1

NOON ON A CLOUDLESS DAY.

Having left the Nightray manor, Vincent Nightray reached the designated meeting place right at the promised time.

He was just outside the main gate of a memorial park located near one of the secondary Vessalius residences.

The gate was flanked by benches, one on each side, and one of the benches held a girl. The girl, who was wearing a lovely dress, was the person Vincent had promised to meet: Ada Vessalius. On seeing Vincent, Ada rose from the bench with a bright smile.

“Vincent-sama.”

Calling his name in a voice that was filled with delight, she hurried over to him.

When she reached Vincent, Ada nodded to him quietly, watching him with straightforward eyes. Her gaze was friendly, and almost dazzlingly innocent.

“It’s been a long time, Vincent-sama.”

In response, Vincent returned her smile smoothly.

“It certainly has, Ada-sama… I’m sorry; my schedule hasn’t allowed me to make time for us to meet.”

“No, I know you’re busy.”

Ada shook her head, shyly telling him not to worry about it.

Vincent spoke, sounding concerned:

“I made sure to arrive on time, but… Have I kept you waiting?”

“Oh! No…”

At his words, Ada blushed, embarrassed. She looked down a little, clasping her hands in front of her, fidgeting with her fingers. “When I thought of being able to see you, I woke earlier than expected,” she answered in a small voice.

“You were looking forward to seeing me, then. I’m glad… to think we felt the same way.”

Vincent turned a gentle gaze on Ada.

…While, privately, he thought the complete opposite:

This really isn’t the time for me to be playing with a sow like you.

Ada Vessalius was a daughter of the House of Vessalius, one of the four great dukedoms.

The House of Nightray was another great dukedom, and when Vincent of the House of Nightray kept company with Ada, it certainly wasn’t out of genuine affection.

It was pure self-interest.

The head of the House of Vessalius, Oscar Vessalius, was very fond of Ada. Vincent planned to wrap her ’round his little finger so that, someday, he could use her as a trump card against Oscar.

Obviously.

If not, he wouldn’t have wanted to spend a single hour with Ada, an innocent who seemed made up entirely of idealistic sentiments. On the contrary, Vincent actively loathed the “light” that hung around her.

How exasperating. On top of my other problem—

Quietly, so that Ada wouldn’t notice, Vincent gave an irritated sigh.

The “other problem” was a matter involving a certain aristocrat.

The House of Nightray had always been the subject of many questionable, whispered rumors, and there were a number of aristocrats who could be called their political enemies. Generally speaking, they fell into two categories.

Aristocrats in one category weren’t pleased that the House of Nightray was ranked among the honorable four great dukedoms. Aristocrats in the other felt that the House of Nightray would be easy to depose, and had fallen captive to their own ambitions. The Basil family was one of the latter, and lately, they’d been actively sniffing about the House of Nightray.

The simple fact that the family’s internal affairs were being investigated didn’t bother Vincent in the least.

However, if they should happen to get close to the “plan” he was covertly promoting and had kept secret even from the Nightray family, there would be trouble.

The Basil family’s movements had been reported a short while ago.

Naturally, Vincent had taken immediate action.

However, although—or possibly because—the Basils were only minor nobility, they were skilled at acting craftily, and so far he hadn’t been able to trip them up.

I want to crush these unsightly flies quickly and put an end to it.

“—to me, Vincent-sama?”

Although it hadn’t been for long, Vincent had been musing, and he’d missed what Ada had said.

The words had been in the form of a question. “Hmm…?” Vincent muttered, glancing at her.

Ada seemed to assume that Vincent’s reaction meant she hadn’t managed to explain properly. “Um,” she faltered, as if trying to find a different way to phrase her words.

“I meant, could you leave the choice…of where we go today to me?”

Caught mildly by surprise, Vincent’s eyes widened slightly.

“To you, Ada-sama…?”

“Yes. Only if you wouldn’t mind, of course…”

“…………”

Vincent was silent. Suspicion and misgivings welled up inside him. What nonsense was this woman suggesting?

“‘Mind’ isn’t really the word. Where did this come from…?”

At the question, Ada blushed and looked down.

“—I just, um, a little while ago, when I was talking with some friends at Lutwidge Academy, the subject came up.”

“The subject…?” Vincent echoed.

“Yes.” Ada nodded earnestly.

“We thought it might be rather nice if ladies were proactive, if we sometimes took the lead and entertained the gentlemen instead. You’re always so kind to me, Vincent-sama, and so today, as thanks, I thought…”

Why can’t they mind their own business? What a thundering nuisance.

Vincent couldn’t help but think these things.

“W-would that be all right?”

Ada raised her head, clenching both hands into fists, looking at him as if she was fully prepared to die.

Icy disgust and contempt welled up inside Vincent. How can these women-creatures get so desperate over a mere date? he thought.

Today, as on other days, Vincent had planned on taking a casual stroll somewhere nearby and then parting.

He also knew that Ada wouldn’t harbor ill feelings toward him if he refused her proposal, and yet…

Vincent gave an absolutely flawless smile.

“Thank you, Ada-sama… If you would, then. I leave the day in your hands.”

If I spend today with her, it should be all right to ignore her for a while.

…He calculated, silently.

2

“Where are you taking me first, Ada-sama…?”

Vincent asked his question as they began to walk away from the memorial park. He glanced at Ada, who was walking beside him.

Ada nodded.

“The museum. They’re holding an exhibition of Greggs paintings just now.”

“Greggs…?”

“You’d said you liked him earlier, Vincent-sama, so…”

What is she talking about? Vincent thought.

He was familiar with the names of a passable number of artists, but this was the first time he’d heard the name Greggs.

How could he like or hate an artist he’d never heard of?

Did she misinterpret something? he wondered, but after a little thought, one thing came to mind.

It sometimes happened when he and Ada were walking in town.

They’d be on a date, but Vincent’s attention would drift from her, and he’d be thinking about something else. Once in a while, Ada would follow Vincent’s gaze and ask, “…Do you like that?”

At times like these, Vincent invariably answered, “Yes.”

He’d be simply going along with Ada’s conversation, and the reply would be completely insincere.

He didn’t remember any of the things he’d been looking at when she’d asked him that. However, this must mean that Ada had carefully, conscientiously shut them away in the drawers of her memory.

Vincent smiled, apparently quite happy.

