My stepmother's burden is my ex-girlfriend.

Page 242

...Perhaps I should have told the truth just now.

However, I have completely forgotten how to tell the truth.

Mizuto Irito ◆ Something that once only existed behind books

"Oh my god! There's a face on the ceiling!"

"I think it's a scene of Holmes peering into something—the 'Musgrave Ritual'? But that's Holmes gazing down into a basement or something, and he shouldn't even know Watson yet..."

"Oh! This is Holmes' room! Strange? Why are there two mannequins here? Which one is Holmes? Neither of them is wearing one of these coats."

"Xiaoyue, nobody wears a coat indoors. Besides, this kind of outfit is originally an illustrator's creation—"

"These bullet holes on the wall? What do they say? They look like they spell out 'VR'. Virtual Reality?"

"Victoria! The Queen of England at the time! Those were bullet holes Holmes made in the wall out of boredom!"

On the second floor of the British Pavilion—a simulated space transformed into the world of Sherlock Holmes—Yui fully embraced her homebody nature.

This girl, who usually puts on airs like a model student, rarely reveals her true homebody nature like this. It's clear that the Gothic atmosphere of this exhibition hall and the space recreating the world of Sherlock Holmes truly moved her.

...However, if I remember correctly, Yui probably prefers the works of Christy or Quinn to Sherlock Holmes—but Sherlock Holmes is already considered a must-read classic by those who love mystery and detective stories, so it probably has nothing to do with mere personal preference.

After touring the entire museum, we then arrived at the garden.

"Wow...it's a perfect garden!"

A white flagstone path winds around flowerbeds planted with various flowers, grasses, and garden trees. Just as Nan described, it's a standard Western-style garden, but in a secluded corner, there's an area recreating a London Underground station—Baker Street Station.

Under the white roof, benches were set up for people to meet and wait. To the left, further in, stood a life-size standee of Sherlock Holmes wearing a black cloak-like coat.

Upon seeing that area, Isana immediately sat down on a bench by the back wall and took a deep breath.

"Let's take a short rest. After all, we climbed uphill."

"Yeah, I think I'm getting a little tired too..."

I think you were too excited and got tired of playing.

Yui and I followed Isana to the bench and sat down, while Minami shouted, "Yay! Take a picture of me! Take a picture of me!" Showing her sunny disposition, she stood next to the life-size Sherlock Holmes stand-up. Just as I watched Kawanami take her picture…

"Hmm..."

Izana, who was standing next to her, took out a tablet computer from her luggage.

Then she turned on the camera, taking in the garden and the British Pavilion that occupied her view, and snapped a photo. She stared at the photo for a while, then opened some kind of app and pulled a stylus from the pen slot in her tablet case.

Then, she placed the tablet on her lap and began to write on the screen.

"Are you drawing here?"

"It's just a sketch—"

In just over ten seconds, a villa had taken shape on the tablet screen. Then, without hesitation, Isana began to paint intricate decorations on it.

"Hmm... so drawing it like this creates a Western style..."

While touring the museum, Isana kept paying attention to the design of the walls and ceilings, as well as the furniture arrangement, taking pictures of everything she saw. It was as if she knew intuitively what information was needed for drawing.

"........."

I'm not an editor or a producer, just an ordinary high school student... but I can make some judgments.

To determine who is talented and who is not.

My irrational side tells me that she is clearly the former. Not based on the current level of her work, but from a holistic perspective including the direction of her thinking and the benchmarks of her actions, I judge Higashito Isana to belong to the so-called genius type.

Talent doesn't have to wait long to sprout. There are geniuses who can win all kinds of competitions in elementary school, and there are geniuses who don't start writing until adulthood and become contemporary masters.

For her, her first year of high school was probably the beginning of her growth.

As an ordinary otaku, she could satisfy her desires simply by imitating existing works. During this period, she shifted her focus to improving her skills—in retrospect, she would definitely consider that to be the turning point that divided the two periods—and I am now very likely to have witnessed that moment.

Before I knew it, my eyes were glued to the rapidly increasing resolution of the painting of the mansion. A plain, unremarkable square, gradually transformed with the addition of pillars, windows, balconies, railings, and depth—

—Just then, my other hand, which wasn't on Isana's side, was grabbed by someone.

The grip wasn't strong, and there was no pulling motion. It was just a cool, gentle touch that lightly covered my hand. This small movement startled me, and I turned to look in that direction.

Jie Nu's gaze remained fixed on her knees, while she placed her hands on mine.

It's like they want me to stay.

He didn't say anything, nor did he look at me.

"........."

"........."

Jie didn't make any decisions. She didn't even express her thoughts or demands to me with her eyes.

So, this is probably just wishful thinking on my part.

I was surprised to find that her profile looked somewhat lonely.

...Just now, did I almost abandon her?

I don't know. I can't judge for the moment. Is this just my negative delusion? Or is it, just as I judge that Isana is truly talented, my instincts are also making this judgment from a holistic perspective?

However, two facts remain in my mind.

One is that I do like Irito Yume.

Another one is—for a completely different reason, I am gradually being drawn to Higashito Isana.

Haba Jouji ◆ Their Exclusive Luck

My fixed position never changes. It's always at the very back of the group, the spot cut off by the backs of everyone walking ahead. So right now, I'm two steps behind, watching the backs of Kurenai and Asuhain.

Hong spoke to her junior with composure and poise, while Asuhain seemed a little nervous, replying to her idolized senior. Although Hong was also incredibly quick to make friends, Asuhain had been admiring her for half a year and didn't seem to be used to speaking to her normally yet.

