“I lent it to her because the mornings are cold. Why don’t you warm up for our usual sparring match?” Rio said with a strained smile, leaping down from the roof to approach Latifa and the others.
“Yes, please!” Sara was the first to nod enthusiastically. The members of their group who practiced with weapons — Rio, Latifa, Sara, Alma, and Masato — sparred as part of their morning routine. They all woke up at different times, but it was usually Masato who arrived last.
“...” Miharu looked down upon the scene near the doorway that had grown noisier all of a sudden, a soft smile on her face. Then, to replace Rio who had gone down to the ground, Aishia floated up to the roof.
“Miharu, did you sleep well last night?”
“...Ai-chan. Last night... that wasn’t a dream, was it? Haruto is Haru-kun, isn’t he?” Unable to withstand it any longer, Miharu questioned Aishia imploringly.
“Yup.” Aishia nodded once.
“Ah...” Miharu gasped in shock at the confirmation that it wasn’t a dream.
“Do you remember what I told you yesterday?” asked Aishia.
“Yeah. That someday soon, Haru-kun will tell me the truth and try to distance himself from us...” Miharu replied hesitantly.
“Yes. That’s why when it happens, you can’t run away, Miharu,” Aishia stated in a flat voice.
“What can I do until then?” Miharu asked in near-confusion.
“Stay by Haruto’s side as much as you can, and don’t be afraid of him. Be gentle to him. Tell him clearly that you want to be with him. Because Haruto is a gentle and cowardly person,” Aishia said in her usual flat voice, the words sounding very gentle. It was clear that she knew everything about Haruto and was thinking of Miharu.
Ah, that’s right. I still don’t know anything. About Haru-kun, about Haruto... Miharu felt extremely disheartened about her own worthlessness and frowned gloomily... But it wasn’t too late.
“...Okay!” Miharu looked down at Rio talking to the others below and nodded with determination.
◇ ◇ ◇
After Rio sparred with Sara and the others as per their routine, it was time for breakfast.
“If Rio and Miharu are going to participate in the banquet, they’re going to need formal outfits,” Celia suggested during their meal. And so, it was decided that they would pay a visit to the Ricca Guild in Amande for some shopping today.
Sara, Orphia, and Alma had actually never visited human regions before, and Latifa hadn’t been in one for years. Miharu, Aki, and Masato weren’t too used to going outside either, so there was a need to limit the members who would be going out.
Rio and Miharu had to go as they were the ones attending the banquet, and Celia was going as the one with actual experience attending banquets. Accompanying them as their guard was Aishia. Latifa, Sara, Orphia, Alma, Aki, and Masato would stay back at the rock house.
Latifa looked like she wanted to go, but since she had promised not to be selfish as part of the condition for coming to Strahl, she didn’t make a fuss about it. And so, Rio’s group left the stone house in the morning and arrived at Amande. They immediately headed towards the Ricca Guild’s store.
“Fufu.” Although she was there as Miharu’s chaperone, Celia was in a good mood about the shopping trip and walked in the lead. She was so adorable, Rio and Miharu couldn’t help but chuckle to themselves.
Several minutes later, they arrived before the Ricca Guild building. “Let’s start by choosing Miharu’s dress,” Rio suggested.
“...I’m sorry for making you spend money on me.” Miharu hung her head apologetically. Naturally, there was a dress code for the banquet, but Miharu had completely forgotten about it until Celia had reminded her that morning. Doing anything in the world of nobility required money, and Miharu couldn’t help but feel regretful for forcing another burden onto Rio.
“It’s a necessary expense, so don’t worry about it. I need to buy a formal outfit too.” Rio shook his head with a smile.
“See, Miharu? Let’s show Haruto how wonderful you’ll look in a gown,” Celia giggled, pushing Miharu towards the store.
“...Okay.” While Miharu still looked a little apologetic, she nodded and started moving slowly. Rio and Aishia brought up the rear as they all entered the store.
“Welcome.”
As soon as they were inside, the graceful voice of a female shop assistant welcomed them. They had visited this store several times in this past, but the Ricca Guild was a high-class brand shop and its interior was similarly tranquil. Wealthy-looking customers could be spotted throughout the store, browsing through the clothes.
