A lingering worry clung to Ciel's heart like a spiderweb.
Think about it—hadn't MAR just been robbed today?
What the attackers had stolen was Avrora's original body, and the Fourth Primogenitor might still be asleep inside it.
The one in their house was also Avrora, right?
So Ciel was actually rather worried... worried that Natsuki might take the Avrora at home and hand her over just to close the case.
"You... Are you an idiot?"
Natsuki stared straight at Ciel, dumbfounded by the astonishing way her mind worked.
"If some old lady's cat went missing, could I close the case by finding another cat that looked exactly the same and handing it over to her? That would be nothing but incompetent self-deception. The stolen cat still wouldn't have returned safely, and the culprit who stole it would still be at large, not yet brought to justice. In the end, nothing would have been accomplished. If that continued, both the law and the people enforcing it would lose all credibility and become worth less than a ball of scrap paper in a trash can."
Natsuki looked very angry, irritated that Ciel had imagined the security personnel as that kind of incompetent people... Not merely incompetent, but worse than that—rats who cared only for their own reputations.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, so Natsuki picked up her folding fan and rapped Ciel on the forehead three times.
"Ow! What are you doing, Natsuki-oneechan~!"
As if possessed by Remilia, Ciel put on a show of crouching in defense with both hands over her head.
"...Stop pretending. That act doesn't work on me. Even a Beast Vassal summoned by a vampire might not be able to hurt you. How could a mere folding fan possibly be painful?"
Although she said "that act doesn't work," the moment Ciel crouched and covered her head, Natsuki's whole body stiffened, and she stared blankly at Ciel for two and a half seconds.
But in order not to lose her dignity as the big sister in front of outsiders, Natsuki coughed twice and forced down the stirring in her heart, her face red.
To shift her own attention away, Natsuki spoke again.
"There are still many suspicious points in this case. MAR's uncooperative attitude is only one of them. The attacker was a single disgraced vampire noble. Logically speaking, breaking through MAR's layers of defenses and stealing the twelfth Kaleid Blood should have been completely impossible. It's hard not to suspect that MAR was actually deliberately facilitating the incident."
Hearing Natsuki's analysis, Ciel stopped acting cute and looked at her in surprise.
"Oh? That really is a bold guess. But it's also very reasonable."
"What? Do you know some inside story again? You've been like this for a long time, always able to predict things as if you'd read the script in advance."
"After all, I'm a member of the Holy Church's Burial Agency. I have special intelligence sources. Isn't it normal for me to know secrets ordinary people don't?"
"Spare me. That might fool other people, but it won't fool me. It's not as if I don't know there's no organization called the Holy Church in this world at all. Even if it does exist, it would only be in another world. Are you saying your intelligence can come from another world?"
Natsuki put on a stern face and spoke solemnly.
To Ciel, it was such a waste that such a cute face refused to smile.
Age was not a problem. Theresa was over fifty and could still act cute, so why couldn't Natsuki?
Her eyelids lowering slightly, Natsuki had no idea what Ciel was thinking and continued speaking on her own.
"I don't know what you plan to do next... It's also possible you haven't even thought it through yourself. But I need to remind you that Itogami Island has not been very peaceful lately. Aside from the vampire attacker who invaded MAR's research facility today and stole the Kaleid Blood vessel, many outsiders of status and standing seem to have arrived on the island these past few days. Be careful yourself, and don't randomly increase our workload."
Ciel knew the reason why so many outsiders of status and standing had come to the island.
The Fourth Primogenitor, Kaleid Blood—the strongest vampire in the world, surpassing the three Primogenitors. Ageless, undying, and master of twelve star Beast Vassals.
In the past, that strongest vampire had been divided by the Devas into twelve vessels.
And the so-called "Blazing Banquet" was a ritual in which the twelve Kaleid Blood vessels were gathered through seizure and battle, allowing the Fourth Primogenitor to revive.
