The boys chattered excitedly.
“Order, order! Without further ado, let us begin the third meeting of the Watching Over Fio in the Cafeteria Committee!”
There was a sound like a gavel banging, followed by a couple blows of a whistle.
“Once again, your moderator today will be me, Fio’s number one self-appointed guard and Tohkun guild member, Yashiro!”
“Screw you! I’m Fio’s number one self-appointed guard!”
“You quit as an adventurer to work at the guild, and now you’re trying to sneak into Fio’s boarding house! That’s not fair!”
“Okay, settle down. The early bird gets the worm,” Yashiro chided them. “On to today’s topic. How should we treat Fio now that she’s stopped dressing as a boy? Please raise your hand if you have any input.”
“What do you mean, stopped dressing as a boy?”
“Did you seriously think Fio was a boy?”
“Of course not! I just want to know why she stopped that adorable boyish way of speaking!”
“Fio always had that silver snake with her, right? She stopped dressing as a boy at the same time as the snake disappeared.”
“Is that pretty little snake responsible for this? Where did it go?!”
“I’m not a worker here, but can I say something?”
“Oh, if it isn’t Guildmaster Gan from Regan Island!” Yashiro replied. “Do you know something?”
“First of all, I owe that gorgeous silver snake a lot,” Gan began. “She swallowed a giant octopus that had been terrorizing Regan Island and became the ruler of the eastern sea.”
“Wow!” a feminine voice chimed in. “That snake was the legendary ruler of the eastern sea who protects our local ocean?”
“Exactly, Guildmaster Yoko. Miss Gold said the snake left on a journey, right? I’m sure she’s gone to conquer the entire ocean.”
“Amazing!”
“How manly!”
“A man among men!”
“Also, the reason Miss Gold was dressing as a boy is because our former guildmaster told her to change her appearance so people don’t patronize her for being cute,” Gan explained. “Her hair went to her hips at the time, but she cut it all off right there, which only made her cuter... The guildmaster was disappointed. He regretted telling her that after the fact.”
“That was a bad idea. She’s Fio, so she’d be cute no matter what she did.”
“I came over to the short-hair side after seeing Fio’s messy short cut.”
“But her new bob is cute too, right?”
“Oh, I guess she grew her hair out because she stopped dressing as a boy.”
“Why?”
“Why?”
“May I say something?”
“Mr. Tabuchi!” several men exclaimed.
“Sereph— I mean, Fio now has someone close to her protecting her. She no longer has to put in so much effort, so she’s returned to being a lovely girl.”
“Someone close to her? Who’s that? The snake again?”
“A b-boyfriend?”
“No way!”
“Could it be the saint?” Yamada asked.
“Yamada! Who’s the saint?”
“Apparently, the saint that visited Marsche was a former classmate of Fio’s. It was a beautiful sight to see them together...”
“What?! How come you get to see all the good stuff?! No fair!”
“Prime Minister! How come you give Yamada all the responsibilities?!”
“This is favoritism!”
“Hey, now, it just so happens that people who help with my work get more opportunities,” Tabuchi fired back. “If you’re jealous of Yamada, then step forward and help with the Riceball Revolution!”
“Oh, that makes sense!”
“I’ll help!”
“Me too!” exclaimed several men in chorus.
Yashiro regained the floor. “So, now that we know that Fio didn’t stop dressing as a boy because something bad happened, can we all agree to continue to talk to and dote on her as we have been, but not try to outdo each other?”
“No objections!” everyone responded.
“As usual, only those who participated in last week’s lottery will be allowed to buy her food.”
“No objections!”
“On to the next topic, then. Tabuchi is joining us today to discuss this. You can go ahead.”
“Thank you. Sakaki, I heard directly from Fio that you had her bake a matcha cake to boost everyone’s morale, but I don’t remember eating one.”
“Uh oh!”
“I didn’t get any!”
“Hey, Sakaki! Explain yourself!”
“You’re keeping them all to yourself?! Unbelievable!”
“I thought better of you, Sakaki!”
“I-I can explain! Ahhh!”
“Okay, free discussion begins now. Anyone who has something to say, go ahead.”
“I do!”
“Ah, Komatsu from the meat store. Go ahead.”
“So, uh, Fio always hunts huge, fierce animals for me, and she brings them to me frozen whole, and that Regan Islander just called her Miss Gold... Do you think...?”
“Oh, Mr. Tabuchi, do you know?”
“Yes... Fio is an A-rank adventurer.”
The room burst into a clamor.
“I had a gold ranker look for my lost cat?!”
“I commissioned her to shell some peas the other day...”
“Cute, strong, but with a sorrowful side... Too adorable...”
“Now, this is a shocking fact! But we’re running out of time, so if anyone has something else to say, go ahead!”
“I do!”
“Akimoto from the book store, go ahead.”
“Um, so, I’ve been working on a book based on Fio with some other people from the bookstore at our own expense, and it’s finally published! It’s called Wish of the Maiden in Boy’s Clothing. It’s a coming-of-age fantasy about a girl who works hard disguised as a boy during the day, but when night comes, she takes off her disguise and wishes to see her estranged family again. She works to make her dream come true while bringing happiness to those around her. It has illustrations in a soft watercolor style by my friend Noda...”
“H-Hey!”
“Oh, Sakaki? I thought you’d been defeated already. You’re back?”
“Y-You can’t... You’ll be killed if you publish that... Hey, how many did you print? How much is it?”
“U-Uh, two hundred copies, and a thousand gold per book.”
“I’ll take them all!”
“Huh? You haven’t learned your lesson, Sakaki?”
“You’re buying them all for yourself again?! You jerk!”
“Punish him!”
“Graaaah!”
The room dissolved into turmoil.
“Have things...been generally peaceful while I was away?” Lou tilted his head as he lay in Serephione’s bed on the second floor while she slept.