the nobility, part-time jobs were practically unheard of. When Reseda and Iris worked as assistants to help with the vaccine efforts, they concealed their identities to do so; as for the mages, they had full-time careers at the Temple of Magic.
“I don’t know… I certainly haven’t heard about any money troubles,” Iris replied.
“I see,” Reseda murmured quietly.