“You remembered, Ada-sama… I’m glad.”

Every single stupid little thing… It makes me want to vomit.

Conversations that were meaningless and worthless to Vincent. Trivial incidents that happened when they were together.

Ada cherished each one of these things as her treasures, and the imbecility of it irritated him. “Leave the choice of where we go today to me”? I knew I should have turned down that moronic proposal of hers, he thought. He seriously considered telling her he’d begun to feel ill, cutting things short and going home.

Meanwhile, since Vincent had thanked her, Ada had looked down in a fit of self-consciousness.

Then, after they’d walked down the avenue for a short while…

Beside Vincent, Ada abruptly gave a small cry: “…Oh!”

With the expression of a starry-eyed young girl, she pointed ahead of them.

“I see it, Vincent-sama. That’s it, that building.”

“It is, hmm…? It was closer than I expected.”

Copying Ada, Vincent also looked up ahead. When he glanced at the old-fashioned yet magnificent museum, he noticed the sign that adorned its front. Then, as Vincent saw the letters that were written grandly on that sign…

“?!?!?!”

AVANT-GARDE ARTIST

GREGGS GILMORE

FIRST SOLO EXHIBITION

All of that was fine. The problem was what came next. The name of the exhibition.

BANQUET OF BLACK MAGIC

His whole body spasmed. He thought he might have a spontaneous nosebleed.

“Banquet…of Black Magic”?!

Black magic.

Black magic.

Black magic. That was…

That’s—!!

With terrific force, Vincent turned to face Ada.

In spite of himself, the look in his eyes could have belonged to a wild animal, but Ada was still gazing at the museum, and she didn’t notice his expression.

She was so happy she was practically skipping.

“You’d said you weren’t interested in this genre, Vincent-sama, so I was surprised. Greggs always uses a magic motif in his works, and he’s raised his art to a level no one else can follow. He’s truly wonderful! My very favorite is his masterpiece Summoning of the Demon King, and today will be the first time I’ve ever seen the real thing—”

The phrase “in seventh heaven” might have been invented to describe Ada as she was now.

Black magic, and the occult in general.

These were what Ada liked.

They were also the cause of the massive trauma Vincent had suffered earlier when he’d told Ada, “I want you to show me your true self,” and had been taken to her room.

To think she’d bring him to an exhibition of paintings of those things…

—Don’t tell me the woman tricked me…?!

He guessed, in a whirlpool of confusion and agitation.

Was this a scheme to use the fact that he didn’t really remember their conversations against him, taking him to a place she wanted to go?

“??? Vincent-sama?”

It was possible that she’d felt his intense gaze. Ada turned to him, looking blank.

Instantly, Vincent erased the sharpness from his expression, smiling mildly back at her.

The corners of his lips were tense and twitching, but it wasn’t so bad that she’d notice.

Ada started, then looked guilty.

“Oh! I-I’m sorry. I got carried away all by myself—”

As he watched the shamefaced, apologizing girl, Vincent gave a furtive sigh.

If she were the type who schemed and tried to trick people, I suppose this would be easier…

However, that wasn’t the case. She was honest, purely and simply herself.

And, precisely because this was true, Ada Vessalius was sometimes a very difficult person for Vincent to deal with.

Ada watched him, timidly.

“Um… Could it be that you really…don’t like these things, after all?”

Her expression seemed uneasy, as if she was afraid she’d made another mistake.

“Of course I don’t.

“Black magic, the occult… How many times do I have to tell you not to drag me into your vulgar little hobbies?

“Despair in the face of your folly and plunge into hell, sow.”

It would be so very exhilarating to hit her with those.

…However, it would mean throwing away all the time and effort he’d spent so that he could use her.

Vincent faked a kind expression.

“Well, not…to the extent that you do. I do appreciate them purely as art.”

He spit out words he didn’t feel at all.

As Ada heard these words, the unease immediately vanished from her expression, and her face shone with relief and delight.

Inwardly—Tch!—Vincent clicked his tongue.

In his mind, he cursed at her.

Simple imbecile of a woman. She really does irritate me…

Then the two of them entered the museum.

“Eeeeeek! Summoning of the Demon King is right here to welcome us! ”

“……………!” Vincent took a mental hit.

“Oh! This is the great work Corpse Embraced by Death and Destruction! How perfectly splendid! ”

“…………!!”

“Eeeeek! This one is Maiden with Grimoire, and this one is Black Procession. ”

“…………! …………!! …………!”

“There are accursed masterpieces over there, too, and there! I-I-I’m so happyyyyyy! ”

“………………………………………”

The hour that they spent touring the museum wore away much of Vincent’s mental stamina.

3

“A-are you all right, Vincent-sama? You look rather pale…”

Ada’s question came when they left the museum, as if she’d returned to her senses.

Vincent’s face was ashen, and his cheeks seemed somehow hollow. However, he responded to Ada’s concern instantly:

“No, I enjoyed myself. Heh-heh, now then, where will you take me next…?”

He wore a very clear, crisp smile.

And, after he’d spoken, with the smile still on his face, he regretted it enormously.

Ada looked relieved. “In that case, next—” She took out a folded memo, opened it with her fingertips, and scanned it eagerly.

Vincent glanced at the contents of the note, and was promptly bored stiff.

The memo held the day’s program. It was densely written, over several lines, in a soft, feminine hand.

Apparently Ada hadn’t thought up the agenda all by herself; the note also held scribbled messages of support, most likely from her friends. “I hope it’s a day straight from your dreams.” “Isn’t love wonderful?!” “We’re cheering for you, Ada-sama. ” And so on, and so on.

…I’ll pretend I didn’t see that, Vincent decided.

Soon, after reading over the memo several times, Ada nodded.

“L-let’s go, Vincent-sama.”

She set off, firmly. In a faintly wary voice, Vincent asked:

“Where are we’re going…?”

“Um, well, it isn’t far. It’s very close.”

Possibly because she was embarrassed, Ada was evasive, and Vincent grew even warier.

They walked along the street in front of the museum, and soon came out onto a wide avenue lined with all sorts of shops.

Stylish restaurants, jewelers, and clothing and accessories stores that supplied the aristocracy stood shoulder to shoulder on either side of the redbrick road.

Vincent didn’t like crowded places, and he grimaced slightly.

