Chapter 137
The Academy Docking Port, which was only available for official business, was unusually crowded with people.
Sailors busily roamed the docking bay, and the academy professors and administrative staff nervously prepared the welcome protocol.
In fact, what stood out more than that sight was the student group openly gathering at the employee docking bay to prepare a welcome ceremony.
―Pastel! Pastel!
―Hold on!
Listening to the shouts, Head of Inspection Renard stomped on the wooden box he stood on to draw attention. Then he pointed a finger at the Student Group.
―You lot! Your voices are too quiet! One more time! Pastel! Pastel!
―Pastel! Pastel!
―That's it! One more time!
―Pastel! Pastel!
The student council members, standing apart from the Student Group, stared blankly at the sight.
Melissa muttered.
"Do you think Pastel ordered them to do this?"
"Yeah."
Alcier, who didn't really know, immediately agreed.
Ellie, who was checking if anything was missing from the documents she brought, glanced over and corrected herself.
"She might have."
It was an opinion that meant she didn't know if Pastel had actually ordered it or not, but it was definitely suspicious.
"I don't think so…?"
Eyes turned to Dustin, who was standing awkwardly near Ellie. Dustin flinched but said what he had to say.
"They gathered because Pastel really likes it when they do that."
Melissa listened seriously and nodded.
"It does seem like Pastel would like it. Should I join in a little too?"
Alcier's silver eyes went blank for a moment. She imagined the sight of Melissa waving a welcome picket sign uncharacteristically for a noble, and immediately agreed.
"Yeah."
"What do you mean, yeah?"
A bundle of documents lightly smacked the top of Alcier's head. It was Ellie.
"Our student council isn't free enough to join in on that kind of public opinion management. The reason we even came out to meet her is partly because of the backlogged approvals."
"So it really is Public Opinion Management."
"Of course."
"That's not it. It's voluntary."
Dustin retorted, but no one believed him.
Instead, Ellie looked at the Pastel welcome picket sign in Dustin's hand and shot him a pathetic look.
Dustin flinched. His palm awkwardly covered the pink picket sign. The 'Pastel Heart Pyong-pyong~!' part was half hidden.
"No, Renard just gave it to me."
The pathetic look grew stronger.
"No."
While Dustin continued to receive the look he usually got, Melissa seriously observed the welcoming crowd.
Head of Inspection Renard was repeatedly explaining the welcoming method they had to do once Pastel's airship arrived.
"If that's the case, is that Leonard Tyler also doing it voluntarily?"
"Yeah."
Melissa was slightly appalled.
"I didn't see him that way. How did he end up like that? my mother was right when she said people get ruined when they fall into a lust for power."
Dustin read the room and quietly chose not to argue back.
Ellie found him even more pathetic.
"What now?!"
"Whatever. Just do your job properly."
"That plank? Could you hand it to me?"
Melissa received the welcome picket sign. Seeing that it was entirely pink and even had an embarrassing 'heart pyong-pyong' on it, she felt slightly ashamed to hold it.
"It must be tailored to Pastel's tastes, right? But I wonder if the pink is a bit too much. Pastel actually likes white more than pink. It's the same for her clothes and accessories."
"She surprisingly doesn't like pink."
Ellie tapped the bundle of documents.
"Pardon? Is that true?"
"You can tell just by looking at the office supplies she usually uses. They're all white."
"Her fountain pen is black."
Alcier bluntly retorted.
"That's because I brought it to use myself, but changed my mind and just gave it to her as a gift."
Ellie put on a serious expression. She explained the results of her serious observation of her superior Pastel to her junior colleagues.
"She doesn't like pink; she just decorates mostly in pink because it looks better on her externally. Her office supplies, where she doesn't have to care as much about others' gazes and needs to focus on work, are fully infused with her actual tastes."
"That makes sense."
Melissa marveled.
"That's why when we bring something into the student council room, we have to bring it in white."
"Ah, so that's how it works. An order tailored to the superior's tastes."
"She doesn't say it out loud, but she gives hints. When I placed a pink ceramic vase as a test, Pastel stood in front of it and said 'Oing-oing' for a while. Does anyone know what Oing-oing means here?"
Ellie smoothly looked around at her Junior Colleagues. Since Alcier just had a blank expression, she only looked at Melissa.
New employee Melissa pondered seriously.
"It's bothering me, so put it away…?"
"You're half right."
"Only half."
"The intention is right, but it needs more interpretation."
Ellie explained with a serious expression.
"If Pastel had just said 'Oing' instead of 'Oing-oing' in front of the vase, it probably would have been a positive signal. But Oing-oing has a different meaning because the number of letters is doubled."
