At noon, after parting ways with Laneige, more or less in a safe manner, I headed to the place where I was supposed to et Iris. The eting spot was our party’s newly created hideout, the party house.
But why did she want to co all the way to the party house? I wondered.
The party house was quite far from the central plaza in front of the main building, which served as the festival’s main venue. The loud, bustling noises of the festival had faded into faint background static by the ti I reached it.
Iris and Yurina were standing together in front of the party house, waiting for .
“Ah, Dale! Over here!”
“Hehe. Dale, you’re here.”
“Huh? Why are you two together?” I asked.
I distinctly rembered asking Yurina to et after Iris. Her ti slot was supposed to be 2 p.m.
“About that.” Iris smiled softly and exchanged a glance with Yurina. “We talked it over and decided to combine our ti.”
“Combine your ti?”
“Yes. aning the two of us will be with you until 4 p.m.”
Instead of insisting on spending separate ti with , they decided to give up their one-on-one monts and extend the ti that the three of us would spend together.
“So, the three of us will just look around the festival together?”
Yurina hesitated, fiddling with the pendant around her neck. “Well, if we’re going to enjoy the festival together, I have to stay in Yuren’s disguise, right?”
“Yeah. That can’t be helped.”
Other than our party mbers, no one knew about Yurina’s true identity.
Iris said, “That’s why I suggested that instead of going anywhere crowded today, why don’t we just spend so quiet ti in the party house?”
“Inside the party house?”
Not walking around during a festival and just staying indoors felt a bit like going on a trip only to hole up in the lodging all day.
“I-I said I was fine staying in Yuren’s disguise, but...”
Iris smiled gently. “But you’d prefer to enjoy a day like this in your real form, right? And besides, I’m not really a fan of big crowds either.”
I looked at them. “If both of you are fine with it, I don’t mind.”
Honestly, if I had to choose, I would much rather relax inside the party house than squeeze through crowds all day. Being around too many people sucked the energy right out of .
“Then let’s go in!”
“A-and to at least make it feel a bit like a festival, we decorated the second-floor lounge!”
I followed Iris and Yurina up to the second-floor lounge. As Yurina ntioned, the room was decorated with sparkling ornants and balloons. The atmosphere felt less like a festival and more like I had been invited to a surprise birthday party.
“Dale, you ntioned before that you took on the role of Special Operations Cadet, right?”
“Yeah.”
“How’s that going?”
“Nothing much has progressed yet.”
I had gone outside Valhalla City several tis to track down the Beast Skin Group, wandering around all day, but found no trace of them.
“Searching alone must be tough, isn’t it?”
“It’s just walking around. Nothing special.”
“I want to help you too, Dale.”
“But you’ve got classes.”
I had plenty of free ti because I was suspended, but the others were dutifully attending their lessons.
“When does your suspension end?”
“Probably near the end of this sester.”
“A-are you sure you won’t get held back?”
“Well...”
Normally, skipping this many classes would definitely an repeating the year.
“But... I’m sure the headmaster will take care of it.”
Now that I had reliable backing, I doubted I actually needed to worry about failing.
Yurina bit her lip with a gloomy expression. “Whenever I think about you doing dangerous things all alone, I get worried.”
She had fought the Beast Skin Group before, so she knew very well how powerful they were.
Iris added, “ too. Yurina told that the one with the wolf mask was around a High Ranker’s level, right?”
“That’s right. He was incredibly strong. Of course, Dale is way stronger than I am, so he could beat soone like the wolf-masked man without any trouble, but still...” Yurina trailed off.
As if they had rehearsed it beforehand, Iris finished the sentence for her. “There might be mbers even stronger than him.”
They looked at with anxious eyes.
I let out a bitter chuckle and shrugged. “You two really don’t need to worry that much.”
Honestly, the ones who had to be worried were the Beast Skin Group mbers who crossed paths with . Nevertheless, I couldn’t deny that being worried over like this felt kind of nice. It showed just how much the two of them cared for .
“Just don’t push yourself too hard, okay? Promise?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Yurina glanced at Iris, and the two exchanged a silent signal. “Then, Dale, s-since you’ve been working so hard lately...”
“Today, we’re going to give you a bit of healing.”
Huh? Healing? Where did that co from?
“Please wait here for a mont.”
“A-and whatever you do, don’t co inside!”
Iris and Yurina scampered downstairs in small, hurried steps, leaving wondering what was going on.
After about five minutes of curious waiting, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs.
“U-um, Dale. How do we look?”
“Hehe. Yurina and I prepared this together to give you plenty of healing today.”
I turned around, only to see them standing at the doorway in a shiny black one-piece dress. The dress had a layered lace skirt, and they also wrapped white lace bands around their elbows. Draped over their dress was an apron with white frills, and beneath the slightly short skirt, they had worn garter belts and white stockings.
They were dressed in full maid outfits. But these outfits weren’t practical for chores at all. They were the kind of maid uniforms ant for an entirely different type of setting.
What? What is this? Am I dreaming? I thought.
“D-Dale?”
I stamred. “Huh?”
“Why are you staring blankly like that?”
