Volume 25, Wear My Rose?

There was a troubled man here.

"Ahh, what am I going to do...."

He looked up as he spoke.

Those words sparkled as they traveled through the air. But sorrow mingled with the light, making their brilliance seem a bit faded.

"What should I do?"

It was a question spoken to none other than himself. But the man couldn't find an answer within his own heart, so all he could do was slowly sink into his own world.

He wrapped his arms around himself, twisting his body in dejection.

The source of the dejection was his own heart, and the source of the problem was the same.

"Ahh...."

But he didn't have to show these feelings. He tightly squeezed his arms, twisted his body, and put a sad expression on his face, turning his constantly-repeated and piled-up questions into words.

"Ahh, where should I direct my love!?"

He expressed that sentence with his whole body.

Specifically, he spread his arms, looked up at the sky, and spun on one foot.

"Don't dance!"

"Ahh, how merciless!"

Vance's curt remark made the man contort his body as he danced in midair.

◇

"Big news!"

Mifi charged into the classroom and grabbed Layfon, her shout reverberating through the whole classroom.

"Mi-chan, I'm listening."

Classes had ended and it was time for a final cleaning right now. Layfon was cleaning the classroom with a broom.

He remembered that Mifi ought to be cleaning the area in front of the school.

It hadn't been too long since he started cleaning the classroom. It wouldn't be strange if they had only started cleaning the area in front of the school right now.

"Right, the cleaning--"

"Right now isn't the time to do that!"

Mifi's eyes glittered. The light in her eyes was a bit different from her level of curiosity. Her current degree of curiosity was the highest.

But actually, that curiosity didn't give any credibility to whatever topic she was bringing.

Naruki and Meishen weren't here. The two of them were cleaning somewhere else.

In other words, there was no one here to control and admonish Mifi.

"So, what is it?"

Layfon asked with a sigh.

"What kind of attitude is that? Are you not interested? I came to tell Layton first because this was big news. You should be thankful to me, super thankful! That'll definitely happen, so please pay first."

"No, I'm not paying."

"Hmph, you're so reliable in that kind of area. That sucks."

"Uh, what exactly is the matter?"

There were many gazes nearby focused on them, which felt very uncomfortable. The girl who was their class representative was also staring at them. She was Mifi's sworn enemy and Layfon wasn't good at dealing with her, so he wanted to finish this topic and start cleaning again as soon as possible.

"Hey, Mifi-san...."

The class representative strode over.

"Uwah, this is bad."

Mifi also noticed that she was in the classroom, so she instantly pulled Layfon's ear with her fingers.

"Well...."

She told Layfon.

"Well, I'll tell you the rest later!"

Mifi quickly left Layfon's side, running out of the classroom without even listening to the class representative's calls to stop.

"Don't run in the hallways!"

"Sorry~!"

Mifi didn't stop even after being scolded. The class representative shrugged her shoulders huffily and went back to the classroom.

Layfon rubbed the ear that had been pulled as he mulled over Mifi's muttered words.

That was because he wouldn't be able to believe it if he didn't do so.

"....Huh?"

Nina had a lover?

Afterwards, the cleaning was finished.

Layfon and Mifi were in the stairwell on the highest floor. No one was on the roof due to the heat. If no one had business with the roof, no one would come to this stairwell. Though it was very cool in this place where the sunlight didn't reach, no one would gather here after school.

"So, what's going on?"

Layfon and Mifi both held juice bought from vending machines in one hand as they sat here talking, and they were so close that their foreheads were almost touching.

Naruki and Meishen had to work, so they weren't here. Layfon also had to go to the training facility, but if he didn't properly listen to this matter, he wouldn't know what to say when he saw Nina.

"Could it be.... a rumor?"

"How rude, the great Mi-chan witnessed it clearly."

Mifi dexterously stuck out her chest as she whispered, but Layfon still looked at her with dubious eyes, so she took out the evidence.

A photograph.

"This is what I took when we were cleaning just now."

In other words, she had immediately developed this photograph right after escaping the classroom.

So in the end she had skipped cleaning. Choosing to ignore that fact for now, Layfon looked at the photograph.

In the photograph was a guy and a girl walking on the tree-lined road in front of the school.

It was Nina and a man he seemed to have seen somewhere before.

"That's a guy.... Right?"

Layfon asked without any confidence.

