Interlude 3: An Unremarkable, Beloved Everyday, for Example Café Boutiful

Author: Kiki
Raw: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2498fn/36/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

Ever since I obtained this body, I have scarcely had to worry about being oppressed by anyone, or about facing a difficulty I could not overcome.
My beloved companions have increased in number as well, and the plan is proceeding smoothly.
I am happy. I am fortunate.
And yet that very fortune has given rise to a new sort of worry.

“Hmph … I never thought I’d end up fighting Nunnally in earnest in a place like this.”
“I am quite surprised myself, Ellis. But since we have each staked something precious, I can hardly withdraw.”
“I feel the same way … Now get ready, Nunnally!”
“I am ready whenever you are!”

The two of them had abruptly begun fighting right in front of me. I watched from a luxurious, plush chair prepared as the best seat in the house, wearing a troubled expression.
Good grief. How on earth had it come to this?

◇◇◇

 

The story goes back to a few days before we seized the castle.
With two major events approaching—the occupation of the royal castle at the heart of the kingdom, and a reunion with my classmates—my nerves were running high.
I knew I could manage somehow with my shadows alone if I wished, but I decided to write a meticulous script anyway, hoping to ease the tension even a little.

Late at night, after Mya-nee, who had spent the evening with me, had fallen quietly asleep, I sat alone at the desk.
In my hand was a quill. The page I was locked in a staring contest with was already about half filled with writing.
I had already chosen Mr. Kazeoka as the principal target and decided to build the plan around him, but a method of stoking still greater terror was proving difficult to invent.
The draft had been proceeding smoothly until then, yet about ten minutes earlier my hand had come to a dead stop.

“Chii-chan.”

From behind me, Mya-nee clung to me in a voice that was half asleep and half wheedling.
When had she woken? For me not to notice even a sound, I must have been concentrating rather fiercely.

“What are you doing?”
“We talked about occupying the castle soon, didn’t we? I was working on the plan.”
“I don’t think you even need a plan, Chii-chan. You could take the place easily.”
“That is true, but … this time is fairly special to me.”
“Ah, right. Of course you’d have feelings about it. You’re going to kill them all, aren’t you?”
“Except for Ms. Akizora and Ms. Sato. Mya-nee, do you have any good ideas?”
“Hmm …”

Mya-nee sank into thought with her chin resting on my shoulder.
Given where we were, her breath against my ear was ticklish. I would have to get even with her later.

“… By the way, Chii-chan, are you interested in cosplay?”

Apparently this person had not been listening.

“I was a fool to consult you, Mya-nee.”
“Ah, wait! Wait! It isn’t that I don’t care about what you’re saying, Chii-chan!”
“I will at least hear your excuse.”
“That’s my Chii-chan, so kind. I love you. I love you!”
“I already know that, so please get to the reason.”

And if she hugged me that tightly, it did rather hurt.
We were no longer human, so I wished she would learn to moderate her strength. Honestly.

“See, once you storm the castle, you’re going to get busy, right, Chii-chan?”
“Yes. I will not be able to take things as slowly as I do now.”
“Then everyone will sulk, won’t they? Especially Ellis and Nunnally.”
“… Well, if we have less time together, frustration may well build up.”
“So I thought, why not have a few of them take part in the plan?”

There was something to that.
I had no desire to spoil everyone’s mood, and this was to be a festival. I wanted us to enjoy it without regrets.

“By the way, Mya-nee, what does any of that have to do with cosplay?”

When I asked, Mya-nee grinned as if she had been waiting for that very question, pulled away from me, spun around once, and crouched in the shadow of the bed—then took out a garment she had apparently hidden there in advance.
She spread the clothes out and smiled with a look of smug satisfaction.
The moment I saw them, I lost the ability to speak.

“You recognize it, right? I had Cotton make it from memory. I practically begged her.”

Cotton was a woman who ran a clothing shop in town: cheerful, blunt, and forthright.
In contrast to that personality, her sewing was reliable, and she was skilled enough to supply garments even to the royal family.
The town was already almost entirely under Demi-Vamp control, so of course she was no longer human either.
Incidentally, her husband had been locked in the cellar after every opening from the neck up had been sewn shut, and at some point he had died.
Someone like her could certainly have reproduced that uniform from Mya-nee’s description.
Even so, the fidelity was so high that I could only be impressed.