"The number of letters is doubled."
Melissa was amazed.
Alcier, snapping out of her blank expression, stared back and forth at Melissa and Ellie who were in a serious conversation, before returning to her blank expression.
"Pastel practically said this when she saw the pink vase. 'It's bothering me, so put it away. But it doesn't fit my image to say it myself, so take the hint and handle it.'"
"Aha. I think I get it."
Melissa contemplated with a model student attitude.
"Since her hair color and appearance suit pink well, she lives up to that image, but it seems to be somewhat stressful for her personal tastes."
Her finger twirled her blonde hair.
"I can relate to that too. When I was young, Mother once dressed me in a bumblebee dress with wings on the back, including an antenna headband. I still respect my mother, but that dress was really embarrassing back then—"
"Pfft."
Alcier, having imagined it, let out a scoffing laugh.
Melissa froze with her smiling expression. Only her blue eyes turned to look at Alcier.
"Bellamont, did you just laugh at me?"
Alcier thought for a moment.
Then she answered.
"Yeah."
Melissa put on a dumbfounded expression.
"I suppose Bellamont has always dressed well since birth? Aha. Since the weather is cold, you must have always worn similar clothes? Don't tell me you have several of the exact same clothes in your wardrobe?"
"Yeah."
"Uh, really…?"
"Yeah."
Melissa was left speechless.
"I-Is that so. No wonder. So you weren't just wearing unwashed clothes all the time."
"Huh?"
Alcier stared at her silently.
It was a gaze asking what she usually thought of her that would make her assume she was continuously wearing unwashed clothes rather than thinking they were the same clothes.
Melissa had merely thought, 'The low-class North is so backward that it can't even wash its clothes, but mentioning that would be too harsh a mockery, so I should pretend not to notice,' so she felt puzzled.
"What's wrong?"
Alcier only protested silently.
"The airship is coming."
Ellie looked up at the far side of the sky. An airship not belonging to the academy was flying in, lowering its altitude.
As they had been informed in advance that she had rented an airship, the docking bay was prepared without any confusion. In fact, because it was a privately rented airship, it was absolutely unable to dock due to the security protocol, making it a violation of regulations, but none of the employees mentioned it.
Pink hair peeked out from the back deck of the whale-like airship. As her hair fluttered in the wind, it stood out distinctly.
Is she here!
Head of Inspection Renard acted immediately.
―Hold up the pickets!
The brilliantly pink welcome picket signs were raised all at once.
―Shout on three! One! Two! Three!
Head of Inspection Renard raised his clenched fist.
―Pas—!
―The great Governor-General Pastel!
Head Horace, who had finished preparing the protocol for His Excellency, took out a megaphone and suddenly shouted, whether the students had gathered or not.
His voice was so loud that the students who were about to shout were swept away, bewildered, and all eyes turned to him.
Behind Head Horace, well-dressed musicians poured out. A grand instrumental performance began. It was a symphony orchestra into which the academy's budget had been poured without hesitation.
―All Executives and Employees of our Academy never doubted that the Governor-General would one day ascend to the Governorship of the Sky Island!
The Faculty and Employees clapped in unison. It was perfect coordination, as if they had practiced it somewhere.
Turning one's head to the railing of the airship, one could see Governor-General Pastel covering her mouth, moved. The young girl leaned, dangling over the railing and shouted with all her might.
―Thank you, everyone! It's all thanks to you!
It seemed that only the symphony orchestra and Head Horace were now visible in the eyes of the Governor-General.
―Kuaaah!
Head of Inspection Renard messed up his hair.
―Has that man gone mad with a lust for power?! There's a limit to flattery! The governorship was abolished a long time ago, so what does he mean, 'he never doubted it'!
Melissa became bewildered.
"Is it usually like this?"
The new employee hesitated before passively raising the welcome picket sign. It was a welcome she did, knowing it was a slightly undignified action uncharacteristic for a noble, but it fell far short of the others' flashy preparations.
The gaze of the joyful Governor-General Pastel turned at once. It fixed on Melissa, and her eyes went round.
―Wow! Melissa too!
The Governor-General cupped her hands in front of her mouth like a megaphone and shouted.
―You even made a picket sign?! Thank youuu!
"Ah."
Melissa's expression brightened.
"Yes! Pastel! Ah. I guess she can't hear my voice yet."
The blonde girl hurriedly waved her hand.
The Governor-General also waved back.
―Kuaaah!
Head of Inspection Renard was infuriated.
―That damn friend ranking…!
It was the sorrow of someone who had made a bad first impression and couldn't even step over the threshold of the student council.