CHAPTER 4

SCHOOL FAIR RHAPSODY II

Miluše, the leader of Rusalka, had a corner suite on the top floor of the dormitory at Queenvale Academy for Young Ladies.

It was only thanks to being the school’s third-ranked fighter that she was able to stay there. To Mahulena, who was both unranked and Rusalka’s youngest member, it was like being in heaven.

But while Mahulena might have once yearned to live in this kind of place, she had long since been disillusioned of such admiration and envy. For better or for worse, that was probably not unrelated to the fact that she had been selected to join Rusalka, the second-most popular entity at Queenvale.

Sylvia really is amazing, but these people are something else entirely…

Mahulena let out a brief sigh before knocking at the door.

“Come on, Mahulena,” came Miluše’s exasperated voice as the door swung open. “You’re late.”

“Sorry. The chairwoman wanted to talk to me.”

“Oh? I guess there’s no helping it, then. Anyway, hurry up. Everyone’s waiting for you.” Miluše led her into the living room.

Miluše—and everyone else in Rusalka for that matter—didn’t tend to think too much about things. Or rather, they thought about them, but the depth of their thinking was like the shallow end of a children’s swimming pool.

Which was why Mahulena, the group’s one member who was capable of understanding important issues—although she didn’t like to think of herself as particularly special—was assigned the task of receiving information and instructions from their manager and explaining it to everyone else in a way they could understand.

“Sorry to keep you all waiting…”

Just as Miluše had said, everyone was sitting around the table.

Even though Miluše’s quarters were unusually spacious, they were so messily strewn with stuffed toys lying here and there, magazines piled up haphazardly on every flat surface, and worn clothes thrown carelessly on the floor, that Mahulena couldn’t even think of a single compliment that wouldn’t come across as sarcastic.

Of course, the cleaners would tidy it all back up again every three days, but it never took long for it to return to this kind of state.

Only the space surrounding the table was cleared of clutter, but judging by the dangerous-looking mounds that lined the walls, the mess had probably been swept aside just before everyone had arrived. Mahulena hesitantly took her seat at the corner.

“All right.” Miluše beamed, her voice as rich and clear as one would expect from the group’s vocalist. “Now that we’re all here, I hereby declare the Conference on Finding a Way to Unseat Sylvia Lyyneheym open!”

“Yeah!”

“All right!”

“I can’t wait!”

“…Yay…?”

It was a routine topic for them, but everyone except Mahulena seemed to be uncharacteristically excited given the fact that it was the seventy-third such conference. The others had probably long since lost count, but it was Mahulena’s job after all to keep records of everything.

Given that they had performed at the Sirius Dome just a few hours earlier and then made the rounds greeting the executives from the integrated enterprise foundations who had come to inspect the school fair, Mahulena couldn’t help wondering where their energy came from.

“Hey! Mahulena, are you listening?” Miluše was leaning forward, snapping her fingers in front of her face.

“Uh, y-yes. Sorry,” the young woman stammered, forcing herself to sit up straight.

“We’re going to come up with an awesome strategy, something that will leave that Sylvia speechless!” Miluše declared, clenching her fists.

“Ah… I’ll do my best,” Mahulena responded, but she knew already that it would be useless.

Of course, that wasn’t to say that Rusalka wasn’t popular. The group had produced numerous worldwide hits, and it was no exaggeration to say that Sylvia was their only real opposition when it came to the charts.

But still, that wasn’t enough for Miluše and the others.

And it wasn’t as if Mahulena herself didn’t think it would be wonderful to take Sylvia’s position at the top of the music scene. She just knew that their opponent was too much for them. Sylvia Lyyneheym was the real thing, the kind of songstress who appeared only once in a hundred years, capable of inspiring devotion in the hearts of girls and old women alike. Rusalka, in contrast, was popular among the younger generations, but they tended to fall flat with older groups.

“Well, do you have any ideas?” Miluše asked, glancing around at her fellow members.

“Okay, then! Let’s start with mine!” Tuulia, the group’s rhythm guitarist, was the first to raise her hand.

“All right, that’s the spirit, Tuulia! Come on, tell us!”

“We should go all out with force! Challenge her to a duel and take her down head-on!”

