Chapter 3: Twins

Chapter 3:
Twins

 

IT WAS THE START of a new trimester at Holfort Academy, and Angie found herself with no shortage of things to do. Ever since the battle with the dukedom, the number of students in her year had dwindled. The crown had stripped many nobles of their titles, either because they were traitors or because they were opportunists who had hung back and failed to help their allies in battle. On top of that, the academy had officially banned all personal servants—which only left the school more deserted than ever. As such, Angie’s life was even busier.

Today, she was in the room where Leon had once held his tea parties. Across from her was Clarice, an upperclassman Angie had been consulting with about issues at the academy.

“You’re saying that female students feel disenfranchised?”

“That’s right,” said Clarice. “Before, they all had personal servants who would wake them in the morning and help them prepare for the day. Since the school has put an end to that, many of them are late for class. They can’t even get themselves ready.”

Angie closed her eyes for a moment, exasperated. “The palace wishes to give the girls a harsh dose of reality. If it bothers them so much, they are free to drop out.”

“It’s not that simple.” Clarice traced a finger around the rim of her cup. “It’s strange being in here, isn’t it? Sure brings back fond memories of teatime with Leon.”

Angie narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean by that?”

Clarice shrugged. “Oh, I’ll leave that answer up to your imagination. Have you received any letters from him?”

Angie’s cheeks colored. “Y-yes. They come every few days. It seems like he’s working hard at his new school.”

“So, he’s committed enough to write, hm?” Clarice raised her eyebrows, then changed the topic. “Angelica, while the girls present their own problem, there are issues with the boys as well.”

“What? Them too?”

“They’re having trouble adjusting. The girls aren’t acting the same anymore. Many of the boys are struggling to cope with the change.”

Although they were treated better than before, many of the boys still had qualms. Angie needed to investigate further.

“What are you talking about? I haven’t heard anything about this.”

“That’s because you’re engaged to Leon. He’s popular with some of the male students, and they don’t want to cause you any trouble.”

Leon had saved the boys from their irrationally cruel circumstances—especially those from the poor border territories. As much the boys complained about him, they considered him their benefactor, and they weren’t the only ones who held Leon in high esteem. Even some men outside the academy favored him.

“They’re like fanboys. Some of them even think of him romantically.”

Angie frowned. “I am glad they’re so receptive to him, but Leon isn’t interested in other men.”

Clarice grinned. “That’s good news for me.”

Angie shot her a sharp look. “And what do you mean by that?”

“Good question. I’ll leave that one to your imagination too.”

How many times had they repeated this exchange? Angie sensed Clarice hadn’t yet abandoned her feelings for Leon, but she kept dodging the subject.

Angie stared down at the contents of her cup and pushed aside the other girl’s teasing. All of these changes have caused dissatisfaction across the academy. This is going to be a problem.

She sipped her drink and found herself longing for the flavor of Leon’s tea, just as Clarice did.

Suddenly, Clarice’s eyes turned serious. “Now that we have more scholarship students, we have other problems as well. You should warn Miss Olivia.”

“What’s the issue?”

The academy had once been a place for the aristocracy to receive an education. Only the most exceptional commoners had been able to attend—such as those from rich merchant families, or adventurers who had distinguished themselves. It was natural that the change in admission policy would cause a commotion.

“Many of the nobles are going out of their way to pick fights with the scholarship students,” Clarice explained.

The war with the Principality of Fanoss had only just ended, and life at the academy had changed so fast. It was bound to cause issues, and everyone had to find their own way to deal with it.

Angie sighed. This really is a nuisance. I hope things calm down before Leon returns.

 

***

 

My days at the Alzer Academy were markedly different from what I’d experienced in Holfort. It really did remind me of school back in Japan.

As the teacher lectured on in the background, Luxion transmitted reports to me. “Master, I have identified all of the love interests, save for two.”

I tapped my pen against my notebook, signaling him to continue. To anyone else, I looked like a dedicated student.

“According to Marie, there is a hidden love interest outside of the academy, but I am still looking into him. The other one that I have yet to identify does attend this institution. He is the heir to House Rault.”

