"So alike were they... Two peas in a pod, one a mirror image of the other."
This article is about the manga arc. You may be looking for its anime adaptation, Kuroshitsuji: Public School Arc.

The Public School Arc is the seventh arc of the Kuroshitsuji manga.

Synopsis[]

Weston College is Great Britain's most prestigious public school, and as such, so closed-off that it does not even tolerate government intervention. Thus, when some of the school's students—one of which is Derrick Arden, the son of Queen Victoria's cousin—refuse to come home, and cease correspondence with their families, Ciel Phantomhive has no other choice but to enroll at Weston College to investigate. Sebastian Michaelis joins the staff as Sapphire Owl's new housemaster.

Ciel tries to get close to the P4 and uncover what happened to the missing students while navigating the horrors of school life and competitive sports.

Plot[]

Enrollment and Game Plan[]

After the Easter egg hunt, Ciel Phantomhive reads Queen Victoria's letter which he received from Charles Grey.^[1] In the letter, the Queen notes her regards for Ciel's unfortunate incident on the Campania, and addresses her concern for Derrick Arden, the son of her cousin Duke Clemens. Since last summer, he and a few other students have been refusing to return home from Weston College, worrying their families. For his investigation, Ciel decides it would be best to infiltrate Weston College as himself, and orders Sebastian Michaelis to figure out his own way in. To open up a spot in the school, they do something to make a student named Collett withdraw.^[2]

On his first day at Weston College, Ciel is determined to leave a good impression. However, he is not only almost late, but he also steps on the lawn, much to the students' shock. When the prefects, known as the P4, arrive, everyone thinks that Ciel will be reprimanded for his misstep, mainly because Edgar Redmond vigorously approaches Ciel. To everyone's surprise, Edgar only wants to straighten Ciel's tie though. He inquires for Ciel's name, and Herman Greenhill notes that the headmaster mentioned that a new student would be coming to Blue House today. Lawrence Bluewer informs Ciel about the rule to stay off the lawn, and the P4 leaves after Gregory Violet urges them inside to avoid the bright daylight.

Another first-year student from Blue House, McMillan, comes to congratulate Ciel for being spared with impunity after stepping on the lawn. He then explains the system of Weston College and identifies the members of the P4 before they hurry to class.^[3]

They are discussing Collett's sudden withdrawal and Ciel's late admission when Clayton arrives and makes everyone line up. Because he is last, Ciel has to polish the prefects' shoes. Afterward, he goes to his welcoming party, which consists of Clayton shoving him onto a sheet which the other boys use to launch him into the air. Before they can do it twice, the new housemaster stops them and introduces himself as Housemaster Michaelis.^[4]

The next day, Ciel heads to the headmaster's office to receive his welcome speech, and pledge his obedience to the school's regulations and traditions. Because the headmaster is absent, only the vice headmaster, Johann Agares, and the prefects. After Ciel signs a book, he asks when he would be able to speak to the headmaster. The prefects inform him that regular students are disallowed from seeing him due to his tight schedule, hence only the prefects may.

At breakfast, McMillan educates Ciel about Fag Time. Most notably, the prefects' fags can also meet the headmaster at the annual Midnight Tea Party. When Ciel inquires about Derrick, his question is promptly met with disdain and whispers from the other students. McMillan tells him that he should refrain from mentioning students from other houses because of the intense rivalries between the dormitories, and that Derrick transferred from Scarlet Fox to Violet Wolf. Then, Fag Time starts, and while McMillan helps out his upperclassman, Clayton orders Ciel to clean the dining hall.

Ciel quickly brushes off the task to Sebastian. In the meantime, Ciel heads to Purple House to find Derrick but is immediately chased away by the hostile students of that dormitory.

