Volume 3 - CH 1.5

The dry wind of early summer that blew in through the skylight ruffled Kazuya’s forelocks. He was gaping at the red ring, his mouth hanging open. The tropical trees and the garish flowers stirred.

Victorique had turned her back on Kazuya and returned to her world of books. Kazuya waited for a while, but when she did not say anything, he reluctantly called to her.

“Then what?”

No answer.

“How does it work? You made such a big deal out of it, so there must be something. Come on, tell me.”

“…”

“Victorique. Can you tell me—”

Victorique raised her head and looked over her shoulder. “You’re still here?”

“Yes! I was waiting for your explanation.”

Victorique stared at him blankly, confused. “I’m reading a book. Could you please be quiet?”

“Victorique!” Kazuya suddenly shouted.

Victorique’s eyes widened in surprise. Her cheeks puffed. “Keep it down, Kujou.”

“I’m just curious.”

“But I’ve grown tired of poking fun at you.”

“You little… Why?!”

“Because you are a simpleton, I imagine.” She turned her back again.

“I’m warning you. I’ll get mad. Sometimes your insults are just too much. Some nights I wonder that maybe you actually hate me.”

Kazuya thought he saw a slight change in the expression on Victorique’s face. Was she perhaps concerned that she went too far? He couldn’t really see her face from where he was.

Victorique, however, pursed her lips tight. “Stop bothering me,” she snorted. “I’m reading a book.”

Kazuya went silent, miffed.

Another wind blew. The dazzling sunlight of early summer was pouring in through the skylight. Victorique’s golden hair, hanging like an untied velvet turban, glistened.

A wisp of white pipe smoke rose toward the ceiling.

“Kujou,” Victorique finally said without looking up. “Left bookshelf, seventeenth from the top, twentieth from the left.”

“…What?”

“A book. Just bring it to me.”

Irritated, Kazuya silently got up his feet. With rhythmic footsteps, he descended the narrow wooden stairs, grabbed the book Victorique asked for, and came back.

“Seventh line from the top of the seven hundredth page,” Victorique said curtly.

“…Hmm?” Kazuya sat down beside her and began flipping through the thick book.

It was a book about rare gemstones. On the seventh line from the top of the 700th page, there was a description of a gemstone called an alexandrite.

“Ah…” Kazuya nodded.

Alexandrite was a gemstone that magically changed color to dark red when exposed to artificial light and to dark green when exposed to natural light. Since ancient times, fortune-tellers and the like had used its unique characteristic for magic. And there was a time when it was misused as a stone that held evil powers by colonials who spread their native religions, such as devil worship that swept Europe at the end of the last century.

Now that he thought about it, when the gem turned dark green, Victorique was holding it toward the sunlight streaming in through the skylight, and toward the bright lamps in the conservatory when it turned dark red.

“I see.” Kazuya nodded. “The gemstone on your ring is an alexandrite.”

“You thought it was magic, didn’t you?”

“N-No way! I admit, I was a little, no, very freaked out. But…”

Victorique regarded Kazuya with a devilish grin on her face. “When I was young,” she said, “I used this ring a lot to threaten Grevil.”

“You mean Inspector Blois?”

“Yes. I was locked up in the tower, and for some odd reason Grevil came to see me every day and silently observed me, which I found quite creepy. I would use the ring to guess things that I had already learned from the Wellspring of Wisdom, and he would get so scared, tears would well up in his eyes.”

“Poor guy…”

Victorique frowned a little, and then leaned forward. “That’s not all. I had glowing messengers from hell run around the room. The fool thought I was a real demon. That’s how I managed to get rid of him.”

“Messengers from hell?”

“Glowing rats.”

“What are those?”

“Why do you care about every little detail?!”

Kazuya went quiet. Victorique didn’t seem to care.

In a weary tone, she added, “While you’re at it, open the same book to page one thousand two. It’s the fifth line from the bottom.”

“Hmm?”

Kazuya opened the book to the page she indicated.

There was an entry about a rare fluorite called a Blue John. It was a kind of crystallized mineral collected in limestone caves in England. Because of its blue-white phosphorescence, it had been used since ancient times for drinking cups and buildings. Apparently, since the last century mediums had been using it in their seances to make it seem like spirits were appearing.

“So you used this Blue John thing?” Kazuya asked.

Victorique nodded languidly. “Ahuh. I turned it into powder and put it on rats. Grevil was so terrified, he kept glaring at me.”

“But didn’t he get mad when you revealed the trick?”

“Reveal the trick?” Victorique asked curiously.

A wind blew once more. Bells from the campus chapel rang in the distance.

The sun was slowly setting, and the conservatory was filled with the humid evening air.

Victorique stared at Kazuya vacantly for a while, then in a surprised tone said, “I didn’t reveal anything.”

“What?! Why not?!”

“B-Because he ran away before I could say anything. And…” She pouted a little. “It was too much trouble.”

Kazuya didn’t know what to say.

Victorique was always ruthless and devious, yet also childish and weak. Kazuya would actually be furious at her sometimes for being incredibly mean. Still, the reason why he could not fully hate Victorique was because he had come to realize that she treated people other than him differently.

Victorique did not shower others with insults as much as she did to Kazuya. It had nothing to do with manners or friendship. She simply did not care.

Kazuya still remembered the words that Grevil de Blois said to him.

“You don’t realize it yourself, Kujou, but the privilege you enjoy is so odd, it’s like getting free money from an unscrupulous loan shark.”

Even now, Victorique hesitantly explained the magic ring to him, but if it had been anyone else, she would not have told them because it would have been too much trouble.

Taking all this into consideration, he couldn’t really fully hate Victorique.

Kazuya was about to get up and leave, when he remembered something. “Oh, by the way.”

Victorique was still clenching her fists and reading a book.

Not caring if Victorique was listening or not, Kazuya opened the parcel and showed it to her. There was a rustling sound as a light-blue silk kimono unrolled.

Victorique glanced at it. The light-blue kimono and the soft pink obi spread out on the floor like a blooming flower. She ignored it.

“My sister sent this,” Kazuya said. “I know my gifts are weird, but this one should be fine. I thought you might like it as a nightwear. Do you want it?”

There was no answer.

“Okay, then. If you don’t want it, I’ll just take it back with me,” he said, crestfallen.

“I want it!”

“Really? So you like it, then?” He beamed. “Man, why do you have to be so confusing? So anyway, you tie the obi like this, and this… Hey, look at me.”

Victorique turned her back to Kazuya and said, “With my Wellspring of Wisdom, nothing is impossible.”

“What now?”

“I don’t need you to teach me,” she snapped. “You just don’t know how to keep your mouth shut. We’re done here.”

“Now, listen here…”

Frowning, Kazuya untied the obi from his waist and set it on top of the kimono.

Victorique was still ignoring him.

Kazuya sighed. “See you later, then.”

When he received no reply, he hung his head and slowly descended the wooden stairs.