"How on earth did you educate him?"
"Please let us meet that child!"
"The Steambird will give him exclusive coverage! Please, grant us an interview!"
"Well... um..."
Kujavina was flustered. The moment day broke, reporters had already stationed themselves outside the House of the Hearth. From the outside, the House of the Hearth looked like an ordinary orphanage, but inside, it was a factory for creating killing machines where battle royales took place. Letting the reporters inside would inevitably expose its true nature.
Avrora... I thought he’d only studied halfheartedly, but he took first place?! What kind of brain does this kid have?!
Kujavina had actually given up on him. When she saw him being carried in on Sergei’s back, he had clearly looked like someone utterly crushed by the judicial examination’s brutal difficulty. But first place? Kujavina’s feelings were tangled. A child with a mind like that would make fulfilling her dream seem as easy as pie. Yet that very fact had now put her in an awkward position.
"There will be no interviews today. Reporters, please leave."
"Wait! Still, just let us see the child once...!"
Kujavina locked the front gate tight and burst into the room where the four of us were playing a hand-clapping game.
"Mother...?"
"Mother!"
"..."
"What is it?"
Apparently unable to grasp the seriousness of the situation, I was seized by the arm and dragged away by Kujavina.
"W-Wait, just a moment!"
The instant I was dragged out, murderous hostility rose in Peruel’s eyes. But Cravie restrained her, and she soon calmed down. Even so, her gaze remained fixed on the door through which I had been taken.
As always, I was dragged to the director’s office. But unlike before, when Kujavina had kept me standing the entire time, she brought over a chair and let me sit. What had happened for her to treat me like this?
"You took first place in this examination, didn’t you?"
"Yes... I found out when I saw the newspaper this morning..."
At that, Kujavina looked at me with an expression I could not tell was laughter or tears.
"Would you look outside for a moment?"
I stood and looked out the window. At a glance, there were dozens of people gathered in a tight cluster, occupying the space before the front gate.
"The House of the Hearth has ended up in trouble because you became famous. If this place’s true nature gets exposed, I’m scared to death thinking about what Her Majesty might say to me."
That made sense. The Tsaritsa had only told them to obtain the Gnosis; she had not told them to become famous while doing it. The Fatui way was to hide in the shadows and work in secret, but I had gone and ruined that.
"According to the newspaper, some examinees said this test was set a little more difficult than usual. What did you think?"
"I only ran out of time. There were hardly any questions I didn’t know..."
From Kujavina’s perspective, she had caught an incredible prize. A child with a Vision, first place in the judicial examination—even if it was only the first round—and only thirteen years old: his credentials were overwhelming. I was a child who could fulfill her dream, yet regarding her original goal of stealing the Gnosis, I also seemed like an obstacle. Such contradictory thoughts drifted through Kujavina’s mind. Her brain spun as she considered what to do with me.
Since Kujavina said nothing, I was just as uneasy. No, I had wanted to barely scrape by, you know? But I took first place? Focalors must be immensely proud. Just imagining that conceited laughter made my head throb.
"All right. I’ve decided."
"Decided what...?"
"Avrora, you’re doing an interview today."
Huh? An interview? Wouldn’t it be better for me not to do one?
"Of course, it cannot harm us. You’ll act like a pitiable child. Take Peruel with you. Make this place look like an ordinary orphanage somehow."
"Yes, understood..."
What did she think I was going to say for her to tell me that? I could not understand. From my perspective, it would be better if she simply told me I was an inconvenience and ordered me out of the House of the Hearth... No. If that happened...
Expelled from the House of the Hearth -> sent to the Bouf d’ete Residence -> Furina happily adopts me -> we live together all lovey-dovey -> Peruel, driven mad by that life, attacks Furina -> Crash, bad ending.
Fuck, that would be a disaster! For now, I had to stay glued to the House of the Hearth! I did not want its true nature exposed either!
I left the director’s office and called for Peruel. She immediately ran over and asked whether something had happened to me. After telling her I was fine, I took her hand and headed for the firmly shut front gate.
"Peruel? Once we go outside, you can’t say anything, okay? You just need to stay quiet, all right?"
"Yeah... It’s okay... I’m good at that..."
She was good at it, all right.
I opened the door and stepped outside. The reporters reacted the moment they heard it open, and as I emerged, countless camera flashes went off.
"Oh! It’s the top scorer! The top scorer!"
"Who’s the child beside him? His little sister?"
"Her eyes are a little strange... But who cares! We only need to focus on the top scorer!"
We squinted beneath the barrage of flashes. It had been so long since I had seen cameras that they startled me, while Peruel, unfamiliar with them, clung tightly behind me to avoid the light.
"Um... The director said I can only do an interview with one outlet..."
"Please do it with our newspaper!"
"Hey, tabloid! You shouldn’t be saying that! He ought to do it with us, Fontaine’s serious legal newspaper!"
"Everyone shut up! We’re taking that kid!"
A commotion broke out among the reporters. Watching them behave like that over a single scoop, they did not seem any different from reporters in my original world.
But I had already decided which paper I would interview with. Honestly, since I had only ever read that newspaper, it was my best choice. It was the only one I knew, too.
"I’ll do it with The Steambird. Is anyone here from there?"
At the mention of The Steambird, the other newspapers groaned in despair while The Steambird’s reporters erupted into cheers. The reporter standing at the very front suddenly asked me a question.
"May I ask why you chose The Steambird? Did you have an issue with the other newspapers...?"
"The Steambird is the only newspaper that comes into this orphanage. That’s why I chose it..."
The other newspapers swallowed their disappointment. If their papers had been delivered to this orphanage, they too might have been in the running.
"Then...! Please subscribe to our newspaper too! We have lots of entertaining articles!"
"Hey! Is this the time to say that?! You’ll make the kid cancel his subscription!"
Coming to their senses, the reporters pulled their newspapers from their bags and laid them down before the front gate. More than ten papers soon piled up. What was I supposed to do with all these...?
"Please read our paper, and if you like it, put in a word with the director!"
The Steambird reporter, who had been stammering under the pressure of this dizzying situation, finally got ahold of himself and approached me.
"Thank you so, so much for giving me the right to interview you! Where should we conduct it?! Shall we do it right here?!"
"No. Let’s go to the Court of Fontaine first. There are too many children watching here."
"Yes, understood! Then... who is the person beside you?"
"Ah, she’s my younger sister. I didn’t want to leave her by herself, so I’m taking her with me."
"I see! You’re such a good older brother, looking after your little sister! Then I’ll guide you to the Court of Fontaine!"
With the situation apparently over, the other reporters gathered their things and dispersed. Watching this scene from above, Kujavina looked down with eyes that seemed both displeased and annoyed.
"That Avrora... he’s going to be a nuisance..."
It seemed the countdown had begun.
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