Upon his return to Blue House, Clayton praises him for cleaning the dining hall so thoroughly. Though initially annoyed by Sebastian's action, the situation makes Ciel come up with a plan: The only way to gain information is to get close to the P4, and the easiest method to accomplish that is to become well acquainted with Clayton, Lawrence's fag.^[5] The next days, he does not refuse any of Clayton's orders—to Sebastian's annoyance as he has to complete all these tasks, along with his duties as housemaster. Because of Sebastian's efforts, McMillan prognoses that Clayton will choose Ciel as his fag.^[6][7]

The Jealous Fag[]

One day, the prefects and their fags gather at Swan Gazebo. They discuss Ciel's surprising aptitude for work, and Gregory tells the others about Ciel's visit to Purple House. Edgar is eager to invite Ciel to Swan Gazebo as he is tired of keeping the same company all the time, but the other prefects and their fags are reluctant until Edward Midford, Herman's fag, states his respect for Ciel. The prefects then unanimously decide to invite Ciel to Swan Gazebo the following day at 2 p.m. Maurice Cole, Edgar's fag, volunteers to deliver the message and heads to Blue House. However, when he relays the invitation to Ciel, he deliberately tells him to come at 4 p.m.

In the evening, Ciel informs Sebastian of this opportunity. He is resolute on making the prefects and their inner circle favor him and assures Sebastian that he can do this alone, but Sebastian is to prepare the best teacakes to amaze the prefects.

The next day, Ciel arrives at Swan Gazebo only to be affronted by Clayton who scolds him for coming two hours late, and Ciel realizes that he has been set up by Maurice. Edward angrily approaches him and yells at him to leave since Ciel has betrayed his trust and expectations of him. Soon after, Ciel relieves his exasperation on Sebastian and declares that he will make Maurice regret ruining his hard work.^[8]

Ciel deduces that Maurice is a "pathological liar" because his hands are unblemished despite all the "hard work" he is supposedly doing; thus, he must be using dirty methods to accomplish his fag work. Hence, Ciel orders Sebastian to seek out others who have been deceived by Maurice, and to thoroughly investigate his activity pattern.

Sebastian discretely follows Maurice and interrogates various students who might have been tricked by Maurice, i.a. he speaks to Joanne Harcourt who was deceived in the same manner as Ciel. At the end of the day, Sebastian reports that he identified four students that have fallen victim to Maurice, and learned that Maurice leaves all of his fag work to others to complete. Because Ciel wants to track Maurice's activity at Red House, he needs someone to infiltrate the dormitory. However, the strict admission rules impede his plan until he recalls that he knows someone who has enough status and wealth to be admitted into Red House as a special exception without any vacancy. For the sake of the investigation, Ciel forces himself to ask for that person's help.^[9]

At night, McMillan comes over to Ciel's bed and asks him what happened. When Ciel informs him about Maurice's deliberate misstatement of the time, McMillan offers to testify for Ciel, as he was present when Maurice told him the time; he would also gather other witnesses.^[10]

Sometime later, Soma Asman Kadar enrolls at the school, bringing along an elephant and an abundant amount of dancers for a dramatic entrance.^[9] When Soma spots Ciel in the crowd, he uses his elephant to scoop Ciel from the ground with its trunk although Ciel wrote in his letter that he should pretend that they are strangers.^[11] Ciel then tells Soma that he and Maurice quarreled, and because he does not know how to reconcile with him, he requires Soma's help; Soma gladly accepts. Even though Ciel said that Soma should simply observe Maurice, Soma confronts Maurice on several occasions, pestering him to be friendly to Ciel.

After Maurice runs off in exasperation, Soma decides to visit Ciel at Blue House. He boards his elephant which goes wild when a noise petrifies him. Soma is unable to restrain it before it crashes into Maurice's dorm room. Edgar then punishes Soma with five Ys for destroying the room. He muses that there are no extra rooms for Maurice to stay in, and offers his own to share. However, Soma intervenes and suggests that Maurice can use his bed since he is obliged to take responsibility.

When the night sets in, Soma discovers Maurice depositing flower-shaped cards in the other students' letterboxes. The following morning, Soma reports all his findings to Ciel and Sebastian, and they devise a strategy.

The next day, Ciel confronts Maurice in the third art room and exposes his intentional misinformation that has deceived a handful of students invited to the Swan Gazebo, and his reliance on others to complete his tasks as a fag. When Maurice challenges him, Ciel reveals the evidence: the flower-shaped cards. On the cards, Maurice has written his requests to his entourage to do his work for him. Although the cards were all carefully ripped up, the pieces were later collected and patched together.

However, Maurice does not plan to be honest with Edgar and calls in a group of students to constrain Ciel. He then burns the evidence and states that manipulating people is a skill, for he can make good use of the otherwise plain students. He declares his goal to become a prefect to secure his future, as he is a second son who will never inherit a title. For that reason, he needs Edgar to favor him more than anyone else.

