Chapter 18
Lu Milione and Vita Shamal were on fairly close senior-junior terms.
They were in different dormitories, but they shared the same hobbies, and since their temperaments were alike, they'd grown close naturally enough.
And the next two days were a sweet, golden holiday.
The moment afternoon classes ended, Lu's spirits lifted. He'd had an idea, you see.
But because of that incident the other day, Lu hesitated for a moment.
‘That Nathan bastard, seriously… pulling a stunt like that.’
Now that he'd heard the whole story, his teeth ground together on their own.
His senior, turned into a woman, was undeniably far too pretty, and it drew every eye around her. Honestly, if Lu himself hadn't known the truth, he might well have fallen for her too, you know?
But while Lu and the other otaku upperclassmen had been busy getting drunk, he'd never once imagined Nathan would pull something that stupid.
[Hey, what are we supposed to do?]
[He says he's fine, but…]
After that incident, things had gotten a little awkward between Vita and the rest of the upperclassmen.
Lu had apologized to him before as well, but all he'd gotten in return was a curt answer that there was no need for that.
“Ah, dammit. Seriously.”
Lu ruffled his own hair and finally made up his mind.
Still, he and his senior Vita were comrades who shared a soul, weren't they? Their tastes lined up almost perfectly and they got along famously, so there was no way he could leave things like this.
-Senior, do you want to watch some anime toge—
Ding-
But then.
A buzz, right on cue.
Lu's eyes flew wide open the instant he read it.
-Hey, Lu! I'm off to Wizney Park. Well? Jealous?
No—what?!
The very place his senior used to go on and on about.
The place holding the collaboration for the biggest anime around, Magical Girl Eve Rosalyn!
There was absolutely no letting this one slide.
Lu called him immediately.
-Yeah, Lu.
The way he talked was awfully manlike, but the voice was clear and pretty. Thrown for a second by a voice he still couldn't get used to, Lu shouted at the top of his lungs.
-No, hold on, Senior—!
-Ah, you scared me… I thought my ear was going to fall off.
-Is that really what matters right now? Where did you get a ticket?
-Someone gave it to me. Person I know.
As if a benefactor like that existed.
Lu's expression, brimming with excitement a second earlier, turned strange.
‘If we're talking the price of a Wizney Park ticket…’
That was the price of that ridiculously expensive steak five or six times over.
-Don't lie to me, please.
-No, I'm serious.
-Then introduce me to this person too.
-Quit talking nonsense, Lu. I'm in the middle of getting ready, so I'll brag about it properly once I'm back.
A snickering laugh came through. He'd been so worked up he'd only bragged and hung up, but even so, Lu felt quietly relieved.
“So he really is all right…”
Well, naturally. The Vita Shamal he knew was simple and easygoing. It was only that he had a stubborn streak and a fierce competitive drive.
But who on earth could it have been?
Lu was honestly curious.
His senior turned woman was on the decidedly pretty side, and when it came to passion for anime she was second to none, so a few unsavory possibilities floated up.
‘Did he reel in some sucker or something?’
With a face like that she could seduce any man alive. Which was exactly why a baseless rumor was going around that she was seeing Carlisle Schultz, the academy's alpha male.
Well, surely not.
“…Nah, no chance.”
Because there was no way that ridiculous rumor was actually true.
Vita Shamal, of all people?
His senior, who chased after manliness and had that ferocious competitive streak, could not possibly have anything going on with Carlisle Schultz.
‘He said the lunches together were because of some contest…’
Of course, Lu had no idea what that contest was supposed to be.
But he couldn't so much as picture his senior Vita going off to an amusement park with Carlisle Schultz like the two of them were on a date.
So there was nothing for it but to mutter it out loud.
“Damn… I'm jealous.”
Lu would never know that what he'd just imagined was the closest of all to the truth.
***
I can't stop laughing.
Lying flat on his bed, Vita stared up at the ceiling and muttered to himself.
“Heh… That Lu bastard. He's got to be unbelievably jealous right about now.”
He had to be sick with envy, no question.
It was Wizney Park, no less!
