I riding a carriage to the Augustine household.
Today Father and Mother weren’t in the carriage. Max the wagoner that worked for the Augustine household came to pick up Clair and me.
Because I was always shut inside the Judiciary Station even the cityscape I saw from the carriage’s window seemed new to me.
I was still uneasy, but the feeling of “great freedom” was stronger.
As the big gates of the mansion opened the carriage drove inside. It halted in front of the entrance and I exited the carriage while taking Claire’s hand.
I looked back at the closed gate for a bit.
Though the investigators of the Judiciary Station seemed to patrol regularly, do they go everywhere, I thought. Well, I’ll soon know.
“Ariel”
When I entered the mansion I met Father. Additionally some servants, too.
Father held my shoulders in silence before he sighed.
“……completely muscular”
“Hey Father, shouldn’t a reuniting scene be different”
Just when I had a bitter look on my face mother came down the stairs leading to the second floor.
“Ariel! What a relief, that was fast.”
Mother stood before me with a bright smile. I returned mother’s smile and looked at the unknown person behind her puzzled.
“Aah, this is Cart Porter. He will be in charge of your education for a while.”
The smile on mother’s face didn’t change as if it was stuck.
I didn’t really understand what that meant and looked at either mother or Cart.
The man called Cart was a man probably in the latter half of his 30s. He had neatly slicked back black hair and was warped in tight clothes. Would I be right in calling him a gentleman?
He smiled calmly and elegantly lowered his head.
“I am Cart Porter. Though my abilities may be poor I shall help you learn the behaviour of a respectable man, at your service.”
“Huh? Ehm, Mother why?”
As I pulled myself together and I looked at mother, she spoke in a seemingly sad voice while unnaturally covering her eyes with one hand.
“Look, the way your acting isn’t what you would call masculine……”
“Eeeh!?”
“Indeed”
Cart stared at me for a while, before he nodded slightly.
“However, the groundwork is great, I’ll give it my all.”
That smile full of the confidence!
I thought I was done.
Well, certainly the current me is still rather feminine. However, I didn’t possibly think I would get such special training in the mansion.
“Until the time of enrolment, please teach him severely.”
Mother desperately asked this of Cart.
Father looked at us with a delicate expression and turned to look at Claire who looked at me in dismay.
Only mother was vigorous.
“Let’s aim for perfection if we do it anyway.”
When we had dinner mother said so. She never thought about backing down when she decided on something. That’s the kind of person she is.
At the table were only me, mother and father.
Because the servants were told to withdraw the already large room looked even bigger.
“With perfection, you mean completely acting like a man?”
When I asked, mother nodded as expected.
Oh, studying magic wasn’t possible here either…….
I secretly sighed, but it couldn’t be helped that it turned out like this.
I’ll do it!
I wouldn’t be able to recover if someone said “doesn’t that person act like a transvestite?” in school!
“The tailor will be called as well”
Mother was cheerful.
“You need clothes that won’t put the Augustine family to shame.”
“Ehm mother”
I interrupted her.
“More importantly I want to study magic. A magic use permit seems to be necessary.”
“I took care of that a while ago”
Father put the wine glass he had in his hand down on the table.
“It’s a type of tax.”
“Tax?”
I looked puzzled.
“The time limit for a magic use permit is one year. To update it, it will take a tax every year. Very well made.”
“Right……. I’m sorry, you have to spend even more money.”
When I dropped my shoulders father started to laugh.
“You don’t need to mind that. You may practice magic to your heart’s content, but don’t destroy the mansion”
“I won’t do that”
Though I said that reflexively I added something. “Probably……”
Father furrowed the middle of the forehead and groaned.
No trust, huh…….
After I finished my meal I went into my room. The room was in the corner of the second floor.
When I opened the door a scene which didn’t change was before me.
My favourite curtain, my canopy bed. A table with beautiful wooden grains, a claw foot chair.
A small decorated box filled with jewellery, the pretty dressing table.
Indeed, it’s a girl’s room.
When I approached my bed I just let myself fall on it.
At last, I’m home.
These feelings gradually spread through my body.
After a while, I got up from my bed and sat down before my dressing table. I took my favourite comb and cosmetics and put them in front of my face.
I saw the face of Gray Sterling in the mirror.
The face to which I had gotten used to while I was at the Judiciary Station.
And now when I remembered that discomfort I furrowed my brows.
What was different, I thought while I was staring.
In the mirror, “he” smiled.
I touched my face and it shouldn’t be smiling.
“Ariel Augustine”
But “He” opened his mouth.
I merely stared at that in utter amazement and was at a loss for words.
My heart made an unpleasant sound while I was wondering whether I had become crazy.
“You seemed to have lost your memory, I’m disappointed.”
He – – Gray continued while wearing a cold-blooded smile.
“Though I thought we understood each other, and we tossed it. Was I too hasty?”
I didn’t understand what he said.
I reached out my hand trying to figure out if this was a hallucination.
I touched the dressing table. Then, on the wooden frames surrounding the mirror, they appeared slightly.
Small magic language letters one wouldn’t see if one didn’t look carefully. And then a magic formation.
Magic.