Out on the avenue, Ada looked around the area, finding what she was searching for almost immediately. “There it is,” she said cheerfully. She took the lead and began walking. As Vincent followed Ada, he glanced at her destination, and the frown lines in his forehead deepened.

……………You must be joking.

Ada was headed for a small shop.

It was an adorable little place, and its walls and roof had been painted in bright colors. It was obviously the sort of shop young women would like, and its sign held the words:

MATTHEW’S APPLE PIES ~ BAKING THE SWEET-AND-SOUR TASTE OF LOVE ~

In a moment, Vincent’s face turned sullen, as if he’d gotten heartburn.

“—Vincent-sama?”

Ada turned around.

Instantly, Vincent put on a gentlemanly smile.

“Apple pie, is it…?”

“Yes, a friend recommended it—Um, I…”

“That’s nice.” Vincent smiled back, but inwardly, he didn’t think it was the least bit “nice.”

It doesn’t matter, he thought. Let’s just get through the plan.

Approaching the shop’s counter, Ada ordered a variety that had custard in it and seemed even sweeter than the others. The shop clerk wrapped thin slices of the apple pie in stylish paper, then gave them to Ada. Apparently you were supposed to eat it just like that, without using forks.

There was a bench in front of the shop, and the two of them sat down on it, side by side.

“Here you are.” Politely, Ada held out a piece, and Vincent took it.

The sky was a pure, clear blue.

When he looked straight ahead, he noticed that many of the passersby who were walking up and down the avenue seemed to be young couples.

Every face wore a bright smile, as if something about all this was fun.

A bright world.

I hate bright places, Vincent thought.

“It’s nice and sweet, isn’t it?”

Ada’s voice made him look over. She was nibbling at her piece, eating elegantly.

She had one hand to her cheek, and she looked happy.

This broad avenue might be a standard date spot. The scene fizzed with young energy, and the fact that he was there, right in the middle of it, made the situation feel utterly unreal to Vincent.

He looked down at his own apple pie.

What am I doing…?

A feeling like irritation, and also like confusion, monopolized his heart.

“Vincent-sama?”

Vincent was staring at what he held in his hands, and Ada spoke to him. Her tone seemed to ask, Aren’t you going to eat it?

Vincent smiled back at her. Of course, there was nothing sincere about it.

“Thank you…” he said, and put it to his lips. He took a bite, then swallowed.

Piecrust, apples, custard. All the flavors seemed unremarkable to him.

Then Ada murmured, “Oh.”

At the sound, Vincent looked at her. Ada giggled softly.

“Vincent-sama, you have cream on the corner of your mouth.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I’m not used to eating this way…”

At Ada’s comment, Vincent moved to wipe the corner of his lips with a fingertip.

But then Ada said, “Please wait.” Her tone sounded slightly feverish.

What? Vincent looked at her, questioningly. For some reason, Ada was blushing.

She screwed up her courage and spoke eagerly:

“I’ll get it for you. Please don’t move.”

“No, that’s—”

“I-it’s all right. Um, hold still.”

“…Sure.”

Thinking that if this was what she wanted, he’d let her do it, Vincent waited for Ada to make her move.

He’d assumed she’d take out her handkerchief or something, but he was wrong. Gently, she stretched her hand out toward Vincent’s lips.

Then, nervously, she stroked the corner of Vincent’s mouth with her index finger, wiping away the custard. Ada drew her hand back.

Just as Vincent was wondering what she was planning to do about that finger…

“………Mm.”

Heart pounding, cheeks flushed, Ada softly put the fingertip into her mouth.

Vincent watched her, wordlessly.

With her fingertip still in her mouth, Ada held very still. Time passed: one second, two seconds, three…

And then:

“!!”

Suddenly, Ada blushed so red it was as if her face had caught fire.

She gave a pretty little scream—“Eeek!”—and leapt up from the bench.

Then:

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!”

With a long shriek, she took off.

She moved incredibly fast.

In no time at all, with enough force to kick up a dust cloud, she’d run to the end of the avenue, disappearing from Vincent’s view.

Vincent had been silent the entire time.

Finally, he got up from the bench where he’d been abandoned, looking in the direction where Ada had vanished.

He muttered one word:

“……………Hey.”

What was that? Exactly what kind of development was that…?!

The situation was beyond comprehension.

Ada had probably wanted to flee from the shame of what she’d done; that much he understood. She wasn’t the type to go off on her own and leave someone behind, so it was likely that even she didn’t understand what was going on.

For a moment, Vincent considered just going home. …But that wouldn’t do.

Five minutes passed, then ten.

He’d waited because he’d thought she’d come right back, but there was no sign of her.

Was Ada still running around somewhere? Had she gotten lost?

He should probably go look for her. Common sense said that was what he was supposed to do, and ordinarily, he would already have been doing it, without hesitation.

But.

“—I am absolutely not going,” Vincent declared, decisively.

I don’t want to go today, no matter what. She’s already dragging me around and causing me trouble with her arbitrary plans. Why should I have to do a thing like that? On the contrary, if she’s managed to get herself into a sticky situation somewhere, I’ll sneer at her. I’ll applaud. The woman needs to realize just what a foolish creature she is…

As he muttered to himself silently, Vincent kept waiting for Ada.

Twenty minutes passed.

What is that dullard doing? How long does she intend to make me wait? Go to hell!

Thirty minutes.

Vincent was standing in front of the bench. Even he didn’t know why he wasn’t sitting down to wait.

It might simply have been pride.

Go to hell, go to hell, go to hell, go to hell, go to hell.

Forty minutes.

Go to hell, go to…hell… Go to—

Fifty minutes.

………………………………………………………………………………

Vincent, who’d been standing the whole time, was completely exhausted.

Because he’d stood stock-still and kept silently hurling abuse, his head had grown hazy. His eyes were getting dim.

…What am I doing…?

Once again, a basic question welled up inside him. And then:

“I-I’m so sorry…Vincent-sama…”

By the time Ada returned, it had been an hour.

Had she run around for the whole hour, or had she lost her way and walked?

Ada’s forehead was faintly sweaty, and she cowered apologetically in front of Vincent.

“I’m sorry! I’m really sorry! I left you alone, Vincent-sama, and I—”

“………………”

Vincent’s face seemed drained of all life. He was silent.

“Vincent…sama…?”

Vincent was unresponsive, and Ada called to him timidly:

“U-um, are you…? You are angry, aren’t you…?”