Maurice and his underlings set up a camera as they want to take humiliating photographs of Ciel. They begin to undress Ciel when Edward and Herman barge in, and the latter utilizes violence to render the boys that held Ciel unconscious. Lawrence and Gregory also enter, and Maurice questions how they could hear him since the Swan Gazebo is so far away.

Ciel lectures him that sound is not transmitted by loudness, but rather by vibrations, and reveals that perfectly tense threads are attached to the backs of the portraits in the art room. The threads are connected to multiple phonograph horns at Swan Gazebo. The setup allowed the prefects to listen to everything that transpired in the art room. Edgar, who is still at Swan Gazebo, cannot fathom that Maurice betrayed him too and then severs their brotherly bond. This greatly devastates Maurice, and he breaks down crying. Ciel asserts that if he starts to behave with integrity, he will be able to regain everyone's trust. As Ciel says so, he hands Maurice a handkerchief, and lying in the confines of it is a photo of Maurice when he is applying makeup. Meanwhile, Sebastian is releasing a multitude of the same photo for the other students to perceive.

Subsequently, Edward apologizes to Ciel for blaming him unjustly, and the prefects in the art room acknowledge and compliment Ciel. Ciel claims that he has always been against injustice, and Sebastian, who is hanging upside down outside, observes his young master's lies.^[12][10]

The Headmaster's Decision[]

Clayton appoints Ciel as his fag in a special ceremony.^[10] As soon as Ciel leaves the chapel, McMillan and many other Blue House students joyously congratulate him on his promotion. In the evening, Ciel and Sebastian conclude that they need a more efficient way to gather information on Derrick, and thus, decide to focus on the Violet Wolf dormitory.

The next day, at Swan Gazebo, Gregory compels Herman to remain in a fixed position while he sketches, albeit the fact that Gregory is not drawing him at all. When the prefects begin talking about June 4th, Ciel asks Joanne, who succeeded Maurice as Edgar's fag, what will happen on that date. Joanne and the others inform him that the school's annual cricket tournament is held on that day. Ciel steers the conversation on June 4 from festivities and families to dormitory-overarching friendships; he has a "friend" in Purple House against whom he would struggle to compete: Derrick Arden. The P4 stiffen at his name, particularly Gregory is greatly displeased upon hearing of Derrick,^[13] but their fags seem unconcerned.

The prefects claim that Derrick was transferred from Red to Purple House as the latter dorm fit his personality more. They also say that he was rather "peculiar," and each prefect proceeds to name a different skill—cricket, songwriting, memorization, and embroidery—as Derrick's talent. The transfer was ultimately a decision from the headmaster and, thus, should not be challenged. Ciel deduces that the prefects are hiding a significant detail.

Later, Ciel asks Edward about Derrick but receives little information besides the headmaster's unquestioned jurisdiction to transfer Derrick along with other students. Edward then asks if Ciel came to the school as the Watchdog, and Ciel tells him to mind his own business.

Subsequently, Ciel goes on a search for more information regarding Derrick. When inquired, McMillan identifies the transferred students as Gleason, Hardy, Isaac, and Thewlis; they all changed dormitories about six months ago. Ciel asks other students about Derrick as well, but each of them describes him differently and none of them knows why the reason for his transfer, as no one ever bothers to question the headmaster's "absolute" decisions. Elsewhere, Sebastian asks Johann about Derrick; he receives no concrete answer as not even Johann was apprised of the reason for the headmaster's ruling.

In the evening, Ciel and Sebastian meet up in Blue House's library to plan their next strategy. Ciel decides to make direct contact with Derrick by visiting Purple House himself.

Upon arriving at the Violet Wolf dormitory, Ciel instigates a fire by hurling his lantern within the dorm's premises to force the students to evacuate. Then, they wait for the prospective appearance of Derrick.^[14][15] However, as the Purple House students hastily seek refuge outside the dormitory building, Sebastian is unable to detect Derrick's presence anywhere, neither outside nor inside the dormitory. With the combined efforts of the other houses, they then manage to extinguish the fire.^[16][17]

The Cricket Tournament[]

The following morning, Ciel learns that, each year, the headmaster chooses one player of the cricket tournament whose "play was befitting a gentleman" to his Midnight Tea Party. What the headmaster interprets as "gentlemanly play" differs each year. Before Ciel can devise a strategy to get to participate despite being an unathletic first-year student, Clayton tells him that he was selected for Blue House's team because Blue House picks their players depending on wit, not aptitude in sport. Sebastian also recommended Ciel.

