Vol 7 Chapter 7 (1/2)

Meg and Seron VII: The Fiancée out of the Blue - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Kenneth

The 15th day of the second month

It was lunchtime at the cafeteria The weather was clear

“We have the photo we need, but I’ one with Seron on it”

“It is no ive it to SC Kenneth!”

“Calmica”

“Indeed You have some sauce on your face”

Everyone but Seron was sitting at the same table

The table was at a corner of the cafeteria Because it was so far from the counter and close to the walls, it was poorly heated That kept other students away from the vicinity

A single black-and-white photograph lay in the middle of the table, surrounded by empty plates on platters

The photo was 25 centiet standing in a classroom

Though Bridget’s golden hair covered their faces, fro Seron’s face was almost completely concealed Only sonize him from the photo

But the newspaper club, naturally, could tell who he was Nick and Natalia were shocked when they arrived at the table (having been told by Jenny over the telephone the previous night to meet up at lunch)

“It is unforgivable!”

But their shock was overshadowed by Meg’s continued outrage, giving way to calm

“Well, in a way thisfinished two servings of food, “we got our job done quick The guy being Seron et into this, but what SC Kenneth doesn’t know can’t hurt him”

“Indeed I suppose we have completed SC Kenneth’s request, then,” Nick said nonchalantly, “that was easier than I had expected”

Larry was silent the whole time

“It is unbelievable! SC Bridget, who is doing this even though she has a fiancé! And Seron, who is kissing happily without running away!” Meg cried, holding the edge of the table in a vise-like grip

“Oh?” Natalia raised a playful eyebrow “Getting angry at SC Bridget I can agree with, but why’re you so angry at Seron?”

“Pardon? What is it?”

“Even if Seron has a crush on you, you’ve never really talked with him about it So Seron’s free to think you turned him down, and he’s allowed to kiss or date or ht?”

Megmica could not retort Instead, she picked up her platter “I have my next class now Excuse me first!”

“Coonna have a strategyfor tomorrow”

“I understand… Please excuse me”

Larry hesitated for a second, but he decided to speak

“Seron’s co too”

“I understand But I ary Please excuse me”

The others watched as Meg walked aith puffy cheeks

“Seriously…” Larry sighed

“Your lunch not going down, Larry?”

“You’re the only one who’s always got food on her mind, Lia”

“So what’s wrong?”

“Today’s onna be tense”

“Oh, that’s what’s bothering you? Don’t worry, you’re probably right,” Natalia said nonchalantly

“Finally, a true confrontation,” Nick said with a s froward to—er, I mean, I am quite worried”

“You don’t have to bother acting nice, Nick,” Larry sighed “Is this really gonna work out for the best, Seron?” He wondered quietly

“How many more times do you intend to skip practice, Natalia?”

Iht at her locker by Lena Portman, as now a sixth-year and still the president of the orchestra club

“I will drag you to the music room on a leash if I have to It’s such a relief that you’re not a ind or a brass”

“Sorry, SC Portman, but I don’t think I can make it today”

“And why is that? Just try and convince me if you can”

“Sure Thing is—”

“Yes?”

“The newspaper club’s holding an imica’s fate”

“…”

“I have to be there to calm her down”

“…”

“Otherwise she’ll lose her o on a bloody rae She’ll destroy the campus, the Capital District—I’ade to take her down in the end, but no one wants that”

“…”

“Which is why I’ll be ditching today”

The athered one by one at the office

As usual, Larry was the first to arrive It was essentially a given as his last class of the day was closest to the office

“Good afternoon” “Hey Larry”

Nick and Jenny were next

“Hi guys!”

Natalia was next As usual, she had brought snacks—a box of large donuts and her so-called ‘purifying chocolates’

And as usual, Larry got to work brewing tea

“I a inside with a complicated look

Several minutes later

“Sorry I’m late”

Seron entered the office It had been a long tiether

Seron sat on the sofa, but Meg—sitting across fro away

“There, there, have a donut Or some chocolate”

Natalia tried to push a piece of chocolate into Meg’sthe chocolate to go to Natalia instead

“All right,” Jenny began, “now that we finally have everyone together, let’s get down to business Ready?”