At this question, Vincent somehow managed to pull a frail smile onto his weary face. The delicate smile went right to the hearts of a couple of women who happened to be passing by, and they staggered.

Vincent barely managed to force out the words:

“No, I’m just glad you’re all right, Ada-sama…”

He felt like complimenting himself on his own self-control.

“—All right, what do you youngsters want me to divine?”

In a cramped room filled with blue tobacco smoke, a wrinkly old woman shrouded in a robe held her hands poised over a crystal ball.

This was the Hall of Divination. He’d been brought here by Ada, and as he stepped into the suspicious-looking booth, Vincent’s face wore an indescribably complicated expression.

I’m tired, and now this? …Fortune-telling?

Colorful stones had been placed on the table where the old woman sat, and the room was decorated here and there with animal skulls. The walls held several tapestries with magic circles drawn on them, much to Vincent’s disgust.

When he looked at Ada, she was faltering in response to the old woman’s question—“I, um, well”—and stealing glances at Vincent.

Tell her anything. I just want to get this over with and go home…

He kept it out of his expression, but internally, Vincent grumbled.

By this point, the only thought in his mind was how to end this sheer nuisance of a date.

I see, he thought suddenly, and he spoke:

“Do you suppose you could divine our compatibility, madam?”

Ada looked startled. Apparently she hadn’t expected Vincent to broach the subject.

He smiled back at her, coolly.

The old woman’s lips twisted into a smirk, and she laughed: “Fuo-fuo-fuo!

“Your compatibility, hmm? Oho! Hubba-hubba!”

“Yes, it’s very important to us, you see…”

“Vincent-sama.”

Ada called his name, softly. Vincent spoke a bit more firmly, as if to drive his point home:

“Tell us the unvarnished truth, please.”

At Vincent’s words, the old woman nodded solemnly.

“Of course. My crystal ball speaks nothing but truth. I’m simply the messenger.”

“That’s fine.” Vincent nodded, looking satisfied.

Ada had clasped her hands in front of her chest. Her expression was a mixture of unease and anticipation.

Slowly, the old woman began to move the hands that hovered over the crystal ball. She wiggled her fingers as if stroking the globe’s surface and began to chant an incantation in a mumbling voice that was hard to make out. He heard Ada gulp.

She was gazing at the crystal ball so eagerly it was as if she could see something there, too.

Vincent only watched them, quietly.

It’s bad. It has to be bad. It could never be good. There’s no way this woman and I are compatible. It has to be the worst ever. If that’s the case, this dunce of a woman will be discouraged, and no doubt she’ll think it’s impossible to spend the whole day having fun. Seeing her face like that will cheer me up a bit, too. Then this useless time will be over. I worked very hard today—

As he was patting himself on the back this way, the old woman, who was peering into the crystal ball, cried out: “Oh, oh, ohhhh!” Startled, Ada asked:

“Wh-what’s the matter?”

The old woman’s hands trembled where they hovered over the crystal ball, and her expression was flabbergasted.

“…How can this be? I don’t believe it. Th-this much… This much? Impossible! I’ve never seen such a result in all my born days! How terrifying—”

Vincent’s lips threatened to curve with delight.

Heh-heh-heh! I see! It’s bad, is it? So very bad it yet frightens the fortune-teller. It is. Of course it is. Go on, say it! Smite this woman with despair!

Even as he came close to laughing in triumph, he asked dispassionately:

“What truth did the crystal ball tell you, then?”

The old woman spoke in a voice that was filled with confidence and certainty:

“Mm. Your affinity is—”

““Our affinity is?””

Vincent and Ada’s voices overlapped, each made intense by their different emotions.

Then the old woman declared:

“It’s phenomenal!!”

Vincent blinked rapidly. All he could do was mutter, “Huh……?”

“—Not only that, I’ve never seen a couple who are this compatible. That’s how fantastic it is. It’s so good it’s terrifying. Your personalities, your interests, your tastes: Every little thing is perfect. Your luck in marriage is also prime, no doubt about it. It says you’ll be blessed with children, too.”

On the verge of screaming “That’s impossible!” Vincent stepped forward.

What he actually wanted was to close in on the woman, haul her up by her shirtfront, and shake her violently as he demanded an explanation.

“A-are you sure there’s no mistake? Your crystal ball truly…truly said that?”

Vincent’s voice was trembling.

That can’t be! There must be some mistake— There has to be!

However, as if to strike the final blow, the old woman spoke. Gravely. With a solemn face.

“Your fates…

“They attract each other. By now, I doubt you could separate if you tried.”

…………That’s insane.

He was dumbfounded. The phrase “as if he’d lost his soul” most certainly applied to Vincent right now.

When, cautiously, moving creakily, he looked over at Ada…

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeekk!”

Without warning, she gave a pretty scream.

Her face was burning with embarrassment, and she broke into a run, leaving the Hall of Divination.

He didn’t even have time to call for her to stop.

In the Hall of Divination Ada had vacated, Vincent stood all alone.

The old woman nodded several times with a worldly-wise expression. Then she spoke to him, pityingly:

“You look like a popular one…but you’ll just have to resign yourself. Hoo-hoo-hoo.”

Senile old hag. Should I kill her?

Vincent seriously considered it.

Outside the Hall of Divination, Vincent waited for Ada.

Pride wasn’t the reason he hadn’t gone to look for her this time. He just didn’t have the strength or the energy for it.

…………………………………………………………

In a little while—he’d stopped keeping an eye on the time—Ada came back.

“…I’m sorry. I was flustered…”

As he looked at the apologetic girl, irritation began to well up inside Vincent.

This woman and me, compatible? Impossible. Fortune-telling is never accurate; it was a mistake to rely on it. It just made her get more carried away. “Phenomenal affinity”? What an awful joke. Me, with this imbecile? As if I’d ever stand for that!

Ada’s voice didn’t reach his ears. He railed inwardly, at length.

“Um, that fortune—”

Not noticing Vincent’s internal turmoil, Ada spoke, shyly:

“It made me really happy, Vincent-sama.”

At this point, he should have responded to her tactfully, but the words slipped out:

“Curl up and die.”

“Huh?” Ada looked blank.

“No, it’s nothing.”

He’d cut it close, but in the blink of an eye, Vincent managed to gloss things over with a bright, flawless smile.

