PandoraHearts ~Caucus Race~, Vol. 1 (22 page)

“I don’t care. It’s not enough.” He held his cup out, imperiously.

“You did wonderful work all day today, Reim-san.”

Speaking sympathetically, Break poured liquor into Reim’s
cup. Reim brought the cup to his lips and took a very small sip, imitating Break.

As he did so, he glared at Break, steadily. Lowering the cup, he said, “What’s this ‘surprise party’ business? Even
you
were in on it…”

“Yes, Duke Barma really
is
a problem, isn’t he. That was more a full-dress order than an invitation.”

The previous evening, Oz, Sharon, and Break had received invitations from Rufus.

Apparently, the invitations had begun with the words R
EIM IS EVER DILIGENT, HENCE, KINDHEARTED AS
I
AM
, I
HAVE DECIDED TO HOST A BANQUET FOR HIM—
, and had been crammed to bursting with declarations of just what a considerate master he was to his servants.

On top of that, in addition to the veritable concert of self-congratulation, he’d said that, to heighten Reim’s joy when it was time for the banquet, he had prepared a modest additional entertainment.

This was to have Reim run around Pandora Headquarters gathering information from the guests on the pretext of having him investigate a curse: “the curse of Mahani,” an anagram of “hanami.” …It had been shrewd of Rufus not to tell Gilbert and Alice: Both were bad at acting and intrigue. Apparently, the invitations had ended with these words:

—O
N LEARNING THAT WHAT HE BELIEVES IS A CURSE IS IN TRUTH A BANQUET IN HIS HONOR
, R
EIM WILL ASSUREDLY BE STARTLED AND MOVED TO TEARS
. T
HOU SHOULDST ALSO BE GRATEFUL TO ME FROM THE BOTTOM OF THY COLLECTIVE HEART FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO PARTAKE IN THIS SUPERB EVENT…

After hearing a general explanation from Break, Reim sighed deeply.

“I wasn’t moved to tears. I was so appalled I almost cried…”

“Now, now.” Break’s expression was consoling. “It looks as though Duke Barma’s greatest ambition was thwarted, in any case.”

“Ambition?” Reim looked back at Break, puzzled.

“Yes, I heard about it from my lady—”

Then Break told him about it, lowering his voice a bit. To be accurate, he said, it was something Sheryl had said when Sharon had gone to ask her grandmother for permission to go out at night. After hearing that an invitation had arrived, and that the party was for a servant, Sheryl had thought for a little while. Then she’d spoken to Sharon. With a cheerful, sunny little laugh, she’d said:

“Tell him that it’s very shallow of him to use Reim-san to show off his kindness.”

“…And Sharon-sama told him that?”

“Of
course
she did. And, on hearing it, Duke Barma apparently considered canceling the party—although, in the end, as you can see, he didn’t. He must’ve known what Sheryl-sama would say later if he called it off.”

At hearing Break’s story, as you’d expect, Reim sighed deeply. He had no words.

…Rufus-sama really is a problem…

Reim muttered to himself, silently, and lifted the cup to his lips. Two sips, three, and the cup was empty again. Reim turned his gaze to the ring of people a short distance away. Rufus, who’d apparently already had quite a bit to drink, seemed to be in high spirits, fluttering his fan and reciting a poem in the center of the circle.

Like Reim, Break looked at Rufus and spoke, sounding impressed. “He’s completely recovered. I’d say Duke Barma is the one most enjoying the
hanami
at this point.”

“…Mm…” Reim said, briefly.

Break looked at him.

“I think he’s wanted to hold one of these for quite a while now…”

At Reim’s words, it all seemed to make sense to Break.

“So he was trying for two birds with one stone…or
three
birds, rather. That’s Duke Barma the strategist for you,” he added, admiringly.

Three birds…?
Reim thought about what that meant. One was looking good in front of Sheryl. The second was his own desire. The third—
Was it really…to reward me?

It might have been, and it might not. He didn’t know.

…And so Reim said “Pour,” thrusting his cup out at Break.

“Yes, yes,” Break said, and poured, smiling wryly. In return, Reim poured some for Break as well. “—Whoops!” Break said, deftly lifting the brimming cup to his lips.

Reim’s gaze shifted from Rufus to the people seated around him. Abruptly, he asked, “What about it? Does Sharon-sama enjoy drinking, too?”

“…Yes, well…”

Unusually for him, Break faltered. Reim gave a small sigh.

“I see. She doesn’t look as if she does.”

“‘Enjoy’ might not be the… Well, it should be fine. She said she wouldn’t drink today.”

Reim had wondered what would happen if she did drink, but he felt it wouldn’t be wise to ask, so he left it at that.

A close look at the circle revealed a variety of circumstances. Gilbert’s face was bright red; he’d already drunk himself insensible, and was being tended to by Oz and Ada. Sharon was watching the three of them fondly and darting discrete glances at the bottles of liquor, as if thinking,
A little bit might be all right
. Rufus was saying something, looking displeased by the fact that no one was paying attention to him.

Possibly this rice wine was more potent than its sweetness suggested, or possibly he was just tired. Reim could really hold his liquor, and even his cheeks were faintly flushed.

“I never thought my day off would turn out like this…” he muttered with a cynical smile.

Then…

Fwiiissh
. The night wind picked up, blowing through the garden, shaking the branches of the great cherry tree and scattering blossoms. Pale-pink petals danced in the moonlight. The contrast with the darkness was beautiful, like something from a waking dream. In the midst of it all, Rufus’s long, vermillion hair fluttered, and his fan swam right and left, as though tracing the course of the petals.

It looked almost as if he was beckoning them to a world of mysterious, subtle beauty—

Before long, the wind subsided.

Reim, who’d involuntarily held his breath, let it out.

“Reim-san.”

Break called to him, a smile in his voice. Reim looked at him. He was pointing at Reim’s cup.

On the surface of the brimming cup of liquor, a single petal floated.

The full moon in the night sky was reflected there as well.

“I don’t think it gets more refined than
that
, do you?” Break said, cheerfully.

“…You’re right,” Reim agreed. He glanced at Rufus. Rufus was hiding his mouth behind his open fan and watching Reim with eyes slightly narrowed in a smile.

What dost thou think?
he was asking Reim, proudly.

Good grief…

Muttering to himself on a sigh, Reim lifted the cup to his lips.

He drank down the liquor, the petal, and the full moon, all together. Break cheered him on: “
That’s
the spirit!”

Reim thought.

The rough report he’d drafted today, the one he had nowhere to send. When the party was over and he returned home, he thought, he’d write a report summarizing the day, to finish up.

Privately, he already knew what he’d write in it.

He took his well-worn notebook from his breast pocket, briskly scribbling a note on a blank page with his pen.

Then:

I’ll never be able to show this report to anyone
, he thought.

The words he’d written in his notebook were:

~
Fin
~

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PANDORA HEARTS ~CAUCUS RACE~, Volume 1

Created and Illustrated by JUN MOCHIZUKI

Written by SHINOBU WAKAMIYA

Cover art by Jun Mochizuki

Translation by Taylor Engel

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Novel PandoraHearts ~Caucus race~ vol. 1

© 2011 Jun Mochizuki, Shinobu Wakamiya / SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD

First published in Japan in 2011 by SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.

English translation rights arranged with SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. and Hachette Book Group through Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc.

English translation © 2015 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.

All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

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First ebook edition: June 2015

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ISBN 978-0-316-39005-7

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