I ran up to the front gate of the Academy, where we’d agreed to meet, while still carrying the twins. Milia and Sophia had arrived before us.
“Arius, why are you running? And…who are those children?” Milia asked, looking flabbergasted, but Sophia recognized the twins. They made appearances at social events more than I did.
“This is my brother and sister, Sirius and Alicia. They snuck out of the house to see me, it seems. They were waiting for me outside my dorm room. Sorry for the last-minute request, but do you mind if they join us?”
The twins might have felt a bit out of place because they looked rather apologetic.
“That’s no biggie at all,” replied Milia. “Brother and sister? They do look like you.”
They had the same silver hair, ice-blue eyes, and similar facial features.
“Alicia, Sirius, you are more than welcome to join us,” Sophia said to them.
Milia and Sophia agreed to let them come as if it were the obvious choice. I thought they would say that. Their reactions put the twins at ease, but they were still a little nervous since Sohpia was the daughter of a duke.
“Lady Sophia, I am Sirius, the second son of Marquess Gilberto. We met last month at Duke Crawford’s banquet.”
“And I am Alicia, daughter of Marquess Gilberto. It’s a pleasure to see you again.”
Sophia smiled warmly at the two children, their backs straight as they gave their greetings. “We’re going out to spend time with friends. The two of you don’t have to worry about being so formal.” The smile of a perfect beauty had enchanted the twins.
“Very well, Lady Sophia.”
“If you’ll allow us, Lady Sophia.”
“Hm. Still a little stiff.” Now Milia joined in, crouching down so her face was level with the twins’. “Hi, you two. My name’s Milia. I’m a friend of your brother’s, and now you’re my friends too, so go ahead and relax.”
“We’re…friends?”
“Yeah. Because I’m friends with Arius. So, no feeling like you have to be super mindful of us. You too, Sirius!”
“Very well. I mean…okay?”
“There you go. All right, we’re going out to have some fun, so let loose!”
“Okay, Milia!” the two twins shouted together.
Milia really was good at getting others to open up. The twins instantly took a liking to her.
“Thank you, Sophia and Milia. I know I just brought them without asking first,” I said.
“You don’t have to thank us for that,” replied Sophia.
“It’s all because they’re good kids, so we want to be friends,” grinned Milia.
I was always thinking it, but these two really were good people.
About five minutes later, Vern and Noelle arrived.
“You’re all early. It’s not even four yet,” said Vern.
“I-I’m sorry. A-Am I late?” stammered Noelle.
It was still a few minutes before the time we agreed on, but they had the exact opposite reactions. Last to arrive were Zeke and Sasha, who were a couple of minutes late.
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Zeke called to us.
“It’s my fault. I took too long getting changed,” apologized Sasha.
I explained to all the others that I’d brought Sirius and Alicia. They all welcomed the twins without complaint. The twins did know of Vern, Zeke, and Sasha, but they were nervous at the appearance of these big names.
“Sirius, Alicia, are there any foods you don’t like? We’re going to eat later, so let me know if there’s anything you can’t eat,” Milia said, trying to help unwind their nerves.
“I’m fine. There’s nothing I really don’t like,” answered Sirius.
“I…hate bell peppers. And Sirius hates carrots, actually,” confessed Alicia.
Sirius looked like he’d been caught red-handed when Alicia revealed the truth.
“Good for you being honest, Alicia! Sirius, were you going to force yourself to eat carrots?”
“Yeah… I’m sorry for lying,” he mumbled, apologetic.
Milia patted his head. “Well, if you were going to do your best to eat them, then it wasn’t really a lie. By the way, Prince Zeke really doesn’t like tomatoes. He always powers through eating them with this expression like he’s dealing with something really difficult.”
“Hey, Milia, why are you talking about me? I mean…it is true,” Zeke admitted.
Sirius and Alicia were surprised to hear Zeke acknowledge the fact without argument, since he was usually so rough around the edges. But knowing there were things he also hated eating might have made the twins feel like they had something in common. They weren’t so nervous anymore. That was very much like Milia.
We divided into three carriages and set off. I was with Sirius, Alicia, Sophia, and Milia. The two people in the driver’s seat were Sophia’s guards.
The second carriage had Zeke, Sasha, and two guards. The third carriage was Vern, Noelle, and Vern’s guards.
