1. "Then,"
2. "I'll leave the inspection of the border mine to you."
3. "As you wish, father."
4. "...how has school been?"
5. "Perfectly fine."
6. "There have been no problems worthy of reporting to you."
7. "Lapis!"
Laden…Laden…
1. "We are "Parent and child" after all."
2. "Even if it's not as fancy as a "Report," that's fine."
3. "I just wanted to have a friendly chat."
4. "If that is your command,"
5. "Then I shall act accordingly."
6. "As always, be careful on your way back."
7. "...never mind."
Laden…Laden…
1. Even if it means turning against the entire world,
2. There is something she doesn't want to lose.
1. "Um, and then his highness..."
4. "Said that the sound of me working on the calculator was like a musical instrument..."
5. "Oh, um..."
6. "Anything else?"
7. "Well, I definitely have to see that myself."
1. Lapis-sama...
2. But now the feeling she's giving off feels even gentler than usual.
3. When we first set off, she seemed kind of tense...
4. "Vino-kun left a message with me!"
5. "Oh!"
6. Maybe this is my chance to figure out her true motive!
1. "Um..."
2. "...I see."
3. "The crows have their eyes on the diamond."
4. "The doghouse or the crow's nest. Decide which one to burrow in."
1. "No need."
2. "...if you'd like, I could give your reply to him."
3. "Also, don't get involved with vino from here on out."
4. "And don't act on your own! You'd definitely end up in some kind of trouble."
5. "If anything happens, come to the church."
6. "We're already pretty close..."
7. "But, well,"
1. "Have you always been like this?"
2. "A meddling, kind, easy mark?"
3. If I'm not careful, then some kind of swindler will...
4. "... Then, interacting outside of work is fine."
5. "I wonder..."
6. "I was in the student council, though."
7. "You were?"
9. "No, not at all!"
10. "You must have been an outstanding student."
11. "Our student council just ran errands for the student body."
12. "And I was just a peon!"
13. "Huh..."
1. But... It was fun.
2. Right after I began high school, a friend invited me,
3. And I just ended up joining the student council somehow.
4. "...... Good morning."
6. "Natori-san."
1. "Don't worry."
2. "I'm sure you'll slowly get used to it."
3. "I'm sorry."
4. "If you whisper like that, nobody'll hear you."
5. "Collect?"
6. "Could you go collect from the basketball club after school?"
7. "Oh, right."
8. And yet, I get this feeling that they're going to keep putting it off.
9. "Hee hee..."
10. "It'll be really bad if we don't get it today."
12. "They haven't submitted their budget proposal yet, you see."
1. "We need to do that!?"
2. "Proposal!?"
3. "Um..."
4. "I prepared an extra just in case."
5. "Aaahhh..."
6. "Eh!?"
7. "I do faintly remember getting something like that."
8. "Shit. I definitely lost it somewhere."
9. "Teach is gonna be so mad at us! What do we do?"
10. "If you want to, you can fill out this one..."
1. "Me too. Sorry about intruding on practice."
2. "Sorry we're so behind on this."
3. "Come on, just hurry up and write!"
4. "A goddess!"
5. "I'm really bad at athletics..."
6. "Say, you're pretty tall. How about joining the club?"
7. "Ah, that's a shame."
8. "The match is coming up soon, so you gotta do what you gotta do."
9. "You mean the taping?"
10. "Practice... Looks quite difficult."
11. "You see,"
1. "I just really want to win."
2. "Good morning!"
3. "Woah!"
4. "Oh!"
5. "Mornin', natori-chan."
6. "Good morning."
7. "Good morning~!"
1. "How did... Your match yesterday go?"
2. "We won!"
3. "Congratulations!"
4. I was truly happy.
5. I felt like that was what I wanted to do with my life.
6. But when I saw everyone celebrating,
7. I was just a plain girl working behind the scenes,
1. "How splendid."
2. All they wanted were people who could be the featured star, the leading actor.
3. Once I graduated college and started looking for a job,
4. That was a mistake.
5. ...no,
6. I just knew.
7. When I went to an interview:
8. ""Aahhh.""
1. "The person next to me is the one they'll take."
2. ...I don't belong in a place like this.
1. ""You need more ambition.""
2. ""Find something you could do that we couldn't get someone else to.""
3. Then,
4. Even after I somehow managed to get into a company and devoted myself to working as hard as I could,
5. The older employees would constantly yell at me like that every day.
6. Day after day, I was left questioning what to do.
7. I was lost.
1. But I knew from the very start...
2. That it was my fault for not having any identity.
3. "You..."
4. "About half a year later, I resigned because my health just kept getting worse."
5. "From there, I jumped from place to place as a temporary worker."
6. "Gave someone who wouldn't even fit as a background actor..."
7. "A job to fulfill."
8. "That's why you're my savior, lapis-sama."
1. Suddenly I started showcasing all my bad sides to her...!
2. "......"
3. "... The mine we're heading to right now..."
4. "Mines stones that don't shine and aren't worth very much."
1. "Indeed."
2. "Is... That so?"
3. These stones wouldn't take their place as the lead.
4. Even if we ignore the large magic jewels that are the natural choice for a centerpiece,
5. And give it the careful molding of a craftsman,
6. But if you take some ore, melt it down,
1. "A beautiful silver is born."
2. "Without a beautiful base to support it, your jewelry won't shine."
3. "No matter how brilliant your centerpiece is,"
4. "Is this beauty. The techniques to support the leading actors."
5. "What my family has held onto for so long..."
1. "You should be mad at the ones who made you suffer like that."
2. "To say that there is no worth in those unfit for a background role and work behind the scenes..."
3. "I,"
4. "And the history of the tenebrae family would never say such a thing."
1. "Thank you so much."
2. "...I don't think you have anything to apologize for."
3. "You're right."
1. ...you fool.
2. My entire existence is just an act.
3. I'm deceiving you.
1. When I'm with natori,
2. But,
3. I slowly feel like I'm getting accustomed to this superficial self.
4. Like this,
5. It's almost as if I can fool myself into believing that I really can become this splendid person I pretend to be.
1. If this superficial act were real,
2. Just how blissful would that be?
3. For her...
4. And for me.