—1. Any conflict whatsoever is forbidden in the neutral cities.

—2. In accordance with the aforementioned clause, the first to act will be considered the transgressor.

—3. Embrace all culture and enjoy the fine arts.

Those were the common rules in every neutral city.

“…I know. I know I’ll become an enemy to all those cities for breaking the rules if I lay a hand on him here. It would be a serious issue.”

Alice brushed aside Rin’s hands and bit her lip.

“But I can’t believe I’ve been watching this opera next to you. That must be why I couldn’t settle down.”

“Uh, it seemed like you were way too invested in the show. I mean, with your bawling and all.”

“—Ngh?! I—I was just sweating out of my eyes! Forget what you saw today, you hear me?!” Alice’s footsteps rang out as she backed away.

“Lady Alice, you’ll gather too much attention if you speak that loudly.”

“Ugh, enough already!”

When the girl with flaxen hair finally realized the eyes of the other guests were on her, her face flushed even more than it already was from all the crying—making it blotchy and puffy.

“I’ll be taking my leave now. Farewell, Iska!”

“…S-sure. The same to you?”

She gathered up both ends of her skirt, bowing courteously.

“Lady Alice, what do you think you’re doing?”

“Huh?! Uh… D-don’t get the wrong idea, Rin! It’s force of habit!” When Alice realized she’d accidentally given Iska a greeting fit for the royal palace, she turned red to the very tips of her ears and sprinted up and out of the hall.

He was left alone in the theater.

“Geez, I was more surprised by you than you were by me…”

He placed a hand to his chest where his heart hammered away and breathed out, long and hard.

3

“…I felt like my heart was going to stop.”

“That should be my line. I was worried about what I’d do if you caused a scene.”

They had rushed away from the hall and parted the gathered crowds to go outside, spilling into the main street.

Alice finally calmed her fluttering heart. “He’s not following us, right?”

“He’s not. That swordsman didn’t take a single step as we left the hall. Come to think of it, we should have expected this to happen.”

Especially in this neutral city, which wouldn’t side with the Empire or the Nebulis Sovereignty. In exchange for freely entering and leaving the city regardless of nationality, they had to accept the possibility of running into someone they recognized.

“…Still, I can’t believe he was in the seat next to us.”

“He’s already seen your face. It’s not as though another soldier has recognized you. The possibility of running into friend or foe is unavoidable in this city.”

“R-right! …Let’s calm down and go eat.” Alice closed her eyes to set aside her rambling thoughts, then walked briskly down the main street. “I’m sure there is a famous pasta place nearby. I researched it and everything!”

“You really love your pasta, Lady Alice.”

“I would be fine eating nothing but that for a whole month.”

“It’s not a matter of whether you’d be fine with it or not. I won’t allow such a thing.”

“Don’t be such a tyrant. Look, it’s over here.” Alice took Rin’s hand and bounded to the north.

They passed through the town square and turned a corner into an alley, where they were greeted by the sign for the pasta restaurant.

“I’m very sorry, but we’re right in the middle of the lunch rush.” A waitress in an apron bowed her head apologetically at the two of them. “I can seat you immediately if you made a reservation or if you’re willing to share a table…”

“I don’t mind. Come on, Rin, over here.”

The pair sat side by side at a four-person table.

“Let me pour you some water, Lady Alice.”

“Thanks, Rin. I was just feeling thirsty.”

Alice was parched. Her throat was completely dry from bawling her eyes out at the show. When Rin passed her a glass, she immediately brought its rim to her lips, just as the waitress brought the other person to the table.

“Mr. Iska, thank you for making a reservation. Please make your way here.”

“Bwehhhh?!” She spat everything out.

For the first time in her life, Alice spewed water from her mouth like a squirt gun.

“Whoa?!” The boy backed away from the table, startled. “What’re you trying to do?”

“That’s what I want to sa— Cough… Urg, w-went down the wrong way… Ugh… Wh-why are you here of all places?!” Alice put her hand to her mouth. Her eyes welled with tears, but she glared at the young Imperial swordsman nonetheless.

“You brute! Not once but twice! So you really are following Lady Alice!”

