Chapter 72: Evening Ball (1)

Evening Ball (1)

On the last day of the cultural festivals at the boys’ highschool, a joint evening party for each grade would start at 6 p.m. Female students successively gathered at the hall set to be the venue for this year’s evening ball of the first years. The girls participating in the ball were all assigned private rooms, split by classes.

Aoi, Manami, and Moe were wearing the dresses given to them by Yuuta and were currently receiving make-up from the Yoshiwara women they brought with them to get dolled up.

Aoi was especially bursting with energy. She was likely the girl who had been looking forward to this day the most.

In the morning of this day, the last day of the cultural festival, they had held a festival for Yuuta alone, locking the school building for ordinary guests. Aoi, the indirect affiliates and the temporary helpers all worked hard to make Yuuta enjoy himself as much as possible. Those efforts allowed them to end the cultural festival on a very positive note.

Even the six days before that, where ordinary guests could visit the festival, went down without any bigger issues and could rightfully be described as a huge success.

Wearing her cute dress with the feeling of accomplishment in her chest, Aoi was unable to restrain her throbbing heart.

“Aoi-sama, you are truly beautiful.”

“Thank you.”

“Please have a wonderful evening ball.”

Aoi was wearing a pink, princess-line dress which perfectly fitted her cuteness as a sixteen year old girl and her beauty as well as dignity as the next head of the Yoshiwaras.

“Let us be off.”

“”Yes.””

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Taking Manami and Moe with her, Aoi headed to the venue. Currently it is 5:40 p.m. The girls had started to enter the hall at 5:30 p.m. The boys would follow at 6 p.m.

As the next family head of the Yoshiwaras it’d be bad for Aoi to appear too early. Of course it’d also be fine to enter at the last minute, but her thumping heart spurred Aoi on.

5:45 p.m.

Aoi, Manami, and Moe entered the hall.

“Oh my! How lovely…”

As soon as the three stepped into the hall, voices of admiration could be heard from the girls already present. All of them were captivated by Aoi’s sweetness and beauty. And Aoi’s happy smile made it seem as if she was clad in a glittering aura of bliss.

“So the rumors were true, huh?”

“Yes, Yuuta-sama and her…”

Watching Aoi proceed through the venue, the other girls started to whisper. The topics were the recovery of Yuuta, who had formerly been shunned as shut-in F-Class scum, his blindingly quick progression to D-Rank, and his passionate romance with Aoi.

There was no reason for the girls belonging to a boy’s class to pursue information about Yuuta. Naturally only their boy was of any importance to them. Because of that, some of the direct and indirect affiliates present in this place didn’t know about the open secret of Yuuta being the man behind the avatar Dreamseducer Yuu which had caused such a hype among the commoner and some high class women. Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

Among them were also some girls who were aware of this. But, even if they’d heard the rumors about Dreamseducer Yuu, they wouldn’t watch his streams, if they didn’t possess interest in V-Streamers to begin with. and all of them had their heads full with the boy they were affiliated with. Just like Aoi was always thinking about Yuuta.

But, it wasn’t as though everyone was looking at Aoi and Yuuta’s relationship favorably.

Even if the high-class girls didn’t know much about Yuuta, they surely were interested in information about the next head of the Yoshiwaras. And rather than calling it them being interested, it was more like they had to pay attention to this.

And what they grasped through that route was the passionate romance between Aoi and Yuuta. Just a look at the top-class dress Aoi was wearing made it obvious to anyone just how much she was cherished by Yuuta.

“I hear Yuuta-sama has personally prepared and given that dress to Aoi-sama.”

“I too heard the rumor. But, is that really true?”

“It would seem so. My acquaintance at the Yoshiwara…”

Among the girls present here, some had to prepare their dresses with the money of their own family because their boy hated to arrange for their dresses. The concept of a man’s dependability didn’t exist in this world, but even then girls yearned for their boy to prepare their dresses for them while paying with his own money. So, even though a man’s dependability played no role in this world, the idea of a man’s sincerity certainly existed.

Aoi, who was exhibiting that dream-like yearning, was not only admired for the beauty of her appearance and dress, but also envied for her romance with Yuuta by the girls affiliated with boys.

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The venue was wrapped up with excitement upon the entry of Aoi’s group, but noticing the group of girls entering next, the hall instantly turned silent.

The ones who had shown up were…Yukishiro and Akari. Yukishiro was the next head of the Minatos, who held the same rank as Aoi’s family. As such everyone expected Yukishiro’s dress to be of the same outstanding quality as Aoi’s.