“…But haven’t we tried that before…?” Mahulena asked tiredly. Even the other members looked unimpressed.

Tuulia had made the same proposal countless times already, insisting that if they couldn’t beat her in the world of music, they could at least defeat her as students of Asterisk. As part of Sylvia’s fame came from being Queenvale’s number one, Tuulia insisted that it would be a terrible blow to her to lose to one of them in battle.

But it wasn’t as if they hadn’t tried that already.

Each of them had challenged Sylvia to a duel, and they’d all been defeated one by one. And Mahulena, who hadn’t even wanted to fight her but had been pressured into it by the others, had been defeated instantly.

Yet Tuulia waved her finger, a smile rising to her lips. “Tsk-tsk… You should let me finish. I’ve been thinking about it since, like, forever. And I’ve finally found her weakness.”

“Her…weakness?!”

Everyone’s eyes turned to Tuulia.

“Right, I’m being totally serious here. Listen, she needs to be able to sing to use her abilities, right? So all we need to be able to do is make sure she can’t sing, and then we can show her who’s best!”

“…It makes sense.” The normally expressionless Päivi, the group’s drummer, nodded.

“But how can we make sure she can’t sing?” Monica, their bassist, asked, head tilted to one side.

Tuulia faltered, seemingly taken aback by the question. To Mahulena, it looked like she hadn’t thought it through that far.

“I mean… Well, for example, like…in the water or something.”

“…You mean duel her underwater?”

Underwater battles weren’t unheard of in exhibition matches, but it would be pretty difficult to arrange that kind of situation for a duel or an official ranking match. It might work if they were to start the battle aboveground and try to lure her into the water, but she would probably have other tricks up her sleeve, like flying above the water’s surface or just freezing it solid. For all they knew, she might even be able to just make the water turn back, like Moses parting the sea.

“Then what about attacking her when she’s got a cold and can’t sing?”

“…Do you think she’d accept a duel in that situation?”

“Okay, then other situations where she can’t sing… Like in a vacuum?”

“…”

Mahulena was surprised not so much at Tuulia’s suggestion as at the fact that she knew that sound couldn’t travel though a vacuum.

“All right, next!” Miluše interrupted with a clap, attempting to restart the conversation.

“I have an idea,” Päivi said, her hand raised. “If Sylvia’s ratings fall, ours should go up. All we have to do is spread some rumors that make her look bad, even if they’re all made up.”

“That’s all well and good, but if it were to get out of hand, Benetnasch might get involved. That wouldn’t be good.”

Queenvale’s covert ops unit, Benetnasch, specialized in manipulating public opinion and had even helped Rusalka reach their current position. If information damaging to Sylvia, the academy’s prize symbol, were to get out, there was no doubt they would intervene.

“So why don’t we just spread a bunch of small rumors about her, nothing so big that they would have to do anything?”

“Oh? Such as?”

“How about we say we saw her pocket a hundred-yen coin she found lying around somewhere?”

“…Anything else?”

“Or we say we saw her ignore a red light?”

Mahulena sighed. At that rate, it would take a century to drag her reputation down.

“Come on, my turn, my turn! I’ve got an idea!” This time, it was Monica with her hand raised. “It won’t matter if Benetnasch gets involved so long as they don’t know it was us, right? So, I mean, like, why don’t we get one of the media clubs to spread it or something?”

Monica might have looked like the cutest and sweetest member of the group, but it was also she who had the most malicious character.

“Hmm, maybe… But there’s no way they’d fall for bogus information.”

Monica let out a quiet, foreboding laugh. “But what if we had real information?”

Everyone’s gazes snapped toward her, their expressions serious.

“Don’t tell me…you’ve got something?”

“It isn’t concrete or anything… But I mean, don’t you think she’s been up to something lately?” Monica asked, extending her thumb suggestively.

Miluše and Tuulia’s faces instantly turned red.

“N-n-no way?!”

“A b-b-boyfriend?!”

“If we can get our hands on some evidence, it’ll turn into a huge scandal. Even Benetnasch won’t be able to make it all go away too easily.”

Certainly, Mahulena thought, if it were true, it could turn into Sylvia’s first—perhaps even her last—major scandal. “B-but are you sure?”

