PandoraHearts ~Caucus Race~, Vol. 1 (2 page)

It wasn’t likely that the future head of the House of Vessalius would ever need a knack for cooking, but Oz looked thoroughly pleased by the idea.

At the sound of loud sniffing, Gilbert glanced at the bed.

Alice was kneeling on the bed with her legs splayed out to either side in an M. Her face was tipped slightly upward, and she was sniffing the air.

“Hmm.” She nodded in approval. “Something smells good, Oz.”

“I know, right?! I made you something tasty, Alice.”

“Oho. Then—of course—it has meat in it, doesn’t it?”

“Huh? No, it doesn’t.”

“…I didn’t quite catch that.” Alice repeated herself: “
Of course
it has meat in it, doesn’t it?”

“I told you, there’s no meat.”

“
Whaaat…?!
”

That can’t be!
Alice reared back, seemingly shocked to the core.

“I put in milk and cinnamon and banana and—”

Oz’s explanation didn’t seem to get through to Alice. She drooped dejectedly, planting both hands on the bed.

“I
trusted
you. I can’t believe you’d betray me like this…”

From her pose, Gilbert thought she might be about to snap, and he hastily dropped into a fighting stance.

However, Alice stayed deeply depressed, wrapped in an aura of gloom. The sight left him feeling a bit deflated, and he thought,
The cold must have knocked the fight out of her.

“It’s all right, it tastes really good,” Oz said cheerfully, and took over Gilbert’s chair.

Setting the tray on his knees, he picked up a silver spoon from where it lay beside the deep dish of oatmeal. Since it had come straight from the kitchen, steam rose from the dish, and it looked piping hot.

Oz scooped up a spoonful, brought it to his own lips, and blew on it to cool it.

Then:

“Here, Alice. Say ‘aaaah.’”

…Wha… ‘Say aaaah’?!

Gilbert, who’d gone to stand behind Oz and a bit to the side after vacating the chair, stared, flabbergasted.

Deferentially, Oz held the spoon out to Alice, holding a napkin under her chin with his other hand to catch any spills. He was the very picture of devoted service.

Y-you’d really go that far, Oz—?!

The sight of his master being a servant poleaxed Gilbert.

Apparently Alice found this sort of meticulous encouragement flattering. With a small grunt, she drew close to the spoon. Since Oz had blown on it, it had cooled down a little, but it was still fresh oatmeal, and it was still quite hot.
She couldn’t just gulp down the whole spoonful at once. She pecked at the spoon with her lips, panting a little to let the steam escape her mouth.

Oz watched her, and his eyes looked happy. He seemed to be thinking,
Alice sure is cute.

Gilbert watched Oz. His shoulders were trembling slightly.

“There’s still a lot more. Here…”

Once again, Oz dipped the spoon into the oatmeal and held it out to Alice. At that, Gilbert couldn’t take it anymore and interrupted. “Wait!”

As a valet, the sight of his master waiting on someone was too much for him. At his sudden, sharp cry, both Oz and Alice looked startled.

“Oz, you don’t have to do that!” Gilbert said. His expression was one of desperation.

“Gil? …But Alice is—”
Sick
, Oz was about to say, but before he could finish—

“Then
I’ll
do it!” Gilbert insisted, catching the wrist of the hand that held the spoon. Oz looked blank.

“Huh? …Gil, you’re going to make her say ‘aaaah’? I…I’d actually like to see that, but…”

“I’m not saying ‘aaaah’!”

Gilbert refused point-blank. At that, Oz used his free hand to pry Gilbert’s fingers from his wrist, whisking his hand away so that Gilbert couldn’t take the spoon. Oz gave him a mild glare.

“…But no. I told you, I’m going to take care of Alice. Remember?”

No matter how Gilbert argued, Oz seemed determined to hang on to his role as Alice’s caretaker.

If he pressed him too hard, he really might put Oz out of sorts. Gilbert couldn’t do anything but watch, although he was choking back the urge to cut and run the whole time.
The worried wrinkle between his eyebrows grew deeper and deeper.

Oz fed Alice oatmeal as if he were feeding a small bird.

“Is it good, Alice?”

“Mmm. It’s not bad. It would be perfect if it had meat, though.”

“When you’re better. —Oh.”

Oz, who’d been plying the spoon cheerfully, seemed to remember something. He turned back to Gilbert.

