The Former Swordmaster Who Pretends to Be the Worst, and the School’s Top-Ranked Chairman’s Daughter Who’s Way Too Sweet in Public, It’s a Real Problem
“—He was totally gushing about it. Saito was.”
“Ugh, seriously, those two should just get together already.”
After school, for some reason, Edward was in Takanashi’s class.
Unlike Class A, there was a somewhat laid-back atmosphere here. That was because this was basically where the less serious students gathered.
They were thinking about having fun at the Seihou Festival, but few of them were serious about their performances.
“Still, it’s not very popular, is it?”
“Of course not. Expressing gratitude to family is just a contrived theme.”
Takanashi replied with exasperation to the boy who voiced that question.
As she said, “expressing gratitude to family” was just a convenient pretext. When Edward looked around, he saw a simple display of filed letters to family members. Though, to be honest, some of them contained nothing more than a single line: “Thank you, Mom.”
“This… has a certain charm to it, doesn’t it?”
“You don’t need to sugarcoat it. The person it’s addressed to has already gone home.”
“………………”
Seeing this, the girl said to Edward in a cold tone.
The boy could only offer a wry smile as he slowly closed the folder containing the letters. Then, he addressed Takanashi with these words.
“But Azusa, you’re really serious, aren’t you?”
“…………Huh?”
Perhaps not expecting that at all, the girl furrowed her brow deeply in response.
Perhaps the phrase “serious” had rubbed her the wrong way. In any case, it was clear she didn’t like the tone of Edward’s voice.
But the boy didn’t seem to mind; he pointed at what she was working on.
“I mean, you’re really putting some effort into this, aren’t you? …What is this, anyway? It looks like you’re cutting and pasting all kinds of paper.”
“…………”
At his remark, Takanashi fell silent.
Her gaze was fixed on colorful origami and paper products like cardboard, and in her hand she held a bottle of liquid glue to stick them together. Though it was still too early to see what the finished product would look like, it was clear she was working on it with great concentration.
“When it comes to crafts, isn’t it standard for everyone to just use magic? To go out of your way to do this by hand like this… you really are—”
“—Shut up!? I’m hopeless at magic, so I’m just doing this by hand because I have to! It’s not like I’m being serious or anything like that!!”
“…Oh, I’m sorry.”
But it seemed he’d inadvertently stepped on a landmine.
Edward bowed his head sincerely, thinking, “Oh no.” Seeing his reaction, the girl didn’t press the issue, merely pouting her lips.
Then, after snorting softly, she went back to cutting and pasting paper.
The boy watched her with a wry smile, but soon noticed something.
“No, but still—”
“……Hm?”
After glancing once at the file,
Edward looked intently at the girl’s work and said,
“If you put it that way, why don’t you just send a letter too?”
For him, it was likely a genuine question.
But for Takanashi, it was undoubtedly a remark she absolutely did not want to hear. After a brief silence, the girl’s lips and cheeks trembled slightly, and finally, she raised her voice.
“You… you jerk! How can you be so… so tactless!?”
“W-what are you getting mad about!? I was just trying to praise your diligent attitude—”
“That’s exactly what I mean by ‘tactless’! And anyway, if you don’t have any business here, just get back to your own class! You phony noble!!”
“I’m no fake! The House of Lihuinburg is a distinguished—”
“Yeah, right! Shut up, be quiet!!”
The voices of the two echoed throughout Class F.
Some of the students walking outside turned around in surprise, wondering what was going on.
Maiban