“Who knows? I just happened to overhear the chairwoman say something like that. It’s not like I caught the whole conversation or anything,” Monica said, pulling a stuffed toy to her chest.

Mahulena had to admit that she did feel a touch of respect for her colleague every now and then, especially when she kept pushing the limits of her cunning nature.

Miluše, who had seemed to be deep in thought, suddenly looked up. “Speaking of which, she is taking a break during the school fair…”

“We were only given today’s performance because she turned it down, right?” Mahulena was only stating a simple fact, but she hadn’t been prepared for the other members’ reaction.

“That’s got nothing to do with it!” they shouted in unison, each of them glaring at her in disgust.

“Anyway, what we need to do is find out why she took three days off during one of the busiest times of the year.”

“Yeah, but what are we actually supposed to do? It’s not like we know anyone who can look into her private life, and we can’t exactly ask Benetnasch to do it for us,” Mahulena reminded them.

“Ugh… W-well, I guess not…” Miluše trailed off, until suddenly raising her face and making a loud, excited clap. “Right, that’s it! Why don’t we just check it out ourselves?”

“Huh? U-us…?”

“Why not? We’ve got the day off tomorrow anyway. Let’s find out for ourselves whether or not she actually has a boyfriend!”

“Whaaat?!” Mahulena jumped to her feet, but everyone else seemed to be quite taken by the suggestion.

“Sounds good!”

“Yeah, I’m on board!”

“Ha-ha! This’ll be fun!”

“W-wait, everyone…!” Mahulena urged, trying to calm them all down, but no one seemed to be paying her any attention. “Wouldn’t we be better off spending the time practicing, though…?” she muttered, already half-resigned to her fate.

It was the second day of the school fair. Sylvia was showing Ayato around the lush grounds of Queenvale Academy for Young Ladies.

“I had no idea that everything could be so different. The buildings, the atmosphere…,” Ayato said, taking in the surroundings.

“Well, yeah. But still, the vibe here is pretty similar to Seidoukan, don’t you think? And I guess Gallardworth is pretty orthodox, too. But then you’ve got Le Wolfe and Jie Long and, like we saw yesterday, Allekant. They’re all pretty distinctive.”

After wandering around Seidoukan, they had decided to go to Allekant Académie as well. Ayato had to agree with Sylvia—it was a rather unusual place.

Seidoukan and Queenvale felt more or less like regular schools, but Allekant was more like a research institute. Everything down to the smallest detail seemed designed to emphasize functionality. There had been a lot of research announcements and scientific events but little in the way of actual festivities.

Perhaps that was why the turnout had been somewhat lower than at the other two, Ayato thought.

“This certainly looks like the most crowded one so far… Ah, sorry!” Ayato murmured after bumping into a passerby.

Even though they were strolling along a lakeside path somewhat removed from the center of the academy, without any stalls in sight, the area was still teeming with visitors.

“Come on, Ayato! This is our secret flower garden, after all! It’s not like people can come and visit whenever they feel like it. It’s only natural to want to take a look, don’t you think?”

There were so many boys around that it was hard to imagine that it was actually a girl’s school. What stood out to Ayato the most wasn’t the visitors who had come from outside Asterisk but rather the number of students from the other academies.

“It’s a good thing that everyone’s so honest.” Sylvia chuckled, but her expression at once turned grave, and she turned around, glancing behind her.

Ayato had noticed it, too. “…Is someone following us?”

“It looks like it.”

“Did someone recognize me…?”

“Hmm… Maybe me?”

There was no mistaking it. Someone was following them.

It could have been a fan or possibly a member of the media who had seen through their disguises, but then they seemed to be putting too much effort into hiding their presence for that. Whoever it was, they seemed to have melted into the crowd. They must have realized that they had been noticed.

“They don’t seem to be threatening, but what should we do?”

Sylvia, it seemed, had come up with the same idea that he had. “I don’t want to waste our date, but why don’t we split up for a little while? At least then we’ll know which of us they’re after.”

“Wouldn’t that be dangerous?”

It wasn’t a bad plan, but splitting up also meant dividing their strength.

