The light left Shirohime’s eyes. She fell silent and grew motionless like a fashion store mannequin.
“Still,” he carried on, “I guess they have their charm.”
The light returned to her eyes, and color tinged her cheeks and as she mouthed the word, Charm.
Hefting his bag straps higher onto his right shoulder, Tobias clapped my back. “Come on. We’re going to be late for class.”
Felicia waved a hand before a motionless Shirohime, but the latter had clearly taken a leave of absence from her body.
I looked at Angela. “So, when do we get to the part of escorting me into school?”
She waved me to the school entrance. “Right this way, my Princess.”
I felt a growl coming up. “Angela!”
“Relax,” she said. “It’s too late to hide it now.”
I felt like swinging my bag at her, but decided in the interest of diplomacy to save that for another time.
As though remembering what they were here for, Felicia and Shirohime gasped and hastened after us just as Angela, Tobias, and I passed through the security baffle gates. Once inside the school grounds, I asked Angela, “Do I really need an escort?”
“Think of it more along the lines of friendly support,” she replied. “You’ll see soon enough when we get to class.” She gave me a sidelong frown. “Didn’t you get Felicia’s messages? Didn’t you get mine?”
I winced and averted my gaze. “I—I had an accident with my messages. I lost them all.”
“Oh, is that so….” Angela shifted her bag straps higher on her right shoulder. “The identity of the Silver Blue Princess began spreading along the forums and My Book pages over the weekend. A lot of photos were posted by a lot of your ardent fans who chased you that day.” She tipped her head forward slightly. “I’m surprised this is news to you.”
I turned away but allowed a nod slip past my self-control. “You could say that I’m missing an entire weekend.”
Felicia stepped up beside me, slapping me hard on the back in the process. “What’s that mean? Did you sleep through it?”
“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “I don’t remember anything. I don’t remember leaving the arcade, and I don’t even remember getting home.”
“So how did you get home?”
“I just told you, I don’t remember.” I shook my head, briefly annoyed with Felicia. “I woke up this morning, not knowing it was Monday until Mat showed up at my dorm apartment.”
“Bummer,” Felicia muttered. “Maybe you should go to the hospital. Get yourself checked out.” She leaned closer and started to laugh mysteriously. “Hey, maybe you were possessed?”
The soft laughter that floated about in my ears was like an icy fist clenched around my heart. I stopped so suddenly my shoes skidded on the pavement. Clutching my chest, I could hear and feel my heart beating painfully within as I experienced the onset of a panic attack. My companions were slow to respond, eventually turning to catch sight of me struggling to breathe. It was Tobias who returned to me first, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me gently.
“Cass, what’s the matter with you?”
I struggled to find my voice. “Possessed?” I asked, feeling faint as a chill settled throughout my limbs.
“What are you talking about?” he demanded.
I swallowed a couple of times before explaining, “Maybe she’s right. Maybe I was possessed. Maybe that’s why I don’t remember returning home.”
“Why’d you say something like that?” Tobias snapped harshly at Felicia.
Her response was surprisingly meek. “Hey, it was just a joke.”
He shook me again. “Look, maybe she’s right—”
“What?” I stared at him in horror. “You mean I was possessed?”
“No, you twit. Maybe she’s right and you need to see a doctor.”
Searching his face for a few seconds, I asked him, “So you believe me?” I won’t deny welcoming the change in his attitude toward my unexplained circumstances.
He pursed his lips for a long moment before saying, “Look. I don’t know what happened to you, but your apartment Monitor said you didn’t return until this morning. I asked it while you were in the shower.”
Felicia giggled. “Ooh, kinky.”
In the corner of my eye, I saw Shirohime glower.
Tobias ignored Felicia, and obviously didn’t notice Class Rep growing proverbial horns as she glared at me. “But the Monitor didn’t say how you returned.”
“It didn’t?” I wondered in surprise.