The tickets were so damn expensive he'd never even dared consider it, right?
And now, out of nowhere, this windfall?
A ticket boasting Wizney Park's notoriously steep price, sitting right there in his hand.
[You coming or not?]
When Carlisle had put the question to him.
Vita's mind had already been all but made up.
Going. Absolutely going!
But a person has to have their pride.
So Vita had made a show of mulling it over.
Right up until his deskmate Shasha started reading the amusement park pamphlet aloud beside him.
“The tallest roller coaster in the world, a theme park done up like a magic castle out of a fairy tale. A parade carnival in the evening, the scariest haunted house of all. Hm, and… Magical Girl Eve Rosalyn? What on earth is a magical girl? Anyway, they've got all sorts.”
By that point Vita had been on the verge of drooling, and Shasha, glancing over, had jumped clean out of her skin.
“Ah, you scared me—!”
Carlisle had snorted and said to Vita:
“Why don't you just come along quietly?”
Somehow that stung his pride. Just come along quietly?
‘Ugh…’
But the reward was far too large to keep clinging to his pride.
Vita made up his mind.
“F-fine. I'll go.”
And when he reached out to take the ticket from Carlisle's hand, the ticket wouldn't come loose.
“On one condition.”
And now it was nearly three. The appointed time was coming up fast.
“Dress up and come, he says?”
That was the condition Carlisle had laid down for the ticket.
Lips jutting out, Vita muttered before he could stop himself.
“What a ridiculous guy. Does he think I'm his girlfriend or something?”
Only after the words were out of his mouth.
His face slowly began to redden.
All at once he felt distinctly foul about it. Though whether that was really all it was, not even he could say.
‘No, that's not it.’
You're supposed to dress up for a place like that anyway. It's crowded, so you can hardly turn up looking shabby.
Vita ruffled his hair and let out a deep sigh.
[Go out with me.]
Why did he have to spout nonsense like that and leave a person twisted up?
Every stray thought that surfaced got laid at Carlisle's door.
“That was just a dog barking. Pull yourself together, me.”
At this rate he'd be late, so Vita decided to start by agonizing over what to wear.
“So what do I put on…?”
A closet hung full of unfamiliar outfits.
Clothes his ever-thorough father had brought over.
‘Still, if I'm going to dress up anyway…’
Vita had no idea why he kept deliberating like this, but if he was dressing up at all, he wanted to do it properly.
Just a feeling, that was all.
It was a crowded place, so turning up neatly dressed was close enough to common sense.
Skirt, or trousers.
That didn't take long to settle. Last time he'd only worn a skirt to tease his friends, and it was nothing but awkward, so familiar trousers were the better call.
“Well, that'll do.”
And so, a good while later, Vita finished getting ready and arrived at the fountain, the meeting place with that Carlisle bastard.
And there the guy was.
Black hair pushed back carelessly, languid golden eyes.
Beneath a tan leather jacket, a thin white turtleneck and beige cotton trousers.
Standing there idly on the tree-lined autumn street, he looked infuriatingly good.
Vita faltered for a second.
Which is to say, this was.
Strictly a case of stopping short even as one man looks at another.
Just then Carlisle spotted Vita and came walking slowly over.
***
In front of the fountain downtown.
Carlisle's unhurried gaze settled on Vita.
When it lingered too long, Vita grew needlessly tense.
What? What is it?
“It can't be helped if you don't like how it looks.”
He said it as though grumbling.
He'd been told to dress up and had done just that, but it wasn't as though he'd been a woman to begin with.
Even if there was something awkward about him, there was nothing strange in that.
Except Carlisle had in fact had his gaze stolen clean away.
Lately he'd seen nothing but her school uniform, so the sight of her in ordinary clothes felt new all over again.
And by sheer coincidence, the colors of her outfit were close to his own.
Neat blue jeans and an ivory knit top, a brown cardigan over them. A shame it wasn't a skirt, but her fashion sense was good.
Telling her to dress up had been aimed at precisely this from the start; it was only ever a pretext because he wanted to see her done up.