Apparently, the son of the final boss was a love interest. That gave him a complex relationship with the protagonist, but apparently that was okay because he was actually adopted or something. I didn’t really know the specifics. However, Rault did have a biological daughter, and she happened to be the villainess.

Whatever the case, this guy is heir to the antagonist’s family. Yet he’s still somehow a love interest? That sure puts him in a rough spot. I feel kinda bad for the guy. If he hooked up with the protagonist, that would make his adoptive family his enemies.

“There’s also a bit of unpleasant news,” said Luxion.

That sounded foreboding. I didn’t really want to know any more, but I couldn’t very well ignore it. Before I had a chance to inquire, our professor turned his attention my way.

“I just want to make sure you boys are following along okay. There’s nothing you’re having trouble with, is there?”

Clement was a good teacher, trying to look out for Brad and me.

“I’m fine.”

“Y-yeah, no problem here, sir.”

Although I appreciated his consideration and gentle demeanor…

Clement winked at us. “Oh, yeah? Well, if you boys have any trouble at all, you be sure to let me know, ’kay?”

As bad as it felt to admit it, the whole interaction sent shivers down my spine.

Clement was a man, albeit one who talked in a hyper-feminine way—like one of those effeminate male anime characters. But Clement wasn’t just a regular man. He was ripped. He had a shirt stretched tight over his bulging pecs, and the cleft in his chin was covered with a thick five o’clock shadow—even though he’d obviously shaved it this morning.

The bell sounded, and Professor Clement shut his textbook.

“That’s all for today. Make sure you all study, ’kay? And don’t forget to prepare before our next lesson. Bad boys and girls who fail to do so will be punished.”

He blew a kiss at us, and all the boys in the class wailed in dismay.

Clement was also our homeroom teacher, and he was great at his job. But yeah, his whole bodybuilder show-off aesthetic definitely threw me off.

 

***

 

Once class was over, Noelle spun around to face me. She sat backward in her chair, resting her arms on the backrest as she peered down at my notebook.

She was wearing a skirt, so sitting with her legs wide open like that seemed a bit…unladylike. Her underwear wasn’t visible, but her uniform was still riding up.

“The notes you took are even better than mine,” she said.

She’d offered to tutor me before things started, but Luxion had already helped me consolidate all the information we’d learned in class.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “It’s good to know I can come to you if there’s anything I don’t understand.”

She was a big help when it came to Alzerian vocabulary I didn’t know, or times when the teacher spoke so fast that I couldn’t make out what he was saying.

My reassurance restored her confidence. “In that case, guess I’m doing my job!”

I glanced over at Brad. He was still surrounded by girls, and it didn’t seem like he needed any help from Noelle either. But then, he was a spoiled noble, so his linguistic abilities were certainly better than mine. He probably knew a whole bunch of other languages too. It was sad to think that someone so talented had been so thoroughly deceived by Marie.

“Hey,” said Noelle, interrupting my thoughts. “I have to give Marie and Carla a tour of the area today. You wanna tag along?”

Noelle was supposed to look after the girls, so really, she should have been in the same class as them. But since we’d decided to come here at the last minute, the academy hadn’t had time to set everything up either—hence why Noelle was in our class instead of Jean.

“I’ll pass,” I said. “Jean is supposed to show me around today.”

“Aw, what a bummer.”

Noelle voiced her feelings without reserve. She really was just as energetic and candid as Marie described. It certainly made her easy to get along with.

“I was hoping you’d carry our stuff home for us,” she said.

It also meant she could be pretty blunt.

“I see you’re not hiding your ulterior motive,” I said.

“What, did you think I was inviting you on a date? I’ve got bad news for you: I’m not that easy.”

I’d pegged her as just the type to go on casual dates, but it seemed I was mistaken. Maybe she kept her walls up. Frankly, I would’ve been more at ease if she were the type to accept casual dates. Especially if that meant getting her a boyfriend.

“You’re so cute that I figured you were already dating someone,” I said. “Aren’t there any guys you’re close with?”

Her expression clouded over. “Only Jean. Our houses aren’t far from one another, and we talk quite a bit.”

Jean? The male guide for the exchange students? I was pretty sure he wasn’t a love interest. All she said was that they’re close. Guess they’re not dating?

“I do want a boyfriend,” said Noelle. “But there’s a big obstacle in my way.”

