“Are you that Alrescha Lyra Hartmann?”

“Hm?”

On a particular day, I was greeted by an unfamiliar voice from behind. At that time, I was separated from the rest of my pals because I met with Erneste. He said he’d give me his notebooks for me to study, who knows it might be useful?

My pals had mixed feelings. Iris gave her thumbs of approval, while the others seemed to be grudgeful of Erneste already.

Alt-nii only shook his head helplessly as he chuckled at my pals’ reaction.

“It’s not good if we only mingle with our circle of friends. It’s important to be separate at times.”

With such words, Alt-nii managed to make everyone (reluctantly) let me go alone.

He also encouraged the rest of us to associate ourselves with others if given the chance to.

Alt-nii is really maturing, huh?

Meanwhile, I’m still a bit inferior when it comes to associating myself with others. It’s like I don’t really mind if I am only mingling with my current pals, eh.

Anyway, back to the present!

I turned my head in response to someone calling me out.

But what did this person mean when she said ‘that’ Lyra?

I was a little bit surprised upon finding three girls standing behind me with their arms crossed like that.

The one in the center seemed to be the one who called out to me. She seemed to be a very prominent or dominant girl, with medium length hair that was of reddish brown color. The tips of her hair were slightly curled outside. There was a small ahoge turning upwards. Her bangs were quite short that I could see her short eyebrows completely. Her ash-colored eyes were looking at me… with a very sharp gaze.

Meanwhile, the two standing next to her seemed to have some similarities, and they seemed like the center girl’s… guards? I got that kind of vibe... Ah, I got it! The two girls possessed sakura-colored or pink-colored eyes that were similar.

The girl on the left had brown skin with thick eyebrows. Her deep pink hair was tied in a high ponytail on her left side. From her appearance, she seemed to be the tomboy sort of a girl. She seemed rather bold, although she didn’t seem as dominant as the girl on the center.

Meanwhile, the girl on the right side had a pale white skin that exposed her freckles. Her eyes were the lazy eyes type, and her eyebrows were thinner than the girl on the left side. Her hair was a bit curly with the same color of her eyes, pink or sakura color. She styled her hair in some braids with the same high ponytail, but on her right side of the head. From how she styled herself, she seemed to be the girlish type.

“Hello? Our boss is talking to you! Are you or are you not that Lyra?!”

The girl on the left raised her loud voice to me.

“Oh dear me, Dmitria, you’re scaring the little girl, tsk tsk tsk,” the girl on the right side said with her gentle voice.

“So what, Valerie? If that’s how much courage she possesses, then she is really not worthy of Prince Erneste!” Dmitria argued.

“Dmitria, Valerie, quiet. Let’s give this little one a chance to speak. Say, are you, or are you not?” The center figure—the “boss” spoke.

“…I am Lyra, you are right. But what’s that got to do with you lot? Have we met one another before?” I asked with a guarding look.

“Hmph! Boss Briar, she says she is the one!” Dmitria said with an accusing tone.

“Fufufu, poor one,” Valerie said as she wrung her handkerchief.

“No, we haven’t,” the boss—Briar?—shook her head before she suddenly pointed her finger to me.

“HOWEVER!”

Yikes! She suddenly shouted, gosh, really!

“How dare you bewitch our prince, Erneste-sama?!” She angrily said.

“Uhm… WHAT??”

EXCUSE ME?

I never once tried to approach Erneste. He was the one to approach me.

“Prince Erneste is everyone’s prince, a figure that should never be snatched by any girl. We, of Prince Erneste fan club, vowed that we’d protect our prince with everything!” Boss Briar announced.

“…”

“If someone’s going to have him, then Boss Briar should be the one!” Dmitria argued.

“…Briar is Prince Erneste’s number one fan, after all. She’s the one who found the fan club as well,” Valerie smiled.

“...”

So what?

“So, scram! Don’t ever approach Prince Erneste again!” Briar pointed her finger at me again and gave me a warning look.

Before I managed to say anything in my defense, she quickly added.

“Hmph! You understand? Well, I’ll be kind enough to let you off now, but don’t you think I’ll let you off in the future!! I’m warning you!!”

“You should thank Boss Briar!”

“…How lucky of you,” Valerie said.

Then, the three of them disappeared in a whoos!

“…”

What the heck just happened?!

I touched my forehead in my confusion.

I… I should consult this with my friends!

Iris might know more as she seemed to be a bit of Erneste’s fan…

With that in mind, I dashed off to regroup with my friends as quickly as I could.

