Later still, he hadn't failed to notice the lusty gazes following him as he walked behind his master. In particular, he tried his best to ignore the redhead that had been fondling herself as she watched, or at least gave the appearance of having been doing so. You could never tell. There was much of Haruna in her, and he knew Haruna exaggerated a great deal of her perversion... even if there was also a lot that was genuine. Regardless, Kirche was trying to seduce him, that much was obvious.
That is not how Haru Springfield rolls.
He tilted his head slightly when he noticed where Louise was leading him. Free, open air, grassy field, close by wall... Several tables had been placed on the grass. Many students, second years if his suspicions about the cloaks were anything to go by, were there, most with strange animals at their sides or on their laps. According to what his master had told him, the ritual was performed by all second years, so it was kind of odd to see them all with their familiars in the open. Didn't they have classes?
Several maids hurried from table to table and back to the kitchen, carrying trays with food and drinks that he didn't bother to identify. Most of it, however, he noticed was probably of the sweet kind.
"Why is everyone here?" He asked, slightly curious. Again, it was kind of odd to see everyone out in the open in what he suspected had to be class hours. Considering everyone else had headed off in the same direction...
"There are no classes today for second years. It's so we can communicate with the familiars that were summoned." She explained. At the very least, she was good at exposition. The familiars varied from common dogs and cats to a floating eyeball. That was kind of surprising. He hadn't quite seen most magical creatures that inhabited Mundus Magicus, and they tended to run the hell away from any and all human settlements. The weaker ones, however, often stuck close to them. Magical creatures were smart enough to notice that every time a Black Dragon wandered near a human settlement, it'd be attacked by the humans and driven away, and so were most large predators.
"Oh?" Kirche's voice was very distinctive. Nobody else charged it with quite as much obvious lust. "Ah, Hello Haru!" She was busy petting a large red lizard's head, and though the fact that he hadn't noticed her before she'd called attention to herself had been slightly disappointing, she was still in a fairly good mood. She liked her familiar very much indeed and making a salamander purr was always entertaining. Who knew Lizards behaved like cats? Also, she had a nice piece of eyecandy to stare at. All was right with the world.
Smiling, he waved at her. "Hello, Miss Zerbst!" he replied. "Is that your familiar, by any chance?" She answered his smile with one of her own. Either of their smiles would've made any heart melt, really. However, the universe realized that there was too much sexy gathered in one place and thus we need to move on before something implodes and we all get banished to the blaghole.
Louise's temper flared to life for a second, her target the boob monster, but she reined it in. No need to explode just yet. Neither her nor her enemy, that was. She'd have time to blow her up 'accidentally' later.
"Yes! This is my Flame! He is absolutely obedient to his master." It was odd, as Haru hadn't ever seen non-sentient familiars, this was a surprise. "Right, Flame?" was it purring ? It was odd enough that Haru figured it was just a difference in the Salamander's physiology to a common lizard's. After scratching Flame where it liked it best, Kirche turned to direct a sultry smile at Haru and Louise's way.
"Mind your own business!" Louise nearly yelled. Zerbst just somehow triggered her every berserk button with every single word she said. It was a talent, really. Most people actually had trouble getting under Louise's skin, whilst the Zerbst did it entirely by accident. Family rivalry, I guess...
"Is this dashing young man really your familiar, Louise? You had us all fooled with that explosion!" It was clear it was teasing meant to get a rise out of her. Haru smiled slightly, they seemed to be good friends. Well, Kirche acted like such at the very least. It was far more tame than the rounds of insults he and Kotaro had shared some times. After all, Haru had been an english teacher, and if there's anyone who's good at swearing it's someone who knows the language so well he can teach it.
Kotaro was just that damned creative when it came to cursing.
He swore he could see the vein bulging on Louise's forehead. That couldn't be healthy. "I performed the summon properly and he appeared!" she almost yelled, pointing a finger at the "thing" she treated as an animal. Again, it was still kind of annoying to be referred to as if he was barely more than the dirt she scrapped off her shoes.
"Indeed. I can assure you, Miss Zerbst, that I was summoned here by Master." Haru said, standing next to Louise and expertly avoiding the poking finger by virtue of standing just out of poking range. It helped that Louise had rather short arms. A curse of her low height, he mused.
"Such a wonderful summons from Louise The Zero!" Kirche said, smirking perversely. It was clear why exactly she found the summoned familiar wonderful. At the very least, she hadn't tried to kidnap him to her bed. She did have a good noblewoman's laugh, though, Louise gave her that much. She'd actually tried to emulate it, and had never come close to Kirche's own. She was just a natural at being a perverted noblewoman. "Well, I guess I will leave you two to your own devices, I wouldn't want to take your attention away from your master, Haru!" She said, winking at him.
