Chapter 1: Chapter One: Meeting the Heroine~☆

Chapter One: Meeting the Heroine~☆

 

Finally, the school is within sight. Putting on a last burst of speed, he climbs up and then vaults over the gate. In the split second before he lands on the other side, he makes eye contact with a girl, who must have made it here a minute earlier.

Sharp brown eyes, short brown hair, cute headband with a flower on one side-

His toes hit the pavement, and following the momentum, he rolls forward before hopping to his feet, no worse for the wear. He wipes off the stray pebbles and dust within reach but doesn’t adjust his uniform. It was disheveled even before his mad dash this morning. 

Ahh, he can’t be bothered to go all prim and proper, especially when the only one who gets on his case about it is his best friend. Cecil can lecture all he wants. He’s a pro at tuning him out by now anyway. Heh~ Maybe he’ll pop a blood vessel this time.

“...Are you alright?” A mild voice asks of him, her bewilderment clear as day.

Turning around, he gets his first good look at her. Despite the confused look on her face, she maintains a cute smile, and those sharp brown eyes aren’t the least bit judging or wary, even though Theo knows with that stunt just now and his overall appearance, he gives off the vibe of a troublemaker. Cecil has despaired of him more than once.

Hmm. She’s everything her description made her out to be, he supposes. How...boring.

Not giving up when the game’s only just begun, he flutters his lashes at her and teases, “Ehh? Are you worried about me? Even though we just met? That’s adorable~!”

In an instant, the confusion is replaced by irritation, the delicate wallflower impression falling away like lightning. “Obviously there is something wrong with you, but it’s not because you hurt yourself flying over the gate like a hooligan.”

He laughs, pleased. This might actually turn out to be interesting after all. “Ahh~ I thought you were an angel, but it turns out this kitten has claws.”

She rolls her eyes. “The only cat here is you. You don’t see me climbing the walls and making a nuisance of myself.”

“Me? A nuisance? Kitty-cat, you wound me,” he whines, placing a hand over his heart.

Hoh? Is her eye twitching?

She glares at him. Takes a breath. Very calmly, she says, “My name is Hazel, not Kitty-cat.”

With a flourish, he bows and smirks up at her. “Theodore Turner, at your service~! It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kitty-cat~! Let’s get along well in the future~!”

Hazel opens her mouth to say something - to scold him, probably, going by the offense written all over her face - but she’s interrupted by a gravelly voice yelling angrily from afar, “You kids actually have the gall to be late on the first day of the term! The nerve! Just wait ‘til I get over there!”

They both turn to find the owner of the voice running towards them, red faced and spitting mad. A familiar sight - for him, at least.

“Whoops, better scram,” he mutters, grabbing Hazel’s wrist and dragging her along behind him as he high tails it out of there, paying no heed to the outraged squawk behind them.

“Whoa- Hey, what are you doing?!” she whispers furiously, doing her best to keep up lest he yank her arm out of her socket.

He shoots her a cheeky grin. “Saving the clueless damsel, obviously.”

“...Who’s a damsel?” she grumbles under her breath, but he ignores her. She levels him with a look, silently demanding an explanation.

Smile widening, he gives in, elaborating, “That’s Stetson, the gym teacher. If he catches us, we’ll be lucky to just get detention. I could handle that. The two hour lecture about being a model student, bettering myself, not being a bad influence, et cetera, et cetera, however, is something I strive to avoid at all costs.” He pauses and then offers generously, “I can let go and leave you to his mercy if you want.”

She grimaces involuntarily, startling a laugh out of him. “Lead on,” she says grimly, no longer struggling to match his pace now that they’re on the same page. 

“As the lady commands~” He leads her down one of the less traveled halls to a stairwell that goes up to the third floor where the third year classrooms are located.

He releases her once they reach the top, hopping over the last step and sticking the landing. “Annnnnd we made it~!” He grins and brandishes V-signs at her.

“We haven’t made it yet,” she reminds him, tugging on his sleeve to get him walking again. Curious, she asks, “What class are you in?”

“3-S,” he answers promptly.

Her eyes widen noticeably, and her mouth hangs open just the slightest bit.

He pouts. “What’s with that reaction?”

