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Summer Phantom – Part 06

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Translator: Kell

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On the way home, Yutaka noticed Ruri still deep in thought.

“Don’t tell anyone about this,” he reluctantly said.

“About what?”

“Mushanokouji didn’t withdraw the proposal. Apparently he had some kind of discussion with our father. Since you wanted to become a teacher, he advised to let you do it. Father complained, but Mushanokouji said he’ll come back after ten years.”

“Another ten years?!” Ruri exclaimed.

Yutaka chuckled. “Anyway, father drafted a pledge, and Mushanokouji sealed it with his blood. Father was relieved. So there you have it. Ten years from now. He’ll come back just when you’ve forgotten about him.”

“So that’s why he was bleeding back then.”

Ruri fell silent.

Walking alongside her brother, she vaguely recalled Mushanokouji’s quiet eyes that night as he silently listened to her, and his broad back as he strode away without even taking her hand.

Memories flashed. She thought about what happened at home after that.

Her father’s attitude suddenly softened after vehemently opposing her at first. Her evasive brothers. Her mother, who seemed to want to say something. Oblivious to these things, Ruri thought she paved the way to her future on her own as she studied furiously.

She was narrow-minded and so full of herself.

Her cheeks turned a little red, and she bit her lip.

She felt strange, a little frustrated.

Mushanokouji-san‘s promise was protecting me.

“But I…” Ruri forced the words out. “I don’t like men covering for me. I’ve always hated men.”

“Just accept the fact that despite that, there’s still a man who wants to protect you,” Yutaka said.

Ruri shook her head. “I still hate him.”

“Then tell him that again in ten years,” Yutaka scoffed.

He peered into his bag of goods. Hairpins, sash clips, a purse.

“Speaking of which,” Ruri said. “Why did you buy things for women? Come on, tell me.”

“N-No way. I don’t have a girlfriend. I’d never tell anyone something that embarrassing. Let’s hurry. And don’t you dare tell anyone about this. This one’s under the rose.”

“What? What’s this about a rose?”

“It’s nothing. Ouch! Let go! It hurts! Why, you…”

As they grappled with each other, the siblings arrived at the Kujou home. They passed through the front door, looking like nothing happened, and announced their arrival to their parents.

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That night…

Ruri packed the sparkly candies she bought today to send to her brother, and wrote down the details of the incident in a letter to be included in the package. Once again, the letter ended up quite long. She was curious about her brother Yutaka and the mysterious woman, but after some hesitation, she decided not to write about them.

Next to the letter to her brother was a blank piece of paper. After much thought, she decided to write.

“Dear Mushanokouji.

You may return ten years from now. But I will not mind you visiting the Kujou household from time to time.

Ruri Kujou”

Now the question was whether to mail the letter or not.

Ruri wasn’t quite sure what to do. Again strange emotions swirled within her—a mix of frustration and sadness.

For hours Ruri just frowned at the letter that contained only a few lines.

Outside the window, the blue moon was shining through the thin screens, illuminating the floor in Ruri’s room. Her long hair and moist, jet-black eyes, like those of a black cat, gleamed under the moonlight.

The night in the imperial capital wore on with Ruri’s pensive thoughts.

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Back to the European continent, to St. Marguerite Academy, standing at the foot of the mountains. The grand school building shimmered in the heat haze created by the blazing sun.

In the corridor of the boys’ dormitory, Victorique lifted her head wearily and yawned. A small pearly tear formed at the corner of her jewel-like, emerald eyes. Wiping it away with the back of her small hand, she looked up at Kazuya.

“What an awfully long letter!” she exclaimed. “Is that it?”

“Yeah,” Kazuya replied. “So there you have it. The story behind your kimono and candies. Well? Did it stave off your boredom?”

Victorique yawned again. She brushed back her long and silky, magnificent golden hair, then scratched her head.

“I wonder if in ten years, your sister will marry the phantom,” she said.

“Who knows? Wait, who?”

Victorique let go of her hair. Her emerald eyes widened in genuine shock. Her beautiful, cold face, pretty as an expensive porcelain doll, which hardly showed any kind of emotion, was displaying an extremely rare expression of astonishment.