Ada tilted her head, puzzled.

The sky was as clear as ever. Their date was nowhere near its end.

4

After they’d spent time on the wide avenue…

Next, under the slanting afternoon sunlight, Vincent was taken to a small care facility in the heart of town. There was a plain, two-story building, and a yard that wasn’t all that spacious, with a splendid elm growing in its center. The facility was surrounded by a low wall.

Haaaaah…

Inwardly, Vincent heaved a long sigh. He’d lost track of how many times he’d done this.

I want to go home. That was the only thought left in his head.

“Ada-sama, what is this place…?” Vincent asked.

The gate of the care facility was standing open, and Ada had gone on ahead, passing through it.

Vincent followed her, and just as he went through the gate:

“Yaaaaaay, it’s Ada-sama! ” Voices called out from around the yard. Several children who seemed to have been playing there crowded around Ada and, behind her, Vincent. Startled in spite of himself, Vincent recoiled.

With a warm smile that was different from the one she wore when she and Vincent were alone, Ada said:

“Yes, children, hello.”

From the way the children were dressed, they all seemed to be commoners. Some of the children who pressed around them latched onto Ada’s skirt, but Ada was apparently used to this, and she let them do as they pleased. She didn’t seem to mind that her dress would get dirty.

Vincent hung back behind Ada, and several children approached him as well, looking up at him with faces that seemed to ask, Who’s this?

“…It’s an orphanage. Children who aren’t able to stay with their parents for one reason or another come here.”

As Ada answered Vincent’s earlier question, she looked toward the building and nodded a greeting. When Vincent followed her gaze, he saw that an elderly lady had appeared in the entrance to the building. She bowed her head reverently to Ada.

I see. Vincent understood. The elderly lady was probably the facility’s proprietress.

As she stroked the heads of the children who gathered around her, Ada spoke:

“Uncle Oscar told me that the House of Vessalius helps to fund this facility… I thought there might be something I could do, too. And so, every so often, I stop by to visit and read picture books to them.”

…What, you simply wanted to show me how very kind you are?

Deciding that had been Ada’s reason for bringing him here, Vincent smiled coolly.

“Bright, sunlit places like this—They really do suit you, don’t they.”

The words he spoke were intended to be a harmless compliment to Ada. However, once they were out, they had a cold, ironic edge to them that surprised even him. At his words, Ada looked a little perplexed.

“Vincent…sama?”

“Ah, I don’t get out very much myself… I was a little envious, that’s all.”

Vincent spoke as if in jest, and Ada gave a little giggle.

“Reading outside is nice every once in a while, you know.”

As Ada spoke, the children who clustered around her pestered her to read the rest of the book she’d read the last time she came. Some of them even ran to the facility to get it, without waiting for Ada’s response.

Once she started reading aloud, she’d keep the children company for a while, leaving Vincent on his own. Possibly it pricked her conscience to do this in the middle of their date: Ada looked at Vincent, her face troubled. Vincent shook his head, telling her it was nothing to worry about.

“Go ahead and read to them, Ada-sama. I’ll keep my distance.”

“What?”

Ada looked confused, and Vincent told her he was a little tired and intended to rest in the shade of the trees.

…I refuse to spend time with silly, noisy brats.

“‘A young lady of the House of Vessalius pays a charity visit to an orphanage,’ hmm…?”

From a bench in the shade of the trees in a corner of the yard, Vincent turned cold eyes on Ada.

Ada was sitting on a floral-patterned sheet that the children had brought and spread at the base of the elm in the center of the yard, holding an open picture book. The children had formed a circle around her. She was reading aloud, but her voice didn’t reach Vincent.

However, he could tell that she was reading in a gentle voice, and that the children were listening eagerly.

…I suppose Gil and I were about that age when we were abandoned, Vincent thought as he gazed at the children.

Still, even if they had no parents, no doubt the children at this facility had warm beds to shelter them from the rain and dew, and were given enough food to keep them from being hungry.

How fortunate they were.

He reflected on his own past. It hadn’t been at all unusual for him to sleep outside, freezing and exposed to the elements, and he’d sometimes been so hungry he’d eaten food that was all but rotten, practically garbage. With his red eye, as a “child of ill omen,” he’d been driven away from care facilities like this one.

If a facility had taken them in back then, what would have happened?

“………?”

Abruptly, Vincent’s eyes came to rest on two children in front of Ada. Two boys, sitting companionably, shoulder to shoulder. They seemed to be brothers.

The slightly smaller one who was probably the younger brother was leaning forward, listening to Ada read; sometimes he clapped his hands and bounced up and down. Next to him, his older brother admonished him, but even as he did so, he seemed to be enjoying himself. As she read, from time to time Ada would pause for a moment and smile at the brothers.

Oh…

In the soft, dappled sunlight under the tree.

Depending on the viewer, the gentle sight might have given the impression that the flow of time itself had slowed.

Of course, Vincent wasn’t in possession of such naive sensibilities.

However.

Oh…

For a moment, Vincent felt something like dizziness. His vision blurred.

Then, to his hazy eyes…

The figures of the two brothers who were listening to Ada as she read, the ones Ada smiled at…seemed to overlap with those of another pair…

That’s…

“Aaaah! This guy’s staring!”

Abruptly, a voice spoke from beside the bench where he was sitting, and Vincent came back to his senses. It felt almost like waking from a dream. The memory of what he’d seen, and even of what he’d been thinking, evaporated in an instant.

When he looked in the direction of the voice, he found an energetic-looking little kid standing near him, in front and a little off to the side.

Apparently he hadn’t joined the ring, and instead had kept playing by himself, even when Ada had started reading.

…What did he just say? Vincent thought.

He hadn’t caught the words clearly, but a strange irritation was growing inside him.

He didn’t have to go to the trouble of asking him. The kid repeated himself, cheerfully:

“He was staring at Ada-sama! I know he was! I saw him!”

Vincent wanted to shout at him, tell him to quit spouting nonsense, but he only answered in a cold voice:

“……I wasn’t really staring.”

It was silly to deal with a mere child as an equal.

The best policy was not to take him seriously, he thought. He let his eyes drift away from the boy, focusing on the middle distance. He planned to ignore anything else the kid said. Once he knew he couldn’t get a rise out of Vincent, the boy would get bored and go off somewhere.

However.