Of course, Rin couldn’t stay silent this time. She stood up from her seat and put her hand to the dagger hidden under her skirt.

…If I pull out my dagger, I’d be breaking a taboo in a neutral city.

…Wait. The prohibition on violence is worded as “the first to act will be considered the transgressor.”

If that Empire swordsman attacked them first, Alice and Rin could lawfully claim self-defense, meaning they would be allowed to launch a counterattack without reservations.

“Um, I think there’s been a misunderstanding.”

“Don’t play dumb. No doubts. No skepticism. I know exactly what you’re trying to do.”

Iska raised both of his hands to show he had no ill will.

Rin jabbed a finger at him. “When we parted ways at that opera hall, you were going off someplace else. Why are you here at this restaurant? If you have an excuse, then speak now!”

“This is the closest eatery to the theater. Plus, it’s famous. I’m also the one who reserved this seat in the first place. You guys came after that, right?” Iska replied frankly.

“…” Rin froze in place. “…What do you think, Lady Alice?”

“He made a good point. But you can’t let your guard down, Rin. We can’t be careless.”

“Geez, I can’t help but overhear if you just talk in front of me like that. Anyway, I’m unarmed, as you can see. They kept my swords at the checkpoint by the gate.”

With his arms still raised high, Iska twirled in front of them to drive home his statement.

They couldn’t see anything that resembled a weapon. It seemed he was doing his very best to prove that he didn’t intend to fight them.

“…Fine. I’ll believe you for now.”

The boy pulled out the chair across from where Alice and Rin sat.

“Lady Alice, are you sure about this? We may be in a neutral city, but we’re still sharing a table with an Imperial soldier.”

“Withdrawing here will make it look like I’m afraid.”

If rumor spread of the Ice Calamity Witch fleeing the scene, it would give the Imperial soldiers more ammunition against her, and she wouldn’t be able to face her own subordinates in the Nebulis Sovereignty.

“A-anyway, let’s eat…,” Alice muttered as she reached for the menu on the table.

Iska’s fingertips brushed against hers as he tried to read it at the same time.

“Eep! S-sorry!”

“…Uh, n-no, it’s my fault… Sorry.” Iska shrank back as he withdrew his hand. “……Go ahead.”

“……You should go first. I’ll let you have it. You reached for it, didn’t you?”

“……Yeah, to hand it to you.”

“……Th-that’s what I was doing!”

They ended up making a compromise: They left the menu in the middle of the table, where Alice and Iska looked at it from the sides, sitting across from each other.

…The only problem is that our faces are too close.

…I mean, what am I thinking? We’re just looking at a menu.

She couldn’t help averting her eyes from him. It wasn’t as though she didn’t have male relatives, but none in the royal palace was close in age to her. She wasn’t used to this situation.

“Um.”

Alice reflexively went into high alert when someone suddenly spoke to her. “Wh-what is it?”

“Have you decided what you want?”

It wouldn’t have been strange if the young Imperial soldier had declared, I’ll tear you from limb to limb right here and now, but instead he was looking at her with mild-mannered eyes, talking to her rather demurely.

“…Right. I guess I’m ready.”

“Yes! Be right there!” A seasoned waitress ran through the restaurant toward them. “And what can I get for you?”

““I’ll have a plate of your salmon and zucchini pasta with fresh cream sauce. Please make it ben cotto, or well-done, and keep the portion on the small side. After the meal, I’ll take a cup of black tea with one sugar cube,”” Alice and Iska recited together.

They’d asked for the exact same order, harmonizing with each other as if a beautiful melody.

“…Huh?”

“…What?”

Did I just say that out loud? They’d so perfectly been in sync that for a moment, Alice doubted who had even spoken.

And sure enough, Iska had the same confused expression.

“You’re like two peas in a pod. Did you come here together?” asked the waitress.

““No!”” Once again, their responses overlapped perfectly.

“Lady Alice, compose yourself.”

“You don’t have to tell me, Rin. I know. Just for today. That’s it. It’s really only a coincidence of a coincidence of a coincidence!”

Alice inhaled as deeply as she could without the boy noticing.

…It’s fine. I’m calm.

…We’ve got the same taste in shows and food, but that doesn’t mean anything.

They collectively suffered through the awkward silence until their food came.