On June 3, in the school's grand dining hall, Johann initiates the opening ceremony and introduces the dormitories to the visitors. Each dorm is given an epithet, applied descriptively, and granted a dramatic entrance. The P4 simultaneously light the flame of St. George to signify the beginning of the 1889 school year's dormitory cricket tournament.^[18]

Afterward, the attendees of the cricket tournament, as well as the visitors, mingle sociably with one another. Lawrence is hounded by his seven sisters, and Aleister Chamber, who was a graduate of Weston College, arrives to greet and admonish his nephew, Edgar. In the meantime, Francis Midford confronts Sebastian, and the Midford family are soon informed to keep quiet about his true identity as a butler.

When Elizabeth Midford expresses her wish for Ciel to emerge victorious out of the tournament, Edward informs her that Blue House is always placed last and, thus, has no chance of winning. Alexis Leon Midford, who also graduated from Weston College, corrects his son, saying that Blue House won once in the past. His words summon McMillan who requests Alexis to tell the story about the "Miracle of Sapphires." Alexis gladly obliges.

Back then, Alexis was the fag of Green Lion's prefect Diedrich. After Diedrich got mad at Vincent Phantomhive, who was Blue House's prefect at that time, for neglecting the tournament preparations,^[17] Vincent proposed a bet: Whoever loses in the tournament would comply with one demand from the winner. Diedrich agreed to the competition, sure of Green House's victory. To everyone's surprise, Blue House won for the first time, however. To recompense for his loss, Diedrich had to serve as Vincent's fag, even through graduation.

After the story was told, Johann draws lots to decide the competition roster for the first round. Having ordered Sebastian to adjust the results to accommodate his preference, Ciel opts to win through force, not miracles.

The tournament begins with a match between Sapphire Owl and Scarlet Fox,^[19] the latter receiving permission to bat first. After the first few rounds, it is visible that Red House has the upper hand.

The servants of the Phantomhive household, except for Snake who watches the manor, watch the game along with Elizabeth, Paula, and McMillan. Baldroy explains the rules of the game to Finnian and Mey-Rin. Lau and Ran-Mao are also present and have set up a gambling booth, receiving bets for the outcome of the tournament.

At halftime, Red House leads with 80 runs, to Blue House's 21. Lawrence expresses a desire to change strategy, but cannot as their coach, Housemaster Michaelis, is not present. Meanwhile, Red House, confident of their victory, find their meat pie in a different position than expected. They shrug it off and set out to distribute the pie.

The match continues with Joanne bowling and Ciel defending. Just when Joanne is about to finish him off, he suddenly falls to the ground with stomach pain, and the other Red House players, except Soma, do as well. Sebastian had replaced the meat pie with one filled with laxatives. The match ends as Red House is unable to play further, and is considered a forfeit, making Blue House the winner.

While Blue House cannot fathom their victory, Sebastian heads out to exchange another meat pie: This time, he wants to prevent anyone from eating Baldroy's abomination of a pie. Sebastian hands the edible pie to Tanaka who met him halfway, having looked through Sebastian and Ciel's scheme. Tanaka says he looks forward to the second "Miracle of Sapphires" before they part ways.^[20]

Tanaka swaps the meat pies, and the Phantomhive servants, Elizabeth, Soma, McMillan, Lau, and Ran-Mao can eat together without any casualties. Lau notes that Soma, surprisingly, was unaffected by what has befallen the rest of the Red House team, and Soma says that he is healthy because Shiva protects him. Sebastian is astonished about Soma's survival too.

Meanwhile, the cricket match between Green Lion and Violet Wolf is still going on. Cheslock uses his "Purple Burnout" bowling technique, which results in the batsman being bowled out. Herman proceeds to make a boundary 6. The match ends with Green House's victory, with a score of 213-120. Therefore, Green Lion and Sapphire Owl will meet in the finale. Alexis joyfully notes that it is the same as when the "Miracle of Sapphires" happened; Francis is strangely avoidant of that topic though.