“By the way, Gil.”

“…What.”

“You came to my room. Did you need something?”

“Oh—”

At those words, Gilbert remembered.

| 13:00 |

“—And so, the number of illegal contractors of which Pandora is aware is…”

In an office in a corner of Pandora Headquarters, Sharon Rainsworth’s voice rose and fell.

It was one in the afternoon, and the sun had just begun its journey down the sky.

Oz wasn’t present. The office held only Sharon, Xerxes Break, and Gilbert.

Gilbert stood, leaning against the wall, listening to Sharon without paying much attention to her. He’d visited Oz’s room to pass on a request from Sharon, who’d wanted to meet as a group and discuss a few things after lunch. The content of the discussion itself was of little importance: just a report on Pandora’s overall activity. Oz and Gilbert tended to work independently instead of as part of the organization, and Sharon had thought it would be good for them to know a little about the rest.

Oz had refused on the grounds that he had business he couldn’t leave unattended. Gilbert hadn’t been very interested, either: He was here because he’d thought it would look bad for both him and Oz to be absent.

—
Please tell Sharon-chan I’m sorry
, Oz had said.

…Alice was really special to Oz. Gilbert knew that. What he didn’t know was how special, or why Oz felt she was special.

Because she’d returned him to this world from the Abyss, which was said to be impossible to escape? But it would be more accurate to say that Alice had used Oz in order to cross to this side herself. On top of that, in making Oz an illegal contractor, she’d practically wired him with a time bomb.

If anything, it wouldn’t have been at all odd for him to resent Alice—

As he reached that particular thought, Gilbert suddenly found himself perplexed.

What do
I
think of that stupid rabbit?

Her stupidity was constantly causing him trouble, her confrontational personality made him very uncomfortable, and that arrogant attitude of hers frequently got on his nerves. Not only that, but she was a meat-loving picky eater who was always hungry, and, well, as a cook, it was nice to see someone eat what he’d made as if it tasted
that
good. —But that was neither here nor there.

It seemed to him as if he had every reason to hate her and none whatsoever to like her.

Was that why? Gilbert remembered Oz in that apron. Oz wasn’t used to cooking, but he’d done it for Alice. Was that why he’d felt so restless—you could almost have called it irritated—at seeing Oz wait on her?

Hah—! Wait, am I jealous? …Me? …Of the stupid rabbit?

Not even possible
, he thought. He shook his head with a dry little smile.

To clear his mind, he thought about the chick pattern on the apron Oz had been wearing.

You know, that apron really did look good on him. He’s an aristocrat, and yet he’s able to wear commoner clothes with style. That’s my master for you—

Lost in thought as he was, Gilbert failed to notice it.

For a while now, having registered that he wasn’t paying attention to her, Sharon had been calling his name.

“Hellooooo? Gilbert-kun?”

When Break came up beside him and spoke—loudly—right in his ear, Gilbert came to himself with a jolt.

He looked over. Break was pointing at something.

When Gilbert glanced in that direction…

“Tee-hee-hee-hee-hee.”
Thoom-thoom-thoom-thoom…

There was Sharon, wearing a flawlessly elegant smile. The pressure she gave off as she beamed made Gilbert quail instantly.

“You seem to have wandered into an entertaining daydream, ‘Raven.’”

A shudder chilled his spine. It was all Gilbert could do to squeeze out a “…Nuh, no.” Sharon’s bright smile seemed to corner him—“I’ve been speaking of matters of some importance, you know. What were you thinking about?”—and his answer came as a gasp.

“Ch-chicks,” he said, honestly.

“—Chicks?” Sharon and Break cocked their heads in simultaneous confusion.

“Alice-kun has a cold, eh?”

“And Oz-sama is nursing her…which is why he was unable to attend.”

After Gilbert filled them in, Break and Sharon wore odd
expressions, as if everything made sense and, at the same time, made no sense at all.

Apparently neither of them had ever heard of a Chain catching cold before, either. From their reactions, Gilbert thought, asking if they knew how to handle the situation wasn’t likely to yield any noteworthy responses.

Break, who was standing beside Sharon, raised a jaunty index finger.

“Meaning that, with his master taken from him, faithful hound Gil-kun is feeling
lonely
.”

“My!”

Sharon put a hand to her mouth and giggled.

