Anoseka Volume 1 Prologue

This is MTL. So, I cannot guarantee that the translation 100% contextually accurate or appropriate.

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Prologue

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Part 1

Life is a series of choices.

Where are we going today? What to eat? Who to talk to? What to talk about?

Even in the unchangeable everyday life, people live by accumulating small choices.

In such a life, there are sometimes choices that cannot be turned back.

In game terms, it would be a route split?

However, in the real world, there is no save or load like in a game.

Who said that you can't even reset and all you have in your life is the power button?

Regardless, there are choices that cannot be turned back once they are chosen.

What if I had chosen a different path——at that time and in that place?

What would the future have looked like?

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Part 2

It happened on the first day of consecutive holidays.

It was my younger sister who brazenly barged into the apartment where I lived alone in the very early morning.

It must have been wrong of me to carelessly open the front door with my head still wide awake from sleep.

My sister quickly enters the room and holds out a paper bag in her hand in front of me.

It looked like a paper bag for souvenirs, but when I checked the contents, I found a package of game software and a USB memory.

Is it a gift? But the cover of the package is weird.

The cover featured a female character, who appeared to be the main character, with several beautiful male characters surrounding her.

It is a so-called otome game in the genre of a love simulation game.

Scratching my sleepy head, I alternate between the contents of the paper bag and my smiling sister.

"What is this?"

When I asked my sister the obvious question, she let out a sigh at my lack of understanding.

My sister puts her hands on her hips and leans her upper body forward a little, her face looking up at me with her eyebrows raised, the expression on her face when she is irritated.

However, she also seems to think that if she doesn't explain, I won't get the point, and in a somewhat rough tone of voice, she tells me what she wants me to do.

"I've been looking forward to this new Otome game, but the difficulty level is so ridiculously high that I can't clear it. Aniki will be free during the consecutive holidays, so why don't you play it for me."

I was a little intrigued by the ridiculously difficult otome game.

However, I am angry at the assumption that I will be free during the holidays.

I hated my sister's ridiculous attitude.

"Don't decide on your own. I mean, why is a game about love so hard? It's like making choices, or at best, it's like a mini-game."

Love simulation games are usually played by selecting the words and actions of the main character to advance the story.

No matter how bad you are at it, just pick and try all the options. If you want, you can rely on a strategy site to help you complete it without failure.

But my sister understood that, too. After all, she has played and cleared a number of games called Otome games.

"I thought so at first, too. But aside from the romance part, the other two are troublesome."

"The other two?"

"The adventure part and the battle part are so devilishly difficult."

My sister, who has a difficult expression with her eyebrows furrowed, lists the problems of the otome game she gave me.

"Bad reputation?"

"There was some kind of RPG-like adventure part. I could stand it up to that point, but when the war started, a strategy simulation game started."

——What is that game? Isn't it a dark pot state that throws in elements that are not necessary for otome games?

But for boys, those two things are of interest.

If this was a gal game instead of an otome game, I might have bought it without hesitation.

But for my sister, those two elements were a hindrance.

"I've never been able to complete the game because I get stuck halfway through no matter how I try. Aniki plays a lot of these games for nothing, so you should be able to at least clear the game, right?"

Does this girl have to get on my nerves to have a conversation with me?

I'm intrigued, but I refuse to play Otome games, as I have no intention of playing them.

"You can clear it up by looking at the strategy site. Do it yourself."

"If I could, I wouldn't have bothered to visit my brother's room! I've looked at the strategy site but there's no decent info on it because of all the bad reputation!"

"Bad reputation?"

"There are a lot of paid downloadable contents. They say, "This will help you in the adventure part~" or "This will help you in the war part~". If you want to complete the game, you have to pay for it, right?"

If you play normally, it is too difficult, but if you pay for it, you can clear it easily.

Indeed, from the player's point of view, it is not a pleasant situation.

When I thought the bad reviews were unavoidable, my sister folded her hands and her eyes gleamed.

—— I just realized that she is very dressed up today.

She is dressed in a more elaborate make-up and outfit than she usually wears when she visits my room.

"Please, onii-chan, complete this game for me. Ah, please be sure to complete the whole game. I want to enjoy the images and videos of the events."

