Chapter 19

Chapter 19

After he very unwillingly agreed to cooporate with us, we untied Leila and then started right in on our first strategy meeting.

“I may have let you off this time but…. If you ever decide to force yourself on me or another woman ever again, you better be prepared to be taken prisoner by this confinement fiend, got it?” I warn Leila, hooking a thumb to point at Gray-Senpai. Leila lets out a dissatisfied tch but nods his head all the same.

On the other hand, Senpai is glaring daggers at me as well, none-too-happy at having been called a confinement fiend. No, I know you don’t have that sort of fetish Senpai, so there’s no need to glare at me like that. But if I use your character setting in the threat, doesn’t that make it seem more convincing?

“As you know, after school today, yesterday’s exam results and the magic classes that we are being assigned to will be posted, right? That’s the scene of where the next event will occur; this time starring Lufrey and Alec. In the game this event serves as Lufrey’s introduction scene as well as sets the stage for you to meet Alec for the first time. Originally, you were supposed to be introduced to Gray-Senpai there as well but, seeing as he is already incapable of thinking of you in that sort of way, it should be fine if he doesn’t join in on the drama this time.”

Otome Games are all about making your chosen partner fall in love with you, but unfortunately raising their favorability towards you isn’t a simple feat. You have a variety of choices that you can make about how you interact with the characters, but it’s almost never obvious how the characters will react to said choices nor which ones might lead them to actually fall for you. For example, there is a scene where the heroine is worried about something and you have these options to choose from for her to say out loud to herself:

1. “What should I do….?”2. “It’ll all work out somehow!”or3. Sigh~~~~

Even though the three options are pretty similar and seem inconsequential, they each affect the capture target’s favorability levels differently. And exactly because they are similar, it can be insanely hard to choose the best one.

“During this event at least, if you can give off the impression of being a super nice and lovable girl, then your favorability will increase by a certain amount.”

“So you’re saying that I need to go around giggling frivolously and fawning over those two guys?”

“Basically.”

It’s written all over your face just how much that disgusts you.

“Don’t worry. You’ll only have to work at currying favor with them this one time. As long as you can get their favorability to rise, even by the tiniest degree, then the hidden character won’t appear…. probably………. Once you’ve done that, you shouldn’t have to worry about dealing with the capture targets anymore? Anyway, our main focus is making sure the hidden character doesn’t…. appear…. wait, what?”

Is it really okay to just leave it at that?

For this first stage, Leila just needs to raise his favorability enough so that they don’t hate him, and that will be considered mission accomplished. And then after that, even if he doesn’t raise his favorability any further, I believe we should be able to get the normal ending with a partner of our choosing. In the game, if we could manage that much, then the hidden character wouldn’t appear.

The thing is…. Rona Randolph has already appeared…. And he’s after my life….

“Don’t tell me…. It’s already too late….? Umm…. Anyway! For now, we should aim for the normal ending with an appropriate capture target. Just by doing that, our current situation is bound to improve to some degree…. probably!”

“Probably? Pretty precise science you’re using. You sure you got this?”

“Ugh…..”

Having a pervert stare at me with eyes of doubt and suspicion is extremely frustrating!

But once I’ve calmed myself down enough to ignore that shock, I realize he has a bit of a point. I mean I still have no idea why Rona would try attacking me. And while I understand that my actions are bound to change some aspects of the plot… I figured that by not tormenting Ashley or bullying Leila, things would only change for the better.

I had thought that such actions would be my best form of self defense! But now here we are. I may have managed to avoid the typical dangers Cecile faced in the game, but who cares if brand new dangers are going to accost me instead!

Why is Rona trying to kill me???

“Leila, are you acquainted with Rona Randolph?”

“It’s not my thing to go around making nice with guys.”

Then…. that means that Rona’s motive has nothing to do with Leila?

Does that mean he really does have some grudge against me personally??　Even though I have zero clue as to why!?

“Ughhh…” I can’t help but groan.

“We’re seriously gonna bet our lives on her!? Are we going to be okay??” Leila asks, seeing my outburst.

“If I had to guess…. I would probably say we’re not gonna be okay….” I admit.

