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First Love – Part 03

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Translator: Kell

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“So there you have it. Grevil? Are you listening?”

Did I talk too much? Jacqueline wondered. I think he’s asleep.

She reached out and pulled the mask. Grevil’s face appeared, and it was blank.

He took a sip of tea. “A dog?” he sighed.

“Yes.”

“You were talking about a dog? Jupiter was a dog?”

“Yeah. I said so from the start, didn’t I?”

“No, you most certainly did not.”

“Really? Anyway, he was a nice little dog with yellow fur. He was a little shy, but he would make one little ‘woof’. He was cute.”

“It was a dog all along,” Grevil murmured. When he saw Jacqueline’s despondent look, he pulled himself together. “I-Is a dog dying really that big of a deal?”

“It is for the owner. I feel awful for leaving my friend without clearing up my name. Why would I poison a dog that she loved? I would never do something so horrible. Unfortunately, I can’t really explain what happened in that séance.”

“I see.”

Jacqueline’s shoulders sagged; speaking about what happened brought back the gloom. Grevil stared at her face for a while.

“I got nothing,” he mumbled.

“What?”

“No, it’s nothing. I have no idea why the yellow liquor turned cloudy white,” he mumbled. “Hmm. I should be a brilliant inspector, but I’m clueless. Hmm. I wonder why. What do I do? Argh, fine!”

Grevil got up his seat, swinging his golden cannon right, left, up, down, and strode off.

“Wh-Where are you going?” Jacqueline asked, surprised.

“I need to think.”

“Think? About what? Grevil?”

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Jacqueline was getting worried since Grevil had not returned yet. As she wandered around looking for him, a waiter came up to her.

“If the lady’s looking for her pointy-headed companion, he’s in the telephone booth.”

“The telephone booth?” Jacqueline muttered curiously.

She headed toward the telephone room in the hotel lobby. Grevil was indeed in the small, square space, arguing with someone over the phone.

Wh-What is he doing?

Jacqueline approached slowly and observed him. She could hear a low, irritated voice.

“Stop preying on me!”

Prey?

He was apparently mad.

“You demon!” he snarled. “You never change. Always telling me to do random things for your amusement. What? A-Are you laughing?!”

Jacqueline looked puzzled. Grevil was glowering at the phone.

“What do you take your brother for?! You better stop making fun of me, or else. Just tell me already. Who’s in trouble?” He paused. “It’s Jacqueline. I said, Jac-que-line!”

He’s saying my name…

Grevil’s voice lowered so she could hear no more. Perplexed, Jacqueline returned to her seat to wait for him.

“He’s taking so long,” the maid said curiously.

A while later, Grevil came out of the telephone booth. Jacqueline thought he was coming back to the table, but for some reason he walked straight to the restroom.

Jacqueline and the maid exchanged looks.

“I wonder what happened,” Jacqueline said.

“Beats me.” The maid was pissed. “He got up from his seat in the middle of a conversation and started wandering around. You two may be childhood friends, but it’s still rude,” she grumbled, fiddling with the bottom of her apron.

“He’s probably just busy. He’s a famed police inspector, after all. He solves a lot of difficult cases and he’s well-respected. I don’t want to bother him.”

“But still…”

“It’s okay, Marion.”

“He’s unbelievable.”

“Oh, Marion.”

Feeling bored, Jacqueline started playing with the small child of a family seated nearby, making funny faces at him. Not to be outdone, the child made funny faces back at her. Things were heating up.

A moment later, the door to the restroom opened. Grevil came out and headed back to the table. Jacqueline, absorbed in her competition, looked up when she heard his footsteps.

Grevil was staring at her in disbelief. “What’s with that face? You never change. I thought you might have changed a little since becoming the police commissioner’s wife, but that doesn’t seem to be case. You’re still the same jester.”

“Grevil…” Jacqueline gave him the same look. Fixing her face, she said, “And you’ve changed too much. I mean, what on earth is up with your head?”

Grevil had gone into the restroom to fix his hair, turning it into two cannons that gaped open like the mouth of a ferocious crocodile. Jacqueline couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Grevil spun on his heel. “Don’t mind my hair.”

“How could I not mind it? What’s wrong? What happened in the last few minutes? I wasn’t exactly paying attention.”

“I need to use the phone a bit. Just wait here.”

“Again?”

Jacqueline watched as he strode back into the telephone booth, his double cannons swinging. She ran after him.

Grevil was arguing with someone. “It’s done, Victorique,” he growled. “You persistent little twat. I say I will make it pointy, I will make it pointy. I say I’ll add one, I will add one. That’s how I live. Trust me. L-Lame? You told me to do this! Victorique, my sister. I will get you for this, so you better watch your back.”

All Jacqueline could tell was that he was arguing with someone. Right now he was listening seriously. He exclaimed, nodded, and whispered something back.

It looked like the call would take a while, so Jacqueline moved away from the booth and returned to the table. As she asked for more tea, Grevil came back glumly. He looked like a different person altogether.

“You must be very busy,” Jacqueline said worriedly. “You don’t look so good. There must be something serious going on.”

“You don’t have to worry about it.”

“R-Really?”

“Did you ask for a refill?”

“I did. I asked for another cup of tea. Would you like a refill too?”

“I’m in the mood for a drink. Garçon!” he called with an affected gesture. “A bottle of Pernod and two glasses. And give me some water.”

