She’d pulled some strings at the academy ahead of time, pretended to fall ill to get out of appearing at social events, helped her father with his work to save up some money for emergencies, practiced binding her unnecessarily large breasts quickly, secretly constructed a wig out of her own hair…

Although she’d spent the twelve years since getting her memories back making all those preparations, she still could neither obtain a male academy uniform in an inconspicuous way, nor could she arrange for a false identity as a baron’s son.

For that, she’d roped in her younger brother, Gilbert, for help.

He hadn’t laughed at his sister for talking about her past life or games. Instead, he’d simply replied, “So what do you need me to do, then?”

For that, she couldn’t thank him enough. Despite his mouthy attitude, he truly did love his sister.

Pushing away from Cecilia’s grip, he cleared his throat and trained his face into a composed expression. “Anyway, isn’t today when Lean transfers into your class? Shouldn’t you get back to your classroom? You don’t want to show up late and attract attention.”

“Oh yeah. Yeah, you’re right. But soon…”

The instant she said that and met his gaze, however, an announcement came over the speakers installed throughout the school. It instructed that all students go to the auditorium for an urgent assembly.

For an academy that had such a strictly regimented schedule, it was exceedingly rare for a school-wide assembly to be called via announcement. Typically, they would have been given some sort of notice a day beforehand.

“Does that mean it’s started?”

“Yeah. Probably,” she answered, her face tight.

He patted her shoulder encouragingly. “Well, let’s go. No use hiding out.”

“True,” she replied.

They got up from the bench and exited the greenhouse.

Someone was watching them from behind.

“Hee-hee-hee. I found Gilbert,” said the person in a cutesy voice, her intense gaze glued to the two of them as they walked away.

With her pale lips curved upward in glee, she clutched a thick notebook and pen in her hands.

“Ah, at last, this day has come. I’ve been waiting so, so long for this,” she babbled with rapturous delight, hugging herself. Her cheeks glowed pink, and her eyes glistened with tears, probably from excitement more than anything else.

She had slightly wavy pink hair and long eyelashes framing big, ruby eyes. Though she wore no lipstick, her small lips boasted a natural tinge of red, and her dainty physique stoked a natural desire in men to protect her.

Her name was Lean Rhazaloa, daughter of a baron.

The heroine of Holy Maiden of Vleugel Academy 3.

***

“You have all been brought here today for no other purpose than the selection of a new Holy Maiden. The Sphere of Stars chooses the candidates for both the knights and the next Holy Maiden simultaneously…”

From the auditorium stage, a religious clergyman of some sort, dispatched by the crown, droned on and on. Accompanied by sweeping gesticulations, his speech dragged on for so long that the students were stifling yawns.

In fact, the prologue to this game is so excessive in length that Cecilia’s past identity, Hiyono, had saved the game right before the first chapter so she could start from that point for every subsequent playthrough. She’d only ever gotten all the way through the prologue once.

But why is it so long in the first place? And this guy goes on forever, too, but I feel like there’s some sort of other reason for it…

As she pondered the situation, the man continued to blather away.

To sum up his long-winded, roundabout address: The Sphere of Stars had heralded the appearance of the potential Holy Maidens, so the Selection Ceremony for the title would commence.

There were three candidates, and the divine revelation indicated that all were academy students.

Accordingly, the Selection Ceremony would take place at Vleugel Academy.

Additionally, the seven knights who would protect the Holy Maiden would now be chosen.

That was all.

Incidentally, the Holy Maiden needed this Sphere of Stars to receive oracles, and the seven knights were the game’s love interests.

Chosen by Sacred Artifacts, the seven knights would pick the most fitting Holy Maiden and gift her their Artifact over the course of the year. The candidate with the greatest number of Artifacts would become the next Holy Maiden.

Hence, the year leading up to the appointment of the new Holy Maiden was known as the Selection Ceremony.

The Selection Ceremony is essentially an election, thought Cecilia, gazing up at the man who was still prattling on from the stage.

By design, the Selection Ceremony required the potential Holy Maidens to win the affections of the knights and at least one more Sacred Artifact than their opponents. Then the Holy Maiden Elect would bestow upon one of the knights who had bequeathed her his Sacred Artifact the title of Holy Knight, which granted him the right to remain by the Holy Maiden’s side forever after. That is to say, he assumed the role of her boyfriend.

If I don’t come forward as a potential Holy Maiden, the Sacred Artifacts will go to Lean by default, and then I’ll be free! At the very least, even if Lean doesn’t get a single one, I’ll have zero anyway, so it won’t matter to me!

The knights have the right to give their candidate their Sacred Artifact, but they also have the right to keep it. If they don’t think anyone would be a fitting Holy Maiden, they don’t have to hand their Artifact over.

In the event that things end in a tie because no one gives away their Artifacts, the game is set up so that Lean’s protagonist status and privilege make her the next Holy Maiden anyway. Regardless, Cecilia would die the same as always in this scenario, but only if she were still a candidate for Holy Maiden. As Cecil, a powerless background character, she should be able to avoid that terrible fate.

If I can make it past this, I’ll be safe! All I have to do is keep quiet and support Lean’s love life!

