Chapter 75: Evening Ball (4) – Yuuta

Evening Ball (4) – Yuuta

I danced with Aoi-san to a very romantic song. Having become a couple, she and I stared at each other without hiding any of our happiness.

This second dance was reserved for those who became couples.

“I’m truly happy that I was able to become your boyfriend, Aoi-san.”

“Me too! From now on I will keep…falling in love with you more and more! And I will work hard so that I’m worthy of your love as well, Yuuta-sama!”

“I’ll work hard too. Let’s do our best together.”

“Yes!”

I wouldn’t mind her not addressing me so formally anymore, now that we’ve become lovers, but I guess it’d be way too embarrassing for her to start calling me casually by name all of a sudden.

Linking arms with Aoi-san, we headed over to Manami-san and Moe-san who had been waiting along the wall.

When I threw a fleeting glance at Takuya-kun, he wasn’t together with Yukishiro-san, but Layla-san and her friends. He didn’t confess to Layla-san after having invited her to the important first dance, huh? Does it mean he won’t confess to Yukishiro-san either? What’s the plan here?

If he was going to confess to Yukishiro-san, he probably would have invited her to the first dance.

“Congratulations. It was a wonderful dance.”

“Congratulations!”

Manami-san and Moe-san gave us their blessings. Moe-san was rejoicing while crying.

“Thank you. The next song is coming up. Manami-san, would you like to dance with me?”

“Yes, with pleasure.”

“Hehe, a fun dance together with Manami-san♪”

This work is hosted on mananovel.com

Once Aoi-san released my arm, I offered my hand to Manami-san, inviting her for a dance. Manami-san took it and we headed to the center of the venue once again.

“Are you not tired?”

“I’m fine. I’ve trained my body to a reasonable degree.”

“Yuuta-sama, what you call a reasonable degree, should actually be described as a high degree, if you compare it to the other boys.”

“You think so?”

“You will be able to tell immediately, if you look around yourself.”

When we had positioned ourselves to dance, I cast another fleeting glance at Takuya-kun. I thought he’d invite Yukishiro-san next, but now he’s dancing with one of Layla-san’s friends!?

Who’s that?

“Eh?”

“…That girl is Emily-san. She is a girl from the Mir Kingdom who became Takuya-sama’s indirect affiliate upon Layla-san’s recommendation.” Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

“I-I see…a twin?”

“Yes. The other one is called Monika-san. She’s Emily-san’s twin.”

Given that the two girls, who had been next to Takuya-kun, shared the same face, I already suspected that they were twins. And it proved to be right.

But, I get this whole mess less and less? What’s going on?

As I was confused by Takuya-kun’s situation, the music started to play. So I focused on my dance with Manami-san.

“Does it bother you?”

“Huh? Y-Yeah, well…rather than bothering, it’s more like I don’t understand what’s what.”

Manami-san pondered for a moment and then explained it to me while we were dancing.

“The evaluation of Takuya-sama’s high-school class is rather bad.”

“Eh? Really?”

It’s the class of the guy who was hailed as the most excellent boy during junior high. Moreover, the next head of the Eternal Minato family is his direct affiliate.

I like my own class to the extent that I want to believe that his class isn’t at the level of mine, but I expected that Takuya-kun’s class was going well enough to not be inferior to mine. Yet, its evaluation is bad?

“Are Layla-san and her friends making trouble?”

“Publicly it doesn’t seem like they have caused any big issues. But, I hear that the small problems have been piling up. Maybe some bigger problem has already occurred without me hearing about it.”

“And Takuya-kun not inviting Yukishiro-san for a dance?”

“That is…it is not like I have a full grasp on all details either, so it would just be an educated guess.”

“Could you share your thoughts with me, Manami-san?”

“Of course. According to the information on the ball I obtained, Takuya-sama was supposed to dance with Yukishiro-sama first.”

“Huh? And yet he didn’t invite her?”

“Yes. Very likely Takuya-sama changed his mind right before the dance. And what triggered this change…”

“The conversation with me?”

“Maybe or maybe not.”

