October 29th, Sunday.

Yesterday's weather forecast even said there would be heavy rain today.

Yet early in the morning, bright sunlight pierced through the clouds, and the blue sky showed no sign of rain at all. It was like last night's downpour had already emptied out all the rain.

All thanks to the sunny doll hanging by the window—yeah right.

Phoenix Academy Maggie saw the view outside, and the first thing she did was take down the sunny doll and toss it straight into the trash can.

So embarrassing!

Seriously, so embarrassing!

Last night she'd actually been stupid enough to worry that if it rained today, she wouldn't be able to go out, so she secretly took Nomura True Wave's advice and made a sunny doll to hang on the window.

If Nomura True Wave found out, she'd probably cover her mouth and laugh at her.

Last night she had righteously refused to do something that childish.

She'd even complained to Aozawa, saying there's no way something like the weather could be decided by a sunny doll.

And yet, her worries had made her choose to pray to something vague and intangible—well, not exactly intangible. Would praying to Dio even work?

Phoenix Academy Maggie had this fleeting doubt, then looked again at the clear sky outside.

She decided not to think about it, and took a deep breath.

The Imperial Palace was rich in greenery, so the air was naturally fresh, making her feel like her brain was getting cleared by the breeze.

Phoenix Academy Maggie took off her pajamas and walked into the wardrobe room, picking out the purest, most innocent outfit from her sea-like collection of clothes.

Which was a white one-piece dress paired with a white sun hat.

The big round hat was so wide it could probably cover her shoulders.

The pattern on the hat matched the faint floral pattern on the white dress.

Phoenix Academy Maggie let her blonde hair fall loosely over her shoulders, and the underwear she chose was pure white as well.

Any other color would stand out too easily.

Only white went best with a white dress.

Once she put it on, the pure white dress, draped over her alluring figure, actually carried a hint of femme fatale heat—pretty much the textbook definition of "pure-but-sexy."

Phoenix Academy Maggie didn't hurry to put on the hat; she planned to wear it when she went out.

First she spun once in front of the mirror; from head to toe, she couldn't find a single flaw.

Phoenix Academy Maggie nodded in satisfaction, the corners of her mouth lifting.

If people who didn't know the situation saw this outfit, they'd probably roast her for choosing style over warmth.

But with her current physical condition, she was completely immune to the chill of autumn.

Phoenix Academy Maggie stepped out the door, planning to head straight for Kasai Rinkai Park right after breakfast.

She'd already planned out what to do in the morning.

As for the afternoon, she had things to take care of then too.

She needed to sit down for some serious talks with Israel.

Even though with her here, she could guarantee nothing would happen to the Prime Minister.

Between nations, though, a lot of things are never that simple to resolve.

Plenty of diplomatic niceties still had to be observed.

Even if Japan had the largest number of Treasure Users in the world, that didn't mean those Treasure Users would be willing to fight for Japan once things turned into a war.

In fact, in most countries, the general principle about Treasure Users was that they should stay as far away from state political struggles as possible.

Enemy nations also wouldn't send Treasure Users to attack.

Setting aside some special Treasure Users.

For example, someone who was already the Mayor of New York City before becoming a Treasure User, and is now a frontrunner in the next presidential election.

David.

But with his personality, not to mention helping the United States attack others, he wouldn't even agree to the United States starting wars against other countries.

He even called for withdrawing all overseas troops around the world and said the military–industrial complex should vanish into history.

Quite a few conservative voters wanted to support David as the next president precisely because of that stance.

But she didn't believe that military–industrial complex—the same kind that dared assassinate a president—would ever let David take office.

...

Imperial Residence, dining room.

Today's breakfast was Chinese-style: delicate millet porridge served with vegetable buns, meat buns, and sweet buns.

Kochou sat in the upper seat, and when she saw her daughter walk into the dining room, a trace of doubt flashed in her eyes. Was it just her imagination?

She felt Phoenix Academy Maggie's outfit today was a bit different from usual.

It wasn't the fact that she was wearing a strappy dress in autumn.

With her daughter's current physical condition, she wouldn't have any problems wearing a strappy dress even in winter.

It just felt a little off.

Like her daughter had put a lot of thought into dressing up today.

Granted, dressing up nicely to go out and have fun was perfectly normal.

But what was this strange feeling?

A hint of doubt flashed across Kochou's eyes.

She had never truly loved Phoenix Academy Maggie's father.

She had only pretended to fall for him in order to climb up, to break through her own class restraints.

In her eyes, all of a woman's grooming was like the camouflage of a hunting tiger, all for the purpose of conquering men.

But with her daughter's current status, she felt there was no need to do that anymore.

In other words, men should be the ones desperately chasing after her daughter, not her daughter dressing up all dolled up to see someone.

Based on this belief, Kochou simply couldn't understand Phoenix Academy Maggie dressing up like this to pursue someone she loves, yet her instincts told her something was off.

"Maggie, you look really pretty today."

"Studying's been exhausting. I just want to relax a bit, and wearing this dress in the breeze feels really cool and refreshing."

Phoenix Academy Maggie replied with a smile.

Kochou nodded and didn't ask further about that, instead switching to talk about official business.

To what her mother called "official business," Phoenix Academy Maggie kept answering while sighing inwardly, wishing she could go back to how things used to be.

...

Arakawa Residence.

They were also having breakfast, but unlike the lavish meals at the Imperial Residence, Arakawa Reina's breakfast was very casual.

The two leftover boxes of pizza from yesterday were heated up in the microwave and then set on the table for the three-person family to share.

Plus donuts, egg tarts, and beef burgers.