"Wait, Carbuncle, please explain it to me! I don't get it?"
"Lyra, what did she tell you?"
As we walked out of the principal's room, I still tried to bug Carbuncle who ignored my question and continued to hum in her happiness.
Welp, I omitted honorifics when I called Carbuncle just now, as my mind was in chaos from her words. However, she didn't seem to mind…
"Eeh, come on, are you kidding me? You guys know it but decided to hide it, right? That you have dragon blood running through your veins."
"…What?!"
"…Come again?"
Alt-nii yelled in his surprise, and I couldn't comprehend her words.
"We have elf blood in our veins from our mom's side of family, but apart from it, we're just humans!"
"That's right!"
Alt-nii and I quickly defended ourselves from Carbuncle's false labeling.
"Eeh?"
Carbuncle then turned around to the two of us and approached us—
*Sniff sniff*
She made a sniffing gesture… Uhm, are you a dog—wait, a dragon's physical senses far exceed the other races, right?
"You two smell of dragon blood, though it's faint. You must be lying for not knowing it at all!"
Though I was a little bit surprised for her awesome sense of smell, I quickly overcame my astonishment and answered—coincidentally, Alt-nii also answered to Carbuncle's statement at the exact same time!
""We're not lying!!""
"…Eh?"
Carbuncle tilted her head in confusion and seemed to be lost in a deep thought.
"Hmm… then that's your homework! Go and ask your family! Your family might be keeping such an important secret from you!"
"No, you might smell it wrong!"
"Lyr, are you doubting my senses?! Wait, I have a more conclusive evidence! That healing spherical glass from earlier—you two felt that you were brimming with energy, right? Let me tell you, that spherical glass was a healing item—of an exclusive use only to anyone that has dragon blood running through their veins!"
"…WHAT?!"
Alt-nii and I froze. And then, at this time, I came to understand what Carbuncle meant before by, "Jackpot!" …Jackpot, she just confirmed that we have dragon blood running through our veins.
But it didn't make sense… why hasn't anyone mentioned it to us before?
"Ah, there they are! Lyraaaa!!"
Just then, I heard Iris' cute voice that managed to heal and soothe my mind… Ah, my beloved daughter—no, wait, that's wrong!
I turned around and saw Iris, Luca, and Kiri rushing off to us.
"Wha, you guys, aren't you back at the class?"
"Well, since it's already at this hour, the class was immediately ended right after we heard a few words from Morgan-sensei. As for introduction to the school, he said that it will be done along with our lessons… Ah, we'll immediately start the lessons as scheduled tomorrow!"
Kiri answered like a good boy he is.
I see… so, while I was taken to the infirmary and to the principal's room, the class was dismissed.
"…You were great. Nothing's hurt?"
Luca asked reluctantly—hmph, you don't want to admit that I'm greater than you? Mwahaha!!!
*cough*, let's stop laughing like a villain or a bully for now.
"Nope, we're all fine… ah…"
Carbuncle is going to stick with me—I mean, do her observation of humans while being together with me, as I'm the "specimen" that sparked her interest.
So, a proper introduction is in order.
"Carbuncle-san… let me introduce—"
"Carbuncle's fine."
"…Right. Let me introduce you to my friends. This here is Iris, this is Luca, and this is Kiri. …if you want to stick to me, then I hope you can get along well with my friends as well."
"Ha, good! You're brave enough to put a condition that I have to agree! But, that sounds fun! Lyr's friends… they must be interesting!!"
Carbuncle leaned forward with sparkling eyes.
…ah, Luca, Kiri, and Iris spontaneously stepped back.
"Oi, Lyra, you owe us an explanation!"
"L-Lyra, what is going on?"
"E-eh?"
Luca demanded an explanation, Iris turned her head to me and to Carbuncle many times over in her confusion, and Kiri just looked at me with blank stare.
"Ah, she's Carbuncle, as you may have known… She has decided to join our special class… as she wants to be my friend… I think."
"Yup, well said, Lyr!"
"So… yeah. We now have one more friend…? Ahaha…"
I tried to laugh it off in a friendly way, but my face is still stiff, after all…
"Awesome!" Luca quickly recovered from his surprise and happily celebrated.
"W-whoa, a dragon… is a friend?!" Kiri's eyes shone—
Ah, they are typical boys, after all. Meanwhile, Iris…
"E-eh? W-will it be all right? Dragons… don't eat humans, right?"
Iris is being Iris.
"Don't worry, the Dragonkin has vowed to uphold peace in this world. You have my words," Carbuncle smiled and reassured Iris.
"Although… I must say that you're giving off the image of a little sheep… hmmm…," She continued to mutter as her gaze is glued to Iris.
"Hiiii!!"
Obviously, Iris would be frightened—Carbuncle is looking at her intently… and what's that… why is she licking her lips, as if she wants to taste something good?
"Ah, forgive me! I love meat, after all. Sheep—ah, to be more specific, lamb is one of my favorite meat."
…It's not so reassuring, Carbuncle.
I heaved a sigh at how Iris is using me as a shield, hiding behind me as Carbuncle played "peek-boo!" with her through my body.
"Oy, Altaire! Lyra! You two okay?"
Clavis' voice!
This time, it's Alt-nii's friends coming after him—there's Clavis and… another boy who's right behind Clavis. I've never seen him before.
His beige hair feels comforting and it goes well with his brown eyes—ah, he's wearing a glasses! Is he the "by-the-book" type?
"Ah, Luca and Kiri are also here… And the dragon girl… and…?"
"Ah, Clavis-nii! This girl here is Iris, the one I talked about!"
"…Iris?"
--Unexpectedly, the one who responded wasn't Clavis-nii, but instead, it's Alt-nii's other friend.
