Trails with Cuddle-Cuddle Osbon
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Helen
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Author Note:
Interaction with another member of Class VII Group B of April’s field study. This time, it’s Machias’s chapter.
Thank you for your typo reports as always.
Chapter 024 – Fufufu, son. Talking About Hobbies is Good, You Know?
It happened when they finished their homeroom after school and were about to head to their club activities.
“Rean Schwarzer! I heard from Fie-kun that you forcibly seduced a woman and stormed into her family’s house! Is that true?!”
Machias’s words stopped everyone who was about to go to their club activities in their tracks.
As Machias banged his desk and approached, Rean wondered what that meant and turned to Fie, but she only silently stared at him without answering.
[“Fufufu, son. I guess it’s about what you talked with Miss Fie just yesterday?”]
I see.
Rean didn’t think that Fie had conveyed the message to Machias and was a little slow to understand, but once he did, he turned to Machias, whose expression was distorted, and told him the truth.
“That’s mostly true, but let me correct a few parts. I was not seducing her, but instead just told her that I wanted to be her friend. It was a coincidence that we ended up going to her family house. I didn’t even expect it to end up like that.”
“What are you calmly making excuses for!”
Seeing how Rean didn’t show any sign of remorse, Machias became even more furious.
The rest of the boys and girls wanted to rely on Emma, who was Rean’s guardian, but she was called by Schmidt before the homeroom and wasn’t present.
Gaius wanted to rely on Fie, who was being taught school lessons by Emma, but since she likely sided with Machias, he instead turned towards Alisa.
“Alisa, wouldn’t it be better to contact Emma and ask her to take care of Rean?”
“U~hn, since Professor Schmidt called for her, I doubt he would have the intention of letting her go. He might be my father’s teacher, but I doubt he cares that I am his student’s daughter. Elliot, you’re on good terms with Mint-san, right? Can you bring that girl instead?”
“Uh~n, it’s not that I couldn’t, but that I don’t think it’s something worth calling her here for, you know? Since it’s Rean we’re talking about, I think it’s just how the things he experiences is different from the truth others think of.”
Elliot once saw Mint having fun while being grabbed by Loa Valimar.
From Elliot’s perspective, he believed Mint was in a dangerous situation, but from her perspective, she was just playing around.
When he saw it firsthand, he couldn’t help but get nervous, but it seemed that from the perspective of the people involved, it was just something casual.
Because Elliot often heard from Mint about what was happening in Schmidt’s classroom, he assumed that Rean’s behavior generally had a pattern of causing misunderstandings.
Hearing this, Jusis told Rean.
“Rean, the way you say it could only cause misunderstandings. Since you often talk while omitting some parts, you should say it in a way that makes it easier for the vice-class president to understand.”
[“Fufufu, son. It’s just as Jusis-kun said. You should say it like this.”]
Rean corrected himself after taking Osbon’s advice.
“Ah~ then I’ll tell you one thing at a time, okay? The reason I approached the older woman I mentioned to Fie was because she had the same hobbies as me, so I got interested and I decided to approach her. Machias too, if you found someone who is good at chess and making coffee, wouldn’t you want to be their friend?”
“Nuguh… then what did you mean by going to her family’s house!”
“That woman’s grandmother invited me in. I didn’t expect her to guide me around either, but since I had no reason to refuse, I just followed her.”
“You should refuse! Isn’t it a shame for a man to barge into a woman’s house when you meet her for the first time?!”
While Machias made a fuss over his emotional theories, Fie calmly pointed to the facts.
“So you’re saying that you approached an older woman who had common hobbies, and the grandmother who was with her invited you to their family’s house?”
“That’s pretty much what it feels like.”
“That’s hard to understand……”
All of her classmates agreed with her and Fie showed how she was convinced.
“So why was Fie so worried about it?”
“Because if I heard that a student of the military academy attacked a woman, they would likely get expelled… and I won’t allow you to escape with your victories.”
“In the first place, why did ‘approach’ change into an ‘attack’?”
“I just thought it might be possible since it’s Rean.”
“No no, that’s definitely a no. I might be borrowing Machias’ words, but it’s a shame for a man to do something like that.”
“Okay, okay, oka~y. Rean is always so weird, so learn to ignore it already, Machias. Everyone, you should go for your club activities.”
“Wording!” complained Machias but the other ignored it as Sara looked around and led Class VII outside.
Rean also tried to head to the student council activities as if nothing happened, but before he could, Machias grabbed his shoulder.
“What’s the matter, was the explanation still lacking?”
