Read Online PandoraHearts ~Caucus Race~, Vol. 2 by Shinobu Wakamiya - Free Book Online Page B

that the Lutwidge Academy school building and dorms weren’t originally built to be a school and dorms; they were used for…all sorts of other things. And so there are hidden rooms in them—and hidden passages.”
    “You mean…”
    “Right. Narrow spaces in the walls between rooms, so that you can get outside without anyone noticing. What was I reading…? I think it was a pretty rare banned book—”
    He didn’t care about the circumstances surrounding the book. He was just grateful for Leo’s voracious reading habits. However, begrudging even the time it would take to whoop with delight, Elliot leaned close to Leo, urging him on in a whisper:
    “Great! We’ll get out that way, then. Hurry, Leo!”
    Finding himself caught by the shoulders and pestered, Leo said, “Okay, okay,” sounding rather disgusted. He crossed to the wall. Just to be on the safe side, Elliot flattened himself against the door, trying to monitor what was happening in the corridor outside. Far away, he could hear footsteps approaching the room. His heart gave a nervous leap.
    Leo was patting down the wall. Elliot glanced at Leo and urged him on in a very small voice. “Step it up!” But Leo was touching the wall here and there, then tilting his head in perplexity. Finally, he turned back to Elliot, crossing his arms over his head in an
X
.
    Then, in the same very small voice as Elliot, he said:
    “It’s no good. It’s old, and it looks like it broke. The mechanism in the wall won’t move.”
    Whaaaaaaaat?!
Elliot screamed, silently.
    Even as they spoke, the footsteps traveling down the corridor arrived in front of the room. On reflex, Elliot held the doorknob. His heart was pounding fit to explode. Cold sweat trickled down his forehead. And the footsteps…went straight past the room, without stopping. They receded again.
    When he couldn’t hear the footsteps anymore and silence had returned, Elliot went limp, collapsing to his knees.
    No matter how many lives he had, he thought, it wouldn’t be enough to get him through a crisis like this one.
    He looked at Leo with eyes that were growing dim from accumulated fatigue. Leo was gazing vaguely up at the ceiling; there was no telling what he was thinking. He called to him—“Leo”—but there was no response. Leo was a bit like this when he was absorbed in a book. Deciding he couldn’t count on him, Elliot thought.
    We’ll just have to risk it and go back the way I came in!
    Just as Elliot resigned himself to that tragic idea, Leo murmured:
    “I guess it really was that. That banned book.”
    Leo brought his eyes down from the ceiling and looked at Elliot.
    “I only read it once and it’s been years, so I don’t remember it all that well, but I may be able to find another secret passage.”
    “…Seriously?”
    “The only one I was sure about was the one I came in by, so… It’ll be a gamble. What do you want to do?” Leo asked, looking Elliot straight in the eye.
    Elliot looked back, silently. Leo’s expression was hiddenbehind his shaggy hair and glasses, and on top of that, the room was dim, so he couldn’t read his face. However, even without looking directly, Elliot knew his valet’s expression as if it were his own. He knew, and it made him want to smile wryly.
    You know it’s—
    Even in this, a situation that was, in a way, the biggest crisis of their lives.
    You know it’s just his usual smug look.
    Leo was waiting quietly for Elliot to speak. “Okay,” Elliot said, firming his resolve.
    “It’s all up to you. Do it, Leo.”
    At that, Leo’s expression softened slightly, and he spoke with a simple, genuine smile:
    “—Understood, Master.”
Blue Rose Club
    Now this is a bit of a problem…
    Josephine sighed, quietly. The Blue Rose Club members’ enthusiasm was dragging on longer than expected. The common room on the third floor of the girls’ dorm was filled with cheerful voices, and the conversation showed no signs of dying down. The dinner hour was