CHAPTER 5     The Third Potential Holy Maiden

Kakeru Sudou was a very attractive voice actor who was capable of a range of voices, from fashionable and distinguished older men to cute mascot characters in a magical girl anime. In recent years, he’d been taking advantage of his good looks to do acting jobs as well. He had hordes of female fans; the size of his fan club was on par with a hit pop star’s. Whenever he released a new song, it would invariably hit number one on the Oricon rankings that week.

Additionally, he had appeared in many otome games, including Holy Maiden of Vleugel Academy 3. Even someone like Hiyono, who hadn’t been that knowledgeable about voice actors, was familiar with him.

“Everyone loves Kakeru’s basic, clear, and high voice, but he’s just as capable of speaking in deep, steady tones, too. He can truly do anything. If you looked up mellifluous voice in the dictionary, you would find a picture of him. And when he sings, his transition from chest to head voice is insanely smooth; it isn’t the least bit jarring. Plus, when he layers in the character’s personality on top of that, he can draw forth the most indescribable emotions to make your oxytocin and dopamine shoot up like crazy. To sum it all up, he’s brought me so much happiness.”

That night, Cecilia found herself in Grace’s private research lab, where the girl had launched into a spiel about her love for Kakeru Sudou. Although she looked calm and composed, once she revved up into full fangirl mode, she talked a mile a minute. Her excitement was palpable.

Cecilia winced a little in the face of the full force of Grace’s passion. “W-wow, okay.”

“And that’s not all. He’s not only an amazing vocal talent; he’s also great at stage and film acting. With a single ‘I see,’ he can convey not just love but sorrow, sentimentality, yearning—everything! And when he did the Japanese dub in this one movie two years back—”

It didn’t look like she would run out of things to say anytime soon.

Grace Martinez had definitely transmigrated into this world.

In her past life, she went by Satsuki Yatani. She’d worked as a researcher for an audio equipment manufacturer and had been a self-professed audiophile and voice actor fan. In addition to Kakeru Sudou, she followed a ton of other VAs, which led her to play Holy Maiden of Vleugel Academy 3.

And so…now she’s using her knowledge from her past life to make a compact phonograph to record Kakeru Sudou’s voice…

What a waste of talent. She was like a different version of Lean—someone who used her powers for mischief.

Her final memory from her life as Satsuki was dying in the same burning movie theater as Cecilia. She was the woman who Ichika and Hiyono had tried to save. All three had perished together in the movie theater and had been transmigrated into the same world. The coincidence was almost unbelievable.

But while Cecilia fretted over that, Grace was still talking faster than a machine gun. Now she was going into her first encounter with Kakeru Sudou. Frankly, Cecilia couldn’t care less.

She glanced at the person behind her. His smile looked just as forced.

I don’t think Gil cares about this, either…

Gilbert had accompanied her. While he seemed to be listening, his expression said he was already sick of the topic. It was true that they’d make no progress if she simply kept nattering on.

In order to get information from Grace, Cecilia disclosed that she’d also transmigrated into this world and that Cecil was actually her alter ego. Letting Grace ramble on forever would mean that revealing her secret was all for naught.

I need to cut her off somewhere…

“Um…”

“Could I stop you there?”

She and Gilbert blurted out at the same time. Just before Cecilia had piped up, he cut in. Although she’d been interrupted, Grace didn’t look annoyed at all and only replied, “Yes, what is it?”

Perhaps this sort of thing was an everyday occurrence for her.

Gilbert pushed off from the wall he’d been leaning against. “I’d like to get to the point, if you don’t mind.”

“Mm, that’s right. We’re exchanging information, aren’t we?” Grace replied.

“Yes.”

“Then what would you like to know?” she asked, turning steady eyes on them. All her fangirlish joy had disappeared.

It was clear from Gilbert’s tone that he still didn’t fully trust her. “You’ll tell us anything we ask?”

“As long as it’s something I can answer, yeah.”

“What do you get out of it?”

“Nothing, really. None of this knowledge is of much use to me. I don’t mind telling you anything you’re curious about. We do come from the same place, after all,” she acknowledged, glancing at Cecilia with that last line.

“Thank you very much!” chirped Cecilia, bowing her head.

Grace beamed. “It’s no trouble. And stop speaking to me so formally anyway. You’re older than I am in this world, aren’t you?”

“Oh, right! And you can do the same with me!”

“It’s in my nature to speak this way to everyone. That doesn’t mean I’m keeping people at a distance, mind you.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Also, while I did say that this information is of no use to me, that doesn’t mean I don’t have an ulterior motive for giving it to you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m saying that our conversation might lead to a breakthrough in finding the Killer.”

The Killer?!

The name sent a chill up Cecilia’s spine. She’d already told Grace about the kidnapping incident with Lean at the Sylvie estate.

Cecilia leaned in toward her. “So the Killer is still targeting Emily?”

“Emily? Why do you think they’re after her?” asked Grace.

“Because she’s the third potential Holy Maiden…”

“Oh…is that it?” said Grace, sighing in exasperation. She shrugged off her lab coat.