But, they were wrong.

Yukishiro’s dress was a good, high-class dress, but it clearly fell short, compared to Aoi’s. The dress worn by Akari, an indirect affiliate, was obviously inferior to the dresses by the indirect affiliates Moe and Manami, too.

“I wonder whether the rumors about Yukishiro-sama are true as well…”

Contrary to the rumors about Aoi and Yuuta’s lovey-dovey relationship, the rumors about Yukishiro pointed to her relationship with Takuya possibly not going well. Because the Minato withheld the information about the trouble caused by Takuya to avoid other people to hear about it, the girls of other classes still didn’t know the bulk of it.

But, him having taken the Mir Kingdom native Layla as direct affiliate in addition to Yukishiro couldn’t be concealed. Takuya and Layla had been spotted many times spending time together in the stores inside the Exclusive Male Zone.

As such, it’d be weird for no rumors about the relationship between Yukishiro and Takuya to float around.

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Yukishiro and Akari advanced at a slow pace. Their destination was Aoi.

Yukishiro looked at Aoi’s dress, but it was unclear what she was thinking as Aoi’s dress reflected itself in Aoi’s eyes.

On the other hand, Aoi faced Yukishiro with a smile. As the next family heads of their respective families, all sorts of things were said by their surroundings, but Aoi didn’t hate Yukishiro.

Even nowadays she remembered how she had met Yukishiro for the first time when she was in the sixth grade of elementary school. And how she had been entranced by Yukishiro, since she hadn’t known that such pretty girls existed.

Aoi and Yukishiro stared at each other close to the center of the venue. The girls around them watched the two with bated breaths. And then a group of girls broke into that atmosphere, entering the hall.

“Hi, everyone. Nice to see you～♪”

The one entering the hall while greeting the people with a bottomlessly bright voice was Layla. Followed by the indirect affiliates Emily and Monica, she had entered the venue while sprinkling smiles all over.

“I-Incredible.”

“Yes…what a dress.”

The girls’ eyes were pinned on Layla’s dress. It used the highest grade of fabric and was adorned luxuriously with gems, making it a gorgeous piece of art. Moreover, unlike the ones worn by the girls of Nihon, her dress was designed to expose way too much skin. Her cleavage was on clear display and a part of the fabric seemed to be transparent.

“What does that mean? Are the rumors actually true?”

“I don’t know. But…”

Layla’s dress was obviously of a better quality that Yukishiro’s. If you also included the types of gems adorning it, it might even be more expensive than Aoi’s dress. In addition, even Emily and Monica’s dresses looked to be superior to Yukishiro’s.

“Oh～♪ A good day to you, Yukishiro-san. I’m looking forward to today evening ball～”

“…Good day. Yes, you’re right.”

Yukishiro and Layla belonged to Takuya’s class as direct affiliates. The girls hearing their conversation for the first time immediately perceived that those two didn’t get along at all. Aoi did so as well.

There was nothing ambiguous about it either. It was evident that a wall existed between those two.

“The school festival was so boring～ It’s not like I want to deny Nihon’s culture, but is there any point in holding such an event?”

“…It’s important for Takuya-sama and the girls.”

“Really? It didn’t seem all that important to Takuya-sama though… Oh? You are…”

Layla noticed Aoi beyond Yukishiro. Aoi and Layla had almost no point of contact during their junior school time.

“Is that you, Aoi-san～♪? We haven’t seen each other in a long time. How have you been doing～?”

“Good day, Layla-san. Long time no see. I have been doing great and it looks like you are doing great as well.”

“Yes, I am doing perfectly～ I have been spending joyful time with Takuya-sama every day～♪”

Layla clearly made a stab at Yukishiro with that. Seeing Layla act like that, Aoi stared at Yukishiro full of worry.

“Aoi-san, your dress is very lovely～♪ If I remember correctly, you are Yuuta-sama’s direct affiliate, right? Yuuta-sama is a very magnificent man to give you such a pretty dress～♪”

“…Yes. I received this dress from Yuuta-sama. Layla-san…you too received yours from Takuya-sama, right?”

“Correct～♪”

Aoi considered this to be odd. If you just considered the price, Layla’s dress was probably more expensive than Aoi’s. Moreover, there were the dresses worn by Emily and Monica. And on top of that, the dresses worn by Yukishiro and Akari.

