“I’m fired?”
“Yes, you’re fired! Go die in a ditch somewhere!”
Those were harsh words, no matter what he had done. All that, just because he and Siesta were on her bed. We weren’t even doing anything. And I thought she was becoming nicer.
“Ok, fine.”
“I don’t want to see your face ever again!”
Saito grabbed Derflinger and left the room without another word.
Alone in the room, Louise laid on her bed. She put the blanket over her head.
So mean, Louise thought.
It hasn’t only been today. When I’ve been having lessons, he’s been bringing that girl in and doing that and I didn’t know. I won’t forgive him.
Louise bit her lip. So his feelings for her were all lies. Tears ran down her cheek.
“I hate you... and you even kissed me.”
She whispered the words repeatedly, as if they were meant for herself.
“… and you even kissed me.”
While searching for Verdandi, Guiche spotted a tent in the corner of the Vestri courtyard. For some reason a huge kettle was placed next to it. Guiche wondered what the kettle and the tent were for.
It was a crude tent made from a stick and an old rag. There were remains of food, bones and skin from fruits, scattered around. It seemed like someone was living there. His beloved familiar came out of the tent while he was looking at the tent with his head tilted in wonder.
“Verdandi, so you’re here!”
Guiche got on his knees and rubbed the large mole’s cheeks. The mole happily twitched its nose.
“Verdandi, what are you doing here?”
Someone crawled out of the tent and called out to the mole.
“Come here, mole. You and I, we're friends right?”
It was Saito. Disheveled and with a wine bottle in his hand, he was obviously drunk.
“What on earth are you doing?” asked Guiche, surprised.
Saito took a sip from the bottle and continued to call out to the mole, ignoring Guiche.
“Hey, come here. You’re the only friend I can trust.”
The large mole, as if it was troubled, looked at both Guiche and Saito.
“Verdandi, don’t go over there. Why is Verdandi your friend anyway?”
When Guiche asked that, Saito replied with a dead voice, lying on the ground.
“Because I’m a mole. A useless, poor, miserable mole.”
“I don’t know what happened, but don’t go thinking Verdandi is the same as you.”
Guiche peered inside the tent. Derflinger and, for some reason, Kirche’s salamander were in there.
“Kyuru kyuru.”
“What do you want?” Each of them said.
There was a pile of straw on the ground, and an upturned cup. That was all that was in the tent.
Guiche turned to Saito.
“So, you were driven out of Louise’s room?”
Lying on the floor, Saito nodded.
“And so you made this tent?”
Saito nodded again.
“Being lonely, you gathered people’s familiars and got drunk?”
Saito nodded vigorously. Guiche closed his eyes and nodded himself.
“Hmm. So you’re a good for nothing.”
“What else am I supposed to do? I’ve got no place to go. I don’t even have a clue how to get home. I can only drink.”
Saito gulped down the wine. Someone came rushing towards them. It was Siesta.
“Oh, I’m sorry I’m late. Here’s your lunch.”
It seemed like this maid from the kitchen was taking care of Saito.
“You’ve drank this much already?! I told you a bottle per day!” Siesta grabbed his hand while scolding him.
“Sorry…”
Saito sadly hung his head.
“You guys! I told you to keep an eye on how much he drank!”
“Kyuru kyuru.”
“My bad,” replied both the salamander and Derflinger in a sorry voice.
Siesta hastily cleaned up the mess around the tent and made Saito stand up.
“I’ll come again in the evening! Don’t drink too much!”
And then Siesta hurried away in the same fashion she had came.
Watching her leave, Guiche said with an artificial rose in his mouth, “Well, Louise would get angry if you were two timing.”
“I’m not two timing! I’m not even involved with anyone, neither Louise nor Siesta!”
He had kissed Louise while she was sleeping, but he didn’t say that. He would rather forget about it.
“Well whatever, but do you plan on living here?”
“Got a problem?”
“You’re ruining the school's beautiful scenery.”
“Shut up.”
“You’ll be told to get out if the teachers see you, you know?”
Saito gulped down his wine without another word, returning to the tent while hugging Guiche's mole. The mole looked desperately at Guiche.
“Hey, give me back my Verdandi!”
Meanwhile, Louise had been skipping class and staying in her bed, worrying endlessly. Three days had passed since she drove Saito out. She was thinking about the familiar she drove out.
He even kissed me, he even kissed me, he even kissed me, she thought endlessly. Having your pride hurt is really a terrible thing. She sadly glanced at the haystack that Saito used to use. She wanted to throw it out, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
Suddenly a knock came from the door. The first thought she had was that Saito had finally returned. Her sadness turned to joy, and within that joy she felt anger. Why am I glad he’s back? I should not let him back in for coming back so late.
The door opened. Louise jumped up and cried angrily.
“Idiot! Where have you…eh?”
It was Kirche who had come in. Brushing her flaming hair, she smiled at Louise.
“It’s only me, sorry.”
“What are you doing here?”
Louise went back to her bed. Kirche walked briskly to the bed and sat down. She threw away the blanket at once, revealing Louise curled up, sulking, in her negligee.
“You’ve been absent for three days now, so I came to see you.”
Kirche sighed heavily. Having a good conscience really did have its pains. She didn’t think Louise would drive him out of the room. She thought it would be good for the two to have a fight and separate from each other a bit, but she didn’t think Louise would go this far.
“So, what are you planning to do, now that you’ve driven your familiar out of your room?”
“None of your business.”
Kirche looked at Louise coldly. On her rosy cheeks, there were rivulet vestiges of tears. She had probably been crying for a while now.
“I knew you were foolishly arrogant and proud but I didn’t think you were this cold hearted. They were just eating together.”
“It wasn’t only just that, of all things they were on my bed…” Louise muttered.
“Were they in each other’s arms?”
Louise nodded. Kirche was quite shocked. To make a move on a girl who came to bring him food… Saito was pretty good.
“Well, seeing the guy you like with a girl on your own bed must be quite a shock.”
“I don’t like him! It’s just that they were on my bed…”
“That’s just an excuse. You drove him out because you like him, and you were angry with him.”
Kirche’s words had hit the mark, yet Louise disagreed and pouted her lips. “I can’t say I didn’t see it coming. It’s because you didn’t give him anything. It’s only natural he’d go flirt with another girl.”
Louise remained silent.
“La Vallière, you’re a strange girl you know. You’re angry at and crying over a guy who you won’t even kiss. You can’t win like that…” said Kirche in a bored tone while standing up.
“I’ll do something about Saito. I was looking forward to taking Saito away from you… but you hit him, and kicked him, and drove him out, I actually feel quite sorry for him. He’s not a toy you know.”