CH 71

Not A Lonely Festival (12)

Did Senior Jimbo feel the same way as I did now when he reached out to me earlier? My heart was shaking and I felt anxious. I lowered my head in nervousness for no reason, but I could feel him gently grabbing my hand. Surprised by the warmth, I raised my head and saw Leto’s face that was holding back a smile. He gripped my hand tighter with a delighted expression, as if he hadn’t expected me to invite him to a dance first.

Before I could say anything, Leto led me with the music. My body moved along with him slowly.

Following his steps, he made a move and spun my body around. Before I knew it, I was smiling, and so was Leto. As soon as the music was over, another cheerful song appeared, and me and Leto hummed and swayed with each other. Then, I inadvertently stepped on his shoes, and unlike me, who was embarrassed, Leto smiled once, saying it was okay.

“It rather refreshes me.”

“Would you like me to refresh you some more?”

At my words, Leto politely declined. We lost track of time and after dancing to a few more songs, we sat on a bench from exhaustion. Soft music began to play again and the atmosphere gradually flourished. I shook my legs and looked up with a refreshed mood. A cool breeze fell on my face with the pretty stars.

“It’s a pity that my promised partner didn’t come, but it was still nice.”

At my words, Leto felt a little stung and didn’t say anything. In fact, rather than disappointed, I was very satisfied. I was able to dance with Leto Arsene’s original form! I lowered my head and looked at his face again. Despite being covered by a mask, his face was beautiful. It was similar to when his woman form, but as expected, Leto looked cool and better in his original form.

Tall figure, short red hair and sharp features, as well as his large masculine hands and broad shoulders.

“Stop staring……”

He then covered my eyes with his large palm. I tried to remove his hand, but Leto suddenly put strength into it and opened his mouth.

“A while ago…the guy in front of you was handsome.”

The guy in front of me?

Was he talking about Senior Jimbo?

“You mean Senior Jimbo?”

When I asked, he nodded. It was cute how he feigned ignorance even though he clearly knew it was Senior Jimbo.

“……Do you like him?”

“You just asked me earlier if I liked girls.”

“Well, I heard it from my sister. You also liked good looking people.”

How on earth does Leto think of me?

“Who doesn’t like good looking people?”

“So you like him?”

When I replied casually, he asked again.

“Hmm……I like Leah. I want to make her happy.”

My heart just fluttered. Every time I uttered a word, I felt a tingling sensation, which felt both good and strange. Believing that it was a sufficient answer, I tried to remove Leto’s hand from blocking my view, but he still wouldn’t let go. As he was still blocking my view, I was wondering if he had anything to say.

“I, I’m sure my sister feels the same way.”

Those words made me burst into laughter.

“……Don’t laugh.”

“I hope so. In fact, Leah didn’t like me very much at first.”

“……You should just cling even more.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

He instantly made an immediate excuse.

“So when are you going to remove your hand?”

At my question, he finally let go. At the same time, he took off my mask. I looked blankly at my mask in Leto’s hand, puzzled by the sudden coldness around my eyes.

“What are you…”

“Pretty.”

I gulped at his words. Gently looking at me while raising the corners of his mouth, he commented.

“You look prettier without the mask.”

“…….”

What’s this? I felt my face heating up. I’ve obviously heard of this before, but when it came out of Leto’s mouth, it felt different. After backing away from shyness, I tried to snatch my mask from his hand. But Leto, instead of returning the mask, stretched his arm up so I couldn’t reach it.

Leto, in his woman form, was already quite tall, but his original form was much taller. It goes the same with the length of his arms. No matter how much I whined, I couldn’t reach his hand, so I rose up from my seat. I unintentionally buried Leto’s face in my chest. He hurriedly pulled his head back, and I succeeded in catching my mask from that chance.

“Got it!”

I turned my head excitedly and saw Leto’s face right below mine. Have we ever been this close? As if time had frozen, Leto and I looked at each other silently. Surprised, the two of us stopped in place and observed each other’s faces with our eyes.

The dense air sank into my body. My heart was not only trembling, but it was beating like it was going to explode. It was the same for Leto as I felt his heart beating under my hand that pressed against his chest. It was fast. Maybe faster than mine.