With the beings known as children, adult expectations seldom hold true.

The boy raised his voice even further, yelling:

“Staring-staring-staring!! I know! He was looking over there and spacing out!! He looked all dazed and soppy!! Nyah-nyah, he’s blushing!!”

“……………”

In that instant, what welled up inside Vincent might have been unmistakable bloodlust. —Maybe.

He no longer felt like holding back just because he was dealing with a child.

The boy’s shouts must have carried.

When Vincent shot a glance in her direction out of the corner of his eye, Ada had stopped reading and was looking at them, as were all the children around her. It was a tiresome situation. However, fortunately, at this distance, his voice wouldn’t reach Ada if he lowered it slightly. Vincent gave a warm smile, as though he was speaking in a friendly way.

Then he said it.

…In an icy-cold whisper that was very close to absolute zero.

“Powerless little monkey. You couldn’t even survive on your own. Do you want to be completely exsanguinated and killed?”

It was so sinister, Death himself might have run away in tears.

However, although the boy had heard it…

“Huh?”

…He didn’t understand what Vincent had said, and he only stood there, openmouthed. Tch! Mentally, Vincent clicked his tongue. Once more, he quickly checked the relative distance between Ada and himself. Then he put out a hand to the boy’s cheek and pinched it. Hard.

From where Ada was, it would only look as if he’d set his hand against the boy’s cheek.

He wouldn’t be satisfied unless he made this kid cry at least.

Go on, cry disgracefully! Scream and wail! Twist that filthy little face and beg for forgiveness!

However, the child must not have felt much pain, and he began grinning, as though they’d started playing a fun game. Then he said, “Yah!” and stretched out a hand toward Vincent’s face. He grabbed Vincent’s cheek, just as Vincent had grabbed his, and pinched it hard.

There they were, pinching each other’s cheeks.

It looked exactly as if he was playing with the kid.

“Tee-hee! They look like they’re having fun.”

From the middle of the ring of children, Ada watched the scene in the shade under the trees.

The boy Vincent was playing with was one of the most difficult children at the facility. When Ada read picture books, he always kept playing by himself, never joining the circle. She’d never seen him have so much fun playing with someone else before.

To Ada’s eyes, the scene looked truly heartwarming, and it seemed to shine.

“I’m so glad I came here with Vincent-sama.”

Ada’s murmur came straight from the heart.

Go on, cry! Writhe in agony! Scream your lungs out!

How long had Vincent spent pinching cheeks with the child?

Abruptly, as if he’d tired of the game, the boy let go of Vincent’s cheek, shook off the hand that was pinching his own cheek, and ran away. Vincent thought it was odd for the boy to just run off like that, but when he glanced over, Ada had come up beside him.

“Thank you so much for playing with that child.”

“Huh—?”

Vincent blinked.

“You’re good at making friends with children, aren’t you, Vincent-sama? Even though you were tired…”

Ada’s voice and expression carried gratitude, envy, and, on top of that, respect.

Finding himself the focus of that dazzling look, Vincent…

“Ha, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, oh, it’s nothing so impressive.”

…gave an answer that couldn’t possibly have been more cheerful.

He sounded slightly broken.

His fatigue and the pain of his smarting, burning cheek ran around and around in his head, getting all mixed up together.

Then, in the back of his mind:

All that, and I still didn’t manage to make him cry…

Today was, without a doubt, a plague day. It didn’t feel as though anything he did would go right.

—There was nothing to do but laugh.

Then, when Ada had finished reading the picture book, just as they were leaving the facility…

At the gate:

“Ada-sama, you’re leaving already? Noooo, don’t go!” the children said, crowding around Ada, not wanting to say good-bye. Some of them even grabbed her dress, determined not to let her leave. Ada smiled, looking a little troubled, and soothed the children:

“I’ll come again. Okay? I promise.”

Vincent wasn’t interested in the exchange, and he let his gaze drift away from Ada. Then his eyes found two children standing by themselves, a little apart from the rest.

It was the two brothers.

The younger brother was fidgeting nervously, and the older brother was speaking to him intently. A closer look showed that the younger brother held a small paper tube in his hands. The older brother’s voice came to Vincent faintly, and he gathered that it was a picture the younger brother had drawn for Ada.

“Look, you’re going to give it to Ada-sama, aren’t you? You drew it and everything.”

“But…it didn’t come out very well…”

“If you keep saying things like that, Ada-sama’s going to leave.”

Even though the older brother urged him on, the younger brother didn’t seem to have the confidence to move.

“I guess I’ll have to,” the older brother said. He took the paper tube from his little brother’s hands and broke into a run, heading toward them. Apparently he was going to give it to Ada for his brother. However, he wasn’t paying enough attention to his feet: The older brother stepped on a round rock that was lying on the ground and took a terrific tumble.

Vincent just watched. His expression was blank, and it held absolutely no emotion.

“………………”

Silently, Vincent walked over to the older brother. He stood beside the boy, who was groaning softly.

He hadn’t done it because he had some sort of goal or idea. There was no reason.

The older brother looked up at him with tears in his eyes. Wordlessly, Vincent reached out and picked him up. He lowered him to the ground, setting him on his feet.

As the boy looked at him, bewildered, Vincent silently dusted off his clothes for him.

“Th-thanks,” the older brother told him, and Vincent…

“………………”

Silent as ever, he moved away from the boy, returning to the gate.

—Then.

His eyes met Ada’s. She was watching him from where she stood at the gate. Surrounded by children, Ada clasped her hands in front of her chest, and her expression was a mixture of delight, deep emotion, and respect. The atmosphere around her was soft and sweet, and she looked like a starry-eyed dreamer.

Her entire body was exuding ardent affection.

…………Huh?!

Vincent froze slightly, as if he’d been caught at something he couldn’t afford to be caught at.

5

The final item on the agenda was “Tea and conversation at a salon.”

Salons were places where the aristocracy mingled socially, and there were all kinds of them. The salon to which Ada took Vincent was an elegant, two-story mansion. A certain great nobleman seemed to have opened his entire private residence as a salon.

Because of the abundant silverwork placed throughout its beautiful garden, the salon was known as Silver Moon Garden.

It had one distinctive feature that set it apart from other salons.

Twice each month, for three days each time…

An event known as “the Sport of the Masks” was held at Silver Moon Garden.