“No. It said something about that information being classified.” My surprise turned to worry, but Tobias pressed on, “If you don’t remember where you’ve been for the past two days then you’ve got a problem. I think you should go to the hospital. I’ll agree with that much.”
I stared up at him, and smiled weakly. “Thanks.”
To my surprise, he grew visibly uncomfortable then abruptly smacked the top of my head. “Don’t smile at me like that, it’s creepy!”
Spinning away before I could mutter a startled ‘ouch’, Tobias stormed off but came to a stop a few meters away. “Well, hurry up. We have homeroom in ten minutes.”
I rubbed my head. “What’s he so angry about?”
Angela startled me when she appeared at my side. “Do you really want to know?” she asked with a faintly troubled expression. “I’m asking you, do you really want to know?”
Her demeanor made me consider my answer cautiously. “No, maybe not….”
However, Felicia couldn’t contain herself. The grin she wore split her face in two. “It’s because you look cute when you smile.”
My stomach clenched tightly and began to sink. “…what…?”
“Girl cute,” she added and flashed me a victory sign.
My voice failed me and my stomach sank further. An unpleasant emptiness that I recognized as despair filled my chest.
Pushing Felicia aside, Angela grabbed my right arm and pulled me along. “Come on. We’re wasting time.”
I was grateful to her for without her strength and intervention I would have remained rooted to the ground, unable to step forward. As such, Angela towed me behind her all the way into the high school building, ignoring the attention we attracted from the nearby male and female students, the latter whispering fervently amongst themselves as they watched her pull me along by the arm. The shoe lockers were located in a large room adjacent to the foyer, and organized by year and class. Once inside, Angela released me, leaving me to my own devices as I walked past numerous aisles to my locker and pulled it open.
I’d often wondered why our shoe lockers had no combination locks, unlike the small lockers situated at the back of our classroom. It implied that my classmates were less trustworthy than the rest of the student body, or perhaps the school authorities believed that indoor shoes were less likely to be stolen or misappropriated than our other belongings, once again implying that fellow classmates were not to be trusted. Regardless, my shoe locker was thus fair game to all, so I was only mildly surprised when I opened it and found it stuffed with content other than my indoor shoes.
Shoe lockers weren’t spacious, affording enough room for two pairs of shoes and no more, so it was rather remarkable how well the bundle of clothes was compressed into the confined space surrounding my shoes. Reaching in carefully, I pulled out the neatly folded bundle, and examined each item in the ensemble wardrobe, quickly concluding I was holding a female student uniform, with the distinctive first year white trimmings and single pip on the collar of the dress’s blouse, and undergarments fit for a maiden of average endowment such as a Bee-cup.
To my great misfortune, I wasn’t alone in the aisle.
A couple of girls that I didn’t recognize as classmates were slipping on their indoor shoes, and one of them noticed the bundle in my arms.
“Is that a dress? Hey Gabby, look she’s dressed as a guy.”
“What…?” her companion wondered distract
edly, then mumbled, “Oh….”
“Why are you dressed in a male uniform?” asked the first girl whom I noticed had short brown hair styled in a perm that made it flounce above her shoulders thereby adding to her cuteness factor
“Because I’m a guy,” I answered with complete honesty.
She looked confused. “Eh?” Then her eyes widened. “Hey, are you her? I mean, are you him?”
“Him who?”
“The Silver Blue Princess.”
My stomach began sinking to the floor.
The girl whirled to her friend. “Gabby—it’s her. It’s Silver Blue.”
Her companion regarded me quizzically, however before either of them could say anything further, someone loud stormed through them.
“Coming through ladies,” Felicia announced, pushing her way past the girls. “Make a hole.”
“Hey, stop pushing us,” the shorthaired girl complained.
“If you have no business here, then beat it,” Felicia countered with a creepy version of her cartoon smile.
The girl stiffened and drew back. “I don’t need this crap, you weirdo.” She pulled on her friend’s arm. “Come on. Let’s go tell everybody we met Silver Blue….”
Felicia watched them leave. “Little tart,” she muttered before facing me. When she noticed what was in my hands, she whistled softly. “Wow. When did you pick those up?”
