The Return #2

"I forgot to tell him about his… infamous reputation." Ellis sighed, almost embarrassed by her eight club member's reactions, except Lindsey.

"Everyone, this is Arthur Haile, the boy you may have heard about." she said, motioning to Arthur, "And Arthur, this is Lindsey– you met earlier– Christine and Christina, my investigative Journalists, they are in charge of gathering information and creating headlines and articles; Lora, Amy, and Zoe are the Artistic Journalists in charge of drawing images for said articles; and Polley and Wendy are the editors. I am the sole publisher."

Arthur nodded politely with a smile, before slightly bowing respectfully at the girls. "Hello everyone, I am Arthur– you may have known that already.– and am pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Okay… nice to meet you too…" they said, except Lindsey.

"You may be confused about why they're very hesitant about you," Lindsey said, "They've only heard bad rumors about you."

Arthur raised an eyebrow before shrugging. "That's probably the case. Historically speaking, word of mouth is usually distorted and twisted– hence many of the crusades. It is what it is."

Lindsey thought about it for a second before nodding. "That's true. Would you like some tea?"

Arthur smiled as he refused, "I'm more of a coffee guy. Thanks for offering though."

"We have that too, how would you like it made?"

"Just as is, I like it black."

"Ahem!" Ellis coughed, to get his attention, "I will fetch the stored copies of previous issues, come, follow me."

Arthru nodded at Ellis, before nodding at the seven girls still eyeing him with wariness. "Ladies," he excused himself and followed Ellis to the large safe on one side of the room.

"We have a special four-key system that prevents any successful attempts of lock-picking." She took a ring of four keys from her bag and pushed them into their keyholes, before turning them quickly one after the other. "Four keys are needed to be used subsequently one after the other."

"Neat," Arthur nodded, acknowledging the craftsmanship. The safe door is opened to reveal thirteen Newspaper Issues with each of its pages laminated with a film and bound like a binder, so it could be read like a book.

Ellis reached down and took them before passing them to Arthur. "We have a small table on the balcony, you can read there, away from their stares." She sighed.

Arthur smiles, nodding at her thoughtfulness. "Will do, concentration is great since I have plenty to catch up on."

"Yes, and don't forget–"

"Ice Cream! I know." He chuckled, receiving thirteen laminated issues of the school newspaper.

Arthur exited the room and sure enough, there was a small table on the balcony with space for the newspapers and coffee. Arthur set the newspaper booklets in numerical order and began reading the very first issue.

Arthur takes the first booklet and reads the small card attached to the cover of the booklet. "The first issue of [ St. Clover Times ] was produced by the [ Journalist Club ] and sold a hundred copies for twenty Sterling– Twenty?! That's ten times what newspaper companies charge!"

"So expensive, haha," Arthur smiled at the thought, "Now, let's see what I missed…[ The First Ever Arrest and Suspension of a New School year Explained: The story of the newly-awakened First-Year, Arthur Hail of Class 1-A's suspension. ]... that's embarrassing, in a way."

"A Second-Year student, who will remain anonymous, assaulted Arthur after a heated argument in the [ Firearm Shooting Club ]-- according to the club president. Arthur supposedly threw away the firearm in his hand, before he engaged the second year." Arthur read, "Magic was only used after the second-year displayed hostile intention of inflicting bodily harm. Arthur won the unsanctioned duel, only after inflicting heavy burns and what could be described as a bullet wound to the second year. He was promptly arrested and suspended for one month."

"Not bad," Arthur nodded. "They got the whole story in order without missing any important details." He thought, before reading further. "Unilaterally agreed upon by many, his suspension was unjust as he was defending himself in an unsanctioned duel; however, the wounds he inflicted in self-defense were far too cruel— What bullshit! There's no mercy in a fight! That's so unfair!-- according to the official statement by the School Board. "

Now uninterested, Arthur skimmed through the rest of the first newspapers for any important information that he might have missed. "The second issue sold two hundred copies– The third sold four hundred copies– the fourth sold eight hundred copies– Scandal of Keisha Bellwood and her three lovers, damn!— The cheating incident of Class 3-F—" Arthur lazily read, going through multiple cups of coffee.

Arthur skimmed through the scandals, incidents, accidents, and exposed romances and sighed heavily, drinking the last of his seventh cup of coffee. "It's getting repetitive at this point, sigh, except this poll thought, the anonymous submission poll."

"Anonymous submission #3: Second years have been frequenting this secluded alley," He read, a drawn image of the alley with vegetation,"--I stumbled across it as I was playing hide-and-go-seek with my friends in the tree– I saw as a group of four second-years drag two people into the alley and only four left. I paid it no mind, except when two heavily injured first-years slowly exited the alley, groggily and bloodied before collapsing. I reported it to the nurse's office."

"Whoa, that's dark," Arthur hummed, "I recognized the two boys as the friends of…" Arthur trailed off, seeing his own name, "Arthur Haile."

Arthur jumped from his seat, and reached for the next issue, ignoring the first pages, and searched for the anonymous poll. "Anonymous Submission #4 (continuation of the previous poll by the publishers): The 2nd-1st Scandal has been denied by the second years, stating that none of them except the injured were outside of their respective building or facilities, and the previously submitted statement is false due to the lack of evidence"

"Motherfuckers," Arthur frowned, his hands cracking the table with his strength, "Someone has a grudge…"

"Arthur?" Lindsey calls, peeking her head through the small window, "Do you want more coffee?"

