#1. In Which A Spy Random Customer is Surprised

{This takes place several days after a letter is stolen in the dead of night from Filian and her mother's drawer¹in chapter 19, and just a few days after Filian and co. visit the Midelus Festival²after chapter 30.}

A certain fellow by the name of Lindent (temporary) sat in the corner of the restaurant, eyeing the girl at the bar suspiciously. He wore an oversized trench coat and a large hat, the picture of suspicion himself. It was the second time he had come, but he was not the suspicious one: the girl was. He'd seen her at the Midelus Festival, when he'd been guarding the Prince. That was highly suspicious.

Look, she was slamming her spoon into mugs of beer-- suspicious. She was smiling radiantly at the drunks and breezily making conversation with her customers-- suspicious. She was getting refills from the back-- suspicious.

The door of the restaurant slammed open and the area was suddenly awash in sparkles, but Lindent (temporary) was a very serious spy man. He only kept his eyes on the girl he was suspicious of, the one with the red-brown hair and the cheerful smile. Suspicious. Nothing could bring him out of his intense concentration. No, sirree, not even the one parading back and forth behind the counter with the suspicious girl, no no.

A loud crash sounded near his table, and he let his eyes flit towards the source of the sound. Two rowdy men were up and roaring at each other, the obvious start of a bar fight.

"Keep it down!" yelled another man from a nearby table.

"Eh? Whatcha say, wimp?"

"Eh?! Who ya call a wimp, ya wimp?!"

Ah, another table was now in the fight. Lindent (temporary) wavered. The guy taking orders in this part of the restaurant seemed shook-- he was literally shaking, the pen nearly falling from his trembling grip. Well, he'd be no help. He looked around, but nobody else appeared to be working except for the suspicious girl, and she was behind the counter.

Now, Lindent (temporary) was a very dedicated man, but he was also very moral. He wavered and wavered and wavered because hmm, should he help? But he was here to spy-- he was in no obligation to help. He was just another customer here! 

Another table stood up and started roughing about, too. The fight was increasing.

Argh, perhaps he really should. Lindent (temporary) sighed into his mug of nonalcoholic cocktail. What to do? Risk his identity and help these poor folks out, or stay still and let the restaurant be smashed to pieces, seeing the rate these men were going?

He nodded to himself. Yes, he was here to protect the people first, and if that meant he'd need to create a new cover (he groaned on the inside), he would. He tensed his legs and began to stand--

"Okay, that's enough," called the girl from inside the bar. Lindent (temporary) stopped and stared. What was that girl going to do now? Call the Sheriff? "I'm pretty sure you had your fun," she drawled, leaning on the counter.

She exchanged looks with the sparkly girl, and they both sighed, the sparkly girl standing up from her stool. Lindent (temporary) blinked in surprise as they emerged from behind the counter, the suspicious girl grabbing a broom and the sparkly girl grabbing a mug.

What were they going to do, sweep and drink these guys into submission?

...yes, that was exactly what they did. The suspicious girl tapped the men's shoulders with the handle end of her broom, looking quite bored. "Take the fight outside, men, and pay up while you're at it."

The sparkly girl didn't even do anything, just stood there, looming at the guys.

One of the men growled at the suspicious girl and lunged at her. Without batting an eyelash, the girl shifted into a sturdier stance and swiped the man's arms away with the broom handle, stepping to the right at the same time. Cleanly diverted, the man lost balance and crashed to the floor-- all in the span of two seconds.

"Give it up!" someone called from the back in the static that followed. "Ya can't stand a chance against those two."

"Yeah!" another person piped up. "Just pay up and leave, or calm down and drink some more!"

The general public chuckled and seemed to agree, and Lindent (temporary) had to close his mouth from the gaping face he hadn't known he'd been making.

Another man lunged forward, and this time the sparkly girl dashed in at a speed that equaled the knights' and, well, bonked him on the head with the end of the mug. Then kicked him in his nether regions, elbowed his head to the nearby table, and pinned the man down as the man squawked horribly, now practically on his knees.

"Anyone else?" the sparkly girl asked, an eyebrow raised.

The rest of the group glanced at each other, shook their heads, and obediently sat down. The man with his head under the sparkly girl's hand whimpered, and she let him go.

"Situation done here," suspicious girl announced. She even extended a hand to the drunk man that had attacked her, shaking her head. "Don't do that next time, 'kay?"

"Mmph," the man mumbled back, glaring at her. He drunkenly sat down and let her pour him a drink, though, and Lindent (temporary) had to shake his head. That, that was, well, that was--

"Suspicious," he decided. Then he turned to the man beside him, drunk beyond repair. "What's the name of the bartender?" he asked.

"Eh? Who? Dear little Filian?" the drunk slurred. He snorted. "Can't win a fight against her, if I tried."

