The more Dixie thought about it, the more likely it seemed that Crystal had either misunderstood or realized something about herself that even she wasn’t aware of.
After all, she was already familiar with the blonde girl, and she fully agreed with her princess that Crystal was a gentle soul, harmless to humans and animals alike.
But she also knew that her princess was the reverse scale of this gentle beast that made her instantly turn ferocious, and with their relationship, it was probably the only thing that could turn her hostile. She had already seen it happen once with her own eyes, after all.
Dixie gulped. ‘S-So… does this mean she believes I harbor ill-will against my princess? No! How could it be?! I-I have to clear this up, as soon as possible!’
Of course, as Crystal had been observing her so closely, it was impossible for her to miss Dixie’s ‘ups and downs’, especially not with her ability awakened.
Since she couldn’t exactly read her mind, all Crystal really got from Dixie was a mix of ‘Love Emilia’, ‘Confusion’, ‘Sadness’, ‘Crystal Scary’, but this was already enough for her to guess some of Dixie’s mental gymnastics.
The blonde girl tried her hardest not to let her ‘scary look’ change to an amused smile, and only dared to giggle once the despondent dark-haired girl separated from them to head to Class S.
Emilia gave her a curious look as they passed through the gate of class A, but the blonde girl only shook her head while pointing at the clock.
The crimson-haired girl didn’t dare to question her after she noticed there were only twenty seconds left till Mr. Jefferson arrived, as he was never early nor late. She didn’t wish to discover what other names the man could come up with if she stood out from the crowd, after all.
Realizing that the little beauty was still traumatized from the ‘Empoleon’ incident, Crystal couldn’t help but pat Emilia’s shoulder in consolation. ‘Mr. Jefferson is really too much! How can he not remember the name of the most gorgeous girl in the world?!’
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Although most of the students in class A tended to focus solely on improving their scores, the annual events week was a rare exception.
Since the activities they would be performing could be decided by the individual clubs and committees, the smart students would be able to use this opportunity to showcase their talents to their future employers.
After all, the ‘audience’ that would come to watch the events included not just the common folk of the city, but also the rich parents of class S students, as well as influential people that invested in the school.
Even if there were also many students who really didn’t have any hobbies because of their heavy emphasis on studies, they could always go for quiz contests and the like, as there would definitely be at least one club or committee that would go for such events to cater to the class A students.
Of course, all of this had nothing to do with Emilia, since she had already showcased her academic excellence by getting the topmost position in the semester exams, and planned to continue performing well.
Most of her attention had been focused on observing the changes brought by the incident with the hero so that she can adjust accordingly, but the continued absence of Amos failed to stir up any waves, leaving Emilia with the freedom to do as she pleased.
Emilia had no way of perfectly predicting what the Black Tiger would do under these circumstances, and Noelle wasn’t able to dig anything up, either.
But she wasn’t too worried. The longer her opponents waited to take action, the better it was for her. Anyway, with their current grasp of the Black Tiger’s movements, Noelle was very likely to catch something as soon as they started making preparations.
After some consideration, the crimson-haired girl decided that she might as well use this opportunity to consolidate her ‘fan base’, and entertain her friends.
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After setting an appointment for the next day with an overexcited Penny, Emilia was finally done for the day as she leaned tiredly into Crystal’s arms in the car. “Detour to big sister’s office, please.”
It wasn’t rare for Emilia to visit Sam’s office after school, though she did often head home directly as well, so the driver wasn’t too surprised. “Yes, young miss.”
He quickly pulled up the privacy screen, already used to the sight of the three girls being in ‘questionable’ state in the backseat. ‘Young girls these days sure know how to play around…’
Of course, he would have loved to see more of such adorable scenery, but he had already been traumatized by the dark glare from the short-haired girl before, and didn’t dare try to ‘forget’ about the privacy screen ever again.
Had it been before awakening her ability, the heroine might have misunderstood the little beauty’s sigh as her exhaustion from dealing with Penny and Koko, which would be understandable.
