────Tokyo Nyazdaland
One of the major amusement parks created in various countries by the global entertainment company, Production Nyazda, as the centerpiece to their overseas expansion.
The Tokyo Nyazdaland has been a success since its opening, and is said to be the most successful theme park ever built in Tokyo, Japan.
With its many Nyazda characters based on animal motifs, particularly cats, the park is described as a place, where people of all ages and gender can forget reality and enjoy dreams, adventures, and fantasies – a description that Tokyo Nyazdaland has lived up to.
At a corner of the bus parking lot for group visitors were people in plain clothes lined up.
Their full free pass dangled around their necks as they eagerly waited for their teachers to finish talking.
“───I’m sure you’re tired of the usual long-winded warnings by now, but once again, I must remind all of you not to cause problems for the public. This is the last place on today’s schedule, so enjoy yourself to the fullest until closing time. Now, go!”
“Alright!!”
“At long last, the land of dreams I’ve dreamed of!”
“Don’t fall behind, guys! A crowd like this is nothing compared to our exam!!”
“I’m so looking forward to this!”
“Wait for me, nyaa!!”
The cheers and yells that resounded made Shinichi’s cheeks twitch.
He had finally distanced himself from the shackle called 1 – D, but now, his role was apparently that of a chaperon beside Myuhi.
She might have actually foreseen all this bustle because she stood beside Shinichi at the corner of the group with her usual friendly grin.
“Everyone is really excited, huh,” Shinichi said.
“They’re all kids that normally keep a lid on the word, fun, so when they finally get the permission to have fun, this is what happens,” Myuhi said.
“…Oh yeah, I did hear something along that line.”
As realization dawned on him, Shinichi’s twitching face turned into a smile.
Other than those like Shinichi that had to enter due to being a returnee, the students here all had to significantly suppress their fun side to get better grades and get into Garesto Academy.
It was likely that the excessive lack of fun was one of the reasons why the school allowed the students to have those pseudo-clubs.
The school was basically telling them to go play. And now that they were in front of a theme park popular not only among Japanese citizens but globally as well, it was just too much to demand these students not to be excited.
“Tch, I see the lot of you are the same as ever, not a whiff of elegance at all! The moment the opportunity shows itself, you end up spending all your time playing around! That’s why Earthlings are no good!”
“It’s because you’re always wasting your time on meaningless things that none of you can move up! If you had any pride of being a student of the academy, you would use all your time to temper yourselves!”
But of course, not all of the students were excited or positive about playing in the park.
One such example would be this group of students made up of about a dozen Garestonians from the special class, who raised their voice out of frustration.
At the head of that group were ‘those’ two head servants of Aristel’s.
Unhappy about the atmosphere that was more ‘relaxed’ compared to Garesto Academy’s usual atmosphere, they lashed out in frustration at the happy students—
“Ah, youth…” Shinichi said.
“But, Icchi, you’re younger than those kids,” Myuhi said.
—Not knowing that Shinichi, whom they saw as their irreconcilable enemy, was watching over them warmly.
Meanwhile, their remarks that could be taken for either blunt advice or noise that can’t read the atmosphere fell mostly on deaf ears, as most of the students were too excited and have already lined up at the gate.
As for the ones that did hear them, they just ignored them or glared at them unhappily.
But regardless, not one of them entertained them. In fact, no one even said anything. So, they couldn’t help but feel as though they were being ignored and that perplexed them.
“So pitiful,” Shinichi said.
Yet despite the loveliness of that smile and the loveliness of those mutterings, he did not appear lovable at all, for those eyes carried with them a tinge of scorn as they beheld the fools that could not even realize how unpopular they were.
But there was a voice that resounded next to that voice that denied his remark.
“No, the one that’s really pitiful is her.”
Before he could ask her what she meant, he followed her gaze and understood.
A girl with luxurious ringlet curls stood there with an expressionless face.
She was dressed in a cardigan and a white simple one-piece that embodied the concept of simple and clean.
Though simple, the union of her figure, style, and elegant air engendered an aura of nobility and prestige.