But Sylvia looked at him with an amused smile. “Thanks for worrying about me, but I am the runner-up of the Lindvolus, you know?”

“…I guess so,” Ayato replied, smiling back at her.

Sylvia ought to be the second-strongest student in Asterisk, at least in theory.

“Besides, I don’t think anyone would try to attack us in a place like this.”

“I can’t argue with that.”

Ayato certainly couldn’t sense anything particularly dangerous about their pursuer.

“Where should we meet…? I suppose we can contact each other whenever we need to, but it might be best to leave the campus. But you probably don’t know this area well, do you?”

Ayato was about to nod, when he suddenly remembered a place that he had been once before. “Ah, I’ve been to this café, though… This one.” He opened a small air-window displaying the place that Eishirou had told him about.

“Ah, I know it. All right!” Sylvia nodded as if that settled it, signaling with her eyes where they should split up.

And with that, they headed straight into the most crowded area in the heart of the academy. They turned in opposite directions at the exact same moment, Sylvia going right, Ayato going left.

Ayato began to increase his pace, taking care so as not to bump into anyone.

The grounds around the campus were filled with greenery. Seidoukan also had a good amount of green spaces, but they were more parklike, while Queenvale’s seemed to be filled with natural groves and hillocks. Of course, Ayato reminded himself, the city was a man-made island, so they were both equally artificial.

After coming out of one of those groves, he came to a sudden stop.

It seemed that he had finally found a quiet area, so he shouldn’t have any difficulty sensing anyone in pursuit.

“…Maybe I lost them?” he wondered aloud.

He scanned his surroundings, but there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary.

Maybe it was Sylvia whom they were following after all, he mused.

“I’d better call her…,” he muttered to himself, taking out his mobile, when he noticed a girl approaching down the footpath in front of him. He began to brace himself for a confrontation but relaxed when he couldn’t sense anything unusual about her.

He let out a brief sigh, moving to give her room to pass. The girl nodded lightly as she walked by.

But then, for some reason, she came to a sudden stop, turning around and staring straight at Ayato’s face.

“…Um, is something wrong?”

“…” The girl tilted her head to one side, a quizzical expression on her face, her long, glossy black hair drooping straight down. “…Ayato?”

“Ah…” He brushed a hand over his glasses and hairband, but everything seemed to be in order. “Um, no, I mean, I’m…” He stood fumbling for some kind of explanation, unable to work out how she had seen through the disguise, when—

“It’s been a long time. It’s me, Yuzuhi,” she said, bowing deeply.

“Yuzuhi…?” he repeated, when the name clicked. “Yuzuhi?! From the Yatsuka Dojo?!”

“The very one!” The black-haired girl, Yuzuhi Renjouji, smiled sweetly.

“B-but…what are you doing here…?”

The last time they had met, Yuzuhi had been learning archery at the Yatsuka Dojo, one of several family branches of the Amagiri Shinmei style.

Among the dojos that taught the Amagiri Shinmei style, the Yatsuka Dojo specialized in passing down the art of archery. The head dojo of course taught archery as well, but it had long since ceased to teach the Master Techniques. For those, students had to go to the Yatsuka Dojo. Not being particularly well suited to archery, Ayato himself had never had a chance to study those techniques, but he had accompanied his sister several times when she’d gone to visit, when he was a kid.

He had gotten to know Yuzuhi during that period, and since they were the same age, they’d spoken to each other often. Nonetheless, he had stopped going to the Yatsuka Dojo once Haruka disappeared, so it must have been years since they’d last seen each other.

“Didn’t anyone tell you? I’ve been a student here at Queenvale since last year,” Yuzuhi said, pointing to her school crest.

“…No, sorry. This is the first I’ve heard of it.” Ayato scratched his cheek, mentally cursing his father.

“I’ve heard about all your achievements. I know it’s late, but I really wanted to congratulate you for winning the Phoenix. I should have gone to see you earlier, but I didn’t want to trouble you…”

From the time they were children, she’d always been incredibly conscientious.

“But you’ve really changed your image! When I was watching the Phoenix, you looked more—”

“Ah, well—can you come with me?” Ayato said, surveying his surroundings, before stepping off the footpath and leading her back into the grove.