“Of course I had it sized for you as you are now, Chii-chan … but if it brings back unpleasant memories, I won’t force you.”
“Come to think of it, you had never seen me wearing that uniform, had you, Mya-nee?”
“Yeah. So I wanted to see it just once.”

In short, what Mya-nee had prepared was a reproduction of the uniform from the middle school I had attended.
She had never been able to see me wearing it, and she wanted to engrave the sight in her memory at least once.
As for how she had been able to reproduce it, she had once worn the same uniform herself.
To be honest, I was not entirely displeased.
I too wanted somehow to fill the blank years I had not been able to spend with Mya-nee, and if wearing the uniform would help grant even a little of that wish.

“By the way, Mya-nee—and this is the second time I have asked—what does this uniform have to do with the plan?”
“If you’re going to have everyone take part in the operation, you’ll need costumes for them to infiltrate in. I thought Cotton could prepare those.”
“I see. Cotton would indeed make something excellent, and if I asked, she would surely agree at once.”
“Right? Right?”

She would likely want intimate compensation in return, but I would enjoy that well enough myself, so it was no problem.
Once the script had taken shape to a certain extent, I would order a few outfits.
There were not many days left, so I doubted we could have a great number made.

“Well then, Mya-nee, I am going to change, so please face the other way.”
“Eh, I get to see?”
“I have no particular reason to refuse. I simply cannot take responsibility if it fails to meet your expectations.”
“It’s fine. That’s definitely not going to happen.”

I could not help a wry smile at Mya-nee as she turned her back and insisted on the point with such force.

After that, I changed into the uniform and, feeling oddly self-conscious, showed it to her.
Apparently the sight of me in it had tremendous force as far as she was concerned. She grew so excited that her breathing turned rough, and her eyes became visibly bloodshot.
Then, reaching the limit of her self-control, she asked me this:

“Can I eat you?”

Of course I nodded at once.
In fact, the idea of a plot in which humans cannibalized one another first came to me because of those words.

 

◇◇◇

 

Let us return to the matter at hand.
In short, Ellis and Nunnally had suddenly begun battling over a fairly trivial question: which of them would wear the maid outfit.
I appeared to be the only one who considered it trivial, however, and their fight grew more intense by the moment.
Even though the stage was an empty chapel, watching them use the architecture so three-dimensionally made me worry the building itself might collapse.
In fact, the aftershocks of their attacks struck the statue of the goddess more than once, and each time I was forced to catch it with my shadows.

“Haaaaaaaaaah!”

When their elongated claws met, they rang out with a metallic clang, as if steel had struck steel.

“Ngh—you’re good, Ellis!”
“So are you!”

The two of them seemed to be deepening their bond through combat, while I, watching, was too nervous to sit still.
What worried me most was that even a slight scratch might appear on either of their skin.
Healing was possible, but seeing someone I loved injured was painful in itself.
Unable to watch any longer, I finally stood to stop the fight.
The method was simple.
From behind my back, from beneath the chair, from the floor beneath the goddess statue’s gaze—I stretched every shadow in the chapel toward the two of them like tentacles.
Then I bound them, and look how easy it was: the fight had already stopped.

“S-Sister!?”
“Mistress, why did you stop us?”
“If the two of you fight any further, it will cause, well, various inconveniences. I have already decided the casting. Ellis will play the maid.”

When I said so, Ellis threw up a triumphant fist and cried, “Yes!” with heartfelt delight.
Was it truly something to be that happy about?
Nunnally, on the other hand, was openly dejected.
It hurt to watch, enough to make my chest ache.

“Why Ellis?”

She asked in a low voice.
It was all right. I had a reason even she would accept.

“Nunnally, you are already obedient, you handle the housework, and you cook well, so you already seem maidlike, do you not? Ellis, on the other hand, is far removed from that sort of femininity.”
“If that is the case …”

Nunnally accepted my orderly explanation at once.
What a relief.

“… Sister, is that something I should be glad about?”
“I leave that judgment to Ellis.”
“Guh … b-but I am happy you chose me, Sister … All right, I’ll just be happy about it. Yay!”