“Now, let’s start making some selections. I believe they deal with dresses on the third floor. We’ll have to get you measured first.” Celia headed for the third floor with confident footsteps.
They moved to the dress corner; with her experience in these kinds of stores, Celia first talked to a shop assistant and had them measure Miharu’s size. Miharu and Celia headed to the dressing room together. Rio and Aishia waited in a corner elsewhere. “I will now take your measurements. Can you get undressed down to your underwear?”
“Yes.” After Miharu entered the measuring room, she removed everything but her underwear, as instructed.
“...You really have a nice figure, Miharu.” Celia gazed at Miharu’s underwear figure from beside and sighed in awe.
“I agree, you’re very beautiful.” The shop assistant doing the measurements also complimented Miharu with a smile.
“Ahaha, thank you very much.” Miharu grinned bashfully and covered her chest with her arms. In no time at all, Miharu’s general size measurements had been skillfully recorded.
Afterward, they left the measuring room and finally began browsing the dress choices. The two of them started by going around the floor and picking everything that caught their eye. They filtered that selection down to the ones that looked good before Miharu moved to the dressing room and tried many different dresses with the help of the shop assistant. Each time she finished changing, the curtain of the dressing room would pull back to reveal Miharu in a new dress.
“Hmm, this one suits you too. Okay, try this one next.” Celia was enthusiastically enjoying the dress selection, offering dress after dress to Miharu.
“...” Rio fixedly watched Miharu change into a colorful range of dresses from a short distance away.
“Is Miharu beautiful?” Aishia suddenly asked Rio from beside him.
“...Yeah, she is.” Rio glanced at Aishia; he wore a hint of a shy smile.
“She’ll be happy if you tell her that,” said Aishia.
“You think so?” Rio tilted his head, watching Aishia in slight surprise.
“Yup.” Aishia nodded her head once.
As the two were exchanging words — “Hey, Haruto, Aishia. Which dress do you think looks better?” Celia turned back to them and asked.
“...I think dresses in cooler colors suit Miharu more,” Rio answered.
“I think so too,” Aishia agreed.
“Ah, yeah? That’s what I was thinking too! Okay then, can you try this dress next? There’s still plenty of options, so let’s get through them all!” Celia said, smiling innocently.
◇ ◇ ◇
After Miharu took her time carefully selecting a gown, it was Rio’s turn to pick his formalwear. Miharu was just as excited as Celia for this, and Rio ended up becoming a dress-up doll for the two of them until they had carefully decided on an outfit for the banquet.
The group departed from Amande before sundown. Rio carried Celia, while Aishia carried Miharu with her wind spirit arts.
“We managed to get back before it got completely dark, at least.” Rio sighed in relief as they arrived at the rocky area where their house was set up.
“Ahaha, sorry about that. I completely lost track of time while I was picking out clothes,” Celia said apologetically.
“Me too. Sorry for losing myself there...” Miharu apologized with a guilty l
ook.
Rio shook his head with a pleasant expression. “No, we got some good shopping done thanks to you.”
As they conversed, they reached the area above the rock house.
“...Masato’s practicing outside,” Aishia muttered, peering down.
Miharu checked to see if anyone else was outside. “You’re right. Is everyone else making dinner? We’re home, Masato!” she announced loudly.
“Oh, you’re finally back. You took forever.” When Masato heard Miharu’s voice, he looked towards where Rio and the others had just descended and shrugged in exasperation.
“Hmm, were you waiting for us?” asked Rio.
Masato scratched his head. “Ah, no. Well, kind of. Come inside first,” he muttered evasively before making for the front door.
Did something happen? Rio and the others exchanged glances before deciding to follow Masato for now.
As soon as Masato opened the door, he yelled, “Oi, Haruto and the others are back!”
“Really?! Miharu, Aishia, and Celia should wash their hands and come to my room immediately! Onii-chan, you wait in the living room!” Latifa called out right away.
It seemed like this was the “something” that was happening.
