The following Monday, I reported to Lady Angelica in Himeko’s personal area at the Sky Salon.
“As far as I can tell,” I concluded, “Sara hasn’t told anyone else about Lady Sakura.”
Even though I hadn’t even informed Lady Angelica that I’d spoken to Sara, she’d arrived together with Himeko and immediately asked for an update. I wasn’t sure if she was just guessing that I’d probably taken care of it already or if her bats had acted as scouts or something, but either way, she just knew.
“Fair enough,” Lady Angelica replied. “That only deepens the mystery, I suppose. Well, Rosalie’s putting a great deal of enthusiasm into her British-style salon, so it’s not impossible that she has her own information sources in the UK, I suppose.”
Her expression said she didn’t find this explanation too convincing.
“I do have one idea, kind of,” Himeko offered. “I don’t really have any proof, and it doesn’t really explain why Rosalie was given the information, but it might help in some way.”
Her words were as vague and fuzzy as her troubled expression. It was rare for Himeko to beat around the bush like that. She had an aura that said she’d rather not talk about it, and that she didn’t want any further questions even though she was the one who had brought it up.
“I see,” Lady Angelica replied slowly. She appeared to have sensed this mood as well, and was likely debating whether to ask for more details or not.
Just then, we heard a bell over by the entrance, signaling the arrival of the elevator.
The words that followed came from Lady Kagura. “Good day.”
I could hear Kirara cheerfully rushing to meet her. “Good day, Lady Kagura!” We all found ourselves listening. “I have news, milady. The British student in our class, Sara, has been keeping quiet about the fact that she has a mistress. Don’t you think that’s incredible?”
She immediately started telling her mistress everything we’d heard from Sara. This was just as planned, so I was happy.
“Sara,” Lady Kagura replied. “That’s the girl who came here with you and Misaki, isn’t it? So she already has experience of serving someone in Britain? That explains why she’s so skilled already for a first-year student. I wonder what her mistress is like.”
“Apparently, she’s called Lady Sakura. And she’s transferring here!”
“Oh, is she Japanese? Or partly Japanese, perhaps?”
“No, I think she’s a pure-blooded Englishwoman. Although now that you mention it, her name does sound Japanese.”
“That’s quite an unusual name for a British person. Hmm, I feel as though I’ve heard it somewhere before. Ayakas!”
When she called the Kokonoe twins’ name, they replied in perfect unison, “Yes, milady?”
“Were you listening to our conversation just now?”
“We were indeed,” replied one of the sisters.
“You’d like us to investigate, I assume,” added the other.
“Precisely. The name really rings a bell.”
“This will be no trouble at all.”
“Researching an international student? We’ll be done in a flash.”
Then we heard the sisters’ footsteps approaching. I have a sinking feeling about how they plan to investigate. Surprise, surprise, they soon arrived at the entrance to our section of the salon.
“Just stopping by,” said one of them.
“We’d like to have a quick chat with Lady Himeko,” said the other.
“And Lady Angelica, if that’s all right.”
“How convenient that you’re both here! Heh heh.”
It made sense. Other than the teaching staff, the two people most likely to have information about a transfer student were the two ladies at my table. There was no need to go investigating on their own.
The ladies looked at each other.
“I don’t suppose there’s any harm in it,” Himeko said.
“No,” Lady Angelica agreed. “We don’t need to keep it a secret from them.”
After confirming this to one another, Himeko told the twins they could enter.
They both stepped inside and curtsied. Seeing them carry themselves with such refinement, it was hard to believe they were Domestic Arts students.
“We appreciate it.”
“Thank you very much, Lady Himeko.”
“Misaki, get us some chairs.”
“Yes, coming right up,” I replied. While I was dashing off to get the extra chairs, the twins called out to me as I passed.
“Get us drinks too, please!”
“Royal milk tea would be great!”
“Yes, got it,” I replied to the twins, who just didn’t know when to quit.
For starters, I focused on the chairs. Himeko and Lady Angelica were facing each other from opposite sides of the round table, so I positioned the twins across from each other as well.
“Here, have a seat.”
“Oh, thank you.”
“It’s nice that you took care of it so quickly, but it would have been better if you’d personally held out our chairs for us.”
I groaned. I’d had too little experience serving guests to pick up on that.
“Teehee. You’ll just have to make up for it by serving some extra delicious tea.”
“You’ve raised our expectations!”
Groaning again, I replied, “I’ll do what I can.”
Does this have to happen when Lady Angelica is right here? Well, I guess they pointed it out specifically because she’s here. Deciding this was the Kokonoe sisters being kind in their own unique way, I tried to make up for lost ground with spectacular tea, just like they’d said.
While I was heading off to handle that, the twins whipped out notebooks and started their line of questioning.
“Now, about that foreign student.”
“Could you tell us a little more about her?”
By the time I returned with the tea, it looked like they’d already heard all the key facts. They stared into the notebooks.
“Interesting, very interesting!”
“I can see why Lady Kagura was intrigued.”
When I put their tea on the table, they reached for the cups without taking their eyes off the notebooks. Was the information about Lady Sakura really all that special?
“It’s not public yet, so don’t tell anyone else, please,” Lady Angelica emphasized. “Within the Sky Salon is fine, but don’t go spreading it outside of that.”
They finally raised their heads again.