“Obstacle? You mean the princess of House Rault you mentioned?”

“Yep. And there’s one more. A prince.”

A prince, huh?

Something I’d learned since coming here was that each of the Six Great Houses ruled their territory like royalty. The house leaders (or kings, as they saw themselves) were united by the Sacred Tree, providing the foundations of the Alzer Republic as we knew it. Unlike in Holfort, that meant each house had a different middle name. Honestly? It seemed like a bothersome setup.

“His name is Loic,” said Noelle. “He’s got some strange ideas about me, and I don’t really care for him. He keeps telling everyone he’s my boyfriend, but I refuse to acknowledge it.” She paused for a moment. “Actually, he was a pretty okay guy before all this started.”

She looked depressed, and I was starting to sweat bullets.

Loic? Uh, wasn’t he supposed to be the canon love interest? And Noelle hates him?

“He’s claiming to be your boyfriend?” I repeated, hoping for clarification.

“Don’t take him seriously,” she said. “He’s full of crap.”

 

***

 

It was lunch hour, so I got some flavored bread from the cafeteria and munched on it as I went to meet Marie in a quiet part of the school. I needed to tell her of what I’d learned. We were both flummoxed by the revelation.

“So Noelle likes Jean, and even though Loic is trying to cozy up to her, she’s not interested?” Marie crouched down, put her head in her hands, and groaned.

“Yup, that’s what it looks like. She and Jean live close to each other and talk about all kinds of stuff. She even splits leftovers with him when she makes too much for dinner. That’s how close they are.”

Man, that makes me jealous. If this were a light novel, Jean would be the protagonist right now.

Instead, he was a background character in an otome game. Having the protagonist fall in love with him was like having the most drop-dead gorgeous girl in the world fall for Mr. Average. Despite her playgirl appearance, Noelle was all-around wholesome. She might have been kind of crude and unladylike compared to the girls back home, but all the other girls here were normal. The fact that this whole place reminded me of my own school experience only made the girls here more appealing. If the republic weren’t so tyrannical, this place would have been perfect.

Meanwhile, Marie was at her wit’s end. “All right, Lelia has hooked up with Easy-Pick, and Noelle is being pursued by Loic. But the villainess is tormenting Noelle, and…” Her eyes spun, and she raked her fingers through her hair. “Can someone please explain how the hell we’re supposed to figure this out?!”

I tore into my second packet of flavored bread, and Luxion floated up beside me, having returned from his latest information-gathering mission.

“It does seem like the rest of the students see Lelia and Emile as a couple,” he said.

“He’s the second born of one of the Six Great Houses, right? Should he really be dating a commoner?”

Luxion’s red and eye-like lens shifted. “It is most likely seen as youthful indiscretion. They may suspect he will grow out of it. Or perhaps they consider her a mere lover, not a potential wife?”

“In the game, everyone takes it seriously,” said Marie. “Once the protagonist is chosen as the Sacred Sapling’s Priestess, they can date officially. They get their own happy end, wedding and all.”

“So basically, she’s the Alzerian version of Holfort’s Saint, huh?”

With the protagonist in the first game, once Olivia became the Saint, society had to accept whoever she chose to love—be it the heir of a great house or even Prince Julius himself. It sounded like the sequel’s protagonist got similar treatment once she became the Priestess.

“Master, I suspect that as long as Noelle establishes a relationship with one of the love interests, there should be no further issues.”

“Yeah, the only problem is Noelle isn’t interested in Loic. Are the other love interests still possible candidates?”

Marie counted them off on her fingers. “There’s Classic-Boy Loic, Easy-Pick Emile, Rotten-Professor Narcisse, Brother-Obsessed Hugues, and the secret character, Big Brother Fernand. Oh, and then there’s also Archnemesis Serge.”

Each of them was from one of the Six Great Houses.

More importantly, are those nicknames really necessary?

“What’s with the ‘Big Brother’ bit anyway?”

“Fernand is Hugues’s older brother. He’s still young, but he’s the head of House Druille. He even attends the assemblies of the Six Great Houses.”

Luxion bobbed up and down in a nod. “A person of influence, I see. I currently lack the manpower to gather further information on this Fernand.”

