Nobody Waits for a Supporting Character's Story

Nina beamed at her family. "Since Joel came all this way, I'll give him a good look at the harpoon gun and then walk him safely back home."

"Very well. A look at the harpoon gun, then. Your guest wants to see the—"

Chaison, who had been nodding along despite himself at the sight of her, as pure and radiant as a spring bunny, felt his eyes bulge clean out of his head.

They had only just noticed the harpoon gun mounted to the balcony railing, and now they all nearly gasped aloud.

So that's how she rigged the rope between the balconies—she brought a harpoon gun along too.

Natalisha rolled only her eyes, sweeping a gaze across Nina's room. The wardrobe stood half open, and a heavy-looking duffel bag had been pulled out beside it.

Exy had already failed once at searching Nina's room. Back then Nina had been asleep inside it—but what about a room with Nina gone?

The four of them exchanged swift, nimble glances and fell into formation. It was a chance to have a private word with Nina away from Joel, and at the same time to turn her room inside out. They couldn't keep getting pushed around like this, burning time forever.

"Nina. Let's have a word with your uncle, shall we?" Chaison decided to draw her alone into the parlor.

"You mean now, Uncle?"

"Yes. As the elder of this household, I find I have something to discuss with you in private."

"But Joel—"

Nina shot Joel an uneasy glance. "I understand you're giddy, having a guest stay with your family for the first time, but even family must observe certain proprieties."

"……!"

At those following words, Nina flushed red as she realized she had committed some terrible faux pas.

Cathari moved to seize the moment. "Nina, leave the young master from next door to us and go have your talk with your uncle."

"May I, really?"

"Of course. It's hardly as if you two just met."

"That's true. Joel is probably closer and dearer to all of you than he is to me."

"It's not quite at that level," Cathari said, biting back what she'd almost said—that it wasn't closeness, but that his country made her blood boil so hot she wanted to pummel him on sight.

"Joel, I'll leave this magnifier with you. I'm going to speak with my aunt and come right back, so enjoy the harpoon gun."

"……"

Joel accepted the magnifier and cast a sullen look back at the fake family, clearly displeased about something. "I'm to stay with these people?"

"Yes, indeed. If you're feeling unwell, shall I walk you home now?"

"That's right, young master next door. You look peaky—if it's too much, you may return home this instant."

Cathari made a quick shove at the healthy, rosy-cheeked, perfectly robust Joel's back, but he didn't budge an inch.

"No, thank you, Nina. Please go ahead."

Curiosity had finally triumphed over embarrassment and awkwardness. This was a chance to observe a harpoon gun modified in ways he had never seen before. He could not simply walk away, not while these spies masquerading as Nina's family might do who-knew-what to the weapon.

"I will dedicate myself to research."

Gripping the magnifier firmly, Joel took a resolute stand before the harpoon gun. Having exhausted the entertainment value of the spineless spies, turning his eyes to the magitech device set his heart pounding with anticipation.

The moment Nina and Chaison stepped out and the door clicked shut behind them, Cathari leapt onto the backrest of a small sofa and landed before the wardrobe. "I'll take the closet."

"Then I'll take the desk drawers." Natalisha pulled one open, and Exy planted herself before the duffel bag. "I'll search the bag and under the bed."

"Do not touch the magitech device," Joel said, not even glancing at the three bustling around him. "I will inspect it myself."

"Greedy, aren't we, with the harpoon gun right in front of you. What will you do if I touch it?" Cathari snapped.

Only then did Joel turn around, slowly. "It seems our last pre-meeting did not make a sufficient impression."

"Why, you little—!"

With Nina gone as well, Cathari apparently ran out of patience; she flung aside the coat hanger and lunged at Joel. The two of them collided against the backdrop of Exy scrambling to hide under the bed in a panic, and Natalisha sighing and pressing a hand to her forehead.

Chaison sat across from Nina in the same parlor where she had first been received. Tea and cookies had been laid out on the table, but the occasion was anything but a leisurely tea time.

"I'd like to hear how it came about that you invited Joel Smiler over so suddenly. And the story of how your balconies came to be tied together with a rope, while we're at it."