Hearing my diffident reply, Leila starts grumbling to herself. Senpai as well looks dispirited, not even bothering to try to disagree with my assessment.

“But we are all fellow reincarnators. We are all in the same boat, so I’m going to do my best to protect you. By cooporating with me, I can make sure you don’t suffer a bad end at the very least. And since it seems like Rona is only coming after me for now, you and Gray-Senpai shouldn’t have much to worry about.”

Though I can’t seem to have that luxury. Why am I always in danger? Ugh, I want to cry.

“Somehow I’m not feeling so confident about surviving through all this….”

“That’s all in your head! So let’s just focus on doing everything that we can!”

＊＊＊

After classes had ended, Ashley came to pick me up at my classroom and we walked through the halls together to see the official class rosters that were posted today.

“As expected.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to praise me a little, you know.”

“I find it unnecessary considering there was no chance that my master would have achieved anything less than the peak of excellence.”

Having found my name clearly designated under Class A, Ashley gives a satisfied little nod of his head. Receiving his approval is the best! Even if I didn’t really do anything to actually deserve it…. But when I compare this to how he typically acts towards me, that little nod feels like a godsend.

“Since I’m showing you such good results, I was hoping you might go speechless in awe, especially considering how hard I worked to get here under your fierce tutelage.”

“I was so strict with you only because I hold your abilities in high regard.”

If that’s the case, then if he thinks any more highly of me, I might actually die from his esteem. That impossibly Spartan training is not something that can be borne by normal people like me.

“And Morton-Senpai…. is in Class B,” Ashley notes, sounding relieved. “Regardless of her test results, she was originally someone who is extremely talented in magic control, and taking into account her sizable magic power, that ranking seems rather appropriate.”

“Yeah, true,” I agree.

Speak of the devil. The moment we stop talking about him, Leila appears next to me. I don’t know if it’s because we are in a public space with many eyes upon us, but he has his delicate little lady facade fully in place as he takes a glance at the class rosters. Even though he is by no means meek nor cute.

Even though inside that adorable little girl’s body lies the soul of a bona fide high school boy. Or rather a rabid sex offender.

As I am thinking this, I see a shadow cast over his petite form as the enchanting Student Council Vice President appears behind him.

“Hey, are you Leila Morton?”

His languid, leisurely manner of speaking is excessively appealing. He’s such beautiful eye-candy! …..So long as he doesn’t take notice of me. Alec Vivencci-Sama1 is finally making his first appearance.

His hair is soft and black and just a bit on the long side. And his height! He’s unbelievably tall to the point where lately, whenever I am walking with Ashley through the halls and he catches a glimpse of Alec, his mood sours and his face turns sullen. And even though I know that he must be feeling overly sensitive about his short stature, I always end up feeling so helpless. I don’t want to forcefully bring up the subject, since whatever I say will probably only end up making him feel even worse.

But that matter aside, Alec is seriously cute. He acts just like a big, adorable dog. The atmosphere he gives off is so happy and friendly! Like a sheepdog. Honestly, if only he didn’t have such violent tendencies, his mere presence would heal me to the core.

“Huh….? Yes, that’s right but….” He replies while hiding his mouth behind a lightly clenched fist, looking shy and frightened. I don’t remember saying that we would go with the ‘shy around strangers’ type of character setting though??

Plus, knowing just what he’s like on the inside…. Just seeing him acting cutesy like that is beyond irritating…. But I guess it’s just me who feels that way.

Oh wait, nope. There’s one more person that seems to agree with me.

Lufrey just so happened to be standing in front of Leila and had noticed him right at the moment when he was putting on that award winning ‘performance.’

“Uggh,” he gags, throwing his hand up over his mouth in disgust. He then wastes no time in trying to put some distance between himself and Leila. I think we should probably just give up trying to raise Lufrey’s favorability towards him at this point. It seems to be a lost cause.

“Good afternoon, Mister Wood.”

Having fled in my direction, I take the chance to send my greetings. When he hears his name called, he glances over, finally noticing me, and sends his own salutation my way with a wave with his free hand.

“I’m glad you’re alright, Miss Alldington.”

“Someone you know?” Ashley whispers from beside me. “Just a passing acquaintance,” I murmer in reply. Ashley seems to have recognized Lufrey, which is rather natural seeing as Lufrey’s the son of a Count, but it appears that Ashley had not yet realized that we knew each other.

