Today I visited
Today's chaperone had been specified by Corinna to be a female family member. She said she was pregnant and wanted help with taking measurements. Benno had measured me over my clothes before, but since this would be a long working relationship going forward, she wanted proper measurements taken.
That meant
"Ceremonial outfits use really nice fabric, don't they? This is the first time I've ever seen fabric this soft, smooth, and beautiful."
After measuring me in my underclothes, Tuli's eyes sparkled as she touched the fabric. Apparently Tuli's workshop never received orders for fabric this fine. Watching Corinna's work would be a good experience for Tuli.
The fabric being used for my ceremonial outfit had been gifted to me by Benno. It had already been dyed blue at the dye workshop where my mother worked and returned to the store. It was a deep blue like lapis lazuli, similar to the color of my hair.
"
Then an emblem would be stitched into the center of the collar embroidery. Nobles embroidered their family crests, but since I didn't have one, the workshop's emblem would be used instead.
"This is Myne's emblem?"
"Right. The Myne Workshop emblem. This is a book, this is ink, and this is a pen. And then there's the papermaking tree combined with a hair ornament flower. I came up with it, but Benno added a bunch of stuff."
"I bet you designed something weird and Benno had to fix it."
"...He just said it was too plain."
Hearing our conversation, Corinna smiled and gently spread the blue fabric across the large work table. The glossy blue cloth filled the tabletop like a rippling sea.
"Ceremonial outfits normally involve selecting thread and specifying a weave so that patterns emerge from the fabric itself. But since we don't have time, we'll use fabric that's already been made, yes? My plan is to embroider the entire garment with matching thread so the pattern appears when light hits it. Myne, what kind of pattern would you like?"
When she mentioned creating patterns through the weave itself, the first things that came to mind were the figured patterns on kimonos.
Something like rinzu or donsu—she was probably planning to embroider something along those lines.
Even though I was small and the embroidery areas were smaller than for an adult, the garment was still quite large. It had plenty of room in the sleeves, which were long like furisode. While it saved time compared to weaving the fabric from scratch, embroidering the entire thing was still an enormous task.
"Um, Corinna. Even if you ask me what kind, I've never really looked at ceremonial outfits up close, so I don't know. But if you're embroidering the whole thing, the simpler it can be..."
I must have seen one at my baptism ceremony, but my memories had all been taken away by Gr_ko and the Library. I couldn't really remember what the blue priests wore. I recalled the Scriptures the High Bishop had held, but I had no memory of how luxurious the outfit was.
"Myne! A noble's ceremonial outfit can't be simple!"
"Ugh!...But embroidering the entire thing is so much work. Something a little simpler would be better, wouldn't you agree too, Tuli?"
While I desperately tried to calm the indignant Tuli, Corinna put a hand to her cheek and said, "Let me think..."
"Just like we made Tuli's dress look more luxurious with simple alterations, if we could make embroidery that looks simple yet lavish, that would work. But Myne, do you have anything in mind?"
When Corinna asked, I went "Hmm" and searched my memory.
Embroidering larger motifs instead of tiny ones all over the place should mean a smaller embroidered area overall.
"...What about adding flowers to a 'flowing water pattern'?"
"A flowing water pattern?"
"Um, something like this—water flowing along in a pattern, with flowers scattered here and there. If I space the water out wider, or scatter petals around, then even with less embroidery, it could still look luxurious... I think?"
I drew curving lines on the stone tablet, varying the thickness, creating a flowing water pattern, then clustered five elongated heart-shaped shapes that looked like cherry blossoms and scattered small petal-like hearts.
"The flowers could use more design work, but the water flow is lovely. After all, Myne, you're Benno's Water Goddess, aren't you?"
The words coming out of Corinna's smiling mouth made my mouth twitch. Even if Benno and I denied it, coming from his sister Corinna, the misunderstanding would never be cleared up.
"...Um, Corinna. Just how far has that story spread?"
"Perhaps
...That idiot Otto. May Benno give him a piece of his mind.
While eating the lunch Corinna had prepared, she and Tuli got excited discussing which flowers to add to the water pattern, arranged by spring, summer, autumn, and winter. I didn't know many flower names, so despite being the one the outfit was for, I was left behind.
"Myne, Benno would like to come in."
"Sorry to interrupt lunch, Corinna. I have something to give Myne. Is that alright?"