***

“Ah, they must be the troublemaker trio!!”

Iris quickly enlightened me as she clapped her hands together.

“…Troublemaker trio?”

Iris nodded at my question.

“You see, the boss of the troublemaker trio is the second daughter of the Marquis Remus residence. She’s Arusha Briar-Rose Remus. People often gossiped about how different she is from her perfect big sister. And they all said that if Briar-Rose has done something correct, then it’s only the formation of the Prince Erneste Fan Club.”

“…What the…”

“She imposed too much rules, though, to the extent that they actually boycotted her from the fan club she founded… so people said. Add that they couldn’t bring themselves to really like her, the troublemaker. With the only exception of the two other people that made up the troublemaker trio along with Briar-Rose. You can say that the two of them are Briar-Rose’s sidekicks.”

“Iris, you know a lot, don’t you?” I suddenly found Iris amazing. I looked at her in a new light now.

“W-well, don’t you like listening to such rumors, Lyra? They can be exciting,” Iris asked me in return.

I thought for a while and shook my head.

“Eeh, not really. I am not that much of a gossiper… but maybe that’s why I really am not up-to-date with things.”

Iris sighed. She then asked me again, “Then, do you know Briar-Rose’s two sidekicks? They are quite well-known, you know?”

“Uhm… Nope, sorry, hehe…”

I forced myself to laugh.

Iris sighed again.

I turned around to look at my other friends, only to find them silently feigning ignorance, although I could tell that they were all listening.

…Can someone help me and say that they don’t know much of the gossips around here, too?

Iris finally continued.

“Lyra, Briar-Rose’s sidekicks are a pair of sisters, Dmitria Bartlett Flugel and Thayne Valerie Flugel. Also known as the [miracle twins]. They practically half-siblings born in the same day, yet they are sooo different.”

“Half-siblings born in the same day? Whoa, that’s really a coincidence. Do they take after their respective mother?”

“Hmmm… I’m sorry to say that I can’t answer your question, I haven’t heard much about their family situation. I only know that they’re called as the [miracle twins] because of something like that… Oh, they are the Flugel main family’s only children.”

“Flugel family… Uuuuh, I have heard of them before. The earl family from the West?”

“Ah, finally, you know something!” Iris happily tapped my shoulders.

“…” Iris, ah, why does it seem like you’re thinking that I’m sooo clueless? T__T

“So, the crazy fangirls are starting to come to you, Lyra?” Clavis finally opened his mouth to talk.

“Uh… I guess so?”

“Well, that’s to be expected,” Luca nodded.

“Big Sis Lyra, I’ll go and beat those bad girls for you!” Ein pouted as he clapped his chest.

Uuuh sorry, Ein, but you don’t sound convincing at all!

“Nothing good comes from facing off against the ones known as troublemakers,” Iris said.

“Hm? Lyr can just beat ‘em all!” Carbuncle made a gesture of… WAIT, ISN’T THAT A GESTURE OF KILLING?!

I wouldn’t go as far as do that…!

Peace is the way!!

“Then, you’d better not seeing that sham prince again, Lyra,” Clavis suddenly gave an extreme suggestion.

“But, Clavis! I already told him that I am willing to be his friend!”

“Then just say that you’ve changed your mind.”

“That… Isn’t it a bit too heartless?” I was surprised at Clavis’ suggestion.

“Don’t you think so, Luca?” Clavis suddenly brought Luca into our conversation.

Wait, what’s that got to do with Luca…?

“Huh, me? Hmmm… If it were me, I wouldn’t want to get involved in something that bothersome. But then again, it’s up to Lyra,” Luca shrugged.

“Alt?” Clavis raised his eyebrows at Alt-nii.

“Well… This is a bit tricky,” Alt-nii scratched his head.

“I have an idea!” Iris suddenly added.

“Yes, lawyer Iris, go and make your argument!” I quickly gestured at Iris.

“Why don’t you wait and see first? If they are persistent enough to cause you troubles… we are here to help, but there’s a more effective way—try asking Erneste himself! Since the trio—especially Briar-Rose—are Erneste’s fans, wouldn’t they be willing to listen to Erneste’s words?”

A light bulb went on in my head.

“Iris, brilliant!” I immediately grabbed Iris’ hands.

“My Iris is awesomeee! Muah, muah (smooching sound)! I love youuu!” I hugged Iris.

“You’re very welcome, hehe~,” Iris laughed.