When I entered the venue to meet up with Aoi-san who had gone ahead, Yukishiro-san and Layla-san were with her. Since I couldn’t personally apologize to Yukishiro-san for having declined making Akari-san my direct affiliate, I thought it was a good opportunity to get it sorted. But because Layla-san meddled with this in a weird way, I dealt with the situation so that it wouldn’t cause any trouble to Yukishiro-san and Akari-san.

As I was doing that, Takuya-kun entered the hall. And since he addressed Aoi-san quite familiarly, I got pissed. I don’t care whom Takuya-kun addresses familiarly, but I don’t want him to do it to the woman I love.

As for him, he must have gotten mad at me because I, whom he still regards as shut-in trash, told him off. Moreover, Aoi-san also told him off.

But, I don’t understand how that has led to him not dancing with Yukishiro-san.

“I do have a wild speculation why this is happening.”

“Hmm?”

“Isn’t Takuya-sama trying to embarrass Yukishiro-sama?”

“Why would he do something like that?”

“Maybe for the sake of exhibiting his own superiority?”

Exhibiting his superiority? He’d shame a woman for something like that?

Hmm…well, Manami-san said it’s a wild speculation, so…

“Even if he’s able to demonstrate his superiority, it’s meaningless if he ends up hurting the other party, isn’t it?”

“…It is your character that allows you to frankly think like this, Yuuta-sama. You always consider things while taking women and other parties into consideration. However, Takuya-sama, and many men in this world, are not like that.”

“I see…”

“I have not interacted closely with any boy other than you, Yuuta-sama, so I don’t really know how other boys usually behave. But I still want to thank you as I am very happy that I can experience such a wonderful high school time without the hardships other girls and women have had.”

The men of this world have their own personalities as well, I’m sure. But at the same time I think all those men share this world’s value system, and those values are probably quite harsh on women.

“Do you think Takuya-kun is going to invite Yukishiro-san after his dance with Emily-san?”

“As far as I would predict it, he is likely going to invite Monika-san next, now that he has gone this far. If he invited Yukishiro-sama while skipping Monika-san alone, it would worsen his relationship with the three girls from Mir.”

“I understand.”

“Personally I believe he should have invited Yukishiro-sama to this dance, no matter what intention he might have had to not do so. Yukishiro-sama doesn’t show it on her face, but she must be disappointed in him.”

“Disappointed, huh…?”

When I cast a fleeting glance at Yukishiro-san, she was standing at the wall with a firm expression. It was the face of the next family head of the Eternal Minatos.

But, seeing her like that…reminded me of the talk about commoner women who took their own lives after losing their hope. I heard about it from Ayaka-san and it’s not like I’ve ever seen those women who took their lives, but…somehow I felt like that.

“Is he going to invite Yukishiro-san after his dance with Monika-san?”

“He probably will. It will be a huge disgrace for Yukishiro-sama.”

“Won’t it earn Takuya-sama a lot of criticism for having embarrassed the next family head of the Eternal Minatos like that?”

“Most of the girls in this hall likely consider Takuya-sama to be an insincere man. I do not know whether Takuya-sama is aware of that, though.”

“Assuming your guesses and wild speculations are all true, how will the state evaluate Takuya-kun and his actions?”

“As far as my personal assessment is concerned, he’s a fool who deserves to be demoted to F-Rank, but I cannot tell what the state will do.”

Manami-san was pretty angry at Takuya-kun for not cherishing Yukishiro-san.

“We can’t do anything about it…nor do we know what the state will do anyway, I suppose.”

“Yes. It would be dangerous to get involved too deeply.”

Takuya-kun and I merely are beings who are being controlled by the state. If I were to comment on the decisions of the authorities, the state might label me as having a dangerous character.

“Anyway, we have this rare and special occasion to dance together, so forgive me for bothering you with such an unrelated matter.”

“No, I’m happy as long as I can be of service to you, Yuuta-sama.”

“Are we going to dance again at the ball next year? At that time I’d…”

“I hope I can participate in the ball together with you and Aoi-sama next year too. But, if you have taken a liking to me and if you plan to accept me in the same way as you did with Aoi-sama…”

At that point, Manami-san suddenly brought her body close and sweetly whispered into my ear, “I’m not all that fussy about a confession during the ball. Rather, I would prefer to become your lover a bit faster than that, Yuuta-sama♡”

It was Manami-san’s rare coquettish voice which I had heard last during our shared horse-ride at the class trip. It made my heart beat like crazy!

