Chapter 5: Cecilia Gets Kidnapped

“That’s it, but… You want me to make you do even more?”

“Nope,” he responded with a shrug, going back to his usual flippancy. “I like you, Cecil. We’re mutual accomplices from now on. Don’t disappoint me.”

“Y-yeah.”

Did I pick the wrong dialogue option…? Cecilia wondered, unable to do anything but shake Dante’s proffered hand.

Several days later…

“Here, Huey. Say ahhh.”

“Hey! Lean, stop it! There are people around!”

“What? So you’re not going to eat it? But I worked so hard to make it…”

“Don’t make such a sad face at me… Fine, I’ll eat it.”

“Really?! Okay, say ahhh!”

 

“What’s going on over there?”

“Dunno.”

Lean and the new transfer Huey were putting on quite a romantic show in the dining hall. Wrapped in this aura of mutual love, they snacked from a lunch Lean had prepared.

Gilbert and Cecilia gloomily watched on from a small two-person table.

“So since Lean never ended up making an entrance, that means she didn’t start Dante’s route?”

“Yup. I’m really glad it didn’t reach the kidnapping part.”

“Kidnapping?” Gilbert gasped, thrown off by yet another alarming word popping up out of nowhere.

“If Lean keeps going down Dante’s route, Heimat members will kidnap her as revenge for her part in getting him to leave the organization.”

Aware of his feelings for Lean, Dante attempts to call the assassination life quits. But there’s no way his employers would let that slide, so they abduct Lean for ransom money and as recompense for Dante’s actions.

When that happens, Dante will rescue her if his affection points are high enough; mess up even slightly on the dialogue choices before that point, however, and either Lean alone or both of them will wind up dead.

In that section of the game, even experienced dating sim players can get locked into a bad ending. But in this world, affection points and dialogue choices weren’t visible, hiking up the difficulty even further.

“The game developers really don’t want you to finish Dante’s route all in one go. Meanwhile, we only get one shot at life!”

“I guess, but I’m just glad that’s been avoided. We have to do something about the situation with Dante knowing you’re a girl, so we can’t waste all our energy on this.”

“Oh, we might not need to anymore.”

“What? Why?”

“Well…,” she said, starting to explain before realizing that Gilbert would get mad if she told him about the deal. Ever the loyal little brother, he absolutely loathed when his big sister did anything even remotely dangerous.

“Seriously, why? Don’t tell me you…” Gilbert trailed off suspiciously, sensing something from his sister’s behavior.

But before he could finish, someone called out cheerfully, “Cecil!”

Something bumped against the back of her chair, causing her to lean away from it involuntarily. Looking back over her shoulder, she found Dante, smiling, with Oscar behind him.

“Having lunch now? Mind if we join you?”

“Uh, go ahead…”

“Great!” he chirped, jamming another table up against theirs, just as he had the other day, and seating himself next to her. The whole process took only five seconds. He worked so fast that neither Gilbert nor Oscar could get a word in edgewise.

“I see you went with the pasta, Cecil. I almost got that one, too.”

“Um…yeah,” she responded, eyeing him suspiciously as he got unnaturally close to her.

“Dante, what do you think you’re doing?” she hissed, conscious of Oscar and Gilbert’s questioning stares.

“What? I told you—I like you. I’ve never met a girl who’d strike a deal with me like you did. I definitely wanna get to know you.”

“You’re teasing me.”

“No, I’m having fun.”

“That’s the same thing.” She sighed.

But despite all that, their terms seemed to be in effect. Dante didn’t seem like he was going to harm her in any way.

“So actually, I thought of an interesting game this morning.”

“An interesting game? Hey—eeyaahh!”

He’d suddenly stroked his fingers over her knee, making her jerk. She glared at him as he smirked back at Oscar and Gilbert in amusement. Both of them had stiffened when they’d heard Cecilia’s yelp.

Dante stifled a laugh. “Oh man, that’s too funny. What’s with that…?”

“What’s with what?”

“You don’t need to know, Cecil,” he purred, tracing a line from her shoulder and up her neck this time.