“…”

I felt several eyes were looking at us with indescribable gazes, but when I tried to take a look at them, I couldn’t find anything…

But anyway, for the time being, I already know what to do, so what?

Everything is going to be just fine… right?

***

On another day.

When I met again with Erneste to give his notebooks back, I decided not to mention the matter of his crazy fangirls first as they hadn’t done anything to me anyway.

But right after we went our separate ways…

“Ekh?!”

I noticed my low twintails were tugged from behind. My hair was quite long by now and add that I styled it mostly in low twintails, so I guess people could really pull my hair to call me…?

When I turned to look at the offender, I noticed the three familiar figures.

From left to right: Dmitria, Briar-Rose, Valerie.

I sighed when I noticed a rising headache from seeing them.

“You! Boss Briar has warned you, hasn’t she?!” Dmitria was the one to raise her index finger at me.

“Yet the ignorant little one decided to pay no heed to Boss Briar’s kind warning, aiyah…,” Valerie lightly shook her head.

“Since you ignored my warning, then I take it as a war challenge, alright?” Briar-Rose asked with her intimidating look.

“Uhm, I don’t want to wage a war or anything like that… In any case, I’m only seeing him as a friend, and I only returned his notebooks just now,” I quickly defended myself… only to be greeted with the miracle twins’ gasps.

“Prince Erneste, he...?!” Valerie gasped.

“He lent you his books?!” Dmitria completed her sister’s words.

I slightly tilted my head as I found myself focusing on the wrong part. I found it funny that Valerie and Dmitria were similar to Freyr and Freyja in how the two of them completed each other’s sentences.

Speaking of which, I hadn’t told my family anything about them—except Alt-nii.

I wouldn’t want to make my dad roar in anger if he were to find out that I got into troubles because of Erneste (indirectly, and poor Erneste isn’t the right person to blame, either).

Besides, I felt like everything would turn out fine anyway.

Right?

“You!” Briar-Rose pointed her finger at me again.

Argh, really, these people kept pointing their index fingers to me as if they were asking me to bite on them, rawwrrr!! （;≧皿≦）

“He’s the one who suggested it to me, though? I didn’t even ask for him to lend me his books, ah!” I defended myself again.

“What?! How dare you say that?!” Dmitria gasped again.

But it’s the truth!!

“How shameless, trying to get close to Erneste like that!!” Valerie said in disdain.

“Escu—Excuse me, but he’s the one who confessed to me! Not the other way round!!” I objected again.

“Y, y, y, youuuu!!” Briar-Rose’s index finger shook in anger.

I couldn’t say anything before she suddenly added.

“The fight is on, then! Prepare yourself, Lyra!!” Briar-Rose harrumphed.

I stood there dumbfounded, trying to prepare myself for what was about to come, but…

The three of them rushed off just like that.

“Prepare yourself for trouble!” Dmitria said in a haughty tone.

“The next time we meet, that is,” Valerie’s fleeting voice could be heard.

“You’d better remember that!” Briar-Rose said as a closing statement.

“…”

I blinked several times.

What exactly is happening?

I couldn’t understand these three girls.

While it seemed like troubles might be coming at me anytime soon, I found myself not getting worried over it at all.

Could it be that I was too confident that the three of them combined wouldn’t be able to do anything really bad to me?

Was it because I was too confident of my power?

Or was it because I knew I had my pals that I could rely on?

Anyway, instead of being scared (the reaction that the trio troublemakers seemed to want), I even found myself smiling a bit in excitement.

Oh well…

It’s hard to admit, but perhaps I’m also looking forward for the ups and downs of my life, I’m looking forward to the excitement.

A life too peaceful can be boring as well, you know?

I guess I wouldn’t be too bothered about it if it’s just small and fun troubles like this… right?

In any case, these three are just ordinary girls.

Have they even celebrated their coming-of-age ceremonies yet?

Well, well, I’ll treat it like I’m entertaining the young ones, okay?

Mmhm, yep, let’s do that.

I have all the rights to do so, as my time living in this world is definitely more than them, hehe!

In a corner of my head, there’s a small thought popping up.

How will Erneste react to this?

That person said he liked me. How would he deal with his fangirls for the person he claimed he liked—for me?

…Perhaps I also want to test that person out.

Alright, I’ll be looking forward to what the trio troublemaker can bring to me!

And I’ll definitely tell Erneste about them the next time we meet.

As I headed towards where my friends were today, my footsteps seemed to be getting lighter as my heart was pounding faster than usual.

Gosh, me! Am I having the totally wrong reaction?!