That day, I was accompanying Sarah-sama into the garden.
As always, the weather was...sooty, so to speak. The sun didn’t shine through the gray clouds, and it was rather cold.

I’d prefer to stay indoors.

Still, we the faces were supposed to accompany our shadow master at all times when outside their room- and since I’m just a tool for Sarah-sama to use, my opinion on this subject didn’t matter, and thus I didn’t even voice it.

The outfit I put on was called “The Portrait”. It was specifically designed to hide all of my body, and make the face alone stand out. Since shadow masters have no face, it’s up to us, the living dolls to do that job for them. It’s our main purpose, much more important than endlessly cleaning soot.

And the doll that failed at that would be….defective. Unworthy. And without doubt, such a defective product ought to be discarded.

……

Sarah-sama didn’t tell me where we were going, but she was walking with a clear purpose, and I followed.

Suddenly, we bumped into Emilico and her shadow master.
What was she doing here? Why wasn’t she wearing the portrait...ah, that’s right, she didn’t debut yet.
And despite that, she was outside? What for!? How foolish…

“Ara ara, a face I haven’t seen before. It couldn’t possibly be before your debut, could it?”

Well said! Leave it to Sarah-sama to say exactly the most appropriate thing at most appropriate time. However, I didn’t let it show in any way. Instead, I was doing my best to perfectly mimic my master’s movements, using my peripheral vision to see what she was doing, and deducing what facial expression would fit her tone of voice best.

Frankly speaking, I was so proficient at it, that I considered myself on star bearer level. The other living dolls my age couldn’t even compare..! Yet for some reason, Sarah-sama wasn’t a star bearer yet...That contradiction was stinging me, and I couldn’t figure out where exactly lies the fault….what was I doing wrong, that we weren’t promoted yet?

“Ah! Mia! Hello!”

A cheerful voice broke me out of my ruminations.
“Kate-sama, this living doll taught me a lot during the cleaning~!”

What are you doing!? I wanted to shout, to warn her!...alas, my job was to mimic my master.
There was nothing I could do….

“What’s with this face? It talks on it’s own!” said Sarah in a mocking voice, and tilted her head to the side. I did the same, showing Emilico nothing but a cruel grimace…

“Hello Kate. Glad to make your acquaintance. I am Sarah” She courtsied, I courtsied.

Emilico glanced at Kate, panic in her eyes.

“Glad to make your acquaintance.” Said her master, calmly. The difference in temperaments between the two was painfully obvious.

“Ara~ You’re awfully pale, Kate. Is something wrong?”

“Kate-sama is doing wonderfully!” interjected Emilico, pointing to her master dramatically and still not quite understanding the situation.
….It was, in fact, quite hilarious. Like watching a black comedy drama, where a character is an architector of their own destruction.

Sarah-sama laughed. I laughed too. This time I didn’t even need to force it that hard.
However, my master wouldn’t be herself if she merely ended at that. She graciously extended her head and patted Emilico on the head.

“Defective product. It would be wise to take after Sarah’s face and study hard.”

I could feel pride swell in my chest. My master praised me before another shadow! Even if it was a pre debutant such as this Kate, it was still a great honor, and I told myself to feel overjoyed.

Defective shadow grabbed her living doll’s hand and tried to escape. I immediately knew what is required of me, and I blocked their passage without my master having to utter a word of command.

“What? You’re trying to leave? Are you going to treat Sarah-sama like air?”

I made a furious face, a fitting reward for the one trying to ignore a splendid master such as mine!

“Listen defective product. What face is Sarah making now?”

Emilico gazed at me, terrified.

“An angry one.”

“That’s right! And what about Kate? Ara? What’s wrong Kate? Is it you don’t have a face? What expressions are you making? Are you looking at me? Perhaps it was a mistake to state your name? With a failure of a shadow and a face like this, the great grandfather will eventually dispose of you!”

It was a bit difficult to actively mimic Sarah-sama whenever she lost herself and spoke quickly like this, so I just stood back and made a default smug expression to convey the general tone of her feelings.

“Farewell, Kate! Be glad that the one you met was Sarah. I won’t tell anyone of your incompetence.”

And thus, we went in separate direction….
...only to circle around and go back to our room.

Could it be…?

“Ara, Mia~ it seems you are puzzled as to what was the purpose of our little adventure. Allow Sarah to explain her genius…”

Apparently, my master saw the defective doll fall out of the window and immediately rushed down to take advantage of this spectacular opportunity. As expected, Emilico’s master came down to recover her….and that was when we found them.

“Now not only they feel indebted to me for keeping their little rule breaking secret, but also got valuable advice from Sarah-sama! This is how you make allies in Shadows house~”

I agreed and applauded.

However, after coming back to my quarters, a sinful, unnecessary thought nested in my mind.
Was it really wise…? And would they really feel indebted for this?

Well, in the end, it didn’t matter. It was clear now that Emilico and Kate won’t pass the debut, and would be disposed of.
A shame, as I started to like the blondie quite a bit.