Title: The Sixth Route

Summary: On the path to the True Harem ending, Olivia notices a mob.

As I walked down the hall towards Brad's tea party, I heard raucous laughter and the scraping of chairs. Instinctively, I moved back to hide behind a corner. While my experience in the Academy had been more or less pleasant thanks to Julius's and his friends' help, I was still wary of being caught alone.

As I waited with bated breath, I saw a small gaggle of women exit a room I had nearly passed by. It looked like they had had a fun time. Given the timing, they had likely just left a tea party.

Odd, the rooms here weren't large. How did one boy entertain so many? It was unlikely to be a banquet like the one that Brad had set up. That meant it was supposed to be one of the more intimate one-to-one parties meant for courtship.

Out of curiosity, I decided to take a small peek into the room. What graced my eyes was a boy cleaning up a rather messy table. He looked rather upset based on his posture.

Ah. The amusement of the girls' gleeful laughter must not have come from his service so much at his expense.

A feeling of sympathy rose in me.

"Olivia?" the boy asked in surprise.

"Huh?" Since when did I enter the room?

"May I help you? If you are looking for Field's tea party, he should be holding it outside," he said dismissively as he returned his attention to cleaning up.

"How did you know I was heading to Brad's tea party?"

"You are holding his invitation."

"Ah, right... Wait, you know who I am?" I asked when I remembered he had addressed me by name.

"Scholarship student getting close to one of the founding heirs. People talk."

I nervously laughed as I got the distinct impression he didn't like me. He would not have been the first. Deciding not to test his patience, I awkwardly bid him farewell before turning to leave the room.

"... you should go through the back entrance of the garden if you want to go to Field's tea party."

"Huh?"

"Foot traffic should be lighter. Less likely for there to be girls to harass you."

I blinked in surprise and simply stammered, "Thank you," before leaving.

In the dungeon's atrium, everyone was excitedly talking about the upcoming experience. Well... it was more like everyone was gossiping about how Julius had pushed away his fiancée. I felt bad for Angelica since I'm sure she was just looking out for Julius.

Looking for Angelica so that I may apologize to her, I saw she was conversing with the boy from before. He seemed to have a disinterested/uncomfortable look, but he nodded along with what Angelica was saying.

"Hey, Olivia. Are you still worried about Angelica?" Greg asked me when he had noticed I was staring.

"Sort of. I wanted to apologize to her. I'm sure she was just looking forward to spending the day with Julius."

"Bah. Don't bother. She's far too prideful. She's far more likely to take such an apology as an insult."

"If you say so..." I said hesitantly. It seemed rude to me, but I could believe that a noble would take an earnest apology as pity or worse.

"Something else bothering you?" Greg asked as he noticed my eyes were still lingering on the group.

"Just curious."

"About what?"

"Who's that boy that Angelica is talking to?"

"Him? Don't know. Why do you want to know?" Greg said dismissively.

"He gave me some advice earlier in the year. It saved me some trouble, and... why is he walking in alone?!"

"No, look again. Angelica's group is following behind at a distance. Feh, she's probably just one of those nobles coasting on someone else's work," Greg said in disgust.

"Shouldn't we stop the boy?"

"Nah. If he's confident enough to walk in alone, he probably knows what he is doing. Though now I'm curious as to who he is. For Angelica to rely on his skills... well he can't be some random nobody. Actually... isn't he the vanguard? What the hell?"

"Vanguard?"

"He's leading the pack. It means he will be culling the monsters, which means he is fighting the monsters at their freshest."

"That sounds extremely important and dangerous. Why would the staff assign him that role?"

"That's what I want to know," Greg said with an annoyed tone as he stormed over to the teacher.

"Where's Angelica and that boy?" I asked as we made it to the final room for the lesson. Angelica's followers were slumped against the wall next to the teacher.

"Ah, she and Sir Bartfort delved deeper," the teacher said in response.

"You allowed first years to go deeper?" Julius asked.

"Yes, and before you ask, no, you cannot go further, Your Highness."

"What? Why not?"

"I'd very much like to not be fired for negligence."

"But why allow Angelica to go further?" I asked as a way to divert the conversation a bit. Julius could be rather confrontational when provoked, and he was not too hard to provoke.

"Lady Angelica is considering offering Sir Bartfort vassalage since he has already distinguished himself before coming to the Academy. Given his accolades, I felt it acceptable to allow them to go deeper."

"Is he truly that impressive?" Julius asked in confusion.

The teacher gave us a queer look as if he didn't understand why we were confused. Chances are Sir Bartfort was relatively famous, and he should have been someone Julius should have known.

Before he could give us the details, we heard footsteps coming from the stairs. Looking over we saw Sir Bartfort without a scratch supporting a disheveled Angelica. Her clothes were no longer pristine as tears now adorned the expensive clothing. Her hair hung freely as her bun had come undone at some point. She walked with a slight limp. Her face was beaded with sweat. Despite how rough she looked now, she seemed to have a satisfied glow.

"Angelica?" Julius said as he rushed up to her.

"Julius?" she asked with an astonished and, dare I say, hopeful look.

"How far did you two go?"