"Yes, it's fine. Myne looks like she's finished and has nothing to do anyway."
When Benno beckoned, I hopped off my chair and went over to him.
"I need you to read this alone, where no one else can see. After that, it's up to you. If you think of a solution, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know."
"...Huh?"
He handed me a single sheet of paper, said that, gave a casual wave, and headed straight back downstairs to the store.
I glanced around to make sure no one was nearby, then immediately unfolded the quartered paper. Written on it was a list of problems Benno was dealing with.
"W-wait, after the insults and warning memos, now it's a list of tasks? What am I supposed to do with—"
From the absurd problem of Otto being useless since Corinna's pregnancy, to the Italian restaurant's interior design, menu, service, and average customer spending, the issues were varied. Some I could think of solutions for right away, others I could think of but wasn't sure would be accepted here. And of course, there were completely hopeless problems too.
I considered what to tell Benno while reviewing each problem one by one. And when I read the final entry, the blood drained from my face.
"Myne, what's wrong?"
I didn't know how long I'd been standing there. Tuli approached with a worried expression, peering at the letter. I hurriedly folded it up, then realized Tuli couldn't read—it would just look like a jumble of markings to her—and let out a quiet breath.
"Hey, what did it say?"
"It's work stuff, so it's a secret."
While deflecting Tuli's curiosity, I slipped the problem list into my bag.
I sighed slowly, racking my brain for a solution to that last problem, but nothing came to mind right away.
Benno had said he'd bring Lutz to another town only after securing the workshop location, and I'd taken that at face value. I simply hadn't realized the real issue was that he couldn't get permission from Lutz's father, so he couldn't take him along.
Lutz, like me, believed Benno's explanation. When Benno came back from the other town, Lutz had looked at him with eyes full of anticipation, asking, "I wonder when the workshop location will be decided?" I couldn't very well tell someone like that, "If your dad gives permission, we could go tomorrow." It would put an irreparable rift in Lutz's family.
...I have no idea how to win over Lutz's dad.
While Tuli and Corinna got excited debating whether to arrange the embroidered flowers by season from top to bottom or left to right, I held my head in my hands.
"Star Festival's coming up soon, huh?"
"Hwah!? Wh-what?"
Walking toward the temple, Lutz called out to me, and I flinched, looking around. Lutz narrowed his eyes slightly and peered at me. Keeping secrets from Lutz, who was so attentive to my condition, was the hardest thing in the world.
"What is it, Myne? You've been spacing out like crazy."
"I haven't! What were we talking about?"
Seeing right through my attempt to play dumb, Lutz sighed once and steered the conversation back.
"Star Festival. Think we can go together this year?"
"Star Festival?...Oh, the summer festival, right? The water-play thing?"
"It's not water—you throw tau fruit at each other."
Tau fruit was the small red fruit I'd seen in spring. By summer, I'd heard, it absorbed lots of water and swelled to about the size of a fist. I understood them as natural water balloons, but I'd never seen one in person.
"If it's not water play, then what kind of festival is the Star Festival?"
Since I'd never participated, I had no idea what it was like. I tilted my head, and Lutz explained.
The Star Festival was apparently not a water-play festival at all—it was a day when weddings were held. It seemed to be an annual mass wedding, and throwing tau fruit was an event connected to the ceremony.
"People who aren't part of the wedding head into the forest with the Second Bell to gather tau fruit. When the Third Bell rings, the ceremony starts, and the newlyweds come out after the Fourth Bell. Until then, you hide in all kinds of alleys around the central square, armed with tau fruit."
I pictured the crowd flooding the streets during my baptism, and imagined everyone holding water balloons. Surreal. It made no sense.
But events related to weddings and ceremonies often made no sense from an outside perspective. In books I'd read in my past life, there had been all sorts—guests brawling at weddings, all the attendants crashing the newlyweds' first night, the lord's right of first night. It was probably best to just listen and accept it as local culture.
"And then?"
"After all the newlyweds are in the central square, the battle begins when the bell rings. You throw tau fruit at the newlyweds. The groom has to protect his bride while running to their new home—it's supposed to test his worth as a man. Most of the time, the fruit hits a bunch of other people along the way, gets thrown back, thrown back again, and everyone ends up running all over the city until they collapse."
