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Wanting to take Claire to the school festival was easily approved by my parents. Claire was focused and sensible, so she they trusted her.
I was the first to board the carriage adorned with the Augustine crest, waiting for everyone else to do so.
Before long, mother and father appeared, followed by Claire who entered inside. I took notice that Claire was fiercely expressionless, but did not have the focus to get her attention.
My heart wouldn’t stop racing!
I had always studied with a tutor at home, so I didn’t know anything about the whereabouts of schools or school festivals.
Though I had read about them in books, I had no idea if the depictions were accurate or not. That’s why I wanted to see them with my own eyes.
While I did understand that I would be attending school the next year, I couldn’t bear to wait, so it was inevitable.
Rachel, my cousin, had told me Wexford was a fun place.
“It’s full of people who make money for leisure.”
She had said this before. “The tuition is high, and the princ.i.p.al himself is rich. Our facilities are perfect. There’s never a moment of boredom.”
Sometimes Rachel would say very un-dreamlike things. Although she was only two years older than me, her thinking was like that of an adult, or rather, it was cold.
However, I liked Rachel. Although I may have been seen as the “dumb little cousin”, it didn’t bother me.
We finally arrived at Wexford!
Although it was their open house day, an authorized, written invitation was still needed.
Having been accepted to the school, my father paid not only tuition but also made donations under the Augustine name. Therefore, the princ.i.p.al handed over an invitation with great compliments.
We handed the invitation to a person at the gates who seemed to be a teacher, then proceeded inside.
Wexford Academy had a s.p.a.cious yard. Its buildings were also gigantic.
The gym, library, and a place called the “hall” were all separate structures.
As I stepped down from the carriage and gaped open-mouthed at the buildings, mother gave me a warning as she slipped past me.
“Close that mouth.”
Oops, sorry.
I pulled Claire’s arm and entered a building. Because the building was so big, many people were gathered inside of it, however it didn’t have the feeling of being crowded.
Probably, there were guardians of students as well as older people. There were also a lot of younger kids.
At the special reception desk, pamphlets about the school as well as the school festival program were being handed out.
I quickly looked at the program and saw that the theater club’s performance was at 1:00 pm.
The place seemed to be at the hall next door.
“I’d like to see the cla.s.srooms. Would the first years be on the first floor?”
I heard my mother saying this sort of thing. However, I whispered to Claire secretly.
“I wonder where Rachel is. I want to say hi to her before the play starts.”
“Miss, how about we relax.”
Clair looked at me with a tight expression. “I believe we will surely be able to greet her. There is still time before the play, so let’s look around the school first.”
“Eh–”
As I raised my voice in disappointment, Claire stared at me silently.
At this kind of moment I desperately wanted to disobey.
Hold it back, keep it together.
Despite this, it was fun to look around the school with mother and father.
Each cla.s.sroom seemed to have its own theme, so there were tea and snacks, as well as displays.
This school also had a cla.s.s for magic, so the student-run events were flashy.
Because everything was so fresh and new to me, I restlessly wandered the area, repeatedly straying from the group and getting pulled back by Claire.
“Miss.”
“I’m sorry.”
I soon sensed a disturbance in Claire’s placid expression, so I promised I would behave a little better.
For the time being, I felt I had come to understand the school a bit better, and, finding myself with s.p.a.ce to calm my mind, realized I could just observe my surroundings without loitering around.
Thinking this, I also became aware of the fact that I might be drawing attention to myself. A clearly ecstatic daughter of a well-to-do family wandering all over would do so.
When I acted graceful and lady-like, even I came across as a beautiful young woman! If before I even started attending the school, the students saw that inside, I was actually quite improper, it would be shameful!
There I turned serious, thinking that maybe I should pointlessly try to play the part of a n.o.ble family’s young daughter.
It was unavoidable that my face should stiffen into a peaceful smile. Claire finally seemed to be a bit relieved, letting a smile roll onto her face for the first time that day.
After eating a light lunch at the school cafeteria- although I say cafeteria, because it was Wexford, it was much grander- we stepped out back into the hall.
It seemed that members of the play were inside the hall’s waiting room, so father asked a school official that happened to be pa.s.sing by to help us find Rachel Harris.
Both the hall and the lobby were s.p.a.cious. Rachel Harris’s father also was in the position to give a fair amount of donations to the school, so we… actually, no, if I made a fuss and tried to gain a reputation through them, my mother would most likely give me a severe scolding. I was not to cause trouble for Rachel.
While reflecting on this, the school official took on the job of guiding us to the waiting room where Rachel was supposed to be.
I began to walk behind everyone with as calm an expression as I could manage.
At that time, I pa.s.sed by a single boy.
What struck me about him was that he was holding a bouquet of flowers.
It wasn’t a huge bouquet, but it also wasn’t exceedingly small.
I did not see his face.
It’s just that when we pa.s.sed by, it sounded like he whispered something, so I turned my head.
The back of a boy with straight golden hair.
I forgot about his existence with that image.
Seeing Rachel in the waiting room shocked me too much to remember!
I had heard straight from her that she would be wearing male clothes, however the blonde hair that had reached past her arms was completely cut off.
“Eh?!”
I let out a small scream, and my mother seemed shocked as well.
Though we were lost for words, Rachel giggled.
“It suits me, doesn’t it?”