Nestled in Casper's arms, Komachi Yua gradually became aware that the mood had gone wrong.
Why was it so quiet?
Her besotted, swooning expression quietly reverted to something demure and obedient, and she opened one eye a crack to sweep the surroundings.
And then she saw Philia, who had just come out of the principal's office.
In that instant Komachi Yua felt her heart start slamming all over again.
What a — what an absolute war zone of a scene!
Tokugawa Yuka's attitude was fairly murky and Komachi Yua still could not tell whether she was interested in Casper.
But a role that wants to spar with the protagonist is overwhelmingly likely to end up bound to him somehow.
And right now the tip of Philia's nose had gone red, and her cheeks were puffed out like a hamster's.
So cute... Casper absolutely goes for this...
Guh, she looks like she's about to cry!
Heh heh heh~ tsundere-type characters coming off worst is just the standard state of affairs~
Whose fault is it that she never obeyed all that love and made a move?
Thinking all this, Komachi Yua went on leaning against Casper's chest, blissful and pretending to be innocent.
Compared with Philia, who was plainly in love with Casper, Komachi Yua judged that she herself had not been moved at all.
Her soul was a boy's! There was absolutely no possibility of falling for a fellow like Casper!
Absolutely not...!
Simply getting a firm hold on the protagonist's leg by degrees was all that was making her feel so secure~
Not that Komachi Yua could have broken free at this moment even if she had wanted to, because Casper's strength was considerable.
Shifting the hand pressed to her shoulder felt no easier than pushing over a building.
Sure enough, Casper had been moved by the sight of Philia on the verge of tears.
As he saw it, this Soren crown princess, the pearl of the Nightingale, had always been the gentle and finely made sort who never let her feelings show.
And this version, with the tip of her nose and the corners of her eyes gone pink, sent Casper's protective urge surging, spiking, roaring up!
"Lady Philia!"
Casper called out without thinking, released the shoulder he had been holding, and crossed to Philia in one long stride.
Hauled out of the hero's embrace, Komachi Yua lost her support, and with the high heels unsteady underneath her she swayed all over.
"Holy moly...!"
Komachi Yua squeezed it out between her teeth in a sour little voice nobody else could hear.
He had a top-grade beauty like her in his arms and he simply let go and went to see to Philia!
At the same time, Komachi Yua was startled by how much that pair of hulking things jutting out in front of her — the ones that blocked her view of her own feet — could roll and sway.
These contraptions are extremely unfriendly to a person's sense of balance, hey!
While Tokugawa Yuka was watching Philia, Komachi Yua quietly extended her little finger and fired a single mana thread out of the white lace half-glove, planting it against the floor.
Drawn taut, the thread worked like a walking stick, and the body that had nearly gone over steadied completely.
"What's wrong? You're in a bad way... did the principal, did he ask something outrageous of you?"
Casper stood in front of Philia, watching that deep-blue hair with its waved ends stir faintly with her shallow sobs and the tremor running through her.
He did not dare, however, put out an arm and hold Philia the way he had held Komachi Yua, because he genuinely had no idea what Philia thought of him.
Whereas Komachi Yua —
Putting hands on her was no great matter. She was his prisoner!
"It's nothing. Don't worry."
Connie's lazy voice sounded beside Casper's ear, though there was no sign of her anywhere on the marble corridor. "She just... she's a little... er, thinking of you."
In truth, Connie badly wanted to say the word jealous.
As an arcane master whose theoretical logic demanded a head for higher mathematics and physics, Connie knew that was the precise word.
But if she said it aloud...
Wouldn't that let a fellow like Casper know Philia's feelings outright?
When she too — she too wanted, at every hour, to be looked at by Casper with that attentive, burning gaze!
And the overwhelming majority of the time all Casper gave her was sincerity and respect...
Connie thought it over, a little crestfallen and a little unhurried.
Hidden inside her arcane veil, she was floating not far from Casper at that very moment!
She sat in a chair assembled out of empty air, knees together and legs apart, her left arm laid flat along her thigh and her right hand propping up her chin, wearing the worldly smile of an old thing, looking straight at Casper.
But Casper had no idea Connie was watching him. He was only thinking about what she had said.
Philia... was thinking of him?
They had only been apart about half an hour, though?
And what did thinking of him mean?
Could it possibly be —
"Nn... nnh... nnh nnh... nn..."
Philia's eyes were rimmed with red, and she sobbed faintly, cheeks puffed out.
As a royal of impeccable breeding, this was already the limit of how far she could vent a feeling.
Anything further was not something to be done in a public place.
"There were so many, so many chances, and wh-why is it that you never once dared do that to me, Casper...
And then, and then this witch you've known for less than half a day... you pull straight into your arms!"
Huh?
Casper was rather shaken.
Could it be that Lady Philia wanted him to hold her the way he had just held Komachi Yua?
There couldn't be much appeal in his arms, surely?
And if he dared do such a thing, the real "guard," Lady Connie Holno, would absolutely blast him with the arcane arts on the grounds of profaning the crown princess!
His own dual-class swordsman post as specially engaged temporary guard was one visible layer of protection; Connie in the shadows was a second.
The black-haired boy drew a small breath and spoke softly, in a voice only the two of them could hear.
"Lady Philia, I only went to hold Komachi Yua because I was afraid that oni girl would discover she was a witch... there was nothing else in it."
Philia's weeping had eased a little, and she was reverting by degrees to her reasonable, gentle self, though her cheeks were still puffed.
"Does that mean you aren't interested in her, Casper?"
"That..."
The question left Casper somewhat awkward, and his face flushed faintly.
There was no denying it: this Komachi Yua he had captured really was very beautiful.
In face and in figure both, she was Philia's equal...
And when he had held her just now, that proud pair of ripe fruits had struck against his chest almost like the sea — heavy, soft, dense.
Philia's pair he could only look at. The witch's pair he had experienced firsthand!
Going by the novels and storybooks Casper had read as a child, the word witch nearly always meant a grown woman or an old crone... where did a beauty like this come into it?
Not being interested was out of the question.
This was a physiological response!
"Lady Philia, whether or not I like her doesn't seem to have a great deal to do with you, does it?"
In that instant Philia's expression darkened — and then, in the space of a blink, returned to its gentle, finely made normal.
Casper flinched despite himself!
"...?"
For a moment there he seemed to have had an illusion — the illusion of a sheep marked by a lion, about to be eaten!
At this point Tokugawa Yuka, who had been observing from the side for some time, reached a conclusion.
"Oh, so that's the sort of relationship you have!"
"It isn't!"
"It is."
Casper's shake of the head and Philia's smiling nod came at the same moment!
Komachi Yua pulled a small face.
What sort of relationship is that sort, exactly...
"Mm, matters of the heart are a real headache to analyse. Never mind that!"
Tokugawa Yuka set a hand on the tachi God's Lament at her waist and laughed brightly. "Philia Soren, I want a match with your guard, and he says he needs you to agree to it. How about it?"
Now Casper Valentine wouldn't have an excuse left to refuse~
Contrary to Tokugawa Yuka's expectations, however.
Philia showed not a trace of royal or crown-princely dignity in agreeing to the match. Instead she took on the air of a small girl determined to cling ferociously to her husband, and tugged lightly at Casper's cuff.
"I refuse."