Mid-April. An afternoon after school, once the bustle of the new term had settled a little.

In front of the school gate, a horrific scream, embodying the very end of the world, echoed.

“Nooooooooo! Let me go, Mama! I have a sacred mission after school today to welcome the new student, Lise-chan, together with Shizuku-chan!!”

Aoi, digging her nails into the ground and desperately resisting. Hoshikawa’s aunt, with a smiling face but inescapable strength, dragged her away, saying, “Yes, yes, you promised to go to Grandma’s house, remember.”

“Shizuku-chaaaaan! Wait for me, I’ll finish it quickly and come right back!”

“Yeah, take care. Give my regards to your grandma.”

I waved lightly as I saw off the finger marks Aoi had left on the ground (or so I imagined).

…Honestly, it was a relief. When Aoi’s around, the atmosphere inevitably gets dragged into a murky abyss. Today, I might just be able to spend a slightly more peaceful time after school.

Behind me, elegant footsteps clicked closer.

“…Oh my. She’s as noisy as ever, isn’t she.”

Turning around, there stood Anju, arms crossed and a triumphant smile on her face. Beside her, clutching the hem of my clothes anxiously, was the silver-haired beauty, Lise.

“And, Nanase-san. Regarding what we discussed earlier… you will grant my request, won’t you?”

“Ah, you mean the French lesson, right? That’s totally fine. And Lise, if Anju learns the language, that’ll be reassuring for you too, right?”

At lunch, Anju had made a proposal, with a remarkably admirable yet clearly possessive undertone: “In order to communicate smoothly with Lise-san, you shall instruct me in French.”

To me, if this could ease the factional strife in class and resolve Lise’s loneliness, there could be no more efficient “in-house training.”

“Merci, Anju. Tu es gentille.” (Thank you, Anju. You’re kind.)

“…What did she say?”

“She said, ‘Anju, you’re so kind.’”

When I translated, Anju blushed and turned away with a “H-hmph! Just the proper cultivation expected of a Hojo!”

* * *

The library room after school.

At a corner table with few visitors, our “secret lesson” began. Me in the middle, Anju on the right, and Lise clinging close on the left.

“Alright, let’s start with basic greetings. Anju, try to pronounce after me.”

Recalling my past life’s new employee training, I opened my mouth in a tone that was calm yet that of a capable senior.

“Je t’aime (Je t’aime)… Ah, my bad. That’s still a bit early. Let’s start with Bonjour (Bonjour).”

I’d almost carelessly let slip a word I’d heard so many times in a Canadian bar in my past life I got sick of it, and I corrected myself with a wry laugh. But at that one fleeting phrase of love confession, Anju’s shoulders jolted violently.

“Wha, wh-wh-wh, what did you just say!? Je… Je?”

“No, just ignore that. It was merely a slip of the tongue. Here, let’s go. Bonjour.”

“B-Bonjour…”

Anju’s pronunciation was the epitome of the katakana French that a Japanese speaker would make—much like katakana English. The key to French lies in the r-sound that vibrates the back of the throat and the vowels that pass through the nose.

“Close. Focus more on the back of your throat… yes, like you’re mixing in a breath. Watch me, okay? Look closely.”

I pulled my chair closer and leaned in right up to Anju’s face. Gazing into her amber eyes from point-blank range, I dropped my husky voice a notch.

“…Bonjour.”

A perfect native pronunciation, whispered right by her ear yet carrying a firm core. My French, drilled into me amid the rough locals on the snowy slopes of Quebec in a past life—taught so I’d speak words that actually “got through”—took on a somewhat mystical, alluring resonance when filtered through this little girl’s body.

“Ah… ah…”

Anju’s face instantly dyed a deep crimson. Unbothered, I leaned in even closer to check the movement of her lips.

“Round your lips a little more. Yes, just like that.”