Once there, he took off his glasses and hit the switch on the hairband.

“How’s this?”

“…Oh, I see. So it was a disguise.” Yuzuhi nodded.

“Well, it can’t have been that good. I mean, you saw through it right away.”

“That’s not it. Your bearing and your way of walking looked like how we’re taught in the Amagiri Shinmei style, so I thought maybe… It just got me thinking. Sorry for asking out of nowhere like that.”

“You’ve still got sharp eyes…,” Ayato murmured, remembering back when even his father had had to acknowledge her archery skills.

But before she could respond, Ayato’s mobile began to ring.

“Ah… Sorry, can I have a minute?” he excused himself, before opening a small air-window.

“Ayato?” Sylvia asked, her expression hesitant. “Did they follow you?”

“Huh? No, they didn’t come this way… I thought they must have gone after you?”

“Hmm, maybe. I thought I sensed them for a while, but then there was a bit of a commotion, and they disappeared,” Sylvia answered, seemingly disappointed.

“What kind of commotion?”

“I’ll tell you in person,” she said, and the air-window snapped closed.

Ayato wasn’t particularly satisfied with the outcome, either, but he had to admit that it was better than finding themselves dragged into a dangerous situation.

“Sorry, Yuzuhi. It looks like something’s come up. Let’s talk properly some other time.”

“Not at all.” Yuzuhi shook her head. “I’m keeping a friend waiting, too.”

They made their way back to the footpath, bowed to each other in farewell, and headed off in opposite directions, when Yuzuhi turned around with a start.

“Ah, that’s right,” she said as if suddenly remembering something. “There’s something that I should tell you. According to the rumors, you’re going to take part in the Gryps, right?”

“Ah, yeah…”

“So am I.”

“Eh?”

“If we end up being put against each other, please don’t be too hard on me.” Yuzuhi smiled gently, her hair billowing in the wind.

“…Me, too,” Ayato answered with a grin. “What are your teammates like?”

“Well…” Yuzuhi paused for a moment, before answering with a smile. “They’re very fun people.”

It was such a typical answer for her that Ayato couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“Huh? Did I say something funny…?”

“No, sorry. Not at all… Well then, let’s do our best, the both of us.”

“Yes. See you around.”

“Look after yourself.”

They parted ways again, Ayato following the footpath back to the center of the campus.

“…I’d rather not have to fight her, though,” he murmured, his true feelings slipping out.

He had no idea how strong she had become in the years since they had last met, but at the very least she would have a considerable advantage in long-range combat.

The only thing going in his favor was that she didn’t have the fastest reflexes.

If she hadn’t managed to overcome that, he would be able to beat her in close combat, at least.

Of course, that was assuming that he could shorten the distance between them in the first place.

“Well… It should be this way, I think…”

It looked like he had made it back to the main entrance.

The space in front of him was filled with all kinds of stalls and absolutely teeming with visitors.

“…”

But something was wrong. He could feel people’s gazes all turning toward him.

Not the gazes of his pursuers but eyes of pure curiosity.

Not a small number of those milling in front of him came to a stop, staring at him in astonishment. A low buzz had begun to spread among them like ripples fanning out.

“U-um…,” said one girl, stepping out from the crowd, hand outstretched, face bright red. She was wearing a Queenvale uniform, so she must have been a student. “Um, you’re Ayato Amagiri, the Murakumo, right? I’m a huge fan! W-will you shake my hand?”

Only then did Ayato remember that he had removed his disguise.

“Ah, sorry… Actually, I—”

But before he could say anything more, she had already taken his hand in hers and had begun to shake it with an unexpected level of enthusiasm. “Thank you! Um, could I get your autograph, too…?” she asked, handing him a pen and notepad from her bag. “Ah, please write my name, too! Um, Violet, here, yes… Thank you so much!”

The girl left, holding the notepad to her chest like a prize trophy, her face filled with joy.

And then—

“Look! It’s the Murakumo!”

“C-could I get your signature, too…?”

“Can I take a photo?”

“Awesome! Rusalka and the Murakumo!”

Ayato turned around and ran, just as the crowd that had been building around him began to surge forward like an avalanche.