“Hmm, I wonder what it is? Let’s go.” Celia smiled in anticipation and headed to the bathroom to wash her hands before walking to Latifa’s room. Miharu and Aishia followed her lead.
Rio and Masato waited in the living room together, with Rio going to wash his hands after the girls were done. “What’s this about?” he asked Masato.
“Ah, you’ll find out soon. I’m sweaty, so I’m gonna take a bath. Later!” With that, Masato departed for the bathroom with a sharp grin. By wanting to get cleaned up, he seemed to be acting out of consideration for the others, oddly enough.
Rio went ahead and prepared tea while he waited for Latifa and the girls in the living room. Less than ten minutes later, all the women of the house appeared before him.
“Thanks for waiting, Onii-chan! Ta-da!”
Latifa was the first among them to appear in the living room, twirling around once before posing to show off her uniform to Rio. Aishia, Celia, Sara, Orphia, Alma, Miharu, and Aki were also wearing uniforms of the same design. Other than Latifa and Orphia grinning happily and Aishia with her usual expression, the other girls all looked embarrassed.
“...I’m definitely surprised.” Rio gazed upon the uniform-clad girls with round eyes.
“Ehehe. What do you think, Onii-chan?” Latifa asked bashfully.
“It looks really great on you,” Rio said honestly. Latifa beamed with innocent delight.
“Yay! Everyone made them together, based on Miharu’s school uniform!” she explained.
“I see. It does bear some resemblance to the uniform Miharu wore when she first came here. But I wasn’t expecting the Professor and Aishia...” Rio glanced at Miharu, before looking at Celia and Aishia’s uniformed figures.
“I-I just put it on because I was told to...” Celia seemed to be embarrassed by the unfamiliar uniform, fidgeting as her cheeks reddened.
“Does it look good?” Aishia tilted her head.
“Yup. You both look great in them,” Rio praised the two of them a bit shyly.
“Hehe, we made their uniforms on the way here from the village. But since we couldn’t take their exact measurements, Aishia’s was made to be around the same size as Miharu’s and Celia’s was based off the impression we got from Rio’s stories, making it a little bigger than Latifa’s,” Orphia said a bit proudly.
Come to think of it, Orphia asked a lot about the Professor’s height and stature before. “I see... Orphia, Sara, Alma. You all look great. Miharu and Aki too,” Rio said, complimenting everyone else as well.
“Thank you very much!” Orphia said, delighted.
The others were embarrassed, but happy.
“It was worth making them to show Onii-chan!” Latifa said to Miharu and Orphia, laughing brightly.
Orphia nodded warmly. “Right, Miharu?”
“...Yup.” Miharu nodded in embarrassment.
“Wait, did you only make them for that reason?” Rio was slightly taken aback to hear they were just made to be shown to him.
“That’s right, we wanted to surprise Onii-chan!” Latifa nodded without an ounce of shyness to her.
Rio’s lips turned upwards in a smile as he looked around at everyone. “...I see. I was really surprised, so thank you. And everyone else, too,” he said awkwardly.
“No, it was fun wearing the same clothes as everyone else,” Sara said, blushing.
“I’m not used to clothes like this, so it’s a little embarrassing,” Alma added, also blushing. They both looked down at their uniforms.
“Uniforms aren’t a part of the village culture, after all,” said Rio.
“Huh, really. I wore a school uniform back when I attended the Royal Academy, and Rio wore one while he was there too,” Celia said with interest.
“I think I would have liked to have seen the Professor in the academy’s uniform,” Rio said, looking at Celia cheekily.
“D-Don’t say that. It’s embarrassing. And I’m wearing one right now... Isn’t that enough?” Celia shyly averted her eyes from Rio with a huff.
“I would have liked to see Onii-chan in a uniform too! He must have been so cool.” Latifa must have been imagining Rio in a uniform, as she was giggling quite a bit.
“Why don’t you make a uniform for Rio, then?” Celia said, struck with the idea.
“Oh, that sounds good! What do you think, Miharu? Orphia?” Latifa exclaimed, completely on board with that plan.
“Hmm, sounds interesting. We’ll have to start with measurements; we can make a matching one for Masato, too,” Orphia said. “I have the measurements from the formalwear fitting,” Miharu added.