He needed to know whether those foxlike Soltum types were attempting some covert honey trap.

Nina had been cowering before she'd even opened her mouth. "I was so startled when I saw Gugu, Joel's pet pigeon, collapse that I—before I knew it, I used my harpoon gun, a maid's essential tool, and swung across to the house next door."

"A maid's essential tool……"

"And then Joel said he wanted to take a look at my harpoon gun, so I invited him over and brought him here."

Nina hung her head apologetically. "I've barely been in this house a few days, and I brought a guest over without asking. I'm so sorry."

"I—I'm not scolding you for that."

Chaison steeled himself against the softening of his heart. "From now on, see to it that your guests enter through a proper door. Better still, inform the family beforehand, or introduce them."

"I will. I was so swept up that I committed a rudeness."

Nina's shoulders sagged. Chaison nearly reached out right then to press sweet cookies into both her hands and soothe her—but there remained yet more to dig into.

You said you'd repay the tranquilizer gun.

Above all, he had to prevent Rikita's legacy from being siphoned off to Soltum, grain by grain, right under their noses.

"Now that I think of it—you said you were going to look for something in the warehouse to give Joel as a gift."

At that question, Nina's head snapped up in alarm, as though she'd been scorched. "Oh, don't worry about that. There wasn't a ledger in the warehouse, so I made a temporary one myself and wrote it up."

"A ledger?"

"Yes. The ledger you fill out when removing items from the warehouse. I recorded the item type, the removal date and time, my name, and the purpose, all of it. Since I didn't know whether I was allowed to take the things, I left money there too, treating it as a purchase."

"……You went that far?"

Chaison was mystified, but Nina seemed desperate to convey that she had no wish to commit any rudeness against the family. "You said the will requires notarization, so I haven't actually inherited anything yet. And the family who lived in this house originally are still here. I'm living under their roof in a house where nothing belongs to me—I'm well aware of that, you know?"

"……You may allow yourself to be a bit more comfortable, I think."

Chaison had nearly told her that even the dust in this house was hers. Never in his life had his conscience pricked him so often in so short a span.

"Ahem. So, what did you choose for Joel's gift?"

"Oh—it's this, but I couldn't give it to him."

Nina handed Chaison a pouch containing a magitech cube toy. "If anyone who isn't your grandmother's blood relative touches it, lightning strikes them."

Chaison yanked his hand straight back out of the pouch and cinched its opening tightly shut. "A—a discriminatory object, isn't it."

He'd nearly authenticated, right before Nina's eyes, the fact that he was not her real family. His stomach went cold.

Checking his watch, Chaison judged that they still needed more time to finish searching Nina's room thoroughly. So he reached for whatever words an uncle's role might plausibly permit. "However sickly a young nobleman this Joel Smiler may be, he is still a man not so many years your senior. I think it wise to be careful, so that no misunderstandings arise between you."

At that, Nina burst into amused laughter and waved a hand. "Oh, Uncle, you needn't worry about that. There's no way Joel would ever take an interest in me."

"What nonsense is that? You grew up beautifully, even through hardship."

It was no flattery; it was simply true. Rikita Bones had been an exquisitely beautiful spy, and Nina was the very image of her grandmother in her youth. In time, she would come to look exactly like the portrait of Rikita that hung in this house.

"That's not what makes someone the protagonist, though." Nina went on, that bright, sunny smile still lingering at the corners of her mouth. "It's always the protagonist who catches the eye of a prince from a neighboring kingdom. Not someone like me—a supporting character."

"……?"

Chaison felt a strange discomfort, as though some foreign object had lodged itself in his chest. Nina's thoughts and philosophy of life were nothing but trivial matters to his mission. And yet—was it that innocent expression, those clear, limpid eyes? For reasons that had nothing to do with the mission, he heard himself ask a question he need not have asked.

"Why do you think you're a supporting character?"

"Think? You mean, my own opinion? Well……"

Nina rolled her eyes as though she'd just heard a word from a foreign tongue, then answered. "Because nobody waits for a supporting character's story, do they? Not even me, a supporting character. I only ever wait for the madam's orders."