Those who participated in this ritual had gathered on Itogami Island perhaps for the power possessed by the Fourth Primogenitor, perhaps to witness the strength of the strongest vampire, perhaps to take revenge on someone, or perhaps simply because they found it interesting.
Strictly speaking, this matter could not be said to have nothing to do with Ciel. After all, the twelfth vessel... Avrora was with her. If the other guests at the "banquet" wanted to gather all twelve vessels, they would definitely have to come to her to take Avrora.
...Forget it. She would take things one step at a time.
At worst, she would just kill them all, whether they were participants in the Blazing Banquet or the true Fourth Primogenitor.
Considering that not everyone could enjoy spicy food the way Ciel did, tonight's dinner was cream curry.
The sound of chopsticks and spoons striking plates rang out from time to time. The person eating the most happily and cheerfully was Avrora, who stuffed her mouth full while revealing an exceptionally satisfied, radiant smile.
"Mmph, mmph! The temptation of the ancient gods! The offering presented is a delicacy of chaos! Supreme deliciousness!"
Ciel could not understand what this vampire was saying. Judging by her expression... she was probably praising it?
Kanon also took a bottle of ice-cold cola from the refrigerator for Avrora.
"Ci... Ciel! The foam is expanding without end!"
"You idiot! Why did you shake it before drinking cola?! And... why are you running over to me?! Isn't Kanon closer to you? Go ask her for help!"
Avrora, panicked and on the verge of tears, held a glass cup that was slowly overflowing with bubbles. She went around Kanon, who was right beside her, and trotted over to Ciel, making Ciel shout.
"You two... Don't dirty the floor!"
Natsuki's face was as cold as ice as she brought out the dignity of the head of the household.
...
Although some cola spilled, Avrora still got to drink ice-cold cola in the end, just as she had wished.
First came a chill down her throat. The next instant, a refreshing sweetness spread through her mouth.
"Ugh! A masterpiece of the witch! Ambrosia descends upon the world!"
After saying that, she lifted the cola and drank another mouthful.
After drinking, she could not help letting out a tiny burp.
It felt like she might have taken a liking to cola.
Ciel, on the other hand, was in a terrible mood.
Just now, Avrora had run toward her carrying the overflowing cola, causing some of it to spill onto her.
Even Avrora's clothes had gotten a little on them. They were clearly newly bought clothes, yet she did not cherish them at all...
In the bathroom, Ciel also had to help Avrora bathe, because Avrora simply did not know how to use the faucets or body wash by herself.
"Ugh... The curse of the water spirit stings mine eyes..."
"Didn't I tell you to close your eyes when washing your hair? You didn't listen. Who can you blame? Also, don't forget to close your mouth too, unless you have some strange habit of drinking your own bathwater."
"It hurts, it hurts!"
"Bear with it. I have to scrub hard for you to get clean."
Expressionless, Ciel ignored Avrora's wails.
The girl had dirtied Ciel's clothes, yet here Ciel was helping her wash her hair and scrub herself. If this was not repaying resentment with virtue, then what was?
Her mindset was practically on par with a saint's... Just kidding.
She had bathed Kanon before too, but Kanon had been much more obedient than Avrora, and not as restless as Avrora was.
It was like bathing a kitten. The moment it touched water, it hissed.
Because the other party was a vampire, Ciel involuntarily turned her mockery mode up to maximum. Gentleness was not something to be shown to vampires.
Her hands were also very forceful.
At that moment, Ciel's aura did not resemble someone washing another person's hair. It looked more like she was about to rip off the other person's skull.
Avrora's appearance made that night livelier and more restless than usual.
Fortunately, she was willing to sleep normally. Ciel had heard that vampires were more energetic at night than during the day, so she had been worried Avrora would refuse to sleep at night.
...
At dawn, sunlight shone directly into the room.
Ciel was the first in the house to wake.
The instant she opened her eyes, her consciousness cleared, and the gradually sharpening reality separated from the gradually blurring dream.
Last night, she seemed to have had a dream. However, now that she was awake, she could no longer remember anything from it.