“Monsieur Mushanokouji was the cloaked phantom who flew through the night sky,” Victorique said, appalled. “Don’t tell me you didn’t realize that while reading the letter. Please, tell me it’s not true.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize anything. So what do you mean by that? Why would Mushanokouji fly off the roof of a department store? Why would an army officer steal an expensive vase, and dress as a phantom at that?”

“To help your sister.”

“What?!” Kazuya squealed.

He returned the letter to his room, came out into the corridor, and sat down next to Victorique. He peered into her little face, waiting for an explanation.

“Your face says you want me to verbalize it,” she sighed.

“Yes. Of course.”

“You’re such a handful!”

“Look who’s talking! Tell me, quick!”

Victorique puffed out her rosy cheeks. A moment later, she reluctantly spoke.

“The cloaked phantom didn’t steal the vase, go up to the roof, and then fly away through the night sky. He just made it look that way. The truth is, he flew down to the ground.”

“Flew down? From the rooftop?”

“The letter mentioned that your sister Ruri met Monsieur Mushanokouji as she was walking along the backstreets of the department store. She said that behind him on the outer wall of the department store, a banner was swaying in the wind. If the banner was hung vertically, it would have to be secured at the top and bottom. But the bottom part was not secured, which is why it was swaying.”

“Ahuh…”

“I believe the banner was originally hung horizontally, tied around the windows on the top floor of the department store, right to left. Monsieur Mushanokouji cut the string that tied one end with his sword. Then he escaped from the rooftop to the ground by sliding down the banner, using it like a ladder.”

“Hmm… But why would he do that?”

Victorique smiled thinly. “He probably witnessed Miss Ruri and her schoolmate breaking the expensive vase. To cover for them, he quickly pretended to be the suspicious phantom, stole the vase, and vanished with a flourish. The real phantom, famous for stealing paintings, is probably a different person, though. A master thief who specializes in paintings would have no reason to steal a broken vase. In short, the broken vase theft was the work of a fake phantom.”

“But she mentioned a flaring cloak. Did he have one with him?”

Victorique shrugged. “Your sister wrote it, didn’t she? Monsieur Mushanokouji was an army officer, and wore a khaki cloak. It’s hard to recognize it from a distance. He probably wore it inside out or upside down to disguise the color. The reason why he didn’t take her hand when they parted was because he had a large vase hidden inside the cloak. That would’ve been a chance to hold the hand of the woman he’d loved for ten years.”

“…”

“Monsieur must be very fond of your sister. As an elite officer, he would’ve been severely punished by the army if they found out. He took a huge risk to help her.”

Kazuya fell silent, frowning.

“You must be frustrated that some mysterious phantom is going to take your sister away from you,” Victorique teased when she saw the look on his face.

“O-Of course not,” Kazuya said. “If anything, I’m worried. My sister is an interesting character, but she’s terribly dense when it comes to these kinds of stuff. I don’t know where she got it honestly. Since I was a kid, I’ve seen so many guys who had a crush on jer get crushed when she didn’t reciprocate their feelings. I have a feeling that if I don’t do anything about it, she’ll just sit there and not make any progress for the next ten years. I’m just worried about my sister, you know.”

Kazuya heaved a deep sigh.

Victorique gave a disinterested grunt and returned to her book. Her golden hair cascaded down to the cold floor like a glittering stream.

The summer sun blazed outside. The colorful flowers in the flowerbeds rustled in the hot breeze. A white fountain, like a pillar of melting ice, continued spurting refreshing water in the middle of the empty garden.

Summer of 1924—quiet, but concealing a mysterious fervor.

In a corner of a majestic school nestled in the foothills of the Alps in Western Europe.

“Kujou,” Victorique muttered after a while.

Kazuya raised his head. “Yes?” He looked at her and saw a deep frown on her face. “Wh-What is it now?”

“I’m getting bored again.”

“Whaaat? But I’ve got nothing left. I already told you all the mysterious stuff, and you finished all the snacks.”

“Then go out there and find some.”

“There’s no one outside either.”

Victorique’s rosy cheeks puffed out.

Kazuya stared at her pudgy face for a while. Then he started giggling. Victorique’s cheeks bulged even further.

An empty, majestic school standing under the summer sun.

Time passed, slowly and peacefully.

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