“Yeah!” “No objections here”

A remained silent Like Roxche and Sou Be-Il locked in a cold war over the Lutoni again, they sat quietly across the table Jenny looked at them both

“Today, we’ll be discussing the two requests that SC Kenneth and SC Bridget have given us I explained the request fromica yesterday, too”

“Yes, I listened to the explanation,” Meg said cooly, “it was a very big surprise, but I understand the reason it was secret from me”

Then—

“But that does not ! This and that are very different problems!”

“Indeed We have yet to confirations of SC Kenneth’s verbal abuse,” Nick said with a nod

Natalia stopped et our answer toet tellsfor more chocolate Seron stared

“Want some?”

“No thank you”

Jenny continued the conversation “I asked Mr Kurtz and it looks like we’ll have the recorder at the office by to We’ll set up the cables at lunchtime It won’t be as hard as before”

Everyone nodded

Thanks to the recent bout of warrounds had melted to the point where people could cross without difficulty It would be much easier to set up the cables than it ith Stella’s case, when the club had to bury the cables all the way to the tree

“So we’re going ahead with the plan After school toet call out SC Kenneth Then we record their conversation and see if he really is abusing her If her accusations turn out to be true, then we have our evidence”

The others nodded again

Meg see

“We have two possibilities,” Jenny said, holding up a finger “First, SC Kenneth is a gentleet is lying In that case—”

“It is unforgivable!”

“Easy there, Meg, chief”

“Right In that case, it’s si we found out SC Kenneth can break off the engageet, well, she’ll have to own up to what she’s done but she’ll be free too, so it’s not all bad This possibility will solve everything”

Everyone but Seron nodded Meg gave an especially pronounced nod

“The proble up another finger, “if SC Kenneth heaps verbal abuse on SC Bridget when they’re alone, just like she said In other words, they’re both toronna have to take one side or the other”

“Of course it is SC Kenneth! She is cheating like so, so he can be angry to her!” Meg argued, but Nick had a rebuttal

“But Megmica, we still have no idea about the extent of his verbal abuse For all we know, toe What would you do then?”

“Then…” Meg quieted down, and fell into thought “I do not know…”

“Or maybe we should just expose it all to both faested No one responded

After a time, Natalia finally broke the silence

“Well, no need to rush into anything Have some donuts”

Seron reached for the tin of chocolate instead “May I?”

“Sure, sure”

Once he had permission, he picked up a piece of chocolate and popped it into his mouth

Just as Seron finished the piece, Larry spoke

“What’s your take on this?”

All eyes fell on Seron

“I can’t tell you,” Seron confessed

Larry raised an eyebrow “Huh?”

“What’d you mean?” Asked Natalia

“You’re sounding real funny, Seron,” said Jenny

Nick simply smiled

“What do youcried “This is a newspaper club activity You must tell your opinions!”

Seron reuments

“We are all working hard to solve this problehts are too, Seron!”

Seron replied,

“This tiree with that”

Again, he was being honest almost to the point of foolishness

“That is not right!” Meg exclaimed

Next to Seron, Larry scratched his head There was a look of defeat on his face

Meg and Seron’s stubborn argument continued for some time

“You are disgraceful, Seron! You are very s, no?”

“Not this time, I can’t”

“What is the reason?”

“I can’t say that, either”

“Then when can you say it?”

“I don’t know I just don’t have enough information”

“On whose side do you wish to stand, Seron? SC Bridget? Or SC Kenneth?”

“I can’t say yet”

“But froet?”

“That’s not true”

“I cannot believe! And about what did you speak with her yesterday?”

“I can’t say yet”

“You are leaned to SC Bridget, then! Because you kissed?”

Meg was beginning to take her frustrations in the wrong direction Natalia cast Jenny a look just as she was putting a piece of chocolate into her mouth

“I wish to break this engage was clearly wrong with her argument “Of course there is the suspicion that SC Kenneth is a verbal abuser, but put this aside, and I am clearly on SC Kenneth’s side”

Seron listened silently

“To say honestly, SC Kenneth’s verbal abuse suspicions will be reht and not a conclusion, and it is just a feeling! But SC Kenneth is the innocent!”

Though Kenneth was not on trial and there was no real evidence yet, Meg was being an excellent defense lawyer Tears welled in her eyes and her voice came out in half-sobs

“Well, hopefully you’re right” “We do not yet have concrete evidence” “Yeah”

Natalia, Nick, and Jenny each threw out a comment Larry wisely opted to remain silent

“On whose side are you on, Seron? Say it clearly!”