The person standing next to Nina was a man whose long golden hair flowed in elegant waves. Did he have makeup on? His face looked strangely beautiful, and his figure was very slender, with the shirt of his uniform not even regulation. It was made with what looked like a very soft fabric, and ruffled things were sewn into the sleeves. The chest was open wide and red flowers adorned it.

Judging by the open chest, he could be identified as a man.

Layfon realized this, but even through the photograph he realized that this man wasn't masculine.

"What are you saying, isn't that Rafaela Serfa-senpai from the first platoon?"

Mifi said his name matter-of-factly.

"That person is regularly among the top three of the Military Artist Beauty Rankings. He was an overwhelming number one this year. Ah, by the way, Sharnid-senpai was fifth this year, and Layfon was fourth."

"Uh, that doesn't matter at all."

The question of why his name had shown up there truly didn't matter at all right now.

"So, what's he doing?"

"As for that, I have to start investigating right now."

"So they might just be walking together by coincidence?"

If they were walking in front of the first-year school building at this time, their destinations might be the training facility. If the man Rafaela was a platoon member, then there was undoubtedly the possibility that they ran into each other on the way.

"Naive! Layton, your thinking is too naive!"

But Mifi thoroughly struck down Layfon's thinking.

"Layton, you don't realize after seeing this photograph?"

Mifi pushed the photograph over. But Layfon really didn't know the answer. It was Layfon's first time seriously looking at Rafaela's face, so he didn't know what was different about his expression. That said, all he could realize from looking at Nina was that her smile was a bit stiff.

"Captain isn't very good at dealing with this person, right?"

"Wronggg!"

Mifi retorted with a secretive tone.

"That's not where you should be looking. It's here! Here!"

Mifi pointed to the center of the photograph.

The shoulders of the two of them were close.

"....?"

Layfon tilted his head and put on a confused expression, which made Mifi claw at her hair.

"Ahh, why don't you get it. Is it because you're Layton? Or is it because you're a guy? If it's because you're a guy, it'll be hard to fix. That's why everyone forgets there's such a cute girl here!"

Mifi uttered a complaint that Layfon couldn't really understand as she pointed to the same spot.

"It's this, this sense of closeness! Don't you understand? A guy and a girl who just happened to run into each other couldn't possibly walk this close together, right?"

Even if Mifi said this, Layfon still didn't understand. Maybe it was just as Mifi said, since after all Layfon normally didn't concern himself with such things.

But now that she mentioned it, it seemed like the class representative had pulled away a bit from him when he had helped her carry things. But maybe that was because she was a girl who preferred that kind of distance, so Layfon still didn't feel like he could conclude anything.

"Anyways, these two are very suspicious! So Layton, what you have to do next is get more definitive evidence. Got it?"

Layfon still felt confused. Mifi shouted this, perhaps feeling impatient about that reaction.

Layfon could only keep nodding his head.

◇

When he arrived at the training facility, Nina was already there.

"You're late!"

The scolded Layfon apologized as he readied his things. Putting aside Naruki for now, Sharnid and Felli were already here. Naruki was at the city police, so of course she wasn't here. Everyone had already arrived other than her.

Hard balls were scattered on the floor. Ever since Layfon had explained the Psyharden training style to Nina, it had been woven into the platoon's basic training regimen.

Layfon restored his Adamantium Dite, then stood on a hard ball. Maybe because everyone was already used to it, their balanced stances on the balls looked quite stable.

"Felli."

After finishing their basic training, Nina spoke to Felli as she was reading a magazine with nothing to do.

"........"

Felli wordlessly grabbed the restored Dite from next to her. The Psychokinesis flakes spread in the training room gave off slight electric glows, then surrounded Layfon and the others in faint light.

Felli had put up one of a Psychokinesist's defenses - a magnetic barrier.

This was an advanced way to train with the hard balls.

Nina, Sharnid, Dalshena, and Layfon released Kei from all over their bodies. Though the power was extremely weak, the balls scattered on the floor bounced away from this. The hard balls trying to fly away were bounced back by the magnetic barrier.

On the other side of the barrier, Felli returned her gaze back to the magazine. A timer next to her was keeping time.

The hard balls hurtled around chaotically. Layfon and the others dodged them or hit them back. It was a foul to use external Kei over the entire body like before. Even if they were to use it, they had to bounce a ball back towards a certain direction.

"Ouch!'

"Tch!"

"Ugh!"