“I’m also in Class 3-S. Sorry, I just- You...aren’t what I was expecting,” Hazel explains, a little sheepish.

He knows what she means. Class 3-S is comprised primarily of children from wealthy and influential families, and said children always make up the top ten when it comes to exams. That kind of reputation tends to give people certain expectations, especially those who don’t run in the same circles, i.e. your average family. They expect responsible, stern, studious types like his friend Cecil, who, coincidentally enough, has kept a tight grip on first place in every exam up until now.

Up until the little Miss next to him took the entrance exam and got the highest score, leading to her transfer here and their meeting today. Proud Providence gets enough prestige from their top ten students in every grade that they even waive the tuition fees and provide free room and board for them. It’s a great opportunity for those who couldn’t afford to attend otherwise, but until Hazel, no one’s managed to actually seize it. She probably doesn’t realize it, but due to that, she’s got a lot of eyes on her right now.

Anyway, her surprise isn’t all that surprising since Theo is Cecil's total opposite in almost every way, but he wonders what kind of face she’ll make when she finds out Theo always places second in their exams.

Amused by the thought, he winks and asks, “I’m much better, right~?” Cheerfully ignoring the dead-eyed expression that gets him, he stops at the last door on the right end of the hall, opens it, and boldly walks right in, announcing, “We’re here!”

The teacher, a deceptively youthful man with natural blonde hair and blue eyes, takes one look at him, and the amiable smile on his handsome face becomes strained. “Mr. Turner, you’re late. Again,” he scolds, but there’s no real heat in it.

Garret Kipling, 32, of half-Estral descent. Since he’s usually quite easygoing (and not to mention good-looking), he’s really popular amongst the students. That fixed smile he’s wearing now is one Theo is proud to say belongs only to him, though. S Class teachers follow their students through each year in order to spend as much time as possible nurturing them to become successful graduates and alumni of Pride Providence, so Garret has been both his homeroom teacher and his Estralian Language teacher for two years already.

They’re super close~

“I have a good excuse, Teach! The gorgeous Garret is my absolute favorite, so there’s no way I’d miss seeing your lovely face after two lonely months on purpose~” he explains earnestly, and half the girls in class begin to blush and giggle at the spectacle.

Garret sighs heavily, aggrieved, and begins massaging his temples to ward off a headache. “Firstly, sleeping late is not a good excuse, and secondly, please refrain from referring to me so familiarly. It’s Mr. Kipling, you know that. Thirdly, I don’t even want to address the inappropriate flirting. Just...stop.”

“Sorry, sorry~ It was an honest mistake,” Theo says, entirely unrepentant.

Garret huffs a laugh, helplessly. He waves Theo in. “Just go sit down, so I can start class already.”

“Before that, Teach-” Theo grabs Hazel, who had been frozen behind him this whole time, and pulls her into the classroom, smugly displaying her to Garret like a cat showing off the dead rat it caught for its owner- “look who I found!”

Recognition blooms on Garret’s face as he says, “Ah, the new student.”

“I was late because I heroically rescued Hazel from getting lost in our maze-like school. Praise me, Teach~” he demands, shamelessly, paying no heed to Hazel’s attempts to correct him.

“I see,” Garret says, not buying it but also not willing to get pulled into any more antics today. “Thank you for your diligence, Mr. Turner. You can take your seat now, and I’ll take over from here.”

Pleased, Theo agrees, releasing Hazel and flouncing over to his desk on the third row five seats down. He spares the empty desk next to him a glance, recalling Cecil mentioning that he’d be busy with student council duties for most of the morning. Man, being president must be tough~

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As Garret explains Hazel’s presence, and she introduces herself to the class, Theo finally turns his attention to the system prompts hovering obnoxiously at the edge of his vision. Time seems to stop around him, background noise being replaced by cheerful music as the main menu appears in front of him. A text box pops up over it, displaying the same words that had been blinking urgently at him nonstop since he first met Hazel.

{Main Mission Meet the Heroine has been completed. Please collect your rewards.}

He presses {Okay.} The text box disappears, and another takes its place.

