Chapter 73: Evening Ball (2)

Evening Ball (2)

As soon as the doors of the venue opened, several boys entered. Yuuta was among them.

Wearing the tuxedo he had received from Aoi, Yuuta immediately spotted Aoi.

She has been waiting for me in the limelight, huh?

As he kept walking towards the center of the hall, he noticed the other girls standing near Aoi. Yukishiro, the next family head of the Minatos, and the girl who had been on a shopping date with Takuya.

If I remember correctly…she’s called Layla-san, isn’t she?

He recalled that she’d become Takuya’s direct affiliate and originated from the Mir Kingdom.

“Yuuta-sama!”

“The tuxedo suits him very well, making him look dreamy.”

“It looks like the story about him being a shut-in has been a lie.”

Seeing Yuuta walking through the hall, many of the girls were surprised. Most of them had only greeted him on the first day of junior high and then saw him never again.

Ever since the incident during his first year in junior high, Yuuta had shut himself up at home, refusing to attend school or do Service Activities. Back then, many of the girls despised him for that.

After waking up, Yuuta only attended two junior highschool classes, if you exclude the graduation ceremony. Most of the time during those two classrooms was spent with Aoi and him interacting. And after his exchanges with Aoi, Manami, and Moe, he used most of the remaining time to interact with the twelve girls, who have close ties to the Yoshiwaras and have now become his indirect affiliates.

The only girls besides those connected to the Yoshiware were Yukishiro, Akari, and a few more girls. Many of the other girls, who had already decided on the boy they hoped to join as direct affiliates, never visited Yuuta’s classroom.

Some of the girls present in the hall might have seen Yuuta’s Streaming Service, but seeing him live instead of a display, they whispered words of praise and admiration.

“Aoi-san.”

“Yuuta-sama♡”

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“I thought I saw a cute fairy here. Of course, you’re usually just as cute.”

“Being called cute by you makes me very happy♡”

“Thank you for wearing the dress I presented to you.”

“Yuuta-sama, you look very handsome too! Of course, you’re always kind and handsome, though♡”

“Having you tell me so makes me happy as well. The tuxedo I got from you is way too stylish and cool, so I’m worried whether it’s actually suiting me. What do you think?”

“It fits you perfectly♡”

“Then I’m glad.”

As soon as Yuuta called out to Aoi after having arrived at the center of the hall, the two were enveloped by a rosy, pink world containing only them. Not only the surrounding girls, who were watching this, but even Yukishiro, Akari, and Layla’s group were dumbfounded by the spectacle in front of them.

Aoi-san was so sweet and dependent? I guess that’s her true self because she’s trusting Yuuta-sama from the bottom of her heart. And Yuuta-sama’s wonderful remarks were also filled with sincerity…

Yukishiro’s image of Aoi was still strongly influenced by the Aoi she knew from before Yuuta had entered the scene. And the same applied not only to Yukishiro, but the other girls in the hall as well. Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

But, even Layla suffered a shock from seeing Aoi and Yuuta’s exchange.

What’s with this sickly-sweet conversation? Yuuta-sama is the guy who was called dropout trash and shut-in scum, isn’t he? …It doesn’t really matter to me whether it’s the Yoshiwaras or Minatos, but thinking about it now won’t change anything anyway.

Layla felt it was too much of a hassle to greet the boys during the first day of junior high and thus she was actually meeting Yuuta for the first time today. She had known about him because of that incident, but she couldn’t quite believe that the boy in front of her had been called shut-in scum or some such.

After having his lovey-dovey talk with Aoi, Yuuta turned towards Manami and Moe who were right next to him.

“Manami-san, Moe-san, you look very lovely, too.”

“Thank you kindly. I am truly happy to be allowed to wear a dress you chose for me, Yuuta-sama.”

“Me too! Thank you so much for granting a common girl like me such a honor!”

Everyone knew that Yuuta’s class was completely dominated by the Yoshiwaras. And since Yuuta would get married to Aoi, there was nothing strange about that. Rather, the odd one out was Takuya’s class. Even though he should get married to Yukishiro, whose status as next family head of the Minatos was equal to Aoi’s, Takuya’s class didn’t consist of just one faction.

However, the question was why he had taken Layla, who wore a dress more luxurious than those of everyone else in the hall, as a direct affiliate. If the relationship between Yukishiro and Layla had been good, people would still understand it (although they couldn’t understand the clear difference in dress quality), but this was obviously not the case.

He’s also paying proper attention to his indirect affiliates. Moreover, Moe-san is a common citizen, and yet… If Takuya-sama was in his place right now, he’d have ignored Moe-san, unless her family owned a fairly big-sized company. In the first place, Takuya-sama would never give his permission to turn a commoner girl into his indirect affiliate.

