"Hmm-hmm."
Elise hummed a little tune as she straightened her clothes.
Today was a special day, which was why she needed to dress herself up properly.
"Lady Saintess, what's gotten into you?"
Seeing Elise behaving so unusually, Orphelia was rather confused. She was Elise's roommate, after all, yet this was still the first time she had ever seen Elise put this much effort into dressing up.
The last time seemed to have involved that songstress from Queenvail. So who would it be this time?
It couldn't possibly be a boyfriend, could it?
The moment Orphelia thought of the word boyfriend, her body suddenly froze.
She remembered something she had heard in the past.
When Lady Saintess had first arrived in Asterisk, someone at Saint Galahadworth Academy really had confessed to her, hadn't they? What was his name again?
Right, Elliot!
How unbelievable. A middle school student actually confessed to a high school girl. Wouldn't his family stop him?
That was underage romance!
Uh, she had almost forgotten this was a two-dimensional world. At this age, it probably didn't matter much.
And his family apparently even supported him?
Then there was no helping it. She would have to find an opportunity to humanely eliminate him... Orphelia couldn't help developing such a dangerous thought.
"I told you before that I promised to let someone decide how I spend my Sunday, so naturally I have to dress up properly."
Ever since the problem with her eyes had been resolved, Elise still frequently kept them closed, but she had long since stopped wearing an eyepatch. After all, it often caused misunderstandings. It was better to simply let people assume she liked keeping her eyes shut.
After saying that, Elise continued dressing herself in front of the mirror, while Orphelia silently made up her mind beside her.
She absolutely couldn't let Lady Saintess go out alone. She had to secretly protect her from behind!
If they really ran into that boy, Orphelia wouldn't mind letting him experience the terror of a Strega all over again!
"Then I'm heading out, Orphelia."
Just before leaving, Elise suddenly opened her eyes and gave Orphelia a strange smile.
But Orphelia didn't notice.
She simply sat there and waited for a little while before changing into ordinary clothes and following Elise.
...
"Good morning, Elise!"
Standing beside a clothing store, Laetitia, dressed in light summer clothes, looked at herself in the mirror and repeatedly adjusted her expression, but...
"No, I can't use an expression like this in front of Elise!"
Her smile didn't last long before Laetitia herself broke it.
She wanted to show Elise the most perfect version of herself, but the gap between reality and imagination was obvious. No matter what expression Laetitia tried, she simply wasn't satisfied.
Even before coming here, Laetitia had spent ages hesitating over what to wear. If she hadn't genuinely been running out of time, she might not even have left home.
Even after reaching the agreed meeting place, she was still checking herself in the mirror.
Time passed second by second until...
"Good morning, Laetitia!"
The familiar voice came from beside her, startling Laetitia, but she immediately recovered.
"Honestly, don't scare me like that, Elise!"
With both hands on her hips, Laetitia puffed out her cheeks, but in the very next second, the dissatisfaction vanished from her face.
"Since you're already here, let's go!"
"I've been preparing for today for several days."
The instant Elise arrived, all of Laetitia's dissatisfaction disappeared.
Only a second earlier, she had still been complaining, but after seeing the person she had been longing to meet, that person was the only thing left in her mind.
What's wrong with me?
Laetitia herself was confused by the change and didn't understand why she was acting like this.
But now clearly wasn't the time to think about it. She couldn't keep her friend waiting for too long.
"So, let's go together!"
It was rare for Elise and Laetitia to go out together, so Elise naturally intended to relax and enjoy herself.
As for those little tails following behind them, she would simply let them keep watching. They weren't going to see anything anyway.
"Phew, so it isn't Elliot..."
Hiding behind a streetlight, Orphelia cautiously poked her head out and watched the person meeting Elise from afar.
After seeing that it wasn't a boy, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But immediately afterward, she discovered a new problem.
That woman was called Laetitia, right?
Why did she keep blushing whenever she interacted with Lady Saintess?
Something was wrong. Very wrong!
Could it be that she also liked Lady Saintess?
She absolutely couldn't stand by and do nothing!
The moment Orphelia took a step forward, she seemed to collide with something and fell directly onto the ground.
"Mm, sorry, I wasn't look... Huh?"
Thanks to Elise's influence, unless special circumstances arose, the current Orphelia was simply an ordinary, delicate girl.
But no matter how delicate she was, she still possessed the Falna Elise had given her. Normally, only she should be capable of knocking ordinary people down. How could anyone in this world possibly knock her over?
Unless... the newcomer wasn't from this world!
"Orphelia, it's us!"
A familiar voice reached her ears. When she looked up, sure enough, she saw the three children Lady Elise had brought with her back then!
Est, Ren, and Ophis were now students in the academy's middle school division as well. What were they doing here?
"We heard several days ago that Big Sister was going out with someone today."
"At first, we thought it was you, but now we've discovered it's that devil!"
"We absolutely can't let her successfully get close to Big Sister, otherwise we'll..."
Why did Est and the others dislike Laetitia?
Because when they entered this academy, the examiner responsible for testing them had been Laetitia!
Naturally, the student council took the students Elise personally recommended extremely seriously, so they sent Laetitia, the vice president, to supervise their exam.
If possible, she could even give them a little help...
But the result had been astonishing. Even with Laetitia helping them, their scores were still painfully awful!
So, in order to help Est and the others grow, Elise asked Laetitia to assist her in tutoring these three people who looked like children despite each being several times older than the two of them combined.
Laetitia had indeed done so, which was why the three little girls discussed it among themselves and gave her the nickname Devil.
More precisely, the Tutoring Devil!
After learning that Elise had gone out with this woman, they immediately decided to follow them. They hadn't expected to run into Orphelia here...
"Since we're all here, let's follow them together!"