“Argh! Dante! That tickles!”

“Sorry, sorry,” he responded, not sounding remorseful in the least. As soon as he said that, he darted his hand out toward her side.

“Hey! Don’t tickle my sides! I’m ticklish there—”

The sound of metal scraping across a plate rang out. Gilbert and Oscar had both stabbed their forks into their meat at the same time.

Oscar got up and grabbed Dante by the collar. “Dante, it doesn’t look like you can concentrate on your meal there. Let’s change places.”

“Huh?”

“We’re changing places,” Oscar insisted again, the top half of his face shadowed.

Dante blinked and then burst out laughing. “Awww, if the prince says so, I guess I have to. You should’ve just said you wanted to sit next to Cecil!”

“No! I—”

“Uh-huh, yeah. Go on—go right ahead.” Dante acquiesced with a wave of his hand, settling in next to Gilbert.

Oscar sat down next to Cecilia. Dante was now laughing while holding his sides. Both of the other boys’ reactions must have delighted him.

Cecilia was relieved to no longer have him on top of her. She tugged on Oscar’s sleeve. “Thanks, Oscar. You saved me, right?”

“I—I guess. I’m the one who brought him here and all.”

“You really did save me. All Dante ever does is harass me,” she whispered, embarrassed.

Oscar’s cheeks turned a faint pink.

Gilbert tore his bread to pieces as he watched their little scene.

“Oh, are you jealous?” jeered Dante, observing her brother keenly. Now he had the nerve to derive entertainment from Gilbert’s reaction.

“Tch,” Gilbert spat dismissively.

Dante shuddered. “Cecil! Your friend is super-scary! Can you believe he just clicked his tongue at me?”

Annoyed and irritated, Gilbert ignored Dante and focused on his meal.

“He’s not scary. He’s a really good kid—there’s no way he could be intimidating,” Cecilia said.

“You two are seriously so close,” piped up Oscar.

Cecilia nodded. “Yup, we are. I love Gil a lot!”

“Cecil…,” Gilbert whispered, incredibly moved.

Dante poked Gilbert in the side. “Why do you look so happy?”

“Shut up, you shameless piece of shit.”

“Cecil! Now he just called me a ‘shameless piece of shit’!”

“What? Gil would never use such foul language.”

“That’s right. He’s a stickler for manners, regardless of who he’s dealing with. No way he’d say that to an upperclassman,” added Oscar.

“Et tu, Oscar?!” Dante yelped.

Despite everything, it was a fun lunch. Cecilia enjoyed her usual nosh with Gilbert, of course, but since she avoided society functions and didn’t have many friends, it was the first time since her past life that she’d shared a lively meal with so many people she was close with.

 

After her shower that night, Cecilia gazed out the window of her dorm room. Stars twinkled in the sky, and a warm breeze caressed her cheeks. Once exams were over, her summer vacation fun could begin.

“Ah, today was a blast.” She sighed.

The four of them had also studied for exams after lunch. With her nerves from days prior soothed, she’d gotten in some quality studying this time.

“I don’t really know what’ll happen with Dante, but I managed to do something about him! And I’ll manage somehow with my exams, too! Yay, everything’s going smoothly… Hmm?”

Suddenly, Cecilia had a realization that dispelled all her fantasies and daydreams, making her bury her head in her hands. “Ugghhh! I need to make Lean start dating someone! I can’t afford to rest on my laurels! Like, yeah, the exams are important, but…ugh!”

While it was good that Lean hadn’t been kidnapped, that meant she really wasn’t on Dante’s route. Instead of nurturing her romance, Cecilia had only gotten in the way.

“Well, that’s if things proceed like they do in the game. But I hope this is the one thing that plays out as it’s supposed to; otherwise, Lean and I will be in danger… Wait, huh?”

She heard a sound and peered down from her window, only to see some black shadows creeping toward the girls’ dorm from the opposite end of campus.

“No, don’t tell me that’s…”

Dread rising in her throat, she grabbed the wig she’d left on her bed and flew out of the room.