Finally seeing the nebulous "rewards" that had been promised, his eyes light up with interest. He’s been waiting for this ever since he fell out of a tree two weeks ago, and he realized that he was living in a video game. Specifically, the otome game LUV ME LUV YOU~♡ Rather than the protagonist, however, he discovered - to his amusement - that he was one of five capture targets that the heroine, Hazel Harris, could pursue and eventually marry at the end of the game.

Naturally, he was curious about his “route”, and the system had provided. The Theodore Turner Route has seven different endings (as opposed to the others who only have three), and getting all seven is apparently extraordinarily difficult without using a guide and following it perfectly. 

Why is that, one might wonder? Because Theo is a capricious, contradictory person who might flirt and laugh with you one moment then be serious and sincere the next, and he grows bored of things and people very quickly, which of course leads to lots of frantic loading of saves and frustrated cries when the player can’t accurately read the mood in order to say or do the right thing to keep his interest.

He couldn’t help but laugh at the mental image. Messing with people is one of his favorite pastimes, after all. That he’s the most frustratingly, hard to obtain capture target in an otome game not because of game mechanics or plot holes but because of his own personality is endlessly amusing.

On the other hand...he doesn’t appreciate the fact that all anyone has to do to gain access to his genuine thoughts and feelings is spend sixty bucks or look up a tutorial online. This world might be the setting of an otome game in some other dimension, but right here and now, it’s just the world he lives in. It’s difficult not to feel like his privacy has been violated - is still being violated - by countless strangers who don’t know or care that the fictional character they’re romancing is a real person unsettled by the whole thing.

One of the reasons he’s going along with this system that attached itself to him and started giving him missions to complete when it’s his nature to do the exact opposite is because of what awaits him at the end.

Completing the game - which involves completing all of the main story missions - means ending the game. LUV ME LUV YOU~♡ will no longer exist in any world, and Theo and everyone else in this world will be free to live their own lives without needing to follow a predetermined path.

His other reason is not quite so virtuous. Honestly, his first reaction to being told all of this was not horror or uneasiness or even righteous anger. 

No, he was excited.

His life is, in a word, dull. If one needs more words, though: it’s predictable, boring, monochrome. People in general are easy to read and easier to play. Other than messing with people, he has no real hobbies or interests. He has nothing he’s serious or passionate about, and that of course means he has no goals or ambitions. He’s just been drifting from day to day, doing the same things and getting the same results.

Now, though. Now, he has purpose. He has this fascinating game to play and rewards to earn. Reasons to get up out of bed in the morning. Things just got interesting, and he’s hoping they’ll stay that way. At least up until he completes the game.

Humming happily, he goes over the rewards again. Aside from unlocking side missions and game settings, he earned 100 gold coins that can be exchanged for cash and one mysterious Point which has no corresponding explanation or indication of where it could be used. Perhaps the function hasn't been unlocked yet? Setting aside his curiosity (which is never an easy task), he accepts the rewards, and the system automatically exits that menu and opens up Missions.

{Main Missions:

• Meet the Heroine✓
• Meet the Capture Targets☆

Side Missions (Optional):

• Speak to Mia Starrow
• Speak to Sylvie Crawford
• Eat lunch with one of the Capture Targets. Time limit: 2 day(s)}

The main missions are easy enough; what he’s interested in are the side missions. Looks like the system wants him to interact with all the main characters outside of its established plot. He hadn’t had any expectations either way, but he can’t help but find it intriguing. Normally in these types of games, the “player” sticks to one route and only interacts with the characters involved in that route.

For example, of the main characters, his route (the only one he bothered to find more than cursory information about) only involves him, Hazel, Cecil, and Mia Starrow.

Mia Starrow is the token Rival character to Hazel’s Heroine in both his and Cecil’s routes, which he’d found mildly entertaining. Depending on which of them the player pursues, Mia, having crushes on both of them, will finally choose one to fight Hazel for, and she accounts for four endings between the two of them. Two “good” endings where Cecil or Theo end up with Hazel and two “bad” endings with Mia.

He’d already known about Mia’s feelings. She’s in the Student Council, and since Cecil’s the president, Theo spends a lot of time in their clubroom. Mostly he just naps on one of the ridiculously comfortable couches or mooches off of the club’s provided drinks and snacks. Some of the actual members resent him being there, but quiet, serene Mia is one of the few who treats him warmly and even serves him tea just the way he likes it.

