Chapter 25
“Why are you taking so long? We’re going to be late at this rate.”
“You’re so noisy… Just be quiet for a bit.”
I knew that, too. Staring daggers at this damned scrap of a skirt all day wouldn’t change a thing.
Even now, the time to leave for school was drawing mercilessly closer, and whether I liked it or not, I was destined to put on this thing around my waist.
But….
“Why on earth is this skirt so short?!”
No matter how I thought about it, this was too much. Was this insane or what? How was I supposed to wear something like this with a clear mind?
When I shouted while furiously scratching my head from stress, Ria, who had been sitting on the bed, answered as though it were obvious.
“That’s because you chose the short one, Rene.”
“I chose it?”
“‘I chose it?’ Then did you expect me to choose it for you?”
Ria chuckled and came over, looking dumbfounded.
“Are you acting like this because you don’t want to go to school? Are you planning to tell Teacher Justina that the wrong school uniform was delivered?”
“Of course not! It’s just that….”
“Just what?”
“It’s just… I guess it’s much shorter than I expected? This is also my first time seeing it in person.”
Until now, the clothes I—that is, Rene—had worn were indoor clothes called loungewear. Naturally, I’d worn athletic wear for the treasure hunt.
Why had they allowed such excessive freedom only when it came to the length of the school uniform skirt, despite being so conservative about everything else? The old principal’s face suddenly began to seem lecherous.
“Tsk.”
“Eek?!”
Ria suddenly smacked my bare thigh.
When I yelped and glared at her, Ria shrugged and said,
“There’s no need to be so reluctant, is there? You have pretty legs, Rene.”
Then Ria stared intently at my lower half, which was clad only in underwear.
Even so, I found it a little uncomfortable, so I draped the skirt over my thighs and shot her a sharp glare.
“That’s not the issue right now.”
“Then what is the issue? You wore dresses just fine.”
“Your legs aren’t exposed in a dress, you idiot.”
“What’s wrong with showing a little leg?”
What do you mean, what’s wrong? It was destroying my pride as a man.
“There’s just… something.”
Of course, I couldn’t say that honestly. I mumbled something suitably vague and shook my head.
As I ran my fingers through my bangs with a deep sigh, Ria suddenly spoke as though she’d just remembered something.
“If it bothers you that much, do you want to try wearing long stockings?”
“Long stockings?”
“Yeah, ones that come almost up to your belly button.”
There were stockings that came up to the belly button?
When I looked at her quizzically, Ria began rummaging through the wardrobe.
“Apparently they’re a new style that’s been popular among the capital’s noble girls lately.”
“Why do you have something like that?”
“Mom sent them for me to try.”
Ria took out the thing called ‘long stockings’ from the wardrobe. It was black and looked extremely thin.
“That’s a stocking?”
That was my first impression. No, at this point, wasn’t it practically a pair of pants?
Ria merely shrugged and handed me the stocking.
“Exactly. You can never make sense of noble fashion.”
Then Ria nodded as if telling me to try it on.
I stared at it for a moment, then decided I had nothing to lose and threaded my leg into it.
“……It’s see-through.”
It didn’t feel bad to wear. It was fairly warm, too.
But for something called ‘stockings,’ my skin showed through quite clearly. Ria let out an admiring “Ooh.” and gently stroked my thigh.
“Still, it’s much better than not wearing anything, right? At least it’s black.”
“Hmm… Well, that’s true.”
It was certainly less objectionable than exposing my bare legs. It also felt somewhat like the riding pants I wore when horseback riding.
I looked down at my legs for a moment, then sighed in resignation and nodded.
“Thanks. I’ll borrow them for a while.”
“You can just keep them~ I don’t wear things like this anyway.”
Ria answered as though it were obvious, then casually checked the clock.
“That aside, it’s already forty past. We should get going soon.”
“……All right.”
Well, at least my bare legs wouldn’t be exposed. With no choice, I stood up and picked up the skirt.
As I checked the buttons for a moment, Ria, who had been staring fixedly at my lower half, suddenly spoke.
“Rene.”
“What.”
“Standing around like that in those stockings… you look really lewd.”
“……What?”
What had she just said? I felt as though I’d heard a word I shouldn’t have.
Ria merely shrugged and met my eyes.
“How should I put it…? The aesthetics of moderation? Subtle sexiness?”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean….”
“Well, don’t worry about it. It’s just my personal opinion.”
Ria gestured as though telling me to hurry up and put on the skirt.
I looked down at my lower half for a moment. Maybe it was because Ria had put the thought in my head, but the stark white line of my underwear showing beneath the black stockings did seem to stand out more.
“E-even so, it’s much better than bare legs!”
I steeled myself. Well, it wasn’t as if anyone else was going to see me, so what did it matter?
And so, my first time wearing a skirt in my life… ended absurdly easily, with nothing more than fastening a single button.
“Hmm~ Maybe it’s because you have pretty legs, but it suits you well.”
“That sounds like something a perverted old man would say.”
With a look of disgust, I stretched my legs out.
……As expected, an unpleasant sensation that was difficult to put into words lingered between my thighs.