...
"Sigh!"
Inside one of the academy dormitories, a blond boy sighed, his expression thoroughly gloomy. No one knew how many times he had sighed already.
His name was Elliot, and he was currently a middle school student at Saint Galahadworth Academy.
"What's wrong with you? Why have you been sighing so much lately?"
Naturally, this behavior caught the attention of the person beside him. Elliot's roommate looked over, unable to understand what had happened.
Ever since the beginning of this semester, he had often seen his roommate standing beside the window, staring at who knew what.
Only later did he discover that Elliot's confession had been rejected!
Huh? Someone actually rejected Elliot?
When his roommate first heard the news, he hadn't believed it, because Elliot's status was extremely special.
One of the founders of the Integrated Enterprise Foundation EP came from Elliot's family, and Elliot himself had already been designated as the next head of that family.
A young, handsome man with a prestigious background and plenty of money had actually been rejected by a woman?
Let me see which blind fool did that!
"She possesses breathtaking beauty..."
Mm-hmm!
If Elliot was pursuing her, naturally her appearance had to be first-rate. There was nothing strange about that.
"She also has a special background..."
Mm-hmm!
That was normal too. Elliot's family wouldn't allow him to marry a woman whose status was too low. Perfectly understandable.
"She's extremely strong, and she's older than me too..."
Mm... that's fine!
As the saying went, marrying a woman three years older was like embracing a golden brick. They attended the same school, so how much older could she really be?
"Her name is Elise..."
Huh?
Elise?
Then never mind!
The moment he heard that name, Elliot's roommate visibly froze, but his expression quickly became almost identical to Elliot's.
His roommate walked over, placed one hand on Elliot's shoulder, and sighed along with him.
"My condolences..."
"I'm not dead!"
"I'm joking. Why don't you tell me about it? Maybe I can give you some advice."
As Elliot's roommate and close friend, there were times when a good brother had to kick him while he was down, but when help was truly needed, he naturally had to help too!
"..."
Elliot thought for a moment, then told his roommate about his history with Elise.
He had fallen in love with her at first sight at a banquet, later came to Asterisk and began pursuing her, but Elise had never accepted him.
Until that confession, Elliot had always believed he still had a chance.
But after the Little Peanut incident, not only had student council president Ernest spoken to him, even vice president Laetitia had privately approached him and told him that it would be best not to see Elise for a while.
Although he hadn't understood at the time, he had still agreed to their request.
So throughout the entire vacation, Elliot hadn't gone to see Elise. Even from the beginning of this semester until now, Elliot had continued trusting the advice from the president and vice president.
Perhaps precisely because they hadn't seen each other during this period, Elliot had also reflected deeply...
Back then, he and Elise hadn't been boyfriend and girlfriend. Calling them ordinary friends would have been a stretch.
How could a confession from someone like that possibly succeed?
At the very least, he should first become closer to her before confessing!
"So in the end, you were just too impatient. What girl would agree if you pursued her like that...?"
"If her status were lower than yours, maybe you'd still have had a chance, but that's Elise we're talking about!"
The identity of Saintess of the Church alone was enough to place her beyond the reach of most people in the world.
"Plenty of boys at this academy have confessed to her, but none of them had any hope from the very beginning, because they knew succeeding was impossible."
"The only people who can really stand on equal footing with Elise in terms of status are probably those of you from the founding families of the Foundations..."
"So in this entire academy, there are only two people with the highest chances of successfully confessing to Elise."
"One is the current student council president, Ernest. The other is you, Elliot."
"So absolutely don't give up!"
"If you like her, then don't hesitate. Go for it!"
After being encouraged by his roommate, Elliot finally regained some spirit, and even his physical condition seemed much better.
"I understand. I'll go find Elise right now!"
"I'll make sure she understands how I feel!"
Elliot clenched his fists. At this moment, he wasn't fighting alone.
"I knew you'd do that!"
His roommate opened a message and placed it in front of Elliot.
"I already got information from my girlfriend earlier. Apparently, student council vice president Laetitia is going out with Lady Saintess today!"
"This is your chance, Elliot!"
"As long as you appear at the right moment and make your feelings clear at the right time..."
"Remember, don't confess here. The important thing is simply to make your feelings clear!"
His roommate's next words completely restored Elliot's confidence.
"Thank you very much for the information. I'm leaving right now!"
"Good luck."
Finally, before Elliot left the room, he and his roommate exchanged a mysterious high-five.
...
"Another store like this..."
Standing outside a pink-themed shop, Elise helplessly looked at the enormous sign above it.
Of course, it wasn't referring to offense and defense, but clothing.
Take a closer look at that letter. What article of clothing did it resemble most?
The answer was naturally underwear!
Elise hadn't visited this kind of store in a very long time. In the past, the Church had purchased all her clothes for her.
After obtaining the God of the Bible's power of creation, she no longer needed to buy clothing at all, because she could simply create anything found in the human world herself.
Underwear, outerwear, protective armor—everything she made was absolutely perfect!
After all, no matter how good your brand was, so what? Could its craftsmanship possibly compare to God's?
This piece was handmade by God!
But Elise truly hadn't expected Laetitia to bring her here.
"Hehe. I heard that only girls who are really close go shopping for things like this together. Don't tell me you and I still aren't close enough, Elise?"
"How could that be? You're one of my good friends!"
But was the truth really as Laetitia claimed?
No!
Of course not!
During one of their conversations, Laetitia had learned that Elise's first meeting with Sylvia had happened inside exactly this kind of store!
Coincidentally, Laetitia had recently noticed that Sylvia hadn't come to see Elise at all, which gave her an idea—she would gradually replace Sylvia's position in Elise's heart!
Then Elise's closest friend would be none other than me, Laetitia!