PandoraHearts ~Caucus Race~, Vol. 1 (16 page)

“You looked at the book, didn’t you.”

“Uhh…”

“You mustn’t peek at others’ belongings without permission. That’s a breach of etiquette.”

“B-but I—”

“Now. What should we do about it?”

Sharon spoke in a whisper, putting her face very close to Alice’s. Alice’s expression was bewildered; she didn’t seem to
know how to respond. Sharon thought that was adorable, too. …Her heart began to flutter impatiently.

She was in the mood for a bit of mischief.

Life would be such fun if I had a little sister like Alice-san…
Sharon thought, wistfully.

She was sure the days would be pleasant, and boisterous, and never, ever dull.

She leaned even closer to Alice.

“Alice-san—”

“Wh-what are you trying to do, Sharon?!”

“Onee-sama.”

“Huh?” Alice looked nonplussed.

“Call me Onee-sama, please.”

Little by little, Sharon’s engines were warming up.

“It isn’t as if it’s the first time, you know. Go on.”

Sharon’s tone wasn’t at all threatening. On the contrary, it was gentle and affectionate.

…Some things are much scarier that way.

Alice caved easily to Sharon’s mild pressure, obeying nervously even as her face betrayed confusion.

Looking at Sharon with tear-filled eyes, in a voice so faint it was scarcely audible, she said:

“O…Onee-sama…”

Eeeeeek!!

Sharon secretly rejoiced.
That’s marvelous no matter how many times I hear it!

However, she didn’t let the emotion show in her face. She gave a faint smile.

“You’re a naughty girl, Alice. Helping yourself to other people’s belongings.”

Sharon began to address Alice informally, without thinking about it. She was in very high spirits.

“We’ll just have to discipline you, won’t we?”

“Discipline?” Alice sounded agitated.

“Yes,” Sharon said, putting her face even closer to Alice’s. However, after that point, she didn’t actually have a plan.
What shall I do?
she thought. She could tickle her, or poke her soft cheeks… That sounded pleasant.

“Waaaaahh…”

Anxiety. Fear. Worry.

As Alice moaned, all these emotions were plain to see. Finally, she shut her eyes tightly.

She seemed to have resigned herself to the fact that there was no escape. Then, as if something had burst, Alice spoke in a loud, energetic voice.

“A-all right! Do whatever you want to me!”

Her eyes flew open and she stared—or rather glared—right at Sharon.

Her gaze was steady. She was fully prepared.

…Huh?

This time it was Sharon’s turn to feel bewildered.

She’d never dreamed that Alice would take this particular attitude. Although she managed—barely—to keep it out of her expression, inside, Sharon was terribly flustered.

Alice’s next move made Sharon doubt her eyes.

Suddenly, Alice put her hands to her jacket and pulled the front open. Her smooth skin lay daringly exposed. Her face was serious. It was the expression of a soldier heading to the battlefield, prepared to die.

Alice’s skin, which was slightly flushed with excitement or shame, seemed to leap out at Sharon.

“Wh-wh-what are you doing, Alice-san?!”

Naturally, Sharon lost her composure and raised her voice. This was far from anything she’d imagined or anticipated.

She couldn’t bring herself to believe that Alice had masochistic tendencies, but—

As if to say “It’s gone too far, and there’s no stopping now!” Alice lunged at Sharon.

“Th-this is what you wanted, isn’t it, Onee-sama?! All right, come on, Onee-sama, Onee-sama, Onee-sama!”

“Wai–! Wa-wa-wa-wa-wait just a minute, Alice-san!”

Sharon leaned back; she didn’t even have the wherewithal to enjoy the series of “Onee-samas.”

Their positions had been completely reversed.

Sharon could not have been more confused. She had no idea what was happening.

Wh-wh-wh-what’s going on? Is Alice-san trying to…to seduce me—?!

On the sofa, Alice pressed forward, while Sharon drew back.

In no time at all, though, they reached the end of the sofa. Alice’s hands caught Sharon’s arm and pulled it to her. Even if she tried to escape, Sharon could never beat Alice in a physical struggle. She’d only meant to lecture Alice on manners. Yes, she’d let a bit of mischief creep in, but that didn’t explain this particular development. She couldn’t understand it.

…She had a fleeting thought that it might be divine punishment for the mischief.

Alice brought Sharon’s hand to her bared chest. Her voice was feverish and earnest:

“Go on, Sharon…”

She pressed Sharon’s palm flat against her skin.

Ooh, it’s so soft— No! Get ahold of yourself, Sharon!

