I was Reincarnated as the Villainess's Older Brother, but it seems My Sister is Obsessed With Me. And for Some Reason, the Male Love Interests are also Doting On Me.(BL) - Chapter 25

It had been two weeks since then.

“Has anything unusual happened lately, Stefan?”

“Something unusual, huh… I heard a new café opened in the capital. Supposedly, they draw cute little cat pictures on the coffee. Want to check it out together?”

“Sounds good.”

It was ridiculously peaceful—so much so that all the excitement we had felt on Fiona’s first day of enrollment now seemed laughable.

In fact, both Cristel and Stefan had joined the student council. Their top grades and high social standing meant they were accepted automatically.

Because of that, I’d been spending a lot of time with the three main love interests… yet nothing had happened.

Even when I tried to subtly probe around, thinking there might be something going on behind the scenes, I never got the kind of answers I was hoping for.

“Hey, Clive. This tea’s way too hot.”

“Understood, Master Allen.”

Crack!

Allen, acting like a nagging old mother-in-law, kept complaining about everything, so I went ahead and froze his coffee.

“Are you stupid? Now I can’t drink it.”

“You said it was too hot, Master Allen.”

“Have some moderation.”

“Brother, you’re overworking Arclight. Here—this should do.”

Cristel stepped in to defend me and reheated the coffee with a casual flick of fire magic. This kind of back-and-forth had basically become the student council’s daily routine.

“Arclight, Miss Ireina has summoned us class reps. Let’s head to the staff room.”

“Understood. Pardon me, Master Allen.”

“Tch. Traitor…”

Allen muttered something under his breath, but I ignored it and stepped out of the student council room.

By the way, when Cristel found out that I had stopped calling Allen “Your Highness”…

“That’s not fair, Brother!”

“It’s none of your concern. He’s Fiona’s fiancé, which makes him my brother-in-law too.”

“Then as his classmate and friend, I should be allowed to drop the honorifics too!”

“No… that’s not really appropriate.”

“It’s an order.”

And so, I got dragged into one of their ridiculous sibling squabbles. Thanks to that, Cristel doesn’t even use polite speech with me anymore. He still insists on calling me by my surname though, which I don’t really get.

Anyway… back to the matter at hand.

“I wonder what Miss Ireina wants.”

Honestly, I wouldn’t mind if she called me out every day. Maybe we could even have some one-on-one special tutoring sessions…

“Why are you grinning like that? It’s probably about next month’s outdoor activities… Arclight, wait here for a second.”

“What is it?”

Cristel had spotted something and started walking in the opposite direction of the staff room. Curious, I followed after him.

“You alright?”

“Ah—y-yes! I was taking these to the staff room but dropped them… I’ll clean it up right away!”

The person Cristel had approached was Alice.

“Let me help. Two people will get it done faster.”

Flashing a bright, confident smile, Cristel looked effortlessly cool. There were probably a ton of girls who’d kill to have a CG of that moment.

“N-no really, I can manage!”

“No need to be so shy.”

Despite Alice’s firm refusals, Cristel began picking up the scattered papers, slightly forceful in his kindness. Watching it from the side, the whole thing felt just a bit awkward.

But realistically, there’s a huge gap between a prince and a baron’s daughter. Having a prince kneel to pick up papers for her would be utterly unthinkable. In the real world, her refusal probably made more sense.

I just stood there and watched. After all, interfering in a romantic event with a main target would be crude.

I’m the villain in Allen’s route. As for the others, I’ve decided to stay out of it.

“Thank you so much.”

“It’s nothing, really. I believe we’ve met before, haven’t we? May I ask your name? I’m Cristel Francène.”

“I’m aware. My name is Alice—Alice Welton.”

Cristel introduced himself with his usual poise, and Alice offered a graceful curtsy.

“Alice, is it? That’s a lovely name.”

“Thank you very much.”

“Well then, see you around.”

“Please excuse me.”

Cristel and Alice parted ways and began walking again.

But since they left at the same time, it looked like they were walking side by side, almost like a couple. Their destination was the same—the staff room—so it wrapped up the scene rather nicely. And yet, a faint awkwardness lingered between them.

…Maybe he’s just naturally dense.

“Ah, Cristel-kun! Over here!”

It was Miss Ireina who broke the awkward atmosphere.

Nice timing, Miss Ireina!

“Clive-kun, I’ve been waiting for you too.”

As if nothing had happened, Alice gave Miss Ireina a polite nod and walked into the staff room.

Cristel and I followed Miss Ireina into the consultation room and sat down across from her.

“The reason I called you both today is to talk about the upcoming outdoor activity.”

“I figured as much.”

The annual outdoor activity.

By experiencing a semi-self-sufficient lifestyle, students are encouraged to develop the ability to think and make decisions on their own, while also building camaraderie by cooperating with their peers. In other words, it’s a survival camp.

“Normally, each grade does it separately, but this year we decided to hold it as a joint event for all three years.”

Classic otome game logic. A convenient setup to trigger events with love interests.

“Of course, if the whole school gathered in one place, it’d be chaos. So each class will still have its own location. To keep things organized and make it easier to track everyone, we’re planning to divide students into smaller groups.”

I offered a suggestion.

“I think drawing lots for group assignments would work well.”

This is an otome game, after all. Even if I don’t do anything, fate tends to arrange things conveniently.

“Yes, I was thinking the same. I feel bad asking this, but since it’s the first time we’re trying this setup, I’d really appreciate your help with the preparations.”

“Of course. I’d be glad to help.”

“Understood.”