DURING lunch break, Yuffie found out it wasn’t just her imagination. In a busy corridor, no less.
I think I’ll eat in the courtyard again today…
Yuffie was walking along, carrying a lunch box filled with burdock salad, heading for a secluded spot to eat lunch, when a particularly glamorous female student appeared in front of her. Behind her were other girls who seemed to be part of her entourage.
Wow, she’s so pretty…
Yuffie’s eyes were drawn to her. The girl’s beautiful blonde hair was styled in large, distinctive corkscrew curls that hung so far down. They swayed with her every movement. Her large blue eyes sparkled like jewels; she looked like a porcelain doll come to life. Although the uniform was the same, on her, it accentuated her elegance even more.
Yuffie’s negativity activated then.
The big city really is amazing… Compared to her, I’m just a plain, hunched, and squirrely looking thing from the countryside…
Corkscrew Girl’s lips twisted in a derisive sneer. “Oh, no, I tripped!”
Her foot rammed into a bucket. It looked like she kicked it on purpose—and Yuffie just so happened to be in its direct path. Time suddenly felt like it was slowing down, and her brain did its best to analyze her next course of action.
If I trip over it and crash into her, that will just cause trouble for other people, and they’d look at me in disgust!
Unable to bear the thought, Yuffie reflexively thrust her hand out, about to unleash a low-level lightning spell to knock the bucket away. But then, Lyle’s words crossed her mind.
“You’re not allowed to use offensive magic in front of anyone other than us, and you’re not allowed to tell anyone that you can use it either.”
Oh, right, she was strictly forbidden from using attack magic in public. If anyone other than the student council found out, she was headed straight for human experimentation.
That would be so much worse!
So Yuffie snatched her hand back.
Oh, no, here we go… I’m sorry in advance for crashing into you…
Apologizing in her mind, she tried to trip over the bucket. Except…
“Whoooaaa, there!”
A voice cut through the air, followed by a gushing flame hitting the bucket directly. It was a fire spell unleashed by Jack, who came out of nowhere. But, maybe because he misjudged how much power he put into it, the bucket blew up, pieces scattering everywhere. To make matters worse, the flames spread to Corkscrew Girl’s hair.
“Nooooooooooo! My hair! My hair’s on fire!”
She ran around like a headless chicken as the vertical curls, her pride and joy, erupted in flames.
“Water Ball!”
SPLASH!
“Hmpf!”
Lyle showed up this time and used his water magic to put out the flames on Corkscrew Girl.
“Whew, safe. That was close.” His face was the picture of calm.
“Thanks for cleaning up my mess, man,” Jack said like it wasn’t a big deal at all.
“Not a problem. I know how hard it is to fine-tune fire magic.”
“Omigosh! What were you even thinking?!” Corkscrew Girl shrieked in outrage.
The students passing by stopped in their tracks, wondering what was going on.
“My bad, my bad, I just screwed up the output a bit,” Jack shrugged.
“This is not a problem that can be fixed with a casual ‘Oh, sorry!’ Look! Look at what you did to my beautiful hair…!” Corkscrew pointed to her head, where a truly magnificent afro now billowed out.
“Lady Catherine… Your hair… Pfft…”
“Shhh… Don’t say…pfft…anything… Bahaha!”
The girls standing behind her couldn’t contain their laughter at the sight, which only made Corkscrew Girl, now Afro Girl, even angrier.
“Aaarrrgggh! How dare you make fun of me?!” She stomped down the hallway and pointed her fan at Jack. “Even if you are the son of the Gallini family, I, Catherine, the eldest daughter of the distinguished Duke of Kulkovich, will never forgive you! I demand an immediate and sincere apology and payment for a perm!”
Afro Girl, now known as Catherine, was flushed bright red with fury.
Jack’s attitude suddenly changed and he spoke, his eyes cold, “Fine. I’ll apologize for turning your hair into an afro. I’ll even pay for the perm. However.” His gaze shifted from the remains of the bucket to Yuffie, then back to Catherine. “Shouldn’t you be the one apologizing to Yuffie?”
“Wh-What are you talking about?”
“’Cause it sure didn’t look to me like you tripped.”