“You were lacking in a lot of things, but let’s leave that aside for the moment. Um…… you see. I have something to talk about. Will you have time today after you finish your volunteer work?”
[“Fufufu, son. Be it yesterday or today, it seems that it will be another serious discussion, you know?”]
As Osbon said that, Machias’ words were calm and serious, unlike his first sentence.
Just like Fie, it seemed like he had something he wanted to talk about.
If that was the case, there was no reason for Rean to refuse.
“Okay. Machias is in the chess club, right? I’ll visit after the student council activities are over, so please wait for me.”
“…………Aah.”
After giving a reply as if something was stuck in the back of his teeth, Machias left the Class VII classroom.
Looking at him from behind, Rean also headed to confirm the requests for the day for the volunteer activity.
On a side note, Laura kept wondering just how strong the woman that Rean approached was, and her thoughts continued until Sara called out to her the day after the next.
＊
When Rean entered the chess club, Machias was the only one sitting on the chairs.
When Rean visited the club before, during the academy marathons and volunteer activities, there should be two senior students in addition to the club leader in the club.
Machias seemed to sense Rean’s doubt and bluntly told him.
“I feel sorry for Club Leader Stefan, but I have requested for him to leave the room for today. It’s not a conversation to be heard by others, after all. Well, just have a seat.”
“Then I won’t be reserved. Ah, before that.”
Before sitting down, Rean took out a coffee maker and beans via Osbon.
Seeing objects appearing in front of him like magic tricks, Machias stood up, making his chair clatter.
“Wha-wha-what did you do?!”
“Eh, I just took out the coffee maker though?”
“That’s definitely not something that could come out from that object! That’s weird both volume and mass wise, you know?!”
“If you say that, the world is already full of weird things like orbal magic, isn’t it? Don’t worry about it.”
“I’m saying it because I care!”
[“Fufufu, this is what it means when something resonates when it gets hit. To think he properly retorted about how I took out items that other people have now learnt to ignore. Vali-kun, I think he might be a good observation subject, you know?”]
{“Fumu, he certainly seems to be to be a noisy yet attentive person.”}
People like that were called people with common sense.
“The professor said the beans are not bad, so I think the coffee should be delicious. Machias, you love coffee, right?”
“A-aah…… Wait, how do you know about that?”
“I have seen you enjoying your coffee in Kirche during my marathon after all. I was thinking of serving you some coffee I brewed.”
“You actually have such intentions……”
That said, Rean had thought of this last month.
At that time, Rean was searching for people who could see Osbon other than Emma and Celine, that is, witches, and with him befriending Rosine, who fulfilled the condition, Rean completely forgot about it since. 1
But seeing how he still had it ready for a conversation with Machias, it seemed like he didn’t neglect his preparations, just lowering it’s priority.
As they listened to the sound of the ground beans turning into powder, Rean thought Machias was going to sit down, but Machias opened his mouth as if he made up his mind.
“Rean.”
“Hm?”
His name was suddenly called.
Since Machias tend to call Rean with a full name or just you, Rean was momentarily delayed in replying.
Machias then bowed his head.
Rean couldn’t help but stop grinding beans at that action.
“I’m sorry! It was my fault for calling you a vagrant and for thinking you were a slacker!”
It was an apology filled with urgency.
Rean looked at Machias with wide eyes.
[“Fufufu, son. Don’t you have anything to say to Machias-kun, who lowered his head?”]
“Eh, ah……Y-you’re forgiven? What’s wrong, all of a sudden?”
Rean was taken aback and expressed his honest feelings.
In fact, Rean had no idea why he was being apologized to.
No, he could understand why from Machias’ sentence.
But Rean was at a loss as to how to react when someone apologized to him over something he didn’t care about.
“During the field study last month, I exposed a lot of my ugly sides. From the first day, I’ve complained about your actions, and even though I understood it was just out of envy, I couldn’t stop myself from being aggressive toward you.”
“Well~ I don’t really care about that, though……”
“I’ve heard that you were the one who carried me and Jusis Albarea, who had collapsed at the Vander training ground in the afternoon, so I would like to thank you for that as well. On the second day, I was just angry over the tyranny of nobles that my vision became narrow-minded.”
“However,” Machias spoke with force.
“You have destroyed the monster breeding facility in advance, and went so far with the determination to suffer serious injury. Because of Marquis Hyarms, and, I think you have heard of it, that Jusis Albarea that did rightful duty as a noble and punished nobles who went against the law despite himself being a son of a concubine, my values had changed slightly.”
Jusis… is a son of concubine?
