5 - Freshman Year, Autumn

Something strange happened to the school after the summer vacation. Back in MaSLo, there were several people around me aiming to court me for my family name and my grades. There were a few at the start of the school year, but after the incident with Arthur in the courtyard, they all but evaporated.

The only exceptions were Yoshie and Serena, so it didn’t bother me much, but now my suitors have suddenly, mysteriously exploded in number and I feel trouble brewing again.

It starts when I arrive at school in the morning.

“Good morning!” said about 80 people all at once.

To be honest, I’m scared and frightened by all of it.

“Good morning, Eli!” Serena said as she comes over. Her appearance is soothing.

It’s like a Feudal Lord’s procession when I walk towards school and the entourage starts coming with me.

“So, what’s your plan today?” Yoshie asked as if nothing was going on.

“Hmm, hmm, perhaps plans for the future of this country,” Mordred murmured from somewhere, unseen.

“Hey, what are you doing here, Stalker?” Serena asks. “I’m getting bad vibes from you, so go away.”

“I’m just walking nearby,” Mordred replied before he and Serena start arguing.

Since that’s always the case when they’re in close enough proximity, I don’t feel particularly worried.

“Eliza, kick me!”

And now that the Perverted M-Prince is here, I blew my whistle.

“Asteron!” Lancelot says as he comes running. “You’ve been calling for aid quite a lot lately.”

“If you have complaints, take them to Arthur,” I grumble.

“Lance, please take the Pervert Prince away immediately,” Serena says. “I don’t want him in the same space as Eli.”

“Hey, Hollina, watch how you speak to the Prince!” Lancelot said.

“Oh, and Lance, please don’t come back afterward,” Serena said.

Lancelot seems almost in tears as he takes Arthur away.

Since this sort of scene has become a regular occurrence, I told Serena that I wasn’t that bothered, but there was still the matter of all the people behind me.

Come the next day, there were suddenly only 10 of them.

“I’m on duty, so just relax, Eli!” Serena said.

I wondered what she meant by that until my gut told me that I shouldn’t pry any further.

In October, there is a school festival in this fantasy world. Nearly identical to the one in Japan, each class creates exhibits, produces plays, and runs mock shops.

Freshmen are divided into groups of four and decide on what they’re going to do. In MaSLo, the plot was that Serena’s group (composed of three other capture targets) competes against my group, who ends up losing.

“Yay, Eli and I are in the same group!” Serena cheers.

Oh, it looks like it’ll just be the two of us against everyone else who’s in other groups.

“Eliza,” Arthur said.

“Asteron,” Lancelot said.

Mordred looks at me pointedly.

“Lady Elizabeth,” Stan says.

“Ms. Meathead,” Sergius said.

Come on, what is with me and all the capture targets?

“Only one of you can speak with her,” Serena says.

“Then if that’s the case, it will be me,” Arthur says as he steps up. “I won’t lose to you. Furthermore…”

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Arthur suddenly dropped to the ground.

“Understood,” Serena said as she pulled her hand back. “So, Eli is going to be busy with preparations, so she doesn’t have time to talk anymore! Bye-bye!”

She dragged me away from the capture targets then told me, “Since you’re already so cute, Eli, men might swoop in and take you if you’re not careful!”

I could say the same to you, Serena.

Just like MaSLo, we decided we would hold a play. The story is about a prince rescuing a girl kidnapped by a dragon, and in this world, it’s about as well-known as Romeo and Juliet. Serena will play the princess (same as the game) but we had no capture targets, I was playing the role of the prince instead.

“If it’s you, Eli, you’ll look more princely than the actual princes, you’ll do great!” Serena said, her eyes shining.

At the very least, I’m confident I can be more princely than that Perverted Prince.

In the two-week lead-up, I constantly rehearsed, going well into the night until exhaustion overwhelmed me.

On the day of the festival itself, we barely saw any of the capture targets because their breaks were when the plays are supposed to go on. In the game, there was a date event at this time but neither I nor Serena could afford to step out.

What kind of endurance would she have to have to go out on one later?

Then there was the production some of the capture targets were producing. One involves a prince exiled from his country after being framed for the murder of his father; he eventually comes back to defeat the true murderer and usher peace back to his troubled nation. They had popular voice talents on their side, performing the musical numbers perfectly, entrancing anyone who watched.

I couldn’t deny feeling inadequate in comparison. I wondered if we should have used a different production, done something different with our set design, or worked harder to rehearse… but ultimately it was all for naught as the capture targets’ shows won the highest ratings among the plays. 1

I had been working all day long, so the others in our group offered to cover me as I took a break on the rooftop.

Looking down at the schoolyard below, seeing the other students hard at work, I’m reminded of our loss. I worked so hard, too… but I suppose there wasn’t much use thinking about it now.

Serena came over while I was sulking alone. “Good job today, Eli. Hey, want some noodles I bought from the other groups?” she asked as she held out the bowl.

“Thank you, Serena,” I said as I took it. It seems I was hungrier than I thought, wolfing it down in no time.

“Hey, Eli,” Serena says with a somewhat mysterious expression, “don’t you think it’s disappointing we didn’t win?”

“No, I don’t think so,” I lied. “The princes put on a perfect performance, it’s to be expected.”

“Hmm, fair point,” Serena said, “but I still feel pretty down.”

We hang out in silence until Serena suddenly says: “I’ve finally hunted you down, Wicked Dragon! Return the princess to me at once!”

It was one of the “Prince’s” lines in the play.

“My Lady, please, don’t do something so foolish for my sake!” I continue with the Princess’s lines.

We continue to exchange them on the rooftop, quietly recreating the play with just the two of us.

“My Lady, I’m alright now,” I say, my last line.

Serena doesn’t say hers.

“Did something happen, Serena?” I asked.

“You can cry now, Eli,” Serena said quietly.

And with that, I could hold the tears back no longer. I sob as Serena wraps her arms around me. “I wanted to win,” I whimper. “I practiced so hard. Damn it all…”

Serena held me until I stopped crying; if you asked me, she had become a little bit of a “Prince” herself.

Footnotes

The original text was the author listing out several other Japanese works with parts of the titles blacked out. As I’m not that much of a hardcore otaku, I felt it was too much work to try to piece together what the other productions were and simply decided to replace it with something that also made sense.