“…I see. That must have been rough,” Sylvia consoled him from across their table at the Macondo.

“I had no idea people would make such a fuss…”

He might have managed to escape from the crowd, but he had arrived at the café long past their arranged meeting time.

But far from reproaching him, Sylvia offered words of consolation. “I told you before, you’re more popular than you realize. And everyone who comes to the school fair is going to be a fan of the Festa, you know?”

“I’ll try to remember that,” Ayato replied, lifting his ice coffee to his lips.

When he was finally able to calm his nerves, he remembered what he had meant to ask her. “By the way, you said something about a commotion?”

“Ah, well, I guess it is related…” Sylvia paused, her shoulders trembling with laughter.

“Sylvie?”

“Hee-hee. Sorry, sorry… You remember Rusalka, that group that had that live concert yesterday, right? It looks like they were wandering around the campus without even trying to disguise themselves. Well, I mean, it looks like they were trying to hide, but all it took was one person to notice them, and…”

“Oh… That must have been quite difficult for them.”

Given the furor that had arisen for him, he could only imagine the uproar that people would have made for real stars.

“It’s been taken care of. Anyway, I lost whoever was following me at the same time.”

“I see…”

It would no doubt be impossible to keep a tail on someone through such mayhem, after all.

“Hee-hee. Those kids…!” Sylvia chortled, unable to control her laughter.

“But you’re amazing, Sylvie. I mean, you’re just going everywhere you want, without anyone seeing through that disguise.”

If she were found out, the chaos would no doubt shake the very foundations of the earth.

“And you’re hanging out with me today… I know it’s probably too late to ask this, but are you sure you’re okay with me around?”

As far as Ayato was aware, Sylvia had never been involved in so much as a single scandal. Of course, the integrated enterprise foundation W&W was backing her, and they would no doubt have put a lid on anything that did pop up—but if, for example, one of the other IEFs were to get involved, it would be difficult to keep the situation under control.

“Hmm, I suppose it would be pretty shocking if people knew I was wandering around the school fair on a secret date, don’t you think? We might even have to hold a press conference to explain everything.” Sylvia’s tone of voice was playful, but to Ayato it was no joking matter.

“N-n-no… I’m being serious.”

“Ha-ha, all right. You don’t need to worry. I’m more experienced than those girls.”

“Experienced?”

“Yep. I’ve been doing this for years, and I haven’t been found out once.”

Her disguise was quite impressive, Ayato had to admit. All she had done was put on a hat, change the color of her hair, and adjust the tone of her voice, and yet she seemed like a totally different person. Her transformation was so complete, Ayato doubted that even he would recognize her if she decided to follow him.

“But still, are you sure you’re one hundred percent okay with it?”

“If something happens, then so be it. Maybe I’ll retire or something?”

“Wha—?! Retire?!”

She had said the words so easily that their sheer gravity almost flew right by him.

“I only chose this position so that I could get as many people as possible to hear my songs. If people don’t want to listen to what I have to say, then there would be no point in continuing.”

The Festa was unmistakably the world’s most popular form of entertainment, so there could be no better stage for communicating with the world.

But could she really fight with that alone?

Perhaps she had read his thoughts, as she began to explain herself. “Of course, I do have another reason, too. I want to be strong.”

“…You’re pretty strong already, Sylvie.”

“Ha-ha, thanks. But I don’t just mean in fighting ability. I’m talking more generally. I want to be a strong person, in my heart, in my position, in everything that I set out to do. So I need to work hard to improve myself.”

She seemed to have a stoic approach to life, Ayato thought.

“Anyway, strong people can do just about anything, don’t you think? So the choices available to me would open up, and I’d be able to help people. The old me was never able to do that.”

“Huh…?”

Her voice had trailed off toward the end. Ayato had no idea what she meant.

But before he had a chance to ask, Sylvia continued, “I do think my current position is worthwhile, and it’s not like I have any regrets or anything. But you know, if all I wanted was for people to listen to my songs, there would be other ways to do that. And there are other things that I want to do, other things that I have to do…”

“What kind of things?” Ayato asked cautiously.

Sylvia looked at him seriously. “Say, Ayato. Since we’re here now, can I ask you something?”