 

Obscuring herself in the shadows, Cecilia sneaked into the girls’ dorm in her pajamas and wig. Getting caught here while in her male disguise could have dire consequences, but you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. If her hunch was right, something bad was about to go down.

She held her breath so the three figures in black wouldn’t detect her. They were all cloaked in the same ebony garb from head to toe, including black cloths they’d placed over their faces to conceal their identities.

They crept soundlessly into a room on the first floor. Cecilia followed and peeked inside. The next thing she knew—

“Stop it—mmf!”

Someone surrounded by the group of shadows shouted out, only for their screams to be dampened as the group gagged them with something.

When the figures parted a little to reveal who’d tried to scream, she clapped a hand over her mouth.

Is that…Lean?!

A group of men was in the process of abducting her, covering her mouth and attempting to stuff her into a burlap sack. It looked exactly like the scene from Dante’s route.

But why?! I should have interrupted his route!

Lean finds out Dante’s secret, which leads to him deciding to quit Heimat, which causes the organization to kidnap her in retribution.

But Lean hadn’t witnessed that one crucial event. The person who had seen it…

It was me!

She didn’t know how things had gotten to this point, but if Lean’s role had transferred to Cecilia, then this kidnapping was entirely in the realm of possibility. In other words, Dante had decided to quit the organization because of what Cecilia had told him, which somehow made it Lean’s fault.

While these thoughts raced through her mind, they continued to cram Lean into the bag. Cecilia threw a panicked look around the vicinity. Even if she called for help, the dorms had such sophisticated soundproofing that no one would notice a small scuffle. And if she kicked up too much of a fuss, she would run the risk of the assailants panicking and hurting Lean.

This was an event in Dante’s route. Anything could happen.

Oh no, what can I do? Okay, first find Gil!

Gilbert had warned her over and over, until he was blue in the face, not to rush headlong into peril alone. If she tried to act here all by herself, she’d have a good scolding in store for her.

But…

But they’d never make it in time if she played it safe.

“Aaahhh!” Lean shrieked. She fell down, fighting back desperately.

I can’t just sit by and watch!

“Stop right there!” Cecilia cried out, marching into the room. Both the sable-cloaked men and Lean stared at her.

Besides, if they abduct Lean, I’ll inevitably wind up as the villain who gets killed anyway.

That was the one outcome she had to prevent.

“Who the hell are you?!” they shouted as she approached. Cecilia fixed them with a steely gaze.

They have two objectives. Reprisal for Dante and—

She bit down hard on her lower lip so her voice wouldn’t waver.

—demanding a ransom!

She tore off her wig. Her long, flowing blond hair caught on the moonlight streaming in from the window and glittered in the glow.

Cecilia mustered a calm and collected smile on her face. At this juncture, she couldn’t afford to so much as flinch in their presence. She would lay out some options for them. And then all they had to do was pick one.

“I am Cecilia Sylvie, daughter of Duke Sylvie. That is my beloved friend. I demand you release her,” she announced in a commanding tone. The men whispered to one another, and Lean gawked at her.

While they all stood dumbstruck, Cecilia pressed down on Lean’s shoulder as she crawled out of the bag. Signaling to her with her eyes to escape, the other girl nodded and took off.

“Ah!” the men cried and tried to chase after her, but Cecilia blocked their way. These must have been the apprentices from Heimat, Dante’s organization. And as one might expect of apprentices, they’d bungled the job by letting Lean get away. Assassins of Dante’s caliber would have captured both of them together.

Cecilia placed her hand over her heart. “You guys are just after a ransom, aren’t you? You’ll be able to squeeze more money out of the parents of a duke’s daughter than a baron’s. My parents dote on me, after all.”

No one dashed off in pursuit of Lean.

Despite her trembling, Cecilia stretched up to her full height and grinned at them daringly. “Now, you decide. Who will you take—me or her? Your boss should be happy with either of us.”

The next thing she knew, one of the men had punched her in the stomach. Negotiations complete, then.

As her consciousness faded, Cecilia prayed for Lean’s safety.