Chapter 3: I'm Not Like You "Humans can use magic." That is the primary premise of this game.
On the surface, it looks like a fairly peaceful world, but with various settings involving battles against demons thrown in, it's actually quite a harsh place.
Well… I suppose it's better than being dragged off to a battlefield to be cannon fodder or a slaughter-tank just because I can use a bit of magic.
Anyway, magic combined with science possesses power beyond imagination, and every country strives to produce elite mages.
Since simply possessing high-level mages increases a nation's power, there are, naturally, specialized educational institutions.
The Government-Designated Elite Mage High Training Institution: Yggdrasil.
What a needlessly long name.
Why do they have to tack all that on when they could just call it a magic school?
Regardless, this is the school that serves as the stage for the game—specifically, the first installment.
It's also where I have to attend starting today.
In Part 1, the protagonist is a student and everyone goes, "He's so cool!" In Part 2, the protagonist becomes a legend working for a government agency and everyone goes, "He's so cool!" In Part 3… what was Part 3 again?
Whatever, I'm sure the "cool" factor is the same.
By the way, look at all these free-spirited hair colors.
The students, who are clearly freshmen, look like they picked their colors at random during character creation; the kaleidoscope of hair is enough to make my eyes ache.
But the fact that the people here act like it's perfectly normal really drives home the point that I've come to another world.
So, where is that bastard?
I'm not standing at the main gate during the entrance ceremony just to people-watch for no reason.
Of course, I am enjoying the way people admire my face, but my primary goal is to identify the protagonist.
I don't know if he'll have his default look or a customized one, but he's easy to spot since he'll be walking in with his younger sister and childhood friend on either side, radiating a "look at me, I'm popular" aura.
"Hey, Akito! It's loose again! Honestly, you're hopeless without me."
"Ah! I'll do it. I am his sister, after all."
Give me a break. Just look at this crap.
What are they even doing this early in the morning?
My cringe tolerance was low enough when I was just playing the game, but seeing it from a third-party perspective is even more irritating.
Everyone else is walking in with nervous faces because they're freshmen, but these guys are just flirting in public. What a nuisance.
The protagonist, Akito, and his followers pass through the main gate.
All three of them glance at me, but there's no significant reaction.
"What's with that guy? Why is he posing?"
"Now, now, Chika—let's not pick fights with people."
… …
That's strange. Am I not incredibly handsome right now?
Chika, the protagonist's childhood friend, is a bit prickly, but I didn't think I had a face she'd openly pick a fight with.
Do women who have already fallen for the protagonist become immune to other men's looks?
And…
I watch the bracelet on Akito's wrist intently.
You… why are you on a New Game Plus?
I can accept that he might have bought items without limits since this is now reality, not a game.
But isn't that bracelet a unique item you only get in the late game?
I don't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure it's a bracelet you pick up on the way to a chapter boss.
Is it just a similar design?
Or… is it really a second playthrough? No, it could be even more than that.
As my mind fills with complications and I stare at him, a scabbard comes flying from a distance.
Clack—
"Whoops—you okay, Shiori?"
"I wasn't hurt, thanks to you, Brother."
Shiori gives a feminine smile and buries her face in Akito's chest.
I really want to smack the back of his head.
Now I see why the male extras start with such low affinity for him.
Look at that social butterfly, making friends and laughing it up in an instant.
That aside, this confirms it's a New Game Plus.
This is the event where Akito first meets a heroine with a samurai concept who can't even manage her own scabbard.
As I mentioned before, this game forces multiple playthroughs, and the events change slightly with each run.
In the first playthrough, the scabbard hits the protagonist in the head, and Chika goes ballistic at the samurai who threw it. But from the second playthrough onwards, perhaps because stats are carried over, he's guaranteed to catch it.
If that's the case, it means not just items, but stats were carried over too.
This is dangerous.
Is he stronger than me right now?
Carrying over to the next playthrough doesn't mean everything transfers.
While the number of items is fixed regardless of the playthrough, only 30% of stats carry over to the second run. If you meet specific conditions and repeat the cycles, it can increase up to a maximum of 50%.
