Today is Monday. There are two days left until the May Festival. The results for my approval survey came out today, and the results left me stunned. I thought that after the... incident about a week ago, my approval score would've dipped straight down to zero. Imagine my surprise when it jumped up from 29 to 35. I have no idea what happened, but I'm not one to argue with favorable results. After class, I took a school laptop down to the courtyard in Maria Hall and checked the Blue Lily society homepage. Vinceness had its own private intranet for this kind of stuff, and I never even knew. 

"You still haven't seen it?" Sol questioned me after I told her what I was doing. "There should be computers in the recreation room."

"Yeah, I know," I tell her. "I just... didn't think it would be okay for me to use them."

"The rules state that they are free for anyone to use," Rosalia told me. "Of course, if someone else is waiting, we expect you to be willing to share."

"Yeah..." I agreed. "But I just think it would be better for everyone if I were to stay in my room as much as possible."

"Th-That sounds like a good idea to me," Matilda piped up from the other side of the table. As per usual, she didn't dare look at me as she spoke to me. It might make her pregnant, after all. She was also unnecessarily forceful whenever talking to me. I'm not entirely sure why, but I find it strangely endearing.  "As one of the Filles De La Vincennes,¹Girls/Maidens of Vincennes.I don't wish to be driven mad from looking into the face of a man."

I nod in agreement with Matilda's reasoning. "That's exactly what I was thinking."

Sol gave me a pitiful look. "But while you shouldn't be making personal visits," she says. "You can go to the recreation room, can't you? You have to try to socialize more assertively."

"She's right," Sapphire concurred. "You rarely even talk to people in school."

"It's safer in school!" Matilda interrupted. "There are other people there, and the teachers, too. B-But in the dorm... there are private rooms... and beds... ahh..." Matilda started turning red in the cheeks out of embarrassment. It's amazing she managed to do it to herself just by stating facts.

"...I'm sorry," Rosalia apologized on behalf of her over imaginative dog fangirl. "She's talking nonsense again."

"Amie! Why are you apologizing?!"

"Because you're talking nonsense."

"H-How could you?" Matilda sounded betrayed. "I'm only thinking of you!"

"You're clearly not." Rosalia shot her down in an instant. She's more ruthless than I thought.

As the two continued to have their little back-and-forth, Sol peeked at the laptop screen from behind me. "Everyone on the message board seems excited," she said. "That's good to see." The Blue Lily society's homepage was full of information on the upcoming May Festival. People were writing reactions to it on a message board. 

"It was a very interesting idea," Rosalia said, ignoring Matilda's whining and leaving Luna to deal with her. Despite her words, she seemed very uninterested. Sol smiled graciously anyway.

"Yes, it is," Sol said. "It was Sapphire's idea, after all."

"But... I feel a little unhappy," Matilda added to their conversation. "I intend to protect Amie from receiving invitations to dance. That is my mission. But under these rules..." Matilda slumped over onto the table, despondent. Sol weakly smiled at her.

"Why not just let her dance?" Luna asked the obvious question.

"I couldn't!" Matilda rejected the idea and sat back up in her seat. "There are numerous villains who seek to take her!"

Luna sighed. "Villains? Really..."

"Amie is a very popular person. Even among intermediary students, she has many fans. To protect her from those people, I will dance with her. That was my philosophy last year, but..." Matilda slumped forward onto the table. Again. This girl was all over the damn place. "This year's Easter egg hunt is very likely to force me into yielding Amie to others... ugh." She groaned, pitifully.

But Rosalia showed no pity, nor any sympathy. "That would be a relief, as far as I'm concerned. You're always stepping on my feet." Instead of consoling her, Rosalia picked her up by the ankles and swung her into every available surface. Figuratively, of course, but that's what it felt like to me.

"Ah... I'm sorry..." Matilda looked as if she were about to cry. Then she thought of something else and immediately perked up. "Ah! I know! You should tell me where you're hiding it!"