“Today, we’re planning on getting food after going to the arcade. Have you two ever been to the arcade?” Milia asked the twins. She and Sophia were chatting with the twins while we were in the carriage.
“No, it’s my first time. I’m really excited!” exclaimed Alicia.
“Me too! La— I mean, Sophia, thanks for letting us come,” said Sirius.
“Thank you for coming,” Sophia smiled gently.
“We’re all going as a group, so don’t wander off without us, you two,” I told them.
“I know.”
“Yeah, we’re not kids anymore.”
They might complain about it, but they were still only nine years old. I also wasn’t going to lose them since I could Scan for them.
“Huh, you’re being like a real big brother, Arius,” noted Milia.
“Yeah. It’s not a side of you I’ve seen before,” said Sophia, the two of them giving me teasing smiles.
I mean, I was technically the oldest sibling, but I didn’t think I did anything remotely like what you’d expect from an older brother. Today I was able to go out with the twins thanks to everyone else agreeing, so maybe I’d try out this brother thing a bit.
Fifteen minutes later, our carriages arrived at the arcade. Everyone exited the carriages in their casual clothing today rather than their uniforms. Sophia was wearing a simple white blouse with a floral-patterned skirt. Milia was in boyish clothes, an aqua-colored tunic, and trousers. Noelle had on a skirt paired with an earth-brown cardigan over a collarless shirt.
The only time I saw Sophia not in the Academy uniform was at high society events. When I went with Milia to that café one time, we were still in our uniforms, and I’d never been out with Noelle. This was my first time seeing them in their own clothes.
“I know I’m late saying this, but it’s nice seeing you in something different, Sophia. And you too, Milia and Noelle. You all look nice,” I praised.
I was told in my previous life that when you go out with girls, you have to compliment their clothes. It wasn’t like I was aiming to do something. I was just telling them what I thought.
“Arius… Thank you,” Sophia murmured.
“What the? What are you on about suddenly? But…I guess it’s not exactly unpleasant to have you compliment me,” said Milia.
“A-Arius, that’s unfair, I-I wasn’t expecting something like that…” stammered Noelle.
They all blushed, but I guess it was fine since none of them seemed upset.
“What, you’re not going to compliment Sasha?” Zeke commanded with annoyance.
“That’s your job, isn’t it?” I replied.
He probably didn’t compliment people much since he was always putting on a bad boy mask, but if you gave him a nudge, he would.
“R-Right,” he blushed. “Sasha… You look very pretty today.”
“P-Prince Zeke… Th-Thank you…”
The two of them turned bright red. They were the only ones living in the romantic world of Love Academy right now.
It wasn’t depicted in the game, but nobles and royals were always accompanied by guards when they went out. Today we had Vern, Zeke, Sophia, and Sasha, and they each had two guards with them. The guards kept a small distance from us in order not to interfere, but not so far away that they couldn’t react quickly if something happened.
Since we had Alicia and Sirius with us, we decided on bowling first because the kids could play that too. In this world, the bowling balls and pins were made of stone, and you tracked your score with a piece of paper, but otherwise it was the same as my previous life.
We decided to use two lanes right next to each other. First up was Milia and me. Since it was Alicia and Sirius’s first time bowling, we decided to go first.
“Arius, I know you know, but no using magic, okay?” Milia quipped.
“I know. I’ll be good. But putting mana into the ball would be good practice for mana manipulation. You wouldn’t mind the twins using Strengthen, would you?”
“Wait. They can already use magic? And they’re practicing mana manipulation?”
Milia wasn’t the only one surprised. The whole group was.
“Yeah. The family tutor is teaching them magic, and I taught them to practice mana manipulation when they were two or three. But I’m not sure how good they’re doing yet.”
I hadn’t gone bowling that much in my previous life, so I relied on my vague memories to throw the ball.
Obviously not with all my strength.
I added a spin to it, so it traveled down the left side of the lane before curving right before hitting the pins. It hit the front pin at an angle, taking down all ten. With my stats, this result was to be expected. And I was used to toning down my strength all the time.
“That’s Arius for you,” Milia sighed, “but I’m not going to be beat.”
Milia threw the ball with clean form. It was a perfect underthrow that went straight down the center of the lane, also knocking down all ten pins.
“How’s that?!” she cried.
“I figured you could do it,” I replied.
She looked happy, and we high-fived. Milia was the heroine of Love Academy, and she was diligent about her training—she knew how to use her body.