For Trails of Cold Steel
Inside the Phoenix Wings inn, the girls of Class VII of Thors Military Academy were lounging around in their hotel room. It was rare for the girls to stay in one room together, as they were usually split up into two groups whenever field trips were concerned. After hearing that they were all going on a field trip to Ymir, a health resort and the home of the Schwarzer Barony, the girls begged their instructor Sara Valestein to stay in the same room together. Although both Towa, the President of the Student Council and Angelica, Marquis Rogner's daughter, came along with them, it was agreed that they would share a room with Class VII's instructor.
Millium, the youngest and most recent member of Class VII, was the most excited girl for what would be their sole slumber party. She had consistently begged and successfully coerced both Jusis and Machias into buying her two bags worth of snacks for the trip, much to their dismay. She was now bouncing on the bed that Alisa and Emma would sleep in, hugging her gigantic stuffed pom.
"Whee! I can't believe we're finally all staying together in one room. Fie, why don't you join me? This sure beats whatever you're doing."
"Heh. Looks like somebody's way too excited," Fie responded from the other side of the room before she immediately flinched. "Ow! Laura, that hurts!" Fie yelped in surprise.
"That's because you don't take good care of your hair," Laura responded, as she attacked the younger girl's tangled, wet hair with a long hairbrush. "Do you use conditioner?"
"Nope," Fie responded, almost cheerfully. She turned to Alisa, who was painting Emma's nails a light shade of lilac. "I don't get it. How is painting nails fun?" she asked, but Alisa was all but lost in concentration, putting the finishing touches on Emma's nails.
"Emma, can't you hold still for a moment? I'm juuust about done. There."
"Well, what do you think?" Emma asked shyly.
"Wow, you look great," Alisa exclaimed. "Such a shame that you're still hiding behind your braided hair and glasses. I was certain that almost all of the boys would have some kind of crush, if they didn't notice you before. Wait! Is...there a boy in the class that you like?" and muttered "If you do, it better not be Rean." under her breath.
"Ooh, sounds juicy! Tell me, tell me, I wanna knowww!" Millium chirped. She stopped bouncing on the bed and leaned forward towards the other girls.
Emma coughed loudly. "Y-you're not serious, are you?" and uttered "Why me?" under her breath.
"Even if she liked anyone in Class VII, Alisa, she'll never admit it." Fie smirked. "Though, I'm pretty sure it's-"
"Fie! S-stop!" Emma pleaded.
"It's not like we're going to judge you for liking anyone in Class VII," Laura nodded, as she continued to untangle Fie's silvery hair.
"Yeah! Besides, it's not like we don't know who Alisa likes anyway." Millium chimed in. "We didn't even bat an eye!"
"H-hey!" Alisa pouted. "That's so ru-!"
"Fine then. Why don't we make this more fair, then? Who's the best-looking boy in our class?" Fie asked. "It's obviously Crow. Just saying."
"Crow?!" everyone gasped in confusion.
"Wow Fie, I didn't know you had such...unique tastes." Laura replied.
"He has the looks, the charm, the wits...yeah, pretty much everything." Fie answered.
"Well, it's true that Crow's pretty smooth and he knows how to talk to women, unlike some other Class VII boys," Alisa agreed. "Still, I wouldn't trust him with a 10 mira coin!"
"Crow's not really my type, but considering who we have to choose from-" Fie started.
"No way! Jusis is waaaay better than Crow," Millium piped.
"Jusis? Are you kidding me?" replied Fie.
"You mean that arrogant, self-centered-" Alisa began, but stopped herself. "Uh-huh."
"Well, I guess that Jusis is quite handsome too," Emma mused. "I personally found his mannerisms to be quite fascinating."
"...and he has no problems challenging those in a position of authority who are doing wrong," Laura added. "There's also his ongoing rivalry with Machias and his personality to consider, though."
"So, does that mean you like him, too?" Millium asked excitedly.
"Not really, but I think I can see why you like him. He takes good care of you, doesn't he?" Emma smiled.
"Yup. Sure does." Millium grinned happily. "See, that wasn't scary at all!"
Emma sighed.
Alisa looked slightly annoyed. "I thought we're weren't going to talk about boys we- Ohh, forget about it."
Fie beamed. "So Alisa, how are you going to convince us that Rean is the best-looking boy in our class?"