"That's quite the festival."
Even Japanese betrothal gifts involved exchanging baffling items, but however forced the reasoning, there was meaning to it. If the tau fruit was the kind that produced lots of seeds, it might symbolize fertility or a wish for many children.
"But here's the thing—the ones who throw tau fruit with the most fire are the adults who couldn't get married that year. Every year, the sheer determination in their eyes when they aim at the newlyweds is incredible. Entertaining, though."
Ah, I understood. That thought welled up inside me.
Even including my time as Yoshino Reina, I'd had extremely little experience with romance or marriage. I completely understood the feeling of an unmarried adult wanting to hurl tau fruit with all their might at the blissfully smiling newlyweds coming out of the temple.
"...I get what kind of festival it is now. Sounds fun, Lutz."
"O-Myne? You're suddenly all fired up. So, after chasing the newlyweds off with the tau fruit, various squares get set up with celebratory food. By the time everyone's satisfied and eating, the sun's already set, so the kids have to go home. After that, children absolutely must not go outside. Then the alcohol comes out, and it becomes an adults-only festival."
It seemed that, befitting a festival named after the stars, the most important events happened at night. After the children were sent away, the newlyweds appeared and were celebrated grandly, and it became a festival where unmarried adults searched for lovers. The most frustrated of all, Lutz said, were those born in summer who became adults right at the end of the season.
"Um, the Star Festival... do the children at the orphanage participate?"
"I've never seen them do so. ...Myne, do you have anything to do at the temple? I think they said not until autumn, but could you come to the Star Festival?"
When Lutz asked me with concern, I couldn't answer right away. Since weddings were held at the temple, there might be some duty involved.
"...I'm not sure, so I'll ask the High Priest."
Arriving at the temple, Lutz headed back to the store. After seeing him off, I changed in my room and immediately began writing a letter to request an audience with the High Priest, while also asking
"Fran, have you ever participated in the Star Festival?"
"Myne, it's not called the Star Festival. It is the Star-Binding Ritual. The Star-Binding Ritual is a celebration of marriage, is it not?"
Fran explained that at the temple, it was called the Star-Binding Ritual rather than the Star Festival, and that it was rooted in the myth of the
Originally, the ritual was held at night when the blessing of the God of Darkness was easier to obtain, and even now, it was apparently held at night in the noble district. When the city's population grew and they had to separate the noble and commoner ceremonies, the commoner ritual came to be held in the morning.
"If it's the blessing of the God of Darkness, winter would have longer nights and seem more fitting..."
"Myne, the God of Darkness sanctioned the marriage in summer, and there are dedication ceremonies in winter, so I believe there would be no priests available to bestow blessings."
Nodding at Fran's rebuttal, I pictured a midwinter wedding and shook my head slightly. Even as I said it myself, there was no way anyone would hold a wedding in deep winter.
"Now that I think about it, a wedding in a blizzard would be difficult, and if a newlywed couple wanted to prepare for winter, it would make sense to marry before autumn. If everyone had the same anniversary, no husband would accidentally offend his wife."
Saying this, I finished writing the letter.
"Fran, could you deliver this to the High Priest? I have some questions about the orphanage's role and my own duties during the Star-Binding Ritual."
"Certainly."
Even though I saw the High Priest every morning for document organization, even a small consultation required a formal audience, and I had to book it by letter. I was gradually getting used to this hassle. For minor questions, he often simply wrote his answer on the letter itself.
Anyway, the thing Fran and the High Priest kept drilling into me was not to speak carelessly around others.
Even though I'd braced myself for an audience date several days away, the High Priest took one look at the letter Fran delivered, clutched his head, and ushered me into the hidden room.
I followed meekly, but I couldn't fathom why a simple request for an audience would make him hold his head like that.
"Is it alright to meet without a prior appointment?"
"You fool. The Star-Binding Ritual is the day after tomorrow! If we'd sent out invitations by now, the ceremony would be over before they arrived."
As soon as we entered the hidden room and I asked that, the High Priest's eyes sharpened. Normally he delivered his lectures with a stern expression, but in this room he radiated an icy fury—when I was going to get scolded, I'd rather be in the usual room.
"Oh, is that so? He said it was coming up, so I assumed there was still more time..."