Did Machias realize that he was saying something outrageous?
[“No, Machias-kun said ‘I think you have heard of it’. In other words, he assumed that Jusis-kun had told you about that.”]
Aah~ I think Jusis did seem like he wanted to say something after returning to the academy.
After returning to the academy, Rean had spent most of his time with Rosine and Beryl, visiting Eryn village, and attending the Schmidt’s classroom, so Rean wasn’t really focused on other things.
Was it Rean or Jusis’ fault for missing the right timing?
Either way, Rean kept that in the back of his mind and waited for Machias to continue.
“To be honest, I still have some resentment toward nobles. But before that, I wanted to apologize to you as a human being. The thing I did towards Rean was like the things the nobles I hate would do. That’s why —— I’m really sorry.”
Machias kept his head down and didn’t move in the slightest.
Since he didn’t move even after Rean said that it didn’t matter, he was waiting for Rean’s words.
He waited for words that were directed towards himself.
Realizing this, Rean took his hand off the coffee maker and said while looking down at Machias.
“Machias, as I said earlier, I really didn’t care about that. For me, it’s just something in the past, regardless of what others said. But I will accept Machias’ apology. That’s why, please raise your face.”
“————————————Aah.”
Hearing Rean’s true feelings, Machias finally looked up.
There was no expression of dishonesty in his expression as Rean said that.
In the first place, after meeting Osbon, the being that only he could see, and being saved by it, Rean’s feelings of being a vagrant as well as his guilt and alienation towards his family had long since disappeared.
This was because it was nothing compared to proving the existence that saved him wasn’t just his delusion, but a real thing.
It was like trying to explain to a person that was born blind about the flash of blue that spilled into the sky. There was nothing more difficult than explaining something that was outside the other party’s understanding.
That said, it would be too rude to Machias if he just gave him a casual response.
Feeling this way, Rean responded seriously to Machias, who looked up to respond to him properly.
Rean used the grounded beans to brew coffee.
He poured the fragrant liquid into the cup, poured hot water into it, and offered it to Machias.
Rean also made himself a cup of coffee.
Seeming to have guessed what was to come from Rean’s action, Machias also took his cup.
And then they clinked their respective cups.
The two of them took a sip of the coffee that Rean brewed as they heard the sound of reverberation of ceramic.
The both of them took a breath.
Machias’ expression looked bright and clear as if the things that were weighing him down had been released.
“It’s something that nobles won’t do, but that doesn’t matter to Machias, after all.”
“Hahah, a toast like this is usually done with wine or liquor, after all. It’s rare to do it with coffee?”
“How does it taste?”
“This is good stuff. What brand is it?”
“I’m sure this is——”
The two sat on chairs at the same time and chatted for a while.
There was no difference in their status between a noble and commoner, just a casual interaction as if they were friends.
Meanwhile, Rean suddenly recalled something and mentioned it.
“It’s good to drink coffee directly, but when women drink one, they tend to add syrup or cream, was it because they instinctively avoided bitter drinks?”
“U~hn, I’ve never thought about that. Have you brewed some for Emma-kun?”
“I think Emma would drink it if I brewed one, but I thought I might as well send this topic.”
“Send?”
“Do you know about Abend Time, Machias?”
“What? Rean have been listening to it too?”
Machias got excited on meeting an unexpected comrade.
They both agreed that her voice was good, the atmosphere was good, and they listened to it the same way, such as listening to it when studying.
“I’ve learned from Munk, a fellow student in Schmidt’s Class, and sent postcards there. It was approved last week.”
“What?!”
“It’s one with the pen name ‘Cuddle-Cuddle Osbon’.”
“So that was Rean!”
“Hahah, I didn’t expect to be approved on the first try, though. That said, her voice when saying it sounded somewhat mysterious, or rather, as if she squeezed the words out.”
“I think that Misty-san’s voice used like that instead becomes something valuable. But I see, so there’s something like that.”
“Why don’t you send it too, Machias? Sending a common topic like what we said earlier might unexpectedly get approved, you know?”
“But isn’t that the topic you were planning to send?”
“It’s not like that’s the only topic I have. I’ve been running around Trista, so I find this kind of thing all over the place.”
“Mumu, it’s true that every time I see you, you seem busy running or fishing… but if that’s the case, I’ll take this topic gratefully.”
“Just consider that as the commemoration for making up.”
“Don’t say it, it’s embarrassing.”
“Don’t be shy.”
“I-I still haven’t completely approved of you yet!”
Machias blushed a little and turned away.