That means he didn't start from zero; he began with at least 30% of his end-game stats.
Dammit, his life is already set to Easy Mode, and he's getting even more handouts?
… …
Come to think of it, I guess this makes sense.
Ge… Gen? Keisuke? Daiha? What was the protagonist's last name again? Anyway, he's the eldest son of a famous mage family.
According to the lore, he's a "talent-bug" who learned magic from his father—one of the top three mages in history—since he was a child. He was already being hailed as a genius before even entering Yggdrasil.
His personality is diligent, he can't stand injustice, and he upholds righteousness…
Or so they say, but if you actually play the game, he's just a total scumbag who hits on every woman he sees.
Well—I can't deny that the players' choices played a part in that, but it is an eroge, after all.
If he had started with base stats like in the game, he wouldn't be a "talent-bug"; he wouldn't have even passed the entrance exam for Yggdrasil.
Fine, I'll concede the stats, but why does he have the items?
Is my mere existence acting like a butterfly effect, already influencing the protagonist?
There's no point in agonizing over it now.
I'm not exactly a genius, so my guesswork won't help much.
I just need to stay on guard in case the protagonist is a reincarnator like me and keep my head down for now.
I enter the auditorium and sit in my assigned seat, observing the other freshmen.
Oh, there's Park Yu-jeong.
Is the girl next to her Jessica?
Finding the characters among the crowd is actually quite fun.
I especially like the expressions of the students—a mix of nervousness and excitement in this unfamiliar place.
Where is Shizuka? It's hard to find her because there are so many people.
Between the hair colors, the diverse ethnicities, and the wide range of ages, it's difficult to pick anyone out.
Yggdrasil accepts anyone with talent, regardless of age.
Not that you'd see an old man with one foot in the grave enrolling, though.
Anyway, that's why the protagonist's sister, Shiori, was able to enroll in the same grade as him.
Personally, I think the developers just came up with that setting because they were desperate to avoid talking about ages.
It might fly in a domestic Japanese game, but other countries are sensitive about age.
It's a bit late for this, but to explain more about the game: this isn't Japan.
Since it's an island nation, the setting is a fictional place similar to Japan, but the lore says humanity was once unified before splitting into various governments, so the culture is a massive hodgepodge.
You'll see Big Ben or Chichen Itza-style architecture standing right there, and they celebrate everything from Halloween to the Mexican Day of the Dead. It feels like the game developers just threw in whatever looked cool.
No one really reads the lore of an eroge that closely, and I'm mostly inferring things from the dialogue, so I don't know the exact details.
What I do know for sure is that the language I'm naturally understanding and the characters I'm reading are things I've never seen or heard of in my previous world.
Anyway, while many major characters have Japanese names, about two-thirds of the population consists of various races, so names are all over the place.
The fact that the buff Black guy sitting next to me is named Tatsuki is perfectly natural here.
Is the boring speech finally over?
It's not like a busty principal came out; listening to a speech from a vice principal with a shiny bald head is nothing but tedious.
My class is the same as the protagonist's, just like in the game.
Should I just quietly observe him?
"Ah, you're too close to my brother. Back off, Chika."
"Oh, don't be like that. Hehe—Shiori, you're still such a baby."
"Does Lord Akito enjoy physical contact?"
Yep. That crap never ends.
Look at him, the classic dense and indecisive harem protagonist, acting all flustered by the girls' advances.
Is that really the same horny bastard who knocks up his rivals, his teachers, and anyone he makes eye contact with on the street?
Come to think of it, he was always a deceptive prick who acted like he didn't know what to do while smoothly sliding his dick in.
"Man, I wish all these 'normies' would just drop dead."
"Still, this is Yggdrasil for you. All the girls are so cute. Sniff sniff—ah, the scent of beautiful girls~"
… …
Wait, why are these guys next to me?
The trio of unpopular perverts who serve as the early-game comic relief… no, wait, it's a duo now that I'm out.
Aren't you guys supposed to consider all handsome guys the enemy?
"Ah, I'm Rio. Nice to meet you."
He introduces himself with a refreshing smile as if it's the most natural thing in the world. Even though he's ugly.
"I'm Masayoshi."
