Collapse, the Ordinary Daily Life of the Valkyries

"Looking for me? Not Grande?"

"Excuse me, Ciel."

He stretched out his slender fingers, took off my glasses, loosened my long hair, and gathered my frizzy bangs.

"Hey! What are you doing?! Don't touch me!"

The handsome diplomat looked at my frightened face carefully, nodded and said:

"Yeah, that should work."

"W-What works?"

"Ciel, how many fingers are these?"

The diplomat turned a deaf ear to my complaints and raised his finger.

"Two."

"Is that so?"

He moved a little further away.

"Three."

"Your eyesight is not bad, why do you need glasses?"

"That's my business! Please give me my glasses back!"

The diplomat dodged my outstretched hand with a smile that seemed cordial and honest.

"Ciel, you're quite good. Your eyes, nose, lips, neck, arms and legs, slender waist, fair skin, petite figure, and thin voice are all perfect! There's no man more suitable to wear Grande's clothes than you."

“What are you talking about…”

I felt a chill run down my spine. He actually said I was suited to wearing women's clothes. Was he a pervert? Was this what they called a boyish complex?

As I stepped back in horror, the perverted diplomat sighed deeply.

"Honestly, Grande is missing."

"what?"

Missing? Gulland is missing?

"There was a note left on the desk in the Cultural Affairs Bureau's duty room. It said, 'I'm no longer Gulland Dowie. What happens next has nothing to do with me.' This happened two days ago."

Inappropriate...Gulland Dowie?

I was stunned for a moment, and then my heart suddenly started beating faster and cold sweat broke out.

"T-That was just a spur-of-the-moment thought! Or maybe it was just a prank... You know, Grander's way of thinking is a little different from the average person... No, the difference is huge..."

Yes, even if it was someone like Grande, how could she be so irresponsible as to disappear when everyone was enthusiastically discussing the news that she was going to Allen Country...

I'd love to say that, but I know Gulland too well.

She was a quirky person who followed her own whims, never considering others and always doing what she wanted. She might even ignore the emperor's decree...

The scary thing is that this is quite possible! How terrifying!

"But! Judging from Grande's personality, she will definitely come back as if nothing happened..."

I was sweating profusely with nervousness, like a toad looking in the mirror, but the diplomat Haimu interrupted me with a serious face.

"That would be great, but the Royal Intelligence Bureau has been searching diligently for the past two days but still hasn't found Grander."

"Royal Intelligence Agency..."

Has the situation become so serious?

I suddenly felt cold all over.

What the hell are you doing, Gulland?

"The key is that time is limited. Tomorrow is the day that Grande is supposed to leave for Allen. We must get her on the ship to Allen tomorrow morning no matter what."

"You, you're too close... Um, you can tell the King of Allen that Miss Grande's chronic illness has worsened and find an excuse to postpone the meeting."

"no way."

He immediately retorted.

"Right now, all nations are paying close attention to the news of Grande's visit to Allen. Doing so might create a rift in our relationship with Allen. This is a very sensitive political issue."

"Your face is too close! What should I do?"

An ominous feeling slowly rose within me.

I'm just an ordinary person, a recent heartbroken loser, with a famous family member. He couldn't possibly want me to...

Some inexplicable plots suddenly surfaced in the corners of my mind. They were stories I'd read in my beloved book "Interesting Historical Stories." There was the rare female con man who pretended to be the daughter of a duke and married into another country, and there was the story of the great hero of the Oran Kingdom, Kainluk, known as the Red God of War, who hired a ghostwriter to take the university entrance exam because he was not very smart. As I read these stories, I even laughed and said, "How is that possible?"

I pressed myself against the wall of the narrow living room, trembling like a poor mouse being pressed by a cat. The diplomat with the fins smiled so refreshingly that it made me dizzy and said:

"Ciel, please replace Grande as the royal tutor of Allen."

My mind suddenly went blank.

"No! Absolutely not!"

I refused desperately.

"Although we look like twins, Grande is a girl and I am a boy!"

"I know, but compared to the national affairs at hand, this is just a small matter."

"Don't make it sound so easy! This is no small matter! Men and women are completely different!"

"Oh? What's the difference?"

Haimu looked me up and down rudely and said with his head tilted.

"Breasts! I don't have any breasts!"

"Gulland's breasts aren't that big, so just stuff them in."

"I'm in puberty. I'm going to keep growing taller, stronger, grow a beard, and my voice will deepen! In two years, I'll be showing my true colors! And Grande is a genius. At the age of seven, she was admitted to the top of the list of the most prestigious institution of learning in the Vistoria Empire. And I can't even get into the university preparatory class at the age of seventeen. How can I possibly replace her?"

The gunman's brain is worse than mine, that's why we should complain "How is that possible?"

But diplomat Haimu said:

“Whether it’s possible or not, you won’t know until you try.”

