“Good morning, Miss Claire.”
Claire and her entourage were sitting in the front row when I entered the lecture hall, so I happily went to greet her. The lecture hall was twice as large as the ones at the high school I’d attended, and the rows got higher toward the back. A blackboard and teacher’s lectern stood in the front.
When I tried to approach Claire, her minions blocked my way.
“Would you stop talking to us like we’re friends? We live in a different world than you. Isn’t that right, Miss Claire?” one of them sneered. As if that had broken a dam, the others members of the entourage joined in a flood of agreement.
“Ahhh. I don’t have anything to say to you, minions. I’m speaking to Miss Claire. Good day, Miss Claire.”
“Wha?! Ingrate! Who do you think I am? I am of House Kugret, who have served the François family for generations!”
“So…minion, am I right?”
“M-Miss Claire…” The daughter of the Kugret family went crying to Claire. What a wimp.
“Ugh, peasant…” Claire sighed. “Get over yourself. She has nothing to say to you. Don’t you know ‘good day’ is used as a parting term?”
This was exactly what I was talking about. The minions just didn’t cut it—they couldn’t hold a candle to Claire’s abuse. For the record, there are many uses for “good day.” In present-day Japan it was perfectly acceptable to use it in place of “good morning” or “hello.”
“Oh, but whenever Claire talks to me, she teaches me the correct way to use words. I do love her so,” I mused.
“J-just shut up! Are you taunting me?!”
“Yes!”
“You don’t even hesitate?!”
It was a delicious reaction. Another glorious day.
“Control yourself, Rae. Good morning, Miss Claire.” Misha caught me by the collar.
“Mishaaa, let go of me. I’m playing Miss Claire now.”
“You forgot the ‘with’!” Claire was so good at comedic retorts.
“That’s enough.” Misha smacked me in the head.
“Misha…control your kitten, would you?” Claire demanded.
“Miss Claire, Rae is not my pet.”
“I would love to be your pet, Miss Claire.”
“Weren’t you told to shut up?!” Claire screamed, which left her out of breath.
“Miss Claire, you don’t seem well. You should get some rest,” I said.
“And whose fault is that?! Just get out of here!”
I sighed. As I expressed my disappointment, I heard a soft, tenor voice say, “A bit early to be so deep into your comedy routine, isn’t it?”
“Master Yu…”
“Good morning, Claire. I haven’t seen you fall apart like this in a long time.”
The person chuckling at us was the third-born prince of the kingdom, Yu Bauer. He had soft, curly blond hair and a gentle but cheerful smile, the very image of the ideal prince. Even his voice was perfectly prince-like.
Yu was one of the romanceable characters in the game. He was the second-most popular of the three love interests, all because he said things like “You’re so cute,” and “I will protect you,” or “I would love to marry into your family.”
“Master Yu, that’s not what I’m doing! This peas—Rae is acting disrespectfully, so I was warning her to watch herself.”
“Is that so?” Yu turned his gaze toward me.
“I wasn’t being disrespectful. Everything I said, I said out of love.”
“What in the world are you talking about?!”
Yu laughed at Claire’s outburst. “Rae Taylor, right? I remember you were at the top of the incoming class. I assumed you would be a bookworm, but you’re pretty funny, too.”
“Thank you.” Not being particularly interested in Yu, my reply was curt.
“Rae, don’t be rude, now,” Misha scolded. “Good morning, Master Yu.”
“Oh, Misha. Good morning.”
Yu was nice to everyone, but he was especially sweet to Misha. They’d grown up together and been very close before Misha’s family went bankrupt. Misha still missed their old relationship. If you chose to play Yu’s route in the game, you not only had to deal with Claire’s harassment, you had to navigate the conflict between your friendship with Misha and your yearning for Yu. The fanbase largely agreed it was the most complex scenario by far.
“I apologize for Rae. I will make certain to chastise her later,” Misha told Yu.
“Don’t worry about it. If anything, you could stand to speak to me less formally. We’re all equal here at the Academy, you know?”
“I will consider it…”
Their awkward conversation went back and forth in that manner, but I was just grateful for the excuse to turn my attentions back to Claire. “Miss Claire, what do you think? Have they rekindled their love?”
“Why is every thought that goes through your head so vulgar?”
“Hey, Yu and Claire. Morning, everyone.”
“Good morning, Master Rod.”
“Good morning, Brother.”
The lively voice that now greeted us belonged to a good-looking boy with spiky black hair. His name was Rod Bauer. He was the first-born prince of the kingdom and, of course, another of the game’s romanceable male leads.