Right before the finale, the Blue House team's morale is down, as they do not think they can win against Green House. Ciel encourages them to give their all and win, not only for their sake but for Red House's as well. With newfound drive, the Sapphire Owl team heads out to the field. The match begins with Blue House playing the first offence. Sebastian starts a music performance, and the batsman for Blue House manages to hit the fastball with his eyes closed. One week ago, Ciel had come up with a plan to signal the players when to hit the ball. Edward figures out that Blue House is using the music as a signal. Displeased by Sapphire Owl's dirty tactic, Edward uses "Purple Burnout," Cheslock's technique, in an attempt to stop them, and he bowls the batsman out.

Sebastian wants to change strategies but gets distracted when he hears news of the headmaster's arrival. Immediately, he gives McMillan his responsibilities and rushes off to catch the headmaster,^[21][22] but when he arrives at the balcony, the headmaster has already left. Despite his best efforts to follow the headmaster, Sebastian is always too late to catch him. He eventually chases him into a building. Sebastian jumps at the headmaster and manages to grasp his coat—though the headmaster has mysteriously vanished.

Meanwhile, with Sebastian gone, the Blue House team is at a loss as to how to play without the music guiding them. Ciel reluctantly decides to use a strategy created by Sebastian to defeat Green House, by making Lau get his "shameless" girls to show their legs. All Green House players are distracted by the sight, but nobody from Blue House is, as they all have bad eyesight. However, Maurice tattles on Lau, and the match supervisor makes him and his girls leave for wearing such lecherous clothing.

In the next innings, Lawrence and the other Blue House players use a technique Ciel developed a few days beforehand, "The Sword in the Stone." It works, though it is not particularly effective as it only gave them a "paltry" lead. Ciel bowls next, and his team positions itself around the batsman^[23] which puzzles Green House and the spectators. Elsewhere, Sebastian admits defeat and returns to the cricket field.

Ciel aims for the batsman's face, so that he has to use the bat to shield his face, and the ball can be caught easily by nearby fielders. While the strategy does not violate any rules, the audience is appalled by Blue House's "ungentlemanly" conduct and boos. Herman then steps forward and shows everyone Ciel's calloused hands to let the spectators know that Ciel trained hard and should not be booed. He encourages Green House to fight as earnestly as Sapphire Owl does, and the game resumes.

In the next round, Ciel uses an off-side leg ball and tricks the batsman. Using "Over-the-Edge Tactics" (aiming either for the batsman's face or too low), Ciel keeps Green House scoreless until Edward bats. Because the strategy does not work against anyone with "fearless mental strength" and "superior dynamic vision," Ciel already expected that Edward would be unaffected by the tactic and, thus, not upset when Edward makes a boundary 6.

Lawrence takes over from Ciel. Calculating the trajectory, he manages to land the ball directly on the wicket, getting Edward out.^[24] Herman is the next batsman, and Lawrence tries his "Hunter in the Dark" technique on him as vain. This time, however, it does not work because Herman uses his "Sword Excalibur" skill where he swings his bat down from overhead. Now, Blue House is only two points ahead of Green House, and Sapphire Owl's morale sinks. Ciel hands Lawrence a ball and encourages him to try again. It does not matter anymore whether they win or not, as Blue House gave their best and their efforts brought them together.

Then, Lawrence bowls for the last time in his school life, and when Herman swings his bat to hit the ball, he injures Ciel, who is the wicketkeeper crouching behind him. Herman turns to Ciel to see if he is all right. Ciel uses the opportunity to grab the ball and throw it at the other side's wicket. Because the other Green House batsman was surprised that Herman did not run, he cannot stop the ball, and Green Lion gets out. With only one point ahead, Sapphire Owl wins for the second time in Weston College's history.

Everyone, except those who bet on Blue House's downfall, applauds Sapphire Owl for the spectacular win. The Blue House players pick up Ciel in celebration,^[25] but Sebastian stops them. After Ciel delivers a heartfelt speech that he forgot his pain because of the wonder of sportsmanship and teamwork, he carries Ciel to the sanatorium.