“Whatever. The food’s here. Let’s eat while it’s hot.” Alice twirled her pasta with her fork—then she stopped and snapped her face up.

A small spark of curiosity flitted through her head. She had something she wanted to confirm about this enemy soldier, especially since they’d continued to coincidentally align with each other.

“Do you like pasta?”

“…Are you talking to me?” His reaction was delayed. He hadn’t expected her to ask him anything.

“Who else would I be speaking to?”

“Yeah, I like it. Well, it might be my favorite food. I love it with a cream sauce, but I think it’s good even when you flavor it with nothing more than salt and pepper, too.”

“Oh. You get it. It’s so simple but so delicious.”

Whenever Alice would ask Rin that question, her attendant’s answer was always the same: “Please don’t be picky and just eat.” When she talked to the retainers at the royal palace, the best response was, “That’s nice.”

For the first time in her life, she felt something about the reply from her enemy: She was having fun. When she spoke to Iska, she felt her heart leap in excitement.

“But when the weather is this hot, I can go for a plate of cold pasta salad,” she countered.

“Yeah, that’s good, too. If they have sweet tomatoes at the market, I’ve just got to make it.”

“Right? Cold pasta with tomatoes is so delicious. I like it, too! I could eat it every day when it’s hot in the summer—”

“Lady Alice, you’ve stopped eating.”

“……Oh,” Alice whispered when Rin cleared her throat to admonish her.

The boy was not only a soldier from the enemy country, but he’d also seen her face. On top of that, he was a skilled fighter who could have matched a Saint Disciple in battle.

She’d forgotten all about that.

“I-I’m sorry. I’ve interrupted your meal…”

“S-same…”

They bobbed their heads at each other, bowing before returning to their quiet lunch. But as soon as they thought that, the young attendant let out a muffled whisper after she quickly finished her meal.

“It’s common sense to cook pasta al dente, you amateurs.”

““Ben cotto is definitely the right way!”” Alice and Iska spoke at the same time again, as Rin let out a sigh in resignation.

4

The stars on the black dome overhead glimmered with innumerable constellations, as if it were an overturned jewelry box. High above, shooting stars seemed to stream toward the horizon line. Alice had no doubt in her mind that the view of the night sky from the royal palace was the most beautiful sight in the world.

But she turned her eyes away on that night.

“Keep the events of this day buried deep inside you, Lady Alice.”

“…”

Alice listened to Rin’s words as she lay facedown on her bed.

“Normally, we would need to report this to the queen. I mean, we came across a soldier from an enemy nation, after all, even if we weren’t engaged in battle.”

“I thought you were the one who said we couldn’t fight in the neutral city, Rin.”

“I never thought we would sit down with him for a meal after our encounter at the opera house.”

They were in the royal palace in Alice’s room, which was called “Sion, the Jewelry Box of Bells.”

Rin stood along the wall as she spoke to Alice in an unusually emotionless voice. “Luckily, we didn’t let any secrets of the Sovereignty slip during our conversation today. If I wasn’t confident about that point, I would have needed to inform the queen—no matter the circumstances.”

“…I understand that.”

That boy was a loyal dog of the hated Empire, the people who’d persecuted her ancestors and condemned them as witches and sorcerers. Iska was one of those feared beings. But why couldn’t she shake off this unsettling feeling?

“Oh, this.” Alice looked at the plain handkerchief next to her pillow.

He’d said it was a cheap thing that could be bought anywhere.

“I missed my chance to give it back…”

She’d borrowed this handkerchief at the theater. But she couldn’t just give it back after she’d used it to dry her tears. That said, she hadn’t known what to do with it regardless and brought it home.

“It belongs to a soldier of an enemy country. It shouldn’t be a problem even if you toss it away.”

“…But.”

“That’s why I asked for you to please forget what happened today. The swordsman, this Iska, is an enemy. He’s not just your enemy, Lady Alice, but the enemy of tens of thousands of people who are just like you.”

Rin turned her skirt up. By the time Alice realized that, Rin was already gripping the dagger that she used for self-defense.

It was quick, instantaneous.

