Otome Game ―― From young girls to respectable ladies, it’s a game genre that magically captures the hearts of a wide range of women.
Unlike in reality, the games are full of good looking men of radiant countenances for you to conquer one by one. Branching pathways, reverse harem, ravaging, all the guys fighting over you, and even some stranger scenarios are all possible play styles you can expect to encounter. If you were to do such a thing in real life, it would be considered having a number of petty affairs.
Their popularity has seen a great number of such games published, and on their days off, women crowd the streets of Ikebukuro and it’s quite a sight to behold.
“I’m telling you Makoto, it’s all about the Otome games, BL, and voice actors.”
“Sooo, you really like games, don’t you Subaru?”
“Yep yep, that’s right. ――…wait, that’s not what I meant!”
After Subaru finished her piece on the subject, I thought I made an agreeable response, but apparently that wasn’t the response she was looking for.
I was sitting on a floor pillow with Subaru standing menacingly over me. What was she thinking standing over me in that miniskirt? I could see her underwear. A girl should be more conscientious of things like that.
“Then what did you mean?”
“…You really have zero interest in Otome games don’t you Mako…”
“It’s not that I don’t have an interest, I like cool looking guys as much as the next girl. And there are some voice actors I like too.”
Subaru was a beautiful girl with straight black hair and fair skin, and yet she was a total Otome game addict. Lately, I heard she’d been working with a group to produce their own Otome game to sell. Not only that, they’d made a good number of sales already.
On the other hand, I was an unpopular girl with a plain face and wore either gla.s.ses or contacts. I never changed the style of my clothes or hair, and I wasn’t really into games or manga. Being friends with Subaru, I’d absorbed knowledge of such things over the years, but never had any desire to play Otome or BL games myself. I didn’t hate them, I just never wanted to play them. If I was gonna play anything, it’d be an RPG.
Everything I knew about Otome and BL games came from Subaru.
“Well, I guess it’s fine. Hey Mako, wanna go to the bookstore after this?”
“Bookstore?”
“I need to pick up my game at a bookstore in the next district over. Let’s go, Mako!”
The first thought that crossed my mind was that I really just wanted to have a lazy Sunday, but Subaru’s heavy breathing left no room for refusal, and I reluctantly went along with her.
It was about a 10 minute walk from my place to the train station. In that time, Subaru told me all about the game she helped create, “Hearthrob Love Revolution”. It was a really straightforward t.i.tle. I could guess it was a game about a revolution of falling in love that got your heart pounding. I didn’t really understand the ‘Love Revolution’ part, what exactly is that? I knew of the Revolution move in the card game Rich Man, Poor Man, but nothing other than that.
Subaru summarized the long plot for me.
The protagonist, in this case the player, was called Mitsuki Sakurai or whatever else the player wants to name her, and she’s a second year in high school. The player has the power to increase their stats over time. Those specs determined other characters’ responses to the player and whether they would go with you or not.
The prince character was a boy named Kiritani Riku something or other, I couldn’t remember. Sorry Subaru.
Listening to Subaru’s incredibly long monologue, at some point we arrived at the station. I sluggishly made my way to the ticket gate while Subaru quickly went through.
“Mako, it’s track number 1.”
“Eh, Subaru, wait up.”
I rummaged through my bag while I made my way to the ticket gate, but I couldn’t find what I was looking for.
I continued forward while thinking it was strange, but I just couldn’t find it. I didn’t leave it at home, did I? That sucks. It would be too much of a pain to walk 10 minutes all the way back to my house to get it.
“Hey, Mako!”
“Ah, no, what do I do?”
Subaru called to me from the other side of the gate. The older salaryman behind me cleared his throat to hurry me along.
Neither the front nor the back of the line was moving as I panicked rummaging through my bag. At that moment, something touched my hand. The feeling was probably what I had been looking for. Thank goodness. I felt relieved as I took it out, and touched it to the ticket gate sensor.
Then suddenly, I remembered becoming terribly dizzy and inadvertently stumbled. I felt sick to my stomach. It was like I was going to fall, but somehow managed to remain standing, then my knee began throbbing. I suffered through it for a few seconds and closed my eyes, then looked back up.
“Sorry, Suba…ru…?”
When I looked up, what I saw was not the familiar sight of the station.
What appeared in front of my eyes were surroundings I’d never seen before. The people around me were also different. Before, most everyone had been in casual clothes since it was Sunday, but now I saw a lot of suits and school uniforms. It felt like a weekday morning.
“Subaru? Hey, Subaru?”
“Huh, what’s wrong Mako-chan?”
I heard a girl’s voice from behind me, and quickly turned around.
I had expected to see Subaru, but the girl behind me was clearly not Subaru. Different from the intense beauty of Subaru, the girl had pinkish brown hair and plain eyes.
“Eh…?”
“Don’t you ‘eh’ me, geez! You scared me when you almost collapsed, Mako-chan. Are you okay? Do you feel sick?”
“Uh, sorry, but who are you?”