Angelica's mood visibly dimmed. I felt for her. He didn't even ask if she was okay.

Sir Bartfort sighed before grabbing something from his pocket with his free hand and tossed it to the teacher. It looked to be a magic crystal and a rather sizeable one at that. It also took on a much more vibrant hue compared to the ones we had found earlier.

"You dealt with the BBB?" the teacher asked in surprise.

"BBB?"

"It means Beginner Block Boss," Jilk said beside me. When did he sneak up on me?

"What's so important about the BBB?"

"The BBB is something of an end-of-year test for first years. It's just difficult and far enough that students are expected to tackle it in groups with lengthy preparation. It tests aptitude, teamwork, and resource management."

Looking back at the duo, I could understand how much of an undertaking the achievement was from Angelica's condition.

Sir Bartfort looked utterly bored.

"But Sir Bartfort is unharmed!" I exclaimed.

"Quite. That's even atypical for a third year," Jilk said with narrowed eyes.

"Jilk?"

"It's nothing. I would recommend staying away from him, though."

"Why?"

"He's too capable. No one is that inexplicably good without having some issues."

Really? Looking at Sir Bartfort, I couldn't sense anything wrong with him. At most, he seemed... awkward. He was gruff, but to me, it felt as though he simply didn't know how to handle attention. In the one interaction I had with him, he seemed nice in a roundabout way.

He also seemed lonely.

"Sir Bartfort?" I asked the boy in the library.

"Olivia?" he asked with an awkward expression.

"I wanted to thank you for your advice the other day. It saved me quite a bit of trouble," I said nervously.

"Ah, it was no problem," he said before returning his attention to his notes.

"Are you studying for the exam?"

"It is that time of year."

"..."

I had no idea how to respond. It felt as though he wanted nothing to do with me with how brusque his responses were.

"Do you need anything else?" Sir Bartfort asked when I hadn't left.

Panicking, I blabbered something random.

"I've been wondering why the dungeons make magic crystals."

He just gave me a queer stare as though he was wondering what was wrong with me. I felt my face grow red from embarrassment. Why did I talk about something so random?

With a shrug, he said, "It's the accumulation of the mana released from the slain monsters."

"Eh? Really? Our textbooks didn't say anything like that," I said excitedly.

He grew an uncomfortable expression. As my initial excitement died down, I realized I had invaded his personal space.

"My apologies," I said frantically.

"It's fine."

God, talking to him was such an awkward affair.

After sometime, I felt that I had overstayed my welcome and was about to leave.

"How's the school treating you?"

"Huh?"

"You doing well?"

I developed a stiff expression. Things had not been going well recently as some people had started stealing and damaging my stuff. I was a bit behind on my studies since I constantly had to rewrite my notes."

"Would you like to review the content with me?" he asked with a concerned look.

"I couldn't possibly impose."

"It's no problem. Besides, they say the best way to learn is to teach."

"Are you sure?"

"It's fine."

"Okay. Thank you."

He really was nice deep down once you got past his reluctance to talk.

As Brad asked to spend time with me today, I felt tired. While I saw Brad as a friend, I never felt as though I wanted to actively talk to him. Aside from the fact that I felt guilty for drawing his interest away from his fiancée, I found his personality to be increasingly displeasing.

Actually, I started to feel that way about all five of the boys as of late. While it was nice to have such earnest friends, they seemed to lack patience and care for others. It was honestly concerning how poorly they treated others.

As Brad continued to talk, my mind drifted to Leon. I giggled over the memory of asking for his name. His baffled expression was amusing. I was learning that he was often surprised by the smallest things. It was cute... though... it was also concerning.

It was abnormal to be so uncomfortable with being treated nicely. Maybe Jilk had a point about him being too skilled. Perhaps Leon came from a harsh environment to attain his skills.

"Olivia?"

"Ah, sorry. Just a passing worry," I said.

Brad only gave a concern for a second before carrying on with his conversation.

Leon would have pushed me to talk about what was bothering me.

I saw Greg accosting Leon in the hallway. He was physically pushing him and calling him a coward.

"Greg, what are you doing?" I asked in a panic as I tried to separate the two.

"Asshole won't compete with me in the dungeon," Greg snarled towards Leon.

Leon just scoffed.

"Leon, use your words."

"... fine, Livia... I've already delved to the deepest floor."

"Bullshit."

"Believe what you want to believe," Leon said before walking off.

Rather than stay with Greg, I chased after Leon. Leon was not the type to work beyond what was expected of him. For him to have went so far into the dungeon, there must have been some pressing need for him to do so.

"You should go back to Seberg. You've probably made him upset by following me," Leon said as I caught up to him.

"What's going on with you?"

"Hmm?"

"Is everything okay on your end?"

"... and what makes you think something is wrong with me?"

"Leon," I pouted.

He developed a conflicted look for a moment. Was what was bothering him so troubling? He couldn't decide what to tell me.

After some time, he developed a harsh glare.

"For everyone's sake, stop talking to me."

"What?" I gasped in shock.

"I'm not one of your boy toys you can string along by simply being nice or listening to my problems."

"I never..."