"Fine, you got me. He's dense, doesn't have a filter, doubts himself too much, and gets roped into helping Instructor Sara more often than not, but I think his heart is in the right place. Besides, he's done so much for our class, like reconciling Jusis and Machias. Don't forget that you two weren't on good terms either," she turned to Laura and Fie.
Fie merely shrugged. "You could say that our Class VII Vice President had a hand in that as well. We just needed time."
"Machias?" Alisa rolled her eyes in disbelief. "Oh, please. He can't even control his own temper tantrums. Plus, Rean's pretty cute, don't you think so?"
"That's true. He has done a lot for our class and Thors in general," Laura nodded.
"I suppose that's one way of looking at Rean," Emma responded. "If we're going mostly on looks though, are we talking about cute, handsome, or gorgeous?"
"Hmmm." Millium pondered. "I'm not too sure, but whatever floats your boat I guess."
"I rather go for Cedric," Fie replied. "Rean IS cute, but he's not entirely innocent either."
"Prince Cedric doesn't count. If you're looking for cute and adorable, have any of you considered Elliot? He's simply generous to a fault, and he loves helping children."
"Laura? You actually like Elliot? What kind of world are we living in?" Alisa replied, a bit shocked. "I mean, I would have thought that Rean or Jusis was more your type."
"B-but, Elliot's so huggable, he's like a life-sized Mishy doll! A-and the way he laughs is infectious, I would do anything to protect his smile."
Everyone was stunned speechless.
"Aww, that's really sweet, Laura." Emma said. "I didn't think Elliot would be your type, honestly speaking. I thought you'd rather have someone who could spar on par with you since you take your swordsmanship so seriously."
"Yeah, I wasn't expecting anyone to vote for Elliot," Millium admitted. "Or Machias and Gaius for that matter. We all know that Machias has such a loud mouth, and for the other twoooo... Weell, let's just say they're pretty quiet and well, booring?"
"Umm..." Emma shifted uneasily. "I don't think they're boring at all."
"I don't understand what you mean, but I'm afraid we'll have to disagree on that," Laura answered.
"Ooh, did I hit a nerve?" Millium's eyes drooped.
"So wouldn't that mean...don't tell me that you like Machias!" Alisa pointed at Emma.
"It's not Machias, Alisa." Emma's voice rose barely above a whisper. The rest of the girls stared back at her, dumbfounded. "So, n-now that you all know who I like, l-let's just skip to the voting, okay?"
"Just spit it out already, or am I the only person who suffered from gushing about the boy I like here?" Alisa cried, with her hands on her hips.
"You, suffer? You were jumping on any excuse to gush about Rean." Fie laughed.
"Emma, you're no fun!" Millium cried. "What's the point of a slumber party if you're not gonna spill the beans?"
"Don't force her if she doesn't want to," Laura chided her.
"Uhh...this is so embarrassing. Gaius is...well, he's a really sweet person. He tries to see the positive in almost everything, knows his own limits and tries his best no matter what. He's comfortable being honest and upfront with his thoughts and feelings, even when he's being goofy. B-Besides, I...think he's really handsome, I m-mean...h-he's gorgeous. It's hard for me to look at him directly when we talk." Emma paused. "D-did I really say all that just now?"
"Whaaaaat?! Just how did this happen?!" shouted Alisa. "You barely talk to him in class!"
"As your friend, have I ever judged you for who you like? Emma snapped back. "Or how?"
"Well...!" Alisa replied, taken aback by her own response. "I mean, I'm really confused. Didn't you used to tell us that you like guys who were brave and romantic? Like the kind of guy who'd sweep you off your feet?"
"...Yes, I did..." Emma trailed off. "It's just..."
"Emma, are you feeling unwell?" Laura spoke, not unkindly. "Your face is red."
"Ehhhh? Aren't there plenty of better boys out there? Y'know, boys who own more than two sets of clothing and more, I dunno, fun? Besides, Nord's not even considered as its own territ-mmph."
Fie pounced on Millium before she could continue. "Hush, you." Fie scolded her. "Do you want to get hexed? 'Cause I sure don't."
"Ohh, I see where you're coming from now." Alisa said half-thoughtfully, half-apologetically. "Still, I think it's harder to talk to Gaius one-on-one. With Rean though-"
"I don't care what you think. I still say Crow is the best, hands down."
"Crow's a show-off! It's Juuusis!"
"Of course not. How can someone so bossy be the best boy?!"