Rean couldn’t hide his wry smile at the sight.
[“Fufufu, I never expected to see a tsundere on par with Miss Celine in a place like this. Machias-kun, it’s another man that can’t let their guard down.”]
{“So this is tsundere. Can I think of him as someone like Celine?”}
[“Fufufu, Vali-kun. It’s like the idiom that one man’s fault is another’s lesson. He’s growing quite well.”]
I’m talking to Machias now, so please be quiet.
When Rean said that, the conversation suddenly stopped.
But Rean’s unwavering trust made him think, I guess they just continued their conversation in some way I can’t hear, and stopped admonishing them further.
“I’ll give you the advice that Munk gave me. First of all, it’s a pen name.”
“Sorry about that, but pen name, huh…… I feel like I’ll be wasting a lot of time just thinking about it.”
“I don’t think you need to think too much about it. Since you are Machias……what about Macky?”
“What’s with that?”
“I haven’t thought deeply about it since it’s just an inspiration. But since it’s going to be called by Misty-san, wouldn’t it be better to use something similar to your own name?”
Rean only wanted to spread word about Osbon, so he had no objection to his pen name.
Currently, the only person who refused it was Vita, who had to read the said name out loud.
“U-uumu. Certainly sending with a real name is common, but this nickname-like are also common…… but the temptation of being called with a name that only I could know is incredibly appealing……”
As Machias mired in a swamp of worries, Rean examined the idea for the postcard while exchanging opinions with him.
Machias took out a notebook and wrote notes in it, showing how thorough he was. It was seriously befitting of a hard worker who came in second in the entrance exam.
By the time they finished their coffee, Machias’s first letter was almost complete.
“All that is left is to copy it on a postcard. But I’m amazed you can write it so smoothly.”
“You can’t underestimate memos, you know. It’s also good for recurrence.”
“How many times do you intend to send it……”
“…………Well, for the time being, since your postcard got approved once, I’d like to be approved twice.”
“You have a weird sense of rivalry, just like Fie.”
“I don’t want to lose to you. That’s a shared ambition for all of us who went together for that field study.”
“Well, Machias and the others did find the evidence of a monster breeding facility, while I was just getting beaten up by Aurelia-san, you know?”
“No, no matter who sees it, you definitely had it more painful. I can assure you.”
“Do you think so?”
“I do.”
“Then let’s leave it at that,” nodded Rean.
“Well then, then I’ll be going to fish.”
“Why are you saying it like saying you’re going to go shopping?”
“Well, I make sure to fish in the academy’s pond and Trista’s river every day.”
“What drives you to do something like that……?”
“Since you’re here, why don’t you fish as well, Machias? You’re the only one I haven’t taught fishing among Group B.”
“Muu, so it’s only me. No, considering the situation during the field study, I guess it can’t be helped.”
Machias recalled when he tried to sleep off his frustration and Sara suddenly intruded in during the field study, which made him frown.
At that time, the other four had went to fish.
It was true that it couldn’t be helped since it was his own fault, but there was still part of him that felt he was being left out of the group now he got out of the rut.
“How’s the catch?”
“Fie seemed promising and caught one. Combined with yesterday, she already caught two in total. As for Jusis and Laura, they unfortunately didn’t catch any.”
“I see………… I see.”
Machias looked happy.
It seemed that he was happy to see that Jusis’ result was still 0.
Furthermore, he could be grouped together with Rean on field studies in the future, so there will be more opportunities to fish, and it seemed like he intended to get back at him at that time.
It wasn’t out of prejudice against nobles, but it seemed like Machias still couldn’t reconcile with Jusis.
However, there was nothing bad about it as it seems like they were more of quarreling between friends.
“Then let’s go fishing right away.”
“Aah. I’ll have to catch one at least.”
With that, the two got up from their seats.
As they arrived at the fishing spot, when Rean once again took fishing rods out of nowhere, Machias’ retort resonated soon after.
And as for the whereabouts of the pen name “Macky” —— it became clear when Rean saw the sticker placed on Machias’s desk later.
By the way, Rean also sent his postcard, but unfortunately, it didn’t get read and was not approved.
But during the Abend Time that day, Misty’s voice seemed in a good mood from start to finish, and listeners who were unaware of the situation were equally able to enjoy the evening.
Author Note:
Macky began his career as an angler and postcard craftsman before the summer festival.
Gradually, Abend Time, or rather, Misty-san started to be in charge of the punchline.
Machias was too competent as a person in charge of giving reactions.
I guess it’s only natural that he would aim to be a Phantom Thief B.
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