Gosh, what a shock. I still couldn’t quite believe that Himeko was the deputy chairman of the board.
Once the entrance ceremony came to an end, the new students all filed out to the classrooms where they’d be spending the rest of the year. Just like in the ceremony, I found myself sitting next to Kirara.
The other students in my class were all on the Domestic Arts program, of course, so I was surrounded by a sea of black uniforms.
Setting the revelation about Himeko aside, I thought about my own predicament. The teacher was watching for now, so all the girls were being quiet and obedient, but I could acutely feel the jabbing of their invisible stares.
I knew that the very second homeroom ended, they were going to swarm me and bombard me with questions. My stomach started to ache horribly.
As much as I wished I could run away, that definitely wasn’t an option. I felt like a juicy morsel placed in front of a dog who had been told to sit still. I was just waiting to be eaten.
“I suppose we’ll call it a day there,” said the teacher. “Let’s make tomorrow the start of a great year filled with hard work!”
There it was.
The instant she finished speaking, all of the students turned to look at me. Their eyes glinted as if they were scoping out their prey. Eek!
Then, the teacher left the room—and in a flash, they all clustered around my desk and started freely assaulting me with questions and complaints.
“Misaki, whose Seraph are you?!”
“Is it really Lady Himeko?!”
“You were already wearing the badge at the entrance ceremony—does that mean it’s been arranged for ages?”
“No fair!”
“Gaaah!”
And so on.
“No, well, you see,” I began, but I couldn’t hope to answer all their questions at once.
“Did you already have your debut?”
“What’s the Sky Salon like?”
“What shampoo does Lady Himeko use?”
“Have you met Lady Kagura yet?”
“Gaaah!”
My head was spinning. I never thought this one little badge would cause such an uproar. I’d only agreed to this to avoid getting expelled. Maybe I’d been a little too hasty?
Honestly, I didn’t even know if I’d really have been expelled for arriving late. There was a chance that Himeko had just used that as a pretext to give me the golden badge. Why did she even want me to take it in the first place?
As I sat there at the end of my rope, Kirara offered a helping hand. “Come on, settle down. Misaki can’t answer all those questions at once.”
“Thanks, Kirara!” I said gratefully. Even though we had only just met at the entrance ceremony, there she was, coming to my aid. And I was so sure she’d have been at the front of the pack, hounding me for answers! It seemed that at some point, a bond of friendship had formed between me and Kirara. I was slightly moved.
“I understand why you want answers,” she continued, “but how about you leave it to me? I’ll take my sweet time and make her tell me absolutely everything. Just you wait.”
I take it all back.
Kirara was fully fired up. She was glaring at me intently, determined to shine a light on all my secrets.
“Oh, that’s right!” piped one of the girls. “You’re Kirara’s roommate, aren’t you?”
“Then maybe it is better to leave it to you,” said another.
Everyone exchanged glances and nodded as if to say, Yep, sounds good. Let’s do that.
I didn’t know which was worse: facing a torrent of questions here, or being subjected to Kirara’s inquisition. In any case, it seemed I no longer had a choice.
✤
“Why don’t you have some tea and relax?” With an experienced manner, Kirara poured hot water into a cup and placed it before me.
It did look delicious, but there was no way a cup of tea was going to help me relax.
Aside from Kirara, my two other roommates were there as well, all of us sitting on cushions around the table.
This was Chambord House, the dormitory that would be home to us and all of the Domestic Arts students. It had the appearance of a Western-style guesthouse on a mountain plateau somewhere.
Honestly, for a dorm, it was pretty fancy. It had a good reputation among the students as well, and most of them had gone through all the procedures for moving in as soon as they were allowed to.
Inside that building, I was on house arrest, confined to a single room.
Admittedly, it was the room I was sharing with Kirara, so “house arrest” might not have been entirely accurate. The point was, I couldn’t leave of my own accord.
Our room actually consisted of two spaces: a living room area with a kitchen, and a bedroom that we would also use for studying. It was unexpectedly spacious even for four people to share, and the living room would still have been just as comfortable with twice as many.
“Well, that’s fine,” said Kirara, seeing that I didn’t touch my cup of tea. She took a sip of her own. “If you’d rather just talk, I won’t complain. Well? You’re going to tell us the exact circumstances that led to you becoming a Seraph, right?”
“W-Well, yes, I’ll tell you. But first, I’d like you to tell me what a Seraph is.”
All I knew was that it was something that meant a lot to the Domestic Arts students. Apart from that, the details were still a mystery to me. Even my guess about it being a role on the student council couldn’t have been correct, since Himeko wasn’t the student council president after all.
“Fine!” said Kirara, standing up and vigorously sweeping her hand to the side. “You’re so ignorant that it’s actually revolting, but I’ll tell you. Honestly, I can’t believe you came here in the first place when you don’t know the first thing about Seraphs, or about the academy itself! Tell me, Misaki—why did you even apply to this school?”