“No, it’s just...”
I had seen Iris and Yurina in maid uniforms before, but when I saw the two of them wearing matching ones at the sa ti, the impact wasn’t just doubled; it was quadrupled.
Moreover, the maid dresses they wore before weren’t anything like this. Those were the type of outfits that actual Helios family maids wore—refined, modest, and formal. But the ones they were wearing today had not even a grain of practicality. These were clearly designed purely for this kind of risqué event.
“W-where did you even get sothing like this?” I asked.
“We borrowed them from Jules.”
“What?”
The image of Jules in a maid outfit flashed across my mind. A wave of despair and existential horror washed over as if I had peered into the abyss itself. AARGHH!! My mind!
“Oh, don’t worry! They’re not the ones Jules wore. He ordered new ones from a shop he knows.”
“R-right? That’s what I thought.”
“Yes. The ones he actually wears were, um, way too revealing. There was no way we could put those on.”
Don’t imagine it. Don’t imagine it, Dale! Do not imagine it! I said to myself.
“I-is that so,” I muttered.
“Hehe. Anyway, Yurina and I picked these out together just for today. What do you think?”
“Ugh, I-I wanted sothing a bit more modest, but Iris insisted,” Yurina added shyly.
“My, my! Weren’t you the one who said we absolutely had to have the stockings and garter belts?”
Yurina shrieked, face bright red. “Eek! W-we agreed not to ntion that!”
Iris burst out laughing, thoroughly amused.
They had gotten awfully close while I wasn’t looking. When Camilla was not around, Iris usually kept up her Saintess facade, acting prim and reserved. But lately, she had completely dropped the act around Yurina and even started showing her mischievous side openly.
“Well then, Dale, you haven’t eaten lunch yet, right?”
“Nope.”
“I’ll make sothing right away, so please wait a bit.”
“I’ll help too,” Yurina added.
The two of them headed to the small kitchen attached to the lounge.
“Hah!”
My girlfriends, both dressed as maids, were making lunch for . The scene was so surreal I couldn’t help letting out a breathy laugh.
However, the scene didn’t last long. Soon, voices ca from the kitchen.
“Kyaah! Yurina! What are you doing?” Iris shouted.
“Huh? W-wasn’t it supposed to be done like this?” Yurina replied.
“Who puts a whole egg, shell and all, into olet rice?”
“Oh, so I’m supposed to crush the shell before adding it?”
“You’re not supposed to add the shell at all!”
In my past life, Yuren was completely hopeless at cooking too.
With a sigh, Iris dejectedly said, “I’ll cook. You chop the vegetables.”
“O-okay. How should I cut them?”
“Since it’s for olet rice, cut them small.”
“Got it!”
With a swift motion, Yurina quickly got to work.
“Wait! Why are you cutting the vegetables smaller than rice grains?” shouted Iris.
“Y-you said to cut them small.”
“Aaaagh, you’re driving crazy!”
After a chaotic mix of yelling and disastrous sound effects, Iris, through what could only be described as miraculous healing magic, managed to put together sothing resembling olet rice and placed it on the table.
“Good job,” I said.
“I’m never cooking with Yurina again.”
Maybe because she got scolded nonstop while cooking, Yurina had shriveled up like a wilted flower abandoned on the roadside. With a sniff, she said, “I-I wanted to make sothing delicious for Dale too.”
“Well, everyone makes mistakes at first,” I said, trying to comfort her.
To call her cooking attempts a mistake was probably too generous, but there was no way I would say sothing that heartless to soone who was trying her best to cook for .
Iris continued, “And now for the finishing touch, a ketchup heart on top! Ta-dah! Heaven’s Door’s signature olet rice!”
“Heaven’s Door?” I said.
“It’s a concept cafe in Valhalla City. I’ve never been there, but Jules said he’s a regular.”
“Huh. Didn’t know that existed.”
I had been going to Valhalla City often lately, looking for the traces of the Beast Skin Group, but hadn’t co across it. It seed like an interesting cafe I could visit soday.
“They say the place is full of crossdressing guys.”
“What?”
Is that really Heaven’s Door? Sounds more like Hell’s Door.
“Hehe. Anyway, enough talk about cafes.” Iris scooped up a spoonful of olet rice and held it to my lips. “Here, say ‘ahhh,’ Dale.”
Not wanting to lose, Yurina scooped so up and pushed her spoon toward as well. “M- too!”
Iris smiled brightly, while Yurina swallowed nervously, eyes sparkling like stars.
With both of them looking at like that, there was no way I could say that I would feed myself.
I took a big bite from both their spoons. “Nom.”
“Hehe. Tasty, right?”
“H-how is it?”
Thanks to Iris doing over ninety percent of the actual cooking, it was well-made.
“It’s good.”
The flavor was so solid that I would never have guessed that the cooking process involved screams and chaos.
“Hehehe. I was worried it’d turn out terrible, but thank goodness. Here, say ahh again!”
“I’ll give you a drink next! Open wide!”
Of course, I didn’t actually have the ti or composure to savor the taste.
Reviews
All reviews (0)