From his tone, he seemed to have known Iris, but… I kept thinking on how people around me kept saying that the name "Iris" is so familiar.
"Harvey?!"
Second unexpected thing: Iris popped out her head, ignoring Carbuncle who was right in front of her as she tried to take a better look at the figure who just called out her name.
"Iris, is that really you?!"
"Harvey, really?!"
"…"
Iris stopped hiding behind me and passed by Carbuncle—now, she's right in front of Alt-nii's other friend—okay, his name seems to be Harvey.
And the two are now inside their own worlds.
"Long time no see! You've grown so much! How are you doing? You aren't being bullied or anything, right?"
"Harvey, how is Auntie? I'm… I'm fine now! I'm finally enrolled in here, and all…"
"Which one is your class? Basic Level 2 Class…?"
"Ah, no… I… I decided to repeat the year and enrolled in Basic Special Class Year 1!"
"So, what happened during the time we didn't meet?"
…You two, please… notice that we're still here, and look! All of us are looking at you two, unable to understand what's going on or what are you guys talking about…
But none of us has the guts to destroy this… friendly atmosphere surrounding the two of them.
…Wait! Iris repeated the year? Does that mean… she's actually older than me?!
As much as I want to ask her, I can't bring myself to disturb them…
"Harvey, how do you know Altaire's sister's friend?"
…Oh, look! I spotted a dense character! Clavis-nii innocently disturbed Iris and Harvey, forcefully bringing them back to the real world.
I'm glad it isn't my big brother, though…
"Ah, Clavis! You don't remember? I've told you often about Iris, my childhood friend!"
"Eh?! Ah, sorry, I forgot the name! No wonder it sounds so familiar!" (Clavis)
"So you finally reunited with your childhood friend after a long time?" (Altaire)
As the seniors flocked together, I tugged Iris closer to me.
"Iris… you know my big brother's friend? And… just how old are you?!"
"Lyra… ah, yes, Harvey is a childhood friend of mine! It's been quite a long time since I last saw him. We were so close before. And… I'm seven years old!"
"…"
I stared at her small and cute stature carefully.
Seven… years… old?!
She really is one year older than me?!
But what's with her appearance that can even deceive anyone if she were to claim that she's younger than me?!
"Hmm, what's going on?"
The one who seems to be unable to comprehend the situation the most is none other than Carbuncle.
"Well, long story short… they just met each other after being separated for quite a while…"
"Ah… I see…"
Carbuncle nodded at my explanation, but to be honest… I don't quite understand the whole situation myself.
The sound system suddenly echoed a certain melody… A signal to something?
"anyway! We got to return back soon, it's the melody that signals us to go back already. We can talk things out tomorrow, right?" Clavis explained the significance of that melody and suggested us to just go back first and slowly digest everything that has happened today.
"Ah, right… T-then, shall we head to the gate?"
"Oh… Then, see you tomorrow, Lyra!"
"Iris, you're not going back?"
"I am. But, since I live in the school dormitory…"
…Lyra, 6 years old physically, and older mentally. Yet I kept forgetting trivial things, such as… the existence of school dormitory. Since Clavis-nii, Alt-nii, Luca, and Kiri are all not going to the dormitory, so it completely slipped from my mind.
"You're going to the dormitory? Then, let me lead the way! I live in the dormitory, too," Harvey happily responded.
"Really?"
"Yeah, the direction's the same, although it's separated between boys and girls."
"T-then, I'm glad! Please lead the way, Harvey!"
"Let's catch up on the way, we've got so much to talk about, right?!"
"Un!"
Iris nodded enthusiastically and smiled. Aaah, why do I feel like my Iris is being snatched away from me—wait, I can't turn to be like Dad!!
"Then, see you tomorrow, Iris! Oh, I haven't introduced myself to Harvey-san!"
"Just Harvey is fine! Ah, I've known about you guys from Altaire here. By the way, I'm glad that you could use the gift that Altaire requested of me and my father! Hope you like that knuckle-hair-accessories-hybrid!"
"…"
I turned to face Alt-nii.
"Alt-nii, you asked Harvey to make it?!"
"Yes! Harvey's a blacksmith's son. His father runs a small blacksmithing workshop!"
Actually, this hybrid is awesome…
But as I think of the weapon-accessory-hybrid and of Harvey's "by-the-book" first impression… I feel like Harvey isn't really a "by-the-book" person…
Imagine, if he can make such a hybrid, he'd easily make other hybrid-things that can be used for… let's say… pranks?
…I need to get to know Alt-nii and his friends' behavior at school!
"Okay, let's go, then!"
Carbuncle walked to my side and grabbed my arm happily.
"…Uhm, where are you going, Carbuncle?"
"Me? I'm going to wherever you're going, of course!"
"…But, I'm going home, you know? Where do you stay, by the way?"
"Eh, ah? Right… if you're going home… it's not my home, so I can't say I'm going home with you… Oh, Shekai-san told me she'd arrange a dormitory room… maybe?"
As Carbuncle tilted her head, Shekai-san's figure could be seen. …what a perfect timing!
"Thank goodness you haven't gone so far! The arrangements to your living here have been completely prepared, Carbuncle-chan. You are to live in the student dormitory. Come, let me guide you."
"Headmaster Shekai, you're going to the dormitory as well?"
Harvey, who isn't too far away from us, asked.
"Yes, that's right. I got to escort Carbuncle-chan."
"Then, shall we go together?"
"That's a nice idea!"
"Fwe… I want to talk more with Lyr and Tair, though…"
"There's always tomorrow!" Alt-nii answered.
And finally, after such a long, long exhausting day, we're heading home…