Yukishiro quietly watched the exchange between Yuuta and Aoi’s group. But, in the next instant, Yuuta’s eyes fixated on Yukishiro.

“Long time no see, Yukishiro-san. Thank you very much for back then.”

“I-It has been a long time indeed, Yuuta-sama. And no, I have acted impertinently, so…”

“I didn’t think so at all. At that time, I couldn’t apologize to you in person.”

“T-There is no need for an apology or anything.”

“Akari-san, long time no see. How are you doing?”

“Thank you, Yuuta-sama. I am doing fine, and hearing about all your recent activities made me happy.”

Aoi and Manami weren’t particularly surprised when they heard the conversation between Yuuta, Yukishiro, and Akari. They naturally knew about Yukishiro and Akari having come in contact with Yuuta. Only Moe didn’t know about the events back then, and thus was confused by their words.

Layla, who didn’t know about the connection between Yuuta and Yukishiro like Moe, felt interested by this development. Before Yuuta could address her himself, she spoke up to him.

“Yuuta-sama～♪ Nice to meet you. My name is Layla and I am but a humble, low-ranked royal of the Mir Kingdom. These here are my precious friends Emily-san and Monica-san～♪”

“Nice to meet you too, Layla-san, Emily-san, and Monica-san.”

When he had seen them together with Takuya in the past, Yuuta had felt that their appearances and behavior was different from Nihon women. They were blond, big-breasted beauties with light-brown skin. Appearances which would have been quite popular in the eroge of his previous world. And they also seemed like the types who would actively shorten the distance to men to get into close contact.

That attitude, which was different from Nihon women who always kept their distance from men in mind, felt novel to him in a sense.

Passionate and being over-familiar are two different pairs of shoes, though.

Him sensing that Layla’s nature was over-familiar after meeting her here for the first time stemmed from her Mir origin, her way of interacting with Takuya before, and her current attitude towards him. Even though he thought she might actually be a different kind of person, he judged that the over-familiar Layla and the passionate Aoi were women of different dispositions.

The passionate Aoi was smiling at him while standing at his side

Among the boys coming to the event today…no, among all the men in this world, only I know how passionate and assertive Aoi-san can be. I know a side of her which even her father Takashi-san doesn’t know.

That gave him a sense of superiority. And this sense of superiority made Yuuta feel happy. At the same time, he wondered whether the men of this world actually felt superior about a woman showing only them certain sides of her. And whether they’d feel happy to be the only ones knowing things about that woman. Even if they were merely dancing on the palm of that woman.

“Yuuta-sama, did you interact not only with Aoi-san, but also Yukishiro-san and Akari-san during your junior high school time～?”

“Layla-san!”

Yukishiro stopped Layla decisively. Just now, Layla had committed a breach of etiquette. It was a taboo to speak to a boy about his past interactions with other women in front of his direct affiliate. That’s because it didn’t feel nice for the man and woman to have this investigated.

Yuuta had talked to Yukishiro and Akari, girls who were affiliated to another boy, in front of his direct affiliate because he judged it’d be no problem for Aoi to hear what they were talking about. Of course it was a different question what Aoi thought about that, but as long as Yuuta took responsibility for it, it didn’t matter.

And if Takuya had been present in this place, Yuuta likely wouldn’t have been able to talk so easily with Yukishiro and Akari. Even if he had no problem with Aoi listening to their conversation, there was no way for Yuuta to bear the responsibility for Takuya’s feelings on this.

Yukishiro believed that Layla’s misbehavior posed no issue for Yuuta and Aoi. Rather, it was her who didn’t want them to keep talking about this topic. She didn’t want Layla to talk about the exchange she and Akari had with Yuuta during junior high in front of Takuya who had entered the venue with a slight delay.

Even though Yukishiro didn’t consider it to be unfaithful towards Takuya, it was a different matter what Takuya himself thought about it.

For this very reason, this was considered a breach of etiquette.

“Oh～♪ What’s wrong～♪”

“Talking about the junior high school time is a breach of etiquette.”

“Is that so? Does it really matter so much?”

Her face clearly shows that she’s fully aware of it, Yukishiro reflexively clenched her fists.

Akari also put on a grim expression and told Layla, “You are causing troubles to Yuuta-sama and Aoi-sama. Please stop it.”

“Uh-oh, that’s a scary face Akari-san has～♪”

Once again Yukishiro and Layla glared at each other.

Seeing those two, Aoi hid her previous expression of fury, but she put strength into the hand holding her fan. Yuuta gently placed his hand on her.