“Huh? All right, I guess…”

“Did you really find your sister?”

“!” Ayato gasped, his expression turning tense.

No one, except of course those directly involved, was supposed to know about Haruka. Nor should his wish from the Phoenix have been public knowledge, either.

“…How do you know about that?”

“I am a student council president, you know. That gives me access to all kinds of information. Like the latest thing I heard—that your sister has been asleep all this time in the hospital.”

“…So you know that much…,” he replied, his gaze turning sharp.

But Sylvia merely let out a deep sigh, visibly relaxing. “I see. So it is true.” She leaned back in her chair, looking up at the ceiling for a short while before continuing. “I’m sorry, Ayato. Saying that kind of thing out of the blue.”

Ayato found himself relaxing at the sight of her usual warm smile. “Why do you ask?”

“I should have started from the beginning. It’s complicated,” Sylvia said, gulping down her now lukewarm coffee. “…The truth is, I’m looking for someone, too.”

“You’re looking…for someone? But can’t you just…?”

When Ayato had been searching for Flora, Sylvia had used her abilities to find her. Surely, she would be able to use her abilities for her own desires…?

She must have read his thoughts yet again, because she flashed him a troubled smile. “I can use my abilities for seeking, but that doesn’t mean I can find whatever or whoever I like. I need to be able to narrow down the range, at least to some extent. The amount of prana it requires depends on the range, after all.”

“I see… So it’s no good if all you know is that they have to be someone in the world.”

“It wouldn’t matter how good you are at seeking, if you tried something like that, you’d use up all your prana in an instant,” Sylvia said with a shrug. “And besides, as I’m sure you know, as long as someone pours enough money into countermeasures, it’s possible to remain completely hidden. Here in Asterisk, each school’s most valuable secrets, all the important buildings in the administrative area, the hospital, and the VIP rooms at all the five-star hotels—they’re all set up that way.”

“So it didn’t work…?”

“Well, I don’t know if I would put it that way…,” she murmured. “I suspected from the beginning that they must be somewhere here in Asterisk, so the range wasn’t a problem. And I did get a reaction.”

“In that case—”

But Sylvia interrupted him with a shake of her head. “No matter what I do, I can’t narrow it down. There’s no doubt that they’re here in this city, but I can’t work out exactly where.” She wasn’t used to getting vague results from her seeking ability, judging by her dispirited tone of voice.

“So there’s no other option but to go around looking in person… Ah, so that was what you were doing back then?”

It was in the Rotlicht, on the outskirts of the redevelopment area, that Ayato had first met Sylvia.

He had always wondered why a world-famous songstress would be out alone in such a place, but it made sense if she was looking for someone.

Maybe, Ayato thought, that was also the real purpose of their three-day date.

“Yep. Whenever I can make time, I go out looking for them. And the redevelopment area is the most likely place to look.”

“The most likely…?”

Sylvia paused for a moment before continuing. “…The person who I’m looking for…they took part in the Eclipse.”

“…”

So that was it.

If she knew that Haruka had also taken part in the illegal tournament, Queenvale’s intelligence organization would have to be really something.

“So I thought that if they had found your sister, maybe you would have heard something that could help me…”

“I see.”

If that was the case, she would surely have been disheartened to learn about the state that Haruka was in.

“I don’t have a lot of information about the Eclipse or anything… Ah, don’t misunderstand me. I didn’t have that in mind when I first met you.” Sylvia waved her hands in denial.

“Ha-ha, I know.”

It would have been impossible to plan to meet the way they did.

“After we met, I looked into you a little. When I learned that you were also looking for someone, I felt like we had something in common,” Sylvia said, uncharacteristically embarrassed.

“Sylvia… Can I ask you something?”

“Please.”

“Who are you looking for exactly?”

If she was willing to go to such lengths for them, they must be very important to her. But judging by how she spoke about them, they didn’t sound like a relative, as in Ayato’s case.

Which meant—

“Oh? Do you want to know? But it isn’t what you’re thinking. The person who I’m looking for is a woman,” Sylvia teased. “She’s my teacher.”

“Your teacher?”

“Right. The person who taught me about music, about the world,” she answered, raising a hand to her breast.