“So, when does the protagonist meet up with this secret character or whatever?”

“She has to get close to Hugues first,” said Marie. “He’s young, has a strong sense of justice, and he’s super hot! I’d rather have him than the guys I’m stuck with right now.”

As exasperating as her little confession was, we needed to sort out who Noelle should hook up with.

“I guess the best options would be Narcisse or Hugues, right? Fernand doesn’t seem like a bad choice either, but we don’t have enough information on him.”

Serge wasn’t attending the academy, and Noelle had already expressed her contempt for Loic, so those two were out of the question.

Marie pulled a face. “Pairing her off with a teacher in a game is one thing, but in real life? If seems kinda iffy. If you want to play cupid, I guess Hugues would be the safest pick. But he’s a third-year and has a kinda difficult personality. Hmm… Ah!”

“What is it?”

Marie’s face lit up. She must have remembered something. “Oh, it’s just…um…well, in the game, if you don’t trigger a certain event with Hugues in the first school year, then it’s too late.”

“What do you mean by ‘too late’?”

“If you don’t get close to him as a first year, then you can’t go down that route. Oh, wait! I’m pretty sure there’s a prerequisite for Narcisse too. Something like…you have to take a class with him, or something.”

So to romance him, you had to enroll in a special class? Marie explained that Narcisse was a scholar who investigated the ancient ruins in dungeons. I glanced over at Luxion.

“Neither Noelle nor Lelia have opted into Narcisse’s class,” he said. “Which seems to be highly unpopular. There are hardly any students who take it.”

Apparently, students chose some of their classes at the beginning of each school year.

“There’s still time! As long as she picks his class before her second year, she can still romance him!”

Luxion’s eye moved from side to side, as if he were shaking his head. “Unfortunately, they are already in their second year, and they have already submitted applications to join other special classes.”

Marie blanched. “Uh, hold on a sec. If that’s true, then the only option she has left is Loic.”

And Noelle hated him.

“Are we screwed?” I asked.

Marie dropped her gaze and covered her face. “Why does she hate Loic?! Sure, he comes on a little strong, but he’s rich and he’s gorgeous! And he’ll be an important figure in the future. She should be gunning for him!”

Nah, thinking about it realistically, he only looks desirable because you know he’s a love interest in a game. In real life, his status far exceeds the protagonist’s. It makes sense that she wouldn’t even consider him.

“There’s no guarantee yet that Noelle is our protagonist, but I wonder how this will turn out?”

Our reality wasn’t exactly like a game. Sure, maybe we could still pair her off with someone, but who knew if that was really in Noelle’s best interests.

As I puzzled over that, I noticed Marie staring at my hand and wiping drool from her chin. She was fixated on my half-eaten bread.

“Uh, you are eating, aren’t you?” I asked.

Marie scrubbed away her tears. “The boys are still growing. They have a healthy appetite, and we don’t have much money for our daily expenses to begin with. I’ve been trying to scrimp on lunch. I’m just eating one bread roll a day.”

A plain bread roll? I was a bit of a penny-pincher, but even I still had enough to buy flavored bread. Just how bad off were they?

“You could make yourself a lunch box,” I said.

“If I did, I would have to make enough for Julius and the others, duh! Otherwise they’d feel left out. And making enough for seven people is serious work, you know!”

“Okay, okay. Then, uh, do you want this?”

Marie eagerly snatched the bread from my hands. It felt like a reversal of Japanese high school, where boys would get excited when a girl gave them her leftovers.

“Yay! I love you, Big Bro!”

I’d normally respond with something like, Knock it off. You’re giving me the creeps! But I felt so bad for her that I didn’t have it in me.

Even Luxion seemed to sympathize. “So this is the tragic fate Marie suffers for trying to achieve a reverse harem ending…”

My heart ached watching her bite into that bread. It made me wonder…even if Noelle was able to win the heart of one of her love interests, would she truly be happy?

 

***

 

“You want to know if I’m close with Miss Noelle?”

I was helping Jean carry some teaching materials, so I opted to inquire about his relationship with our possible protagonist. The hallways were crowded as we maneuvered down the corridor.

“Yep. I heard she splits her extra food with you.”

“Um, well, yeah,” Jean admitted, embarrassed.

