Playing House

"But what does that have to do with what you said?" Klein asked in return.

"Of course it has something to do with it!" Alice widened her eyes. "Some authorities, especially those with an excessively high level of mystique, aren't easy to display at the low Sequences. Otherwise, could Mr. Fool's authority really be controlling every circus in the world?"

"...Use a different example next time." Klein fully expressed his opinion.

When the new week's Tarot Club began, every member habitually looked around. Alice, holding ice cream, inevitably drew their attention.

This caused Justice Audrey, who had been preparing to stand and offer her greetings, to freeze. She stared at the ice cream in Alice's hand, feeling genuine confusion from the bottom of her heart.

...Wait, what was that?

The answer was obvious, but she dared not believe it.

Alice raised her head after failing to hear Miss Justice's greeting. She licked her lips, followed Audrey's gaze to the ice cream in her hand, blinked her eyes, and called out:

"Miss Justice, what's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Audrey was jolted awake by the deliberately obvious question. She hurriedly spoke up:

"Nothing."

Then, as though nothing had happened, she stood and saluted.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool~"

Alice silently dug out a spoonful of ice cream and stuffed it into her mouth. The curious Hermit Cattleya and the others could only regretfully withdraw their gazes from Justice Audrey. In their eyes, she was one of the few people who might be able to ask about it.

But Audrey hadn't asked. At least, Audrey had decided to offer her greeting first, so they could only temporarily set the matter aside and wait until the greeting segment ended.

The Trading Segment was skipped directly. The only transaction that