Free From the Warlord's Empire by Gakuto Mikumo Page A

as she posed her question to Kojou.
Wait, calm down, deep breath,
he thought. Kojou desperately tried to talk her down.
    “It’s all right, Himeragi. The dress has dress padding and everyth—”
    Before Kojou finished that last word, Yukina’s unleashed heel plunged down onto Kojou’s crown. “Hrgh!!” he uttered in anguish as he clutched his head. Looking down at him, Yukina’s cheeks swelled up in what seemed like a pout.
9
    A little past 9:00 p.m., Kojou finished changing his clothes and came out of his room.
    He was wearing a three-piece tuxedo. It had been packed together with Yukina’s dress in the package sent by the Lion King Agency. Their objective was unclear, but apparently the Lion King Agency bunch wanted Kojou and Yukina to meet this aristocrat from the Warlord’s Empire.
    Though he found being used for no apparent reason to be distasteful, it’s not as if he had any other clothes he could wear to a party. The clothes had committed no crime, Kojou told himself as he fastened his necktie and closed the buttons of his vest, heading toward the entryway. Then…
    “K-Kojou? What’s that? What’s with those clothes?”
    Having come face-to-face with Kojou in the living room, Nagisa, fresh out of the bath, widened her eyes as she looked at him.
    Her hair was drenched; her cheeks were still a little pink. With water droplets still on her skin, she looked quite defenseless with only a bath towel wrapped around her. Kojou was a bit taken aback at her gawking at his outfit while she walked around like
that
.
    “Ah, this. Actually I’m doin’ a part-time job.”
    He gave her the excuse he’d thought up beforehand.
    Nagisa was instantly taken aback, looking over Kojou’s whole figure in what seemed like shock.
    “A part-time job? At night?”
    “I’m subbing for a classmate who collapsed from workin’ too hard. It’s just for tonight. On his end, his parents have a hundred and fifty million yen debt left to pay, so if I don’t do this in his place, they won’t be able to pay the medical costs for his sick older sister.”
    “I-is that so…?”
    Kojou thought it was a sorry excuse by his standards, but Nagisa seemed to believe it with surprising ease. The tuxedo must have added credibility. In point of fact, a normal high school student had very few opportunities to wear something like this unless he was part-timing at a bar.
    “I guess it can’t be helped. But don’t do anything indecent,” Nagisa warned him with an uneasy expression.
    What in the world is she worried about?
Kojou thought with a pained smile.
    “Yeah, it’s okay. Not gonna happen. Sorry about leaving you to hold the fort, but thanks.”
    “Yeah, I get it… You take care, Kojou.”
    Kojou left while Nagisa saw him off with a cheerful wave.
    Though he of course felt guilty about tricking his younger sister, he couldn’t be honest with her and say he was meeting a vampire from the Warlord’s Empire, so it couldn’t be helped.
    Kojou went into the corridor, making an annoyed exhale, thoroughly disgusted with himself.
    As he did so, Kojou sensed someone right beside him coming even closer, as if to nestle against him.
    When Kojou looked, there stood Yukina. She’d no doubt heard Kojou’s conversation with Nagisa.
    Glancing sideways at the door to the Akatsuki residence, she spoke as if trying to console Kojou.
    “Nagisa’s a good girl.”
    “Well, the wilder a story, the easier she’ll believe it, you could…sa…”
    As Kojou spoke, turning around to face Yukina, he was suddenly at a loss for words.
    His gaze was stolen by the outfit so very different from what she usually wore.
    It was a white party dress with deep blue highlights. The cleavage was conservative, but in contrast, the outfit was boldly cut from her shoulders all the way down her back. The thin fabric made the contours of Yukina’s body stand out, with her white, firm thighs poking out from under her elegantly frilled miniskirt.
    As might be expected