He teases her a lot because of it, which for him means copious amounts of flirting, so it was no surprise that she developed a crush on him as a result. He figured she’d go for Cecil in the end since they have a lot more in common, but he really did not expect that she’d be the rival character for both of them. 

Kind of lazy writing, don’t you think? Just make another rival, you useless creative team.

Ehh, regardless, there’s no way he’s following the script when it comes to his own relationships. More than boredom, he loathes feeling trapped or being forced to do something. His curiosity is winning out so far when it comes to these missions, as well as what little morality he has, but the moment he gets bored of it or begins to feel as though he has no choice… 

Well, it’s probably fair to say the system picked the wrong person for the job. Too late to change it now, though~!

With that cheerful thought, he returns to reality with the wave of a hand, resuming time and allowing Hazel to finish her introduction to the class.

“Please take care of me,” she ends it with a polite bow, and Garret directs her towards the empty desk near the front on the second row.

Her deskmate, Julia Glanister, greets her cheerfully, and Hazel returns the sentiment. Moving his eyes away from the cutesy scene, Theo yawns, propping his chin in his hand as Garret goes over morning announcements. Haa, he wants to go back to sleep.

-a burst of pain.

“Ow,” he moans, rubbing his head and blinking blearily up at his attacker. “Cecil, why?”

Short, white hair, frameless glasses, and narrowed green eyes. It’s definitely his best friend looming over him, annoyance in every line of his body. “How many times must I remind you that sleeping in class is prohibited?”

“I think it might sink in after about ten more times,” he replies, grinning. “Yo, done with student council duties already?”

Huffing, Cecil ignores his cheek and says, pointedly, “It has been over half an hour. Homeroom is already over, and the next class is about to start. Do try to stay awake this time.”

“So cold, Cec~” Theo accuses, knowing exactly how Cecil will react.

As expected, he blinks and then glances away, awkwardly explaining, “I’m just trying to instill proper behavior into you, so you may grow into a successful adult.” He pushes his glasses back up his nose and continues, “Although perhaps I’m going about it the wrong way? I read that a student council president must be a stern yet charismatic leader, guiding his fellow students with a firm hand and little tolerance for misbehavior.” More to himself than anything, he mutters, “Perhaps I should encourage good behavior rather than seeking out wrongdoers? It’s true that scolding and punishing problem students for their misdemeanors has had little to no effect. Hmm. This requires further analysis.”

Unable to help himself, Theo lets out a laugh, smiling as Cecil doesn’t even check up, continuing to make plan after plan in that ridiculously smart head of his. This is the reason they’re still friends after all these years. Even knowing what Cecil will say or do in response to things somehow never gets old.

Probably because the conclusions he comes to are always so damn weird. And he follows through with them.

Example:

Cecil lifts his head, zeroing in on Dean Griffin walking in through the classroom door, back from the bathroom. With his spiky silver hair, multiple piercings in both ears, carelessly disheveled uniform, and permanent scowl on his face, he’s likely the poster child for delinquents everywhere. It doesn’t help that he’s the heir to a Mafia Family - though no one is supposed to know that. Theo has the game to thank for that nugget of knowledge.

Cecil’s gotten on his case more than once about violating the dress code as well as other typical delinquent stuff, so it’s no surprise that Dean bristles like he’s getting ready for a fight when he spots Cecil heading straight for him.

It also comes as no surprise when he looks completely and utterly lost when Cecil, against all expectations (except Theo’s), doesn’t immediately start in on him. Instead, totally sincere, he says, “Excellent work remembering to wear your blazer today, Dean.”

“Wha-???” Dean says, flummoxed.

“I notice and appreciate your adherence to school rules. Keep up the good effort.” That said, Cecil pats him robotically on the shoulder twice, nods once, and then strides back over to Theo, apparently pleased with himself.

“What the hell???” Dean’s bewildered, disbelieving expression is glorious.

Snickering and not bothering to hide it, Theo tells Cecil, “I think you really gave him something to think about.” 

“I will need to conduct further tests to prove my hypothesis, but thank you.” It’s only for a moment, but Theo catches the corner of Cecil’s lips lifting up into half a smirk, and that sets him off again.

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