Only when she asks me to do something, she calls me "Onii-chan" and sweet-talks me.

My sister is said to be in the cute category in the general sense of the word.

She has been treated well by her surroundings since elementary school because of her excellent performance in both studies and sports, as well as her good looks.

She is currently a college student and lives at home, unlike me.

―― I don't like such a cat-like, spoiled gesture from my sister. I took a half step away from my sister and pulled my cheeks together.

When she saw the disgusted look on my face, my sister puffed out her cheeks angrily.

"Why are you so reluctant! It's a request from your cute little sister, isn't it?"

"I don't have a cute little sister. I only have a selfish and cheeky sister."

Sometimes I know people who have illusions about younger sister, but I want to tell them to face reality. For an older brother, a younger sister is an enemy even if we are related by blood ―― I wouldn't go so far as to say that, but she is a nuisance.

No matter how much I explain it, I can't convince my friends, saying things like, "You said it again~." And laugh.

I let out a small sigh.

"In the first place, you can watch any number of events in these games nowadays, can't you? You don't have to go through the trouble of clearing it."

I tell her it was useless, but my sister seemed to understand that. She understands it and pushes me to clear it up.

"I don't like those gameplay videos."

Well, there were a lot of problems. I don't like to watch adventure gameplay videos either.

Surprisingly impressed by my sister's fastidiousness, she soon reveals her true nature.

"Besides. This game has a function to read out the name that the player has changed. In an event or confession scene, players would like to be called by their own name."

When I saw my sister close her eyes and start to fantasize, I knew this girl was no good.

Or rather, can you change the name of the main character? If you had kept it fixed, you wouldn't have had to add that useless feature.

That way, my little sister wouldn't force me to play an otome game.

In the first place, playing an Otome game with a protagonist named after your sister —— Isn't it a torture?

"If you want to hear it so much, clear it yourself."

"I told you I was busy. Now I'm going abroad with my friends."

"Abroad?!"

I was surprised, but at the same time convinced.

No wonder my sister is dressed so enthusiastically if she is about to travel abroad.

My sister calls me onii-chan again with a cat-like voice.

"So. I'd like to get an allowance from onii-chan."

"Obviously, I refuse. Ask Dad. I'm sure he'll be happy to give you some."

My sister has always been good at everything she does, and my parents love her even more than they love me– At the same time, she is also trusted.

In front of everyone but me, she is feigning friendliness and deceives everyone around her.

"I already got it from Dad."

"——Dad already gave you some, huh"

I held my face with my right hand and pictured my father gleefully handing my sister a pocket money.

My dad is especially sweet to my sister.

My sister is coercing me with threats.

"If you do me a favor, I can clear up the misunderstanding with mom."

When I heard about the misunderstanding with mom, I remembered a few days ago.

I immediately snapped and told my sister back.

"It's your fault! Because you hide BL books and goods in my room!"

My parents' house still has my room.

In my room, my younger sister hid books and goods, a series of BL-related books, which are her hobbies. My sister hides her hobbies from the rest of the family except me.

Therefore, my mother, who was cleaning the room, found my sister's books and goods in my room.

Later that day, she contacted me —— she said something like, "You, if you're into that kind of thing, you should have told me earlier."

After hearing the details, I rushed to explain that it was a misunderstanding —— but the more desperately I tried to convince her, the more doubtful she became.

My parents all said, "Well, that's okay, right?" It was a disaster of unnecessary tolerance.

When she started saying things like, "I have nothing to hide", I was filled with intense anger toward my sister.

They believed my sister's words and assumed that the BL-related books and goods were mine.

So there was a difference in trust between me and my sister.

My sister was facing me with a wicked smile.

"If you complete the game properly, I'll clear up mom's misunderstanding. It's easy for aniki who like gal games, right?"

It is painful to continue to be misunderstood by my family.

Can you understand how I felt when I was suspected no matter how much I tried to explain that my love interest is a woman?

"R-Really?"

"I promise, onii-chan. Ah, please give me some pocket money. I'll make sure to buy you some souvenirs, too."

I pull out my wallet and hand the cash to my grinning sister.

"Here."

"Thank you, aniki."

After getting the money, she immediately calls me aniki. This is a good representation of my sister's personality.

