[Second School Ball]
My second ball as Barrett Albers.
While I had been just a participant last year, this year I was running the event as the student council president.
But compared to the last year’s ball run by Reina, the former student council president, this year was smaller in scale, thus less work required.
The main cause was obviously the synthetic monster attack incident. We had promptly subjugated it in the forest before it could injure anyone, but if things had gone wrong, it would have turned into a terrible incident.
The Lekrust family and the Halman family, the masterminds, were now gone, but in case a similar incident happened, fewer guests were invited and the knights would handle the security.
There seemed to have been a discussion about canceling the event at one point, but the knights’ commander had stepped up and given his support out of pity for the students, so the ball managed to get a green light in the end.
When night came, students crowded the gorgeous dance hall.
Girls wearing dresses that had been carefully selected for this special day entered while being escorted by boys who were their partners.
Many of them were couples. It was no wonder though. With many nobles attending the academy, quite a few students were engaged, like me and Tayte. That, or perhaps they developed a romantic relationship after meeting at the academy.
“Seeing such a huge crowd makes all the work we’ve put in feels worth it, doesn’t it?”
“You can say that again.”
After leaving the waiting room for the student council, Tayte and I looked over the hall from the stair landing and remarked in gratification.
…I wondered if Reina felt the same way last year.
As we were looking at the students, Principal Abigail came over. One of the knights in charge of security was following behind her.
“What are you doing here? Go enjoy yourselves.”
“Huh? B-but…”
Tayte and I looked at each other.
While it was true our work was done and we could just enjoy the ball now, the two of us decided that we at least should stay on alert, just in case.
“Hey now, what do you guys think the knights are here for? They’re here so that you students can enjoy the ball, you know?”
“Ah.”
That was true.
As looks of realization dawned on our faces, the knight behind Principal gently said, “Go ahead.”
“T-thank you very much!”
We bowed our heads deeply and dashed down the stairs.
Then…
“Tayte… would you give me the honor to dance with you?”
“Why, of course.”
I took Tayte’s hand and we started dancing to the music.
Last year, our dance had been very awkward… it wasn’t because I sucked at dancing—I was quite skillful, in fact, thanks to Barrett’s memories—but because there still had been a sense of distance between me and Tayte.
But right now, we were genuinely enjoying the dance.
It went to show how much our relationship had deepened over the past year.
Before I knew it, the other members of the student council joined us on the dance floor.
Andrei invited Jarvis, while Madeline was invited by a nervous boy and a smile bloomed on her face, one that looked like she had caught a fish. Raul was having fun with Eureka, and Kleine was chatting with Melia.
…It was a good atmosphere, all in all.
Seemed like the ball would end without any trouble—or so I thought.
