What... What is she doing here?...
"Umm, how did you call me?"
"Master? Hey?"
How?... Did she... Did she also die?...
"I-Is this something he does frequently?"
"No... No, it isn´t"
What the hell am I supposed to do now?... How am I supposed to save Verónica when that person is the heroine?...
"Dominique... Dominique! Snap out of it!"
Slap!
"Woah! Wha- Whe- Huh?"
"Ah... Finally..."
I suddenly returned to reality. My left cheek burned with pain as Jasmine was holding my arms with a worried expression. The person behind her was more confused than anything.
"H-Hey. Are you okay? You just zoomed out for a minute there"
Her voice was the same as I remembered. Even her expression and the way she moves her hands and tilts her head. Except for the colors and the uniform... It was her...
"Yhea... Yhea, I´m fine. I just... Got a little surprised... I thought you were someone I knew from a long time ago... But you´re not..."
Yes. It doesn´t matter how similar they are. She can´t have died on a similar date as mine. And if she was her, then I would have gotten a different reaction to the changes in the heroine´s first scenario. She would have at least gotten a little suspicious about me changing this part of the original story. But she just seems curious and confused.
"You´re not her..." I whispered that to myself so that I could put myself together at once. And with my serenity back, I looked at my maid. She was gazing at me to confirm if there was still something bad going on with me. I nodded to her to assure her that I was fine now. She let go of my arms and returned to my side in silence after a couple of seconds.
"Ehem. I beg your pardon, miss. I´m sure I caused you a lot of trouble with that so if there´s anything I can do to not make you think of me as a weirdo. You have all my attention"
I gave her a nice bow to finish my lines and patiently waited for her answer. She just stared at me with blank eyes until her emotions got the best of her.
"Pff. I´m sorry, I don´t think there´s anything you can do right now to make me change my mind"
"So I stay as a weirdo?"
"Hehe! Just as someone a bit strange"
"Hmm... I guess that´s a little better..."
"It is!"
Her smile was truly something lovely. Like if there wasn´t anything impure or dishonest with her. It reminded me of the fact that this person was the savior of this world.
God... This is so silly...
"This is weird considering I just assumed it, but would you be so kind as to tell me your name, miss?"
"Oh right. I forgot to introduce myself. Ehem!"
She grabbed the sides of her uniform´s skirt, and with her right leg going behind the left one as she bowed, her name was finally given to me.
"My name is Isabella Li Thomas, a study-paid student of a common family"
"And an irregular" I said pointing at the bandana on her arm.
"Yes, and an irregular"
"Then I guess that makes us partners in crime"
I offered my hand as a gesture of goodwill.
"Don´t you agree?"
She gave me another warm smile before responding to my offer.
"I guess we are!"
Well... This was unexpected... I wish I could say that this changes nothing of my original plan... But I can´t...
"Ehem!"
Ending our nice atmosphere, Jasmine cleared her throat with a face that was saying 'How long is this gonna take?'.
"Oh, sorry. Miss Isabella-"
"Just call me Isabella"
"... Isabella... This woman here is my personal maid, her name is Jasmine. I hope you don´t mind her presence while we´re together"
Jasmine gave the heroine a bow while saying "Nice to meet you", though it was the proper demeanor, her face, and voice were as empty as her eyes.
"Ahaha... Nice to meet you too, Jasmine"
"... Master, you should hurry, the entrance ceremony is about to start"
"Damn. You´re right, I guess we´ll have to take a little short cut"
We should have bumped with Nicholas and Verónica a while ago, but I guess they already left since I took care of the meeting event with Isabella... Oh well... They will have plenty of chances to meet each other, I will make sure of that anyway.
After saying that the shadows around us reached our feet and began to swallow our bodies. Jasmine hugged my left arm immediately.
"Woah?! I-Is this your magic?!"
"Indeed it is, you might find it a little scary, but I assure you it´s perfectly safe"
"O-Okay! I believe you, but, U-Um, can I?" She pointed out at my arm with an unsteady finger.
