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The Pony Puzzle – Part 02

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Translator: Kell

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St. Marguerite’s Grand Library.

Covered in countless vines, the glorious European Hall of Knowledge, its gray stone walls marked by seven hundred years’ worth of history, stood like a gigantic cylindrical shadow under the summer sky.

Flinging the riveted, leather door open, a small oriental boy—Kazuya Kujou—burst into the library and onto a spacious hall.

Huge bookshelves lined the walls, all the way up to the ceiling adorned with majestic religious paintings.

Today, too, Kazuya began climbing the labyrinthine wooden stairs that led up to the conservatory far above.

Up.

Up and up.

Still a long way to go.

After about ten minutes, Kazuya finally made it to the top of the staircase, huffing and puffing. From there he stepped into the familiar conservatory that housed tropical trees, huge garish flowers, and piles of books scattered on the floor.

“Victorique!”

There was a low grunt. Delighted by what sounded like a response from her, Kazuya smiled.

A few months ago, she would just ignore me when I called her name. I’ve been getting a lot of groans in response lately. Hehehe.

He strode deeper into the conservatory.

Like a fairy tale protagonist dropping bread on the path, today she seemed to have moved deeper into the garden, scattering books along the way. Following the books to the far end of the conservatory, where he would not normally set foot, he found Victorique sitting on a large tree branch, her face buried in a book.

Wrapped in a pale purple dress with a large velvet ribbon tied in a bow behind her, she looked like a rare tropical bird perched on a branch. Her magnificent golden hair hanging down to the ground rippled occasionally.

“What is it, Kujou?”

“I don’t know if you remember.”

Kazuya nimbly leapt off the ground and sat down next Victorique. Raising her eyebrow a little, Victorique gave him a disapproving look. Her pale emerald eyes flickered coldly.

Kazuya took out a letter from his breast pocket. “Last spring, when we just met, you gave my brother a riddle to be solved in five minutes.”

“The Pony Puzzle,” Victorique replied in her husky voice. An irritating, triumphant look appeared on her face. “It looks like it took him more than five minutes, though.”

“It’s not his fault the letter has to be delivered across the sea. Anyway, I got his reply earlier. Let’s open it.”

Victorique sniffed audibly.

Kazuya quickly opened the letter from his second oldest brother. He seemed to have given up writing in English, instead using their own language. The first page featured a figure that looked to be the answer to the riddle.

Kazuya let out a groan of admiration. “I see. I get it. Talk about looking at things from a different angle. Wow. Both you and my brother.”

Victorique continued reading, showing no interest in his brother’s answer.

“Let’s see. There’s a message. ‘Tell the little girl that it was easy, and I solved it in three minutes.’ Weird. Both he and my sister seem to think that you’re a child. Well, you’re certainly childish. Ouch! Stop kicking me! You’re gonna knock me off the branch!”

Victorique snorted.

“Oh, there’s something written in the corner.”

Kazuya found a secretly scribbled message and read it to Victorique. Written in his sister’s handwriting, it was about his brother: “Your brother was having so much trouble with the puzzle. One night I woke him up, because he was having a nightmare about horses. When he couldn’t figure it out, he went to his alma mater and begged for his professor’s help.”

Victorique chuckled.

Kazuya laughed too. As he was about to put the letter away, he noticed another piece of paper, and opened it. It bore the words “I challenge you” in huge letters. He let out a weary sigh.

Victorique looked at him. “What’s wrong?”

“I just remembered that there’s someone else who’s just as competitive as you. My brother’s issuing you a challenge. Do you want to accept it or just ignore?”

Victorique’s eyebrows twitched. “I accept, of course.”

“I see, I see. Let me read it, then.”

Kazuya reluctantly straightened his back, lifted the letter to chest level, and began reading.

“Hmm… ‘Young Tarou, Young Jirou, and Young Saburou went to the mountains’.”

“Wait, hold on a minute!” Victorique interrupted.

“What?”

“What are those names?”

“All right. I’ll change them. Jean, Phil, and Pierre went to the mountains.”

Victorique nodded in satisfaction. “That will do.”

“Yeah, yeah. ‘The three of them had been ordered by the feudal lord—no, the Count—to carry three logs down the mountain in one trip. But each log was too heavy for one person to carry.”

“What a weak lot.”

“You’re one to talk. ‘Then Pierre remembered that the Count ordered each man to carry two logs each. They did as they were told and successfully brought the logs down the mountain. The question is, how did they do it? You have two minutes to solve it. If you take more than two minutes, you’ll get a spanky-spanky. Ugh, that’s kinda creepy. All right, I guess I’ll have to time you. Hmm? What are you doing?”

Kazuya lifted his eyes from the letter and saw Victorique, the book still in her lap, using her thumbs and forefingers to make a triangle.

Her cheeks were red with excitement.

“Wh-What is it?” Kazuya asked.

