Vol 8 Epilogue

Epilogue“Haa, we lost, we lost.”On their way back to the waiting room, Miluše spoke somewhat indifferently while walking at the front with her arms around behind her head.“……How regretful.”“That was close. No, you could say that there was a hair’s breadth between us and them.”“Aah, not only we lost, but my hair was also burnt; it really is terrible.”The other members who followed after also spoke regretfully, but they somehow had refreshed faces. Not uselessly dragging out something for long was one of the good sides of these girls.Even Mahulena was surprised that she had admitted defeat so decisively. They had actually fought with all their power and lost, so it could not be helped. She honestly thought so.“──Good work, everyone.”As if she had been waiting for the Rusalka members to arrive, the figure of Sylvia came into view just before the waiting room.“Sylvia-san…… Why are you here?”Though Miluše blinked as she was bewildered, Sylvia smiled, put her hands on her waist and said as if it should’ve been fairly clear.“Isn’t it obvious? After having showed me such a match, I had some words that I wanted to tell you no matter what.”“Eh……?”“──It was a good match, really.”“……”Including Mahulena, all the girls held their breath at these words and stood stock still.Sylvia, seeing the Rusalka members act in such a way, smiled wryly, heaved a small sigh once and then continued further.“Well, putting things bluntly, this thing called <festa>is just a ludicrous show and I think that the system that permits it is worthless, but…… even so, I think it’s wrong to say that ‘everything happening there (in the <festa>) is similarly foolish’. No, it may be foolish, but at least it’s definitely not worthless. There’s a meaning to it.”Looking around at the Rusalka members, Sylvia continued with a gentle gaze.“No matter the place, aiming for something with a strong will and with all one’s power is something splendid, and I think that it’s something worth of respect.”When she talked up to there, Sylvia bashfully scratched her cheek as she was aware of herself being unusually talkative.“Errr, so what I want to say is that ── you were really cool. You aren’t bad, Rusalka.”She then lightly struck Miluše’s chest with a fist, shortly said 'see you then” and left.The Rusalka members left behind stood dumbfounded for a moment, but before long;“Ehe, uehehehehe……!”Without knowing who started it, the sound of weird laughter began to leak out.“Yaah, so this means that she has finally recognized us, right?!”The face of Miluše, who said so, relaxed from being tensed up.“That Sylvia said that we were splendid……! That we’re worth of respect……! That we were really cool……!”“Yes, yes. I think you could say that this is already our big win!”“……I agree.”As usual, these girls are truly calculating.Even while thinking so, Mahulena could not stop her cheeks relaxing.Well, it was no wonder. They were praised for their good fight by that Sylvia Lyyneheym. There should be no students in Queen Veil that would not think of this as an honor.Then, there was a call on Mahulena’s portable terminal.『Thank you for your hard work, everyone.』Petra’s calm voice resounded from the space window in a blackout state.“Uwah, B-Board Chairman!”All the members straightened themselves and adopted a posture standing at attention.They had almost unintentionally forgotten, but Rusalka was defeated in the <gryps>. Although they performed perfectly as a team, it goes without saying that results were demanded as a representative of Queen Veil.『It was a shame for the match. Well, your opponent was just that strong, so it can’t be helped.』“H-Huh……?”However, Petra, instead of reprimanding Rusalka, indifferently said as such.“A-Aren’t you angry……?”To Miluše, who nervously asked, Petra’s voice continued as to admonish her.『Since you have performed to the best of your abilities, I cannot demand any more than that. The results this time are enough.』“Guh……”All the girls’ faces were distorted in frustration.In other words, it meant that it was thought that they could only advance so far with their abilities. Although it was in fact the truth, it was not too different from being humiliated after all.『── That said, it is unlikely to be your limit for the next <gryps>』“Eh……?”『In three years, I will have you become able to draw out <lyre-poros>’s ability to another level. Of course, the improvement of each member’s battle ability will be also indispensable, so consider that you will become even busier from now on.』“Y-Yes!”To these unexpected words, all the members’ faces were tightened.That’s right. Although they had lost this time, there was still the next <gryps>. At that time, they would just have to leave results that no one would be able to raise complaints against.『……With that said, I will first have you handle works suitable to your ability one by one for now. About five performance offers have come from the <festa>-related program and news stations which will be broadcasted live tonight; so please head there immediately. 』“Huh……? R-Right now?”Their bodies, which were tired from the fierce battle a little while ago, screamed that they wanted to take shower as soon as possible and then fall down on their beds.──But.『Do you have any problem with that?』“Ugh…… T-There’s none……”Of course, they could say such a thing.『Ah, there are also two offers for songs amongst those offers, so I ask you to make preparations for those, too.』After she had dumped those severe demands on them, the space window closed.“……Errr, um, let’s do our best, right?”In the corridor where a heavy silence had descended, only Mahulena’s empty encouragement could be heard. ＊ “Phew……”Ayato, who returned to his room after the end of the fifth round, fell down on his bed as soon as he arrived at the room.“Good work. As expected, it looks like it’s quite tiresome for you with a 9:1 female to male ratio.”Eishiro, who was sitting at the desk and was working on something, laughed as he teased him.“The opponent was a team from Queen Veil, so it can’t be helped. Or rather, the tiresome part wasn’t there.”“I know, I know, it’s just a joke. But well with this, next is the semifinal, huh. It’s going better compared to the