But that’s also natural… considering we’ve only ever talked to each other once before…. but do I really need to explain that to him?

“I have you to thank for that! I’m much obliged for the assistance you gave me the other day in escaping from becoming that beast’s prey. You seem to have been placed in Class B though, right? You have my condolences…. Oh! I’m not looking down on Class B or anything, of course! I’m merely expressing my sympathies for being placed into the same class as one particular person to whom we are both acquainted.”

“My luck isn’t as bad as yours might have been, seeing as I’m a guy.”

That is so true. That thing is the enemy of women.

“Are you sure it’s okay for you to just be standing here like this though?　While it looks like your ideal type is over there catching the eye of the Student Council Vice President?”

“That is quite the talent you have, Miss Alldington. How do you manage to sleep-talk with your eyes wide open like that?”

Does he really hate Leila so much that he has to go that far….? But…..

“Methinks the good Sir doth protest too much…. Could you be saying that you hate her because you actually like her….?”

“No, when you truly hate something, that can also be cause enough to continuously profess one’s loathing.”

Lufrey, who up until now had remained expressionless throughout our whole acquaintance, suddenly narrowed his eyes and began scowling as he said this.

To make a Kuudere like Lufrey show such obvious distaste…. I think it’s safe to say that we will not be raising his favorability towards Leila any time soon…. or any time at all for that matter.

Well then, with that unfortunate realization out of the way, I turn my gaze back towards Leila.

And, for all that he says he hates him, he must still at least be curious about Leila, since Lufrey also turns his head to look back at him.

“Huh, I’d been imagining a burly, rough-looking chick going off the rumors, but you’re quite the cutie, ain’t ya. I guess I really should have gone to see the test yesterday~”

Now that he mentions it….. Alec didn’t actually go to the test yesterday.

“You’re quite interesting though, aren’t you,” Alec continues, lightly tapping Leila’s cheek.

Leila! Your face looks like it’s cramping up! Come on! Put a little more effort into maintaining your smile!

“Ugh…..” Leila groans as he lowers his head.

He’s beginning to tremble.

Oh no. This is bad.

“I’m not interesting!” Leila cries, still managing to keep his cutesy image going for one last moment. “Don’t touch me you b*stard!” But it was a really short moment.

“I’m not interesting!” Leila cries, still managing to keep his cutesy image going for one last moment. “Don’t touch me you b*stard!” But it was a really short moment.2

“Idiot! No!” I yell in horror as I turn around and burrow my face into Ashley’s chest. Realizing what I had done purely on reflex, I timidly glance up at him only to find him looking down directly at me with a slightly offended expression on his face.

“I don’t remember ever being called an idiot so ironically.”

Are you trying to say that I’m the idiot? Not that I can really say anything to that… Since I probably would be considered one in comparison to Ashley….

“Sh*t! With that f*ckin’ beautiful face of yours girls’ll be throwing themselves at your bleedin’ feet! So go chase after someone else’s a*s! Cause there’s not one f*ckin interesting thing about me!”

“Ahhh you idiotttttt……!”

Unable to watch any more, I throw my hands up in front of my eyes and start wobbling on my feet as if I might fall over. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that there was someone standing right next to me, so as I try to maintain my balance I end up head-butting Lufrey’s chin with considerable force.

But, having had his chin head-butted, Lufrey merely furrowed his eyebrows a bit.

“Did I do something to you?” he asks me, a bit puzzled.

“I’m sorry. I just suddenly felt very dizzy….”

Looking back over at Leila and Alec, I see Alec is now just staring blankly up into space.

“Even if the outward appearance is nice, if the contents are like this….. That foul language, as expected, is rather off-putting,” he says, contemplatively.

This chapter is scrapped from readlightnovel.org

Right!?

To tell him to go chase after a woman’s behind is not something a proper lady should say! Though…. Considering he isn’t actually a proper lady on the inside…. I guess that’s not really the best argument.

“Not to mention, it’s all your fault that Gray was saddled with those cumbersome evacuation procedures yesterday…. You’re really not giving off the greatest impression at the moment.”