“What do you mean?” Cecilia wondered.

“Please wait a moment,” she said, undoing the buttons on her shirt to reveal her crest.

Cecilia squeaked, “G-Grace?!”

“This should show you who the candidate is.”

“Hmm?”

She pulled her right arm out of its sleeve and bared her right shoulder to them. On her skin was a purple mark with a strong likeness to the one on Cecilia’s chest.

“The azalea…”

“Yes. The third potential Holy Maiden isn’t Emily. It’s me.”

“Whaaaaatttt?!” Cecilia shrieked, easily louder than her other yelps and cries up until that point. Fortunately, they were in a soundproofed room. If they weren’t, her bellow would have attracted attention for sure.

“S-so Emily is…”

“She’s Dr. Mordred’s little sister. Nothing more.”

Cecilia stood there slack-jawed, unable to move. Which was understandable, considering that everything she’d done up until this point had been based on the belief that Emily was the third candidate.

Casting a sidelong glance at his frozen sister, Gilbert fired another question at Grace. “So does that mean the Killer failed in murdering the third potential Holy Maiden?”

“No, because I don’t believe they were targeting me to begin with. I didn’t allow all the right conditions to occur, so they didn’t appear on the scene.”

“Conditions?”

Grace nodded. “Before I get into that, I need to let you in on something.”

“What?”

“The Killer’s identity.”

Both Gilbert and Cecilia sucked in a breath. “You know who they are?!” demanded Gilbert.

“Obviously. I played that game through to the end.”

“So then—”

“Yes,” confirmed Grace, straightening up. Her calm eyes narrowed behind the rims of her thick glasses. After a short pause, she continued, “The Killer is…Dr. Mordred…or, I should say, it’s his other personality.”

Cecilia’s eyes practically bugged out of their sockets. This time, she couldn’t even make a sound.

Sweet, kind Dr. Mordred is the Killer?! But what’s this “other personality”…?

Ignoring Cecilia’s disbelief, Grace delivered her explanation matter-of-factly. “He has dissociative identity disorder, which used to be called multiple personality disorder. He has a mild-mannered mask he shows to all of us, but beneath that is one filled with loathing and hatred—the face of the Killer.”

“I can’t…”

“What’s more is that Dr. Mordred has no memories from his alter. Apparently, the Killer has his, though… Which is why on the surface, he isn’t aware of the second personality inside him or the damage he’s done to others.”

That made sense. After Lean was assaulted, Mordred had been more distraught than anyone back at the cottage. He’d thrown everything into healing her and giving her medical treatment; it had really looked like he was doing his utmost to save her. There was no way he could have treated her with such composure if he’d known his other personality had injured her.

Grace continued, “I mentioned something about not letting the right conditions occur, yes?”

“Oh, right.”

“Emily’s death triggers the birth of the Killer. That’s the impetus that leads him to develop inside Dr. Mordred.”

Her statement made Cecilia forget to breathe for a moment. She was so stunned that her brain couldn’t catch up with what she was hearing. If what Grace said was true, then she and Emily should have been dead already.

In sharp contrast to Cecilia, Gilbert remained calm. “Is that why you saved Emily? To avert your own death?”

“Yes. But to be perfectly honest, that’s not quite the full story. In the game, the character of Grace gets seriously injured but doesn’t die,” Grace revealed, dropping yet another astonishing knowledge bomb. “Dr. Mordred’s route is the final chapter. After erasing the Killer inside himself, the main character stays by his side as he processes his deep regret over killing Grace. That’s when their friend Oscar shows up and says: ‘My father is keeping her safe within the palace. We distributed false information to protect her after she escaped death.’”

“What in the…?”

It was all too much information to sit with. Cecilia’s head was about to burst from it all.

While Cecilia’s brain spun in circles, Grace suddenly averted her gaze. “Incidentally, the bad ending is where the Killer overtakes Dr. Mordred’s identity and murders Cecilia, who just so happens to be passing by. It stops right there.”

“Aaah!”

Now it was all clear. Cecilia clutched herself tight.

“There’s no illustration for it, but the text says that he cuts off her arms and legs and digs out her guts while she’s still ali—”

“Nooooo! I don’t wanna hear this!” Cecilia cried, slamming her hands over her ears.

Death awaited her around every corner in this dating sim! Did the writers all have a vendetta against her or something?

Gilbert stroked his chin as he digested all these facts, then summarized them. “So what you’re saying is that Dr. Mordred’s hidden personality is the Killer, and Emily’s death triggers his development. You saved his sister not just to save yourself but also to avoid the Killer’s emergence.”

“Yes, that’s it… Although I can’t say I was successful.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“This is my first time getting transmigrated, so it took me a while to realize that this was the world of Holy Maiden of Vleugel Academy 3. Thanks to my slow start, I couldn’t save Emily completely,” she admitted, biting her lip remorsefully. She looked just as she had back in the hospital room.

Cecilia snapped her head up, having gleaned something from the girl’s words. “So that means the Killer is active now because…”