“I solved it! I solved it in an instant! Less than a second. Proof once again that nothing is impossible to my Wellspring of Wisdom. I will awaken the fragments of chaos in this world and reconstruct—”

“Wait a sec. What is that triangle?”

Victorique gave Kazuya a surprised look, and her cheeks puffed up.

“What’s wrong?”

“Listen closely, Kujou the Reaper. Since I’m a generous person, I will explain it so that a dumb, terribly stupid buffoon like you can understand.”

“Sue me, all right?! Just spit it out already!”

Victorique shot him a glare. Then regaining her composure, she made a triangle again with her fingers.

“First they arrange the logs this way, in the shape of a triangle. Then Jean, Phil, and Pierre stand at each corner, each holding one log in their right hand and another in their left. That way, all three would carry two logs each. That’s how they went down the mountain.”

“Oh!” Kazuya nodded, impressed. “I see.”

“Make sure you tell your brother that I solved it in one second. Also…”

Victorique smiled thinly.

The wind blew, rustling the foliage.

A bright summer sky was peeking through the skylight. The sunlight was dazzling.

Victorique pursed her glossy, cherry lips. “Send my regards to the math professor.”

At the far end of the conservatory was a large open skylight, from which a dry summer breeze blew, beating at the purple velvet ribbon tied around Victorique’s waist.

Her magnificent golden hair, too, fluttered occasionally.

Far from the clamor of the world below, the conservatory, as it had always been even before the summer break, was filled with silence, tedium, and intelligence.

“Oh, that’s right.” Kazuya slammed his fist on his palm, and jumped down the tree branch. “I’ve got to go.”

“Are you heading somewhere?” A slightly forlorn voice came from above.

Kazuya nodded. “Uh yeah, actually…”

“What?” Victorique’s cold and expressionless eyes regarded him.

“Summer break starts today,” Kazuya said after a bit of hesitation. “Uhm…”

“I’ll be staying here,” Victorique replied flatly. She swung her tiny feet, enclosed by a purple lace-up shoes that matched her dress. “Always.”

Like a mystical bird perched on a tree, she was looking at Kazuya, her head cocked to the side.

Then in a bored, slightly somber, husky voice, she mumbled, “Where are you going?”

“Me?” Kazuya scratched his head.

The wind blew again, stirring Victorique’s long, golden hair and Kazuya’s short, black hair.

“I, uhh…”

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Noon came.

All of the students had left hurriedly in the morning. The French-style garden in the vast campus of St. Marguerite Academy was unbelievably quiet.

A clear blue sky hung over the grounds like a boundless curtain. Gigantic white clouds towered in the distance. The sun had grown more intense, seemingly burning the garden slowly.

Avril Bradley was waiting for someone at the huge main gate that led outside, leaning against the iron fence adorned with intricate scrollwork. Sitting on a large suitcase, she whirled her head around from left to right.

“What’s taking him so long?”

Looking bored, she stood up, frowning a little at the intense sunlight, and started kicking the suitcase.

Suddenly she raised her head. “There he is!” Her face lit up with joy when she spotted the boy she had been waiting for running towards her. “Wait…” But when she noticed that Kazuya Kujou was empty-handed, no suitcase or any sort of luggage, she looked puzzled.

“Kujou, where’s your stuff?”

Kazuya was panting hard. “A-Avril…”

He ran straight to the front gate and stopped in front of Avril. Straightening his back, he bent his waist at a ninety-degree angle.

“Wh-What is that oriental pose?!”

“Sorry, Avril!” Kazuya lifted his head back up. “I’m really glad you invited me to come with you. I didn’t have any plans for the summer, and I thought it would be boring. But…”

“I got it.” Avril nodded, pouting.

She looked up, peered beyond the flowerbeds, pathways, gazebos, fountains, the huge school building, and stared at the gray stone walls of the library tower in the distance.

The gray tower stood in silence as it always had, casting a lonely shadow on the ground, detached from everything—the summer sky hanging like a curtain over the garden, the glaring sunlight, the water trickling down the fountains like melting ice.

Avril bit her lip.

“I’m sorry,” Kazuya said worriedly.

“It’s fine.” Avril lifted her suitcase. “I’ll send you a postcard.”

“O-Okay…”

“I’ll write ‘Look how much I’m having fun, idiot’.”

“Ugh…”

“I’m just kidding. See you after the break.”

Kazuya stood by the gate as he watched Avril go, her slim figure and short, blonde hair slowly moving toward the station.

Summer rays beat down from above, hot as the yellow Mediterranean sun. Kazuya’s short shadow fell on the glittering lush lawn. A moment later, Avril turned around, waved her hand ruefully, and disappeared.

A dry wind blew.

Kazuya heaved a sigh.

Then he turned around and started walking down the pathway.

With most of the students gone, the academy seemed like an abandoned house in the summer.

Thus began the first day of Victorique’s and Kazuya’s long summer break.

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