“It was nothing you could call an interaction to begin with. You should know that I always stayed cooped up at home during junior high, right?”

Yuuta addressed Layla with a calm voice amidst this oppressive atmosphere.

“Yes, I know. I heard you encountered a heartbreaking incident.”

“I stayed at home, shirking my duty to attend school and do Service Activities. But, as the graduation drew closer, I reflected that I couldn’t go on like this and started to attend school while doing my best with the Service Activities. At that time Yukishiro-san and Akari-san merely talked to me for a bit as they were worried about me.”

Yuuta tried to lighten the mood by telling Layla that it was no more than a short talk.

“Oh, I see. But, that was an unnecessary worry, wasn’t it～? Since you have such a wonderful girl like Aoi-san at your side. For Yukishiro-san to have recommended Akari-san to you despite knowing about Aoi-san’s presence is weird.”

The atmosphere, which had finally lightened up thanks to Yuuta, immediately became heavy and cold again because of Layla’s comment. Apparently she had no intention to stop. And they couldn’t make Layla, who had received a dress from Takuya, leave the hall either.

“Hmm? She didn’t recommend Akari-san to me or anything like that. We simply talked for a bit.”

“Eh?”

Unable to understand Yuuta’s words, Layla unintentionally let a baffled voice slip. For Layla, that was very unusual. Yukishiro and Akari also froze in surprise, albeit remaining silent.

“I told you they were worried about me, who had remained at home all the time, and talked with me for a bit.”

“T-That’s…does that mean Yukishiro-san introduced and recommended Akari-san to you?”

Going by the words between Yuuta, Yukishiro, and Akari, Layla had guessed that Yukishiro should have introduced Akari to Yuuta, hoping for him to take her as his direct affiliate, if possible.

What’s going on? Is he implying that he’s worried about Aoi-san? A man is worried about a woman? That’s impossible, right…? Besides, it doesn’t really matter to Aoi anyway. She has been the one who managed to become his direct affiliate. Even if we talk about their junior high school time, the only ones troubled by this should be Yukishiro-san and Akari-san. They should be the ones disliking the idea of Takuya-sama hearing about any of it.

Layla couldn’t understand Yuuta’s way of thinking.

“No, not at all. We just had a little talk. Right, you two?”

Yuuta faced Yukishiro.

Yukishiro, who had correctly interpreted Yuuta’s thinking, answered him full of gratitude, “Yes, it is just as Yuuta-sama said. Akari-san and I have merely talked with Yuuta-sama for a bit.”

“Hmm, but you deliberately went to Yuuta-sama’s classroom, didn’t you?”

“Me having worried about Yuuta-sama was owed to my dignity as next head of the Minato family. There were no ulterior motives.”

What’s going on here!? This is almost…as if Yuuta-sama is Yukishiro-san’s ally, no!? Does that mean Yukishiro-san and not Aoi-san is the one Yuuta-sama is worried about? That’s unthinkable, right!? Why would he care about the girl of another guy? Usually a man would get pissed and start shouting…about doing something so bothersome, wouldn’t he!?

Layla couldn’t comprehend, but analyzing the current situation, she couldn’t think of any other possibility than Yuuta covering for Yukishiro. And Aoi not only didn’t rebuke his actions, but rather watched him do it happily.

“Ah!”

That was Akari’s voice. Her eyes were directed at the entrance door of the hall. In response, everyone else also looked in that direction. Over there Takuya had just entered together with several boys.

“Hmm?”

Takuya immediately spotted Yukishiro and Layla in the center of the hall. And it seemed as if both were talking to Yuuta for some reason.

Disliking this whole situation, Takuya swiftly stomped over.

“Hey, trash, what are you doing?”

“Long time no see, Takuya-kun.”

“I’ve got no intention to greet scum like you. I’ve asked you why you’re meddling with my direct affiliates?”

“I’m not meddling with them or anything. They were close to Aoi-san by accident, so I simply greeted them.”

“Don’t act so high and mighty, you fucking E-Rank loser. Aren’t you getting carried away a bit too much after making Aoi your direct affiliate?”

Behind Takuya stood his underling boys. All of them looked at Yuuta, a shut-in loser with the same age as them, with the same sort of scorn and despise.

Even if it happened due to an incident, Yuuta was a dropout who had refused to do Service Activities or attend class. They had branded him as history’s worst dropout among all the historic dropout boys in Toukyou’s junior high.

Then again, it was just them arbitrarily branding Yuuta as they liked. However, this stigma had been established as fact among all the boys. Therefore, the boys still believed that it was fine to look down on Yuuta.