The pink-haired girl’s eyes were opened wide in surprise.
I thought she looked pretty plain at first, but when I took a closer look, she was actually kind of cute. She had large eyes and a nice nose, and her lips were pink and plump. Her body was small and dainty looking, and her hips looked thin enough to break.
While I stared at her, the girl began to giggle.
“Gosh, Mako-chan, don’t look so serious when you tell a joke, geez. You scared me. Let’s hurry and board the train, okay? We can’t be late for our first day of school after transferring.”
“What? Wait, no, I really-”
“You’re talking like a girl Mako-chan.”
TL Note: Makoto is referring to herself with the feminine p.r.o.noun, ‘watashi’.
What a rude thing to say to a girl. I was a bonafide female. I had never once been mistaken for a man.
But, now that she said that, I noticed my view was a little taller than I was accustomed to. The girl in front of me was well below my line of sight. Normally I stood at 158cm (5’2″), so for a girl to be this short, she had to be around 130cm (4’2″)? No no, no way. She looked like she should be in high school.
Does that mean that I got taller somehow?
Suddenly I took a look at my own feet, and what I saw was a pair of men’s leather shoes. When I looked a little farther up, I saw a high school boy’s gray slacks. Even further up was a high school boy’s dark blue blazer and red necktie. An enamel badge was even pinned to my shoulder. Huh. What’s going on here?
“Huh, wha-? Eh?”
“Mako-chan, what’s wrong?”
“Sorry, um, I…er, I‘m…”
TL Note: Makoto switches from the female p.r.o.noun ‘watashi’ she’d been using up to now, to the male p.r.o.noun ‘ore’.
From this girl’s att.i.tude, I guessed that we were acquaintances. I had no idea what was going on, but I felt like I could only rely on this girl right now.
“Mako-chan, are you still half-asleep? Okay, I’ll humor you, You’re Makoto Sakurai, and I’m Mitsuki Sakurai, fraternal twins. Starting today we’re transferring to Izumino School.”
“Mitsuki…Sakurai?”
“That’s right. I’m Mako-chan’s super adorable little sister.”
Mitsuki Sakurai. I felt like I’d heard that name somewhere before.
Wasn’t that the name of the protagonist from Subaru’s Otome game? Now that I thought of it, she was the spitting image of the picture Subaru had on her smartphone of Mitsuki Sakurai. No freaking way. It couldn’t be, did I…enter the world of Heartthrob Love Revolution??
And not only that, as Mitsuki Sakurai’s “older brother”…
“Sorry Mitsuki, give me just a minute.”
Unable to process this unbelievable situation, I retreated to the restroom.
Before I rushed into the restroom, I stood at an impa.s.se wondering which side I should enter, and paced back and forth in front of them at a loss. I scrutinized the front and back of my hand, but no matter how I looked at it, this was obviously a hand that belonged to a man. My normal hands weren’t so angular, and the blood vessels didn’t stand out. My knuckles were also too high. Moreover, my hand was just way too big to be a girl’s hand.
I checked to make sure no one was inside, readied myself, then dashed into the men’s restroom. Reflected in the mirror was a man. My hair was short, and while there were traces of my original visage, it was still very much a man’s face. It was like someone had taken my face and remodeled it into a man’s. I also stood roughly 20cm (6”) taller than normal. I was somewhere in the ballpark of 180cm (5’9″). I was tall, but not a looker. Though I wasn’t completely unfortunate looking… Probably.
Finally, I patted down my chest, but as I thought, there was nothing there.
“This can’t be real…! If only Subaru was here!”
I collapsed onto the closed toilet seat, my head in my hands. I was a high school boy?! You’ve got to be kidding me!
It was an original game Subaru had made. How relieved I would be if she were here with me.
“Mako-chan, Mako-chan. We’re really gonna be late.”
Mitsuki called out to me in a timid voice from outside the restroom, and just when I was about to answer from the stall, another male high school boy entered the restroom. Did he hear me talking to myself just now? I was so embarra.s.sed thinking about it, he’d probably think of me as a weirdo if he did. From his uniform, I guessed he went to the same school I was going to.
His black hair was short, and he had gentle drooping eyes. He stood even taller than my new 180cm (5’9″). He kinda reminded me of a large dog.
When he looked at me, the smile he gave me was so pleasent, I could swear it sparkled. Ooh, he seemed like a rather sociable and charming guy.
“Is the girl outside your…girlfriend?”
“No that’s…my sister.”
I wasn’t used to using a male p.r.o.noun to refer to myself, and it was incredibly embarra.s.sing. My face flushed red from it. Mitsuki called out for ‘Mako-chan’ once more. I bid him farewell then exited the restroom.
Mitsuki was pouting when I came out, so I patted her gently on the head.
I wondered if I’d see that dog-like high school boy again. We were in the same school after all.
…Woah, wait a minute! I should be thinking of a way to get back home. I mean really, I was in a game world and I’d turned into a guy for crying out loud! I didn’t even have any idea how to live in this world.
Subaru, save me!