It was a stormy night, the winds were weeping as the rain cried, and a faint cry of a child could be heard in front of an impoverished church. Then the large doors of the church opened with a large creak right when a thunder crashed down, a sister looked down and noticed a basket with a baby in it, abandoned to be taken care of at the church. The sister hurriedly brought the baby into the safety of the church and held the little girl in her arms.
"Poor soul... Were you abandoned by your parents? Or were you unwanted by your mother?"
*Baby crying SFX*
The sister's rhetorical questions were met with only more crying.
"Oh, dear..."
The sister could only show a small smile as she was already used to hearing the cries of a newly born child.
"I need to give you a name... But what would fit you?"
Then when the sister finished saying that line of dialogue, a semi-transparent square appeared on-screen with the words "Insert your name"
"Nee, Nii-san what's a good name for the protagonist for this second run of Doki Doki Magical Love?"
"... Can't you... Just use your... Name again? *Urk*"
"Absolutely not! I already used it in my previous run to get my favorite character! Now this is the role-play run!"
"Stop shouting... please... I'm already feeling like dying... with this horrible fever and headache... I don't need your voice ringing in my ears as well..."
"Then give me a name!"
"Ugh... Fiiiiine... ... ... How about Nanako?"
"Sounds good... ... ... Now... Na...Na...Ko, and confirm!"
"... Guh!"
"!? Are you going to vomit!?"
*Nods*
"Awawawawawa! We need to get you to the bathroom now!"
"No... pick the trash can... it's too late for the- *Mhguh* !?"
"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! HERE'S THE TRASH CAN!"
"Bleurgh"
As one of the siblings was having the horrible experience of actually getting sick, the scene was put on auto mode, continuing the opening scenes, since the sister wanted to get over the very lengthy and unskippable opening as soon as possible while she wasn't looking at it. And the screen showed the words "years later" (A/N Notes: 10/10 best otome game opening *Said by the person who never saw an actual otome game*)
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Today was another normal sunny day, albeit with more wind than usual, but nothing too worrying, but for a certain someone, today could be said to be "less enjoyable" than usual. That someone was Edward Harding, the son and heir of a count family, and as for why his day was "less enjoyable" than usual, was that during his usual physical training with the captain, who was his tutor, got a bit too excited in their sparring session, and hit Edward with full force on the forehead with a wooden sword, giving Edward a horrible headache.
A headache that was remaining even now, right in the middle of the night, but that was not all, because since he was still unwillingly awake until these late hours, he now also suffering from tinnitus, and with the wind outside making sounds of almost as if the world was ending, all ensured that Edward could not fall asleep, that in turn only worsened his headache.
But that was not all, and alongside those headaches, he was getting strange thoughts. Yes, strange thoughts, to the point that he could not hold it anymore and ask himself...
"What the hell is an anime?"
That's right! Edward's headache was giving him painful and random knowledge about another world, that he had no idea on how to interpret them. And so, unable to sleep and feeling too bored by staying in bed, Edward begrudgingly got up from his bed and went to sit down in front of his desk, as he picked up an empty notebook and turned on the magical lamp on his desk, then with a pencil he began scribbling down all the random and mostly useless knowledge that was appearing inside his mind one after the other.
As so, Edward would spend most of that windy night awake, until he eventually fell asleep as his sleepiness overtook his headache.
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"..."
Edward had horrible dark circles under his eyes, and a pretty irritated face caused by his lack of sleep, as he made his way back to the lord's office, in other words, his father's office, Edward happened to pass by the captain who was on his way to train the soldiers of the territory.
"Ah! Younger master! Your face is looking horrible today!"
With a powerful and charismatic voice, the captain said such words to Edward, making them ring inside his head and causing him to feel another headache.
"And whose fault do you think it is?"
Edward who right now didn't have the energy nor the mood to talk with the captain, just answered him with a voice filled with annoyance and anger.
"... Well, I guess, I'll be on my way then"
Then captain noticing that Edward wasn't in a good mood, decided to just end their short talk there, and they both continued on their ways. After a short while, Edward opened the door to his father's office and entered it.
"Here are the documents that you wanted, Father"
"Thank you, son. So how are you feeling better?"
With a manly but soft voice, Edward's father, Oliver Harding, asked a simple question to his son.
"I guess so, I don't feel the pain on my forehead anymore... But I'm having some annoying headaches even now, which have been hampering my sleep hours"
"I see... Do you want to rest a little?"
"I would like to, but considering that there's only us two to deal with the management of the territory, I don't think there's an option"
"You are right, unfortunately, we only have enough funds for paying the bare minimum amount of servants to take care of the mansion"
"Yeah... Maybe we should start getting some unpaid interns to work for us"
"Interns? What is that?"
