“h.e.l.lo, Professor Wayne Hill.”
Louise bowed as she entered the greenhouse.
“Ah, Miss Sweeney.”
Professor Hill was found squatting in the corner mixing dirt, and he slowly stood up. It was the first time the two of them had met since the incident. Louise had been busy with exams, while Professor Hill was on probation. She didn't ask him how well he was doing, but the brightness of his expression was answer enough.
“Are you here to check the winter roses for the graduation ceremony tomorrow?”
“Yes, that's right. I was worried because it snowed a lot.”
The snow and ice often threatened the leafy residents of the greenhouse.
"It was hard work, but they're safe."
Professor Hill straightened his shoulders and smiled proudly.
“You cleared all the snow around here?”
“Yes.”
“I should have come to help. I'm sorry.”
“Don't worry. Another good student came by and helped me.”
“Oh, you mean Simon?”
Louise naturally a.s.sumed it was him. Simon had been to this greenhouse many times, and he was good at physical labor.
“No, it wasn't Lord Hillard.”
“If it wasn't Simon, then…?"
Louise looked at Professor Hill questioningly, and he nervously scratched his cheek.
“Anyway, you don't have to come here to do hard labor. It will interfere with your own work.”
“Well, you can call me anytime whenever you need help.”
The professor gave a smile.
“Then you can count on me whenever the Sweeney greenhouse needs a hand too.”
“You'll come?”
Louise held her hands together as if it were a wish come true, and Professor Hill nodded.
“If you would be so kind as to invite me.”
“Of course I would invite you. I'm sure my parents will be happy too. My father really admires you.”
Professor Hill scratched his cheek again, and he looked bashfully at the red roses. Although they were standing in the greenhouse, even winter could make its icy grip felt inside. However, the roses won the fight to bloom even in these circ.u.mstances.
“…Beautiful.”
He murmured to himself in a small voice.
“What?”
“ah, nothing, Miss Sweeney. You can come and pick up the roses any time tomorrow. And please say congratulations to President Audmonial and Lord Hillard.”
“You won't speak to them at the graduation ceremony?”
“I…I don't know if I'll be there.”
Louise remembered that Professor Hill was on shaky ground and she didn't pursue the topic further.
“I'll convey your message to them. Don't worry.”
“Thank you.”
“And can I come back later to give their replies?”
“Of course. This greenhouse welcomes all living things, and Miss Sweeney—"
“Is a good creature!”
“Yes, so feel free to visit.”
After giving a brief bow, Louise immediately returned to the student council room. With the graduation ceremony just one day away, everyone was up to their necks in busywork.
“How are the roses?”
Ian asked her in a businesslike manner.
“No problem. They'll look great tomorrow.”
“Thank goodness.”
“What are you looking at?”
Louise leaned over to see the papers Ian had been studying intently. On it were the names of the graduates along with times.
“It's when the graduates check out of the dorm.”
“Everyone has different time?”
“Tomorrow, everyone will spend as much time as they can to finish their Academy life here.”
“But…why is the President managing that timetable?”
Ian tapped Louise lightly on the forehead with his pen.
“I'm worried about next year's student council because they're so useless.”
“Ugh.”
“Listen carefully. You will be doing this job next year.”
Louise straightened her fringe and nodded quickly.
“Watching all students return home safely is the last sacred task of the student council presidents.”
Ah, she understood. The student council president cared for the students up until the last moment.
“That's kind of romantic. But why would I be doing that? You said it was the job of the student council president.”
“Yes, it is.”
Ian patted Louise on the shoulder encouragingly.
“Me?”
“If my prediction is correct, yes.”
“You're wrong! It can't be me!”
“Don't worry about it. It's not as much work than you think."
That was a lie. Anyone could see that Ian was obviously suffering from fatigue.
“You're lying about not being busy. Right, Claire?”
Louise summoned a witness who had seen Ian work for the past two years.
“Huh, what?”
Claire looked up from her work, looking startled as if she hadn't heard their conversation.
“What happened?”
“Oh…I interrupted Claire's work. Sorry.”
“No, it's fine.”
Claire swept away her long hair and held her pen again. She looked like she was immersed in writing a doc.u.ment. Louise turned back to Ian and whispered to him.