"No." Another instant and cold rejection from Rosalia.

"Wh-Why not?!"

"Because, the rules state that that sort of thing is not allowed."

"For a game to be any fun, everyone needs to play fair," Sapphire said.

"Ah... That's true. Yes. There's no point if it's not a fair fight..." Matilda was convinced. Though the three of them expressed it in different ways, the principal was the same for each.

"Anyway, the Soirée Dansante lasts all night," Sapphire added. "So I'm sure you can dance with your favorites all you want."

"Th-That's true." Matilda was happy again. "So, Amie..." She turned to Rosalia and gave her puppy-dog eyes and a large smile. Those eyes were full of hopes and dreams. That smile could melt anybody's heart into mush.

Too bad Rosalia has a heart made of tungsten, which has a melting point of 3422°C. "I was thinking of leaving a bit early, personally."

"NOOO!!" Matilda cried out in despair after having seen her entire family tortured to death in front of her. Wait, no, she's just sad she won't get to dance with her friend. It was an easy mistake to make after hearing a cry like that.

"I just get so sleepy, that's all," Rosalia probably lied. I shift my attention to a conversation that Sol was having with Luna.

"What was the Red Roses' idea?" Sol asked Luna in curiosity. "I've been so concerned with our own that I've forgotten."

"Ours is 'Tea in the Rose Garden.' We'll be preparing a number of sweets, so please feel free to come by."

"Yes," Sol smiled. "I believe we will."

"...Can, uh... Can I come to?" I sheepishly interrupt their conversation and meekly ask Luna. She eyed me down with suspicion. 

"You enjoy sweets?" She asked, doubtfully.

"So what? That a problem?" I unexpectedly get very defensive. Luna didn't seem to care though, and just kept looking at me with wariness. Eventually, she just shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, I won't stop you from coming, so help yourself."

Fuck yeah!

---

Seraph returned to his cave of dwelling and looked through the leaflet that the Blue Lily society was handing out. He held the leaflet in one hand and the egg with his name in it in the other. The egg was made of plastic and painted with colorful geometric patterns. It was blinding. People will find this one easily, and he don't want that. Anyway, the leaflet explained the rules for 'Woo with Oeuf.' First, everyone had until the morning of the day before the dance (which was tomorrow) to hide their Easter egg. The eggs could only be hidden outside, and could be hidden anywhere on the grounds. While not mandatory, it was recommended to keep them close by to avoid getting left out by hiding one's eggs too far afield. The search would begin at 1500 hours. The May Festival would begin at 1700, when people would eat a light meal prepared by the school, or this year, take tea in the rose garden. At 2000, was the start of the dance. There would be a four day weekend after the festival for the students to wind down, as well. Seraph thought it unusual, but wasn't going to complain about two free days off of school.

Seraph had already decided where he should hide his egg. Tomorrow at 0400, he was going to head outside of the dormitory, walk around the back, and just YEET it onto the roof. It's close by, outside, and no one will find it. The plan is perfect. Now he can veg out and simp VTubers until then. He was looking forward to the collab stream today ever since it was announced five days ago. As he lay in bed watching a collaboration stream of a game called 'Among Us,' there was a knock at his door. As soon as he heard it, he went from having fun to being ready to slaughter whoever had the fucking gall to disrupt his business. He hit 'M' on his keyboard to mute the stream, took off his headphones, and had his laptop face the wall so whoever was at the door couldn't peek behind him and discover his guilty pleasure. Vexed, he answered the door. Behind it was that bitch Chloe.

"Can I help you?" Seraph spat out, determined to end this encounter quickly. 

"Y-Yeah," she answered. "There's something I wanted to ask you," Chloe fidgeted nervously.

"Well?" Seraph quickly grew impatient and urged her on. He was wasting precious seconds on the stream, and he grew more and more irate with each passing second.

"Where were you thinking of hiding your egg? D-Don't get the wrong idea, though. I just don't know where to hide mine." Chloe nodded, convinced by her own argument. "I just got here last year, so I don't know what a good place would be."

