Chapter 172

Grandia Academy's first semester came to an uneventful end.

The academy entered summer break.

The students were given a little over fifteen days of vacation.

'Fifteen days is awfully short for a summer break, but...'

Still, having a break was better than nothing.

I decided to think positively.

Summer had already reached its tail end, as though it were about to give way to autumn.

Once this break was over, the sweltering weather would probably be swept away by cool breezes.

"Ahem."

Anyway, on the first day of vacation, my companions and I had naturally gathered in the dorm room.

'How come nobody's going back home?'

I understood, of course.

Fifteen days was an awkward amount of time for visiting home.

Besides, more than half of my companions had no home to return to. Even those who did had strained relationships with their families...

'Anyway, they all said they'd stay in the academy dorms.'

It wasn't really bad news.

I preferred this bustling atmosphere to silence.

"Mm! To celebrate vacation, I've decided to raise the intensity of my training!"

"You're going to train more instead of resting to celebrate vacation?"

"Isn't that... u-usually the other way around?"

"That's right! Training is always fun!"

"......Tsk. What can I say to a training addict? You're annoyingly diligent."

"I think Lady Ranne is always, a-amazing. You never complain, no matter the situation..."

The girls chattered away.

I absentmindedly watched the three of them.

Then, as Ranne turned her head, our eyes met for a moment.

"......!"

Whoosh.

The girl turned away as fast as lightning.

Her movements went rigid.

We hadn't even managed a proper exchange of glances.

Her violet eyes only trembled faintly.

Seeing that unnatural reaction, I could only smile awkwardly.

'She's been like that ever since that day...'

That day.

The night Ranne pressed her lips to mine.

It still felt as though her breath and lukewarm body heat lingered on me.

Our lips had met squarely.

We remained pressed together for a long time, forgetting even to breathe.

When our lips finally parted, Ranne sprang up from the sofa.

-That... w-was my first time...

She had whispered those words with a blazing face.

After that, the girl fled back into the bedroom.

I rubbed my lips for no reason.

That soft sensation wasn't something I could easily forget.

'...I didn't expect her to be that embarrassed.'

It made me feel awkward too.

She had approached me first, then reacted like that. I had no idea what I was supposed to do.

'It's a little unexpected.'

I had thought Ranne would always be confident.

I expected her to laugh brightly and act as though nothing had happened afterward.

Yet she was far shyer than I imagined. How should I put it? I was happy to discover a new side of her.

"......"

"......"

The awkward atmosphere was troubling, though.

A strange silence hung between Ranne and me.

"Hey, you two."

Perhaps Caitlin had been sensing that atmosphere all along.

She spoke up.

Her yellow eyes moved back and forth between Ranne and me.

The girl smiled for no apparent reason, then dropped a bombshell.

"So... did you do it?"

The words seemed aimed at Ranne.

The stiff blonde girl jumped in surprise.

"That's exactly how you're acting."

"E-Excuse me?"

"Did you do it? The two of you."

"W-what do you mean...?"

"What else? That sort of thing between a grown man and woman."

"C-Caitlin!?"

Ranne jolted like a released spring.

The heat in her cheeks deepened.

Her face turned a vivid red.

A girl who had struggled with just a kiss seemed to take severe damage from simply imagining the adult world.

"Ah, ugh..."

Ranne sank in an instant.

Regardless, Caitlin kept twisting the knife.

"They say it's always the quiet ones. I never thought you'd be the first one."

"N-No! It wasn't like that..."

"Really? Can you say with one hundred percent certainty that nothing happened?"

"It wasn't anything like that... But I can't say that nothing happened..."

"So you did do it?"

"Ugh, ughhh..."

"M-My lady? Is that true...?"

Ranne's eyes went blank.

Caitlin kept pressing her while Alice froze in shock.

"I, I..."

Had the heat reached its limit?

Tears even welled up in her violet eyes.

I had no choice but to intervene and stop Caitlin's attack.

"Caitlin, at this rate, I feel sorry for Ranne. Let's stop teasing her."

