"Oh, yes! Contact your grandfather and ask him to drop by for an escort! Then I'm sure..."
"No, maybe we should stop doing that"
I twist my neck frowning at Lucru, who brightens his expression just because he comes up with a name.
Though I don't know when the convoked escort will arrive, given that my grandfather, Albert Glendreck, is the director here, it will be arranged as early as tomorrow.
The presence of an escort only makes it difficult for me to move, and psychological reassurance diminishes the effect of a "fictional Phantom”.
What Lucru needs is anxiety, distrust, isolation, and absolute trust in me.
Even if you can't stop dispatching escorts, you always need to direct them to such a psychological state that they are suspicious.
Well, I could have anticipated that reaction, so I'm already thinking of measures.
"Why not? Wouldn't it be better if you had more manpower than someone found out you were after me?
"Lucle, you must have gotten to one clue earlier. Look, what did you think when you saw this paper?
Take Lucru's hand and expose the piece of paper to your eyes again.
I stroked the back of my thumb with my fingertips to calm that trembling hand.
"... I thought maybe someone close to me would be the sender"
"But if that was someone really right around the corner, are you going to be all right?
Let your index finger stand on the neck tilting lucle.
Move left and right in a slow, constant rhythm so as to focus on its fingertips.
"Imagine why you have to take these roundabout ways? Relax. You'll find out soon enough."
Together, he guides to the answer with a gentle voice color and a unique discouragement.
"... because you can't get close to me for no reason? So burn me, wait for something?
"Yes, because I know you very well, and if I hunt you down like this, I'm sure you'll see what you do."
"No way... confused by the escort, trying to get close to me...!?
The moment that word speaks, slap Lucru on the shoulder and interrupt his thoughts.
Lucru opened his eyes as if he had suddenly returned to me from his dreams, and as soon as he took a moment's breath, he exhaled a deep sigh.
"That's the thing. If you can't come close to the detour, you can keep it that way, and vice versa, if this one grabs the other's tail, we'll settle for it."
"Yeah, yeah, you are! What am I thinking about being an escort..."
"That's okay, you're not bad"
"Roses -"
Saying so, stroking her young grass colored hair, Lucru exhaled a hot breath.
He rubs his forehead against my neck in a way that's like a sweet kitten to his mother.
"For one thing, let's think of this place as being under surveillance and go somewhere else. Can I have the first floor today?
"Of course it is. Let's get the tea to the table below."
Walk down the stairs with Lucru.
From the side, the students who were ridiculing at the table near the stairs stopped the movement at the same time in the sight of me escorting Lucru.
Are you perplexed by the appearance of a tremendous lucru, or are you stunned that an opponent named me appeared in the lucru who did not see the shadow of a man?
Both of those possibilities are possible, but it's a little nasty to get noticed so far.
Travel to the seat at the end and sit back.
A tea set for two was carried in less than a few minutes about the seat, either because Lucru was speaking to the maid along the way.
"... you have a hard chair"
"I'm sorry, 'cause this time I'm gonna try to get that far"
"Roses isn't bad! The bad must be..."
It could be me, smile at Lucru who almost said it.
"Let's just settle down for a moment and have some tea. I've never been too careful, but I'm tired of doing it all the time."
"Right. Besides, if there are so many people, they won't be able to do anything about it."
"Exactly. You know you can't get away with it if you've got your hands on as many people as you do. So I'm sure if you're going to do something, it's when you're alone."
Squeeze the lemon into hot tea poured from the pot.
"Whoa! Wait, Roses!
I tried to keep my mouth shut and stopped it looking like Lucru was in a terrible panic.
"Is there any chance of poison? If this pot had been mixed with poison, so would Roses."
"No, that's no problem."
Include tea in your mouth as you say.
There's no need to be frightened because no one like that has existed since the beginning.
"Hey, how could you!
"If that's what you're after, you're doing it from the beginning."
"Huh?"
"It means there are as many ways as there is to do harm. That hasn't happened before, because the real purpose isn't murder."
"Bye -"
I hold up the edge of my mouth on Lucru's good looking face.
"You see, the enemy's aim."
When he put up the cup, Lucru nodded deeply with anticipation.