“I’m jealous,” I said. “Being that close with a beauty like her? And she lives right next door to you? You’re like the main character of a book or something.”

“It’s all coincidence,” he assured me. “A lot happened when we first met, and now we’re pretty close.”

When they first met?

I pressed him for details, and Jean explained that he kept a dog at his place—one he’d brought all the way from home.

“I actually don’t have a family,” he said.

“Wow, this conversation just took a dark turn.”

“Oh, no, um… I mean, that dog is really important to me. She’s like family. Her name happens to be Noelle too. Although she’s pretty old now.”

He’d had her ever since he was born. That made her seventeen years old. That’s an insanely long life for a dog.

“I knew that I’d never see her again if I left her behind. So I brought her with me. That’s kinda how Noelle and I got to know each other. Because they have the same name.”

So his pet had been the icebreaker that started their friendship.

“You two sure are close.”

“She’s a good friend,” Jean said, smiling.

I felt awful about tearing them apart. Maybe they could at least remain friends.

 

***

 

I headed for the tram stop after school to catch a ride back home. That’s where I ran into Noelle.

The neighborhood around the academy looked like pictures I’d seen of Japan in the early 1900s, although the uniforms were in more of a modern Japanese style. But once you got accustomed to that dissonance, it stopped feeling strange. There were even some neat antique-looking cars driving around.

Noelle grinned and waved at me. “Oh, Leon! Come over here.”

I slid up beside her as we waited for our ride. There were more than a dozen other students on the platform, all busy chatting with their friends. When the tram going in the opposite direction arrived, people piled inside.

“The tram sure is convenient, isn’t it?” I said.

You could pay a flat fee and ride it as far as you wanted.

“Really?” she said. “I’ve never given it much thought. Although, I get the feeling you’re more accustomed to it than the other exchange students.”

She had good instincts. I always wanted to jump in and experience things for myself rather than just sitting around and thinking about it. That was what made me different from Julius and the others, and Noelle seemed to have picked up on it. Well…I guess I’d also known about trains and stuff from my previous life. And I’d ridden in them plenty of times.

“It’s much simpler than an airship,” I said. “So it’s easy to get used to.”

“You own an airship, right?” asked Noelle. “And you make your own money too? You live in a completely different world than the rest of us.”

“Pretty impressive, right? Wanna take a ride on my airship sometime?”

Maybe it would help me get more information. Alas, that only seemed to make her put up her guard.

“Are you hitting on me?”

“Come on, that’s not what I mean. I just wanna be friends.”

“Aww, and here I was hoping you were asking me out,” she said, although she didn’t sound like she meant it. “Unfortunately, I’m pretty busy. I’ll have to take a rain check.”

She really did look like the type who was willing to play around, but her walls were surprisingly high. It did feel like she had a real wall around her. Or maybe it was just that she already had Jean?

As the two of us kept up the small talk, her expression changed suddenly.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“It’s that nuisance I told you about.”

“Oh?” a voice called from behind us on the platform. “Are you cozying up to another new boy now? My, my, Noelle, you’re such a temptress. How many will it take before you’re satisfied?”

Noelle stepped forward, putting herself between me and the other girl.

“Louise. Why are you here? Why don’t you use all of that cash you have to take a car home already?”

“Oh, don’t worry. I already have a car waiting.”

“Then go on, shoo!”

As the two girls traded jabs, the people around us exchanged awkward looks. The tension in the air was palpable.

Ah, so this is the villainess, I thought.

The girl in question turned away from Noelle. “You should be careful, you know,” she told me. “Nothing good will come of associating with—”

But the moment her gaze landed on me, she froze.

Come on, I’m not that ugly, am I? I pressed my hands to my face, just to make sure I hadn’t gotten anything on it. Before I could figure out just what had upset her, the tram rolled in and Noelle snagged me by the arm, dragging me on board.

“We’re going, Leon.”

“Uh, yeah.”

“She called him ‘Leon’…” the girl mumbled.

She kept staring at us as we boarded the tram. She even gave chase for a few seconds as it pulled away. Her eyes remained glued to us, even as she gave up and disappeared into the distance.

“What was all that about?” I asked.

I’d come away with the sense that she’d been looking specifically at me, and Noelle seemed to agree.

