Leave a comment

Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

Hearing Ciel’s cheerful response, I wanted to refute them, but I’d probably just be laughed at.
I do at least recognize that my barriers are objectively ridiculous.
After all, if everyone could do what I can, there would be absurd levels of land destruction if war were to occur.

If there are several people like me, it might turn into a world where transforming the land would be easier than breaking barriers.
Nonetheless, I still believe that most things I do are achievable by most people with sufficiently rigorous effort.

『To begin with, Ciel, you don’t really like using barriers.』
「Yes, yes, of course. Protecting me is Ain’s role, after all. I’ll only use them when absolutely necessary.」
「That’s good to hear.」
「Naturally.」

Ciel’s in a great mood, and Mia has gotten really good at hyping her up.
Mia tended to be overly flattering in the beginning, but it might have been due to her not yet grasping Ciel and my relationship.
The previous Mia would likely say, 「Lady Cielmer, couldn’t you perhaps achieve the same with proper effort?」 after hearing Ciel’s words.
And Ciel would respond with, 「Who knows?」, ending the conversation.

「While not as much as Ain, hasn’t your sorcery improved as well, Mia?」
「That is all thanks to my ladies’ guidance. Besides, my capabilities are still far from being of help to you two.」
「Really? At the very least, you’re a big help in dressing me up right now.」
「I’m honored to hear that… Alright, this should do the trick.」

As the conversation reached a good endpoint, Ciel’s preparations were complete.
In the end, Ciel’s side hair was braided on one side and hung in front of her shoulder, while the remaining hair was styled in a half-up, half-down fashion to shorten its apparent length.
Additionally, Mia even made bows out of Ciel’s hair; she’s really doing as she pleases.

Still, she fashioned it to look elegant without appearing gaudy, so it looks really good. Now I just have to wrap the hair in a barrier to keep it from losing its shape.
Barriers are really convenient for things like these. But I’m sure nothing good will come from saying that out loud.

「How is it?」
『It fits you perfectly. You look adorable.』
「Fufu, really? Really!」

Ciel happily checks her own appearance.
It would be great if Ciel took more interest in fashion because of this, but I’m sure that’s not what’s happening here. If the end result is the same, what we want is different.
Yep, I’ll probably have to be careful about this as well.

「Well, we’ll be going now.」
「Take care.」

With us now fully changed, we headed to the party venue.

◇◇◇

As we entered the hall, there were already a good number of students talking among themselves.
Well, we already encountered students in dresses and tuxedos on the way.
But I haven’t seen any of these people during the entrance exam; maybe they’re students from the previous years?
Right, I don’t recall anything saying that the party would only involve the new students.

I noticed several people approaching, probably to chat, so I informed Ciel, and she simply increased her walking speed while ignoring them. Well, they didn’t even manage to speak to her, much less appear within Ciel’s field of vision, so I guess ignoring is the wrong word.

Inside the venue hall, it seems like the students are roughly arranged based on their year, with the first years positioned at the front since they’re practically the main stars, while the area right of the entrance is occupied by the second years and the left by students of third year and above.
Ciel swiftly passed through the older students, heading straight to where the freshmen were gathered. It seems like many of the freshmen arrived early, or so I thought, but it turns out those without their own outfits simply arrived ahead of everyone else.

Most of them have no experience with parties, and their nervousness is easy to see.
I was able to find Palra, who was wearing a simple pink dress, immediately, but she was hiding behind a nearby female student, visibly flustered, which was funny to look at.

『Time for us to be wallflowers, then.』
『Agreed. I am curious about the food, but there still isn’t anyone else eating.』

Each year level has their dedicated table, which is filled with more food than can be finished. The food mainly consists of meat dishes, but there is also a healthy amount and variety of fruits, with some seafood here and there.
There doesn’t seem to be any sashimi, but there is a mariné-esque dish. I don’t really eat mariné, and I don’t even know how it’s different from carpaccio.

There’s also a baked dough topped with ingredients and divided like pizza, boiled shellfish, and so on. There are many dishes I’ve never seen before, and paired with their presentation, they look absolutely delicious.

「Ah, Ailneige.」

Palra saw Ciel moving towards the wall side, which resulted in her reflexively calling our name.
She said something to the female student in front of her and then approached us.
In the meantime, Ciel successfully reached our target destination. The wall side is really calming. Even in my previous life, I generally got easily exhausted in extravagant events like these.

「Sorry for suddenly calling your name. I was thinking to myself, ‘What a pretty person,’ but then I realized that it was someone I know… I didn’t mean to call…」
「I don’t particularly mind. I plan on staying idle here anyway.」
「I see… Ailneige, your dress is amazing. It’s hard to describe, but it’s very cute! It’s your personal outfit, isn’t it?」
「It’s a dress I bought in Central. I just love the design.」

『After all, it’s a matching pair with Ain’s dress.』
『It would be lovely to wear it with you sometime.』
『Before that, could you show me how you’d look in that dress, Ain?』
『When the opportunity arises…』
『In that case, we should have Ain attend the next party!』

As usual, despite there being no change in her facial expression, her inner voice sounds awfully delighted.
「I see~」Palra stared at Ciel’s dress with great interest; meanwhile, Ciel showed no signs of being bothered.

「Care if I join the conversation?」

While Ciel and I were chatting, the female student who Palra hid behind came and spoke to us.

And that ends this chapter! Seems like we’re getting introduced to a new character in the next chapter, who and what kind of person could it be?

Sorry Ain, no matter how on-guard you are with Ciel and fashion, it seems like you can’t escape, lol. I really like Palra’s simple honesty. She’s just a simple village girl trying to navigate the world and adapt to a new life. In a different novel, she could be a protagonist… betrayed and exploited in the prologue, or something… Okay, maybe not that.

Scrolling back a few paragraphs, as expected, our girls just can’t help but attract attention. Also, it’s cute how Ciel is relatively talkative with Palra because she praised the dress.

Now then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please feel free to comment. Stay healthy, stay safe, and have a nice day~!

Support Us

Unlock Early Access ------- Select Project ------- Project Gender Bender Project Necro ∴ Support your favorite series and unlock chapters before the public release.