"Ah..."
Edward who accidentally commented about one of the knowledge that appeared on his mind during his headaches, began to cold sweat as his father looked at him with a lot of interest regarding that idea he just gave.
"Son, can you explain to me what an intern is?"
"S-Sure... Well, you see... I-Interns are f-from a-a system t-that I thought of w-where we would... Erm... Have young people, like... Erm... Kids, yes! Kids!... Work for us... without receiving monetary payment... And instead, they would receive... Three meals a day and a room in the mansion... And then... Erm... as they got better over time... We could just... Hmmmm let them choose once they come of age if they... Erm... Want to keep working for us or... Search for another profession?"
"..."
"..."
Oliver looked at Edward with dead serious eyes without saying anything, which only made Edward cold sweat even more, as he wasn't sure if his father would fall for his lie or if his father would consider that he had gone crazy.
"It's an interesting idea, but how are we going to convince people to work here without being paid?"
"Ah... Erm..."
When Edward heard his father's sound argument, he began to sweat even more
"Erm... We can just get the orphans to work here! Yes, let's just have the orphans from the slums work here!"
"..."
Edward's father once again started thinking about his son's suggestion
"..."
"*Twitches* Y-yes, father?"
"Are you perhaps suggesting that we should train orphans to be our servants so that we can cut the expenses we use to pay the church for taking care of them and invest it into the estate
Meanwhile, by giving those orphans a safe place with warm meals, we'll be nurturing fine people who won't think of committing crimes, and who can develop their innate talents from a young age, thus helping our territory to flourish, which in turn will lead to a higher monetary return to us.
And if they decide to continue working for us, we'll have servants who will be nurtured at a young age to be loyal and grateful to us for providing them with a life that they could never think of in the slums.
And we could further extend such things to other territories, by offering to take care of their orphans from their lands in exchange for money. Thus only increasing our revenues?"
"... ... ... Yeah?"
In complete confusion at what was that mental gymnastics of a conclusion that his father had arrived to, Edward just agreed with a confused smile, as he continued to profusely sweat in worry
"... *Nodding* Son"
"Y-yes?"
"I'll discuss this plan of yours with our servants since they'll be the ones training the interns, so continue organizing the paperwork for me please"
"Okay..."
With that, Oliver got up from his desk and left the office, leaving only a confused Edward in there
"... ... ... Wait... ... ..."
Edward would reach a terrifying conclusion about the concept of internship, but it's not like he would ever find out the true meaning of unpaid internship. So he just decided to stop thinking about it and continue organizing the paperwork left to him as his mind was assaulted by a horrible headache.
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Inside a church near the slums area, a young girl, around 10 years of age, could be seen kneeling on the floor in front of the altar as she prayed. The girl's long hair was unkept but straight, and had a pretty uncommon black color, alongside that the girl wore ragged and clearly old clothes that once belonged to someone else, and she was also covered in dirt.
The girl was an orphan, just like the other 19 kids in the orphanage, and because of the church's location, they barely received any donations and had to rely mostly on the funds that the lord provided to the church for taking care of orphans like her.
Every day, they all struggled to even get scraps for food, and because of their dirt and frail appearances, even fewer people were willing to employ them in any form of work. Still, even with all that struggle, the girl prayed every day for their situation to improve, even when she knew that such a thing wouldn't come so easily.
The girl finished her prayer, and made a small smile, in the vain hopes that one day her prayers would be answered. Still, she still felt happy from being able to live every day with her brothers and sisters, even if they had to suffer at times.
Then as she returned to the orphanage area, the girl heard a commotion from the outside, at the church's backyard, and looking through the window, she saw two of her little brothers fighting. Seeing that, she immediately ran outside, to separate the two.
"Stop it, you two! Didn't I already say that fighting is bad?"
"But he pushed me down first, Nanako-nee!"
"Yeah, but you were the one who threw a mob ball on me!"
"It's your fault for being in the way!"
"You!"
The two young boys tried to punch each other, but were unable to, as Nanako kept the two away from the other
"Stop! Both of you, apologize to the other now!"
" "... Fine, Nanako-nee" "
The boys begrudgingly agreed to Nanako's demand and made up with the other under the stern eyes of Nanako. The reason why they both obeyed her, was mainly because she was the oldest child in the orphanage, and was also adored by everyone in the church.
"... *Smile*"
Seeing the two boys' makeup, Nanako showed a small happy smile, but her smile was quickly covered by a clap of loud thunder and then heavy rain characteristic of this time of the year. The rain caused her and all the other kids to seek refuge in the church, once inside Nanako and a few of the slightly older kids went to pick the old dirt towels and rags to dry everyone, and as they were doing so, one of the sisters who took care of them appeared from the door that connected the orphanage to the church proper.
