Chapter 81. WHITE ALBUM Goes on Sale!
Quiet days always slip by without notice.
In the blink of an eye, it was Christmas Eve.
Over here in the Far East, students were already on winter break.
Plenty of restless hormones were roaming the streets, ready to do things that were not so "peaceful" on Silent Night.
And on this day, WHITE ALBUM went on sale.
Marin Kitagawa was a devoted galgame player.
Ever since Kaleidoscope began, its one-of-a-kind art style in the industry had stunned her, and she became a fan of Teacher Xander.
That's right, in the adult side of the scene, Xander used the name "Xander," which, paired with his public-facing name, formed his true full name—simple and plain—something Bronya had complained about many times.
After that, the addition of Eromanga Sensei's artist surprised Marin as a fan even more.
She bought the entire Kaleidoscope series, treasuring and appreciating it who-knows-how many times.
Thus, when she learned that Teacher Xander and the artist from Eromanga Sensei had a new collaboration, WHITE ALBUM, about to hit the shelves—especially after hearing that this game would be twice the price of the Kaleidoscope entries—Marin was instantly full of anticipation.
When she further heard that the anime adaptation would air not long after the game's release, her expectations shot straight to the peak.
If it's pricey, that proves there's a lot in it.
And if they're already starting animation ahead of time, doesn't that mean the two teachers are very confident in their work?
So she saved up her allowance early by working part-time, and when the time came she lined up overnight a day in advance to buy the first-press limited edition with bonus items.
Shops here had an interesting practice.
Every store that sold the game had a different character bonus.
That was quite unfriendly to collectors, but for a cash-strapped high-schooler, simply getting one was already very satisfying.
She turned down her friends' karaoke invitation and went home early.
After a quick dinner, she took a deep breath and reverently opened the paper bag.
The bonus from this shop was a girl with tea-brown long hair and a cute, gentle smile.
That struck Marin's absolute sweet spot.
She carefully stored away the body-pillow cover, wall scroll, and poster from the bag.
Then she turned her gaze to the game.
Rubbing her hands in anticipation, she tore off the shrink-wrap and, unable to wait, slotted the disc into the console.
Soon, the game screen emerged, and a pleasant instrumental BGM followed.
"The UI actually changed?!"
Murmuring in surprise, Marin looked a few times more.
It seemed the two teachers had finally remembered to change that old UI they'd used for five games running.
It was convenient, sure, but it really had led to aesthetic fatigue.
Even more excited now, Marin still didn't press "Start" right away.
First she went to the washroom and carefully trimmed her nails.
Then she put a pack of tissues on the desk.
Once she confirmed everything was in order, she finally clicked into the game.
The screen turned pitch-black.
White text slowly appeared.
The story advanced quickly before her eyes, and a smile soon spread over Marin's face.
Setsuna was so lively and cute.
Touma was so cool and beautiful.
She hadn't expected Teacher Xander—beyond all that dark literature—to also write such a light and happy school-life story.
It was truly a delight.
The delicate emotional depictions resonated with Marin and pulled her in fast.
She wasn't even sure how someone at an all-girls' school like her was managing to self-insert, but that wasn't important.
Just when Marin assumed this was a school rom-com about a love triangle, the trajectory began to veer in a strange direction.
The smile faded from her lips.
Time, without her noticing, had crept into the middle of the night.
Finally—on that snowy street—right after a kiss, Touma slapped Kitahara across the face and cried, "Why are you so skilled at this?!"
Marin's whole expression twisted up.
Clutching her stomach, which twinged as if punched, she accidentally knocked the tissues onto the floor.
But she no longer felt like picking them up.
W-what even was all this?
Can't everyone just live happily together?
Why force it into something so warped and stomach-aching?
Snark as she might, she couldn't stop reading.
Even her usual fondness for the spicy scenes couldn't get her going at all.
With a script over a million characters long, she played from night to dawn and from dawn back into night.
She only grabbed a quick bite and some water in between, even holding it for ages before going to the bathroom.
At last, when "The End" appeared on the screen, Marin slumped into her chair, unable to extricate herself from the plot.
She'd thought the love triangle of the Introductory Chapter was painful enough.
Compared to the final adult-life arc, that had only been an appetizer.
Every single choice that appeared brought tremendous agony.
It felt like her heart was bound to an execution rack, being sliced and sliced without end.
She wanted to laugh, but found she couldn't at all.
After that, to probe the possibility of the three of them being happily together, she blundered into the cheating route.
The result… she mentally shut down.
Her face went vacant, and her eyes unfocused.
The following days, her life was a mess.
Her head was filled with Setsuna every day.
She couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, and lost interest in all games, like she'd gone full emo.
Her friends worried that something was wrong with Marin and even wanted to drag her to a therapist.
In the end, she spent half the session telling the therapist how wonderful Setsuna was and how much she hurt for her, leaving the doctor completely at a loss.
This lethargic spell lasted until just before New Year's.
Bored, she scrolled through the game forums, skimming absent-mindedly while still thinking about Setsuna nonstop.
It was the first time a story had left her chest this tight.
At that moment, she happened to see a plot-analysis thread about WHITE ALBUM and clicked it without thinking.
It had been several days since release.
Most of the early buyers had already played a lot, so an analysis post made sense.
Rubbing her unkempt, messy long hair, Marin lay on her desk and stared blankly at the lines of text.
The original poster first analyzed the tangled feelings among the three.
After a string of seemingly reasonable points, they started slipping in personal takes at the end.
"Just my personal opinion, but doesn't Setsuna feel really out of line here? Touma and Kitahara are the true love, yet she still wants to wedge herself in. In my view—"
"?"
Marin couldn't read any further.
A nameless fire whooshed up from her heart.
What nonsense was this person spouting?
Setsuna is so cute—such a girl who makes your heart ache—and she's wrong?
This @#￥@￥@%@%%%%!!
Unforgivable!
Grabbing her keyboard, Marin dived straight into the battlefield of the comments section!
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