We walked like this for a few minutes. Climbing up the narrow, sloping alley, a villa with a cylindrical tower gradually came into view.

It's like a typical Western-style house from a mystery novel—its off-white exterior walls are covered with fish-scale-shaped stone slabs, hence its nickname, "Fish Scale House." Even the name sounds like something out of a mystery novel.

Only a handful of unusual guests visited this place—of course, that didn't happen; a group of tourists, seemingly university students and senior citizens or something, also came as usual and entered the mansion before us.

We followed them through the gate, joined the other tourists in queuing, checked in at the reception desk, and then entered the front yard of the villa.

In the very center of the front yard stands a bronze statue of a wild boar, as large as a human.

Kurenai and Asuhain walked along the straight, rough gravel path, approaching the boar statue.

"Happy Little Pig..."

Asahi-no-in looked at the information board standing next to the bronze statue and read it aloud.

Hong also went over to look at the information board and said:

"It says that touching the pig's nose will bring good luck. Look, everyone touches its nose, making it shiny."

"Wow, it really is. It's like only the nose is made of gold..."

"Mr. Happy Pig might be getting tired of being touched so much. So let's be polite and touch him as gently as possible."

"But I think Chairman Hong doesn't need to pray for good luck anymore..."

"No, not at all. Lan, it's such a great honor for me that you're willing to travel with me—no, even just getting to know you is an incredible stroke of luck for me."

"N-no, no, that's not true...!"

I always think that if Hong Tongxue were a boy, she would definitely have a lot of luck with girls. I really admire her for being able to say such cheesy things so seriously—and what's so amazing about Hong Lingli is that she doesn't sound like she's joking when she says these things.

...I'm not kidding.

I have to say, it was incredibly lucky that Asuha-in was willing to come sightseeing with me—if it were just me and Kurenai, I wonder what kind of "joke" she would use to deal with me.

After touching the pig's nose for a while, the two turned around and stepped aside, allowing me to stand in front of the bronze statue.

I'm not the type to believe in things like "energy attractions"—but since I'm already here, I might feel like I'd be missing out if I didn't touch them a couple of times.

I gently reached out, ready to touch the wild boar's golden, bald nose—

—A hand quickly reached out from the side and touched the tip of my nose along with mine.

“…………!”

Hong, who reached out her hand, leaned closer to look at my face and smiled.

"Now, both you and I will be blessed with good fortune."

She placed her little finger on top of my little finger that was touching the pig's nose and said:

"So—what kind of luck do you wish to pray for?"

She chuckled, as if she was amused by my expression.

Several thoughts flashed through my mind in an instant, but none of them materialized. I looked away from Hong and tried my best to answer calmly:

"...A nobody like me can't imagine anything big."

"I see. So that's what 'Let your imagination run wild' means."

Hong quickly withdrew her hand from the bronze statue and turned around again.

then,

"(I promise you, I will give you the greatest luck. You'd better look forward to it.)"

She left a sweet whisper in my ear and then ran off to find Asuhain-kun.

"........."

I was a beat slow to let go of the bronze statue, and as I chased after the two of them, I tucked my little finger, which still had a slight touch, into my palm.

—Don't be presumptuous. Don't be presumptuous. Don't be presumptuous.

From behind, where only I could see, Hong stood out and raised her little finger, making her own statement.

Star-edge remote guidance ◆ An empty shell with no desires

"Senior, there's a place I'd like to visit in Estonia!"

Ya Shuang wrapped her arm around mine and pulled me forward.

Ever since we first met in the student council, Ya Shuang has always been like this. She's never afraid of being rejected and boldly enters other people's hearts without hesitation.

I guess she's the kind of person who needs someone with her at all times to feel secure. After all, she loudly proclaimed, "I joined the student council just to be loved by everyone." However, ever since she went too far with Haba and angered Akira, she's completely shifted her focus to me.

Of course, I don't know how many times I've been annoyed to death by her—I should say, I've never stopped thinking that way—but what's incredible about this junior is that she always manages to make it impossible for me to refuse her outright.

How should I put it... After all, she worked in the student council alongside someone like Hong for a year, so she's definitely not an unreliable person—but at the same time, she gives off a feeling that if you abandon her, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Seeing how she clings to someone like me, I know she definitely doesn't have many friends. What does she plan to do after I graduate? Although it's none of my business, I have to admit I'm a little worried.

Now, I've even become inseparable from the student council—I initially just wanted to check things out, I didn't intend to stay this long.

Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I realize that the former administrative officer who's busy preparing for the big exam seems more impressive than me.

"Aisa saw online that there's an energy-themed spot that can grant wishes!"

They were so close they could feel each other's breath, yet Ya Shuang's voice remained excited and thrilled.

"Ah—" I understood immediately and said:

"An energy-themed attraction, huh? I knew you'd like that kind of thing."

"Huh? Why?"

"You're definitely the type who was obsessed with black magic in middle school."

"Aisha... Aisa has never been infatuated with that kind of thing."

"Look me in the eyes first."

Clearly flustered, Ya Shuang's gaze darted around, and she pouted mischievously, saying:

"You can't blame Aisha! All middle school girls are like that! They're either drawing magic circles in their notebooks or watching gory horror movies! Senior, you've probably had bandages wrapped around your arms before, right?"

"Who still acts so obviously like a teenager these days... I've been playing basketball all along, I simply don't have the time to indulge in such meaningless displays of masculinity."

"Wow, those classmate with such high standards are really something. You must have had a lot of admirers back then."

"I don't know, I don't quite remember."

"Stop lying to me~ Aren't all the guys on the basketball club just chasing women all day?"

"Can you please stop spreading such false prejudices?"