Fourth Arc: Tenth Chapter

"Come to think of it, how is Anje doing? She got caught up in such a serious incident. She hasn't fallen ill or anything?"

When the girls' talk hit a lull, I could finally ask the thing that had been on my mind. Holding my breath, watching for the answer, Remie and Lady Julia let out a small laugh.

"Lady Julia?"

As I widened my eyes, puzzled, the two burst out laughing as if it were terribly funny.

"Hehe, sorry. You had a hard time of it too, and yet here you are, worrying about someone else again..."

"Truly. Well, that's the good thing about Cosette!"

"Ngh! Honestly, Remie, Lady Julia, don't tease me!"

When I protested, face red, the two finally reined in their laughter. Honestly, always teasing!

"Anje is doing well. If anything, she was over the moon at meeting the person she admires."

"Ah... Master Hattori?"

The figure of a strange young man in a ninja cosplay... no, costume, with that odd verbal tic, came back to my mind.

"That's the one! What a curious fellow. He appeared like the wind and vanished in a puff of smoke. It was so smoky, airing the room out was a chore."

...I do think a smoke bomb indoors is questionable, Master Hattori.

"He's a monja, isn't he?"

"Sounds tasty!... no, excuse me. A ninja, I believe."

"A ninja, hm... he said something like 'it is my fate to live in the darkness, so it is,' but that's not an outfit that could ever blend into any darkness."

Acting on Michael's orders, maybe, Hattori had apparently shown up to check on Anje. This morning it was a green-and-orange marbled ninja outfit, it seems. Master and retainer both, Cosette earnestly wished they'd review their sense of style just once.

"...W-well, anyway, I'm relieved Anje is well."

"Yes, it's truly good that everyone's safe."

Letting out a relieved breath, just as I went to wet my throat with the cooling tea, something vivid and emerald-green seemed to cross between the pillars of the colonnade around the inner garden.

"Huh...?"

"What's wrong, Cosette?"

Emerald-green. That color, you could even call it fluorescent green, woke a bad memory in me, and a cold shiver ran down my spine. But no matter how hard I stared at the pillars, no figure appeared from them.

"Hey, Cosette? Is something really the matter?"

"Huh, ah, Remie..."

At Remie's voice, peering at me with concern, I could finally move my gaze from the pillars.

"Ah, i-it's nothing. I just spaced out for a moment."

That color must be an even worse one for Remie than for me. No, not the color. The person who wore that color.

"...Maybe I am a little tired after all. Perhaps I'll rest for today."

"Yes, sorry for barging in and staying so long."

"I'll come to check on you again. Rest well."

I smiled vaguely, thanked them for the visit, and saw the two off.