"Filian," he whispered to himself, peering at her suspiciously. That girl, Filian, was suspicious, he decided.

He vowed to himself that he would not forget her name... Not knowing, of course, that Lindent (temporary) would become Lindent (semi-permanent), and that he would end up befriending the very girl himself.

 

#2. In Which First Kisses Are Judged

On one particularly stuffy afternoon, while I was braiding Ruth's hair at Rosa's house, Becca jumped onto the bed to give me a sparkling look.

"Yes, Becca?" I asked, smiling at her over Ruth's head.

She hemmed and hawed for a tiny bit before blurting out her real reason. "When did you have your first kiss?"

"Oh!" squealed Ruth, twisting around to stare at me wide-eyed. "Filian!"

I laughed as I nudged her forward again. She obediently turned. "Ooh, first kiss. Why do you ask?"

Becca reddened and murmured something about being just curious. Suppressing a chuckle, I reached to my right for a hair tie. "Well, I was thirteen when I had mine."

"Ooh! With who?"

"With whom," I corrected. "Oh, just with someone I thought I really liked at the time." I made a face. "Wouldn't do it again, though."

Becca was practically bouncing now. "Why not? Do you not like him anymore?"

I considered it for a second. Philip now, with his rather lame beard? "Yup," I decided, "not in the kissing sort of way, no. So girls, make sure you kiss someone only if you know you're going to like them for a long time, alright?"

"Okay," they chorused. I patted Ruth's completed braid into place, and the two bounded downstairs.

I watched them go fondly. Speaking of first kisses....

Four years ago, in the Row hideout for the gang of ten, in which :

"Are you serious?" I whispered, crouched down near the wall in the shade. "You like Little John?"

Rosa hissed at me. She was also crouched into the corner with me, and she was busy looking around to make sure nobody else was nearby. "Can you please just quiet down? I'm not trying to announce that to the entire world!"

"No, but really, you like like him?"

She shoved at me half-heartedly. "Yes! But be quiet!"

"Okay, geez," I whispered, rolling my eyes. "But why? He's so..." I frowned, and lowered my voice even more. "No offense, but he's the worst at fighting in our group." He couldn't even do a proper kick, unlike Philip, who had the best roundhouse kick I'd seen in my life. I smothered a sigh of content at the thought of him.

"Well," Rosa stammered, red creeping up her neck. "Well, he's funny." Then her eyes narrowed and any hint of red immediately disappeared. "And even better, I think Sammy likes him too."

Ohhh. Of course that had much to do with this sudden declaration. I rolled my eyes again, this time so hard that I wouldn't have been surprised if my eyes got stuck heavenward because of it. "Now I get it. You just want to one-up Sammy, isn't that right?" I shoved at her back before she could make a response. "And stop trying to win Sammy! She's, like, three years older than us!"

"Four years older," Rosa corrected, but she kept peering around. "And no, I'm not trying to compete with Sammy. It's just..." She grimaced. "That little punk, sixteen years old and thinks she knows everything."

"...says the twelve-year-old," I muttered, scoffing.

"What?"

"Nothing." I peered out with her. "Well? Are we going to go join them?" They'd promised to teach us how to do some new fighting sequences, and I was planning on seeing if I could get Philip to teach me. I shifted impatiently. "Ro?"

"Shh!" she hissed. Then she yelped, and quickly dragged me to the side. "Stay here! And don't move, okay?"

"What the--"

She unceremoniously dumped me behind the corner and dashed out. "Oh!" I heard soon after. "Little John! Fancy meeting you here!"

"Hey."

"What, are you here to practice your kicks?"

"...no. But wanna be my sparring partner?"

"S-sure!" Cue awkward laugh. I rolled my eyes. This was a dead end-- I couldn't even get out. Was I supposed to stay here and wait until Rosa was done flirting with scrawny, and admittedly funny, Little John? What about my plan to cozy up with Philip, huh?

A brief scuffle ensued, followed by a pause, and, while I began inspecting my knees in sheer boredom, Rosa growled. Then, with steely determination in her voice, she gritted, "Sorry, Little John. Do me a favor. I'll apologize later."³what are you, Rosa, a horrible shoujo hero?

"Hm? What's-- uamph!"

...and that was, apparently, how Rosa had had her first kiss. All because she'd seen Sammy walk up into the alley we were in, saw the two of them, and smirked at her "in the most arrogant possible way ever, as if she was saying she stood no chance against her"-- according to Rosa's words. 

Hey, at least I had my first kiss in the throes of teenage infatuation, while in a semi-romantic situation. It was a very cheesy, very cringey, and a very, well, embarrassing kiss now, but it was arguably better than having a first kiss to anger a rival. That was just... no. No. Not Okay. I think Little John might have cried a little after that. That was Not Okay either. Poor Little John! Maybe that's why he'd grown so buff, so other Rosas wouldn't take advantage of him.