"Get it in your head already. I don't want to talk to you."

"I don't believe you. Why help me if you don't want to talk to me?"

"Because you're quite friendly with the five heirs. Anyone with a lick of sense would be trying to get on your good sense... fat lot of good it did me if Seberg has taken issue with me."

"... what? You were just using me?"

"Welcome to nobility."

"So what now? Are you just going to cut me off now that it has become apparent I have no use to you?"

"No use? If only it were that. Hanging around you actively hurts me."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Your bullies have decided I'm also persona non grata. Apparently the girls think I'm sort of pigfucker for associating with the commoner, diseased for flirting with the whore, or just some cuck hoping for the heirs' sloppy seconds."

Lies. Something was clearly wrong. This was not the boy I had come to know. Something was forcing him to say such nasty things. Why else would he seem so conflicted? If he had truly felt that way, he wouldn't have struggled so much to tell me this.

"Why are you saying these things, Leon?"

"What did you do?" Greg said suddenly as he appeared to slam Leon into the wall.

"Only the truth," Leon said before pushing Greg off and walking away.

As I stared at Leon, Greg fretted over me as he tried to calm me down. I resisted the urge to chase Leon down since doing so would only have caused Leon more problems.

During the end of term banquet, I saw Leon standing in a corner. Angelica and her groups were standing in front of him. Judging by the somewhat agitated movements of the followers and Leon's annoyed expression, Leon was rejecting whatever offer Angelica was making.

After a while, the girls departed.

Wanting to clear the air with Leon, I approached him. He scowled as I drew nearer.

"You really should be more aware of the consequences of your actions."

"Leon, please talk to me. Why are you trying to cut away from me?"

"... and right after I just dismissed Angelica," he mumbled instead of giving me a proper response.

"Why are you acting so cold? I know you are a kind person."

"... you don't know anything," he said before leaving the room.

"It looks like you couldn't ensure another with your wiles," a woman said as I stared at Leon's back.

Turning around, I saw Angelica standing behind me with a thinly veiled look of amusement and disdain.

"I'm not trying to ensnare anybody."

My comment appeared to have irritated her.

"So you're telling me that you haven't been tempting His Highness?"

"No, I've done nothing of the sort."

"You must not think highly of me if you think for a moment that I can't tell you are trying to sink your claws into His Highness."

"I'm really not trying anything."

"Then why have you not separated yourself from him?"

"It's not like I go out of my way to see him," I muttered.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Angelica huffed.

"Simply that I don't ask for his time."

"Yet you occupy all his free time."

"Because he always asks me to spend time with him. It's not like I can say no."

"Huh?" Angelica said as she started to realize the meaning of my statements.

"Look, I need to find Leon. I don't know what I've done to hurt him or if I've done anything, but I don't want whatever is between us to continue," I said as tried to move around Angelica.

"... could you tell me one thing? Why are you so adamant on talking to Leon? He's made it clear that he wants nothing to do with you."

"Because he seems lonely," I said quietly before finally leaving.

AN:

1) Basically writing a general Otome route with Leon as a route from Olivia's perspective.

2) Most of the chapter is dialogue. I felt this matches a visual novel writing style more since those types of games rely on the pictures to help set the scene.

3) Leon's inconsistent attitude is a reflection of his meta knowledge.

4) Leon's attitude isn't too terribly out of place for a romance route. In real life, most people would tell him to piss off, but in a game, he must be terribly hurt and needs fixing.

5) Recently I noticed a new snippet repository on AO3 called Snippets and Stuff by Cinderlord_Pianist. It's only got one chapter at the moment, and I thought it was pretty good. I only mention it though because I got the weirdest sense of Deja vu. It felt like elements of Boy's Boycott (ch 25) were used such as making a speech about not entertaining abuse and the rum tea. I'm not complaining or insinuating anything, but I was wondering if I've simply written enough broad ideas that any new story will likely contain similar elements by chance.

Review Response:

WC93: If I recall correctly (which is likely wrong due to how long ago I watched it), the last movie was more or less meant to be everyone vs. Gendo, who was hellbent on recreating the world. Shinji has an honest discussion with his father while essentially fighting through a multidimensional reality (multidimensional as in spatial folding and not alternate realities... maybe?). Shinji comes to realize his father is exactly like him and that his father's abandonment was the result of 1) not wanting to corrupt the last thing his wife loved and 2) fearing his son would come to hate him from being unable to connect with him. Acceptance causes Gendo to give up, Shinji's mother pops out of the Eva and binds herself to Gendo. This act is equivalent to Adam and Eve uniting to cause instrumentality due to both parents containing the essences of the beings. Then Shinji pierces his parents to enact instrumentality to create a world he deemed acceptable... modern Tokyo. All this to basically say that he isn't running away from life anymore... by technically running away from his problems to recreate the universe.

CJShadowRider: No need to apologize. Rereading the original question and context, it's pretty clear I was having a derp moment. As for factions, not Offrey because Iris calls Stephanie a rabid bitch and not Frampton since the man has a very notable disdain for frontier nobles. I would probably make a new minor faction that happens to align against the Redgrave's to drum up some drama.