Chapter 3: Student Council? What’s That? Do They Have Yummy Goodies?
AT night in her dorm room, Friend was lazily grooming himself on Yuffie’s bed. As for the owner of the room herself, she sat cross-legged in a lone corner, covered with a blanket.
“I want to go home,” Yuffie muttered, her expression the epitome of emptiness under the blanket. Her voice was lifeless, and she stared vacantly into space, as if hypnotized. Countless sighs had escaped her half-open mouth for a while now.
“Oh, why did I do that…? I’m so stupid, so very, very stupid…” She smacked her forehead as words of regret tumbled from her lips.
After returning to the dorm, she’d found herself thinking, That might not have been the best idea… and Maybe not this either… Her self-loathing had grown stronger and stronger since, and now she wallowed in the pits of despair.
“About twenty points… I guess.”
That was how she’d score herself for everything that happened today. At the very least, considering her only goal had been to make at least one friend, it was fair to say that her first day of class was a complete failure. The teacher scolded her in front of everyone, things had been awkward with her teammates during the drill, and her healing magic was still so bad that she couldn’t heal anyone properly. And to top it all off, she got lost and worried everyone in her group. Not only was she not useful to anyone, she was, in fact, just a nuisance.
“But! But wait… I think I’m a little closer to Lord Lyle now… Right?”
The only silver lining was the incident with the Flame Cerberus. She had used offensive magic to save Lyle from the monster. Although she couldn’t use healing magic, she had still managed to save him from dire circumstances.
“So he should be feeling a little grateful… But hold on.” With her petty ulterior motives rising to the surface, Yuffie froze when she realized something. “It doesn’t make any sense. There’s no way my attack magic is more powerful than Lord Lyle’s…”
Academics, sports, recovery magic, sociability, and interpersonal skills. Lyle had entered the Academy of Magic this year as the top student. So, the thought of Yuffie’s—who was useless in all those areas—offensive magic being more powerful than his was absurd. It was so obvious that she slumped on the floor.
“Then… What else could it possibly be…?!” With a gasp, Yuffie fell deep into thought. And then she arrived at the true answer. “Was all that just an act to make me reveal my attack magic…?!”
In a situation as dangerous as they’d been in, she would have had no choice but to use offensive magic to save them. And the reason he decided to carry out his plan was…
“He…saw through me. He knew all along.” During their brief exchange the day before the entrance ceremony, he must have realized that she could use attack magic. “He must have made that joke about me being a cross-dressing boy just to get me to let my guard down…”
The pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place one after the other, and the knowledge horrified her. Her impression of her classmate, Lyle Elvard, took a sudden 180. He was the third prince of the Kingdom of Elvador, a shrewd young man and strategist beyond her imagination.
In other words, he was a devil who would stop at nothing to gain the upper hand—one who had no trouble manipulating a naive girl from the countryside.
“Then the teachers must know about me too…and soon a bunch of military policemen will come to arrest me…and they’ll take me to the headmaster’s office…from there, court…then prison…and finally human experiments…?!”
The color drained from Yuffie’s face.
“F-F-F-Friend, what should I do, what should I do, what should I do…?!”
“What’s the matter?”
She threw off the blanket and ran over to the bed. Friend looked up curiously. “They’re going to dissect meeee…!”
“What are you talking about?”
KNOCK.
Suddenly, she sensed someone standing beyond the door. She turned her head like a broken robot and looked in that direction.
Thus began Yuffie’s fantasy.
The military police kick open the door and come rushing in…
Before she can scream, strong men pin her down…
“Let me go! Please don’t cut me open, please don’t cut me open!”
She lies there helpless and in tears. Soon after, Lyle appears from behind them and speaks to her, his twisted smile a caricature of his usual friendly one.
“You did everything just the way I wanted you to. Can you be any simpler?”
“Eeek!” Yuffie stared at the door, breathless.
KNOCK, KNOCK.
“Gaaah?!”
The sound was actually coming from the other side of her room, and she jumped. She turned around timidly and saw a shadow on the balcony. A young man raised his hand as if to say, “It’s me.” Lyle. He pointed at the latch and made a gesture asking her to open it.
Oh, no… I’m doomed…
She exhaled deeply, ever so deeply. Convinced that her hypothesis was correct, Yuffie felt resignation spread in her chest. The panic from earlier disappeared, and she got off the bed, her expression calm. She felt like a death row inmate heading for the guillotine. With slow movements, she unlocked the balcony door, then slid it open. Lyle stepped inside.
“Ummm… What exactly are you doing?” he asked.
“This is how a dog surrenders. Woof!”
“Except I’m not into this kind of thing.”
“W-Was that not the right pose? Then…”
“Why are you holding your hands out this time?”
“So that it’ll be easier to put the handcuffs on…”
“Didn’t I just say I’m not into this kind of thing?!”
Bewildered by Lyle’s shocked reaction, Yuffie tilted her head. “But…aren’t you here to arrest me…?”
“Who’s arresting whom?”
She pointed her index finger at Lyle, then at herself.
“Okay, but why?”
“Why, he asks…”
Yuffie then suddenly realized that she didn’t sense anyone else other than him. Definitely no military policemen here. Lyle himself didn’t seem hostile, either, only confused by her behavior…
And that was when the lightbulb in her head went off. Her hypothesis might be nothing more than complete delusion.
“I’m so sorry!”
“Yuffie, stop!”
She slammed her head on the floor and apologized with all her heart. “It was just a misunderstanding! Truly! Honestly! I’m so sorry!”
“All right, all right, calm down! I’m not bothered at all! I mean, I don’t even know why you’re apologizing!”
She timidly raised her head, and Lyle smiled at her like someone trying to calm a child.
“So, can we talk? Properly?”
“Oh, yes, of course.”
“You don’t have to sit so formally, you know. But if that’s what you want, who am I to judge?” Lyle regained his composure and began to speak. “First off, let me apologize for my unorthodox visit and for surprising you.”
“N-N-N-No, not at all! Don’t worry about it! I’m the one who surprised you!”
“Haha, you have a point. Anyway, boys aren’t allowed in the girls’ dorms, and I didn’t think it would be a good idea for other students to see me visiting you, so I snuck in through the window.”
“I agree, I think you made a wise decision. If you were to be seen with a water flea, no, a ground beetle like me, you’d become fodder for the Magic Spring Cannon.”
“I don’t think it would be that big of a scoop, though.”
The Magic Spring Cannon was a publication periodically released by Weekly Magic Spring, which was the most widely published magazine in the royal capital. It covered political scandals and celebrities committing adultery. You could call it a gossip rag. The magazine was regularly delivered to her village of Millil. Since entertainment options were few and far between, it was often used as a topic of conversation at church. Of course, none of this mattered to Yuffie, who had no one to talk to anyway, but she knew that being shot by the Magic Spring Cannon would cause severe damage to your career.
“Anyway, the reason I came by is to talk to you about what happened this afternoon,” he said.
“Oh…”
“That’s right. The thing with the Flame Cerberus.”
The air around Lyle grew tense, and Yuffie straightened up. While her eyes showed signs of agitation, he looked around the room and muttered to himself. “They might hear us here…” Then, with his usual friendly smile, he suggested, “Why don’t we talk outside for a bit?”
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