“President, what is she doing?”
“She's revising the president's congratulatory address.”
“Revising the congratulatory message? Why?”
“Well—”
Before Ian could explain, Claire handed over a sheet of paper next to her.
“This is what the original speech looks like.”
The address written by the dean was t.i.tled, “The Past, Present and Future of the Academy.”
“It's an entire lecture!”
“It's not a lecture. It's business.”
Her fingers were red as she laid down the pen. She must have been working on rewriting the address for some time.
“Business?”
“Yes. With two famous people at the graduation ceremony, there will be many esteemed guests in attendance.”
When Claire said "famous people," she gave a pointed look towards Ian.
“As the dean, he wouldn't want to miss this great business opportunity.”
There was nothing more unfortunate than suffering through the dean's long, winding speeches at events. The Academy's student council, which fought injustice against students and opposed terrible menus, secretly decided to make corrections to the dean's speech.
“But is it okay if you touch someone else's ma.n.u.script like this?”
“It's fine. The dean will read off of it.”
“What if he's angry about the changes?”
This time Ian answered.
“It won't be a problem. He won't find out about the changes until the graduation ceremony.”
There he wouldn't be able to vent his anger in front of all the guests. It would be bad for business.
“And of course, he can't get angry after the graduation either.”
Ian will wear his ident.i.ty as Crown Prince again.
“Wow…he's going to be so frustrated.”
“Don't worry about it. It's a virtue for the student council president to care for the students until the last minute. Anyway, how are the corrections going?”
“I just found out that he repeated 'Lastly, there's one more thing I want to ask the graduates' for the sixth time.”
“It's a small number compared to the fifteen 'Dear guests'.”
“That's a very strange speech.”
Dean Crissis, who had been lying with his head down next to Claire, woke up.
“He addressed the graduates six times and the guests fifteen."
“Surely once each is enough.”
Dean gave a mumble of agreement and dropped his head back down to the table again. He must have been tired after staying up all night making paper flower ornaments.
“Why don't you go back to your room and sleep? Or at least go to the couch over there.”
“Don't wanna…”
There was a note of stubbornness in his sleepy voice. Louise smiled to herself as she looked alternately between the workaholic Claire and nearly asleep Dean. They seem to still get along very well.
Luckily, Claire completed her revisions before dinner. Ian read the ma.n.u.script in the dean's voice, and timed it for exactly four minutes and thirty six seconds. It was still quite long, but the original ma.n.u.script had been much longer. After dinner, they all went to the auditorium to hang the paper flower decorations, then returned to the student council room to put back the glue and scissors.
After all that work, they all finally made their way back to the dormitories. Claire took Louise's arm as she spoke in a somber tone.
“The day went by so quickly.”
“Yes. How are you feeling? It's your last night in the dorm."
“Very strange.”
She shook her head gently, frowning.
“For some reason, I feel like I'll still be talking to you same time tomorrow.”
“It's the same with me.”
Louise squeezed Claire's arm tightly.
“Tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, I feel like you'll still be here with me.”
Such a future felt so natural. It was strange that in reality this was Claire's last night.
“It feels like life these past two years…”
“—would last forever, right?”
“Yes, I feel that way. I wonder why? I knew it wouldn't be permanent, but it feels so short.”
“Yeah, I wonder why too.”
The pair walked side by side with the unanswered question hanging between them. The path was familiar to Claire now, and so she walked with her eyes closed.
“…Maybe because it was so much fun.”
“Maybe.”
“Even more after Louise came. Do you remember our summer vacation?”
“Yes! It was fun then. We played all night.”
“Yes. And we ate all day.”
“The salad we made from the potatoes the caretaker gave us were delicious too.”
They smiled as they reminisced together. Before they knew it, Ian and Dean appeared behind them too, smiling all the way.
“It's not our last time together. Tomorrow you'll be at the student council room again to do more work for the President.”
Ian made an important addendum to Claire's story.
“You'll have to work hard too, Claire Iris.”
“Really! Right until the last day?”
“I'll have you work until the very last second. Isn't that frugal?”
“You're so awful and mean…"
However, Claire was smiling brightly.
Can't wait to read ahead? You can get 18 of these chapters on Crystal Crater's Patreon for only $3!
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