‘On yours,’ Larry thought, but he did not say so Seron’s expression remained inscrutable

“A person who cannot say it clearly can look like a person with no opinions! It cannot be helped!”

Only then did he look slightly crestfallen

Larry cast Seron a glance He could iine his desperation

But Seron stubbornly kept silent

Several seconds later,

“If I had to say—” Seron finally spoke, as though against his will, “I’m also probably on SC Kenneth’s side”

“What? Pardon?” Meg asked The others seemed just as surprised as she was “Please wait, what did you just say?”

“If I had to say—if I really had to pick one or the other, I’m on SC Kenneth’s side” Seron repeated himself

Meg could not say anything Jenny spoke instead

“Wow So you’ve been thinking that way from the start?”

“Been cooking up a theory behind our backs? Creepy,” Natalia said

“I cannot say I would call it ‘creepy’, but I do think it is very much like Seron to be this way,” Nick remarked

“That’s a relief!” Cried Larry “You didn’t want to say anything conclusive until you had evidence, eh? You’re always so cautious about everything You wanted to wait till you could be 100 sure”

Seron nodded

“Whoa, Larry’s being useful for once!” Natalia cheered, taking a donut in each hand “Here’s your reward, boys” Leaning forward, she stuffed one into Larry’s mouth and the other into Seron’s

“Mmph” “Mm”

“Cheese-flavored with cheese filling It’s good Creative Moved me to tears Now enjoy it!”

The boys were forced to chew before they could speak again

“S-Seron is on SC Kenneth’s side? I do not believe it!” Meg cried, rising from her seat “But Seron kissed!”

Seron see to that, but he had not finished the donut

“And you kissed twice!”

Seron paused

The others stared at Meg

Larry, who finished his donut first, asked the question on their minds

“Twice?”

“Yes! Twice!”

“Huh? He kissed her once yesterday after school, we know that But when else?”

“On the 8th day! At the central stairs! SC Kenneth said to us when he ca sad!”

“Come to think of it…” “I re to that effect”

Jenny, Natalia, and Nick seemed to remember what Kenneth had mentioned Larry turned to Seron in shock

“That was you too?!”

Seron chewed as fast as he possibly could so he could finally s the donut and respond

Then,

“Everyone!” He cried in an unusually loud voice “SC Kenneth said that? Really?”

“He did!” “Indeed he did” Meg and Nick replied The others nodded

“Megmica Where did you see us from?”

This ti She was taken aback for a aze, but she quickly recovered

“At the top of the central stairs! I was in the halls at the time, you see I coincidentally saw your back in the new building and followed to talk with the two of us alone, but…I saw you happily kiss SC Bridget at the landing and went home then”

“I see…”

Seron’s gaze on Meg grew even sharper But even when Meg aze remained fixed to the spot

“Was there anyone else there?”

“Pardon? No… I was the only one at the stairs”

Meg’s tone returned to normal, spooked by Seron’s sudden show of emotion

“The landing I et at isn’t visible from downstairs,” Seron said

“Yeah” Larry nodded

“And you’re saying SC Kenneth saw us? From where?”

“The grounds, I think You kno the landing’s totally visible, ith the big glass wall Heck, you can see the entire staircase top to botto

And as for Seron—

“I see…”

He nodded in even deeper understanding

Then he said nothing

“Oh? That it for your defense, Seron?” Natalia quipped, but Seron still did not respond Jenny took over in his stead

“Anyway, I’m surprised she kissed you twice I’ot you by surprise too—”

—Meg was visibly angry, but she did not interrupt Jenny—

“But ed the subject, holding her notepad She went over their plans

They would have Bridget call Kenneth to the big oak tree behind the building, which was clearly visible fro time would be one hour after classes ended

They would have Bridget bring up the topic of the arranged e, which was sure to bother Kenneth

The newspaper club would listen to the conversation and record it, and even take photographs in case Kenneth decided to resort to physical violence

After that, it was up to the club to decide what to do with the evidence

“Is everyone clear?” Asked Jenny

“Sure” “Yep” “Excellent plan” “I am clear”

Everyone but Seron responded