The gag duo introduces themselves with unearned confidence, completely oblivious to their own looks.
Why are these guys acting so friendly?
And don't use the name Rio when you're 100% Asian.
"…Um… am I not handsome?"
It felt so strange that I had to ask. The gag duo stares at me with blank expressions.
"…Well, aren't you a confident prick."
"You definitely have an annoying face… That's weird. You have the kind of face I want to punch, so why do you feel so familiar?"
If they want to punch me, it must mean I'm handsome, right?
Is this some kind of forced event?
Maybe there's some force at work trying to keep the three of us together according to the scenario.
But I'm not a gag character anymore.
My face was already validated by numerous women before I even enrolled.
Still, I should probably be friendly with them.
In this game, raising affinity with anyone except the villains unlocks special items or routes, so it's best to be on good terms with everyone.
"This handsome man is Seo Yeon-woo."
"This guy's got quite the personality."
"What a cool name that doesn't fit your face… wait…? It does fit your name?"
Masayoshi looks a bit confused, as if he was trying to say a line from the original script.
I once wondered if I possessed this body because the pig's name was Korean, but there are plenty of other characters with Korean names.
In fact, most male characters with Korean names aren't even villains and are quite cool, so why did I have to end up in the pig?
Ah, that's not what's important. Stop acting like we're friends, you bastards.
I see some girls looking this way with disgusted eyes.
Their gaze starts with the scrawny, wrung-out-rag-looking Rio, passes over the otaku-with-glasses Masayoshi, and finally lands on me.
Yep, my face hasn't gone anywhere.
The moment they see me, their scowls vanish, their eyes widen, and they quickly turn away with blushing faces.
I don't recognize her, so she's probably an extra, but she's pretty.
True to its nature as an eroge, there might be ugly men, but there are almost no ugly women. It's a feast for the eyes.
Oh?
While enjoying the attention from the girls, I spot a woman walking down the hallway.
Long black hair with a slight bluish tint, eyes that are cold and indifferent to the world but beautiful, and a stiff, expressionless face that makes me wish she'd just smile once.
It's Shizuka, one of my favorite characters in this game.
"Man, there really are a lot of pretty girls here. Who do you think is the best?"
"I like that pink-haired girl over there."
"Hey, I called dibs on her first."
Ugh, look at these losers talking big when they don't even have the courage to speak to them.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"I'm not like you guys."
I give them a mocking sneer and approach Shizuka.
Wow—up close, her aura is no joke.
When those cold eyes reflect my image, I find myself flinching involuntarily.
The female extras are pretty, but the heroines who can become allies are… on a different level. They're equally beautiful, but it's like they have some kind of halo shining behind them.
But hey, I'm the guy who leveled up by charming countless women before enrolling, right? Nothing to be scared of.
"Hi, Shizuka."
"… … Do you know me?"
Ooh—that polite tone even while clearly showing her annoyance…
Wait, annoyance?
Shizuka is glaring at me so intensely that if I weren't wearing the same school uniform, she might have attacked me on the spot.
"…Uh—well… you're famous. How could I not know you?"
"Then, what is your business?"
She speaks sharply the moment I finish my sentence.
I knew she was a cold character, but she's being exceptionally frosty.
"It's not really 'business,' I just wanted to have a chat."
Go! My finishing move!
The "cool guy" smile that has melted countless hearts and led them to my bed!
As I smile, Shizuka stares at me for a moment before ignoring me and walking past.
"Oh, wait…"
I freeze at the look of pure contempt she gives me over her shoulder.
"I have no intention of speaking with someone as light and frivolous as you."
"… …"
As Shizuka whips her head around, her long black hair follows the movement.
Wow… how can even her cold rejection and the way she turns away be so beautiful?
"Sigh… that's unfortunate."
"Yeah, yeah. You're so handsome, so why does she hate you?"
"Don't let it get you down. You're 'different' from us, after all."
If you're going to comfort me, at least hide your smirks, you assholes.
The gag duo puts their arms around my shoulders, looking as happy as if they're at a festival.
To anyone else, we probably look like the best of friends.
Is everything really going to follow the script in the end?
I really hate this.
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