“……I want revenge.”

It was Leto who came to his senses first. He suddenly stuck his head out and pressed his lips against my cheek.

“……!”

What was happening? As I was still trying to process the situation, Leto took his chance and began pouring kisses on my cheek. The pecking sound felt deafening. No, this was a bizarre act. He gradually began to smile and nuzzled his lips against my cheek before hugging me tightly.

“I have no ulterior motive. This is simply revenge.”

“What do you…”

Then, memories of the past flooded in like a flashlight. Right, after winning the cricket tournament, I kissed him on the cheek. Was this revenge really considered a revenge?

“Bree! Where are you?”

I heard Bona’s voice. I got up from my seat as Leto’s chest tightly hugged me. I couldn’t think of anything as the moment suddenly came to a halt and I couldn’t figure out what to say. I think I should probably head to Bona soon, but I didn’t want to part ways with Leto like this. I was standing there motionless, but Leto swiftly placed my mask on.

“…….”

“Go ahead.”

“But, I need to tell you……!”

“Later. See you next time, Bree.”

He pushed me on the back and moved his feet. I watched Leto’s figure that quickly disappeared from my sight. My heart was still trembling.

“Bree? There you are! Who were you with? He looked like a really handsome guy earlier! He was kind of my type. Huh?”

In the end, Bona appeared next to me and asked continuously.

“Bree?”

Oh my god, what just happened? I still couldn’t forget the touch of his lips. Gently touching my cheek, I noticed that it became hotter than any other area.

Fireworks exploded in the night sky again. The festival was over.

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Leto returned to the dormitory, and we acted like nothing had happened. Sometimes, my heart would tremble when I saw him, but I was also relieved to see Leto’s usual appearance. We started to study again. Once again, the students who enjoyed the festival held onto a pencil again, but they seemed to be holding on until the upcoming vacation.

And after three days had passed, Bona called for Leto and me. She said she had something to show us, and quickly dragged us to the main entrance of the academy. 

In front of us was Reze. Unlike usual, Reze was stiff with a tense look. I was wondering why, but soon a carriage appeared in front of him.

“M-Mother.”

“From now on, you will stay in the mansion.”

“B-But!”

“What are you doing? Why aren’t you getting on?”

Turns out, his atrocities were spreaded to his house. Thanks to Bona.

“I’m pretty close to his mother. I told his mother about this and that, and she came rushing right away, didn’t she? And that’s not all. I even told his brother everything he had done so far. So he’ll probably go back to his mansion and suffer quite a bit. I’m sure his brothers will drag Reze to make him apologise to Vivian later. Fortunately, Reze’s older brothers are sane people.”

Then, why was Reze the only one like that? A few days later, as Bona had said, Reze appeared at the academy with a pitiful face and apologised to Vivian in front of everyone.

When Reze hesitated, his brother that accompanied him, poked Reze’s shoulder. At that sight, I couldn’t tell if this was an academy or a preschool for children. When the person involved didn’t apologise, their family ended up being involved. 

That was not the end. An article was posted on the noticeboard reporting that Reze, who showed a disappointing performance during the cricket tournament, did not actually participated in the training properly. Anyone could see that it was Bona’s work. In the end, Reze, who was criticised by the students, chose to take a leave of absence.

“Wow…”

I read the hand-written report. It was an article that suggested the method to test and select the main cricket players should be changed, mentioning Reze’s training attitude and the mental test Leto pointed out during his speech. 

All of this was prepared by Bona.

“Amazing…”

Certainly, the coolest one was definitely Bona. 

“Can I call you older sister from now on?”

There have been many changes since then, but there was one thing that changed in particular.

“Bree.”

I turned my head. There stood Vivina, Bona and Leto. Bree, the voice that called me just now was none other than Leah, no. It was Leto Arsene. He looked at me in front of the noticeboard and beckoned me to come quicker.

“Aren’t you coming?”

“I’m coming!”

Leto, who had always called me Briseis or Pierre, now warmly called me by my nickname. With that nickname alone, I felt the wall that was between Leto and I crumbled down.

It was a good sign.