As such, Aoi wondered whether Takuya had so much money to buy so many high-quality dresses. In regards to the total expenses for the dresses, she assumed that Yuuta had paid more money. Not only did he buy dresses for Aoi, Manami, and Moe, but he also got one for the other 36 girls in his class and even his classroom teacher Tomoe.

However, although she knew, Aoi didn’t spell out just why Yuuta had enough money to buy all that.

Yet, how about Takuya? Maybe he has “something” that allows him to pay for all the dresses, just like Yuuta-sama.

Aoi hadn’t received any such information. But, of course Aoi and the Yoshiwaras didn’t know everything either.

Did Yukishiro-san prepare the dress herself? But, if that’s the case, why…?

Assuming Yukishiro had truly prepared the dress by herself, why wasn’t it of superior quality? And why was Layla’s dress of superior quality instead, even being decorated with gems?

Did Layla-san prepare the dress herself as well? Does she have that much financial leeway?

Layla’s mother was part of Mir’s royal family line, but she was so low in standing that she didn’t even possess any right to the throne, as far as Aoi recalled. Layla was studying abroad in Nihon, and to begin with, her mother had been sent to Nihon on official business. Although it would be for the sake of her daughter, would she really prepare such an expensive dress for her just to participate in an evening ball?

“Besides, that fan is really pretty～♪ What sort of flowers are those?”

“They are called lilies.”

“Oh my, so those are lilies. I see～♪”

Yukishiro tried to hold back Layla who couldn’t stop from getting involved with Aoi.

“Layla-san, let us wait over there for Takuya-sama.”

“Oh? Was I being a nuisance?”

“No…”

If she put it like that, only few would honestly tell her that she was annoying. Although Yukishiro had finally succeeded in cutting the conversation out of consideration, Layla ruined her efforts by continuing to meddle with Aoi. Layla’s face made it clear that she apparently enjoyed this situation.

Yukishiro spread her fan and sighed while hiding her mouth. It gave her headaches whenever she had to consider how to stop Layla who wouldn’t behave while feigning friendliness. Just like during junior high.

But, without realizing or caring about Yukishiro’s worries, Layla addressed her with a bright and cheerful voice, “Yukishiro-san, your fan is very pretty too～”

“…Yes.”

“You received it from Takuya-sama, didn’t you? It makes me so jealous～♪”

“He didn’t give you one, Layla-san?”

Aoi entered the two’s conversation after hearing Layla commenting on Yukishiro’s fan.

“I received a gem instead of a fan♪”

“Takuya-sama gifted you with a gem instead of a fan?”

“We don’t have the tradition of gifting fans in the Mir Kingdom～ That’s why I told him I would be fine with a gem～♪”

She had refused to be given a fan by a man. Aoi couldn’t fathom why Takuya had given Layla a gem instead of a fan. But, they were in Nihon, not Mir. And Takuya was a boy from Nihon. Layla, who should know about the customs in Nihon, had turned down a fan.

Does Layla-san have no intention to continue her exchange with Takuya-sama?

Although she was supposed to have gone back to Mir, Layla had stayed back in Nihon. Even Aoi knew the story about her staying in Nihon for the three high-school years. After she had become Takuya’s direct affiliate, Aoi had assumed that Layla wanted to become Takuya’s wife or lover.

Does that mean she’s going back to Mir once she graduates high school?

If she becomes Takuya’s wife or girlfriend, she will acquire Nihon’s citizenship and must prepare a home for Takuya. Takuya will never live in the Mir Kingdom. It was unthinkable for Nihon to allow one of its precious men to leave the country.

Of course, a holiday trip would be excluded from that, though.

Layla-san understands Nihon’s culture very well…so she’s trying to enjoy her time with Takuya-sama during her stay in Nihon… She should have come in contact with him after it was decided for Yukishiro-san to become Takuya-sama’s direct affiliate…

Once she arrived at the logical conclusion, Aoi faced Layla with an expression as cold as she usually didn’t show others. It was the face of such fury that even Manami didn’t recall having seen it, let alone Moe.

Aoi immediately hid her mouth behind the fan given to her by Yuuta, but only after clearly showing that expression to Layla and Yukishiro.

“…Is something the matter～?”

