The Family Head’s Younger Brother

(I just hope he doesn’t push himself too much………perhaps I should just suggest that we both skip school? Maybe that’d get him to rest at his home as well.)

Coming up with this idea, the moment she was about to put it into words.

“Hey, Leo……whaaa!?!”

Leonardo suddenly hugged Francesca, as if hiding her.

Soon after he whispered [shhh.] in her ears and then pointed towards the other side of the road with just his gaze. On the other side of the small canal bridge, beyond the alley, she noticed the figure of a single man.

(Is that..)

Even Francesca knew the identity of that person.

Golden blonde hair and beautiful tanned skin.

Shabbily dressed in his uniform and walking in a languid manner, he still managed to cut quite the elegant figure. His gloomy looking expression from the side seemed to be simply gazing upon the gold covered townscape.

(……..it’s David…….!)

David Sisto Ranieri was the younger brother of Sofia, the head of the Ranieri family that followed [elegance] as their creed.

His older sister Sofia had been quite the help to them during all the incidents that happened over the summer holidays. However Francesca had been making a conscious attempt to completely avoid her younger brother David.

Of course, Leonardo seemed to have already guessed that as well.

“You don’t want to meet that guy, right?”

“y-yeah…..! Thanks for hiding me, Leonardo…….”

Francesca almost curled up and shrunk in place, hiding herself from David’s view. Still embracing her, Leonardo couldn’t help but chuckle upon seeing her wariness.

(In the game he was a rarity rank 5, aka a highest rarity character. As such the chances of running into him at school was also the absolute lowest, and yet……!)

After all, David barely attended classes even after the school year had started and would always be asleep at a set spot.

Leonardo continued to calmly caress and pat Francesca’s head, and spoke as he watched David slowly walk away.

“How rare for him to be roaming around the road to school so early in the morning.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure everyone else has the same thoughts towards you as well Leonardo……”

“haha!”

Leonardo, [the man who was the last boss of the game that never appeared at school], laughed amused by her retort.

And now he would wake up early everyday and meetup with her on the way to school just to be together with Francesca more. No one would have expected that to happen.

(The way Leonardo acts right now would unimaginable in the game. But for [me] to meet David during this season is definitely part of the OG scenario…….)

Taking a peek at David from behind Leonardo’s back, Francesca braced herself.

(The next scenario revolved around the Matou Yasai which covered the game’s third arc.—-and at its centre was the story of David and [me].)

After David had left the streets, Leonardo stretched out his arm as if offering to escort her.

“I’m glad I was able to properly protect you. Shall we go, Francesca?”

“…….Thank you, Leonardo. But I think today we should skip scho——-“

“Francesca.”

Leonardo smiled, and interrupted Francesca’s suggestion before she could finish. And seeing his expression, she was unable to continue any further.

“——Alright. Then, let’s go Leonardo.”

And so the two started to walk towards their school once again.

***

(In the game’s OG scenario, [Francesca] was raised away from the family home and returned when she turned 17.)

After school, as she walked through the school’s corridor, Francesca was arranging her thoughts.

(The threats to [Francesca]’s life wasn’t just the fiancé turned last boss, Leonardo………Her daughter-hating papa, her distant and aloof servant Graziano, the prickly Ricardo trying to solve the case etc; all of them manipulate and use Francesca.)

Francesca as she was written in the scenario was a kind, tender hearted normal girl. Completely distant from the workings of the underworld, she still strived to do her best to try and help and save everyone.

(She became friends with Ricardo in the first arc, and with Graziano in the second. While it looks like things are getting better, in the third arc thanks to getting completely manipulated by Leonardo, her fatigue reaches its absolute breaking point.)

Her life that begins from the start of spring was filled with nothing but problems and troubles. A normal girl getting dragged into the underworld was not something that could be so easily handled.

(And then [Francesca] gets dragged into yet another incident. And as a result……)

Francesca looked down on her own palm, gripping it before opening it back open.

(———–I get turned into the form of a little child, don’t I……)

Recalling an image still from the game, she couldn’t help but stare into the distance.

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