“YOU’RE not half bad at holding your own, girl.”
After class, Nichika was trailing behind the students leaving the room in droves when a girl spoke to her. She looked over her shoulder to find the pink-haired girl who had shown her around school with her arms crossed at her chest and a humored smile.
“You’re—”
“I didn’t think you’d burn the Chirps. An aggressive but effective move.”
Nichika instantly went into defensive mode and shot her down before she had a chance to say something nasty again. “What do you want? Did you have fun pestering me with those things?”
“Me? I wouldn’t dream of it! I wish you wouldn’t lump me in with those babies.” The girl’s catlike green eyes widened like she was offended by the assertion. “I had assumed you were a self-important noble, but I saw you taking class seriously,” she admitted, sounding touched.
“I didn’t come here to play around.” Nichika pouted.
The girl broke out in a big smile and apologetically held out her hand. “Sorry, sorry. I know that now. I never did introduce myself, did I? I’m Melissa. It was rude of me to be so cold before I even knew you.”
“…Angelica.”
Nichika returned her handshake while trying to get over how unexpected the apology was. Melissa tugged Nichika up to the door and out of the classroom.
“I’ll treat you to some Magico Beer in town! To apologize!”
“Wah! Hey!”
They were the same height yet Melissa was a lot stronger. She charged through the hallway dragging Nichika behind her. The other students gave them funny looks.
“Hey, what’re you looking at?!” the girl clipped out in response. “If you’ve got enough time to stare you aren’t studying hard enough. Ruppa! You haven’t forgotten about the magic herb quiz tomorrow, have you? You can’t graduate if you fail again! Celi, you napped through class again. The professor caught you.”
The students called out by name bitterly saw Melissa off. She paid them little attention as she left the castle with her head held high. Nichika panicked as she ran to keep up with her.
Wh-What’s with this girl? She seems like an honor student, but does a horrible job at interacting with others…
Nichika worried whether it was smart to get involved with her. She and Oswald had disguised themselves and enrolled in Elminage in order to dig up information on the Witch’s Council. Standing out in a bad way should be avoided at all costs. But she was reluctant to push away someone who was trying so hard to be her friend.
They arrived at their destination while she debated whether to shake off the other girl or not. Melissa had brought her down the hill to a shop in town. Laughter and young voices spilled outside the antiquated but welcoming shop walls. Nichika looked up at the hanging wood sign and read the letters engraved there. The name “Pointy Hat Pub” drew a small scream from her.
“You brought me to a pub?! We’re underage!”
“Hm? It’s all good. There’s not a drop of alcohol in Magico Beer. I mean, it is a type of stimulant, but one approved by the school,” Melissa cheerfully explained and headed for the counter where she placed an order with an apron-clad bartender. “Master! Two mugs of Magico Beer, please! Angelica, you can take it straight, right?”
“Um, sure?”
Melissa returned with two full mugs and placed one down on the table in front of Nichika with a loud clank. It was a bubbly carbonated cocktail with a gradient that changed from vibrant blue to hot pink.
“Without further ado, cheers!”
The girls clinked their mugs and took their first sip. The refreshing feeling of cool liquid sliding down her throat brought Nichika untold pleasure. Tasting the unknown gourmet drink finally brightened her mood.
“It’s delicious!”
“Right? This is the most popular pub among students.”
Nichika’s wariness for the girl smiling happily across from her finally waned. Her first impression was about as bad as they came, but she didn’t seem to be an intentionally mean girl.
Melissa placed her mug on the round table for two and frowned with guilt. “I need to apologize to you again for earlier. I just assumed you were like all the other nobles who enroll for impure motives.”
“You take learning seriously, don’t you?”
The advice she threw out at the other students on their way here was said for their own good. Nichika’s honest opinion drew a bright smile from the other girl who proudly put her hand on her chest.
“Of course I am. I mean, I am Headmaster Grindieda’s granddaughter, after all!”
That unexpected confession stayed Nichika’s hand before she could bring the mug to her lips. She placed it back down on the table and the square ice cubes clinked against the glass.
“You’re the headmaster’s granddaughter?”
“What, you don’t believe me?” She shot Nichika a reproachful look.
“No, I don’t doubt you,” Nichika promptly replied with a shake of her head. “So that’s why you were advising the other students on the way here.”
“Oh my Spirits, not a single one of those children takes their studies seriously.” Melissa slammed her mug down on the table and burst into a rant with a glint in her eyes. “That’s right, someday I will become headmaster! I can’t have this school start in the pits when I take over. I’ve got to reform things before it’s too late!”
“Ahahaha…”
It was anyone’s guess if she would become headmaster, but she was a bigshot in her own right being able to ignore the other students’ apathetic, irritated glares the way she did.