Hmm? I wonder if Gray-Senpai ended up becoming close to Alec.

Now that I think about it, I do kind of remember him asking me how he might be able to avoid someone who seems determined to be friendly with him. At the time, I had suggested he use Leila, but I feel like he had rejected that idea.

I see. So he just ended up embracing the friendship. With a guy who very well may end up killing him.

As the Student Council President, Gray-Senpai has the power to recommend other students to be appointed as student council members, but those members are still ultimately decided by the school. And since Alec was appointed by the academy to be the Vice-President, Senpai wouldn’t have been able to escape from interacting with him….. thus leading to their current relationship.

“So be a dear and hurry up and learn how to control your magic, okay? So that you can stop causing problems for me and Gray.”

Wait….. If he says it like that…. then doesn’t it sound like Alec and Gray-Senpai are in that sort of relationship!? …..Is what I’d like to ask Senpai but…. that’s not going to end well. I can picture it already, the beating that’s awaiting me if I bring this up, so maybe I shouldn’t mention it for now.

As I stir myself from my thoughts, I finally realize just how big the crowd of onlookers surrounding Leila has grown. All the students are gathered in groups and whispering amongst each other, and it doesn’t take much concentration to hear what they are all saying. “Ugh, that girl’s just as vulgar as the rumors say!” I hear from some girls off to my left. “Woah, then doesn’t that mean that she and Viscount Alldington’s daughter really are….” Some boys say on my right.

Why are the rumors about me and Leila suddenly making a comeback in this situation!?

“She’s finally showing her true colors,” Lufrey notes, smiling disdainfully.

Leila, couldn’t you have been at least a tiny bit nicer to him? Just how much did you mistreat him to make him hate you this much??

“Ojousama, you are looking quite pale. Shall we head back now?”

“Yeah….” I say weakly, turning away from the crowd, intending to leave this place far behind me, but before I can take even two steps my right arm is tightly grasped from behind me.

“As I thought, I can’t do this!”

Ugh, what a headache…..

“Miss Morton….. Would you mind releasing my arm?”

“I’m telling you, it’s physiologically impossible for me! But, how about this? If you were to give me some sort of…. reward…. first, then I might be willing to give this another shot!”

Ahh!! Stop!!

Depending on how they interpret that statement, people are going to be even more suspicious about our relationship!

“So, please don’t give up on me! I….. I believe that meeting you was truly a blessing for me. I’d been so anxious, so insecure up until I met you, but then you appeared and everything just felt right…..!”

Wow, somehow this is making it seem like I’m actually the bad guy in all of this.

But despite Leila supposedly exposing all his inner insecurities, his grip remains quite steady even as I’m trying to shake it off.

“So sleep with me once! And then I’ll do anything that you ask of me!”

Let go of me this instant, you cursed pervert.

“When you say sleep, whatever could you mean I wonder?” I question, mock-innocently.

“Let’s go all the way, Baby~”

If at all possible, I’d love it if you would get out of my sight and never come back.

Why is he always like this? The moment I start feeling sorry for him, he just goes and says or does something so disappointing like this. What does he think? That as long as he can garner my sympathies that I’ll forgive him for whatever he does after that!?

“Do you want to die?” Ashley growls.

“Are you talking to me, Ashley!?”

“Why would I be? I’m speaking to Morton-Senpai.”

Oh…. that was directed at Leila….

“That doesn’t really make it much better. Can we please try to value our lives a bit more?”

No matter what, I was hoping to hoping to raise this child into someone who wouldn’t even consider a lover’s suicide. Speaking of which…. Ashley, you’ve said some pretty disturbing things before, but this is the first time you’ve made your master tremble like this.

“You heard her. Please value your life a bit more, Morton-Senpai. If you ever lay a finger on my master, even if it is merely to stop her for a moment, I will have no choice but to eradicate you.”

At his words, chills run incessantly up my spine, but despite Ashley’s terrifying speech, Leila still refuses to let go of my arm.

“Shut up! You’re just some underclassman! A servant! I’m busy here so get lost!”

“If you have that much determination, then try a little harder with your seduction skills already!” I cry out, unwittingly.