Sebastian treats Ciel and reveals that he retrieved the ball, as instructed. They manipulated it to be slightly heavier than a normal cricket ball to alter the trajectory. Sebastian then tells Ciel about his failed headmaster hunt, a development that stuns Ciel; after all, Sebastian is a demon, and no human should be able to escape from him. Right afterward, McMillan and the other Blue House students burst into the sanatorium to fetch him as it is time for the boat parade.^[26]

As Ciel gets ready for the parade, he and Sebastian realize that the Cox uniform, having been intended for an upperclassman, is too large for him. Sebastian thought forward though and commissioned Nina Hopkins to recreate Blue House's Cox uniform in Ciel's size. With the danger of tripping and humiliation averted, Ciel joins the Sapphire Owl team for the parade. At first, everything goes well, but when everyone has to stand up to salute the Queen, who is watching the procession from a bridge with her servants, they lose balance and fall into the water. Although they trained hard to win the tournament, it slipped their mind to practice for the parade as well. Afterward, everyone celebrates, eats, and dances together to mark the end of the tournament.

When Ciel returns to his dormitory, a teacup and a queen of the night flower wait for him on his bed: They are his invitation to the Midnight Tea Party.^[27][28]

Midnight Tea Party[]

While everyone else is fast asleep, Ciel heads with Clayton to the chapel where the prefects and their fags wait. Cheslock plays a melody on the organ, and a hidden door opens. They walk through it to a secret garden where the headmaster sits at the end of a long table; Johann is right behind him. Everyone takes place at the table, with Ciel sitting opposite from the headmaster.

When Lawrence is about to make a toast, Ciel interrupts him. He inquires about Derrick Arden and his friends, Isaac, Gleason, Hardy, and Thewlis, who have been refusing to come home for a year, and reveals that he enrolled at Weston College specifically to look for them, on their families' behalf. Ciel lists the oddities he observed, i.a., Derrick and his friends not escaping from the Purple House dormitory when it was set on fire, and proposes to ask Scotland Yard for assistance to get to the bottom of this. Johann says that this is unnecessary as Derrick and his friends are still in the school. Derrick then enters the secret garden.^[29][28]

At first, he seems perfectly fine but is quickly revealed to be a Bizarre Doll when he sinks his teeth into Herman's arm and his stitch marks are uncovered. Ciel summons Sebastian to restrain Derrick, and the attendees are stunned by the revelations that Sebastian is Ciel's butler and Derrick long dead. Pointing a gun at the headmaster, Ciel then asks for an explanation—which the P4 provide:

Nearly a year ago, not long after they became prefects, they received a coded letter which led them to the music room on Thursday night. The prefects set out to investigate and discovered Derrick and his friends bullying several students. Derrick, the lauded student with varied talents, had no skills at all;^[30] he forced others to do his work for him. Johann was present in the music room as well, but because he was bribed with alcohol, he only bestowed a light punishment on Derrick and his friends. Enraged and wanting to protect the school, the P4 then killed Derrick, Johann, Gleason, Thewlis, Hardy, and Isaac.^[31][32][33] Afterward, Edgar contacted his uncle, Aleister Chamber, and the P4 handed the bodies to Rian Stoker and his research partner to be resurrected.^[34]

Ciel freezes at their confession, and Sebastian voices the conclusion to which they have come: The headmaster is an impostor and no other than Undertaker^[35][36][30] who is rather amused by the situation and the prefects' reasoning for murdering Derrick and the others: to protect tradition and order. Sebastian finds himself agreeing with Undertaker that humans are supremely tragic, absurd, and delightful.^[37]

As he cannot do anything else, Ciel promises the P4 to make sure that they will be "fairly" punished for their actions. He then confronts Undertaker who lays out his new method of creating Bizarre Dolls: Instead of using anything to extend their Cinematic Records, Undertaker now takes a person's desires and wishes for the future and turns them into episodes. Ciel cannot understand why Undertaker wants to revive the dead so desperately, and Undertaker tells him that he simply wants to look "beyond the fated end."

When Undertaker turns to leave, Sebastian goes after him but is stopped by Johann, a rather successful Bizarre Doll. Undertaker also summons the Bizarre Dolls of Thewlis, Isaac, Gleason, and Hardy who attack the attendees. The P4 and their fags flee, and Edward assists Herman and Ciel Joanne, who froze and wet himself in fear. Undertaker then tricks Sebastian into believing that he will go after Ciel, and when Sebastian throws off Johann and hurries to his master, Undertaker escapes. Sebastian swiftly disposes of the Bizarre Dolls.