"Goodbye, Miss Zerbst!" Haru said, waving to the retreating femme fatale, who was followed by her red familiar. Again, she was trying to seduce him. He didn't even blush. Clearly, she hadn't brought her A game yet, too used to rather easily provoked males everywhere.
Louise growled, clenching her fist. "What is wrong with that woman?" She said, glaring at her back. "And you! Stop being so friendly with her!" she yelled, as Haru raised his hands in surrender, laughing slightly. He found her exasperation adorable, truly. It was clear that the redhead didn't mean any ill will to Louise. He'd seen a similar friendship before and been in one himself. "Go bring me some tea!"
He blinked. One of his great pleasures in life. "May I have one for myself, Master?" He asked.
"No!" He pouted at her, looking like a sad little kicked puppy. She couldn't deny, as she blushed, that he looked kinda handsome when smiling, but when he was pouting, he was just too cute to ignore. No grown man should be allowed to do that! "Fine!" She gave up, feeling the guilt lift when he perked up again.
He happily scurried off to the kitchens after that, following one of the maids, who didn't seem to have trouble despite the rather large number of utensils she carried in her trays.
The kitchen staff were kind enough to get him two cups of tea, and the good stuff, too. They also offered him real food to eat instead of a loaf of bread, but he'd politely declined. There was no need to waste food. His tea delivered, he'd gone back and forth, carrying the tray with the used cups back to the kitchens. He did not know exactly the kind of tea he'd been offered, but he still liked it. He liked any and all kinds of tea, after all.
He then got a lesson that he ought not to forget. He might be used to dragons, overgrown lizards, gryphons, gryphon dragons and a variety of other, scaly or feathery, magical beasts, but the purple floating eyeball was still one of the most impressive things he'd ever seen. If only because of the sheer physical impossibility that it was. Evidently, whoever designed that thing had been drunk.
And it just happened to be his luck that as it passed, its leathery wing tickled his nose. Forcing himself not to sneeze wasn't healthy, let alone comfortable. It was just his luck that by doing so, he accidentally crashed on a passing maid and knocked her tray off her hands. Had he had slower reflexes, he wouldn't have caught it as it fell.
About an inch from the ground. Fuck up, averted!
"Ah, I'm so sorry!" He began apologizing as soon as he was up, holding the tray with both hands and bowing repeatedly, embarrassed by the fact that he had almost gotten someone in trouble. Because he knew, for a fact, that she'd be blamed for it.
"N-No, it's fine, don't worry!" the maid replied, turning to face him. He didn't notice the faint blush on her cheeks at the physical proximity. "I am sorry, sir!" she began apologizing herself. Possibly an instinct of having to serve nobles all of her life. If these nobles were anything like Earth's nobles, then they weren't the most patient of people and they weren't a role model to follow.
"No, no it was my fault." He continued. He didn't notice when her gaze locked on his left hand, which was still holding the tray.
"Ah, are you by chance the familiar Miss Valliere summoned?" she asked, tilting her head. She seemed to relax immensely almost immediately. He didn't blame her. For the few runs ins with nobles he'd had, they weren't pleasant people, and he hadn't even been the one their displeasure had been directed at. As a matter of fact, most of the people who could be considered nobles generally were desperate to kiss his ass. Considering he was practically one of the most powerful men on either world, he understood why, even if he didn't like it.
"Yes." he replied quickly while nodding his head. "My name is Haru Springfield, and it is a pleasure to meet you." Had he not been wondering what the standards were, he'd have taken and kissed her hand instead of bowing to her. Because, that is how a proper gentleman greets a beautiful lady. Right? To him, it mattered little that the girl was a servant. Heck, one of his best friends was his own cook! That, and he was still holding the tray she was supposed to be carrying. "May I have your name?" He tried to give her a nice, disarming smile. He never knew how it looked. She did, however, blush slightly.
"I was brought to serve here as a maid, my name is Siesta." She replied, a smile on her face. For the moment, he was just glad the tension broke the moment she confirmed he wasn't a nobleman. "Your name is weird, isn't it?"
Haru grinned, mildly embarrassed. "My family has always had weird taste with names." he replied scratching the back of his neck. It was true! Her mother had always liked the Japanese culture a bit too much, and so had her mother, apparently.
"Hey!" yelled a rather annoyed voice. "I am waiting here!" continued the blond fop Haru recognized as Guiche. It was easy: the blond had left an impression the last time they'd met, by chance alone. However, he also saw that he was seating with a different girl that morning. The stereotypical stuck up noble wannabe ladies man. There was one thing Haru wouldn't let him get away with.
"Ah, at once, sir!" Siesta replied, although she still hadn't recovered her tray. She looked at it intently, but didn't take it from Haru's hand.