“I thought the orphanage was the last thing… Will this really be the last one…?”

In a costume room on the first floor of the Silver Moon Garden mansion, just off the entry hall, Vincent muttered wearily.

All four walls of the room were buried behind a wide variety of costumes, hung in rows. They were really more like fancy-dress disguises than costumes: things like a set of vampire fangs and a cape, or fairy clothing with ornamental insect wings fixed to the back.

The costume room held all sorts of disguises from all eras and countries.

—All for the Sport of the Masks.

For three days, they gather in the salon and play dress-up… This is why I can’t stand aristocrats, Vincent thought contemptuously, scowling.

His eyes slid to the side, glancing at one of the walls. Vincent was in the men’s costume room; Ada was in the room next door, on the other side of the wall, picking out a disguise and changing into it. Vincent remembered how Ada had looked when they’d parted ways in the entry hall to enter the costume rooms.

Ada had seemed excited about putting on something she normally couldn’t wear.

What a day this has been. It really is a plague day…

As he muttered and complained, Vincent searched for a fairly normal costume. Before long, he found an old, outdated nobleman’s costume and decided to wear it. Once he’d settled on a disguise, the male costume attendant who waited near the door came over and helped him change.

After he’d dressed, he returned to the entry hall. Ada wasn’t there yet. He was well aware that women took time to change their clothes. Vincent was bored stiff; he turned his back to the door to the women’s costume room and watched the passing guests and servers.

He quickly tired of this and turned his gaze to the chandelier that hung from the ceiling of the entry hall.

That woman—

He thought of Ada, in the dressing room.

What sort of ridiculous getup is she planning to appear in…?

He remembered the witch costume he’d seen her in before, the one with the peaked hat, at the secondary Vessalius residence. He really couldn’t tolerate drinking tea and chatting with Ada when she looked like that. Privately, he decided that if she came out wearing something weird, he’d leave immediately.

Ten minutes passed. Then fifteen.

Becoming first irritated, then exasperated, Vincent was enrobed in a prickly aura when he heard the door open behind him. As it did, he heard Ada’s voice.

“Thank you for waiting, Vincent-sama. I’m sorry I’m late…”

Vincent instantly extinguished his black mien and turned around. His face wore a perfect, flawless smile.

“No. For men, the time women spend polishing themselves is supreme bliss—”

Before he could finish the insincere line, it died on his lips.

—Huh?

Vincent looked at Ada, who’d come out of the women’s dressing room.

He watched her as she came toward him timidly, blushing as if she was embarrassed.

As he gazed at her, in the costume she’d changed into…

…—

His thoughts went pure white.

Wh…why…?

The thought was practically a gasp.

Ada was dressed as a man.

And when dressed in men’s clothes, she resembled someone Vincent knew very well, someone he could never forget.

It was an inexplicable feeling, as if time had been wound back into the distant past. Back to his world… His and his brother Gilbert’s world, the world of a hundred years ago.

It was as if Vincent was being drawn toward Ada; he couldn’t look away. Finding herself stared at silently, Ada said, “I had a hard time making up my mind, but I knew I’d never be able to wear men’s clothes at any other time, so… Is it odd?” She shrank into herself a bit.

However, her words didn’t reach Vincent’s ears. In a hoarse voice, too faint for anyone to catch, he murmured:

“………Jack?”

Jack Vessalius. The man known as the hero of the Tragedy of Sablier, a century ago.

The first person who’d taken the young Vincent and Gilbert under his wing, when the world had rejected them. To Vincent, the young man was…or had been…irreplaceable, precious, in a way that was different from his brother Gilbert.

Involuntarily, Vincent took a step forward. Unconsciously, he drew nearer, reaching for Ada in her men’s costume.

He caught her arm, pulled her nearer. He wanted to get a closer look at her.

Vincent’s eyes began at Ada’s head and traveled down. Hair bound into a braid, emerald eyes, the slender bridge of the nose, the lips.

Jack

His eyes traced her figure, and soon reached her chest.

—Not Jack?!

Vincent gave a full-body shudder, as if he’d been struck by lightning.

Even in men’s clothing, there was no way to hide Ada’s chest. It pushed up the jacket from the inside, asserting its ample curves. It was a magnificent bosom, the sort that no doubt earned her the envy of many women.

“What’s wrong?” Ada looked at Vincent anxiously. Then, following the direction of his gaze, she realized what it was focused on. A small cry escaped her, and she covered her chest with her arms.

Her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment, and although she was trying to say something, the words wouldn’t come.

“I, um, uh, Vincent-sama…”

What in the world is this woman?! Must she be so confusing…?!

He stared at the chest Ada was trying to hide as if it had been his enemy for long years. He glared.

The blood rushed to his head; it felt as if his veins would burst. Combined with the accumulated fatigue, it made his head reel.

He staggered. Hastily, Ada put out her hands to support him.

“Are you all right, Vincent-sama?!”

“I’m fine… I’m just a little tired; that’s all. If I could rest on a sofa…”

He spoke faintly, and Ada hastily called to a nearby server.

Guided by the server, the two of them entered a guest room.

Vincent lowered himself weakly onto a sofa by the window, leaning into its back.

Soon he drifted, sinking into a light doze. His consciousness receded.

Then, for a little while, he dreamed.

Jack was in the dream. A distant scene from a century ago. Himself, very young, playing with Jack.

He was also in the dream somewhere, watching the two of them from up above. It was that sort of dream.

The child-Vincent was smiling with an innocence he couldn’t even imagine from his current self.

I look like I’m having fun…

As he thought this, his mind surfaced again.

He was aware that he was in a private room in the salon. However, his mind was still half-asleep, and he felt light, as if he were floating.

Without much thought, he looked to the side. Ada was there, sitting on the sofa just as he was, looking at him. Her gaze was solicitous, kindly watching over him. When his dazed eyes met hers, she gave a faint smile.

Jack

In reality, Ada didn’t look all that much like Jack.

However, those emerald eyes were just like his. Although the resemblance might have been emphasized by the men’s clothes she wore, her features certainly seemed to make it clear that she and Jack belonged to the same bloodline. These things made them overlap in Vincent’s mind, although their genders were different.

The shape of someone he thought he’d never see again.

“Vincent…sama.”

Ada spoke softly.

Her voice came from right beside him, and yet it also seemed as though he was hearing it from somewhere far away.