Even if his direct affiliate might be the next head of the Eternal Yoshiwara, they thought that Aoi wouldn’t say anything to them as boys. As they were despising Yuuta, they thought that Aoi had become Yuuta’s direct affiliate for the sole sake of continuing the Eternal Yoshiwara after seeing the shut-in scum work hard for a bit. They didn’t fathom that Aoi could love Yuuta from the bottom of her heart.

“Takuya-kun, I don’t care what you think and say about me, but…stop calling Aoi-san as if you’re close to her.”

“Hah?”

“Aoi-san is my direct affiliate. She has nothing to do with you.”

“You son of a bitch…”

“Hey, today is the ball, you know? Are you going for a repeat of that day?”

“Ugh!”

The boys behind Takuya didn’t know that he’d gone to Yuuta’s classroom on the last School Day in junior high. Moreover, Takuya-san didn’t want his underlings to know about it either. It’d be too embarrassing to have them learn about the cringe behavior of that day.

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Back then he truly believed that Aoi would agree if he told her to become his direct affiliate. On that day he considered Aoi, who had greeted him, to be extremely cute.

Because Yukishiro had started to quickly frequent Takuya’s classroom, he didn’t pay much attention to Aoi, but as she grew throughout the second and third year of junior high, his desire to obtain her, who would become the head of one of the five daimyo families in Nihon, gained in strength.

Yukishiro, who was the next head of another of the five daimyo families, was already his. And he was called the most excellent of the guys in his grade.

Because it wasn’t as though he could simply ask Yukishiro for information about Aoi, he got his information on her from his underlings during lunch. According to them, she didn’t interact with any boys and she hadn’t decided whose direct affiliate she’d become.

If Aoi, the next family head of the Eternal Yoshiwara, didn’t manage to become anyone’s direct affiliate yet, she’d readily agree to his invitation, Takuya assessed.

But, as the graduation from junior high was drawing close, Takuya heard about Aoi visiting the classroom of the shut-in trash, who had started to attend school all of a sudden. Takuya judged that Aoi had panicked after not being able to find any other male partner, and decided that the shut-in scum Yuuta would immediately welcome her as his direct affiliate.

For this reason he had attended school on the last day when he had no reason to to do so, and even went as far as visiting Yuuta’s classroom.

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The boys listening to the conversation between Yuuta and Takuya were surprised that the shut-in trash would directly face Takuya and talk to him. He was completely different from the Yuuta they knew.

Is this really that spoiled brat? Even though he was such a timid snowflake during elementary school…

One of the guys behind Takuya thought.

“Takuya-sama, allow me to ask you the same as well. I’m Yuuta-sama’s direct affiliate, so I don’t wish to be addressed informally by men other than Yuuta-sama. Also, Yuuta-sama’s rank isn’t E. His status has been raised to D.”

Takuya’s expression as he looked at Aoi was grim. He had been shamed by Aoi and Manami on that day. Fury was raging inside his eyes as he watched those two girls.

“Yeah, got it. In the first place, I don’t wanna see that shut-in trash either. You’re unnecessary to us.”

Takuya turned around and laughed in satisfaction while looking at the boys following him.

“All he’ll be able to do is to live while wagging his tail to the next family head of the Yoshiwaras.”

He was building a new world. And he sneered at Yuuta for not being needed in that new world. Yuuta might have become a D-Rank, but it didn’t change anything about him being a target of scorn for Takuya and the boys behind him.

Yukishiro closely observed Takuya’s behavior while hiding her face behind her fan.

『Be silent, everyone』

A woman went up to the stage in the hall.

『I am the Male Supervision Department’s Director…』

It seemed as though the ball was about to start. Beginning with the greeting by the Male Supervision Department’s Director, everyone in the hall turned their attention to the stage, resulting in Yuuta’s exchange with Takuya coming to an end.

『Please spend a wonderful time. Well then…』

Once the director’s greeting ended, an orchestra started to play. At long last, it was time for the dance.

“Aoi-san, would you honor me with the first dance?”

Faster than anyone else, Yuuta offered his hand to Aoi while smiling.

“Yes. I would be more than delighted to dance with you, Yuuta-sama♪”

Aoi placed her hand on Yuuta’s and answered him with a bright voice and a beaming smile. The other boys stirred at that. The same Aoi, who had always stayed passive about them and drawn back from getting in contact, was now showing such a lovely smile while grabbing Yuuta’s hand with her face full of happiness. None of them could believe this.

The center of the hall was the dance stage, so Manami and Moe moved back to the wall. The other men faced their direct affiliates in order to invite them for a dance.