With a refreshing smile, he pushed me into the carriage, tied a vest around my waist that he had taken from some wealthy family, stuffed something in my chest, put on a lady's dress for me, and carefully applied rose oil to my hair and tied it up.

"Well, look! It's like Grande himself is here!"

What appeared in the large mirror was a blonde girl wearing a gorgeous silk dress covered with ruffles and ribbons.

Yes, Gulande and I look a lot like each other, as if we were cut from the same mold, but I hate hearing people say that my brother is ordinary and lacks momentum, and that he wears glasses and has long bangs to cover his face.

Ahhhhhhhh! I thought I'd become more manly at seventeen, but I still look so much like Grande. Why is my skin so smooth and delicate? Why do I have big eyes and long eyelashes? My lips are pink, and my panicked look is so adorable it inspires protectiveness... Why am I so obsessed with myself?

Haimu held my drooping shoulders with a familiar attitude and said in a friendly tone:

"Perfect, Ciel. It seems you're truly capable of being Granland's replacement. Luckily, the world doesn't know Granland has a twin brother. Furthermore, among the king's children, the prince destined to inherit the throne has only just turned eleven, and the youngest is only five. It's like teaching elementary math at a nearby elementary school. Just think of it as a well-paid part-time job. Of course, the elite intelligence agents of the Vistoria Empire will also risk their dignity to find Granland. It won't be long before we see results, perhaps half a month. No, judging by their experience, wisdom, and drive, you only need to be patient for a week."

"No! Get back here! You kidnapped, perverted, and gender-confused official!"

You want me to be embarrassed for a whole week? No kidding.

I protested like a child, but...

"If Grande is considered to have defied the Emperor's orders and fled without permission, he will surely be imprisoned for treason."

"Well!"

"If war breaks out between the Kingdom of Vistoria and the Kingdom of Allen over this, not only Grande, but even your brother will be considered a criminal who brings disaster to the country and the people, and will be forced to live in hiding."

“Ugh!”

"No, maybe both the brother and sister will be hanged."

"!"

This black-hearted diplomat made threats with a gentle and kind smile.

"Grande is a genius. She'll most likely escape successfully, but that wouldn't bolster the nation's prestige. So, you'll definitely be imprisoned and tortured as Grande. Either you take the blame for treason, or you live a luxurious life in the palace as a state guest. Which one do you want to be? Even an ordinary person like you should know which is better, right, Ciel?"

Didn't you just say that the Vistoria Empire's intelligence agency is excellent and will find Grande soon? Then you say you want to arrest me and put me in jail for her. Isn't that a bit contradictory?

But I'm too scared to complain.

War! Imprisonment! Hanging!

Miscellaneous: Random Thoughts

It was spring break, the eve of high school enrollment.

I finally bid farewell to the long junior high school days and am about to start a new life. Anticipation and anxiety are mixed in my heart. It was a spring afternoon with this mood.

While lying on the bed in my room reading my favorite comics.

"Yo, Shinobu!"

The door of the room was opened without warning, and at that moment, tension spread throughout my body.

Following the cheerful voice, Shinomiya Shino walked into the room without any hesitation and smiled at me.

She said as she shook her straight hair that fell to her shoulders.

"Are you free right now?"

She wasn't asking a question, she was asking for consent. Faced with her tone and expression, I frowned and sat up in bed.

“…What are you doing?”

"I have a little favor to ask of you. Can you promise me?"

Hearing Shino's words, I became even more alert.

Because I know clearly that her so-called "somethings" are by no means something that can be solved "slightly".

——The troublemaker who has been with me since birth.

Doing whatever you want will naturally cause chaos and bring endless confusion and harm to those around you.

This is my younger sister, Shinomiya Shino.

To be precise, it's my twin sister.

Shinomiya Shino - from the time she was born into this world until now, that is, for the past fifteen years until she graduated from junior high school, she has been facing all kinds of troubles along the way.

For example, the swimming pool vandalism incident in fourth grade.

For example, there was a fire in the home studies classroom when I was in the second grade of junior high school.

There are also incidents of infiltrating the broadcasting studio, exposure incidents at cultural festivals, and so on. There are too many examples to count.

And the biggest victim is me.

I'm Shino's twin brother and the family member closest to her. In this position, I always have to deal with the aftermath of the incidents she causes.

Of course, I was trying to live a peaceful and stable daily life, but Shino ignored me and caused chaos, and I was often caught up in the chaos and suffered losses.

In the end, I might even be considered an accomplice. My life has been spent in countless repetitions of this kind.

So, this time it must be "definitely not a simple matter", I shook my head slightly and sighed.

"...Let's talk about it for now."

I have answered this way countless times.

For us, this was even a set conversation, and Shino continued without hesitation.

"Yeah. Actually, there's someone I want you to meet."

"Someone you want me to meet?"

"Yes. With someone."

Having said this, Shino began to narrate the whole story, which made Shan Er think.

According to her, the so-called "someone" refers to a girl of the same age, and the two got to know each other on the Internet.