I had been unable to bear the situation any longer, and had covered my face with my hands, so I didn’t even realize I was speaking out loud until everyone around us had gone silent for a second. I could feel their eyes on me for another moment before they all started talking at once, wondering what I was talking about.

Ahhh! My mouth moved on it’s own! There was nothing I could do about it!

But seriously! I already told him that Ashley is a Yandere and that he has the potential to commit a lover’s suicide with Leila! So why is he choosing now to show off such needless bravado!? It’s been 16 whole years since he was born into this world! He’s not a grade-schooler anymore!! Why can’t he just think before he acts!?

All of a sudden, Ashley smiles. A brilliant smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.

“You want to sleep…. with Ojousama….”

Ashley, your expression looks kind of scary. And since a while ago, you’ve been clutching my other arm, refusing to let me go just like Leila. Is this your way of trying to say something untoward to me?

“Now that I think about it, just how many times have Ojousama and I shared a bed? Fond memories, wouldn’t you agree, Ojousama?”

Gahh…..

“You’re asking me?” my voice squeaks out.

With the way he phrased it, doesn’t that make it sound like I made him do improper things for me……!? Agh, everyone’s gazes on me feel painful. To finish what he was saying, what he meant by ‘we shared a bed’….. was that we slept on the same bed together when we were children, right? On Ashley’s parents’ death anniversary that is.

It’s just that Ashley is applying pressure to his grip on my arm. It feels like he’s telling me not to disagree with him, not to say anything unnecessary.

“The hell!? It’s not even your first time, so it should be fine to do it with me!”

“Even if your answer was rather unexpected….. it changes nothing,” Ashley says, surreptitiously showing off his anger and frustration at Leila for a moment, startling him enough to make him finally let go of my arm.

“Let’s head back now. I’m not good at dealing with this type of person.”

Looking shocked and deflated since Leila hadn’t backed down in the slightest when Ashley had said that we had slept together many times, Ashley finally swept me away from the crowd, leaving everyone far behind us.

As I was leaving, I saw that Lufrey was staring at me and had brought his hands up once again in supplication.

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T/N: Someone really needs to clean out that grade-schooler’s mouth with soap ASAP haha. Also, the poll results are in! The majority of you either want me to keep using both he/him and she/her or to stick with the male pronouns. As a couple people suggested, I think it’s a good idea for Cecile to think of Leila as a guy but talk about him like a girl. If this was reflected in the Japanese, I feel like there would have been the potential for some fun slip-ups…. but at this point that seems pretty unlikely.

On a completely different note, for anyone who’s curious what I was doing for the last month (or at least the interesting, hopefully visually appealing part of what I did), feast your eyes on some of the GIFs I created for my Photoshop class’s final project. The first one depicts my translation process (minus the editing phase) as well as some of the scanlation process for manga, so I thought you guys might find it interesting.

Can you recognize it?? This is the first two pages from a manga called Naze da Naitou!! As you might imagine, it’s a story about Naitou continuously proposing and Itou cruelly striking him down over and over again (not that those rejections phase Naitou of course). It’s super adorable and funny!! I highly recommend it!!

I added this one just cause I made all the colorful bits using code (the words on the screens at the start of the GIF) so I thought it was an appropriate way to celebrate finally graduating from college with a Computer Science and Engineering degree (this whole site can be a celebration for my Japanese degree lol).

1Alec’s last name is actually フェベンシー which would sound like Fay-Ben-She in English… I could spell it like Febenshi or Febanshy or like the MTL suggested: Febensy…. But I thought Vivencci could pass for a real name more easily. If you guys know of any real last names that sound like this, feel free to let me know in the comments! Otherwise I’m going to wield my tyrannical power as your translator and willfully use Vivencci cause I like it.

2The author did a great job of distinguishing between a feminine voice and masculine voice during this statement merely through the use of particles (a part of Japanese grammar) and the masculine I (俺ーおれーore). Unfortunately, English does not have such marvelous things, so I had to settle for extra descriptions… But I thought you should know, what the author did was hilarious and beautiful. To use the sentence particle “wa” followed by an “ore” was shocking and fun lol. Here’s the line for anyone devoted enough to want to see it!「ぅ面白くないわ！野郎が俺に触んじゃねえ！」