Faking a relationship for his own amusement. Sure, he'd let him get away with it last night, as he couldn't be really sure of his intentions, not even now, but he'd take a gander at his current situation and decide for himself on that regard. After all, if anyone had relationship experience when it involved multiple partners, it was him, and he could outright say that it DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY. Not unless you want to hurt everyone involved, including yourself.
The redhead didn't know if the blond was faking it or not, however... There was always a chance that he just didn't know what to do.
Haru turned back to Siesta, flashing her the same smile that had reduced women to drooling messes, and began walking his way. An implied "I'll take this one" was on his eyes.
"B-but that is..." unnecessary? Possibly, but he was always glad to be of help, and he kind of needed to make it up to her for crashing into her and almost making her drop the food she'd been carrying.
If he really loved them both, then he could give him a hand with it. He knew how hard it was when your heart was split into multiple people.
He was scratching a giant mole's mane affectionately, as it let itself be petted by the blond fop. Green flag. "I spoke with Verdandi all night, Montmorency." Lying. Red flag.
"Really..?" The blonde, Montmorency, Haru assumed from the conversation, didn't seem convinced. "All... night, right?" The hesitancy on the word All was evident, and the reason for it was, as well. The blonde didn't trust him one bit. Perhaps it wasn't his first offence?
"Of course!" Guiche affirmed, with his standard propensity for overly dramatizing his actions. He continued the lie, and seemed not too foreign to doing so. Red flag. Such relationships cannot be sustained on lies. Even Kurt would tell this guy to tone it down.
"These smart eyes, this intensely soft fur!" Fanboying over his familiar despite it not being the standards of beauty was something Haru could respect. After all, he couldn't be all that bad if he loved his familiar regardless of the fact that most people wouldn't be content with it... Green flag. "She was destined to become my familiar!" Though his ego was a bit too swollen... Personally, he thought it was the good kind of crazy, anyway.
"Anyway, never do that in front of me again." She cut, coldly. Well, maybe she didn't like him interacting so closely with a large furry animal. Then again, his girls had come into much more intimate contact with Chamo... Although that usually ended in someone having to wipe the poor perverted ermine's blood off the walls. Often enough it was due to the ermine's own nosebleeds... How could an ermine so small contain so much blood in his body? It was another mystery of nature, he assumed.
"Here you go, sir." Haru said, his voice sounding as smooth as always, though he eyed Guiche a bit longer than what would normally be considered appropriate. His eyes narrowed, almost imperceptibly, at him. He was still observing
"Bring me another cup of tea!" That was a request he could get behind. The boy quickly turned back to Montmorency, who was busy petting her frog, which was expressing its delight by making a heart with its tongue. That... couldn't be right. It kinda made him think that frogs were underrated if they could control their tongues to that extent. Then again, it was a familiar frog, so it probably wasn't like a normal frog... but still, it was kinda eyecatching. I wish I could make this shit up. "Your familiar is very beautiful, just as yourself!" he called.
Haru had delayed fulfilling Guiche's request in favor of sticking around, see if he was leading the other girl on intentionally for his own amusement... Truth be told, he had a hard time telling. Guiche did genuinely seem to like her, and it wasn't uncommon for men to exaggerate to impress women. Just as the inverse wasn't, either.
"You are sappy as always." Though her face was screaming "Praise me more!"
"I cannot lie in front of your eyes." Red flag. Big time liar. That and he used the same line twice, or close enough. The redhead didn't quite recall whatever he'd told the other girl.
"But, I have been hearing rumors that you are seeing a first year girl. Is this true?"
"Absurd!" Okay, that was it, then. He was obviously leading both of them on intentionally and keeping both from knowing about each other as best as he could, which was very poorly. Had Asakura been around, Haru would've at the very least been easily able to expose this. Still, Montmorency seemed unconvinced, if the scowl on her face was anything to go by."How could that be, when I have the beautiful Montmorency by my side? After all, I..."
"Cannot tell a lie in front of your eyes?" Haru spoke. "I am sorry for interrupting, but that is both very clichè and you've already used that line." He chastised, before turning around to leave. It seemed Montmorency could handle her boyfriend on her own. He really hadn't intended it as an insult, merely pointing out that he could improve. Deeply ingrained teacher senses forced him to do it!
"W-Who are you?" Guiche asked indignantly, as Montmorency's attention jumped from Guiche to the retreating back of a strangely clad red haired gentleman.
"My name is Haru Springfield." He stated. "So, I was right the colors of your cloaks represent your grades. The girl you were with last night had a brown cloak, hadn't she? She was a first year, then..." And he hadn't wanted to let that one slip, since he was certain Montmorency would eventually end up finding out anyway. but he was really distracted with the confirmation of his theory.
"What is he saying?" Montmorency snapped, to the distraught Guiche.
"Return to your task, servant!" the blond fop snapped, rapidly getting to his feet. How he'd managed to do that without knocking the mole out of his lap was anyone's guess. He was also entirely too furious.