My younger sister, who doesn't have a part-time job, has little pocket money to spend freely.

Therefore, she probably begged me for pocket money before her trip abroad, and additionally forced me to play the Otome game.

When my sister walks out the door, she turns away with a light step and leaves.

She only waved her right hand at me.

"Well, then, please complete all of them~. Make sure you complete it all."

All complete. Complete—— It means that she wants me to collect all the images and videos that I can get in the game and make them available anytime she wants to see them.

I hate it because it is more difficult than just clearing it.

I pick up the game software and raise an eyebrow.

"How many rounds am I going to have to do?"

Looking at the cover, I thought I'm a guy, I'm not intrigued ~, but I was strangely interested in the main character.

Despite claiming to be an Otome game, she does not seem to be a character that women are likely to like.

I wonder if it's the Japanese translation of the title or the subtitle? I read it.

"Ancient Love, huh?"

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Part 3

As the sun went down.

"What's this, it's too difficult or rather, they're not going to let you clear it!!"

On the monitor screen connected to the game console, the word "Game Over" is floating.

I've seen this many times. In other words, the otome game —— [this otome game], I've had a lot of game overs.

I'm not bragging, but I consider myself mediocre as a gamer.

Not good, but not bad either.

In most games, I can clear the game.

It wasn't until a few hours into the game that I thought that this would be easy enough to do with the help of a strategy site.

Conversations and events could be skipped with the skip function, but the adventure and war parts had to be played steadily.

Romance games don't take long to complete if you can skip the conversation.

But every time I play this game, it takes longer because of the adventures and wars.

Also, the war part is hard. Too painful.

Select Load from the main menu and see the map where I just lost.

The world in which the story takes place is a fantasy world of sword and magic —— but for some reason the land floats in the sky.

The people's transportation is a ship that flies in the sky —— an airship.

Airships came in a variety of shapes, some were sailing ships, while others existed in real life.

It seems that as long as there is a driving force, it doesn't matter what form it takes.

Well, that's fine.

Anyway, in the war part, the airships are firing cannons at each other.

And should I say Powered Suit that launches from airships?

It was called "armor," a robot about three to four meters long that could be ridden by a person.

In the armor, which is modeled after a humanoid knight, the capture targets are riding and fighting on the battlefield.

——I don't hate it.

But anyway, the capture targets are weak.

[Eat this! The ultimate technique of——]

One of the capture targets, the prince —— the crown prince [Julius Rafa Horfalt], was about to unleash his special move when the cut-in came in.

However, if the "counter" is activated on the enemy airship that is the target of the attack, the special move is prevented and the prince receives a counterattack as it is, reducing the hit points to zero.

[Ah, His Highness Julius!]

At the same time as the mournful cries of ally soldiers, the screen darkens and the words "Game Over" float across the screen.

With shaking hands, I threw the controller on the bed.

The reason I didn't throw it on the floor was so the controller wouldn't break on impact.

"Screw this! The prince is sinking too fast! Or rather, the initial arrangement is strange! Why start from the beat-up position? What do you mean you can't hold out until your allies come to your rescue!? There's nothing I can do about this!"

When I search for strategy articles on my smartphone, there is a lack of information and it says things like "There is a strong random element, so if you want to clear it, pray".

——It's the worst game. No wonder so many players are frustrated.

With my few remaining rational thoughts, I try to figure out how I can complete this game.

"I can't waste my days playing a game like this."

It's not worth spending days trying to clear my sister's game.

I want to throw it out irresponsibly, but I want to clear up the misunderstanding with my parents.

Just as I was thinking so, I received messages and images from my sister on my smartphone.

[I'm having fun abroad~. If you do well and complete it all, I'll even buy you a souvenir.]

"This damn little sister"

The image I received was a picture of her and her friend in swimsuits on a sandy beach in an overseas sea.

I'm not the least bit happy to see my sister in a swimsuit!

"You've got to be kidding me! You forced me to play the game!"

I send a message with my feelings and get a reply from my sister a little later.

[Is it okay to say that? I don't mind leaving that matter unsolved.]

"Kuh!"

[Good luck~, aniki.]

It's frustrating, but it was my sister who is in the lead.

