Chapter 217

Chapter 217. Seven Stars Cultural Festival (3)

12:00 PM.

After parting ways with Lajes (safely?), I headed to the meeting spot with Iris.

The place where I was supposed to meet Iris was our Party House, a hideout that had recently been established just for our party.

‘But why did she tell me to come to the Party House?’

The Party House was located quite far from the Central Plaza, which could be considered the main venue of the festival.

The bustling sounds of the festival had become faint, distant noises, barely audible.

“Ah, Dale! Over here!”

“Hehe. Dale’s here.”

And so, I arrived at the Party House.

In front of it, Iris and Yurina were waiting for me together.

“Huh? Why are you two together?”

I was sure Yurina was supposed to meet me at 2:00 PM, after Iris.

“Well… about that.”

Iris smiled gently and exchanged glances with Yurina.

“Yurina and I talked it over and decided to combine our times.”

“Combine times…?”

“Yes. So, the two of us will be with Dale until 4:00 PM.”

Ah.

Instead of giving up their individual time, they extended the time we could spend together.

“So, does that mean the three of us can enjoy the festival together?”

“Well….”

Yurina trailed off and fiddled with the pendant around her neck.

“If we’re going to enjoy the festival together, I’d have to be in my ‘Yuren’ form, right?”

“Well… that can’t be helped.”

Only our party members knew about Yurina’s existence.

“So, I suggested that today, instead of going far, we spend some cozy time inside the Party House.”

“…Inside the Party House?”

Spending the festival day inside the Party House instead of wandering around outside.

It’s like saying you’d spend the whole day cooped up in your hotel room while on a trip.

“I, I said it’s fine even if I’m in my Yuren form….”

“Yurina, don’t you want to spend this kind of day in your original form?”

Iris smiled gently.

“And I’m not really fond of crowded places either.”

“Well, if both of you are fine with it, then I don’t mind.”

Honestly, if I had to choose, I’d prefer staying inside the Party House and relaxing.

Enjoying the festival while bumping into people just drains my energy.

“Then let’s go inside!”

“B-but I decorated the second-floor lounge a bit to give it a festival vibe!”

Following Iris and Yurina, I went up to the second-floor lounge.

As Yurina had said, the lounge was decorated with sparkling ornaments and balloons.

Though, it felt more like being invited to a surprise birthday party than a festival.

“Dale, you mentioned before that you were assigned the role of ‘Special Candidate,’ right?”

“Yeah.”

“How’s that going?”

“Well… there’s not much progress right now.”

After that, I went outside Valhalla City a few times to search for the Beast Mask Group, but I couldn’t find any traces of them.

“Isn’t it hard to search alone?”

“It’s just wandering around, so it’s fine.”

“I want to help Dale too….”

“But you have classes.”

While I have plenty of time due to my suspension, the other party members are diligently attending their classes.

“When does your suspension end?”

“Probably until the end of this semester.”

“A-are you going to get held back?”

“Well….”

Normally, skipping this many classes would definitely result in being held back.

“But I think the Chancellor will take care of it.”

With such strong backing now, I don’t need to worry about being held back.

“But still… I’m really worried that Dale is doing something dangerous alone.”

Yurina frowned and bit her lip.

Having fought the Beast Mask Group before, she knows just how powerful they are.

“Me too. From what Yurina told me, even that Wolf Mask was at the level of a top-ranked fighter, right?”

“Yeah. He was really strong. Of course, Dale is much stronger than me, so he could probably beat the Wolf Mask easily….”

“But the other members of the Beast Mask Group might be even stronger.”

Yurina and Iris exchanged worried glances as they spoke, looking at me.

I forced a bitter smile and shrugged.

“You two don’t need to worry so much.”

If anything, the ones who should be worried are the Beast Mask Group if they run into me.

But, well.

Honestly, being worried over like this wasn’t such a bad feeling.

It was proof that they cared about me.

“But don’t overdo it, okay?”

“Yep.”

“Then….”

Yurina glanced at Iris, and they exchanged looks.

“D-Dale’s been working hard lately….”

“Today, we’ll ‘heal’ Dale.”

Huh?

What’s this about healing all of a sudden?

“Wait here for a bit.”

“D-don’t come inside, no matter what!”

Iris and Yurina hurried downstairs.

‘What’s going on?’

As I tilted my head and waited for about five minutes, I heard footsteps coming from downstairs.

“Um… D-Dale. How is it?”

“Hehe. Today, Yurina and I prepared something special to heal Dale.”

A glossy black dress.

A skirt layered with lace and white lace bands wrapped around the elbows.

An apron with white frills draped over the dress.

Garter belts and white stockings peeking out from under the slightly short skirt.

Yurina and Iris stood at the door, dressed in maid outfits that seemed more suited for a different purpose (?) than housework.

“…….”

What is this?