She was prettier than he'd expected, and it left him briefly at a loss for words.
“You're the one who told me to dress up.”
But she seemed to have misread his lengthening silence entirely, and her face hardened by degrees. Carlisle Schultz found even that entertaining, so he held his silence a while longer.
‘Ha, honestly.’
Vita felt rather hard done by.
He'd been told to dress up nicely so he'd made the effort, and this mortifying reaction was what he got.
It put him in a thoroughly foul mood.
He knew. Of course he did. It was bound to look awkward.
He didn't know the first thing about makeup, and even if he had, he wouldn't have bothered.
But wasn't this much at least an honest effort?
The more he thought about it the angrier he got, and Vita was about to have it out with him.
“Heh—”
Only then did Carlisle laugh, low, and speak.
“You seem to be misunderstanding something.”
Misunderstanding? Misunderstanding what?
“You're prettier than I expected. I couldn't think of anything to say for a second.”
Carlisle's honest impression.
Wh-what?!
“Why jump to your own conclusions?”
At that question from Carlisle, Vita's face flushed hot.
No, so it was a misunderstanding? Did he steer me into that on purpose?
He'd been had, completely.
But spilled water can't be gathered back up.
Carlisle's little smirk looked pretty damn punchable.
“I'm leaving.”
“Leaving? And going where?”
So as Vita turned to go, Carlisle caught his wrist in an instant.
“You're really leaving?”
You're the one who stands to lose out, aren't you?
In truth, Carlisle was certain Vita would do no such thing.
When he'd held out his ticket.
Sparkle, sparkle-
There was no seeing a look like that in her eyes and remaining unsure.
Well, in the end.
A moment later Vita turned right back around.
A face brimming with humiliation, gone tomato red.
“I'm putting up with this for Eve-chan's sake.”
“For what, now?”
They say a person needs their pride, but now and then there are things that outweigh it.
“To Wizney Park, please.”
And so the two of them soon climbed into a taxi together.
Had it been thirty minutes or so? At last a magnificent sight unfolded before them.
[We sincerely welcome you to the world of dreams!]
An enormous standing sign in every color. An autumn wind blowing just right.
Boisterous crowds, and a theme park done up like a castle out of a fairy tale.
“You there, princess. Won't you buy some nachos?”
“Don't be fooled, princess! Those aren't nachos, they're—!”
“There's no poison in them, all right?”
Staff in all manner of costumes were selling food, faithfully in character.
The laughter of people enjoying themselves came through like background music.
He hadn't been here since he was small. It really had been an age.
“Wow—”
Vita forgot every bit of his earlier humiliation, and his mood began to soar.
“First time here?”
At Carlisle's offhand question, Vita shook his head.
“No, but… it's been a seriously long time. Too expensive to come on an allowance, and I never once had occasion to come somewhere like this with my parents.”
“Lucky you, then.”
Carlisle took the endlessly marveling Vita by the hand and drew him along.
“…?”
Vita moved to pull it free at once, but.
“We can't have you getting lost.”
“What am I, a little kid?”
“There's no harm in being careful.”
Well, the place was certainly crowded.
‘And it's not as if it's the first time he's held it.’
Bickering over a thing like this would only feel childish, so Vita gave up.
“Do whatever you like, then.”
And so the two of them went hand in hand.
Straight past the long queue, into the passage beside it.
“Hey, hold on. We're not lining up?”
“What are you on about, all of a sudden.”
Carlisle waved two tickets in front of Vita's eyes.
“These are Golden Passes.”
Two tickets shining gold, the kind that meant you never queued at all.
‘Oh, sweet.’
Vita's face brightened.
A staff member with a gentle smile welcomed them inside.
“We sincerely welcome you to Wizney Park. Do have a wonderful time—!”
Money really is the best thing going.
Walking straight in put Vita in high spirits for no particular reason.
And at the same time, on the other hand.
‘Is it really all right to take all these amazing perks for free?’
It began to weigh on him. Golden Passes were expensive, after all.
Never dreaming that every bit of this was one part of a scheme Carlisle was putting together.