“What’s going on here? It sounds interesting. I want in.” Rod laughed as he sauntered into our circle like he owned it.
“There is absolutely nothing of interest here,” said Claire. “Just one person who is trying to undermine the Academy’s morals!”
“Does that mean what I think it means?” I said. “You want to join me? Shall we undermine them? Shall we totally undermine them together?”
“I will do no such thing!”
“What…?” Rod watched this exchange as if he had come upon a rare animal at the zoo.
The game usually required the player character to introduce herself at this point, but it was Yu who introduced me, instead. “This is Rae Taylor,” he said, chuckling. “She was at the top of the class of the incoming students. She’s pretty amusing.”
“Yes, she’s certainly possessed of an uncommon character. You don’t normally see her type among aristocrats. It seems my father’s policy has given us all a good laugh.”
“Heh.” I couldn’t tell if he meant that as a compliment, so I kept my response noncommittal.
“A refreshing reaction. Rae…I’ll remember that.”
“Thanks.”
“Rae, respectful, please,” Misha chided again.
“Do you know how many girls would kill to be remembered by Master Rod?” Claire demanded.
Misha and Claire were both mad at me now, but it couldn’t be helped. I loathed arrogant characters like Rod, who demanded you follow them without question, always progressing directly onward with their route. Rod had a confident and vibrant personality, but I had no idea why he was always voted the most popular character. Didn’t it get exhausting to spend so much time around someone like him? Well, my tastes were obviously different from most, since Claire attracted me far more than the romanceable characters.
“Come join us, Thane,” Rod called out.
“Nah, I’m fine.” A silver-haired boy lying face down on a desk in the back of the classroom answered grumpily.
“I don’t think Thane likes this sort of thing.”
“Is there anything he does like?” Yu laughed uncertainly while Rod wore a sour look.
As their ambiguous reactions suggested, Thane was considered something of a nuisance. He was the second-born prince of the kingdom, and he was the final romanceable lead. He was also the least popular of the three. If Yu was prince-like and Rod was conceited, Thane was…complicated.
Yu was a natural-born genius who excelled at everything without putting in much effort. Rod was similarly brilliant, but he excelled at things because he worked hard. Thane, sandwiched between his talented brothers, was never the best at anything, even when he tried his hardest. The constant comparison to his brothers had given him a complex, keeping him from being genuine.
And yet, Thane was my favorite of the game’s romanceable characters. I liked him for the same reason I liked Claire: they seemed human. Perhaps because I was no longer a daydreaming child but an adult who’d already had a taste of reality, I found tangible, flawed characters more attractive than those that just seemed superhuman.
“Master Thane…” My beloved Claire said his name with a hint of suppressed emotion.
The truth was that Claire felt the L-word for Thane, which was one of the reasons why his route was the least popular. Claire did stick her nose in every route just because she liked to meddle, but she grew genuinely glum when a player took the Thane route. Additionally, when you finished the game with a Thane romance, you were unable to really give Claire her comeuppance, instead saying, “I understand how you feel… You were hurt,” and forgiving her. Similarly, the exhilaration that came with the conflict of other routes, like Rod’s, was nonexistent in Thane’s.
“Why don’t you go talk to him, Miss Claire?” I said. Thane wasn’t the type to take the initiative.
“Wh-why me?”
“You like him, don’t you?” I regretted the words the moment they left my mouth, but it was too late.
“N-no! I don’t think about Master Thane like that!” Claire shrieked.
Her voice echoed throughout the lecture room, meaning, of course, that it was audible to Thane. He picked himself up and left the classroom, his face expressionless.
“Oh… What should I do? I didn’t mean to…” Claire was flustered.
I really had messed this up.
“Let’s go apologize to him later, Miss Claire,” I said.
“And this peasant, acting like she knows things!”
“Miss Claire.” I focused on her, my voice controlled.
“Wh-what do you want?” she stammered.
“Master Thane is delicate.”
“I know that.”
“So you should apologize.”
“W-would you just shut up?!” Claire stood up abruptly. “I feel sick! I’ll be going home now!”
“O-oh, Miss Claire!”
“Please leave me alone!”
Claire didn’t even allow her entourage to follow her as she stormed from the lecture room. I watched her curls bounce as she left, filled with a sense of satisfaction. I said nothing, but I knew—I just knew she had gone after Thane.
This was exactly why she was cute. This was why I was infatuated with her.