Am I dreaming?

“Dale?”

“…Huh?”

“Why are you spacing out like that?”

“Well, it’s just….”

I’ve seen Yurina and Iris in maid outfits before, but seeing them both dressed like this at the same time made the impact not just double, but squared.

‘And the maid outfits they wore before weren’t like this.’

Back then, they wore the kind of maid outfits that the Helios Family maids wore, so they were quite modest.

But the maid outfits they were wearing now seemed to have been made purely for this kind of risqué event, with not a speck of practicality.

“W-where did you even get these?”

“We borrowed them from Juliet.”

“…What?”

For a moment, an image of Juliet in a maid outfit flashed through my mind.

‘Kyaaaaaaah!!!’

A deep sense of despair and pain filled my head, as if I had peered into the abyss.

“Ah, of course, it’s not the one Juliet wore, but we got a new one through a shop Juliet knows.”

“R-really?”

“Yes. The one Juliet wore… was way too revealing, so we couldn’t possibly wear it.”

“…….”

Don’t imagine it!

Don’t you dare imagine it!

“R-really?”

“Hehe. Anyway, Yurina and I put a lot of thought into choosing these maid outfits for today… How do you like them?”

“Ugh… I wanted to pick something more modest, but Iris….”

“Oh my, wasn’t it you, Yurina, who insisted on the stockings and garter belts?”

“Eek! Y-you promised not to bring that up!!!”

Yurina’s face turned bright red as she shouted.

Iris seemed to find Yurina’s reaction amusing and burst into laughter.

‘They’ve gotten really close when I wasn’t looking.’

Iris, who usually put on a ‘Saint’ mask and acted reserved unless she was with Camila, seemed to have completely opened up to Yurina, showing her mischievous side without hesitation.

“Now then. Dale, you haven’t had lunch yet, right?”

“Nope.”

“We’ll make something for you right away, so wait a bit.”

“I’ll help too.”

Yurina and Iris headed to the kitchen set up in one corner of the lounge.

“…Huh.”

The sight of my two lovers in maid outfits preparing lunch.

It was such an unreal scene that I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.

“Kyaah! Yurina! What are you doing?!”

“Huh? Isn’t this how you do it?”

“Who puts an egg in an omelette with the shell still on?!”

“Ah, you’re supposed to crush it into small pieces?”

“You’re not supposed to put the shell in at all!”

…….

Come to think of it, Yuren in my past life was terrible at cooking too.

“Sigh. I’ll handle the cooking, so just chop the vegetables.”

“U-uh. How should I chop them?”

“Hmm… for an omelette, a bit smaller?”

“Got it!”

Tadatadatadatadatadak!

“Wait, why are you chopping the vegetables smaller than grains of rice?!”

“You said to chop them small….”

“Ugh, I’m going to lose it.”

After a cooking session filled with shouts and screams.

Thanks to Iris’s miraculous healing magic(?), an omelette that somehow managed to take shape was placed on the table.

“You worked hard.”

“I’m never cooking with Yurina again.”

“…Sniff.”

Perhaps because she had been scolded the entire time while cooking.

Yurina was curled up like a shriveled Lanez left on the roadside.

“I, I wanted to make something delicious for Dale too….”

“Well, everyone makes mistakes at first.”

Though Yurina’s cooking skills were too disastrous to be called mere mistakes.

But I wasn’t so heartless as to say that to her when she had worked so hard to cook for me.

“To finish it off, let’s draw a heart with ketchup… Ta-da! It’s done! The signature omelette of ‘Heaven’s Door’!”

“Heaven’s Door?”

“It’s a concept café in Valhalla City. I’ve never been there, but Juliet said she’s a regular.”

“Huh.”

So there’s a café like that in Valhalla City.

I’ve been going to Valhalla City a lot lately to search for the Beast Mask Group, so maybe I’ll check it out sometime….

“They say you can see a lot of cross-dressing men there.”

“What.”

Is that really the door to heaven?

“Hehe. Enough about the café… Now, say ‘ah,’ Dale.”

Iris scooped up some omelette with a spoon and brought it to my mouth.

“M-me too!”

Not to be outdone, Yurina scooped up some omelette and brought it to my mouth.

Iris smiled brightly, while Yurina looked tense, swallowing nervously.

Seeing my two lovers with their sparkling eyes, I couldn’t bring myself to say, “I’ll eat by myself.”

“Yum.”

“Hehe. Is it good?”

“H-how is it?”

Thanks to Iris handling over 90% of the cooking.

“It’s delicious.”

Despite the shouts and screams during the cooking process, the omelette turned out to be excellent.

Of course.

“Ehehe. I was worried it might fail, but I’m glad it turned out well.”

“Now, say ‘ah’ again.”

“This time, I’ll feed you a drink too!”

I didn’t have the mental space to leisurely savor the taste of the omelette.