Finding herself involuntarily impressed by the texture of Alice’s skin, Sharon mentally smacked herself.

It was completely incomprehensible, but at any rate, Alice was serious. There was no other possible interpretation.

Sharon had always assumed that Alice preferred eating to romance and was completely indifferent to love, but…

Was Alice-san a girl of “that” persuasion, and I simply never realized it
…?
!

Sharon’s mind whirled with confusion.

Did Oz know that Alice was a Sapphist? If he didn’t, should she tell him? —No, this was a delicate matter… Sharon didn’t know what to do. For the moment, she thought, she really must say something to Alice.

…But what? She didn’t have time to think at her leisure. First, then—

“Please wait, Alice-san!”

Sharon checked her. She felt she had to explain this properly. There was nothing wrong with falling in love with somebody. She was terribly flattered that Alice liked her.

However, she was unable to reciprocate.

“Come on, Sharon! I mean, Onee-sama!” Sharon hadn’t gotten through to Alice at all.

“Alice-san, listen…!”

“‘Eat’ me!”

“‘Eat’—?!” Sharon blushed, flabbergasted.

“Yeah! —Like in that book!”

Alice pointed sharply at the book, which had fallen off the sofa and now lay on the floor.

…
Huh?

Sharon’s mind had sailed past confusion and was now an enormous blank.

With her arm still caught in Alice’s grip, Sharon twisted around to look at the book on the floor, trying to see what Alice was talking about.

The book had opened when it fell.

By sheer coincidence, it was open to the illustration Alice had seen.

Sharon’s eyes took in the meticulously detailed drawing.

Instantly, her mind boiled over.

Two women, kissing…!!!!

“I know. I know all about it now. It’s all right!”

Managing to free herself from Alice, who was speaking emphatically, Sharon stood up, book in hand. She glanced at the text on the page that faced the illustration. It depicted an exchange between two women. In the scene, they kissed and confessed ardent emotions to each other. Actually, in the text, they didn’t stop at kissing.

It was…

The book was…

“A novel of forbidden romance”…!!

Sharon felt dizzy.

Not only that, but the women in the book were canoodling on a sofa in a room somewhere.

On top of that, the older woman was making the younger one call her “Onee-sama.”

In other words, the scene looked

A    W   H   O   L   E     L   O   T

like Sharon and Alice did at the moment.

I have to explain this to Alice-san right away
, Sharon thought.

She had to tell her it wasn’t what it looked like. This was not her book; it belonged to someone else, and had simply been delivered to her by mistake. It certainly did not reflect her personal preferences. Sharon turned to face Alice.

As she did, something struck her as odd.

Before, when Sharon had shown Alice a romance novel and
Alice had seen an illustration of a kissing scene, she hadn’t understood what it was.

Alice was terribly naive about all such things—or so she’d thought.

Had innocent Alice understood this book after a mere glance…?

This is…strange.

Privately, Sharon was dubious. Seeming concerned for Sharon, Alice spoke, as if to encourage her:

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. It must be a real pain, though…”

At that point, she hesitated just a bit, fumbling for the words.

“Smoochie Sweetruno Disease… I mean, I hear they haven’t found a way to treat it yet.”

“Smooch…? Could you repeat that?” Sharon was dazed.

“Smoochie Sweetruno Disease. Apparently it’s an incredibly rare illness.”

“…What? What a ridiculous name…”

“You’ve got a rare disease that will kill you if you don’t drink energy from living things, don’t you, Sharon?”

Sharon had absolutely no idea what Alice was talking about.

However, as Alice continued, Sharon understood everything. She understood, all right…much to her regret.

Alice told her, “I heard all about it from the old clown.”

Ohhh… So that’s what it was.

Sharon felt her face cool down abruptly. As a matter of fact, her overall temperature dropped.

At the sudden change in Sharon’s mood, Alice frowned, puzzled. Although, for a moment, the air around her had darkened, Sharon smiled almost immediately and looked at Alice. Then she urged Alice to tell her everything, in detail.

The story she drew from Alice was about what Sharon had expected it would be.

“Sharon, it’s me!”

Having flung open the door with a bang and entered the room, Alice mistook the wrapped book on the vanity for a box of sweets, picked it up, and was disappointed when she realized her mistake. Then, as she absently leafed through the pages, an illustration seemed to jump out at her.

It was a drawing of two women in the altogether: a young woman being pinned down by an older woman.

Alice looked blank.

That particular content was, in a sense, advanced, and as Sharon had guessed, it hadn’t made much sense to Alice. However, just then:

“Hello there, Alice-kun. Welcome!”

