“…Um, Nival? How long are you planning to follow me?” Brigitte asked, glancing behind her for the umpteenth time.
The muscular boy mincing along behind her, his pace matched to hers, puffed out his chest proudly. The bulky collar around his neck didn’t seem to bother him in the least.
“I’ll go wherever you do, Miss Brigitte.”
Recently, they’d been having this conversation almost nonstop. Brigitte was disappointed by his answer, but he seemed so happy that she couldn’t bring herself to scold him outright.
And now he’s even calling me “miss”…
For some reason, he seemed fond of her now. He’d originally been a candidate for Joseph’s future aide, and she’d thought he hated her…but ever since she’d stopped him from completely losing control in spiritology class, he seemed to feel he owed her something. After the incident, the teachers had apparently questioned him for several days. They’d ordered him to temporarily wear the magic-suppressing collar, although he seemed unfazed by it.
But today, Brigitte was planning to go to where Yuri was—or might be—and Nival’s presence bothered her.
“You’ve come far enough. Would you please leave now?”
“Ha-ha-ha. You don’t need to worry for my sake.”
I’m not worried about you…
She didn’t fully understand it herself, but for whatever reason, she didn’t want to bring him with her. As she tried to figure out a solution, she began walking toward the garden by the library…but, at the last minute, decided to go into the library instead.
As he walked through the familiar halls of the brick building, Nival looked around curiously, as if he didn’t go in there very often.
Part of her was praying that Yuri wasn’t there.
But there he was in his usual seat in the reading area, just where he’d been the first time they met—Yuri, with his glossy blue-black hair and cold citrine eyes. The pale skin that seemed to have never seen the sun, the smooth line of his nose. She should have been used to his good looks by now, but she still couldn’t help staring.
“…?”
That was when he noticed her. He glanced up from his book, and their eyes locked. He blinked, shifted his gaze behind her…and widened his eyes.
I knew it.
She opened her mouth to correct his obvious misreading of the situation, but before she could say anything, he muttered his own self-satisfied assessment.
“Is that the spirit you’re contracted with, Brigitte?”
“…Not exactly!”
That was unnecessary!
Some misunderstanding! He was unbelievable.
Yuri looked back and forth between the two of them.
“Are you certain? There’s something similar about the two of you, so I was sure…”
“Your little joke isn’t funny, so can you stop now?”
“I don’t joke.”
That’s even worse!
But as she clenched her shaking hands into fists, Nival was blushing and scratching his head behind her.
“I…wouldn’t mind that,” he said.
“I would,” she muttered glumly.
“Anyhow, Miss Brigitte, what did you need to do at the library?” he asked, oblivious.
“Nothing, I just wanted to see…” She stopped before she finished the sentence and accidentally said something odd. “…I just wanted to see some books, but Sir Yuri is in my way.”
“What?” Yuri frowned.
Brigitte became flustered. What was she saying? She should have found a better way to prevaricate.
But Nival, apparently misunderstanding her, nodded eagerly and rolled up his sleeves.
“Got it. Then I’ll remove him for you!!”
What?!
Why was this happening?
Brigitte scrambled to grab Nival’s arm as he turned toward Yuri.
“Wait! Nival, you don’t need to do anything!”
“Of course I do! You just said he was in your way!”
“Oh, I meant…”
She was about to say something different but stopped. How in the world could she explain herself?
There’s no way I can say I came to see him!
“Excuse me, would you mind keeping your voices down in the library?”
Just then, the librarian with the glasses poked her face around a bookshelf. It was the same woman who always scolded Brigitte and Yuri for arguing in the library. Given how timid she was, Brigitte suspected the other librarians bullied her into dealing with annoying visitors.
Nival wasn’t normally a troublemaker, so he turned to the librarian to explain. “I’m sorry, we were just…”
Yuri seized the moment. “…This way!”
“Huh?”
Having crept silently up to Brigitte, he grabbed her right hand from behind. He began to jog, pulling her along with him. She could hear Nival’s voice behind them, but Yuri didn’t stop. Probably to confuse Nival, he zigzagged among the bookshelves next to the reading area. He clearly knew the library well. Without a single wrong step, he pulled her to the dictionary stacks at the very back of the building, and only then did he stop.
She felt slightly disappointed when he abruptly let go of her hand. At the same time, she realized something.
It didn’t even occur to me to shake his hand off…
Yuri turned to her in the dim, dusty space. She couldn’t quite read his expression.
“…So, what was that?”
“What?”
“Who is he?”
His calm eyes on her were enough to make her heartbeat quicken mysteriously. She looked away.
“H-he’s…the president of my class. Nival Weir, the son of a viscount.”
“Don’t know the name.”
I’ll bet there aren’t many names Yuri pays attention to…
As she mentally shook her head, he said indifferently, “He’s really loud.”
“…Yeah.”
“Maybe even louder than you.”
“Hey, no fair! Even I’m not that nois—”
Suddenly, Yuri propped his right arm lightly against the bookshelf. Pinned between him and the shelf, Brigitte peered questioningly at him. But before she could speak, he placed his left hand over her mouth.
“…?!”
His body covered hers, gently restricting her freedom of movement. Her heart was racing.
“Urgh! Grb—”
“…Keep quiet.”
He brought his finger to his lips like he was shushing a child.
As she watched his movements, so close she could have touched him, her breath came to a full stop.
It probably lasted only twenty or thirty seconds at the most. But to Brigitte, it felt like an eternity.
“Miss Brigitte? Miss Brigitte! Where are you?”
“Um, excuse me, but can you please not make so much noise in the library…?”
The sound of clattering feet and voices echoed from two shelves over. But the noisy search party did not find the two of them in their dim hiding place, and after a moment, the footsteps faded again.
After a few more moments, Yuri removed his hand from Brigitte’s mouth, and she collapsed weakly to the floor.
“…Brigitte?”
He sounded dubious, but she didn’t have the energy to respond. After all…