“G-Got it.”

“Hehe, I will be looking forward to it.”

Once the third song ended, we moved back to where Aoi-san and Moe-san were standing. No boys were confessing to girls at that point.

After a little break, the fourth song started to play and I offered a hand to Moe-san.

“Moe-san, would you like to dance with me?”

“Yes!”

I headed to the center of the venue together with her. When I took a fleeting glance while walking there, Takuya-kun had invited the girl called Monika-san, just as Manami-san expected.

For him to really neglect Yukishiro-san like that…

“Yuuta-sama, I’m so happy to dance with you♪”

Moe-san boldly danced without being swallowed by the atmosphere around her. Right now, she’s likely the only commoner girl among the girls present at this ball.

Even while being watched by the daughters of high families, Moe-san reliably danced without a care. I was truly delighted when she told me that she’d be working hard with the goal of becoming my girlfriend.

I should work even harder for her sake, and of course for the sake of everyone else in my class as well. So that we will keep having a wonderful time.

════•°• ⚠ •°•════

The fourth song soon came to an end, too. We planned to leave the venue at this point. The other girls in the class were waiting for us while preparing our own little ball at the big hall in my school building.

As such we wanted to spend some fun time together at the class’s ball after this.

“Good work out there.”

“I had a lot of fun dancing with all of you. Let’s dance together next year as well.”

“Okay!”

I started to walk towards the entrance with Aoi-san, Manami-san, and Moe-san.

As I did, I cast a fleeting glance at Takuya-kun.

…He hasn’t invited Yukishiro-san to dance with him? Is he taking a break together with Layla-san’s group?

I looked at Yukishiro-san. She was standing at the wall, her expression unchanged.

At that moment, I could hear something being grasped tightly from Aoi-san. She was clamping down on the fan I had given to her with the hand that wasn’t holding onto my arm. Her eyes were pinned on Yukishiro-san…and she had a very sad expression…

Aoi-san and Yukishiro-san. I never asked about the details of their relationship. After all, I didn’t have any reason to ask about Yukishiro-san, the direct affiliate of Takuya-kun.

They’re both heirs to the headship of their respective families. I’m sure they must be sharing things only they would understand.

I only know about Aoi-san. And I believe she’s currently worried about Yukishiro-san.

I hate seeing her sad.

Yukishiro-san…maybe doesn’t want me to worry about her, though.

“Aoi-san.”

“Yes.”

“Only the girls, who received a dress from a boy, can take part in the ball, right?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

Aoi-san looked somewhat dumbstruck because I suddenly asked her about the participation rules of this ball.

“The boy is free to request or not request a dance from the woman, whom he gave a dress to, right?”

“Yes. It’s as you say.”

“About that dance requesting part…can a boy only offer a dance to the girls whom he gave a dress to?”

“Eh?”

As might be expected, even Aoi-san couldn’t quite follow my overly weird questions. Rather, it’d be weird if she could, wouldn’t it?

After all, it’s so natural that it doesn’t require to actually be written down. But, I wonder, what are the rules about this in reality?

“T-That’s…”

Aoi-san pondered and looked at Manami-san. Manami-san nodded back at her.

“There is nothing like that written in the rules for the ball. It only mentions that the boys can request dances from the girls.”

“In other words, going by the rules, I could offer a dance to any girl in this hall, correct?”

There’s no way that such a lack of common sense flies. Even if I took such an action, it’d be seen as betrayal towards Aoi-san and the other girls in the class, and it’d lead to an argument with the boy who gave the dress to the girl in question.

But, right now Aoi-san and the others should understand the intent behind my action.

“Yuuta-sama…”

“We’re going to be slightly late to our class’s ball, but…I guess it’d be fine to poke the bush a bit? I mean…it’s a pain to simply watch, right? It’s going to cause trouble to you, though.”

Apparently interpreting my intention correctly, Aoi-san smiled very brightly. And then she happily announced with an unintentionally loud voice, “Let’s do it!”

“Aoi-sama, you are being too loud.”

At once she got remonstrated by Manami-san.