Club Trial Entry (3)

“Y-you’re the one who’s been messing up the flowers!”

“…Flowers?”

At the incomprehensible words from the long black-haired girl, I tilted my head.

“Um, look. I think there’s some misunderstanding. This is my first time here today…”

“Don’t lie!”

With her hand holding the trowel trembling, the girl shouted.

“I must have told you all many times! No matter how much you torment the flowers, I won’t give up the club room!”

“…No, I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I said get away from the flowers!”

It was then, as the girl was threateningly waving her small cute trowel.

Through the voice of the girl who was shouting loudly, a familiar voice was heard.

“Princess!! Where are you?!”

“Tch, your gang is here!”

“Delphina isn’t something like a gang…”

“Listen, I’ve remembered your face clearly?!”

The girl, preciously holding the trowel, shouted as she turned her back to me.

Jeez, that’s just asking to get stabbed in the back. You should maintain eye contact and keep your distance.

“Just you wait, once I gather all the club members… I’ll definitely get revenge!!”

The girl quickly ran down the opposite staircase, and shortly after, Delphina appeared on this side’s staircase.

“Princess!”

“Delphina.”

I said as I dusted off my bottom and stood up.

“I’m sorry, suddenly… um, to Edin too.”

“Did you cry?”

“More importantly, Edin…”

“We’ve already finished talking with him on our way here.”

From behind Delphina, Oscar slightly revealed himself.

“Edin also agreed that joining the guitar circle would be difficult. It’s regrettable, but it seems we’ll have to look at other circles.”

“…”

“T-that’s right!”

Delphina patted my shoulder and encouraged me.

“Then, we can find a circle that doesn’t require separate use of hands?”

“That doesn’t use hands?”

“For example… Right! I glimpsed it when coming up, how about something like an astronomical observation circle?”

“Astronomical observation circle?”

At the unfamiliar combination of words, I tilted my head.

“That’s g-good! Isn’t it also fun in its own way to look at the stars that fill the night sky?”

Oscar nodded.

“It doesn’t sound bad. Observing the night sky is something anyone with two eyes can do.”

“That’s right! Let’s first go apologize to Edin together, and then look around other circles.”

“So this is the astronomical observation circle.”

“As expected, I should say. Since they need to observe stars, it’s located on the top floor.”

“The club room also seems quite large. Did they combine two rooms?”

Delphina tilted her head with interest and stood in front of one of the doors.

-Knock knock knock.

“Is anyone there?”

This time, Oscar knocked on the door.

“…You’ve come.”

With a creaking sound, the door opened, and a gloomy-looking female student walked out.

“…I’ve been waiting. For you all to come here…”

“…This is quite different from what I was expecting.”

Oscar muttered in an anxious voice.

Whether he did so or not. The gloomy female student who had been staring intently at Delphina suddenly smiled eerily and said,

“Things haven’t been going well for you lately, right?”

“Pardon?”

“Your back has been hurting lately, you can’t concentrate on work at all. And studying doesn’t go well either.”

“…W-well, that’s true.”

Though somewhat doubtful yet slightly intrigued by her words, Delphina tilted her head.

But I, who had been observing Delphina all along, could tell.

These were all obvious statements. Until very recently, Delphina had been doing nothing but studying because of the exam period. Her back hurt because she had been sitting at her desk for a long time, and having difficulty concentrating on studies is natural for anyone.

I know cases where such obvious things are packaged so plausibly.

“It’s all because bad energy has accumulated in your body. Looking at the movement of stars in the sky, I can see people’s pain, bad luck… the future.”

A pseudo-religious solicitation…!

Only then did I peer into the dimly lit room beyond.

The titles of books placed in a corner of the cabinet were faintly visible.

[The Continent’s Destruction Theory]

[See the Future by Looking at the Stars]

[The Day of Doom as Seen Through Astrology]

‘Looking at it this way, every single one is ominous…!’

“Um, that… you see.”

Even the good-natured Delphina couldn’t easily reject her.

At this rate, Delphina might fall into a cult…!

“D-Delphina! Let’s go somewhere else!”

On the floor below, which we had fled to as if escaping from a den of conspiracy theorists, we encountered a familiar face.

“Welcome to the Baking Circle… Oh?”

“Alice!”

The person we met at the Baking Circle, which was the third one we visited, was none other than Alice, a student from the same knight department. Alice Basildar.

Perhaps the aftermath of the Cornelio incident had subsided, as she was engaged in circle activities with a bright appearance that was rarely seen during knight department training.

Alice is always in serious mode during training, after all.

“Alice, are you a member of this circle?”

“Yes, baking is my hobby.”

“I see.”

Delphina nodded. At the same time, in the strangely busy yet stable atmosphere, I could feel the tension consciously relaxing.

With a bright and peaceful atmosphere, and even tea leaves that emitted a subtle, pleasant fragrance.

As I looked around with a slightly more stable mind, I noticed cookies cooling in a corner of the table.

“What are these cookies?”

“Ah, we made these newly. Would you like to try one if you don’t mind?”

“Is, is that okay?”

“Of course, they’re cookies made to be eaten from the start. Also, ‘the more people eat them,’ the better.”

Alice muttered in a meaningful tone. However, as if half-entranced by the unique atmosphere of this place, I thoughtlessly picked up a cookie and brought it to my mouth.

“Then I’ll gratefully…”

-Crunch.

“Crunch?”

At the tip of my front teeth, a strange sound that shouldn’t come from a cookie was heard.