“No…”

Her target isn’t Takuya-sama. Using him, she’s trying to spend her time happily while freely spending the money of the Minatos. She has clearly targeted the rule forbidding a girl to cancel her status as a direct affiliate during the three years of high-school…. After living a high life on the wallet of the Minatos, she intends to discard Takuya-sama and go back to Mir. Or maybe she’s going to keep the relationship with Takuya-sama alive while continuing to siphon the Minatos’ money. Even if Yukishiro-san and Takuya-sama become lovers and marry…as long as Takuya-sama’s heart is in the hands of Layla-san…

Aoi was horrified. She had deepened her relationship with Yuuta for a short period of time since right before the junior high graduation. Because of that, Layla probably didn’t know about Aoi and Yuuta’s relationship.

The ones standing out the most in their grade were Takuya and his direct affiliate candidate, Yukishiro. After it was decided that Layla would stay for the duration of high-school in Nihon, she targeted the riches of the Minatos through Takuya.

What if her aim would have been Yuuta instead of Takuya? What if she had targeted the assets of the Yoshiwaras instead of the Minatos? Would I be able to give up on Yuuta-sama if Layla had taken hold of his heart by some odd chance?

No, I wouldn’t be able to do that…I’d surely use all means available to me…to get a hold of Yuuta’s heart…

If something like this would have happened, Nanase, Takashi, and Manami would have supported Aoi and remonstrated Yuuta. And if they had judged him to not be sincere and cherishing towards Aoi, Yuuta would have been abandoned by the Yoshiwaras. Even if it had hurt Aoi’s heart.

Yukishiro-san…is she frantically trying to get hold of Takuya-sama’s heart?

Aoi met Yukishiro for the first time during her 6th grade at elementary school. At that exchange meeting, Yukishiro had greeted Takuya. And once she’d entered junior high, she immediately started to frequent Takuya’s classroom.

Because Aoi was scared of Takuya, she went there once in the beginning to greet him, but afterwards she stayed away from his classroom.

As far as I’m concerned, I don’t see any merits in Takuya-sama, but…if he’s important to Yukishiro-san…

The question of whether she’d be able to somehow help Yukishiro started to swirl inside Aoi’s head. As fellow family heads of the next generation, she understood the weight and liability of what they were shouldering all too well.

While it might be true that the Yoshiwaras and Minatos shared a relationship of rivalry, Aoi wasn’t the sort of woman who would rejoice over things not working out well between Yukishiro and Takuya. Rather, she wished for the relationship to blossom from the bottom of her heart.

And for this very reason, Aoi was pissed. She was furious from the depth of her heart.

It was no more than her own conjecture, but she considered the probability of it being true, given the situation in front of her, as very high. Moreover, the information Aoi had heard about the relationship between Yukishiro and Takuya, which used to be so good during junior high, was anything but good ever since entering high-school. And she couldn’t believe that Layla was completely unrelated to that.

I thought she understood just what emotions we put into deepening our exchange with men…the culture of Nihon, but Layla-san doesn’t get it at all, does she?

Aoi reflected after realizing that she had overestimated Layla. She had believed that Layla didn’t cause any major issues during her junior high-school period because she had understood the culture of Nihon well. Even when the news of Layla having become Takuya’s direct affiliate had reached Aoi, she thought that she’d support Takuya together with Yukishiro, building a strong relationship.

Even if there were some smaller problems, they’d just need to overcome them together. And even if Layla was the reason for things not working out between Yukishiro and Takuya, Aoi believed that Layla would put great effort into overcoming that and cooperating with Yukishiro.

But, Layla didn’t have the slightest intention to work hard for Takuya’s sake from the very start.

This was an unbelievable thought for a Nihon woman.

Isn’t she aware that we’re standing above countless women with our privilege to interact with men!?

99% of the women in Nihon live without meeting a man. The women of high families stand above all those women, which gives them the opportunity to interact with men. There’s not a single woman who would try to keep interacting with a man while not giving much of a care about it.

Before meeting Yuuta, Aoi hadn’t actively interacted with the boys because she was scared of them. That was because she thought it’d be rude to do so, towards the men and the many women who didn’t get a chance to interact with men.

If she had never met Yuuta…the status of being an Eternal might have ended for the Yoshiwaras with her generation, Aoi thought.

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Even though Yukishiro and Layla were supposed to glare at each other in the center of the venue, it had suddenly changed into a glaring contest between Aoi and Layla. The girls present in the hall were confused as they couldn’t understand the situation. Yukishiro couldn’t hide her surprise at Aoi’s behavior either.

And Layla revealed a pouting expression, wondering why she had to be glared at by Aoi.

『It is time for the boys to enter』

The announcement informing everyone of the boys’ entry quietly dominated the hall.