As she looked at him, her emerald eyes were filled with an endless calm.

“You had that expression in your eyes when you looked at me earlier, too. Have you mistaken me for someone else?”

Ada’s voice reached Vincent’s mind like water slowly soaking in.

“Yes. Someone who was kind to me, long ago…”

For some reason, he answered honestly. Ada’s voice responded to his, gently, as if embracing him: “I see.”

She hadn’t urged him on at all, but Vincent continued:

“He always had a kind smile… When I was with him, before I knew it I’d find myself smiling, too… It made me happy just to be with him.”

“You liked him, didn’t you.”

“Yes. He was special… A very special person—”

Thoughts he’d never spoken of, had never intended to speak of, to anyone, fell from his lips without any resistance.

Even so, it didn’t feel unnatural to him.

However.

“Truly precious—”

Why am I blabbering on so? I’ve never told these things to anyone…

As he kept speaking, a tiny doubt was born in a corner of his mind.

Gradually, little by little, it expanded, until Vincent came back to himself with an awful jolt.

!!

Immediately, he flushed red. He started away from the backrest as if stung, clapping a hand over his mouth. It was as if he was trying to swallow the words he’d spoken back down again. Even as he was engulfed by shame and confusion, Vincent managed to speak in a strangled voice:

“…I’m sorry. I’ve been saying odd things. Forget…”

He trailed off without finishing the sentence.

His eyes turned to Ada. This time, she was the one leaning against the back of the sofa, breathing lightly, fast asleep.

She must have been tired as well: While she was waiting for the rest of what he was saying, she’d fallen asleep.

Vincent gazed at Ada coldly.

With a small snort at her defenselessly sleeping form, he leaned back, resettling himself. At that, Ada promptly stirred, and her head came to rest lightly on Vincent’s shoulder. Ada leaned on him, and her sleeping face was perfectly at ease.

He opened his mouth to say something, but in the end, he shut it again without saying anything.

It would have been easy to shove her head away.

But.

Today really is a plague day—

Vincent let her stay that way for a while.

When they left Silver Moon Garden, the sunlight was slanting, and the sky had begun to turn vermillion.

Back in their own clothes, Vincent and Ada walked away from the mansion’s gate. All that was left to do now was return to the memorial park where they’d met that morning and go their separate ways. The two of them didn’t speak much as they walked. The long day was finally over.

Vincent thought he couldn’t remember ever living through a day that had tired him so much.

“Um, could you leave the choice of where we go today to me?”

“Thank you, Ada-sama.”

If I’d only refused her then, the day wouldn’t have turned out like this…

He felt like lodging a complaint with his former self.

As Vincent walked down the cobbled street, a black carriage passed by him, traveling in the opposite direction. When, absently, he turned his head to watch it, following it with his eyes, he saw the carriage stop in front of Silver Moon Garden. A new visitor, apparently.

Vincent’s gaze grew contemptuous. A lowbrow aristocrat, come to play dress-up, he thought, acidly.

The carriage door opened, and a man emerged.

That’s…

At the sight of the man who’d disembarked at the gate, Vincent stopped, and his eyes widened slightly.

…Basil.

The man who’d left his carriage and hurried into Silver Moon Garden certainly was the head of the Basil family. It was the man Vincent had been pursuing for a while. The obnoxious fly that was snooping around the House of Nightray.

To think he’d spot a man in a place like this who’d been so careful not to give himself away…

I may be able to use this.

A thin smile appeared on Vincent’s lips.

Seeing Vincent stop, Ada stopped, too. “What is it?” she asked.

He shook his head—It’s nothing—and began to walk again.

He felt as if this plague-ridden day, during which he’d been dragged around endlessly, might have finally paid off a bit.

In the end, even this woman was mildly useful…

When he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, Ada seemed to sense his gaze. She turned to him, smiling shyly.

He smiled back at her.

“That was a very nice place, Silver Moon Garden. I liked it.”

6

By the time they reached the memorial park, the sunset had dyed the whole sky vermillion.

Beside the main gate, in front of the bench on which Ada had been sitting when they met, Vincent said good-bye:

“All right, Ada-sama. Let’s meet ag—”

“Um!”

Ada spoke, interrupting him. Her expression was uncertain, as if she wasn’t sure whether it was all right to ask.

“What is it?”

“Well, um… Did you enjoy yourself today?”

Apparently she was concerned about the results of the date she’d taken charge of.

How should I answer that? Vincent thought. Even if he couldn’t outright rail at her, Ada was dense, and she probably wouldn’t notice a little abuse.

“I did…Ada-sama.”

The line he spoke wasn’t the least bit sincere. Ada looked relieved.

Vincent continued:

“Only next time—”

He was planning to lace the following words with sarcasm.

However, when he’d gotten that far, a scene unexpectedly surfaced in Vincent’s mind.

The yard at the care facility.

Ada reading a picture book, surrounded by the orphans.

The brothers, listening eagerly.

The warm smile Ada had given them.

For a brief moment, these things flickered through Vincent’s mind.

“Next time—”

His lips moved, half-unconsciously. Ada was waiting for his next words.

“Would you read a book of some sort to me as well?”

Even he didn’t know why he’d blurted out such a request. Ada didn’t seem to have expected it, either; for a little while, she looked blank. Then she realized that Vincent was referring to her reading aloud at the care facility, and she broke into a delighted smile.

When she spoke, Ada looked straight at Vincent:

“Yes. When I do, I’ll read it just for you, Vincent-sama.”

That warmth—

She spoke with the same warm smile she’d given the brothers at the facility.

Having parted with Ada, Vincent walked down the road to the Nightray manor.

He was tired. He wanted to hurry back to the manor and sleep. He shot a cold glance up at the evening sky.

I wish it would hurry up and get dark.

He hated bright places. He felt as if he didn’t belong in them.

Under a clear blue sky, under a warm evening sky… Neither world was meant for him.

Vincent preferred night. Especially black nights with no moonlight, when darkness covered everything.

It was as if he hoped it would blot out his own existence as well.

…But for just a little longer—

Yes. As long as it was at the very end of this plague day, the likes of which he’d probably never see again.

For the time until I reach the manor, I suppose it’s all right…

Vincent walked along, under the evening sky.

As he walked, he wondered what sort of book that woman would bring, next time they met.

~ Fin ~