When I removed the half-bitten cookie from my mouth, I saw something strange inside the treat.

Something white with a slightly reddish tinge that tasted sour.

“……Alice, what is this?”

“It’s thinly sliced pickled radish!”

“…Why would you put that in a cookie?”

“You know, because cookies are greasy! So our circle members thought of this. If we put pickles between greasy cookies, wouldn’t we be able to keep eating without getting tired…”

“Then drink tea!!!”

Behind me, who was screaming while feeling both sourness and greasiness in my mouth, Oscar muttered with a completely distorted expression.

In his hand too, was a half-bitten cookie.

But what is that black thing sticking out from between…

“W-what is this…?”

“Ah, that’s our circle leader’s original creation! To prepare for possible food shortages in the distant future, using insects as ingredients…”

“Bleargghhhhh.”

“Huff, huff…”

“To think that the baking circle would have such… I couldn’t even imagine.”

“But, where are we now?”

While fleeing mindlessly, Oscar suddenly stopped in front of a club room.

“…Invention Circle?”

“I have a bad feeling about this…”

I muttered instinctively, and immediately after, with a thunderous sound, the club room door burst outward.

-Crash!!!

-Shatter!! Clatter!!!

The wooden door shattered into pieces, and the windows attached to the side of the club room all broke at once as black smoke rose from inside the room.

“Cough, hack.”

“Another failure, huh.”

Students wearing blackened lab coats rushed out of the club room, and one of them brought a fire extinguisher from somewhere and sprayed it wildly inside the room.

“…Oh?”

One of them, wearing broken glasses, turned to look at us.

“Perhaps you came for a trial entry…”

“””You’ve got the wrong people!!”””

“I’m tired, I’ve had enough…”

“F-found them, leader!!”

“Finally!”

“Princess Knight! We’ve been looking for you!!”

“What are these muscle pigs?!”

“We’re not muscle pigs!”

“We are the Health Circle! To dispel the stigma of being a muscle circle reeking of sweat and to revamp the circle’s image, we’re scouting you…!”

“No way, get lost!!”

“…This is tough.”

Leaning against a bench, Delphina muttered.

“How can there not be a single normal circle?”

“…It’s Polaris.”

Oscar answered.

“Polaris is a place where geniuses from all over the world gather. And geniuses, by nature, tend to be twisted somewhere.”

“But this is too much, isn’t it?”

Delphina shook her head and put a straw to an empty cup, sucking it.

The remaining drops of drink were sucked up with a gurgling sound.

“…Shall we go back for today?”

I muttered, turning to Delphina.

Delphina silently looked at me for a moment, then nodded.

“Yes, let’s go ba…”

As she got up from her seat and stretched her back with an “oof,” Delphina suddenly clamped her mouth shut.

“…Delphina? What’s wrong?”

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

Staring intently at something, Delphina muttered quietly.

The end of Delphina’s gaze was directed toward the rooftop of the building where the circle club rooms were gathered.

That place I had fled to and climbed up to after running away from the music circle earlier today.

At the edge of the rooftop, which was blocked off by a fence, several people were tangled up in a scuffle.

“Oh, ohh.”

Delphina muttered anxiously. I squinted my eyes, focusing my vision as much as possible.

Familiar long black hair fluttered with the wind that came from somewhere.

She was surrounded by several people.

One of them quickly reached out, pushing the flowerpot she was holding.

The girl who lost the flowerpot from her hand hastily turned her body backward.

With a clunk, the old fence caved in, and the girl’s body tilted greatly outward.

“…Dangerous.”

I muttered unknowingly and rushed forward.

-Crash!!!

A loud noise echoed from behind me.

By the time I regained my senses, the wind was already coldly grazing my cheeks.

In my right hand, which I had consciously stretched out, the flowerpot that was about to fall was safely held.

And at the same time, my left arm, which had moved reflexively, embraced the waist of the girl who was about to fall along with the flowerpot.

“—Huh, ugh.”

“Are you out of your mind?!”

The girl exhaled urgently, and at the same time, a sharp voice burst from my mouth.

“P-Princess Knight Evangeline?!”

One of the people surrounding her shouted like that.

“…What. Do you have some business with me?”

“Ah, no! Excuse us…”

The gang fleeing hastily as if pulling their tails.

I briefly looked at the backs of their heads, then roughly pushed away the girl I had embraced with my left hand, as there was no time to spare.

“Eek!”

“Are you crazy?”

I put the flowerpot down in the corner of the rooftop and shouted at the girl who was screaming shrilly.

“Ah, those flowers from earlier…”

The girl, who recognized me, belatedly muttered.

“It’s eight floors high! Do you want to die by falling?!”

The girl, who had been sitting in a daze, opened her mouth.

“Th-thank… you.”

The girl bowed her head deeply and slightly reached out toward the flowerpot I had put down.

“Princess!”

“Princess Evangeline, are you alright?!”

At that moment, the door on the staircase side opened with a bang, and Delphina and Oscar shouted from inside.

As if they had rushed up the stairs in a hurry, their breathing was rough.

“No matter what, jumping up to an eight-story building height at once is too much!”

“Neither I nor Miss Delphina could do that much.”

Oscar said, breathing heavily.

“But, who is that young lady?”

“…Evangeline?”

The black-haired girl looked up at me, muttering blankly.

The girl’s face, which had shown a surprised expression, gradually turned to astonishment.

“Could it be… P-Princess Knight?”