Three of them were unable to avoid or hit back the hard balls. At the same time as everyone was struck by the balls and cried out, Layfon dodged or struck back the approaching hard balls with the smallest of movements. He might not even have needed to use his limbs. He released external Kei purely through the movements of his muscles to bounce them back.

He watched at Nina as he did this.

She looked no different from usual.

She didn't cower even when the hard balls struck her back from her blind spot, swinging her iron whips to sharpen her nerves. Layfon felt like she could relax her shoulders a bit more. This training was to hone the reflexes and at the same time widen the field of vision. Focusing on a single thing would improve your responses to it. But once something else happened, you would be unable to respond to it so easily and your stance would crumble. In order to guard against that, it was necessary to unconsciously see the entire situation around you and improve the senses. That was the purpose of this training.

As expected, Nina's figure as she focused on this was the normal Nina.

(Lover?)

She really didn't look like she had a lover.

No, Layfon wasn't sure how someone would change by having a lover.

Layfon imagined a blushing, shyly-smiling Nina surrounded by an atmosphere of blooming flowers. It was too unlike her. Layfon shook his head and rejected that image.

As expected, he couldn't see any change.

The timer made an electronic screech to tell them that the designated time had passed. Layfon and the others put away their weapons. This time they grabbed the flying hard balls.

When all the hard balls bouncing around had vanished, the magnetic barrier was released.

"Whew.... How tough...."

Sharnid wiped off the sweat dripping to his chin and then drank a sports drink. Dalshena wiped her sweat with a towel as well.

After using a towel as well, Nina hung it on her neck and then took up a stance with her iron whips. Maybe she was thinking of their training from just now and doing image training.

Layfon was the only one who wasn't sweating. He picked up the hard ball by his feet and put it on the tip of his blade as he looked at Nina.

After they finished three rounds of the same practice along with some other training, it was time to finish up.

As the others slowly warmed down, Layfon was the only one who circulated internal Kei as he walked and reached out a hand to the sports drink placed on the bench.

"What's up with you?"

Felli looked up from her book and asked. She had already stored her crystalline Dite in her weapon belt and looked ready to go home.

"Huh?"

"You seem concerned about something."

"Ah, no, it's nothing...."

"Don't lie."

As Layfon was thinking of an excuse, Sharnid grabbed his shoulder from behind.

"Weren't you looking at Nina the whole time?"

Sharnid, who had lowered his voice, grinned.

"Right, Felli-chan?"

"You smell like sweat."

Felli responded to Sharnid, who had naturally leaned over to her as he spoke.

"Hmph, some girls like that, you know."

"Please exclude me from that group of people."

Sharnid, who was unable to learn his lesson from that cold attitude, obviously didn't move away from her.

"So, what's up? You seem unusually interested in Nina, did something happen?"

"Didn't I say it was nothing?"

"Could it be that you've only now realized your secret, tangled feelings for Nina?"

"What kind of feelings are that....? Huh? By 'only now', you mean....?"

Sharnid's words felt strangely unnatural to Layfon.

Why had he said 'only now'?

But before Layfon had an answer to his question, the door was knocked and opened.

"Hi, is training already over?"

The person Layfon saw when he turned around was that man Rafaela Serfa.

Rafaela was dressed like he had been in the photograph, but had a big box in his left hand.

"Rafaela-senpai, why are you here?"

Nina, who was wiping her sweat, approached him with a flustered look.

"Hehehe, isn't it natural for me to want to see the face of my sweetheart as much as possible?"

"Sweetheart...."

Sharnid, whose arm was still hooked around Layfon's shoulder, put on a strange expression as if he had eaten something unfamiliar. Felli was silent. But judging by the way her eyes widened, she was definitely feeling the same as Sharnid.

"Why are you describing me as your sweetheart...."

Nina showed a confused expression, not knowing how to accept being called that.

"Well, we'll talk about that later. I came here for this."

After saying this, Rafaela gave Nina the box in his hands.

"This is....?'

"It's something I prepared because I thought it would really suit you. Please take it."

Nina still showed a somewhat confused expression after taking the box.

"I'd be really happy if you wore that for me next weekend."

After saying those words, Rafaela turned and left.

All that was left was an atmosphere in which it was hard to speak up.

To put this atmosphere in concrete words, perhaps it would be a giant '?'.

After all of the training was over, Layfon and the others went towards the nearest restaurant.