“Love at first sight? It’s the first time I’ve ever seen her like that,” she said.

“You really think I’m her type?” I snorted. Well, she is beautiful. If she’s not engaged, maybe I should take my chances?

Jokes aside, she hadn’t looked like someone who’d fallen in love at first sight. More like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

Noelle and I navigated the crowded tram and found some handholds to cling to.

“So, that’s the girl who always pesters you?” I asked.

“Yep. Her name is Louise. She’s a third-year, and the daughter of the assembly chairman. She’s a real pain in my butt.”

The students around us glanced at Noelle judgmentally.

“Does Miss Lelia have trouble with her too?” I asked.

Noelle shook her head. “Just me. Lelia has Emile, so Louise doesn’t bother her.”

“Emile, huh?”

“He’s the second son of House Pleven. Louise doesn’t want to provoke him.”

Was that because they were both members of the Six Great Houses?

From what I remembered of the first game, it didn’t matter how much the protagonist cozied up to her love interests, the villainess would still go after her. The whole point of her existence was to disrupt the protagonist’s life, whether she had a man or not. Marie had confirmed that was how things worked in the sequel too, so something strange was going on here. Admittedly, there were some holes in Marie’s knowledge. Was something else at play? Something we just didn’t know about?

Noelle was still fuming, but she froze suddenly, and her expression changed again.

I frowned. She seems to do that a lot.

“Oh, crap!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Today is a special sale day! I was supposed to talk to Lelia about it, but it totally slipped my mind.”

She looked so dejected. It reminded me of how jazzed Marie had been earlier about the idea of this sale. She’d mentioned taking Carla and Kyle to buy a crap ton of stuff.

Those guys really are having a rough time.

There was no supermarket here, but they did have a vegetable grocer and butcher right next to each other in the shopping district.

Noelle glanced at me expectantly.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. I’ll help you out,” I said.

“Really?! Aww, you’re so nice, Leon!” Noelle clapped me on the shoulder. Her lack of personal boundaries really made it easy to misunderstand her intentions.

 

***

 

That night, I ate dinner as Luxion gave me his report. The plates floated in from the kitchen and landed right in front of me. To someone who didn’t know what was happening, it would’ve looked a lot like magic.

“I might be living alone, but I’m enjoying this high-class cuisine. Not bad.” My mouth watered at the aroma of freshly cooked steak.

“It is a good thing I am here,” said Luxion.

“Yup.”

But apparently, my response wasn’t enthusiastic enough. Luxion’s mood took a sullen turn. “You could praise me more, you know.”

“You rock.”

Luxion grumbled at my lackluster response and then turned his attention to the actual topic of discussion. “Master, I have a report about the love interests.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“While it’s true that Narcisse is in charge of his own special class, he has a notable lack of students. In fact, last year there were precisely zero. It’s not even being offered next year.”

“There go our chances of meeting those conditions.”

I had hoped we could get Noelle to trigger the event. But even as I thought that, I remembered Jean and how close the two of them were.

“Same goes for Hugues,” said Luxion. “His engagement is settled. Louise will be his wife.”

If this Hugues fellow was getting stuck with the villainess, then he really had no luck at all. In the first game, Angie had actually been a decent person underneath. This Louise seemed genuinely terrible.

“Hey,” I said, “speaking of Louise, didn’t she seem shocked when she saw me?”

“Does that bother you?”

“Considering no one has ever reacted like that before? Yeah, it does bother me a little. And isn’t it weird that she’s not pestering Lelia at all?”

If the villainess only messed with the protagonist, that made Noelle our leading lady. But Lelia was still the only one in a relationship.

“Shall I investigate?” Luxion asked.

I thought about it as I cut into my steak. “Luxion, don’t you think it’s wrong for us to decide who Noelle should be with?”

“It seems a small price to pay for saving the world, don’t you think? Personally, I would be fine with simply wiping this whole planet clean of new humankind.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

As usual, his contempt for new humans knew no bounds. How long was he going to hold this grudge? Wasn’t the war long over?

I stabbed my fork into the meat, admiring it for a moment before I popped it in my mouth.

“Marie would be much more help if she could actually remember more about this game,” I said.

“On that, we can agree.”