Subsequently, Ciel briefs Queen Victoria about what happened. The P4 are expelled to cover up what transpired; after all, Derrick is a relative of the queen, and his misdeeds would be immensely scandalous. Derrick's and his friends' deaths are accounted to a boating accident, and their corpses are buried in secret. Life continues normally in Weston College, except for the former prefects' fags, the new P4, who know everything and were sworn to secrecy.

Ciel meets the Queen at Buckingham Palace and tells her about the Bizarre Dolls^[38] which greatly fascinate her; after he leaves, she even says to John Brown that it would be wonderful if they could make such monster their allies.^[39] Meanwhile, Ciel returns to Phantomhive Manor with Sebastian, leaving behind the "miniature garden" that is Weston College.

At the manor, Mey-Rin, Finnian, Baldroy, Tanaka, and Snake struggle to collect Sam's sheep that have escaped. Ciel is amused by the sight, seeing them wrangle the animals on the lawn; after all, "a lawn is simply a lawn." As instructed, Sebastian then sorts out the situation before he heads to the kitchen where he burns the photograph McMillan sent from the victory parade and starts preparing the afternoon tea.^[40][33]

Shopping and Advertisement[]

Sometime later, Sebastian notices that Mey-Rin and Finnian need new glasses and a new hat, respectively. He relays his observation to Ciel who decides to take everything with him to London today; he himself wants to inspect the new Funtom Corporation department at Harrods. Then, Soma and Agni arrive. Soma is upset that Ciel left Weston College without a word, and Sebastian swiftly redirects Soma's attention and anger to Agni by revealing that Agni followed his prince to school, even though Soma told him not to: Soma's elephant was spooked by Agni, and Agni left a slice of chicken pie at the Red House table during the tournament; because Soma ate that slice, he did not get a stomachache like the other Scarlet Fox players. While Soma scolds Agni, Ciel and Sebastian quickly leave.

The Phantomhive household travels to London. They seek out an optician and a hat shop for Mey-Rin and Finnian, and Snake gets a large bag to transport his snakes. Afterward, they go to a bookstore where Ciel purchases Arthur Conan Doyle's latest novel, Micah Clarke, and to a candy store where Ciel does "market research" and buys Baldroy candy cigarettes. Before they head to Harrods though, Sebastian requests to go to Somerset House. He brought Undertaker's mourning lockets to the General Register Office where all of England's death records are kept, and now collects the findings: One of the lockets is for Cloudia Phantomhive, Ciel's grandmother.

Afterward, they inspect the new Funtom store where the corporation's latest product, the Lily of the Valley perfume, is sold. When they hear a scream, Sebastian rushes to the source: Irene Diaz and her new boyfriend Julius Pittman have been in a carriage accident. However, because they are actors from rival theaters, they cannot be seen together, and Irene is also late for a play. Sebastian offers to help; he ensures that nobody sees them together, and hurries Irene to the theater. In exchange, Irene does promotional work for the Lily of the Valley perfume: As she rides on a unicorn (Sebastian in costume) to the stage, she throws samples into the audience.

The mission is a success. Not only are the theatergoers and Irene's employers satisfied, but numerous women also hurry to the new Funtom store to purchase the perfume, making it sell out. Ciel is stunned by the masses, but after Sebastian saves him from being trampled to death, he makes plans to put Irene's image on posters promoting the perfume. Sebastian is amazed by Ciel's boundless greed.^[41][42]

References[]

Navigation[]

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Arc Navigation
← Luxury Liner Arc	Emerald Witch Arc →
Chapters Volume 14 63 • 64 • 65 • 66 • 67 Volume 15 68 • 69 • 70 • 71 • 72 Volume 16 73 • 74 • 75 • 76 • 77 Volume 17 78 • 79 • 80 • 81 • 82 Volume 18 83 • 84 • 85 • 86 • 87
Adaptations Episodes Kuroshitsuji: Public School Arc: 47 • 48 • 49 • 50 • 51 • 52 • 53 • 45 • 55 • 56 • 57 Musical The Public School's Secret
Major characters Ciel Phantomhive • Sebastian Michaelis • Edgar Redmond • Lawrence Bluewer • Gregory Violet • Herman Greenhill • Derrick Arden • Edward Midford • Clayton • Maurice Cole • Joanne Harcourt • Cheslock • McMillan • The headmaster • Johann Agares • Undertaker • Vincent Phantomhive • Diedrich