Then, beaming radiantly, Lady Shion replied, “If you’re willing to go that far, I’ll generously pretend I didn’t hear any of that. To be clear, I have no idea what you’re talking about and had nothing to do with it, of course.”
Her smile held a clear implication that any follow-up questions would be a waste of time.
“Oh.”
Himeko probably hadn’t expected her to give the game away so easily either, but I still couldn’t believe she hadn’t shown even a single crack in her armor. It was pretty impressive, honestly.
My shoulders sagging, I stood up. “Very well. Then I’ll pass that on to my mistress.”
“Please do. Aoi, our guest is leaving. Guests, rather—there are two of them. As a souvenir, give them some rose tea leaves and a few containers of rose oil. Make sure to give them plenty of roses too. Between them, they should be able to carry a lot.”
“Certainly, milady. I’ll pick out some of the freshest blooms.”
Despite my best efforts, all I received in the end were various rose products. I could look on the bright side and say that at least I didn’t bring her anger raining down on me, but Himeko’s still going to be disappointed.
I rejoined Kirara, who had been assiduously trying to pretend she was part of the scenery all this time. She gave me a reassuring pat on the head. “You did everything you could.”
As Kirara came close, though, the roses she was holding pushed against me as well—and it wasn’t only their sweet scent that struck me. Some of the thorns were digging into my shoulder.
“Kirara! The rose stems still have their thorns on them!”
“Oh, sorry.”
Aoi turned back to us with an apologetic expression. “My apologies. Lady Shion says I should give roses to people with their thorns still intact. The thorns are what make them roses, she tells me.”
“No need to apologize. They only pricked me very slightly.”
“Still, though!” Aoi chuckled; it was rare for her to be smiling so distinctly. “You really worked hard today, Misaki.”
Even to her, it must have been obvious how much effort it took.
“I really did—or tried to, at least. I didn’t stand a chance against Lady Shion.”
“I wouldn’t look at it in such a pessimistic light. Look at all the gifts you got as a result.”
“Well, yes, I suppose.”
Everyone at the salon would be thrilled about the rose tea and rose oil, but without the key information I’d been seeking, it was all kind of meaningless.
With a giggle, Aoi replied, “In the end, it’ll be up to Lady Himeko to interpret the conversation you had just now, won’t it?”
“Hmm, that’s true.”
“So all you need to do is report it as accurately as you can.”
I wished I could agree wholeheartedly with her advice, but I still had too much weighing on my mind.
✦ ✦ ✦
✤
Upon our return to the Sky Salon, Kirara and I were greeted by a chorus of voices welcoming us back. Even though it was pretty late by now, all of the members were still there.
Lady Kagura came forward to greet Kirara at the entrance. She was the one most eager to get Lady Sakura for the salon, so she must have been waiting for her Seraph’s return with bated breath. “Welcome back, Kirara. How did it go?”
“As expected, the only salons planning to recruit Lady Sakura are the Paradise Palace and the Gloriana Guesthouse.”
“Great! What did they say about the method of approaching her?”
“On the whole, they were happy to go along with our idea. However, the Gloriana Guesthouse requested that in the joint tea party, each salon should only be allowed to serve one dish to accompany the tea.”
“That makes sense. If every salon can serve as many sweets as they like, Sakura would get too full. I’ll inform the Paradise Palace about it.”
“Also, we sampled a dessert made by Mei from the Paradise Palace. It was—”
“Hold that thought. We should sit down and go over it all. Ayakas, bring Kirara a drink.”
“Coming right up,” they replied.
“I can’t wait to hear every detail!” their mistress exclaimed.
They walked off toward Lady Kagura’s personal area. Since Kirara had fulfilled her mission completely and got new information about Mei and Lady Rosalie besides, her mistress was sure to be thrilled.
I was the one who might be in more trouble.
“Welcome back, Misaki.”
Himeko greeted me with a kind smile, but I didn’t think she’d be overly satisfied with what I had to tell her.
“Lady Himeko!” I cried, whipping around to face her.
She let out a yelp of surprise. Apparently, the quantity of roses and other items in my hands had come as quite a shock to her.
“Oops, sorry! I got all these from Lady Shion.”
“Even so, it’s a pretty incredible amount. Did something happen at the Mauve Manor?”
“Not really. The opposite, you could say.”
“That’s all right. Let’s go over here and talk.”
She took half of what I was holding and headed to her own private spot.
“The roses are blooming as beautifully as ever,” she said as we sat down. Sniffing them in rapt delight, she added, “They smell wonderful too.”
All I could focus on was having to tell her how little I’d achieved. It made me dejected just thinking about it.
“Is Shion doing well?”
“Yeah. In fact, I’d say the sharp glint in her eye is doing better than ever.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” She nodded to herself, although I wasn’t sure what exactly was so great about that. “Did you ask her why she gave Rosalie the information?”
“Yup. Just the way you told me to.”
“And?”
“I’m sorry, but she didn’t give me anything to go on at all. Not only did she not confirm she’d done it, but I was watching for the slightest change in her expression, and she didn’t even give me that.”
“Oh,” Himeko replied, putting a finger to her chin as if something was weighing on her mind. “Well, could you tell me how she reacted in a little more detail?”
“For sure.”
I relayed my conversation with Lady Shion, trying to include every detail I could possibly remember.
When I was done, Himeko mused for a moment. “Hmm. You were really insistent, but instead of getting angry, she actually smiled?”
“Uhm, yeah. That’s about what happened.”
“In that case, I’m even more certain it was Shion who gave the info to Rosalie.”
“You are? How come?” I couldn’t even guess what part of my story had been enough to determine that.
“When Shion smiles, it’s because she’s enjoying herself.”
“That’s kind of normal, isn’t it?”
She shook her head quickly. “No, that’s not quite what I mean. She smiles when things are going even better than she expected. When something happens that’s really entertaining. In this case, she knew we would suspect her and had an idea of how we’d act. However, when the moment came, you spoke with far more conviction than she’d expected, and that really tickled her.”
“I see.”
“That’s why she didn’t get angry—and why she gave you so much stuff to take with you.”
“Even so, I didn’t get any proof, right?”
“True, but it’s enough. However else we try to investigate right now, she’ll continue to play innocent. I doubt she’ll reveal her involvement until after Sakura chooses a salon.”
“Why do you think she did it in the first place?”
“I have no idea. All I can say is that she’s probably not trying to get in Kagura’s way. Whatever hidden agenda she has, it’s about me.”
She fell quiet and cast her eyes downward. When she wore an expression like that, there were usually some circumstances I wasn’t aware of. Now that we’d broached the topic, I really wanted to ask for more details, but I was worried about bothering her. If I were a real Seraph, would she find it easier to tell me?
“Himeko, if you ever want me to ask Lady Shion anything else, I’m ready anytime.”
That was all I could say right now, but hopefully it was some help to my mistress, at least.
“Thanks, Misaki. If I do, I’ll be sure to ask.”
She smiled at me, and it was enough to make me want to do whatever I could for her.