The tip of my finger gently touched her chin, tilting it upward. An unconscious escort, exactly like back in my past life when I would lift the chin of a subordinate frozen rigid with nerves before a presentation and encourage them: “Have confidence. You’re the best.”

‘…Ah, Anju’s skin is really soft. As expected of a distinguished family, she takes such good care of it.’

Holding such a carefree impression, I gently continued my instruction. Meanwhile, on my left side, Lise buried her face in my arm, giggling happily.

“Shizuku, tu es comme un prince.” (Shizuku, you’re just like a prince.)

“Lise, don’t tease. Come on, Anju, one more time.”

“Hya, hyaii… B-Bonjour…”

By now far beyond worrying about pronunciation, Anju’s voice came out in a squeak as her knees trembled violently under the desk.

* * *

[Hojo Anju’s Perspective]

—I’m going to die. I, Hojo Anju, felt I might be called to heaven at any moment from this excessive bliss and racing heart.

At first, it was just a pretext. To reduce, even a little, the time that silver-haired thieving cat and Shizuku spent in conversation alone. And to share with Shizuku a secret, common time through the French language.

But the lesson that actually began far surpassed her imagination—soaring past it to the far reaches of the galaxy.

‘…Wh-What is with that voice? That breath. …That extreme close distance…’

Shizuku’s violet eyes stare straight at me, not letting my gaze escape. Her small, warm fingertip touching my chin. The overwhelming commanding presence of a male—no, a nurturing embrace—that flows from it.

‘“Watch me,” she said… Shizuku, just what do you intend to do with me!?’

Every time Shizuku demonstrated the pronunciation, that husky voice vibrated my eardrums and melted my spine like a pool of chocolate. That French is the language of love—I had always thought it a cliché I was tired of hearing, but now I understand.

Every word Shizuku speaks is a sweet chain of love binding my very soul.

‘…And that girl.’

Glaring sideways at Lise, who was pressing her chest (still none) against Shizuku’s arm on the other side as if her life depended on it, Anju sneered inwardly.

Lise, every time Shizuku leaned close to me, would look on with a hint of jealousy, yet also with a proud gaze toward Shizuku.

‘…Fufu, just you watch. It’s me who’s receiving this special lesson from Shizuku. I’ll master French just like this, and then I’ll exchange secret words of love with Shizuku that no one else will understand…’

Inside Anju’s mind, a wedding at a French castle (*Bridegroom: Shizuku, Bride: Anju, Priest: Sebastian) was already underway. It was now a foregone conclusion that after looking up the meaning of that Je t’aime Shizuku had started to say, Anju would that very night come down with a fever from overthinking and take to her bed.

* * *

“Phew. Let’s call it a day here. Anju, you’ve got a knack for this. At this rate, you might manage everyday conversation by the end of the first term.”

“…R-Really? If you, Nanase-san, say that much, then I have no choice but to give it my all!”

At my casual flattery (complete with business smile), Anju puffed out her chest despite being unsteady on her feet.

Lise, looking satisfied, said, “Merci, Shizuku. À demain!” (Thank you, Shizuku. See you tomorrow!) and gave me a light kiss on the cheek—a French-style greeting—before heading to the car that had come to pick her up.

“…Ah, hey, Lise. In Japan, you might not want to do that greeting too much… Well, whatever. She’s a kid, after all.”

I dismissed Lise’s innocent behavior as a cultural difference and packed up my things.

When I happened to glance out the window, I caught a vision of Aoi, wreathed in a pitch-black aura, baring her fangs and glaring this way in front of the school gate, but I averted my eyes.

‘…Dealing with Aoi tomorrow looks like it’s gonna be tough. Well, it’ll work out somehow.’

Recalling the tough business negotiations of my past life, this level of battlefield is an everyday occurrence. I nonchalantly cracked my neck and left the library room at dusk.

I still had absolutely no idea that my unconscious French lesson would expand the heroines’ possessiveness to a continental scale and become the trigger for the Great Shizuku Scramble that would later engulf the world.