Break entered from outside, throwing a leg over the window frame, as if he’d just dropped out of the sky.

Startled by his sudden appearance, Alice let go of the book. It fell to the floor, with the open pages facing down.

As Break approached, waving genially, Alice immediately dropped into a fighting stance, radiating suspicion.

“Hisssssssssssss! Stay back, you old clown!”

Break seemed unperturbed. He crossed to Alice and retrieved the book from the floor.

Alice watched him closely, keeping her guard up.

Break gazed at the open pages. “
Oho,”
he murmured. And then he said,
“Well, well! Would you look at
that
. …Heh-heh, the lower girl is being thoroughly ‘eaten.’”

Eaten? At the unexpected word, Alice looked perplexed.

Then, understanding it, her expression turned triumphant.

“Ha-ha! Did your eye finally rot out, clown?! What about
that
looks like a meal to you?!”

However, Break calmly shook his head.
“No, no. Alice-kun, ‘eating’ isn’t limited to sinking your teeth into something and gnawing away, you know.”

At Break’s words, Alice forgot her suspicion almost instantly.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
she’d asked, deeply interested.

Then Break had explained everything to Alice, with brilliant, modulated, highly believable storytelling. This picture, he’d said, showed someone dining by making skin contact with a partner and drinking her energy, or “life force.” The life force absorbed from a partner you fancied was an incredible delicacy, he told her.

After hearing him out all the way to the end, Alice sighed.
“Oooh…”

Even Chains weren’t able to absorb life force through mere touch. Alice held the book up in front of her face again, studying it carefully.

Then, with a grave expression, she said,
“…Don’t tell me Sharon likes this sort of story, too…”

“‘Like’ isn’t quite the word. …She’s using it as a
reference.
”

“A re…ference?”
Alice echoed. She had a bad feeling about this.

“Yes.”
Break nodded, and his face was the picture of sorrow. After telling her, solemnly, that since she’d seen the book there was no help for it, but that he wanted her to keep this a secret from everyone else, he’d said,
“My lady is troubled because she has a similar constitution.”

Alice gulped.
“She does?”
she muttered, hoarsely. She’d had no idea.

Faced with this weighty reality, Alice was speechless.

Break had bowed his head and covered his face with his
hands; his shoulders were trembling. Alice thought he was probably thinking of Sharon and crying.

Finally, Break lowered his hands and counseled Alice.

“It’s more of a
disease
than a constitution, really. My lady is suffering from an illness so rare it affects only one in several hundred thousand people. Due to that rarity, there is no cure, and my lady would really rather no one knew about it. And so…”

At that point, Break made a request. He was almost pleading.

“If my lady tries to eat you, would you please indulge her?”

Alice felt a horrendous shock, as though she’d been struck by lightning. She was confused, and enraged, and said,
“Oh yeah right! Wh-wh-wh-why do I have to do a thing like that for that woman?! It’s not my problem!”

She absolutely refused to be eaten. Alice turned her face away in a huff. Break watched her, steadily.

There was nothing pushy about his gaze.

He just looked at Alice, quietly.

Even so, Alice snorted and closed her eyes, as though trying to escape Break’s stare.

…Sharon, suffering from a mysterious illness.

However, only people who were very close to her knew about it, and ordinarily, Sharon hid her illness, acting as though nothing was wrong.

Of course, that didn’t mean that Alice had to give up her own life force for her.

Obviously not. She absolutely refused.

…But even so, a little pain of unknown origin had begun to prickle inside her chest.

Finally, Alice opened her eyes and looked at Break nervously.

“Y-you’re sure… I couldn’t just bite her cheek, instead of letting her eat me? It’ll cheer her up, you know.”

“Although I appreciate the thought…”
Break shook his head, sadly. It wouldn’t do any good, he said.

Alice looked a bit like a cornered small animal.

“I-I’m sorry she’s sick. But, I-I’m just here today because she called me…”

“She called you?”

“Yeah. She said she had some yummy sweets. I-I don’t see them anywhere in here, but still.”

“…I see.”
On hearing Alice’s appeal, Break murmured, significantly. Then:
“No, they’re here. Or rather, they’ve just arrived.”

Break was watching Alice. In a voice that instilled unease into the heart of its listener, he said,
“They’re right
here.
”

He pointed at Alice.

In spite of herself, Alice came very near to screaming as if she’d just heard a horrifying ghost story. However, before she could, Break’s expression abruptly sharpened.
“My lady is returning,”
he told her. Then he turned on his heel and left the way he’d come in: through the window.