However, not a hint of her usual gentle expression could be seen on her today.
That did not mean that she wore a stern expression meant to scold someone, nay, her face was completely void of expression as she gazed at her servants.
“A-Aristel-sam—”
“This is how you are right now. It doesn’t matter what you have to say, I won’t be hearing any excuse.”
“!”
They were shocked, but seeing her there and the expression she wore was what truly broke their composure, for never before had they heard her speak with such coldness that their backs froze.
“I’m sure you can’t even see what the problem is.”
Aristel heaved a deep sigh intentionally, and Rizet’s group became flustered.
Her disappointment couldn’t be clearer from her face and voice.
“You say that we students should not relax and that we ought to devote ourselves fully to our training instead, yet this trip has been designed specifically to allow us to learn about Earth’s culture while resting our tired body and mind before going to Garesto for practical training. This has been the case every year, no? Or are you saying that you’ve forgotten that already?”
“N-No, I-I haven’t…”
Perhaps first years might be able to get away with ignorance as an excuse, but that was impossible for second year students and above, and Rizet and her group were all third year students.
It was impossible for them to be unaware about the annual schedule, and they also knew how important it was to refresh the body and the mind.
That’s why their motives could only lay elsewhere, and Aristel knew exactly where that elsewhere was..
“Your emotional outbursts have been catching attention recently. To think that people that wish to stand above others cannot even control themselves, just always looking down on those around them…”
Aristel intentionally heaved a deep sigh and then shook her head as though to show her disappointment and dismay to the whole group.
“But we were just pointing out the obvious!”
“There is nothing ‘obvious’ about conduct that earns no one’s praise. That’s just an illusion that only you believe in; such foolishness.”
“B-But!?”
“Should you continue to humiliate the Garestonian nobility with your actions— No, should you continue to humiliate Garesto any further, know that I will have no choice but to take dire measures.”
“!”
A cold stare, devoid of any warmth, shot through them as Aristel implied that they would be punished if they continued in this manner any further. They had already shrunk back from fear, but the implication behind her words silenced them.
And yet only humiliation, an expression far removed from understanding and reflection, filled their face, not knowing that there was someone looking at their expression with a hint of sadness.
“Okay, let’s leave the sermon at that for now! Let’s go and have fun!”
“Hah?”
“What?”
But then the girl suddenly underwent a 180 degree change and pointed to Nyazdaland with a bright expression.
Rizet and her group were dumbfounded, but Shinichi and the others were all grins.
“First, we gotta start with that big mountain that could be seen even from here! That’s right! I’m going to conquer Nyazda Tornado Mountain!!”
“H-Huh? Aristel-sama!?”
Despite the confusion of her head servant, Aristel grabbed her hand and happily went her way.
It was as though her eyes could see nothing but the attraction before her.
“…She researched this place beforehand, didn’t she?”
“Ari-chan is really excited.”
Shinichi and Myuhi unhurriedly followed along from behind with unchanging smiles.
Aristel took the lead, so only her back could be seen, but even then, there was no hiding the excitement that radiated from her.
“The way she scolded them will cause those two to lose their position in various ways.”
“Oh-ho-ho, I see, I see.”
The group that triumphantly voiced their objection about the other students’ behavior but was pitifully ignored was a Garestonian group led by Aristel’s two head servants.
With their claims and attitude denied by their master herself, however, their actions only led to a loss of face.
And now, they could only follow their happy master from behind.
“At the same time, by showing herself accepting and enjoying Earth culture, and by being amicable with everyone and apologizing too, she will be able to increase her support from outside.”
“Woah, Ari-chan is quite the strategist, and how savage too!”
“…But what’s really frightening is that she’s doing everything naturally.”
It would be too frightening if she did all that intentionally, Shinichi wryly smiled.
At the end of his gaze was a lone princess marching on as she pulled Earthlings and Garestonians along.
She was still a long way from that of a queen, but her behavior inspired awe, and she knew instinctively how to make others follow her.
Truly, the blood of rulers ran in her veins.
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