‘Sigh, why did I have to end up like this….’
“All right! Let’s go!”
Without giving me any time to wallow in gloom, Ria grabbed my hand and pulled me along.
“Please, slow down….”
Amid the unpleasant sensation between my thighs, the only thing I could do was walk while holding the hem of my short skirt down firmly so it wouldn’t flip up.
※※
‘……First-year brats.’
Even objectively speaking, Rene had a fairly pretty face.
Maybe that was why, the moment first period ended, I was besieged by my classmates’ excessive attention as they came rushing over and showered me with questions.
‘I’m tired….’
That attention continued until third period, and it was only during the break before fourth period that things around me finally grew a little quieter.
As I lay facedown on my desk without a shred of energy, Ria, who had been chatting away with the other classmates, came over with a grin.
“Just hang in there for one more period, Miss Rene. We’re having delicious potato gratin for lunch today.”
“……I’m not like this because I’m hungry.”
I buried my face completely in the desk.
“Are girls always like this?”
“Like what?”
“Do they always like sticking so close together? Earlier, a girl named Letty came over and asked me to go to the bathroom with her.”
“So what did you do?”
“……I went with her. What else could I do?”
I’d wanted to ask, ‘Why do I have to watch you pee?’ but… I wasn’t an idiot. I obviously knew that saying something like that would have me labeled a weirdo on the spot.
“What? You complain even though you go along with everything.”
Ria chuckled and stroked my hair.
“Rene, you haven’t really spent much time with kids your own age until now, have you?”
“It’s not like I didn’t spend time with them….”
To be honest, it was true that I’d kept a certain distance from my other classmates until now.
They had all pretended not to care, but the shadow of House Friesna looming behind me had always been far too dark and heavy.
‘Hans was the only one who treated me normally… I wonder if that guy is doing well.’
As I suddenly pictured that carefree fellow’s face, Ria’s voice continued.
“Well, I suppose that makes sense. You’re from an incredibly rural place, Rene.”
Was I? I had no idea.
I raised my head slightly and asked,
“Ria, want to have a little quiz?”
“A quiz? What kind of quiz?”
“A quiz about me.”
“Huh…?”
Ria blinked at me with a vacant expression.
Without hesitation, I asked my first question.
“Question 1. What do my parents do for a living?”
Since we were on the subject, I thought I should learn a little more about Rene.
If I attended school as Rene, there would probably be times when I needed to talk about my family or personal history.
“You said your father is a sentry in the border guard, and your mother is a retired adventurer.”
“Correct. That’s my Ria.”
A sentry and an adventurer… I felt as though I could almost guess how the two of them had first met.
“Then question 2. What’s the name of my hometown?”
“Brotagne, a border city in the northern frontier of the Empire.”
“Correct! Then question 3. Do I have any siblings?”
“No. You’re an only child.”
“Oh-ho, then question 4. What’s my surname?”
“Vellia, obviously. Why are you asking only such easy questions? Are you underestimating me?”
Vellia was the name of a city at the northernmost tip of the Empire.
In other words, Rene’s full name was Rene la Vellia.
‘That’s the first I’ve heard of it.’
I nodded and asked the next question.
“Question 5. What are my parents’ magic ranks?”
“Uh… your parents?”
Ria hesitated for the first time. Apparently, Rene hadn’t told her about this.
‘I was curious how much innate talent Rene had.’
Well, if Ria didn’t know, there was nothing I could do. I naturally shook my head, intending to let it go with an, ‘Ah, I guess she didn’t tell you this.’
“They’re both Blanks.”
“……Ah.”
That bastard again? My expression involuntarily froze over.
Ria turned toward where the voice had come from and tilted her head.
“What? You told Kairos?”
“Yeah.”
Tap, tap, the sound of footsteps drew closer.
“What! That’s not fair! You told Kairos but not me!”
I brushed off Ria’s whining and immediately shot Kairos a sharp glare.
“Don’t talk to me unless you have a reason to… Hm?”
I had intended to draw a clear line, but Kairos merely widened his eyes and lowered his gaze toward my legs.
What kind of expression was that supposed to be? As I stared at him, a vacant voice soon slipped between his lips.
“Pantyhose…?”
“What?”
It was a term I’d never heard before, and its unfamiliar ring made it sound like some kind of magic incantation, so my brows furrowed involuntarily.
Kairos remained dazed for a while longer, then finally raised his head, looked straight at me, and asked,
“Rene, you had something like that…?”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
Kairos lowered his gaze once more. I, too, followed his line of sight and lowered my head.
What I saw was… only the black stockings and my bare legs faintly visible through them.
“……You mean these stockings?”
“Stockings…?”
Kairos tilted his head. But his gaze remained fixed on my legs.
So… this bastard had looked my legs over the moment he arrived, immediately noticed that I was wearing new stockings, and still couldn’t take his eyes off my legs?
“……”
Okay, I got the picture.
Without realizing it, contempt seeped into my expression, and an icy voice escaped my lips.
“Don’t ever talk to me again, you perverted bastard.”