"And I just got here last month. You think I'd know?"

"Ah... ahaha, that's true..." Chloe awkwardly laughed. She hadn't thought this one through.

"It would be better for you to ask Sapphire."

"R-Right..."

"Good," Seraph said. "Bye." He shut the door in her face and hurried back to his laptop. He had more important matters to attend to.

Chloe stood outside his door for a few seconds and facepalmed. "You idiot..." she mumbled under her breath, referring to both Seraph and herself.

Twenty minutes pass, and Seraph was bothered by another knock on his door. Two visitors in one night, are you fucking kidding me? Fuming, Seraph repeated the process of hiding his laptop screen and answered the door. Behind it was that bitch Sol.

"Salutations," she greeted. "Seraph, have you decided where you're hiding your Easter egg?"

"No," he lied. The only thing he had on his mind was to reject her and turn her away at the door. His 'no' came out in response to his thoughts, not the truth. Now he had to reap what he sowed by talking to Sol a little more than he wanted to.

"I-I see," Sol let a little smile slip onto her face. "Well then... ahem. I could help you if you'd like. You're still unfamiliar with Vincennes, aren't you? That means you probably can't think of a proper hiding place, so I thought I might help you find one... What do you think?"

"I think you'd be better off helping Chloe." Seraph, without missing a beat, rejected her offer in a roundabout way. "She isn't sure where to put hers."

Sol narrowed her eyes at Seraph and interrogated him. "...How do you know about that?" 

"She came by a few minutes ago to talk to me about it."

"Ah... I see.."

"I'm gonna figure out where to hide my egg for myself. Bye." He shut the door in her face and hurried back to his laptop. He had important business to attend to.

Sol stood outside his door for a few seconds and sighed. "...Drat."

Roughly ten minutes pass, and... ANOTHER FUCKING VISITOR? Seraph was not happy. He hid his laptop screen, stomped towards the door and forcefully swung it open. The doors in the dormitory opened inwards, so he was comfortable about not smacking anyone in the face. Behind the door was that bitch... Matilda?

"S-S-Salutations!" Matilda stuttered and quivered nervously. Seeing her standing there, Seraph's rage was swapped out with confusion. "S-Seraph... no... I shall refer to you appropriately as Serpent Séduisant! Where do you intend to hide your Easter egg?!"

Seraph's mind went blank. He couldn't think of valid reason Matilda would be asking this question. He started moving the dusty cogs of his brain to try and find the reason. 

"My question is against the rules. I understand that," Matilda said. "But even so, I MUST secure your Easter egg for myself!"

Her eyes were lit ablaze with determination, and when she looked him straight in the eyes as she declared such a thing, Seraph instantly came to the conclusion. Seraph felt that there was only one possible, and quite frankly, obvious reason, that Matilda would want the egg for herself. Knowing that, Seraph gently smiled down at her. He saw her in an entire new light that filled his heart with warmth.

"Look," Seraph softly spoke. "I can't tell you where I'm hiding my egg, BUT-" Seraph  interrupted Matilda who was about to interrupt him. "I will be leaving the dorm at seven o'clock tomorrow morning to hide my egg. That's very early in the morning, so I'll be sleepy. I'd be so sleepy I won't even notice if someone were following me to see where I was hiding my egg." Seraph basically just told Matilda to stalk him when he went to hide his egg. But Matilda was stupid and didn't get the blatantly obvious meaning behind his words. "Well, have a nice night," Seraph said, closing the door on her. Guess I'll have to stay up until 0700 to hide my egg now...

---

Elsewhere in the dorms, Matilda knocked on another door after talking to Seraph. "Ah, Matilda..." Rosalia answered her door. Before she could even get proper greetings out of the way, Matilda apologized.

"F-Forgive me, Amie!" She expressed deep regret and begged for forgiveness. "I... I failed you! I failed to retrieve Seraph's Easter egg for you!"