"So what's going on?"

Dalshena was the first to open the topic.

"Why Rafaela?"

Dalshena was less questioning about the fact that Nina had a lover and more confused about why that person was Rafaela.

"Why that disgusting guy...."

"No, aren't you and Rafaela the same type?"

Sharnid murmured calmly to Dalshena, who was trembling and clenching a fist.

"Oh....? So you mean to say it would be fine if I were a guy?"

"No.... Well, never mind. Speaking of which, you didn't deny the part about being similar."

"That doesn't matter! Listen, do you know what that guy said to me in a match before? He said 'Hahaha, Dalshena-san. A beautiful rose doesn't rush to bloom.' Hah!"

That had been during a final match of a tournament. It looked like Rafaela had been the one to give Dalshena the final blow when she had fallen into a trap.

"That man's entire reason for existing is to make me mad. And I even lost to him!"

Apparently, she had gotten incredibly angry after the match. Maybe she was angrier about losing to Rafaela than losing the match.

"So what exactly is the current situation?"

Dalshena asked this of Harley, who was the farthest from her. Though Harley hadn't been present at the time, Sharnid had brought him here when he showed up at the training facility afterwards.

"Well, at a time like this you should ask for Nina's expert opinion."

"Why expert...."

Ignoring Harley's confusion, Sharnid explained what had happened in the training facility just now.

Harley's face became paler and paler as he heard the explanation.

"So? Do you think Nina and Rafaela might be lovers?"

"Uh.... Huh? Rafaela-senpai? Why?"

After muttering this, Harley held his head.

"Uwah~ I'm glad I didn't see that. No, maybe I might see it later on? Urgh~ Spare me."

"....I heard that the Captain's family in her hometown was quite a famous clan."

Felli, who had been silent up till now, interjected.

"Ah, yeah. The Antalk family is famous in Schneibel."

"Then I think she'd be familiar with those upper-class customs."

"What does that mean?"

"This box is Binira Barmela."

Those words elicited an 'ah' from Dalshena. Layfon didn't understand what they meant, but Sharnid explained:

"Binira Barmela is a brand of clothing designed mainly for the upper-class. Ahh, come to think of it, Zuellni has some clothing stores that carry their designs."

Perhaps thinking of something, Sharnid looked up at the ceiling.

"It's a bespoke tailoring store, so it's no wonder you didn't know."

"That's since you can't show their design taste with inferior materials, so that way is natural. But even if you have the materials, the technique is still only on the level of students. I wouldn't expect much of those kinds of high-class brands in this kind of place."

After Felli and Dalshena explained this, Layfon shook his head in denial.

"Even if I knew the brand, I definitely would be too scared to buy it."

Layfon only bought clothes at cheap stores, so he would never even think of buy that kind of brand-name clothing.

"....If she's wearing Binira Barmela in Zuellni, it must be 'Night Meeting'. Hey hey, is Rafa-san really going for Nina?"

"'Night Meeting'?"

Another phrase that Layfon didn't know.

"It's a gathering place for rich kids."

"?"

"Famous families or successful business families.... Well, rich people. It's a group that those people formed after coming to Zuellni. But since it's an Academy City, those people were the ones who ended up getting thrown out, so there are a lot of misbehavers."

Dalshena explained.

"Nina would be qualified to join. Speaking of which, our Felli-chan and Shena could join too, right?'

"I'm not interested."

"No way, their bragging makes me want to vomit."

"Meaning you joined?"

"....In my first year."

Dalshena shook her head, unwilling to even recall it.

"Well, since you say that, is Rafaela like that too?"

As expected, Layfon didn't have any interest in high-society things like Binira Barmela or Night Meeting. But he didn't have a very good impression of that person, so maybe Nina was being tricked - that was what Layfon worried about.

"No, Rafaela-san isn't that kind of person."

Sharnid was the first to straightforwardly deny this.

"He's generally a good person.... Although he's a strange person."

Dalshena also added that, wearing a bitter expression.

"You could even say he's the consciousness of Night Meeting. He chases people who act too badly out of Night Meeting. If the other party of such a situation is a Military Artist, they might get a painful lesson."

Though she didn't even want to mention his name, Dalshena didn't deny Rafaela's personality.

In that case, he was a good person. Though the phrase 'strange person' made Layfon feel worried.