Takuya, Yukishiro, and Layla were already in the center. Thus, Takuya could simply invite one of them to a dance and go ahead right then and there. Takuya’s eyes wandered to Yukishiro. But she was looking at Aoi and Yuuta.

Seeing her expression, Takuya felt extremely pissed for some reason.

“Okay, we’ll move back as well then～”

Layla tried to head back to the wall together with Emily and Monica. Reacting to her voice, Takuya’s eyes met with Layla, and he said, “Layla.”

“Yes♡ Is something the matter?”

“We’re going to dance.”

“Eh?”

Layla forgot to use her usual, mushy voice because of his statement. Layla knew that Takuya would offer a dance to Yukishiro first. And Layla believed it’d be good for Takuya to do just that.

But, Takuya invited Layla instead. He had chosen Layla over Yukishiro in front of Yukishiro and everyone else.

Having heard his words, Yukishiro stood stock still in shock while Akari trembled in rage behind her.

Even for Layla, Takuya’s decision just now was unexpected. Once she tore her eyes off him, wondering what was going on, she spotted Yuuta and Aoi. Her eyes met with Aoi’s, who was watching their side.

And then Aoi revealed a grim expression towards Layla once again.

What’s her problem? Why do you have to glare at me like that? Moreover, you’ve been doing that even before I got involved with Yuuta-sama. E-Even though you’ve scored yourself such a guy!

Layla felt irritated as well. She had only spoken with Yuuta for a bit, but she couldn’t make heads or tails out of him. Up until now, she had been able to grasp a man’s tendencies after a bit of interaction, no matter what sort of man he was.

But, she didn’t understand Yuuta. He had shown consideration to a woman unrelated to him. And him clearly telling Takuya to not address his direct affiliate Aoi familiarly actually caused Layla’s heart to throb. Moreover, Layla didn’t comprehend why she was so annoyed right now.

I mustn’t corner Yukishiro-san too much, but…oh well, now it’s too late anyway. I guess it’s not bad to establish a clear pecking order, given the occasion. Takuya-sama is going to offer the next dance to her anyway.

After calming her irritated feelings, Layla decided to take Takuya’s hand.

“I’ll be happy to dance with you, Takuya-sama♡”

She took his hand with a sickly-sweet comment, and immediately glued himself to him. This was no distance as it’d be necessary for dancing. While pressing her abundant chest against Takuya, she cast a sidelong glance at Yukishiro.

That expression…it’d really be no problem if Yukishiro-san would be more honest. As long as a man and woman can enjoy the moment, all’s fine. Lover? Wife? High families? That’s just willingly asking for trouble.

Even though Layla logically understood Takuya and Yukishiro’s Nihon-styled interactions between men and women, her heart couldn’t grasp why she should go through all those troubles. In the Mir Kingdom it’d be fine for them to quickly fuck. Dancing at this ball, the confession, and all the interactions afterwards were nothing more than a bother to her.

After the dance with me, I’m sure she’ll be invited by Takuya-sama. And once Yukishiro-san became his lover after having sex with him, I must get her to cooperate with me so that I can enjoy my remaining time in high school over here.

Sayla, Layla’s mother, was Mir royalty, but she was so insignificant in the royal family that she didn’t even possess any right to succeed the throne. She didn’t have that much money available either.

It seems like she’s become somewhat influential lately. Did Mother find a good man or something?

The feat of securing a man in Niho wasn’t anything that would make her influential. A man’s fortune was managed by his wives or the state. Because of that, the assets of the women around the man were so important. Layla was eying the assets of the Minatos through Takuya.

Sayla’s recent power didn’t stem from her having gotten a hold of a man who was surrounded by rich women, like Layla had done. If such a man was in her life, she wouldn’t have participated in the trip during August and fished there for men. Rather, Sayla’s pockets had been filled since she was entrusted with a top-secret mission by Mir.

And that money was originally intended to be used for that very mission, but…

I’m grateful to the weird rule that a girl cannot quit being a direct affiliate by herself. I’ll grab the superior position for the remaining time at high school. But, once I graduate, I’ll immediately head back to Mir♪ Please feel free to have a happy life with Takuya-sama afterwards.

Layla believed that Yukishiro loved Takuya. That’s why she had gone to his classroom during junior high and why she had become his direct affiliate.

Even if I cause some problems here and there, she’s going to support me through Takuya’s high school time while continuing to be his girlfriend. And unlike me, Yukishiro has no other options but to follow this path, right?

Yukishiro moved back to the wall while watching Layla and Takuya glued to each other in the center of the hall.

Meanwhile the orchestra music continued to fill the hall.