***
[All right, here we go down—!]
“Wooaah!”
“Kyaaaah—!”
Vita let out a scream.
‘Why does my scream sound like that?’
Even that thought, at first, got buried under the crowd's cheering and swept away.
“Kyaaah—!”
Really, truly. His body wouldn't listen to a word.
Vrrrm- vrrm-
Swinging up and down and side to side with nothing but a harness to depend on.
[The most thrilling ride in all the world, the Wizney Express! Now then, we drop!]
“Uwaaah—!”
The feeling of an amusement park, screaming along with everyone around you. A cool, bracing sensation Vita hadn't tasted in ages.
“Whoa— that was incredible.”
Even after climbing off the roller coaster, Vita was still worked up.
“Wasn't that seriously fun?!”
Face thoroughly flushed, unable to contain his admiration.
Carlisle had enjoyed himself as well.
“It was all right, I suppose?”
Though to be precise, less because of the ride than because of the girl enjoying it beside him.
When Carlisle took his hand again as though it were the most natural thing, Vita made an awkward face, but only for a moment.
They walked the whole way with their hands clasped tight. Getting separated in a crowd this size would be a problem, after all.
“I want to ride the carousel too, and the Viking once as well.”
Vita got to see those wishes actually granted.
The purpose he'd set out with-
was by now completely forgotten.
He had genuinely wanted to come here, of course, but before setting out today Vita had resolved on one thing.
‘Let's work out why I reacted to Carlisle's nonsense.’
That had been the resolution. But somewhere along the way it had been forgotten utterly.
“Can't pass up the robots either.”
They did the Robocar Racing too.
The headband on his head and the wand at his waist were absolutely not things he'd put on of his own free will.
“Why go to the trouble of buying it and then carry it around in your hands?”
“Th-that so…?”
Items practically synonymous with Magical Girl Eve Rosalyn.
The bouncy heart-shaped headband and winged magic wand had been bought as souvenirs.
And it was Carlisle's insistence that did it. That, and nothing else, was how he ended up wearing them.
“How could someone like me possibly wear this… It's not going to suit me at all…”
Awkward at first, Vita adapted in no time. As a man he'd never have worked up the nerve for anything like this, of course.
Cute, and pretty.
The only one who'd never know it was the person herself.
Bianca Shamal as she was now drew every eye around her. Men walking past kept glancing back for no reason, stealing looks at her.
And every time, Carlisle found himself minding. He'd grip her hand a little tighter, some childish feeling finding its expression, as though staking a claim that she was his.
And then came the evening carnival. Staff in every imaginable costume paraded down the main avenue.
Cheers of “Woo-” and the boisterous playing of instruments.
Fireworks in every color mingled beneath a slowly darkening sky.
“Here, try some.”
Vita took a bite of the long, sweet churro Carlisle held out without thinking anything of it, then abruptly caught himself in the act and went rigid.
‘Huh, hold on a second…’
‘What exactly am I doing right now?’
The giddy atmosphere of the place. Perhaps he'd gotten drunk on the sheer enjoyment of it.
Even outrageous behavior came out naturally here, at this hour.
But to suddenly refuse now would feel awfully strange as well.
Munch- munch-
Vita stopped deliberating. This place does a good churro.
“Um, I appreciate it, but…”
Hemming and hawing, Vita opened his mouth.
“I feel like all I've been doing today is taking…”
But Carlisle Schultz had plans of his own. He meant to take every bit of it back, so the worry was quite pointless.
Keeping that calculation strictly to himself, Carlisle led Vita onward once the carnival ended.
And then, in front of a certain building.
“So apart from the haunted house here and the Ferris wheel, we've done it all.”
And right at that moment. A harvest he'd aimed for to some degree, but hadn't truly expected.
A face gone white.
“Um, hold on. Do we really have to go in here…?”
Could this be.
If a woman reacts like that, a man has no choice but to go in.
So Carlisle turned it over for a second, then flung out the bait.
“Don't tell me you're scared?”
Because he already knew perfectly well which method worked best on her.