"But Rafa-san and Nina? Though I thought it was strange that Rafa-san didn't have a lover, I never would have imagined someone like Nina would be his type."

Sharnid's words ended the topic.

◇

Class was ending. The two of them were together like yesterday, having a secret discussion so close that their knees were touching.

"A date at Night Meeting? Huhuhu--"

Mifi mused.

"Hmm, I can't go there. You can't enter if you're not a member, and it seems like their dress requirements are pretty steep. It's really tough for a commoner."

"I see."

After Mifi said this, Layfon let out a relieved breath for some reason.

"Well, I'll think of something."

Break time ended on that note.

During class, Layfon tried thinking about the reason he had felt relieved.

He didn't really understand it himself.

Nina had a lover. Wasn't that good? She would definitely have a love suitable for her age. Even if the other party was that man named Rafaela who wore fluffy clothing and sparkled and who Layfon wasn't used to at all, there shouldn't be any problem as long as Nina liked him.

No problem.

"................?"

There shouldn't be any problem, so why couldn't he accept it?

"Why was that? Why was he in such a troubled mood?"

"........Hmm~?"

Layfon scratched his chest with his finger as if trying to rid himself of that unnatural feeling. Of course, that didn't make the troubled feeling vanish.

After school, Mifi took someone away.

Who was it?

It was Layfon.

"Right!"

Mifi had risen from her desk and shouted this when the last class ended, when it was time to start cleaning. Then she had grabbed Layfon's arm and rushed out of the room.

"Hey! You have to clean!"

The class representative's angry scolding quickly became distant.

"I got it!"

Mifi said after sprinting out of the school building. The two of them had already let go of their hands and stopped running, and were now walking side by side.

Layfon still didn't know their destination.

"What did you get?"

Layfon adjusted the shoes that he hadn't put on properly as he asked.

"Of course, it's a way to sneak into Night Meeting."

"Huh?"

"If we're lucky, we might be able to get free high-class clothing too. Hehehe, I'm looking forward to it~?"

Mifi led the way with a skip in her step, while Layfon walked behind.

"So what kind of a way is it?"

"Hohoho, just leave it to me."

Mifi wasn't willing to tell Layfon. All she told Layfon - no, all she instructed Layfon to do was to wait until the time came, and nothing more.

He had to make sure to say a certain line if negotiations went smoothly.

Mifi told Layfon this and he agreed to do so. Even so, he didn't really understand what Mifi wanted to do.

But he immediately realized that Mifi was going to make a request of someone.

Because the place they arrived was the Student Council building.

"....I see."

Karian slowly nodded.

The Student Council President has readily agreed to meet. The files on the desk were piled into a mountain, so he was probably very busy. But he seemed to have already dealt with them. The Student Council member who brought them tea took those files away.

"You said you want to experience Night Meeting?"

Karian repeated the first thing Mifi had said, perhaps to confirm her meaning.

Karian's voice wasn't cold, but he didn't show anything that could be taken as agreement. Layfon couldn't read his tone. Ahh, when he started thinking of the entrance ceremony business, his stomach started hurting. He had thought he was already used to the Student Council President....

"Yeah."

Mifi might be nervous as well, as her voice was a bit cracked.

"But why are you interested in Night Meeting?"

"Because Layton.... Ahem, excuse me. Layfon's quite an excellent Military Artist. Though I wasn't able to see the Military Arts Competition with my own eyes, he shows us incredible matches in competition, right?"

Mifi changed her wording and began an explanation.

"So?"

Karian looked at Mifi with eyes filled with interest. That feeling of interest seemed to say something like 'so, what kind of interesting topic will this girl lay out?'. It felt very similar to the feeling of a carnivore wanting to watch its prey struggle. Of course that wasn't actually the case, but that was the easiest way to imagine it.

Mifi rapidly wove words amidst that tense feeling:

"So Layfon will be accepted by the outside world as an outstanding Military Artist after he graduates. I think it's not a very strange conclusion when you think that way."

"Right, I agree. I think I'd be very happy if he came to my hometown. Of course, as the Student Council President, I must first think of Zuellni's peace, but at the same time I don't want to enchain the students' futures.

What a hypocrite, you even chained me. Had the fact that Layfon had entered the school in General Studies already become something that had never happened in Karian's mind? Or maybe there weren't even records of it? Layfon shivered as he thought of that.

"....Maybe it's possible that he'll come to my hometown." >

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