On top of that, she’d also fished out a delicate metal needle as thin as thread, some steel string, and even a small set of explosives. Under her housekeeping uniform, Rin had hidden countless secret weapons, some of which even Alice didn’t recognize.

She was a master at martial arts—a genius. That was one of Rin’s many faces.

“Oh, the sage at the training tower was so disappointed that his student had become nothing but an attendant. I mean, you’ve mastered all his techniques—from the way of the sword, spear, archery, even torture. He said you had the talent to become a martial artist for the Sovereignty.”

“He had a bad habit of letting his mouth run when he was drunk, too. Plus, I can’t envision a single case where I would win in a fight against that swordsman Iska—whether by sword or physical combat or even if I used my astral power to its limits.”

“Really, Rin?”

“That’s right. I even think the sage would have been in peril during that battle.”

Shrnk. The two daggers had made a high-pitched noise as they returned to their sheathes.

“I believe you understand this the most, Lady Alice, out of all of us. You revealed your ice flower—which you hid from the Saint Disciples—in a fight against a single soldier… That swordsman is a monster. When you eventually challenge the Empire, he might be your greatest obstacle.” Rin seemed frustrated.

But it wasn’t unwarranted. Rin had found an opponent she couldn’t stand a chance against, even as Alice’s personal guard. She was resentful of her own uselessness when it came to this situation.

“That’s why you need to forget about today, even if there’s something you have in mind. That swordsman is possibly the most concerning threat to the Sovereignty.”

Heeding Rin’s advice was probably for the best. Even in Alice’s eyes, Iska’s power had been extraordinary. On top of that, he was still in his teens: If he continued to gain experience and training over time, she couldn’t even imagine what a terrifying opponent he would become in the future.

…But the vibe he gave off today…

…It didn’t feel like a bloodcurdling terror at all.

Rin had insisted it was only natural that he wasn’t eager to fight her, since they were in a neutral city. But Alice had a different perspective of things. She thought he hadn’t held any feelings of hostility at all; he hadn’t been holding back or covering up a secret desire to get her. He really didn’t have any intent to engage in combat at all.

…Plus, my astral power didn’t react to him.

…And it usually tells me when my subordinates dislike me in the slightest.

Her astral power hadn’t even remotely seen him as a foe.

More importantly, she’d let down her guard momentarily after they’d seen the show together and shared a meal. That was actually the biggest problem of all, now that she’d become aware of it.

She couldn’t remain emotionless about it, leading her to hesitate over whether or not she should throw away his handkerchief.

“…But I think you’re slightly to blame for this, too, Rin.”

“Meaning?”

“Back there, you said making pasta al dente is common sense, and I ended up sympathizing with Iska, and it was super-weird.”

“I was only speaking the truth. Pasta is best al dente. I won’t accept any differing opinions.”

“You’re so stupid!” Alice threw the pillow in her hands at her attendant in the distance and curled up under her terry-cloth blanket.

Sector Three of the Imperial Capital. Building 03 on the first floor.

In one of the rooms, Iska was lying flat on the ground and staring up at the light on the ceiling.

“…I can’t sleep.”

His eyelids were heavy, but even as he waited with his eyes closed for hours and hours, his consciousness wouldn’t subside in the slightest.

Was it nerves? Or excitement?

…Neither.

…It must be because I saw that.

He’d seen Alice’s breadth of emotions—from going to see the exact same opera to enjoying a meal together with an Imperial citizen—even though she was the one feared by the entire Empire as the Ice Calamity Witch.

“Lies, lies, lies.” His lips murmured no louder than a zephyr. “The whole thing about her being a monster who doesn’t bleed or cry? All lies. I mean, look at how much she cried. Even mages are just normal people.”

He recalled her bare face.

Oh, if only those who feared mages in the Empire could watch her bawl her eyes out. How many would seriously call her the Ice Calamity Witch then? Especially when she was such a dainty, delicate girl?

He might have been from the Empire and Alice from the Nebulis Sovereignty, but they weren’t different at all. They were both human…

“…Ugh, why can’t I fall sleep?”

“…Ugh, why is it so difficult to sleep?”

They spoke at the same time: A boy and a girl grumbled to themselves in the Empire and the Nebulis Sovereignty—two countries that were far, far apart.