As the weekend arrived, Chris stood before the mirror in her room.
It was early morning.
Since the meeting time was around noon, it was still too early to get ready.
However.
"Is, is this okay…? Or… this…?"
She was deliberating, holding a flowing dress and a more modest blouse in her hands.
The dress, with its innocent colors and fluttering skirt, emphasized femininity and cuteness.
The blouse, which she planned to pair with pants, was certainly less feminine than the dress, but it was natural and calm.
'…Perhaps the skirt after all?'
Although Chris had lived as a mercenary.
She was also a woman.
In a 'date' situation, her heart leaned towards the skirt.
However.
'No, it's not even confirmed to be a date yet….'
The toughness remaining within her created hesitation.
"Or maybe another outfit…!"
Ultimately, Chris tossed the two outfits onto the bed for a moment and searched for others.
Thus, an hour passed.
"Was the previous one better…?"
And two hours.
"No…, this, this is too much…."
Three hours passed.
"Uwaaaaah━!!"
Unable to decide on anything in the end, Chris ran out of her room.
At this rate, she probably wouldn't make it on time for her appointment.
Knock knock knock!
She then ran to the building across the way and frantically knocked on a certain door.
Entering the opposite gender's dormitory was originally a violation of school rules.
But Chris didn't care about such things now.
Fortunately, it was the weekend, and there were no students around.
Knock knock knock!
She just frantically knocked on the door.
"Hmm… who in the world is it? This early in the morning…."
"Edric━!"
"Huh? Ch, Chris? Why are you here…."
It was Edric who opened the door.
He stared blankly at Chris, his hair a bird's nest as if he had just woken up.
"Hey, this is the boys' dormitory."
"Be quiet! Now isn't the time to argue about that━!"
Chris sharply replied to the flustered Edric, then.
"Uh, u-uh?!"
"I'm coming in!"
Slam!
She pushed Edric aside and entered his room.
'I don't want to rely on this guy….'
Her fiancé.
More precisely, her temporary fiancé, Edric.
Even if it was an engagement agreed to be broken upon graduation, an engagement was still an engagement.
She didn't want to ask Edric for such a favor.
However.
Right now, he was the only one she could ask for an opinion.
Because Chris didn't make friends.
"I need your help!"
"Help…?"
Edric showed his bewilderment at Chris's frantic and sharp demeanor.
This was his room.
A man's room.
Even if she was his temporary fiancée, a woman had entered a man's room.
'Why is she acting like this…?'
Edric unconsciously scanned the inside of his room.
After carefully checking if there was anything that would be awkward if she saw it.
"I don't know what it is, but… explain it first."
He ran a hand through his short, bird's nest hair and let her into the room.
Thump!
"...What is it?"
"Take a good look and tell me."
As soon as Chris entered Edric's room, she set down a large bag in front of him.
"So, what?"
"Wha, what suits me…."
"What…?"
"Tell me what suits me!"
"...."
Chris shouted, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
This was the first time he had seen Chris like this.
'What in the world is going on….'
She was someone he had known since childhood.
Chris had been a fierce, sharp, and strong-willed woman since childhood.
That's why Edric honestly didn't like it when their engagement was decided.
Because he didn't feel any feminine charm from her.
"I'm going to borrow the bathroom for a moment. Just wait here."
"Uh, okay…."
And so, now.
Chris's shy, flustered demeanor, as if she were experiencing her first love, struck Edric in a new way.
"...."
Thump.
For the first time, he began to see her as a woman.
'Is it because I, I let her into my room?'
Perhaps it was even more so because she, a woman, had entered his room, a man's room.
After all, they were together in a private space.
It was a man's instinct.
"...."
Thump, thump.
Being in the same room with Chris, who suddenly seemed cute.
Naturally, certain instincts led to certain imaginations.
Even a one-in-ten-million chance was still a chance.
Leaving Edric, who was feeling both bewilderment and excitement, seated in the room.
A moment later, Chris emerged from the bathroom.
"...Uh, how is it?"
"...."
She was wearing a cute dress.
It wasn't overly girlish, but an elegant dress that didn't lose its cuteness.
'Why in the world is she asking me… about this?'
A man's instincts uncontrollably stimulated his imagination.
'Surely not….'
But she was his fiancée.
As long as the contract wasn't broken, the two of them were promised to marry.
What if.
Just in case.
Chris had feelings for him.
Gulp.
"W-well, it, it suits you well."
"Really? It doesn't look strange? …That, well, I'm… a bit like a tomboy, you see."
At Edric's words that it suited her, Chris asked in a murmur, her cheeks flushed.
A tomboy?