“That’s not it! I’m not particularly…”

Gilbert argued, blushing, but his words and expression only fueled Break’s and Sharon’s smiles.

Gilbert could never match these two in this sort of exchange, and the least damaging strategy in this situation would have been to beat a hasty retreat. Of course, if Gilbert had been able to read the room and make a decision like that one, he wouldn’t have been Gilbert.

“…I just… Oz insisted on taking care of the stupid rabbit himself, and I thought it was weird… Not only did he cook for her, he did the ‘Say aaaah’ thing—”

Break and Sharon: “(Grin, grin)”

—
I shouldn’t have said that!
Gil realized, but it was much, much too late.

“O-
ho
. ‘Aaaah,’ you say?” said Break.

“‘Aaaah,’ wasn’t it?” said Sharon.

“‘Aaaah’—” Break and Sharon chorused.

“Wh-wh-wh-what are you two driving at?!”

Gilbert lashed out in self-defense. Sharon gave a smile as bright and beautiful as sunshine.

“No, no. Nothing at all—
snrk
! Tee-hee.”

“Heh-heh, you mustn’t laugh, my lady… Heh-heh-heh!”

“Wh-wh-why you—!”

“—That’s enough for now. We’ve got his attention,” Break said, without blinking.

“Yes.” Sharon nodded, her face serious.

“This may be cause for concern. A disease that affects Chains… Perhaps it’s a curse of some sort.”

They completely ignored my reaction
, Gilbert thought morosely.

Come to think of it, both Sharon and Break were contracted to Chains. If there was a possibility that this disease or phenomenon could affect their own Chains, then it certainly was their business.

Gilbert himself was in the very same position, but he hadn’t thought things through that far.

These two were perfectly synchronized with each other, and he wasn’t able to follow the pace of their conversation. He was at their mercy from beginning to end.

“Hmm.” Break gave a small sigh. “What does Oz-kun say?”

“…He’s enthusiastic.”

“Beg pardon?”

“He’s enthusiastically taking care of the stupid rabbit. He actually looks happy—”

As he mentioned that to Break, Gilbert’s eyes suddenly fell to his own hand.

Oz’s hand, as he’d dipped the spoon into the oatmeal and held it out to Alice. This was the hand he’d used to grab his wrist.

The fingers he’d wrapped around Oz’s wrist had been pried off right away.

…Something was bothering him. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it was there.

No, I do know. That was—

He opened and closed that hand, several times.

He’d fallen abruptly silent. Break watched him, quietly, not interrupting.

Sharon looked as if she’d like to ask what was wrong.

“Oh…” Gilbert muttered.

A scene flared in the back of his mind, just for a moment. Something distant, and faint, and nostalgic.

Fluttering, sparkling, swirling as it fell—

Gilbert looked up. He spoke, shortly.

“Golden…snow…”

Break and Sharon had no idea what he meant by that, but as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Gilbert had turned on his heel and was walking away, heading out of the office at a rapid clip.

From behind him, Sharon called to him, but he didn’t have the time to answer. He reached the hall and headed for Oz’s room, almost running. He knew the distance wasn’t that great, but it
felt
far away, and it made him anxious and irritable.

—That idiot!
He muttered under his breath.

Arriving at Oz’s door, Gilbert flung it open without knocking, calling “Oz!” as he did so.

“Ugh, gkh, aaaaaaaaah……!!” Alice cried out in agony.

| 13:30 |

On the bed, Alice was clawing at her chest and gasping in pain.

“Alice! …Alice, are you okay?!” Oz was leaning forward, calling her name over and over.

“—?! Oz, what’s the matter?!”

Gilbert rushed over to them. Oz looked up at Gilbert, shaking his head. “I don’t know, she just suddenly…”

This was much more than a mere cold.

Alice’s body was arched like a bow. She’d gone into convulsions. She flung the down comforter off, and when Oz reached out to her, worried, she scratched his arm. “Ow!” Oz cried.

Neither Oz nor Gilbert knew what was happening to Alice. Her arms clawed the air as if she were a drowning swimmer who was desperately trying to surface. Her eyes were unfocused, as if she was delirious from a high fever.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah…!!”

Her scream split the air in the room. “Alice!” yelled Oz.

Then, abruptly, she fell silent, collapsing limply.
What now?
Gilbert thought, warily.

“Aah—”

Alice grimaced, making a small noise, and then—