"You're forgetting the obvious. Rean."
Both Emma and Laura exchanged knowing glances at each other. The lapis-haired swordswoman rolled her eyes.
"Thank goodness they're not grilling us anymore." Emma whispered to Laura. "I'm sorry you girls had to see me like that."
"There's no need for you to apologize, Emma." Laura responded. She then glanced at the other girls. "However, I must admit, I'm disappointed in you three. You girls have such bad taste."
"Pfft. Said the girl who's almost married to her sword." Fie shot back.
"Are you looking for a fight, Fie?" asked Laura.
"Ready when you are," Fie smiled mischievously.
Emma shook her head. "Maybe we should have picked something else to talk about."
"But why? Who doesn't like talking about boys?" Millium asked earnestly.
"Agreed. Just seeing your reactions were totally worth it," Fie sang, while she dodged a well-aimed towel thrown in her direction by Alisa.
"It's a shame that none of us will ever agree with which boy is the best-looking in our class though," Laura sighed.
"Speaking of Class VII boys, what do you guys think about Machias?" Fie asked abruptly.
"Nooo thank you!" Alisa burst into laughter.
"He's intelligent and quite direct about his feelings too, except he's nowhere near as sensitive," Emma stated.
"Or patient." added Laura. "To be fair, he's gotten more respectful of what we ladies are capable of ever since our orientation day."
"Huh? He has? But he's so loud and mean." Millium added. "All he ever does is nag and scold me!"
"And who wouldn't?" muttered Alisa.
"Machias, the nerdy killjoy. How fitting." Fie nodded. "Still, I guess he has his own kind of charms..."
"Fie, are you pulling our legs or do you secretly have a thing for our resident chess-loving bookworm?"
"Nah. I just feel a bit sorry for our Vice-Class President. He tries to be cool and cute at the same time, but fails at both."
"Heey-!...mmph."
"Was it just my imagination? I thought I heard someone else?" Laura seemed slightly puzzled.
"Nope. I didn't hear a thing." Millium shrugged.
"Me neither." Fie added, as she snuck in a furtive glare near the doorway.
"I'm not so sure about that," Emma sounded doubtful. "Should I go outside and check?"
Alisa shook her head. "Nah. Even if it's one of the boys, it's probably not worth it."
"Trueeee. Not like I mind!" exclaimed Millium. "Besides, we girls should stick together! Oooh, I got an idea!"
"Please don't tell me you're planning to set anyone up on a date here." Emma buried her head in her hands. "My grandmother's probably going to kill me."
"Eh? Isn't this the sort of thing we should be doing?" Millium blinked. "I was totally sure with how you've been talking about your crush, you've been practically crying for help!"
"Teehee, can't argue with that." Alisa smiled.
"Alisa?" Emma asked incredulously. "You too? Are you...sure about this?"
"Please let me come, toooo. That was my idea!" Millium pleaded.
"Then why don't we have a double or maybe a triple date?" Laura suggested, pretending she hadn't heard Millium at all. "You know how those boys are pretty close."
Fie crossed her arms. "Wait, you're all going? That doesn't sound suspicious at all."
From outside the Class VII girls hotel room, a teenaged boy with a dark shade of green hair stood in the corner of the hallway, curled into a ball.
"Yo, glasses. We better leave before they see us," warned a man with silver-grey hair, putting his hand on the young man's shoulder. "Imagine the look on their faces when they find us eavesdropping."
Machias Regnitz turned around and scowled angrily at the roguish marksman as he got up to leave. "I shouldn't have followed you two here, for crying out loud. What a waste of time." His eyes then to the young man with short cropped black hair beside him. "Why did I even bother coming here, anyway? Thank you for making me feel miserable, Crow Armbrust and Rean Schwarzer."
"Shh, don't blame it on us," Rean replied, as he also turned to leave. "It's always nice to see beautiful girls, you know?"
"Wow, Rean. You're pretty terrible yourself." Machias grumbled. "I swear, you're turning into Crow 2.0. Just how are you still friends with Elliot and Gaius after all this time?"
Crow smirked as he began to walk quietly down the hallway toward the room he was bunking in along with the rest of the Class VII boys. "I'd worry more about the girls inside if I were you. Alisa's going to murder you if she ever finds out."
"I wouldn't bet on it," Rean began, before another familiar voice rang out from the far end of the hallway. "So this was where you were. What, exactly, were you all doing so close to the ladies' bedroom?"