In Edric's eyes, there was nothing of the sort.
Because the person in front of him was a girl so beautiful she could easily pass for a noble young lady.
Therefore, he replied in a hurry.
"No! It suits you well! …You, you look cute."
"...."
At Edric's words, Chris blinked her eyes, then.
She frowned.
It was her habit when she was embarrassed.
"Then the next…, please look at the next outfit too!"
"Huh? Okay…."
And Chris picked up another outfit and returned to the bathroom.
'What in the world is this…?'
Thump, thump.
His chest pounded uncontrollably.
He had never felt this kind of emotion, not even recently when he met the beautiful female student named Sierra.
With a pounding heart whose origin he couldn't identify, Edric squirmed on the bed.
Because for some reason, it was hard to sit still.
And then.
Clank.
"H-how about this? Compared to the dress from a moment ago!"
Chris came out of the bathroom and showed off the changed outfit.
It was a pure white blouse and pants that nicely accentuated her beautiful leg line.
If the previous dress had a sweet, girlish look.
The current outfit was a little more mature and grown-up.
But that didn't mean it wasn't pretty; absolutely not.
"Yeah, I think… that's pretty too."
"R-really?"
At Edric's words, Chris smiled faintly and asked again, and Edric nodded.
"Then! Then which of the two is the best? Hmm…. What do you think is the prettiest?"
But since the end of all this was ultimately choosing one outfit, Chris carefully asked Edric.
Because the two outfits she had brought were the best ones she couldn't decide between herself.
And Edric, hearing Chris's question.
His cheeks flushed faintly as he pondered.
'Why is she asking me something like that….'
When the unlikely possibility crossed his mind, Chris suddenly looked even cuter.
Her anxious expression while waiting for his answer looked softer than usual.
Pushing aside such personal feelings.
"I…"
Edric thought of the outfit his heart was more drawn to and told her.
"...I still like the first outfit."
"The first one? You mean the dress?"
"Yeah, that one…."
"R-really? It really suits me, right? It doesn't look strange, does it? Huh?"
"No, it doesn't look strange. It suits you better than I thought. …I mean it."
"Haa…. That's a relief…."
At Edric's affirmation, Chris sighed in relief, gently bowed her head, and smiled contentedly.
'What in the world….'
Why did she come to him of all people to ask him to choose an outfit she liked?
And this early on a weekend morning.
'As expected, that's the only possibility….'
Gulp.
Edric decided his thoughts were correct.
"Hey, Chris…."
"Hmm?"
Therefore, he spoke first, before Chris.
Because as a man, he couldn't allow a woman to make the final suggestion.
"Well, you see…. It takes me a bit of time to get ready."
"...Hmm?"
"No, I'll get ready quickly, but… could you wait a little?"
"...For what?"
Chris tilted her head with a puzzled expression.
To her, Edric replied, his cheeks flushed.
"Wait, I'll be out soon. I know a good restaurant. …It's the weekend, so let's go together━."
He had thus confirmed the reason Chris came.
It was the moment he was about to give a manly response to her signal.
"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry, Edric. I have plans for lunch."
"━…What, huh?"
"Ahaha, I'm really sorry. I'll definitely repay you for your help today next time."
"...."
At Chris's words, Edric's movements momentarily froze.
Unaware of Edric's expression.
Chris gently touched her golden hair with her fingers, her cheeks flushed.
"A date…, no, it's not confirmed to be a date. ...Yeah, it's that kind of feeling. Uh, u-uh, anyway, it's a lunch appointment."
"...."
"Wha, what is that expression! You were the one who said it first last time. That it wouldn't… matter even before graduation as long as we weren't caught."
"...."
Chris didn't listen to Edric's words, first getting embarrassed by herself, then getting angry, and then getting embarrassed again as if making excuses.
Edric, who had been quietly listening to her words.
Soon realized the entire story.
"...Hey, Chris."
"Hmm?"
"...Who is it with?"
"Uh, oh…."
Therefore, he asked it without realizing it.
Honestly, he had already expected it, but.
"Em, Emil…. Remember, the one I sparred with before…."
"...."
That answer, heard directly from Chris's shy lips.
Planted an inexpressible unpleasantness.
In Edric's heart.
"J-just so you know, …when you asked me before, it really wasn't like that."
"...."
"Are you listening? So don't even think about teasing me about that last time━…."
After that, Chris threw a few more words at Edric, thanked him, and left the room.
Most of her words didn't register in his ears.
After Chris left the room.
"...."
Edric tightly closed his mouth with an indifferent expression.
And stared at the floor of his room.
A dull ache.
Feeling the unpleasant sensation in his chest that had been pounding just moments before.