“Ah, no, I don’t need that...” Rio shyly tried to refuse, but it seemed it was out of his hands — there’d be a uniform made for him in the near future.
Thank goodness... Rio’s able to make friends with people his age, Celia thought, watching Rio with a happy expression on her face. Knowing what she did about his academy days, she was as happy to see him surrounded by people who understood him as she would have been for herself. And yet, her own romantic heart did feel a bit conflicted about how they were all — with the exception of Masato — cute and attractive girls.
“Okay, we’ll definitely make some uniforms for Onii-chan and Masato in the near future. Now that we’ve shown off our own uniforms, let’s see the outfits you two decided on! Show us!” Latifa whined at Rio and Miharu. It was possible that she had chosen this timing to show off their uniformed figures so that she wouldn’t fall behind Miharu, who would have bought a gown in Amande.
“Then let’s try them on,” Rio said, chuckling. “Miharu?”
“...Okay.” Miharu smiled bashfully and subtly nodded her head. Roughly 20 minutes later, Rio and Miharu had changed into their formal outfits and were standing in the living room.
Masato, who had finished his bath, let out a sound of amazement. “Ooh!”
“That’s amazing, Onii-chan! So cool! Miharu looks beautiful too!” Latifa was quite excited as she shouted her words of praise.
“You really look beautiful, Miharu. And Rio looks handsome too.” Sara also praised Miharu before turning to praise Rio next with embarrassment.
“This design doesn’t exist in the village. So there are outfits like this out there.”
“Rio looks slender like this, and Miharu’s great figure is emphasized.”
Orphia and Alma were also looking at Rio and Miharu with interest.
“Thank you very much,” Rio said awkwardly.
“Ahaha, it feels a bit embarrassing, being stared at so much.” Miharu’s cheeks reddened as she averted her eyes, landing on Aki instead. “What do you think, Aki?”
Aki had been watching Miharu with adoration. She snapped back to her senses when Miharu addressed her, nodding firmly. “..
.Yeah, it’s beautiful!”
“Hehe, thank you.” Miharu smiled happily.
Aki tilted her head. “By the way, does this mean you’ll have to dance in those outfits during the banquet?” she asked Rio.
“Hmm, I wonder. Will we?” Rio had taken etiquette lessons in his time at the Royal Academy, but he had never attended a real banquet before, so he asked Celia.
“Well, you’re not forced to participate, but there will be an opportunity to do so while you’re there,” Celia replied, drawing on her experience of attending noble banquets.
“R-Really?” Miharu’s body stiffened in fright.
“Ah, I see. Is it possible that you don’t know how to dance, Miharu?” Celia asked, to which Miharu nodded hesitantly in response.
“...Yes.”
“Hmm. Well, it won’t be a problem if you can’t dance, but we don’t know for sure what might happen, so maybe it’d be more reassuring if you learned the basics of how to dance? If you’d like, I could teach you in the time before the banquet...”
“Would you? I would really like that, please!” Miharu sighed in relief, relying on Celia’s expertise.
“Got it. Just leave it to me!” Celia agreed confidently. “Rio can be your practice partner too. You learned how to dance at the academy, right Rio?”
“Yes. Very roughly, though...” In contrast to Celia’s confidence, Rio nodded weakly. He hadn’t danced once in the four years since he fled the academy, so it made sense that he had no confidence in himself.
“Well, I’ll need to show Miharu an example and check how much you remember, so why don’t you dance with me for a bit to jolt your memory? Since you’re wearing your outfit and all. Now, take your stance, won’t you?” Celia suggested, raising her right hand to urge him to take it. At that, Miharu and everyone else naturally gathered their attention on the two of them with great interest.
“I understand. Then, if you’d excuse me.” Rio grasped Celia’s right hand with his left and pressed his body up to hers. His right hand gently supported her back.
“...Y-Yep, looks like you have a proper form.” It was something she should have known, but to dance as a pair, they had to press their bodies close to each other. Celia looked up at Rio’s face from close-up and blushed.
Heroes in the Moonlight Page 2