“Someone stuffed it into my shoe locker.” The sound of a small cough drew my attention to Shirohime who arrived behind me wearing an objectionable look. “These aren’t mine, obviously.”
“Obviously,” she concurred without dropping her expression.
Felicia asked, “So whose are they?”
“I don’t think that’s important,” I told her, while thinking this girl really had muscles for brains.
“Agreed,” Angela said, arriving silently and slipping past me to peek into my shoe locker. “There’s a note.” She pulled it out, unfolded it, and read it aloud. “Come to the rooftop at lunchtime wearing these if you want to know who spilled the beans. Signed, Anonymous.”
Felicia asked, “Does that ring a bell?”
Angela stared at her friend and struggled for words before finally saying, “Are you trying to be Menial?”
“Well, excuse me,” Felicia replied with a wounded look that wasn’t at all sincere.
Angela continued staring at her for a long moment, before giving up. “Someone save us….” She took a deep breath before saying, “This doesn’t make any sense. After all, we know the Witch has been busy spreading the word thick and far. So why would she bother doing this?”
Before I could voice my opinion that perhaps it wasn’t Monique Valjean at work here, a male voice asked, “What are you all doing?” and I turned to see Tobias walking down the aisle of lockers toward us. He looked aghast as I held up the bundle of clothes for all to see, and then asked, “Are you serious?”
“This isn’t mine,” I retorted.
“Well, I hope not,” he added.
His response sounded odd, somewhat ambivalent, a mix of curiosity and disdain, so I cocked my head at him. “I’m not planning on wearing it for you.”
I’d expected a mixed reaction from him and I wasn’t disappointed. A complicated look swept across his face before he settled for looking deeply annoyed at me. “Why would I want you to?”
“Because you didn’t give me a straight answer.” I stepped closer to him. “Are you curious?”
“Hah?”
“I can tell you’re wondering how I’d look as a girl. You’ve been thinking that since this morning.”
“That is the last thing on my mind,” he growled and I realized he wasn’t just annoyed but angry at me.
“Well good,” I snapped at him, bristling with anger of my own, “because it’s not happening.”
Angela stepped between him and me. “Stop it, both of you. You’re making a scene.”
True. I saw a few students standing at opposite ends of the aisle showering us with curious glances before moving on.
Angela took the dress from the bundle in my hands.
“Stand straight,” she instructed and I complied automatically, realizing moments later what it was that I was doing.
She held the dress up to me. “Whoever they are certainly knew your size.”
I heard Tobias gasp. “His—his size? Are you serious?”
Angela nodded. “Yep. I’d say it’s a perfect fit.”
“I’m a guy,” I reminded her. “That shouldn’t be possible.”
“Yeah, well, I can tell this will fit you.” She lowered the dress a few inches and met my gaze. “Ronin, your shoulders are narrow, and believe it or not you have more hips than the usual guy. Not much, but definitely a little more. It’s probably not what you want to hear, but this dress will definitely fit you.”
I swallowed hard trying not to glare at her. Angela was simply telling me the truth, but indeed it wasn’t something I wanted to hear.
She took the bra from the remaining bundle in my hands. “This is padded. I think it’ll give you a small Bee-cup.” She met my eyes. “There’s no doubt you’ll make a very convincing female student if you wear this.”
No, it wasn’t what I wanted to hear at all, and I was starting to feel queasy the more I listened to her.
Maybe my emotions were showing on my face because Angela asked in soft, tender tone, “What will you do?”
I swallowed down some of the bile I felt welling up my throat. “You mean about accepting the challenge and going to the rooftop?”
Angela nodded, but Felicia threw in her worth into the ring for discussion. “Why don’t we just beat it out of the Witch? Once we know who told her, we’ll have our culprit.”
Angela rolled her eyes in exasperation. “And what if she received an anonymous message? What then, genius?”
“Then nothing. We’ll let her off with a warning.”