"I am sorry, but I am not a servant." Haru replied, before continuing on his chosen path, straight to Louise's table.
"Ah, right, you are Louise the Zero's familiar..."
Haru nodded, without turning back.
"Guiche, what is he talking about?" Montmorency asked, a mix of curiosity and anger in his voice. Because she wanted confirmation for her suspicions.
"Ah, it's just, the other night, I just happened to come across him on a hallway, that's all!"
"Weren't you in your room with your familiar?" She seemed deceptively calm.
And so the liar was exposed. Haru didn't like ruining his reputation, particularly, but again, it had been an accident that his words had slipped through.
"Montmorency! Let us depart!" He nearly yelled, looking and sounding frantic.
"Hey, wait, why so soon?"
Haru rapidly figured out the reason. Sure, she was plain and average looking, not that she hadn't her own attractiveness and charm, but being underdeveloped compared to her elders made her look so, and the first year he'd seen last night with Guiche was unmistakable amongst the second years. The cloak was kind of obvious. She was carrying what appeared to be a white picnic basket. Did those even exist when his own world was so low on the technological ladder?
"Lord Guiche..? Where could he have gone..?"
"That way." Haru said, pointing at the fleeing blond fop. Again, it had been done on reflex. He just saw them as students and he automatically chose to answer their questions and help them.
"Lord Guiche!"
He didn't stick around to see the fireworks unfold, however. Preferring to lose himself on the crowd. He was trying very unsuccessfully to maintain the lie going, from the yells Haru could gather. The slap resounded across the field, though. So did the laughing.
Red with Rage, Guiche turned to the spot that was clean, where a man in green was walking away. "Y-You!" he yelled, pointing his rose wand at Haru. "You don't know who you're messing with!" He had a grin on his face, clearly thinking about some sort of punishment for Haru. Well, technically Haru knew nothing about Guiche. "I challenge you to a duel!"
Haru faltered mid step. "... Are you sure you want to do that?" He asked, turning around, looking more curious than anything else. He then realized he didn't really know the capabilities of this world's mages, and seeing the spells working rather than the basic theory behind it would be interesting, although he admitted that he wanted to see if he could learn how to use their magic, he hadn't had the time to check Louise's textbooks. He couldn't read the runes, but he'd get around that easily enough with a week or two. Maybe three.
A demonstration of magic in the flesh would be rather welcome.
"Precisely!"
Haru smiled. "Very well then!"
"I will teach you how to behave! You made two beautiful ladies cry!"
Haru felt a pang of regret hit him. It was indeed his fault that their little bubble had burst. Then again, it would've burst at some point.
"The gardens in front of the Vestri court!" Guiche yelled, as he stomped out, still fuming in rage.
But once he was out of the circle made by the students, Haru heard a second set of stomps coming his way. He almost immediately pinned down the maker of the sound, it was his master, looking as annoyed and angry as ever. "You idiot! What are you doing!" She yelled, grabbing a hold of his sleeve and pulling harshly as she began dragging him off.
"Uh... sorry?" he said, not really understanding where her anger came from.
"I don't care about what happens to you, but why the hell did you accept that duel?" He tilted his head. Was she worried about him?
"I had no reason not to, Master." He said, keeping up her pace with ease. "May I ask where you are taking me?"
"You're going to apologize to Guiche! If we hurry, he might forgive you."
"Master, I am not going to apologize to him." He stopped suddenly, and Louise found out that her size was really a disadvantage some times. "You're right in that I should not have provoked him, and I did so accidentally, but even so he was doing something very rude." And rudeness was unforgivable.
"You don't understand anything!" She yelled, trying her best to get to his face. It was a cute attempt, at the very least. "A commoner cannot defeat a noble! You're lucky you came out unharmed right now!"
Haru laughed. Because the insinuation that he could be harmed was actually sort of funny. So was her concern, for the record. "Master, do not worry about me." He said, once again. "I have confidence in my abilities, although I might be a bit rusty from paperwork." he admitted. If Louise hadn't been angry, she'd have blushed at his confident smile. "Could you show me where the Vestri court is?"
Louise was still fuming, but a rather fat boy with an owl perched on his shoulder spoke up for her. "That-a-way!" he said, a pleased smile on his chubby face.
"Thank you!" Haru pointedly ignored Louise's angered scream. Apparently, he was named Malicorne. He ought to commit that name to memory. Maybe.
"Ah, Haru! Don't do this!" A maid was chasing after him, much to Louise's annoyance, for some reason.
"This is looking good! Taking our bets, guys, taking our bets!" he began yelling at the crowd.
Louise's vein throbbed. Fat bastard... "Why did I have to get the idiot familiar?" She moaned.
Years after, Louise would look back and want to smack her past self for doubting her familiar's abilities.