After a few minutes, once she had calmed down slightly, she abruptly came to her senses.
Wh-what in the world am I doing…?!
No matter how upset she was, there were standards for proper behavior. The daughters of noblemen weren’t supposed to cry themselves into delirium with no control over their emotions. She stopped crying from shock, only to realize something mortifying.
“I’m s-s-sorry; I got snot on you…!”
But when she tried to pull away, he pulled her closer, and his arm softly trapped her. It was surprisingly warm for someone called the Frozen Blade. At the mercy of that warmth she had longed for, she whispered, “Thank you…Sir Yuri.”
“…It’s nothing.”
“It’s nothing, master? I believe I was the one who rescued the charming fairy from a tight spot?”
Brigitte leaped away from Yuri at the sound of the undine’s voice. She had been able to lean on Yuri when she thought no one was watching—but if a witness was present, that was a different story.
Was she watching this whole time?!
She was so unsettled that she didn’t notice Yuri grumpily cross his outstretched arms.
“I’ll load you up with magic water stones,” he said.
“Water stones? That’s all? How about some holy water, too?”
Yuri sighed and gave the tiniest nod.
As Brigitte listened to them, something struck her as odd.
His darling Miss Selmin was in all that trouble, and yet…
Joseph hadn’t once shown his face.
The following week, a noisy crowd of second-year students stood in front of the bulletin board, checking their test results.
“Wow, Miss Brigitte’s done it again…!”
“She’s so amazing!”
The results of the pre-summer-vacation magic-stone hunt had been posted. Yuri was in the top place, and Brigitte was in second. Meanwhile, Nival and Kira looked up at their names excitedly. Their classmates soon joined them, surrounding Brigitte in a celebratory crowd.
But Brigitte herself was unable to hide her shock, even as she fanned herself and blustered, “Ah-ha-ha, it is what it is.”
…He won!!
The hunt had never been rescheduled after it was suspended due to the incident with Lisa, so the results were based solely on the first day of magic-stone collecting.
Yuri had eight magic stones.
Brigitte had seven.
Everyone else had four, three, or less. That was why Brigitte was getting so much attention despite not being in first place. But all she could see was his name.
If I’d just gotten a few more…!
She was confident that if she’d been able to hunt freely on the second day, she’d have gotten more than on the first. She’d already identified a few spots where she was certain she could have found many spirits.
It’s so maddening…!
Secretly shaking with frustration, she turned to Kira and whispered, “Are you sure you didn’t mind?”
“What?”
“The magic stone. You gave me one, remember?”
On the night of the magic-stone hunt, Yuri had walked her to the dorms. She’d never been inside before, but when she came in, feeling flustered, Kira handed her her knapsack and a magic stone.
Kira said she had found two of them in the cave where they sheltered. A spirit must have hidden them away from people or other spirits and then forgotten about them. Brigitte had refused at first, saying Kira should keep them both, since she’d found them, but Kira insisted, so in the end, Brigitte had ended up with her seventh stone. But it meant she’d stolen a point from Kira.
“I wanted you to have it,” Kira mumbled shyly. “I…thought it was like something from a story.”
Brigitte nodded. Now it made sense.
“You mean like the scene in The Wind Laughs, where Professor Lien and the sylphide break a magic stone in half and each take one piece as a talisman?”
“Yes, exactly!” Kira answered excitedly, pressing her palms to her flushed cheeks.
“I wanted our relationship to be like the one between Lien Baluanuki and the sylphide—”
“What are you talking about? Don’t you know all the magic stones from the hunt got collected?” interrupted Nival, who had been listening in.
Kira pouted. Then, brightening, she pushed up her long bangs. Her eyes, as black as the night sky, appeared.
“Miss Brigitte told me my eyes are pretty,” she said.
She’s so cute!
Maybe she meant to threaten Nival by staring at him…but seeing her whole face for the first time, Brigitte found her lovely. She had big moist eyes and small pink lips. She was like an adorable little animal.
A buzz went through the other students who were watching. Brigitte guessed they were startled by the sudden realization that their classmate was beautiful. She understood how they felt. But Nival stepped forward and glared mercilessly at Kira.
“Is that so? Well, one time, Miss Brigitte told me I was amazing because I climbed the stairs two at a time!”
“Miss Brigitte gave my b-brownie a magic stone.”
“Oh yeah? I ate lunch outside with Miss Brigitte and my ariel once!”
“I bet that’s only because Miss Brigitte wanted to talk to her!”
While the two of them were caught up in this incomprehensible argument, Brigitte snuck silently away.
After school, Brigitte tucked her books in her bag and headed straight to the library. She took the path that led back to the garden…and as the gazebo came into view for what felt like the first time in ages, she caught a glimpse of silky blue-black hair. He must have been reading a book, because the round back of his head was tilted adorably downward.
“Yu—”
She was about to call his name, but then she stopped. The memory of revealing so much of her raw emotions to him was still fresh…and mortifying. He probably thought it was trivial. She wanted to act like nothing had happened, but that was impossible.
He’s always seeing my weak side…
She secretly wished she had a few of his weak points in her back pocket. Apparently sensing her evil intentions, however, he looked over his shoulder.
“What are you doing standing there?” he asked.
“Nothing!” she answered, flustered, and sat down across from him.