Nichika poured herself another glass of Magico Beer and asked, “What’s all this about nobles enrolling with impure motives?”
Melissa twirled a pink curl around her finger as she contemplated how to best answer her. Playing with her hair seemed to be a habit whenever she was deep in thought.
“Okay, here’s the thing: while the headmaster has the most authority over Elminage, there’s also a group that’s only second to her in power called the Five Eldra Steorra. This group is made up of professors selected from each department, but there’s been some seriously fishy rumors going around about them lately…”
Nichika knocked back the Magico Beer while listening to her. Man, is this drink delicious.
“Rumor has it they’re letting noble kids enroll after receiving hefty bribes and that they’re actually secretly in cahoots with the Witch’s Council. Hard to know what to do with them without clear-cut proof.”
“Uh-huh, uh-huh.”
I just got ahold of some unexpected intel, Nichika absently noted as she tipped back her glass, only to realize it was empty.
“Heyy, Melissa? Can I have…another?”
“Sure? I don’t mind. It’s on me as an apology for earlier. Have as many as you want.” Melissa raised her hand and another pitcher appeared on their table. “And get this: if the Five Eldra Steorra all agree on something, not even the headmaster can overturn it. It seems like Grandmother is having a hard time lately because of that.”
“Fa-ive…Elda…Steorraaa…and the Witch’s Couuuncil?” Nichika slurred.
“I believe they’re connected. Don’t you think the Witch’s Council has grown more radical since Spirit Goddess Yuna went into hiding? It’s looking more and more like the Five Eldra Steorra have a direct say in the direction the council takes—”
“Scaryyy.”
Melissa only then realized that several dozen empty mugs filled the table in front of the slurring, inarticulate girl. The nobleman’s daughter had both hands wrapped around the new pitcher and was staring dreamily into its contents as if she were holding the Holy Grail of bliss.
“…Angelica?” Melissa called, sensing something amiss with the girl.
“This is yummmm—y! I could drinks lots and lots of it,” she replied, sounding more like a four-year-old than a teenager.
“Uh, don’t tell me you got drunk on Magico Beer? Very few people get drunk on ether.”
“Ahahahaa! I’m not dwunkkk. Melissha, your head is sooo curly and cute. Like a poooodle.”
“Hey!”
Nichika pulled on a pink curl and added the sound effect “Boing!”
The noble young lady felt so good she passed tipsy. Red flushed her cheeks and her eyes shimmered. Learning how easily her new friend became inebriated, Melissa took a mild approach to stopping her from drinking more.
“Angelica, you should stop drinking—”
“Don’t wanna. Gimme more!” Nichika hugged the pitcher to her chest like a child when their mother threatened to take away their favorite toy. But when someone snatched it up from behind her, she tilted her head back with a curious expression. Excitement blossomed on her intoxicated face at the man she saw. “Oh! Oswa—”
“So this is where you were, my lady. I have been looking all over for you.” He covered her entire face with his large, gloved hand. The noble young lady giggled and happily squirmed under his hold.
Melissa apologetically came to her feet on the other side of the table. “If I’m not mistaken, you’re Angelica’s attendant?”
“I apologize for the trouble my lady has caused you. Lady Angelica has a low ether tolerance, so even the weakest amount takes immediate effect.”
“I shouldn’t have treated her to it then. We should take her back to the dorm to rest.”
“I agree. I shall take responsibility for her. My Lady. Lady Angelica.”
Tapping Nichika on the shoulder only got a wimpy reaction out of her as her head lolled to the side. Sighing with resignation, the butler wrapped a supportive arm around her waist and helped her stand. He shifted her under one arm and tried to pull some bills from his pocket.
Melissa waved it away. “Oh, I have it. She didn’t cost much. Besides,” a bashful smile lit up her face as she continued in a voice that sounded delighted from the bottom of her heart, “she gave me the chance to have fun drinking with someone for the first time in a long time. Would you mind telling her I had fun once she sobers up?”
The butler gave a slight smile and a bow in return before leaving the pub with his charge. Melissa sat back down and brought a mug filled with the remaining Magico Beer to her lips.
“What a suave butler…”
The man had only been present for a whole minute and he turned the head of every female student in the pub who now excitedly gossiped about how handsome he was. Melissa pretended not to notice their hopeful glances.
At the same time, she tried to figure out why she felt like she had seen him somewhere before.
I know I’ve seen his face somewhere, but the personality doesn’t match up with who I’m thinking of.
She tipped back the rest of her drink while she fought with the aggravating sense of déjà vu that she just couldn’t put her finger on.