While Cecilia was engaging in simplistic daydreams, another man came up behind the clergyman. A white cloth covered both his hands, upon which sat seven glittering silver bracelets. These were the Sacred Artifacts. The seven men they chose were—

The crown prince: Oscar Abel Prosper

Cecilia’s younger adoptive brother: Gilbert Sylvie

The young entrepreneur: Jade Benjamin

The mysterious doctor: Mordred Nelson

Oscar’s good friend: Dante Hampton

Similar but not identical twins: Eins Machias and Zwei Machias

Within these bracelets dwell spirits that served the gods, and according to legend, the knights are chosen based on their affinities with those spirits. The Artifacts are the manifestations of each knight’s talents.

When a knight takes off his Sacred Artifact and slides it onto the wrist of his chosen Holy Maiden, that counts as a vote for her. A single candidate can wear up to seven.

When the man lifted the cloth up to the heavens, the bracelets gave off a faint shimmer. The knights would now be chosen.

Just as the Artifacts rose into the air and scattered in seven directions…

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!”

…a piercing scream echoed throughout the auditorium.

Cecilia turned around to see a male student pinning a girl to the floor. He was strangling the life out of her astride her prone form. As his fingers pressed deeply against her carotid artery, she writhed in pain.

“Oh no, it’s an—”

Cecilia sucked in a breath at the sight of the black miasma emanating from the boy.

Holy Maiden of Vleugel Academy 3 contains RPG battle elements not usually found in dating sims. The characters all have levels.

The enemies are called Obstructions, a sort of monster that clings to the negative emotions of humans and animals. The Obstructions themselves are not all that strong, but they can cause harm to people by boosting their hosts’ abilities and throwing their emotions into disarray. These monsters lurk all throughout the country, and under normal circumstances, the Holy Maiden is responsible for vanquishing them. But with the current Holy Maiden’s powers weakening, they start to pop up all over. These events are part of the game’s backstory.

And the number one sign that an Obstruction had possessed someone or something was black miasma rising from their body.

This boy was undoubtedly under the control of an Obstruction.

“Ah, aaah, ahhh…,” moaned the girl, starting to convulse.

“If someone doesn’t do something, she’s going to—,” muttered Cecilia, looking around to see if anyone was going to help, but the boy’s transformation had left them frozen in place.

True, anyone would be petrified to suddenly behold this sight. If she didn’t have memories from her past life, Cecilia would have been the same way. But since she did have them, she could process the situation immediately.

Cecilia was the only person capable of acting under these circumstances. She knew that an Obstruction had possessed the student.

Breaking into a run, she hurled herself against him. The momentum sent her rolling into a wall, slamming against it and knocking all the air out of her lungs. Tears pricked her eyes.

The boy she’d rammed into had fallen but then staggered to his feet and stared down at her with unfocused eyes.

Oh, crap! Is this what they look like in real life?! This is straight-up terrifying!

Controlling a character from the game screen, as it turns out, was nothing like actually going up against an enemy in person. She managed stand back up, but her legs were still unsteady as her opponent glared at her.

I—I think the way to win is…

Memories of her past life flashed through her mind.

Defeating it with a Sacred Artifact? …Oh, a potential Holy Maiden or knight needs to touch the mark that’s somewhere on the Obstruction!

Then the boy launched himself at Cecilia. As she narrowly dodged him, she watched him carefully.

Now all the effort she’d put in to get fit and strong over the last twelve years—anticipating that something like this might happen—was paying off. And, well, that was why her brother had denounced her as rough and wild, but hey, since her training was coming in handy, that didn’t matter now.

Shaking off the boy’s grasp, she aimed a kick at his solar plexus. But instead of losing consciousness, the crazed student only grabbed the leg she’d shot at his belly.

“Legendary Hans Kick!”

While shouting an unspeakably lame attack name, Cecilia twisted her leg in his grasp and kicked up at the side of his head. Despite its awful title, the technique was effective, and the boy slid back down to the floor.

She’d found her groove, and her legs were no longer wobbling.

“There it is!” she cried, catching sight of a black mark that resembled ivy on the student’s left wrist and leaping at him, heedless of potential injury to herself. It was obvious that things would only get worse if the fight dragged on. The Obstruction provided him with an inexhaustible supply of strength.

Though he was thrashing around violently, he calmed down the instant Cecilia touched his wrist. As the black mist hissed out of him, he went limp and crumpled to the ground.

Cecilia fell on top of him.

“Sis— Uh, Cecil! Are you okay?!” shouted Gilbert. The first to come running up to her was indeed her precious little brother. As he helped her up, she screwed her face up into a grimace. “M-man, that was sooooo scary…”

“Then why did you throw yourself into the fray like that?”

“I mean, the person he was attacking was in danger. My body just moved on its own…”

“Still…”

Only then did she realize that it was dead quiet. Looking around, she saw that all eyes were on her. The boy, Cecilia, and Gilbert, who had come to help her up, were the only ones in the middle of a circle of people.

Scanning the crowd once more, she noticed Lean in the front. She was frozen stiff and staring at Cecilia.

Oh no… This can’t be…

The second it hit her, a cold shiver ran up her spine.