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“IZAYOI, are you sure you’re all right escorting me?”
“Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Just as Mr. Yamanashi had arrived to inform us that the banquet was beginning, Izayoi and Shimozuru arrived to escort us.
Naturally, Shimozuru offered his arm to Shizuku and, her cheeks reddening, she accepted. As she did, Izayoi offered me his hand, looking a bit flustered.
I wondered if Shinmyou had pushed him into it.
“I was simply worried that I might have put you out if there were other girls you were hoping to escort.”
“Nah, after hearing about your past, I’m more worried I’m the one holding you back.”
“Oh my, then we’re both in the same position,” I said with a giggle. He finally looked relieved. Glancing up at him, I realized there was something pale about his neck. “Is this foundation?”
“H-Huh? What, where?”
“Here, on your neck.”
He immediately began scratching at his neck. I tried to warn him about his gloves, but as I feared, the flesh-colored powder sullied his lily-white gloves.
“Aww, man.”
He always seemed so calm and composed, it was a nice surprise to see a more reckless side to him. We still hadn’t made it to the banquet hall, so Izayoi called out to Mr. Yamanashi and requested a new pair of gloves.
“Please wait a moment,” he replied and slipped off.
Izayoi turned back to me. “Tendou, I always thought you seemed surprisingly at ease with matters of high society, but...I never would have thought it was because of a past life experience.”
“I see Shinmyou and the others must have told you. Yes, that’s right. But I’m sure you don’t believe me that easily, do you?”
I knew it sounded a little combative, but Izayoi was the most intelligent of their group. I worried that he more than anyone would find it crazy.
“No, actually, I’m happy to finally have an answer to the questions I’ve had,” he said. It was a surprisingly succinct response.
Clearly he could read the surprise in my eyes, as he lowered his voice and continued. “You sang that song, after all. Back at the piano competition.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Y-Yes. I did.”
“I’ve been searching all over for languages that sounded like that, but I couldn’t find anything. Thinking that those words came from a country and a language none of us have ever heard of actually makes sense.”
Oh...that Lacrofinian song I somehow worked up the courage to sing. I thought I had thrown everyone off my trail, but apparently that was not the case.
I never would have thought he would have remembered a song that I sang only once like that. I was impressed by Izayoi’s recollection. And his mental flexibility.
“But why did you put so much effort into researching that?” I asked.
I expected him to say it was because he couldn’t accept that it was a language he didn’t know, but his face suddenly reddened and became flustered.
“Well...I just thought it was so lovely, I had to know,” he said, blushing as he praised my Lacrofinian language.
“Thank you very much for saying something so kind. And for believing in me,” I said, speaking from the bottom of my heart. His face grew redder still.
“Yes, thank you as well. ...I’m happy I was finally able to tell you.”
Just as his whispered words reached my ears, Mr. Yamanashi appeared with a new pair of gloves and quickly ushered us on toward the banquet hall. I still had more to ask, but Izayoi looked so at peace that I decided not to. We moved quickly toward the banquet hall.
We entered through the same door as we had for the dance contest, but this time it was much livelier, filled with guests. The grand chandeliers were twinkling, and dresses of various colors and designs swept about the floor.
With Izayoi as my escort, our progression through the hall earned me lots of stares. The curiosity that had greeted me back at the entrance was nothing compared with the heavy stares I encountered here, a mix of jealousy and numerous other emotions.
Occasionally, someone would call out a question to Izayoi, but he responded with “No, she’s just a friend,” and that seemed to quell any further animosity.
“Urara! Hey! Over here!”
“Shizuku, thank you so much.”
Shizuku, who had reached the banquet hall long before we had, greeted me with a drink.
“Oh man. Can you believe Oboro? Everyone we meet, he has to say, ‘She’s my girlfriend, she’s my girlfriend.’ It’s so embarrassing.”
Even as she said this, she didn’t let go of his arm. They were very clearly the picture of a happy couple.
“Well, it’s a good time to do it. If I didn’t introduce you and let people know, it might be a big deal later on.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, but he cut her off, motioning for me to come closer and dropping his voice as low as he could. “Once this is all over, we will no longer be considered Chouko’s suitors, Mitsuru included. We’ll all be free.”
“The pressure from other affluent families with daughters will be more intense,” Izayoi added.
So that was the meaning behind those envious gazes.
Wait, I hadn’t realized that all of them had been considered suitors. This was the first I’d heard of it. Was that why Chouko was considered the otome game’s villainess?
“Wait, Oboro, you were one of Tsukuyomi’s suitors as well?” Shizuku immediately let go of his arm and glared at him. He grasped her hand and pleaded with her.
“Not anymore. I backed out a long time ago. I didn’t propose to Chouko during the ceremony. I promise! Right, Shirazu?”
“...Well, no, he didn’t propose, though he was still there,” Izayoi mumbled, backing him up in a less than convincing way.
As I watched their exchange, Mikazuki joined us. “Hey! The Return to the Moon Ceremony is starting! It’s the last of the Full Moon Festival rituals.”
Just as he said that, the door at the head of the room slowly opened.
Mochizuki appeared first, accompanied by solemn music. His hair was slicked back, just as it had been during the dance contest, and seeing his body in that tailcoat was enough to leave the young ladies present in a tizzy.
It was natural that someone dubbed “the Prince” would have a saunter and an air about him that could charm every girl who laid eyes on him.
As he reached the center of the banquet hall, another door opened at the front.
As it did, we could see someone clad in a wedding dress adorned with lace. Several long veils covered the person’s upper half, so we couldn’t see their face, let alone their expression. However, that was clearly the neatly tailored lace and long train dress we had seen that day in the Arrows boutique.
“Chouko...”
One step at a time, he drew closer to Mochizuki. Those squeals and shrieks from the girls felt like a lifetime ago. The room had become silent, the air itself tranquil.
Then the two joined hands. A group of adorable children approached and pulled away the dress’s train.
“Look. The two of them will share just one dance. And then Chouko Tsukuyomi will leave this place and return to ‘the moon,’” Mikazuki whispered in my ear.
That meant I had only a short window of time before they finished and left the floor. It was my last chance to reach Chouko. After that, I wouldn’t be able to find Chouko, let alone talk to him.
I clenched my fists and took a deep breath.
All eyes were on the pair, leaving them no room for error.
And as the relaxed rhythm of the waltz began to play, they began to move, without lifting the veil covering Chouko’s face.
Their elegant steps were perfectly in sync. Everyone watching held their breath. I could hear sighing around me. The dance was entrancing, but something wasn’t right. That wasn’t Chouko’s dance.
Mochizuki himself had said Chouko had not danced even once. I had promised to dance with him, but we had never had the chance, so I had never seen it myself.
Even so, I could be certain. That was not the way Chouko danced.
The timing of the steps, the length of the pauses—I had seen that dancing before. That was definitely—
“Urara, hey, it’s gonna be over soon. Are you okay with this?”
Shizuku’s panicked words reached me just as the dance concluded with the last step.
Everyone still seemed steeped in the mesmerizing movements of their dance.
And then, the two of them silently let go of each other’s hands. The person in the white wedding dress turned their back on Mochizuki and slowly, awkwardly, made their way back to the door.
I had so many chances to call out to him as he went. Shizuku put her hands on my shoulders and called my name over and over.
But I couldn’t move.
That wasn’t Chouko.
My mind was swimming with questions. Why wasn’t Chouko here? Why was he there in his place?
Had everyone really not noticed?
The one dancing with Mochizuki was—
—without a doubt, Shinmyou.