I was already planning on giving her something to hold onto. So I reached out for her and in a sudden jump, both of my arms were being held by 2 beautiful women.
"Tsk..."
"W-We are not going to drown, right?!"
With completely different reactions I focused on sliding ourselves into the shadows of the building we were supposed to be.
Since it was pretty early in the morning the sun wasn´t still at its highest point. Since I had a wide variety of routes to take I chose the one that could allow us to avoid most of the students and put us in a discrete position.
As we were traveling I noticed the change of expression on Isabella´s face. She was with her eyes wide open as the school´s land was passing rapidly before us.
"Wow! Your magic is amazing Dominique! I think we are almost as fast as a drake! Can people see us?!"
Somewhat embarrassed by her praise, I showed her a little smile as I explained my magic.
"You´re right, we could compete against most drakes in terms of speed, but we are still no match for them in other areas. My magic can take us as far as my mana allows us. And I become slower the more people I have to move. Not to mention that if there are no shadows then it´s quite difficult to move at all"
"I see. Your magic is very convenient but it still has its limitations"
"Just like any other. And regarding our visibility, well, let´s just say that it is quite a stealthy way to transport"
Just as I said that Isabella´s lips turned into a grin.
"My, my, my. I hope you don´t use this magic of yours to peek where you shouldn´t mister~"
"Heh. I wouldn´t do that. Someone would decapitate me if I do"
"Really? And who is that, someone?"
With an ironic smile on my face, I told her: "You´ll meet her soon enough"
Isabella hugged harder my arm as she said: "I can´t wait!" with an excited smile.
Shit... I think I get why people fall in love with this girl...
Just as I thought that an inch of pain assaulted my other arm. When I looked to see the problem I saw my maid having a not-very-happy expression while her fingers were pitching me.
I was only able to give her an awkward laugh.
I wonder if it´s a good idea to put these 2 with Verónica in the same place...
"Yhea... Probably not..."
"Hm?"
"I mean... Look, we are almost there"
"Woaaaahhh! You´re right! Look how many people are already here!"
To distract Isabella from my whispering. I mentioned the wide building where banners with the message: "Welcome 1st graders!" were hanging on a line of stone pillars scattered around the area.
Just as the land suggested by its name. The place was filled with structures made of different types of stones. Even if most of the floors around here were also made of stone, they put some extra effort into the details and earth decorations in here.
As we got closer to the auditorium I took a little detour to get behind the building. Once there we stepped out of the shadows.
"Let´s walk from here, that way we can get the back seats without much trouble"
"Sounds good to me"
This is where we begin to walk but...
"Yhea, so, um, could you let go?"
"Hm? Oh! No! Yhea! Sorry! Ahaha..."
As soon as she realized she was still holding my arm she jumped a few steps away from me. It was then that I started to walk forward, not because I wanted, but because a certain maid was pulling me forward along with her.
I didn´t have the patience to deal with her right now so I let her do as she pleased for the moment.
What Dominique didn´t see was that Jasmine looked back at the shape of Isabella and smiled triumphantly. The heroine got a bit mad at the maids' behavior and rapidly catch up to them while exchanging looks with the other irregular.
She didn´t know why, but there was a feeling of uneasiness roaming inside her chest when she saw how Jasmine was allowed to stick together with her new friend as much as she wanted.
"Isabella, you okay? We can take a couple of minutes if you are feeling dizzy, it happened to me the first time too"
At the suggestion of the young man, the heroine quickly assured him of her well-being as her hands hid her face with all their movement.
Telling her: "I see" Dominique resumed his walk with Jasmine, and Isabella followed them up close but never reached their side.
She felt as if she didn´t have the right to be there yet.
However, a fire was lit inside her heart.
I will get closer to them! She thought as the back of her new friend reached the entrance.
"Looks like we are just in time"
"Master, there are a couple of free seats, right in the left corner"
"Sweet, let´s go, Isabella"
"Right!"