Ellis thrust both hands into the air in great delight. I was glad she had such a straightforward personality.
Nunnally, meanwhile, seemed to have accepted the reason and still to feel attached to the maid outfit.
I had no choice, so I made this proposal.

“I am thinking of having you appear in the script as a cook, Nunnally—and separately from that.”
“Separately … is there something else?”
“If you have a request, I thought we might spend time together with you wearing whatever you like.”
“…!”

Nunnally’s eyes began to sparkle.
It was rare for a face alone to convey so much happiness. It must have meant a great deal to her.

“Th-then, Mistress …”

Nunnally opened her mouth, looking nervous, paused a beat, and said this:

“A collar.”
“A collar?”
“Yes. I would like you to put a collar on me and treat me as though I were a pet!”

… That was a rather intense request.
I had thought for some time that she had a submissive streak, but I had not imagined it went quite that far.
Still, I had been the one to offer. I could hardly refuse.

“Very well. Then let us try it before long.”
“Thank you! Every time I see a dog walking through town, I have always admired them!”

Nunnally bowed deeply toward me.
The maid outfit had been the same … Was wearing a collar truly something that made a person so happy?
Well, it must have. Her face said as much.

At the time, I could not understand that form of enjoyment at all—but once I actually put a collar on her and made the master-and-servant relationship unmistakable, I found that private arrangement unexpectedly enjoyable as well.
Needless to say, it influenced the scene in which I showed Sakuna and Toka to Mr. Kazeoka in his cell.

 

◆◆◆

 

When Leia took an elegant sip of tea, Lina, seated across from her, laughed for some reason.
Naturally, Leia tilted her head, wondering why she had been laughed at.

“I was just thinking that the me from a little while ago never would have imagined a time would come when I could drink tea with you like this again, Leia.”

So that was all. She had merely been savoring her happiness.
Once Leia understood, she smiled the same way Lina had.

“Thanks to the castle being almost completely taken, I can visit your room openly like this. Mistress really is amazing.”
“To be this fast even while treating it as play … no wonder I couldn’t win.”
“You had a bad opponent. But I think you’re splendid too, Leia. You can control shadows, even if not as well as Mistress, right?”
“Well … yes. Humans who already had strong magic before becoming Demi-Vamps … can use it as they are. Miyako too, and Sakuna and Toka, who newly … became companions, should be able to.”
“I can’t do it at all, so I’m jealous.”

There was nothing to envy, Leia thought, mocking herself—not when you have a far more attractive soul than I do.
But Lina was thinking the same thing.
Leia had any number of charms Lina did not. How enviable, how wonderful, and how proud it made her.
In short, the two of them were in love.
One might think they were tearing themselves down in their heads, but they were merely flirting.

“Still, if every soldier in the castle has been placed under Mistress’s control, this country has more or less already fallen.”
“Not yet.”
“Wait, is someone still left?”
“… There are knights. Eight chosen ones, under the king’s direct command.”
“Ah … now that you mention it, there were people like that.”

Eight geniuses, gathered from across the kingdom.
They were blessed with talent and ability, but perhaps because of that, many of them were strong-willed and not especially good at acting as a group.
Ordinarily they scattered and each carried out the missions the king had given them—but now, for some reason, they had all coincidentally assembled at the castle.

“I wonder how it’ll go. Whether they’ll notice first and it’ll come to a fight, or whether they’ll be unilaterally bound by Mistress’s love.”
“The result is as clear as day … but I’m sure it’ll be enjoyable.”
“Even though the race is already fixed?”
“Because Mistress will surely … on a whim, play again.”
“Ah, right. She wouldn’t just make them fall. When I think of it that way, I’m looking forward to it too.”

The result would not change.
The female knights would cease to be human; the male knights would die.
That was an unchanging future.

“At last … this country will end. No, not just the country. Humanity … will surely be finished.”
“It was inevitable. If every living human could love others even a little more than they do now, most tragedies never would have happened.”
“They can’t, and that’s … what makes them human. So this was … a necessary culling.”

The dream-stories humans tell are dreams that cannot come true so long as humans remain human.
As if to symbolize that, Chigusa smiled and set out to make those beloved knights fall.
Staining her hands with blood all the while, she wished from the bottom of her heart that the world might know peace.