Machias smacked his forehead with his hand. "Oh, this is just great."
"Heheheh. Aren't you late to the party, Jusis? A stuffy noble such as yourself could never appreciate the joys of-"
"Excuse me?" Jusis glared at Crow. "Are you suggesting that I would stoop to such indecency?"
"Guys, not now." Rean was beginning to look just as annoyed as Machias.
"That's none of your business, Re-"
Alisa's shrill voice stopped them dead in their tracks. "Hold it right there! Just where do you think you're going?!" She stood outside of the girls' hotel room, with her hands on her hips. The rest of the girls stood beside her, armed with hairspray and hair brushes.
"Crap, they're onto us! Run!"
"Lammy, go, go, go!" Millium hollered.
"Millium! No!" the rest of the girls shouted, but it was too late.
Arigetlam had already materialized in front of her and immediately rushed towards the hapless boys and swept them up in one motion. All of the boys screamed for dear life as they squirmed under Lammy's metal embrace.
"Let me go, Millium!" Jusis cried. "I had nothing to do with this!"
"Nothing?! If it wasn't for you and your big mouth, we would never have gotten caught in the first place!" Machias yelled in response.
"Funny you said that," Fie answered, with a trace of smugness on her face. "I could hear your voice coming from a selge away." She paused for a moment, and caught Laura's eye. Laura nodded as she stood slapping a long hairbrush in her hand. "Girls, Laura and I can handle the rest."
"Please accept our apologies for dragging you into this mess, Jusis, but you'll have to wait. Millium, hold them still until Fie and I can deal with them."
A collective shudder went through the guys.
"B-but that'll make things worse!" Emma protested. Machias, Rean, and Crow breathed a quick sigh of relief. She then continued: "We can't afford to disturb the staff, so please do be careful."
At that point Machias fainted.
Rean looked tearfully at his crush, looking like a lost, helpless puppy. "Alisa. J-just hear me out, please. I had no intention of eavesdropping on your private conversation in the first place. It was all Crow's idea, I'm telling you. He forced me to come with him."
"How could you, Rean? I thought you were my best friend. How could you betray me like this?" Crow wailed.
"You think that I'd fall for your excuses this time?" Alisa replied, furious. "You crossed the line the moment you joined them! Do it, Laura!"
"Eep!" cried Rean. "Aidios, have mercy-"
"Take this, you eavesdropping cretins! Hii-yaaaah!" Swinging her long, wooden hairbrush like her own broadsword, Laura whacked Rean, Jusis and Crow smartly on their heads.
"Lauuura! Don't be a meanieee to Juusie!" Millium pleaded. Upon hearing her heartfelt plea, Jusis groaned audibly in response.
"Yeah, Laura." Fie added. She then turned to Crow, Rean and Jusis, who were still holding their hands to their throbbing heads. "You boys better not eavesdrop on our private conversations again."
"Awww. Come on, Fie." Crow protested. "Where's the fun, then? It's not like I, I mean, we, were going to mess around with the rest of the boy-sss." The rest of the sentence died on his lips as soon as he caught Laura and Emma both glaring fiercely at him.
"N-now girls, girls, I was just gonna-"
"Just what?" spoke a terse Emma. "I thought you were better than this!"
"I can't believe you'd have the audacity to bully Elliot, of all people!" Alisa fumed. "Rean, you better say something! They're your friends, too!"
"Goodbye, Crow. It was nice knowing you," Rean whispered.
"How could you leave me all by my lonesome?" cried Crow, still squirming under the hold of Arigetlam, when Elliot's voice cut across the hallway.
"So this was where you guys were. What's going on?"
"Elliot, please save us!" Rean begged. "I told them it wasn't my idea to spy on them-"
"Oh, I see..." Elliot replied. "I guess you all left our Blade game just for this. Carry on then, I'll see you guys around." He took a look at the girls, nodded once and left the hallway to head downstairs.
"Wait! Elliot, don't leave us! We're sorry for crashing your girl talk!" answered Rean and Crow at the same time.
"Do you think they've learned their lesson?" Emma asked.
The boys trapped under Arigetlam's embrace nodded their heads vigorously.
"Millium, can you call that thing off? We're trying to breathe here." said Jusis.
"Aww, I guess I got a little carried away, hehe. Lammy, release them."