“Drinking this early in the day?” Jacqueline said. “Actually, since when did you start drinking?”

“Hmm…”

Grevil was deep in thought, silently fiddling with his mask.

The radiant evening sun was shining through the café’s glass windows. Suntanned men and women on their way home from vacation hurried past. Summer’s end was fast approaching.

Jacqueline watched as the garçon brought a bottle of liquor, two glasses, and a glass of water. She noticed that the bottle of liquor looked familiar.

“This drink,” she gasped.

“Yeah.” Grevil nodded. “This is the yellow liquor that the medium used, right?”

“Yes. I recognize this label. Yellow liqueur. Only my glass turned cloudy.”

“Let’s pour it into this glass first.”

Grevil poured Pernod into one of the glasses, filling it to the brim. Jacqueline’s lips quivered from the memory of that day.

“It’s definitely this. A beautiful yellow, just like Jupiter.”

“As for the other glass.”

Grevil filled another glass with a tiny amount of water that the eye wouldn’t be able to see. Then he poured Pernod into it.

Jacqueline and the maid gasped.

“So this is how she did it,” Jacqueline breathed.

“That’s right.” Grevil nodded. His double cannon rocked up and down. “The medium put just a little bit of water in your glass beforehand. This liquor has the property of turning cloudy when mixed with water. Of course, it will be difficult to prove that this is what happened then, but you can at least offer Sophia an explanation with this. Now the question: who will Sophia believe?”

“That will depend on how strong our relationship is. If she sees me as a trustworthy friend.”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine,” Grevil said. Then with a hint of sarcasm, he mumbled, “You’re the type to care about your friends, after all.” He gulped down the cloudy liquor and stood up. “I have to go.”

“What, already?” Jacqueline found his restlessness astonishing.

Grevil turned around with an odd expression on his face, somewhat sad and childlike. The double cannons on his head stirred.

“I have a lot on my plate at the moment. I was not expecting to run into you at the auction. You just happened to be sitting right in front of me. I absolutely did not wander up to you and then suddenly found myself sitting right behind you. I swear.”

“O-Okay…”

Jacqueline believed him.

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As Grevil hurried away, the maid said, “He’s so restless.”

“Is he?” Jacqueline wondered.

The evening sun dyed the city orange. Through the glass she could see Grevil’s slender figure moving away quickly. Soon he slipped into the crowd of black carriages, automobiles, and passersby, and disappeared behind a brick building. The wind rustled the hem of a lady’s dress and the feather on her hat.

“He does look busy,” Jacqueline said.

“And he has a weird hairdo.” The maid chuckled.

Jacqueline, for some reason, did not laugh with her. “I’ve known him since I was a child. He used to be an eye-catcher,” she said with a wistful smile. “He’s handsome and slim. Always so quiet and collected. I used to get so nervous in front of him that I couldn’t speak at all.”

“Really? You talked a lot just now.”

“Maybe it’s a response from my childhood. Besides, I grew up.” Jacqueline snickered. “You’re pretty, Marion, so it might be difficult for you to picture the me from back then. I was a dark-skinned, skinny, unattractive girl. I was so shy that the best I could do was admire him from afar. I cherished the memory of the occasional conversation I had with Grevil, even if it was just a word or two. I thought our eyes met frequently, but it could’ve just been my imagination, so I’d get embarrassed at myself.”

“I see,” Marion muttered. “Why didn’t you just stare back at him every time your eyes met?”

“I couldn’t do that. Ugly girls are cowards. They’re too frightened to approach a charming boy. But Grevil was very kind to me when I approached him. So even though I was nervous, I have a lot of good memories of those days.”

“Did he sport the pointy hair back then?”

“He did not.”

“How did that happen, then?”

“I have no clue. I think he started fixing it like that when he got older. And I’m not sure if it’s something he wants to talk about. But pointy-haired or not, Grevil is still Grevil.”

Jacqueline played with the yellow Pernod for a while, then drank it in one gulp.

“He has always been so nice. He helped me today, too. I kept getting drawn to his pretty face, so I didn’t realize it back then. Only when I grew older that I understood. Just goes to show that the passage of time and growing older isn’t always a bad thing. Though back then, I wished I stayed a child forever.” Jacqueline smiled.

The sun was setting outside. They exited the café and walked down the cobblestone street to their waiting carriage. Jacqueline looked out the window, watching the scenery.

“I wonder if I’ll see him again,” she murmured.

Summer’s end. Dazzling sunlight beamed down on the streets of Saubreme. A pair of church spires glistened golden in the setting sun.

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Epilogue

The long, seemingly-endless summer break of Victorique and Kazuya, the only students left in St. Marguerite Academy, was finally coming to an end.

At the end of summer, Victorique’s brother, Grevil de Blois, who had left for the capital Saubreme, ended up with an additional golden drill and a broken heart. The moment he returned to St. Marguerite Academy, the next story began to unfold.

It’s the last day of summer vacation. As usual, Kazuya is searching for Victorique, but finds himself alone in the empty candy house. Inspector Blois tells him that Victorique has left for Beelzebub’s Skull, a perilous monastery on the Baltic Sea coast. Kazuya hops on a train to pick up his friend, stuffing her suitcase full of frills, lace, books, and candies.

And so begins another dangerous adventure for Victorique and Kazuya. But that is a story for another time.

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