After all, those girls had way too much energy, and just looking at them made her tired. How Emilia normally dealt with them was already a mystery.
But now, she could more or less feel that what made Emilia worry wasn’t what happened before, but what was coming next. ‘Could it be the discussion about abilities we’re supposed to have tonight? Aw… Only she would think any of us would be upset about such a thing, really!’
The blonde girl couldn’t help but chuckle. “Not looking forward to our ‘talk’ during dinner?”
Emilia sighed in contentment when Dixie removed her shoes and started kneading her calf. “Thank you, Dixie, please press a little more firmly today… and, um, no… that’s not it.”
Dixie was still upset about the blonde girl glaring at her from before, and just continued kneading the soft flesh on the legs of her princess with a hum of acknowledgment, while Crystal blinked in surprise. “Then?”
Emilia sighed. “I just feel like Noelle is going to annoy me today.”
Crystal couldn’t help but tilt her head curiously as she tucked one of Emilia’s stray locks behind her adorable little ear. “How do you know? It could be that you worry for nothing, right?”
The crimson-haired girl pursed her lips reluctantly, not wanting to say that Noelle had been a little irritable ever since the day she rejected her offer to take ‘full responsibility’.
”It could be…”
Emilia could only regret that she had moved too fast, and hadn’t prepared Noelle enough, leading to this kind of ‘dissatisfaction’ in her heart. But it was impossible for her to shift the blame to Noelle.
Anyway, it was her responsibility to console the gray-haired beauty and soothe her heart, and Emilia planned to do so after dealing with the urgent matters today.
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Dixie and Crystal went back to Emilia’s home directly after dropping Emilia off, as was their routine on such days, since they didn’t want to cause too much of a disturbance in the office.
Of course, everyone was ‘very’ familiar with who Emilia was by now, and the girl simply returned their enthusiastic greetings with a smile as she headed directly for her big sister’s office.
Not surprisingly, Noelle was already there, sorting out some documents that the taller girl painstakingly went through one by one.
Emilia knew that Sam’s workload had increased drastically recently, and she could only sigh in pity. ‘Big sister is working so hard…’
Of course, as soon as the two of them noticed her, their eyes brightened a little subconsciously, and Emilia grinned as she rushed ahead, dropping a kiss on Noelle’s cheek before collapsing into Sam’s arms before she could get up from the executive chair.
Sam couldn’t help but chuckle in amusement as she buried her face in the beauty’s nape, breathing in that faint, soothing fragrance that she found oh so addicting. “Did my little baby miss me a lot?”
Emilia just snuggled into the older girl’s embrace as she hummed contently. “Mhm… Big sister, are you too tired recently?”
The older girl didn’t want her sister to worry about her too much, so she quickly shook her head in denial, but she didn’t want to lie to the girl either, putting her in a dilemma. “N-Not much…? W-Well… a little. But my little baby doesn’t need to worry too much. I have Noelle here to help me, after all.”
Noelle rolled her eyes in exasperation, both from the ‘affectionate’ scene and their words. “Yeah, don’t worry, she makes me work like a horse.”
Emilia smiled absently. “I love horses.”
The gray-haired girl almost choked. “Is that… a compliment?!”
The crimson-haired girl blinked before rubbing her nose in embarrassment, only then coming back to her senses as she pulled back from Sam’s embrace, her face red from shame. “Well… no, i-it’s because I’ve been planning for an event, and—”
The more she spoke, the worse it seemed to get, Emilia finally squeezed her eyes tight and decided to forcefully change the topic. “A-Anyway! I-I wanted to discuss something important with you two today!”
Sam and Noelle looked at each other in surprise.
”What does my baby want to talk about?”
”Something important?”
Emilia shifted a little uncomfortably on Sam’s lap. “Y-You’ll know later. Anyway, the both of you must be there for dinner on time tonight, okay?”
Sam nodded without much thought. She would have to go home a little earlier than usual today and would have to work harder tomorrow, but how could she deny such a simple request from her little angel?
Noelle, however, frowned. “Is this related to work, or… personal?”
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