Catherine’s face stiffened for a moment at Jack’s words, but then she snorted contemptuously. “Well, that’s your opinion. I really did slip. So stop making baseless accusations…”
“I agree with Jack too,” Lyle, who’d been watching quietly, spoke up, his voice resonating. “It looked to me like you intentionally kicked the bucket to trip Yuffie.”
“Lord Lyle Elvard…” In a complete about-face, panic now filled Catherine’s expression. “I-I don’t mean any disrespect, but honestly, it really was just a careless mistake on my part…”
“Then are you saying I’m blind?”
“N-No, of course not…!”
Among the aristocracy, hierarchy is everything. In front of Lyle, the third prince of this country, even the daughter of a renowned duke couldn’t lie. Catherine gritted her teeth.
“All of this is her fault!” Realizing she was at a distinct disadvantage now, Catherine jabbed her fan in Yuffie’s direction.
M-My fault?!
As Yuffie stared blankly back at her, Catherine continued her abusive tirade.
“You’re just a pleb who can’t even use healing magic properly! It’s ridiculous that you’re even in the student council! I should have been the one to join!” She glared ferociously at Yuffie. Jealousy and hatred burned in her clear eyes.
Lyle clapped his hands in an “Aha!” moment. “So that’s how it is. Let me remind you, my lady, that harassing someone out of a personal grudge would bring shame to the Kulkovich family name.”
“And I think it’s a disgrace to the Elvard family to allow a filthy pleb to join the student council.”
“Are you disagreeing with President Noah’s decision?”
“Well, I’m certainly questioning his wisdom at the very least.”
Their words flew like barbs as sparks of animosity zapped between Catherine and Lyle.
Aaahhh! This is all my fault! What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?!
The tension almost led Yuffie into a mental breakdown. The idea of others falling out because of her was too much for the timid girl to bear.
“P-Please, won’t you stop fighting?!” She couldn’t stand it anymore, so she spoke up. Unfortunately, much louder than she had intended, and silence fell over the corridor.
“So the kitten can roar.” Lyle’s eyes widened in admiration.
She took his reply as a cue to keep going. “I-I’m sorry that this happened because of me. I don’t know if this will be enough as an apology, but I hope it helps calm you down…”
And with that, Yuffie handed her lunchbox to Catherine.
“What is this?”
“Burdock salad made with burdock from the village where I was born and raised. I’m sure you’ll like it…”
“Burdock salad?!” The other girl was stunned.
“Oh, I’m sorry, do you not like burdock? In that case, I’ll head to the school store now and buy you some bread or whatever you want…”
“As if a Kulkovich would be crass enough to use others as gofers! Never mind that, though! It was you?! You were the one who put burdock in front of my room every day?!”
“Huh…?”
Yuffie’s brain froze for a split second at her unexpected remark, and then the pieces of the puzzle quickly fell into place.
“Y-Y-Y-Y-You’re my neighbor?!”
Aside from the student council members, the only other person she’d given burdock to was her next-door neighbor, whom she had never met before. So she was shocked to realize that Afro Girl was the one she’d been annoying on a daily basis with her dramatics.
“Well, isn’t this just perfect timing?! Because I’ve been trying to decide when to chew you out!” Catherine pointed the fan at her, and Yuffie cowered.
“Ngh, I’m sorry! I guess you really don’t like burdock, huh? I’m so sorry…”
“No, you dolt! Burdock has a very rich flavor and a crunchy texture, and for someone like me who usually eats heavy meals, it’s a refreshing and delicious change of pace. So much so that I want to eat it every day… Wait, no, that’s not the problem!”
“Then what is…?”
“The problem is how you give it to me! Do you have any idea how scared I was when I opened the door to head out for the first day of class, only to see a creepy altar dedicated to burdock with the words ‘Me So Sorry’ scrawled in awful handwriting?!”
“O-Oh, so you didn’t like the altar? I personally thought I did a pretty good job…”
Yuffie had figured it would be bad to just place the burdock on the floor in front of her door. Instead, she bought a small altar set at the school store—apparently, they sell it for religious reasons because of international students—and added a message apologizing for the noises she always made.