That Butler, New Face

That Butler, Lauding

The image of the dignified chapel reflected clearly in the puddles left behind by the recent rain. Doves were perched in the belfry, while inside, a stained glass window of Saint George watched over the two boys who stood facing each other.

"I shall never betray. I shall never be arrogant. And until the day we take our leave of this sacred school... I shall build a relationship that will ennoble us both. This I swear by Saint George," Clayton said seriously. He offered blue gentian flowers with one hand. "I off you this pledge and ask that you be my fag... Ciel Phantomhive." Ciel stared solemnly back at Clayton.

CLANG~ CLANG~

Ciel went down on one knee to kneel before Clayton as the bell rang and the doves took flight.

"I humbly... accept," Ciel said. As the birds soared into the sky, Sebastian watched Ciel and Clayton from another rooftop. Ciel accepted the flower from Clayton and tucked it into his boutonniere. Then Ciel smirked. Everything was going according to plan now that Maurice was out of the way.

—^—^—^—

When Ciel returned to the Sapphire Owl dorm, he heard a voice say, "Ah! There he is!!" and suddenly he was bombarded with a mob of other students from his year. Their cheeks were flushed with excitement.

"You're incredible! Just incredible, Phantomhive!" McMillan said excitedly.

"Congrats!" another boy said. "Wow! You're really wearing our dorm flower!! I envy you!!" The rest of the mob was talking too, but Ciel couldn't make it out because there was so much noise.

"Ha... Ha-ha..." Ciel said, taken aback. "Ta..."

—^—^—^—

"Nn?" Soma said when he heard some commotion outside below the floor he was standing on while talking to another student.

"Oh! Look! That the fellow who joined up with the P4 right after starting school here," the other boy said as they looked down to see Ciel walking with a group of other students. "Whoa. Just look at all his admirers!"

"That's..." Soma said, recognizing Ciel. He threw open the window and waved at his friend with a sunny smile. "Saaay! What's this, Ciel!? You're mighty popular, I see!" he called down to him. Ciel flinched, anticipating something unpleasant or foolish on the prince's part.

"The one with the elephant!!" McMillan said, recognizing Soma.

"I'm so happy you've managed to make friends despite your dourness~!!" Soma told Ciel.

"Ah-ha-ha..." the other boys surrounding Ciel laughed good-naturedly.

"Ha ha..." Ciel said flatly, a little mortified.

=†=†=†=†=†=

{Phantomhive Manor...}

"Heheh..." Chêne laughed softly in her sleep. She had fallen asleep in a chair in the middle of dusting, and she was dreaming about Ciel's sudden boom in popularity. Everywhere he went, people wanted to talk to him. He was starting to look exhausted, but she thought it would be good for him to be forced to socially interact more with other kids his age. And Soma's remark about his dourness had been amusing.

"Should we wake her?" Lacey asked Mei-Rin, watching Chêne smile in her sleep. "It seems a shame to disturb her..."

"We should let her rest, yes?" Mei-Rin said. "Missus Chêne works hard, and she's been so tired lately..."

"Yeah. We should just leave her," Lacey agreed.

BOOM!

Lacey and Mei-Rin spun around to look out the door of the room they were standing in when they heard what was unmistakably an explosion.