Somebody entered my room and used magic.
Gray?
I inched back from the dressing table and stood up from the chair in a hurry.
“Don’t run away”
Gray laughed.
“If you tell anybody about this, I will never appear before you again.”
“……What is this?”
My voice shook.
“A secret between only you and me. Can you keep it?”
“I can’t promise that. I have to catch you. The Judiciary Station is looking for you.”
“That’s troubling.”
In a mirror, he looked puzzled.
What is it this time?
For committing murder?
Although he stole my body!
“Do you want this body back?”
“Gray’s” figure warped in the mirror for a bit. Then the figure of “Ariel” appeared in his stead.
It wore a cold-blooded smile but it certainly was my body!
“Naturally. Return it immediately!”
“I like it, this body.”
I grinded my teeth.
Both ends of his lips rose, kukuku.
“Then let’s make a deal”
“Deal?”
“You don’t tell anybody about this mirror…… Neither to the Judiciary Station nor to your relatives nor to your servants and I talk to you sometimes. I might give you a clue about my whereabouts.”
“What will happen if I talk to someone?”
“Some of your relatives are going to die. This is not limited to one.”
I held my breath.
My lips shook.
“I didn’t kill anyone yet after getting this body. So I’m looking forward to it.”
“You’re …… joking, right?”
I laughed low.
He’ll probably really murder someone.
Those weren’t the eyes of someone telling a joke.
“But I can’t just stay silent to such a thing……”
Though I muttered with a shaking voice it seemed to amuse him to watch.
“You can say what you want. All right, I don’t intend to kill you just yet.”
“Just yet?”
“Killing one’s own body seems interesting, too. But I want to enjoy it after all.”
Weird.
The way Gray Sterling thought was mad.
Is that what it means to be “broken”?
I merely watched him while my stiffened body.
“It was easy to sneak into your mansion. Because your father was slow to get a magic use permit I had to wait a little longer.”
“Magic use permit……”
Was he close enough to even observe this?
So close by!?
“If you cry when you lose your parents I’ll comfort you. Let’s keep your parent’s bodies in a much prettier state.”
“Stop it”
I shouted while putting a hand on my head. But all that came out was a blurred voice.
“So what about the deal?”
I slowly raised my face. He continued to laugh.
I’ll talk to the Judiciary Station.
Because I absolutely have to catch you…….
“You won’t kill anyone if I don’t say anything to anybody?”
My lips moved naturally.
“As long as you don’t talk the people concerned are safe”
“Right……”
I looked down.
Someday, someone might condemn me for this choice.
But right now I couldn’t think about anything but accepting.
I riding a carriage to the Augustine household.
Today Father and Mother weren’t in the carriage. Max the wagoner that worked for the Augustine household came to pick up Clair and me.
Because I was always shut inside the Judiciary Station even the cityscape I saw from the carriage’s window seemed new to me.
I was still uneasy, but the feeling of “great freedom” was stronger.
As the big gates of the mansion opened the carriage drove inside. It halted in front of the entrance and I exited the carriage while taking Claire’s hand.
I looked back at the closed gate for a bit.
Though the investigators of the Judiciary Station seemed to patrol regularly, do they go everywhere, I thought. Well, I’ll soon know.
“Ariel”
When I entered the mansion I met Father. Additionally some servants, too.
Father held my shoulders in silence before he sighed.
“……completely muscular”
“Hey Father, shouldn’t a reuniting scene be different”
Just when I had a bitter look on my face mother came down the stairs leading to the second floor.
“Ariel! What a relief, that was fast.”
Mother stood before me with a bright smile. I returned mother’s smile and looked at the unknown person behind her puzzled.
“Aah, this is Cart Porter. He will be in charge of your education for a while.”
The smile on mother’s face didn’t change as if it was stuck.
I didn’t really understand what that meant and looked at either mother or Cart.
The man called Cart was a man probably in the latter half of his 30s. He had neatly slicked back black hair and was warped in tight clothes. Would I be right in calling him a gentleman?
He smiled calmly and elegantly lowered his head.
“I am Cart Porter. Though my abilities may be poor I shall help you learn the behaviour of a respectable man, at your service.”
“Huh? Ehm, Mother why?”
As I pulled myself together and I looked at mother, she spoke in a seemingly sad voice while unnaturally covering her eyes with one hand.
“Look, the way your acting isn’t what you would call masculine……”
“Eeeh!?”
“Indeed”
Cart stared at me for a while, before he nodded slightly.
“However, the groundwork is great, I’ll give it my all.”
That smile full of the confidence!
I thought I was done.
Well, certainly the current me is still rather feminine. However, I didn’t possibly think I would get such special training in the mansion.
“Until the time of enrolment, please teach him severely.”
Mother desperately asked this of Cart.
Father looked at us with a delicate expression and turned to look at Claire who looked at me in dismay.
Only mother was vigorous.
“Let’s aim for perfection if we do it anyway.”
When we had dinner mother said so. She never thought about backing down when she decided on something. That’s the kind of person she is.
At the table were only me, mother and father.
Because the servants were told to withdraw the already large room looked even bigger.
“With perfection, you mean completely acting like a man?”