"It's common knowledge within the temple, so no one thought to bring it up. We've been making good progress on the backlog of documents, so I put it off, but it seems I need to educate you first."
The High Priest had now fully recognized that I had no grasp whatsoever of the temple's events and ceremonies. This was bad. A dangerous sign.
I could already feel the "passionate education" rumored among the grey priests at the orphanage—that once you became a High Priest's attendant, you'd inevitably be trained into a first-class professional—about to descend upon me. I quietly averted my gaze. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the High Priest's utterly exasperated expression.
"You really are... So, regarding your question: the Star-Binding Ritual is a coming-of-age ceremony. As a novice, you must not participate. Rather, as the orphanage director, keep close watch on the children so they don't leave. The Star-Binding Ritual draws many townspeople in and out of the temple. And since the blue priests work themselves to the bone for offerings, not a single orphan is to leave the building during the ceremony."
Being told to stay cooped up in the orphanage on the festival day, I panicked. I wanted to participate in the Star Festival and throw tau fruit—being locked inside was the last thing I wanted.
"Um, I'd like to attend the Star Festival in the lower city. Would that be allowed?"
"What lower-city festival?"
The High Priest's brow twitched slightly.
"In the morning, all the city children go to the forest to gather tau fruit. In the afternoon, there's a festival where everyone throws the fruit at each other."
"...What on earth is that? What does it have to do with the Star-Binding Ritual?"
"I don't really understand it myself. Last year I had the consumption fever, and the year before I wasn't in good health either, so I've never participated before. This year would be my first time, and I've been looking forward to it so much..."
The High Priest's brow furrowed deeply. He clearly wanted to say no, but he seemed torn between refusal and sympathy—after all, it would be my first chance to participate.
"...Would it not be permitted? I think it would actually be quieter if the orphanage children were let out too."
"Morning would be fine, but what about afternoon? They throw the fruit at each other, correct? Sending the orphans out into the city risks unnecessary conflict. In the afternoon, the blue priests all leave for the noble district, so there would be no one in charge."
After finishing the morning wedding, the blue priests and their attendants apparently departed the temple entirely for the noble district's Star-Binding Ritual.
If there was nobody around to get angry at, couldn't the children just play within the temple grounds?
"...Um, High Priest. If we go to the forest in the morning to gather tau fruit, and then in the afternoon, rather than going outside and causing trouble, we stay here at the temple—in the orphanage—and throw tau fruit at each other, would you permit that? I'd like the children to experience the festival too. It would be my first time as well, and I've been looking forward to it so much..."
The High Priest lowered his eyes and thought for a long moment, then slowly raised his gaze.
"Very well. Make sure you clean up thoroughly afterward. And it must not be such a racket that townspeople start wondering."
"Thank you very much."
From the afternoon onward, we held a meeting at the orphanage. As long as the blue priests didn't catch wind of it, it would be fine. After finishing the chapel cleaning bright and early in the morning, I changed into clothes for the forest and waited for Lutz. Then the two of us quietly slipped out to gather tau fruit. The children, who were normally confined to the orphanage, were overjoyed.
"I'm on gate duty that day."
"I'm preparing the carriage."
The grey priests who had to participate in the ceremony, travel to the noble district, prepare the blue priests' carriages, or stand guard couldn't go to the forest to gather tau fruit. They watched the excited children with envy.
"But your duties will all be over once the ceremony ends, right? The tau-fruit throwing happens after the blue priests and their attendants leave for the noble district, so let's have our throwing match after everyone's finished. It's more fun if we can all enjoy it together. You can wait patiently until the priests' duties are over, can't you?"
When I asked the children, they nodded vigorously.
"Yeah! We'll wait!"
"I'll gather extra for the people who can't come because of their duties."
For the grey priests who had duties, I struck a compromise: the children would wait patiently, and we would also arrange dinner. Apparently, since all the blue priests left, dinner had been canceled every year on the day of the Star-Binding Ritual.
"I'll ask my cook to make plenty for us."
Back in my room, I had Fran relay a request to
It turned out Hugo was an unmarried adult and burning to participate in the festival. Fran told me he was eager to finish his work as quickly as possible.
We couldn't throw tau fruit at the newlyweds anymore, but I hoped the orphanage children would enjoy themselves all the same.
As Lutz's situation grows more troubled, the Star Festival approaches. Next time: the Star Festival itself.