It was clear from her way of speaking that she had strong feelings about that person.

“I see. You can ask Haruka directly, if you like, when she wakes up.”

“…Thank you, Ayato.” Sylvia smiled in relief, looking for the first time like a girl of her age. “It feels good to get that off my chest. Well then, shall we go to the next one?”

“Uh… Gallardworth, right? Do we still have time?”

“I can’t afford to waste my day off. Come on!”

“All right…” Ayato, impressed, gulped down the last of his iced coffee.

He felt as if he were finally beginning to understand the person behind the name of Sylvia Lyyneheym.

But he sensed there were still depths to her heart that he had yet to witness.

“Oh my god, being popular is such a drag… Ah-ha-ha-ha…” Miluše let out an exhausted laugh, collapsing onto the sofa in her room.

Despite her attempts to lighten the situation, her tone of voice could hardly be frailer.

It didn’t matter how much she enjoyed being a member of Rusalka, she would always end up like this after several hours of handshaking and autographs.

Even Mahulena was so sapped of energy that she couldn’t lift herself off the floor.

“Argh! We finally get a day off, and we end up spending it signing autographs! Why?!” Monica cried, banging her fists against the bed, no doubt having completely forgotten that the excursion had been her idea in the first place.

“It was all going fine until we started following them.” Tuulia groaned, sitting with her face flat on the table.

Miluše’s room was directly across the hall from Sylvia’s, so they had all taken turns watching her door in secret, waiting for her to come out.

Everything had been going well…until she left her room in disguise, and they set off after her. They’d had to leave in such a hurry that they hadn’t had time to prepare any disguises of their own.

Even so, everyone in Rusalka—everyone except Mahulena, that is—was part of the Named Cult. They should have been able to disguise themselves without any problem. In any normal situation, it would have been inconceivable that any of them could have been found out so easily.

So if there was any one reason for what had happened—

“We should have split up,” Päivi said, giving voice to what they were all no doubt thinking.

If all five of them went out together, they would stand out no matter how well they disguised themselves.

Even the fact that their quarry had realized she was being followed and had tried to shake them off was nothing compared to the trouble of being discovered by their fans. If they’d been working, they would have been able to let their security team take care of them, but they had, after all, taken the day off.

And what was more, if it had been only one or two fans, they might have been able to deal with them, but a whole flood of them? There was nothing they could have done.

“But still!” Miluše raised her voice, standing atop the sofa with her arm outstretched. “We were right!”

“She did seem to be on a d-d-date…”

Even Mahulena had been taken by surprise. She had never expected that Sylvia would risk going out on a date in broad daylight, no matter how good her disguise.

“If only we could have seen who he was…”

“All the photos were from behind. You can’t see his face in any of them…”

They had taken particular care not to be noticed, so they hadn’t been able to get their hands on any clear evidence. Even if they took it to the media, there would be no way of proving anything.

“But you all saw him! The way he carried himself! He has to be important, right? We’ll work it out, we just need to hold on a bit longer!”

At that moment, Mahulena’s mobile began to ring.

“Ah, excuse me,” she murmured, opening up a pitch-black air-window. It was a voice-only call.

A sudden tension ran between her partners. They could all guess who it was.

“Mahulena. I trust you enjoyed your day off.”

“O-of course, ma’am!”

“I’m glad to hear it. The others are all with you, I assume? Tell them that I want to see you all in my office within the next five minutes. I hope that you have an explanation for causing such a ruckus today.”

“U-understood…!”

It was a brief exchange, but it was enough to turn the whole room upside down.

“Arghhh! Sh-she knows! Why—how—did she find out?!”

“…I’d be more surprised if she didn’t hear about it…”

“No! She’s going to give us another lecture…”

“We’ll be lucky if that’s all…”

Monica and Päivi seemed to have already resigned themselves to their fate.

“Argh! This is all her fault! I’ll remember this, Sylvia Lyyneheym!” Miluše cried out.

It was one thing to blame her for their current situation, but voicing it wouldn’t change anything, Mahulena thought with despair.

She let out a deep sigh, racking her brains to at least come up with some excuse, anything at all, that offered a chance at salvation.