Chapter 2: A Plan?

Chapter 2: A Plan?

I gradually made sense of my surroundings. There was lush grass all around us, filled with various flowers and weeds. It was nothing like what you would see in the city, making me realize that I was not near my home.

Then I looked to my left, and an awfully familiar-looking school was there. No, it was not a school 'I' have ever been to personally, but rather one I had seen in a game.

But that was not enough to confirm the suspicion at the back of my head. Or rather, it was something else that confirmed it.

Across from me was Natan, the protagonist of, "Downfall From Grace". Behind him were two girls, though one was standing a little far from him, showing that one of them was not too familiar with them. One of them was Minori, who was just behind Natan, and the other was some girl called Ela. She had blond hair and blue eyes. Neither Nathan nor I cared about her, and while we wouldn't say it to anybody else when it was just the two of us we called her basic.

If that wasn't enough, there were two people next to me. I forgot their names, but I would remember their ugly faces anywhere. They were the two people that followed behind Bryson all the time, acting like thugs. One of them looked rather strange with a mohawk and orange hair, while the other was bald and chubby, looking like a baby.

...I always called them Carrot Top and Baby Man.

Though, not even those things were what convinced me the most, that I had reincarnated into this game.

Rather, it was the look that the hero, Natan, was giving me. It was far too familiar. Despite being a different face, I could tell immediately that I was looking at Nathan. Similarly, he too seemed to realize something about me.

While the both of us were processing our situation, Carrot Top angrily pointed a finger at Natan with an antagonizing frown.

"Oy! How dare you talk to the almighty Bryson like that! Do you even know what he could do to a filthy commoner like you?"

Baby Man crossed his arms and quickly nodded to show his agreement with Carrot Top.

"Yeah! For someone like you, your entire life could be easily ruined in just an instant! Do you really think just because you got admitted to the prestigious Golden Gold School your status is any different now?"

Ela narrowed her eyes. She took a step back, showing that she didn't wish to be a part of this conflict. However, she still mumbled a few words that I was just barely able to hear.

"He's a son of a duke, in other words, a prince. You should avoid confrontation as much as possible."

Minori nervously grabbed onto the side of Natan's arm.

"Natan, let's just leave. We shouldn't get into any fights."

It was at this point that both Natan and I calmed ourselves down somewhat. My biggest urge was to just freak the absolute fuck out. I mean, one of those reasons was the whole reincarnation thing, but the other was because I could see Minori, but as a real person!

My eyes unconsciously drifted toward her, which made her flinch in fear. She cowered behind Natan, which made my heart hurt terribly.

I'm... not that ugly, right?

Wait, no. I should be focused on what matters, which is making sense of things. It's only then will Minori be saved from this shitty dating game. I cleared my throat and looked at Natan.

"Hey, Na... uh, you. Come with me."

Baby Man smirked as though he was the one with the power.

"Haha, you're in for it now!"

Carrot Top struck an exaggerated pose that I can't even bring myself to describe.

"You should've just kept your mouth shut, peasant!"

Minori's grip on Natan's sleeve tightened considerably. It would've messed up his clothes if it weren't for the fact that he was basically wearing rags, with small holes all over. The corner of Natan's mouth twitched when that happened.

Although I saw it as something endearing, that didn't seem to be the same for Natan. He let out an awkward cough.

"Um, don't worry about me."

Ela let out a soft sigh before walking away, disengaging from the situation. On the other hand, Minori shook her head. After a sudden burst of courage, she suddenly got in front of Natan and held her arms out.

"D-Don't hurt Natan!"

It would've been a heroic display if it wasn't for the fact she had not only averted her gaze but also had her eyes tightly shut. To top it off, her entire body was trembling.

Both me and Natan seemed to be quite surprised. That was because Minori hadn't really done anything like this in the dating game before, except for a really specific route which also happened to be my favorite one.

Both Baby Man and Carrot Top both got set off when she did something like that.

"Eh? You think you're better than Bryson?"

"What's a girl like you supposed to do, huh?"

My eyelid twitched when I heard that. I also coughed awkwardly, wondering how I can stay somewhat in character while getting out of this strange situation.

"...Stop with all this nonsense. I am meeting with him privately."

Both Baby Man and Carrot Top got more confident and stepped up aggressively.

"Yeah, missy! Get out of the way."

"You won't be so pretty after my fist hits your face a few times!" n-)OveLBIn

I felt like these two were getting the wrong idea, so I lowered my voice a few octaves.

"Privately also means that you two won't be coming along."

Both Carrot Top and Baby Man suddenly froze up. They visibly looked confused, wondering if they had done anything wrong. However, they were quick to defuse as best they could.

"Ahaha, yes, of course."

"Naturally! That only makes sense."