Shaking myself back into the present, I looked towards the stairs where the girls had gone. "Kids," I wistfully whispered, though I knew they could not hear me, "please don't follow the footsteps of your sister."

 

#3. In Which A New Route, Perhaps, Is Opened

"Now, who shall you choose?" boomed the magically possible speakerphone.

Rosa's mouth itched-- she so wanted to grab the speakerphone from the announcer and correct him. "It's whom shall you choose, you dimwit," she whispered.

The Crown Prince, who only heard 'dimwit' at the end, gulped. Was, was Rosa Chesterfield threatening him under her breath? He suppressed a shudder and managed to maintain the suave smile on his face.

On the same stuffy afternoon Filian was reminiscing her past, the Prince was dealing with a dilemma. According to some strange and completely unnecessary rules of their annual Sports Day, he as the Student Council President needed to choose one noble lady from the Student Council to be with for the entire day, while the event ran through its program.

Usually it was not such a dilemma, because all the female members of the Student Council would do something called 'opting out' of the selection with various excuses, and the President would choose nobody for the lack of available ladies. However, this year, for some reason unknown to him, neither Rosa Chesterfield nor Lady Mildred had 'opted out,' and thus he was being forced to choose.

In front of the entire school.

Now, the Prince did not know why neither of these ladies had done the usual 'opting out,' but Rosa did. Yes, this was a very very important event from the game that must not be forgotten-- the progress check.

If Rosa Chesterfield, as the heroine, had garnered enough affection points with the Prince, he would choose her. If she had not, he would choose the Villainess, Lady Mildred. Though she had done her very best to keep with the events, for some reason unknown to her, he'd almost acted like he was scared of her. Completely implausible, she knew, but yet...

Anyways, this was a good time to check how far she had progressed. And so she awaited his decision grimly, while the Prince died in the inside.

Spend a day with his most feared enemy who was radiating a scary sort of energy even now, or spend a day on his best behavior with the fiance he couldn't be more awkward with? This was like handing him a plate of worms in one hand and a plate of bugs in the other and asking which he would prefer to eat!

He hesitated as long as he could without seeming like he was wimping out. (For the record, he was totally wimping out.) Then, when the silence stretched out just a second too long to be a natural pause, he turned to his right and offered his hand to the lady.

"Will you be my partner for the day, Lady Mildred?"

Rosa closed her eyes and resisted the urge to drop on her knees at this very moment. She only grimaced and faced the sky instead, clenching her hands into fists. What was it? What had she done wrong??! She'd done everything right to the T!!!! Her probabilities! Her calculations!! Where was the mistake?!?!?!?

Meanwhile, Lady Mildred blinked at the hand and sighed on the inside. In retrospect, she should have known this was coming. It was only right for the Prince to choose his fiance, but... If she had a choice, she would have 'opted out' as well. Yes, she was very determined to be the best queen she could be, which meant also loving the Prince when it came to it, but she was also just a student now, and she wanted to enjoy the Sports Day. She shouldn't have said yes to Rosa pleading her to stay in. Now she would have to spend the entire day with the Prince, whom she was most awkward with. This... was not ideal.

However, it was too late to back out now, so she allowed a cool smile to rise on her lips as she took the offered hand. "With pleasure."

The Crown Prince wished he could just disintegrate into dust right then and there, even as the crowd cheered. Yes, it would be better to be seen with his fiance. And besides, better the awkward fiance than the scary... the scary... He didn't even know what to call her. The scary upstart, perhaps.

He held back another shudder.

And so the three stood in front of the entire school, on top of the podium, each wanting to curl up and cry for entirely different reasons.

 

#4. In Which The Omake Short Is Actually Short

Prince Alexander and Lady Mildred sat in their custom seats, entirely silent.

"Would you like some skewers?" Prince Alexander asked, a bit abruptly. "I hear it is popular amongst the common people."

Lady Mildred gave a small start, then shook her head. "But thank you," she said quietly.

They fell silent once more.

From the distance, it would appear as if the two were completely at ease around each other, creating a perfect picture of well-bred, genial nobility. Only the two of them would know just how tangible the air around them was, fraught with absolute and awkward tension. After all, one could not detect the whitened knuckles of the Crown Prince as he gripped his chair, nor the tense shoulders of the renowned Orchid, at a distance.

The Crown Prince desperately racked his brain for what he knew of his fiance. Not much, but... "How about some cream soup?"

"...I would not mind."

"Ah. Let me call my chef."

Thanks be to cream soup! The awkward air dissipated by approximately 2%.

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A/N: Coming up next: the story of Rosa Chesterfield's childhood! (Also, my apologies to the two viewers who clicked into this when I accidentally published it before it was ready!)