"Taking her side already? Still, that's a relief. I thought you were impotent. You were surrounded by beautiful women, yet you never seemed interested in that kind of thing at all. So I thought you were either impotent or gay."

"Everything's perfectly functional. I'm not gay, either. And nothing like what you're imagining happened."

"What, are you both advertising that it was your first time? How provincial."

"Are you saying you're experienced, Caitlin?"

"Do I look like it? I hate men."

"You hate women too."

"So what? I just hate the human race."

Caitlin shot back lightly.

Even after I explained it, perhaps she had no intention of letting her prey go.

The girl pressed close to Ranne and continued questioning her.

"So... if you can't say with one hundred percent certainty that nothing happened, that means something did happen, right?"

Maybe she saw this as a chance to tease me too.

A wicked smile flickered across her tanned face.

"Tell me. What happened?"

"N-No, that..."

Ranne was being tormented.

Leaving her behind, I quietly slipped out of the living room.

If I stayed, Caitlin would only torment her more intensely.

"Mm."

I quietly stepped into the bedroom.

The rest of my companions were inside, each occupying a chair or the bed.

'Carmilla, Javert, Rin...'

What kind of combination was this?

A suffocating silence filled the bedroom.

I cocked my head in puzzlement.

"......"

Fifteen days ago, Carmilla had revealed her identity to those two as well.

It had been my recommendation.

They were tight-lipped, close to us, and visited the dorm often, so I thought it would be better to tell them.

Of course, the princess didn't seem pleased about it.

Amid the awkward air, the princess openly stared at Javert.

"Hmm..."

Silence.

Yet it seemed to contain many meanings.

Carmilla slowly opened her mouth.

"Viktor belongs to me."

"Is that so?"

"As I told you before, he is a loyal retainer who vowed to devote his entire life to me."

"Viktor's life belongs to Viktor. He must not be swayed by anyone."

"Ha... It's already too late to try to seduce him like that. Viktor and I always sleep in the same bed. I was wearing only a single thin shirt when we embraced. I wish you could have seen Viktor's expression at the time."

"......"

Javert's mouth closed.

Her green eyes naturally turned toward me.

'No... I mean, that isn't wrong, but...'

She seemed to be talking about that day.

Right after the Lunar Eclipse event, when the mentally shattered princess had burst into my bedroom.

Carmilla hadn't even been properly dressed, and she had only sobbed in my arms.

'I did comfort her, of course, but nothing happened beyond that...'

Her wording left plenty of room for misunderstanding.

Yet the princess only pushed the matter more shamelessly.

"......Ha."

"I always come first for Viktor."

The air turned cold.

Rin only sat there blankly amid it all.

She didn't seem to care about the atmosphere around her.

Instead, she tightly hugged the sleeping Lua and stared blankly down at the small life in her arms.

"......"

No matter what, it didn't seem good for me to stay here either.

I crept out of the bedroom.

Then I entered one corner of the small wardrobe and hid.

It was called a wardrobe, but it was spacious enough to be larger than most studio apartments.

"Whew."

I let out a light breath.

Sitting among the clothes, I settled in.

'I should kill some time.'

I intended to hide until things calmed down.

Leaving the miscellaneous commotion behind me, I opened the status window I had kept turned off for a while.

I wanted to check the quest.

'Starting tomorrow, I'll have to deal with this right away...'

The first task to handle during vacation.

I repeatedly pressed the blue screen.

Ding!

[Main Quest]

-Title: Blue Night

-Details: Stop the New Kingdom-Cultist Allied Forces.

-Penalty upon Failure: The sky island 'Lusilian' falls, the influence of the New Kingdom-Cultist Allied Forces increases, the Southern Front collapses, war breaks out, and the bad ending accelerates.

-Reward: ???

[Time Limit: 30 days]

The fifth Calamity, Blue Night.

One of the main events in the original story.

The fifth of the Seven Calamities, an event whose failure condition would result in hundreds of thousands of casualties.

'The beginning of collapse...'

The final gateway before entering the late-game story.

One of the worst calamities loomed over the summer break.

===

Ranne and Caitlin.

I'll upload the rest tomorrow.

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