Even Minori looked a little stunned. She took a peek at Bryson but turned away quickly after. While they were confused, Natan casually walked on forth, pretending that he was just moving without purpose.

From there, both Natan and I slowly slinked away, and by the time the other three realized, we were gone.

There was a wide expanse of nature around the place, so we decided to go to the back of the school to talk to have a chat, which felt secluded enough.

Once the two of us got there, we just stared at each other for a second or two. I pointed a finger at him and spoke.

"Nathan?"

He responded in kind.

"Brian?"

The two of us broke out into smiles soon after. Nathan immediately let out a huge sigh, like he was letting go of everything he had been holding in.

"Holy crap man, is this a dream or something? What the fuck is going on?"

I shrugged my shoulders before crossing my arms.

"To be honest, the first thing I thought of was that we might be in a coma or something and this is all some sort of dream."

A bitter smile formed on my face.

"But... with the injuries we got from that truck, I'm pretty sure that's impossible. But at the same time, transmigrating into another world also kinda feels impossible."

Nathan scratched the back of his head.

"What kind of luck is it to reincarnate into this shitty dating game of all things?"

I clicked my tongue and raised a finger with a smirk.

"Come on. Considering we both thought that nothing was going to be left for us after we died, this is pretty good. It's a second chance in its own way."

Nathan smiled lethargically.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But still, it feels kinda lame knowing that all of the routes end up with something really crappy happening. In almost all of them, the kingdom is basically destroyed. But more importantly, why do you get to be Jess's younger brother?"

My face twitched.

"Hey, you're talking a lot for someone that's Minori's childhood friend! Though... at the end of the day, we're still in the same shitty dating game as them."

Nathan let out a sigh and nodded.

"Yeah, at least there's that."

We both referred to it as a shitty dating game, but we had also both played every single route that it had to offer. It was a tragedy no matter what, so regardless of the ending we would reach, the only difference was whether it felt really terrible, or just terrible.

I don't recall either of us particularly liking tragedy in the first place, but for some reason, we both liked the story a lot. It wasn't because we were friends and one that didn't like it forced themselves to.

In fact, when we both excitedly tried out the game for the first time, we both talked about it lukewarmly to each other. But eventually, we found by some strange coincidence we both really liked it, though it seemed to be for different reasons. But mine is much better because Minori isn't all slutty like Jess.

As Nathan said, all routes in this game led to some sort of tragedy. Normally, everyone dying and the kingdom getting destroyed was considered a 'bad' end which happens when you make a glaring mistake in your route. However, that very ending is considered a true canonical ending in some of the routes for this game.

Regardless of the route, there are always at least a few people that end up dead. The worst part was that it was usually the girl you were pursuing as well.

The best ending is also the worst, where you barely save the kingdom ignoring the many tragedies along the way. Assuming you make the perfect choices in really obscure places, all of the members of the main cast survive, but the relationships between them all are distant.

I took a deep breath and hardened my expression with all that information.

"...All of the endings are normally bad, but it's different this time."

My eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"Now we don't have to follow the game's decisions. Instead, we can make our own."

Nathan let out a soft sigh. He smiled bitterly and gave me a strange look.

"Yes, but don't you remember how willy-nilly this game is? Whether or not you decide to take a nap or look out the window is enough to get a whole damn group of people killed! Sure, we can go off script, but this shitty game is way too volatile."

He was right. The game really was way too volatile with seemingly meaningless choices. There were times before when I would complain about choices in games not mattering, but after experiencing this one I now pray that none of my choices matter and I just get to the good ending.

I used to think it was stupid that those kinds of games would have a save menu with hundreds of different save slots too.

But for this game, it just wasn't enough.

It definitely made me feel quite a bit of fear getting put into a world like this, but I shook those thoughts away.

"This shitty game is way too unpredictable, but things are different now. Think about it, I'm now in control of the main villain. In other words, the biggest challenge is basically already dealt with."

Hearing that, Nathan's eyes lit up. He rubbed his chin with great interest.

"...You're right. Though, while you may have been the greatest challenge, there are still way too many to deal with."

I chuckled confidently and raised an eyebrow.

"But now the greatest challenge is your greatest ally!"

Nathan blinked a few times, staring back at me blankly.

"But wasn't like, the biggest thing about the villain, his intelligence instead of his fighting capability?"

I blinked a few times, not getting what he was saying. Nathan awkwardly cleared his throat and continued.

"Um... you inherited the body of the guy, but did you inherit his intelligence?"

My expression froze. Ah, right. Just because I took over the body of Bryson didn't mean I suddenly gained his genius way of thinking.

...Wait a minute.

"Do you have the memories of the body you took control of?"

Nathan frowned before slowly shaking his head.

"No... you?"

I too slowly shook my head.

"Fuck, how the hell are we supposed to get back home?"