"Nanako!"
"Hm? What is it, sister?"
"Are all the kids here?"
"Yes, they're. Why?"
"..."
The sister showed a sad face as she stayed quiet for a few moments as if she was having a lot of trouble in getting the courage to say what she had to say.
"Everyone... I'm sorry to say this, but... This church will stop accepting orphans and probably will even be abandoned altogether in some days"
"Eh?! W-why?!"
"The Lord's son, Edward, just came to tell us that they'll stop providing us with funds..."
The sister stopped for a moment as she made a troubled face on how to explain the rest
"And then he said that he'll be coming back in some days as well to pick you all up!"
"Huh? Pick us up?"
"Yes, he said that all orphans will be now brought to the lord's manor, and receive all the necessary training and education to become their servants"
"Huh? W-why?"
"He didn't say why... He just looked away and left after telling me about those two things only"
"I-I see..."
Nanako still showed a lot of confusion about why the lord was doing that. But, she still felt some relief that the lord wasn't completely abandoning them just yet.
Some days later
"... Wow! So many horses!"
"And scary-looking dudes!"
"And a Rich boy!"
The orphans were all looking outside of the window and saw a bunch of carriages lined up. Just as the sister had told them days ago, the lord's son had indeed come to pick them up, and right now, they could see him talking with the sister responsible for them.
"They're entering the church"
"They're true"
"..."
Nanako was also looking outside of the window, still with some doubts and confusion about the true intentions of the lord hanging inside her mind. Then when she saw that the lord's son had walked inside the church, she, alongside the others, all did as the sister had asked them to do early, which was to pick their ragged bags stuffed with their belongings and line up in two rows.
Then after a short while, the sister opened the door to the church and walked inside with the Lord's son also entering the orphanage right after her.
"Everyone, this is Edward Harding, the son of the lord"
"It's a real rich boy!"
"He's so tall!"
"He has horrible dark circles!"
"His face is kinda plain though!"
"Awawawa! Everyone!"
"It's fine. Now if you excuse me... Ahem..."
Edward stepped forward and cleaned his throat before he started talking.
"I am sure your sister, already told you all that we will be cutting the funds that we give to the church so that they can take care of orphans like you all, and that you all will also be brought to be trained at the manor to become our servants, correct?"
"Yes!"
Most of the children agreed with Edward's words with innocence in their tone, with only Nanako not showing the same enthusiasm.
"Good, now a little more information. As interns, you all will be receiving 2 to 3 meals a day, soft beds, and the necessary uniforms and clothes for daily use. In exchange, you all must do the assignments given to you and properly attend the lessons that will be given by the head servants.
If any of you refuse to do so or break any of the rules that will be properly explained later, we will first remove your meals, and if you continue in doing so, we will eventually take you out of the manor. So make sure to not break the rules and do what the head servants say.
And finally, if any of you do not want to work as an intern in the manor, please say so now. If any of you has a question regarding this, please raise your arm."
A young boy raised his arm when Edward asked them to do so.
"What is your question?"
"Are you sayin' that we'll get to have warm meals and a soft bed every day?"
"If you do your work properly, yes"
"Waaaaahh!"
Upon hearing that, all the kids began cheering at the prospect of being able to eat every day and have a soft bed, which they all thought to be impossible, as for Nanako, she instead felt a weird feeling coming from her chest.
"Also, this... Internship period will last until you turn eighteen, in other words, it will last until you all become adults. When you turn eighteen, you all will be given a choice to either continue working at the manor, but with proper payment with money included, or choose to leave the manor to work somewhere else.
So, until then, we from the Harding family will make to properly look after everyone, and in exchange, we expect good results from everyone."
"H-Hmm..."
After hearing Edward say that and show the children a friendly smile, Nanako shyly raised her hand as she felt her suspicions disappearing.
"What is the matter?"
"Does... Does that mean... That your family will be... Giving all of us a chance to... To... To live a better life together?"
"..."
Edward made a thinking face as he looked away, before turning back to Nanako as nodded
"... Yes, you can say that we will be giving you all a chance to have a better life"
"... Huh?"
"?!"
At hearing Edward confirm her question, Nanako felt something running down her face, and she saw that she was crying, but she wasn't feeling sad. Instead, she was feeling happy and joyful, from the thought that perhaps, all of her prayers had finally paid off. Nanako fell on her knees, as the tears coming from her eyes didn't stop, which caused her siblings and the sister to approach her in worry... As for Edward, he was cold and sweating at the thought that he may have messed up somewhere by accident, from seeing Nanako crying