Arthur inhaled and exhaled silently, hiding his anger. He turned to Lindsey with a soft smile. "I'm good, too much coffee is bad for my health."

Lindsey raised an eyebrow. "You say that as if you did not just drink a whole pot of coffee." She joked, shaking her head, "Alright, sorry to bother you."

"You weren't a bother, don't worry about it."
"A-Okay then! Bye-Bye!"

Arthur turned back to the table and procured the next issue, to see if there was more information to learn about the school and the 2nd-1st Scandal; unfortunately, there was none except more scandals and boring articles.

"Nothing important," Arthur sighed, closing the last issue, still keeping his anger at bay. "Nothing with relevance to the story, except filler articles about people and their arguments."

"Did you shed some light on the time you had missed?"

Arthur turned to Ellis, who was leaning against the doorframe, with her arms crossed. "Yeah, plenty," he replied, carrying the newspaper issues to Ellis as they entered the room which was now empty, with Ellis and Arthur the only ones there. "Where is everybody?"

"They either retreated to their dorms or to their estates."

"I see, how about you?"

"I was patiently waiting for you. Francis must be in the parking lot right now."

Ellis and Arthur returned the papers to the safe, locking them securely before leaving the room. Walking down the same flight of hallways, they retrace their steps to the lobby. As their feet touched the fancy, expensive carpet, three important figures took notice of their presence; two of royal blood and another of noble blood,

"Ah! Ellis!" Prince Albert smiles, welcoming them brightly.

Ellis smiled politely, holding the hem of her skirt and bowing elegantly as a noble lady would. "I am pleased to see you too, your highness."

Arthur squinted slightly, the prince's background effects shone brightly, warm and welcoming– just like the game. "I thought it was just the game's design, god, my eyes hurt."

"Princess Ellis, It is a pleasure to see you today." Theodore bowed professionally, with his hand on his heart.

Ellis turned and greeted him too with the same politeness. "I can say the same, Sir Theodore."

Arthur and Ellis turn to the third member of the group, which was Evangeline, who nervously fidgeted under her gaze.

"H-Hello…" She whimpered.

"Good evening," Ellis replied blandly, her response lacking any sort of feeling or hostility.

The group turned to Arthur, who just raised his hand in a very small, unenergetic wave. "Hello," he greeted.

Prince Albert smiled at Arthur, "Arthur, right?" he asked, "I heard about your suspension. How are you adjusting back to ?"

"So-so," Arthur shrugged, "Glad to know the place hadn't blown up since I left. Education is very important."

"Oh heavens no, haha!" Prince Albert smiled happily, "The academy is in safe hands because education is very important."

"Amen to that."

Despite the carefree exchange between the two of drastically different origins, they were extremely comfortable in each other's presence.

"How uncouth," Teodore scoffed, "You dare speak to the prince like that, you uncivilized wretch."

"Ha!" Arthur chuckled, even a small laugh escaped his lips, "I didn't hear any complaints on how I spoke– why bother?"

Theodore fixed his glasses with one hand, his eyes brimming with derogatory insults. "Decorum, that is why you should bother"

Memories of the game flashed before Arthur's eyes, hours, nights, days, months, and even twenty years he dealt with Theodore's crap for half of his life, practically being immune to his carefully, handcrafted, well-thought verbal traps.

"Ah, the guy's voice reminds me of the time I lost my shit on stream, saying: 'I'd rather willingly drag my balls dragged through broken glass than listen to Theodore's voice'-- good times." Arthur reminisced. "Then accept my sincere apologies."

"Theodore Miller, the heir of an ambassador, politician, and one of the Empress's cabinet. As the only child of a single parent, he develops one hell of an inferiority complex toward his father and a god complex toward everyone except the royal guard. If one were to pursue him as a love interest in the game, they would have to tear down his complexes, and only then will he be truly free. It's a pity, really, but that's how he was designed."

It was slight, but Theodore's eyes squinted and his nose scrunched up for a moment– his political poker face, shattering from the belligerent sarcasm ingrained into the essence of Arthur's remark.

"You dare–"

"That's enough!" Ellis interjected, "Unfortunately, Arthur and I have important matters to attend to. We still have much to discuss the finances of the [ Journalism Club ]."

Prince Albert blinked, his smile growing wider. "Oh, of course, Ellis," he said, "Please carry on, I await tomorrow's issue."

Ellis smiled at her fiance, a stark contrast to her usual cold, soul-piercing gaze. "Of course, your highness. Only until the paper has been perfected will it be published."

With that, Ellis began to walk toward the exit, and Albert and his group walked in the opposite direction. Arthur looked back to see Theodore glaring at him with ill intent. "Wow, who pissed in his tea? He needs a raise." he thought, giving a rude, single-finger gesture.

"Arthur Haile… this is only the beginning of your end. I will personally enjoy crushing you." Theodore thought.

"I just remembered an important detail— fuck. Arthur sighed, closing his eyes as he looked up to the sky. "Ellis is not the only villainess in the game. When you pass a certain point– I believe that it was 5% or something — the love interest's fiance will become your enemy. "

Arthur stretched his arms and folded them over his head. "So with that Idea, if Evangeline will pursue Prince Albert– then Ellis will be her enemy. This applies to the rest of the royal guard" He thought, reminiscing the time and agony he had spent in his previous life juggling five villainesses. "I wouldn't wish that fate even to Hitler."