As he was leaving, he made one last, poignant entreaty:

“Smoochie Sweetruno Disease. That is the name of my lady’s affliction. Please, Alice-kun. It’s all right. It won’t
kill
you
……
”

He’d departed like a gust of wind. Alice could only stare dazedly at the window through which Break had made his exit.

And then Sharon had entered.

“—And that’s what happened.”

Alice wasn’t very good at explaining things clearly to people, and when she’d finished, she gave a small sigh.

“…”

Sharon, who’d listened carefully, was silent and expressionless. When Alice asked, “What’s wrong?” and peered into her face, concerned, Sharon smiled brightly.

“Is it. I see.”

“…Y-yeah.” Overawed, Alice nodded.

“You were worried about me, weren’t you, Alice-san? That was kind of you. However, I’m afraid it was quite unnecessary. He was only teasing you.”

“Teasing…?” Alice was dumbfounded. For a while, she stared blankly back at Sharon. Then: “
Of course
I picked up on that!!” Alice threw out her chest, arrogantly. She put her hands on her hips and laughed loudly—“Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!”—but the effect was so funny and sweet that Sharon only smiled pleasantly. She gave a decorous little laugh. However, behind her back, a rumbling, black aura was spreading ominously.

Alice didn’t register Sharon’s state.

“I-I’m very generous, you know, so when I heard the old clown’s stupid little story, I decided I’d play along with it, as a special favor to him. I mean it. —Oh, and I wasn’t worried about you at all, all right?! Not at all!”

She embellished this desperate appeal with a flurry of gestures.

“Alice-san.”

Sharon checked Alice, as if to say she understood. Her tone was perfectly calm, but it made Alice hold her tongue in spite of herself.

Sharon rose from the sofa. Her movements were elegant and polite…but a certain threatening weight hung about them.

She bowed to Alice; her expression was apologetic.

“…Alice-san. I haven’t shown you any hospitality yet,
and I do apologize, but do you think you could go home for today? I’ll explain everything to Oz-sama and Gilbert-sama later. I’m very sorry, but our tea party will have to wait.”

The declaration of postponement came abruptly and without sufficient explanation. However:

“—Uh…uh-huh.”

Alice behaved, obediently leaving Sharon’s room.

“Alice-chan?”

After Alice had left Sharon’s room, just as she’d reached the Rainsworth mansion’s entry hall, a voice hailed her from behind. “Nn?” Turning, she saw an elderly woman in a wheelchair being pushed by a servant.

Alice recognized the lady; she’d seen her several times before. It was Sheryl, the head of the House of Rainsworth. Sheryl had a cape spread over her knees, and resting on the cape was a good-sized cardboard box, elegantly wrapped.

“Huhn. What do you want?”

“I’m terribly sorry about my Sharon-chan. She invited you, and then she didn’t even entertain you…” She held out the box, saying, “Please take this.”

“What is it?” Alice muttered. She approached Sheryl and accepted the box.

“It’s the confection Sharon-chan meant to give you. It’s a new offering from one of our favorite patisseries: a chestnut cake. They’re quite proud of it. If you’d like, do take it back to Pandora with you and enjoy it with the others.”

“…Oho. Cake, huh?”

Sheryl chuckled.

“I wonder if you wouldn’t have preferred meat instead.”

“Of course. I don’t hate sweet things, but if you’re asking me which is better, it’s obviously meat.”

Alice boldly declared herself a meat-lover. Then her face grew thoughtful. “But…”

Oz liked sweet things. If she took this back to him, it was sure to make him happy. He’d probably be grateful to her for bringing it— As she thought about it, Alice smiled, just a little bit.

“Hmph!” Alice puffed out her chest. “Well, if you insist, I suppose I’ll take it off your hands.”

“Yes, that would make me very happy.”

As she chuckled, Sheryl was like an artless child. However, her expression abruptly clouded. She glanced upstairs, where the private rooms of the mansion’s residents were located, and gave a small sigh.

“Honestly, I don’t know what we’re going to do with Xerx-kun. Still—” At that, Sheryl’s eyes turned to Alice. “Thanks to you, Sharon-chan seems to have recovered somewhat. I’m grateful to you.”

“Recovered? So she actually was sick?”

Alice was worried. Sheryl shook her head.

“No, my granddaughter is quite well. She was afflicted by…shall we say, an emotional ailment. However, that seems to have greatly improved, and again, it was your doing. Thank you for your concern, though.”

“Um, no, I wasn’t really…”

Alice fidgeted self-consciously. Watching her, Sheryl broke into a smile. “My, how adorable.
” Apparently, blood did tell: She looked remarkably like Sharon.