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"Father, over here~~ over here!!"
"Mom, the classroom’s the other way, this way!"
The entrance to Reien Girls’ Academy was a cacophony of shouts, transforming the normally serene campus into a bustling marketplace.
A multitude of students in black nun’s habits stood at the school gate, waving and calling out to their families arriving in the distance. Though the occasional argunt broke out, their faces were all alight with the vibrant smiles of youth.
As a boarding school, most of the students lived on campus for long stretches, unable to leave except for sumr and other holidays.
This end-of-term parent-teacher conference marked a reunion with their families after months apart. The joy in their hearts was plain on their faces, the prim and proper etiquette drilled into them at school montarily forgotten. The campus was filled with laughter and cheerful chatter.
However, a few individuals stood apart, their presence was a stark contrast to the joyful atmosphere.
And among them, the one whose aura was the most discordant was the slender figure standing to the right of the Reien Girls’ Academy gate, a figure as dark and ethereal as a night sprite.
"Another year," Alice Kuonji murmured, standing at the school gate, her face a mask of its trademark impassivity.
As she spoke, a small, white cloud of breath escaped her lips, a normal sight on a cold winter’s day.
Though she wore a shawl and a winter hat, Alice, who was naturally sensitive to the cold, still felt an almost unbearable chill. But she didn’t leave, remaining as still as a statue at the school gate.
Her black, pearl-like eyes, calm as still water, reflected every laughing figure that passed before her.
Every year, on this day, she would stand here, even knowing it was aningless.
"..." Alice was lost in mories.
She seed to see a young man in a brown suit, his figure thin but exceptionally upright, holding the small hand of a little black-haired girl, walking slowly past her.
The bright smile on the little girl’s face and the pale, yet loving, smile on the young man’s replayed in her mind.
"...Father," Alice murmured, her voice filled with a quiet sorrow.
The descendants of witches were always female, and they died after giving birth to a child, having fulfilled their duty of passing on the bloodline.
And the eldest son of the Kuonji zaibatsu, knowing this, had married a witch without hesitation, and had given birth to Alice Kuonji. Disregarding the advice of those around him, he had refused to remarry, intending to raise her on his own.
Finally, when she was ten, he had passed away from lovesickness.
Before he died, her father, relying on what little connection he had, had placed her under the protection of a True Magic User. This was how she had t the Aozaki sisters.
She didn’t resent her parents, who had loved each other deeply, nor did she resent the witch’s bloodline, the source of her misfortune. She had simply accepted the fate of a witch, fulfilling the duty of her heritage, a duty that had been hers since before she was born.
The crowd passed by Alice, moving into the academy grounds. Though her striking appearance drew many admiring glances, she was used to it.
"That gaze?" Then, another gaze swept over her. Alice’s eyes widened slightly, a flicker of surprise on her otherwise emotionless face.
The next mont, Alice turned and t the deep gray eyes that were watching her from the slope.
Sensing Alice’s gaze, Haru, a smile on his face, gave a polite nod. Though he didn’t understand why the young woman was staring at him, a hidden figure, he knew he had to be courteous. He was here as a parent, after all.
"What a surprise, to find you here," a cold voice ca from Alice’s thin lips.
After sensing the gaze last night, she had, out of caution, used magic to enhance her familiars’ perception, deploying them in a network with her barriers to cover the entire Misaki Town.
The costly magic hadn’t found a trace of Haru, but now, he had walked right into her net at the academy gate.
The rare witch silently marveled at the irony of fate.
Her black, pearl-like eyes, holding a strange aning, watched the approaching man and three young won. Her gaze swept over Akiha and Kohaku, who were clinging to Haru’s arms, and then to Hisui, who was walking behind him with a gentle smile.
’A brother accompanying his younger sisters to a parent-teacher conference? I’ll have to investigate through the information network.’
A few monts later, Haru, with Kohaku and Akiha each holding an arm, walked quickly past Alice.
Alice made no unusual movents, simply maintaining her impassive expression, standing at the school gate.
———
"Papa, how was yesterday’s dinner? I made a special kaiseki al," Hisui said, peeking out from beside Kohaku, her voice a soft whisper.
Before Haru could answer, Akiha’s expression, which had been sowhat shy under the gazes of the passersby, vanished, her face darkening slightly, her tone laced with dissatisfaction.
"It was terrible! As I thought, Hisui, you’re just not suited for cooking. In the end, it’s all Kohaku’s fault. Why did you have to let Hisui cook? We wasted so many ingredients yesterday!"
"Eh!! Papa, Sis is being an to !!!" X2
The twin pink-haired girls’ faces crumpled, their tearful expressions dealing a thousand-fold damage to Haru.
"Calm down, calm down. It’s just so ingredients. No need to fight." After a long mont, Haru finally reacted, a hint of embarrassnt on his face. He quickly employed his head-patting technique, comforting the three girls beside him.
Alice, her expression endearingly blank, watched the four of them walk past. It was a good while before she reacted, turning to watch their retreating backs, her voice strange. "Was that my imagination? Did I just hear soone say ’Papa’?"
Looking at the young man, who appeared to be in his early twenties, and the three thirteen-or-fourteen-year-old beauties, Alice’s lip twitched.
"No, a powerful magus can maintain their youth." Alice suppressed her surprise, her voice calm.
’Based on my deductions, his magical prowess is slightly above mine. If I use a familiar, he’ll probably notice. So, how about... following him during the parent-teacher conference?’
After a mont’s hesitation, deciding it was necessary to investigate Haru, Alice lifted her feet and, with slow steps, began to tail him, a clumsy stalker in the making.
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