As soon as she spoke, Arigetlam let go of the four boys and disappeared into thin air as they all fell to the floor.
"They probably have learned their lesson, but just in case, I have a plan," Fie smiled.
"This does not sound good at all," Rean muttered.
It turned out that Fie's plan included shaving the boys' legs with wax, gelling their hair, and plucking their eyebrows in the hallway. Jusis and Machias, now recovered from fainting, protested as loud as they could but to no avail. If anyone tried to run away, Millium and Lammy dealt with them. Crow winced at getting his eyebrows plucked while Machias almost screamed when Fie ripped the wax from his legs. Jusis and Rean also had the worst of it, gritting their teeth when Alisa expertly ripped the wax from their legs as well. The boys muttered that both Elliot and Gaius were fortunate to have been saved from such a harrowing experience. When all was said and done, the girls showed the boys their new appearance using handheld mirrors. The boys gasped at how different they looked after getting their eyebrows plucked. They could hardly recognize their new faces and gasped with amazement.
"Promise not to spy on us ever again?" asked Alisa, who crossed her arms.
"We promise!" the boys answered in unison.
"Yeah, you guys better not spill any of our secrets!" cried Millium, or next time you all are having makeovers!"
"No thanks," Jusis and Machias echoed in agreement. "Can you just let us go before someone else spots us?"
"Our lips are sealed!" Crow and Rean exclaimed.
"Oh, and by the way, don't you tell any of the other boys what you overheard today, or next time we won't be so lenient," Alisa continued.
"We promise not to break it to the rest of them," Machias responded.
"Break what?" called out a deep, calming voice from the Class VII boys room. A young man with wavy brown hair appeared at the doorway, looking mildly surprised.
"Oh, it's nothing Gaius. Forget I said anything,"
Gaius stood outside of the Class VII boys room, musing at what took place in the hallway.
"Hmm, you all look different," Gaius remarked, his eyebrows raised.
"Different is an understatement," responded an exasperated Machias. "We had absolutely no choice but to do this!"
"Yeah, but at least your hair looks less like a house plant now." Fie teased.
"Excuse me?" Machias started. "A house plant!?"
Jusis chortled in agreement.
"F-fine, you have a point there."
"Care to join them?" Laura asked Gaius.
"I suppose there's no harm in doing so," he responded. "Who will do the honors?"
"I will, if you don't mind," Emma spoke up.
"No, not at all."
It didn't take long for Emma to pluck Gaius' eyebrows, and he patiently bore with getting his legs waxed as well. When she was done with him, he looked more like a male model than an ordinary student.
"All right, then, shall we finish our Blade game?" Gaius asked the rest of the boys.
"I'm in!" Crow replied.
"Me, too! I haven't won a round just yet," said Machias.
"Count me in," both Rean and Jusis answered.
"It looks like we're heading back to our room. See you later, girls." Gaius spoke. The rest of the boys followed him back to their own room, feeling relieved that nobody else saw them that day.
"Shame you missed your chance," Fie told Emma.
"Yeah, but at least Gaius did trust me with something rather embarrassing. Shall we be going back to our room?"
"Yes. Let's go," Alisa agreed. "Oh and by the way, we still haven't decided on who is the best-looking boy."
"I don't think it will be settled, unless we all agree to disagree," Laura stated. "I'm sticking to Elliot, no matter what."
"I say Gaius is the best-looking boy. Not only did he tell me that he was asked to become a male model, but his eyebrows are amazing that I didn't have to do much work at all."
"I'm still sold on Rean." Alisa crossed her arms.
"It's gotta be Jusie!" Millium cried.
"M-I mean Crow's gotta be the best-looking boy."
"Fie, are you hiding something from us?" questioned Alisa. "You secretly like our Class VII Vice President, don't you?"
"I think Machias would be better off without his glasses, but-yeah, the cat's out of the bag."
"Then why were you insisting on Crow then?"
"That's because Crow has style." Fie mused. "Maybe if Machias had a better sense of fashion, then…"
"So you're still on the fence, then." Alisa insisted.
"I guess we can't even agree on who the best-looking boy is."
"Yep, but it was fun plucking their eyebrows and waxing their legs." Millium exclaimed. "Well, I'm off to bed now, nighty night!"
"Good night Millium," the rest of the girls answered. "We might as well get some shuteye, too." said Fie.
"Have a good night, everyone." Emma yawned. "We'll see you all in the morning."