Angela shook her head in disagreement. “It won’t be that simple. You’ll be suspended from the team for beating up another student.”
Felicia pressed her lips into a thin line and folded her arms. “You have a point.”
At that the four of us standing together in the form of a compass, directed our attention upon Tobias who was alternately staring at the dress and me with a complicated look on his face.
“Wh—what?” he blurted out, sounding oddly guilty.
I asked him, “Do you know who told Valjean about me?”
With a sudden pained expression, he replied, “No. And when I asked her, she said her source was confidential. That’s all I know.”
Angela and Shirohime both nodded in unison, the latter declaring, “She probably doesn’t know either.”
A somewhat heated Tobias muttered, “Does it really matter how she found out? Is it really worth dressing up as a girl to find out?”
I shot him a cold glare. “If she had kept it a secret, I wouldn’t have cared less.” I took the dress from Angela’s hands. “If this is Valjean’s doing, then I’d say she’s being way too obvious. She has to know we would suspect her first and come after her. That said, it could be an attempt to throw us off her trail simply because it’s such an obvious conclusion.”
Angela and Shirohime nodded slowly, but Felicia appeared to be lagging behind. “Go on,” they both urged me.
“Whether it’s Valjean or not, it’s safe to say I’m the victim of an elaborate harassment scheme. And there’s no guarantee I’ll learn the truth if I show up at the appointed time. It’s more likely the next stage in a game.”
“So what will you do?” Angela asked me again.
I rubbed the fabric with my fingers, thinking it was softer than the material of my shirt, and mulled the merits of my options. “I’m not playing her game. That’s all there is to it. Being Silver Blue was fun until I was chased around by her admirers. But this isn’t cosplay or cross-play. I’d be cross-dressing as a girl, and that’s not me.”
I started folding
the dress up when I felt something in the skirt pocket and noticed a second note sticking out of it. For a moment, my curiosity was stalled by my aversion to cross-dressing, but my logical side said there was undoubtedly a reason for that note being there. Hesitantly I took it out of the pocket, and then unfolded it with one hand.
“What’s that?” Felicia asked.
“A note…,” I answered distractedly as I read the contents that were printed and not handwritten.
AREN’T YOU CURIOUS? WAS IT ALL A DREAM?
WHAT IF IT WASN’T A GAME?
WHAT IF IT WAS REAL?
WHAT IF…YOU DID DIE?
I swallowed slowly and read the rest.
DON’T YOU WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH? ABOUT THE GAME, ABOUT THAT PLACE, AND ABOUT YOUR LOST TIME? DON’T YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY YOU LOOK LIKE A GIRL? DON’T YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY YOUR SISTER LEFT YOU?
I froze and re-read that line of the note before moving onto the rest.
THEN PUT ON THE DRESS, CROSS THE GENDER DIVIDE, AND MAKE LIKE ALICE. BE A PRETTY GIRL AND FALL DOWN THE WISHING WELL.
The last line puzzled me, and I found myself frowning. “That’s wrong. Alice fell down the rabbit hole, not the wishing well.”
Was there a hidden meaning to it, was it deliberate, or did the author just get it wrong out of ignorance.
I glimpsed Tobias leaning forward slightly. “Are you talking about Alice in Wonderland?”
“Uh…yeah….”
“What does it say?” Angela hesitantly questioned softly.
I folded the note and shoved it into a trouser pocket. “Nothing. Nothing important….”
In my peripheral vision, I saw the girls trade looks at my obvious evasiveness, and for a moment I wondered if I should tell them everything I knew about The Game. But then something, a whisper in the back of my mind, held me back. However, it didn’t stop the wheels in my head from spinning in worried thought. Since waking up in the morning, a part of my consciousness had refused to believe the events of last Friday had occurred. The note in the dress refuted that, the implication of which added another level of complexity to a range of questions.
What if I did die? Then how can I be here now? And who was that cat girl who saved me?
Gun Princess Royale: Awakening the Princess, Book One Page 17