When I asked, mother nodded as expected.
Oh, studying magic wasn’t possible here either…….
I secretly sighed, but it couldn’t be helped that it turned out like this.
I’ll do it!
I wouldn’t be able to recover if someone said “doesn’t that person act like a transvestite?” in school!
“The tailor will be called as well”
Mother was cheerful.
“You need clothes that won’t put the Augustine family to shame.”
“Ehm mother”
I interrupted her.
“More importantly I want to study magic. A magic use permit seems to be necessary.”
“I took care of that a while ago”
Father put the wine glass he had in his hand down on the table.
“It’s a type of tax.”
“Tax?”
I looked puzzled.
“The time limit for a magic use permit is one year. To update it, it will take a tax every year. Very well made.”
“Right……. I’m sorry, you have to spend even more money.”
When I dropped my shoulders father started to laugh.
“You don’t need to mind that. You may practice magic to your heart’s content, but don’t destroy the mansion”
“I won’t do that”
Though I said that reflexively I added something. “Probably……”
Father furrowed the middle of the forehead and groaned.
No trust, huh…….
After I finished my meal I went into my room. The room was in the corner of the second floor.
When I opened the door a scene which didn’t change was before me.
My favourite curtain, my canopy bed. A table with beautiful wooden grains, a claw foot chair.
A small decorated box filled with jewellery, the pretty dressing table.
Indeed, it’s a girl’s room.
When I approached my bed I just let myself fall on it.
At last, I’m home.
These feelings gradually spread through my body.
After a while, I got up from my bed and sat down before my dressing table. I took my favourite comb and cosmetics and put them in front of my face.
I saw the face of Gray Sterling in the mirror.
The face to which I had gotten used to while I was at the Judiciary Station.
And now when I remembered that discomfort I furrowed my brows.
What was different, I thought while I was staring.
In the mirror, “he” smiled.
I touched my face and it shouldn’t be smiling.
“Ariel Augustine”
But “He” opened his mouth.
I merely stared at that in utter amazement and was at a loss for words.
My heart made an unpleasant sound while I was wondering whether I had become crazy.
“You seemed to have lost your memory, I’m disappointed.”
He – – Gray continued while wearing a cold-blooded smile.
“Though I thought we understood each other, and we tossed it. Was I too hasty?”
I didn’t understand what he said.
I reached out my hand trying to figure out if this was a hallucination.
I touched the dressing table. Then, on the wooden frames surrounding the mirror, they appeared slightly.
Small magic language letters one wouldn’t see if one didn’t look carefully. And then a magic formation.
Magic.
Somebody entered my room and used magic.
Gray?
I inched back from the dressing table and stood up from the chair in a hurry.
“Don’t run away”
Gray laughed.
“If you tell anybody about this, I will never appear before you again.”
“……What is this?”
My voice shook.
“A secret between only you and me. Can you keep it?”
“I can’t promise that. I have to catch you. The Judiciary Station is looking for you.”
“That’s troubling.”
In a mirror, he looked puzzled.
What is it this time?
For committing murder?
Although he stole my body!
“Do you want this body back?”
“Gray’s” figure warped in the mirror for a bit. Then the figure of “Ariel” appeared in his stead.
It wore a cold-blooded smile but it certainly was my body!
“Naturally. Return it immediately!”
“I like it, this body.”
I grinded my teeth.
Both ends of his lips rose, kukuku.
“Then let’s make a deal”
“Deal?”
“You don’t tell anybody about this mirror…… Neither to the Judiciary Station nor to your relatives nor to your servants and I talk to you sometimes. I might give you a clue about my whereabouts.”
“What will happen if I talk to someone?”
“Some of your relatives are going to die. This is not limited to one.”
I held my breath.
My lips shook.
“I didn’t kill anyone yet after getting this body. So I’m looking forward to it.”
“You’re …… joking, right?”
I laughed low.
He’ll probably really murder someone.
Those weren’t the eyes of someone telling a joke.
“But I can’t just stay silent to such a thing……”
Though I muttered with a shaking voice it seemed to amuse him to watch.
“You can say what you want. All right, I don’t intend to kill you just yet.”
“Just yet?”
“Killing one’s own body seems interesting, too. But I want to enjoy it after all.”
Weird.
The way Gray Sterling thought was mad.
Is that what it means to be “broken”?
I merely watched him while my stiffened body.
“It was easy to sneak into your mansion. Because your father was slow to get a magic use permit I had to wait a little longer.”
“Magic use permit……”
Was he close enough to even observe this?
So close by!?
“If you cry when you lose your parents I’ll comfort you. Let’s keep your parent’s bodies in a much prettier state.”
“Stop it”
I shouted while putting a hand on my head. But all that came out was a blurred voice.
“So what about the deal?”
I slowly raised my face. He continued to laugh.
I’ll talk to the Judiciary Station.
Because I absolutely have to catch you…….
“You won’t kill anyone if I don’t say anything to anybody?”
My lips moved naturally.
“As long as you don’t talk the people concerned are safe”
“Right……”
I looked down.
Someday, someone might condemn me for this choice.
But right now I couldn’t think about anything but accepting.