After completing her washing up, Ciel, who had woken first, would go to the others' rooms one by one and wake them. This was basically part of every morning.
Knock, knock, knock.
After rapping on the door, Ciel's gentle call passed through the panel.
"Natsuki-oneechan, may I come in?"
Natsuki had once established a rule: before Ciel entered her room, she had to obtain Natsuki's permission.
Ciel did not understand why Natsuki had done this, and Natsuki refused to say. She only remembered that Natsuki-oneechan's eyes back then had been extremely frightening.
Because of Ciel's call, Natsuki woke from a sweet dream and reluctantly opened her eyes.
Rubbing her eyes as her consciousness gradually cleared, the first thing Natsuki remembered to do was use Spatial Control Magic to transfer away the Ciel body pillow in her arms and the Ciel dolls on her bed.
Only after confirming that nothing suspicious remained in the room did Natsuki speak to Ciel outside the door.
"You may come in..."
"Then I'm coming in."
Ciel pushed the door open and entered.
"Natsuki-oneechan, it's time to get up. You're in charge of homeroom this morning. If even you're late, it'll be difficult to keep restraining those little demon brats in your class. But I don't have that worry, because unlike Natsuki-oneechan, I'm not a homeroom teacher."
The Ciel of early morning was especially lively, and the bright smile on her face was not at all inferior to the dazzling sun outside the window.
The demon known as sleepiness appeared every day, dragging everyone equally into the sinful depths of their blankets. Yet even such a powerful demon would be frightened away by the surging life force around Ciel and unable to approach her.
"What's for breakfast?"
"How about curry?"
"Eating something that heavy first thing in the morning will upset our stomachs, so rejected! Do you have no other options in your head besides curry?"
"Then... mapo tofu?"
"Are you trying to spice me to death and inherit my estate?!"
Natsuki roared loudly.
For the rest of her life, she would never forget the mapo tofu Ciel had made last time. Supposedly, one of Ciel's priest colleagues at the Holy Church had eaten that dish and praised it to the skies.
That brilliant red color made one think of bubbling, boiling lava.
Just one sniff, and the spiciness seemed as if it would burn through the mucous membranes of the nose and throat.
Natsuki seriously suspected that the thing did not belong in the category of food at all, but was some kind of Conceptual Weapon—a Conceptual Weapon that could kill even vampires with their tenacious vitality, which suited Ciel's identity as a vampire hunter very well.
She had very much wanted to say there was no way any living creature could eat such a thing. Then Ciel, acting on her principle that "food must not be wasted," ate all the mapo tofu in the pot.
Since then, Natsuki had been certain that Ciel's sense of taste was fundamentally different from that of the creatures of this world.
Remembering that Ciel had said her colleague liked that mapo tofu too... Could it be that the creatures of their world all had such bizarre taste buds?
Avrora's washing up in the morning was handled by Kanon.
For breakfast, because they had already eaten curry the night before, they followed Natsuki's arrangement today and enjoyed an ordinary but refined Japanese breakfast. Naturally, Natsuki's morning had to be accompanied by a cup of black tea from Russia.
Without that cup of black tea, her rare good mood in the morning might have been ruined.
Next, Ciel and the others had to face a troublesome situation...
"Dost... dost thou intend to become deserters?"
Avrora tugged at the hem of Ciel's clothes, wearing a timid, uneasy expression.
It was a statement that made absolutely no sense.
"Avrora, Ciel-oneesama and Natsuki-oneechan are teachers at Saikai Academy, so they have to go to school and teach their students. And as a student, I also have to go to school. We aren't leaving you on purpose."
In a gentle tone, Kanon patiently explained to Avrora.
Hearing this, Avrora blinked and timidly spoke again.
"...School?"
"A school is a place that helps ignorant children gain knowledge and skills and improve their own abilities. At school, you can meet many kind and friendly new friends, play together, eat together, and help one another..."
As Ciel listened to Kanon's explanation, question marks practically filled the space above her head.
Was school that wonderful a place? Why hadn't she known that?