After much thought——I pause the game and look through the list of paid downloadable content.

"Don't underestimate working people. This is not a social game. This kind of charge, it doesn't hurt or itch —— Hmm?"

When looking at the list of paid downloaded contents, I find a typographical error.

Airship on the battlefield —— The game is about a flying battleship, but it was described as a "spaceship" in the description.

The exterior design is convincing if one were to say that it is a spaceship.

"You can't have a spaceship in a fantasy world. Etto, the name is——Luxion?"

That spaceship was the most capable, and the price was also the highest.

Add Luxion and the other one to the cart, and as soon as I make the payment, it will start downloading.

"It pains me to pay more than two thousand yen for my sister's game, but now I can finish it quickly."

After solving the problems of the war part with the help of money, I decided to focus all my energy on the adventure and romance parts.

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Part 4

"——It's the worst. I realize it now."

Floating on the monitor screen are the letters True End, which means the true ending.

In the image, the five capture targets are gathered around the protagonist.

It's the unexpected reverse harem end —— It's a development where one girl is married to several boys.

Is this the true ending?

As a man, I feel uncomfortable, but does the harem look like a similar scene from a woman's point of view?

That being said, after completing the game, I realized.

—— My sister went on an overseas trip, but that girl lives at home and doesn't have a part-time job.

I didn't think she had the money to travel abroad, and I remembered what my family had said and done recently. Then I remembered that my sister got hundreds of thousands of yen for the reason that she qualifies.

My mom said something like, "I hope you pass the test on the first try," so it can't be wrong.

My sister is not stupid and would not spend all the money entrusted to her.

However, it is highly likely that a portion will be used for travel abroad.

I think she even collected pocket money from me and dad because she was barely scraping by.

"If I had threatened her with where the budget for the overseas trip came from, I wouldn't have wasted my consecutive holidays."

Before I knew it, it was the last day of the consecutive holidays.

I spent the whole holidays conquering beautiful male characters.

If this were a gal game, I could understand it, but this is an Otome game, I can't help but think I've wasted my time.

I think the adventure part was a bit interesting, but I was a bit hurt that I had to quickly sell off the gifts given to me by the male characters for the sake of conquering the game.

They will give you accessories, which you can sell to save time because you will have the right equipment.

It's a strategy that has to abandon the human heart.

When checking the percentage of event images and videos collected from the menu screen, it displays a number of 100 percent.

"Aa, with this, the game is finished —— But I haven't gotten my revenge on that girl yet, have I?"

I fell asleep a few times during the game, but I slept less than usual.

Maybe that's why my tension was strangely high.

"If I tell Mom that she is playing overseas and where the money is coming from - I can't wait to see when she comes back."

When my sister comes back from abroad, I am sure my parents will give her a sermon.

If possible, I would like to film the situation and use it as a material for the future.

After sending the picture and message to my mom, I stood up from my seat and stretched out.

"Well, now that some things have been taken care of, let's go to a family restaurant and indulge in a little luxury today to take my mind off things"

Let's comfort myself after a hard work at a nearby family restaurant.

With that in mind, I left the room and was about to go down the stairs when I suddenly felt dizzy.

"A-Areh?"

My vision swayed, I couldn't stand and reached out but couldn't reach the railing.

As it was, my vision continued to change rapidly, and I found myself on the ground.

"You're——lying——no way——I accept——"

Is this where my life is going to end? I can't accept that! I try to stand up, but my body doesn't listen to me.

As it was, my consciousness was cut off and it was all over.

It was supposed to end, but for some reason, it all started here.

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Part 5

Apparently, my life doesn't end once and for all.

"Damn it!"

It was a large futuristic room.

Smooth metal plate walls and ceiling. Some of the walls are equipped with huge monitors and a black board that appears to be a control panel.

The location is the control room of a huge spaceship.

The upper body of a humanoid robot grew out of the floor in the center of the room.

[Eliminate the intruder —— eliminate!]

That guy waving his huge arms around —— The robot was so big that I [Leon Fou Bartfalt] had to raise my head to look at it.

The rifle I'm holding looks vintage compared to the giant robot.

In the first place, it is the robot that is wrong.

Fired from a bolt-action rifle are bullets filled with magic in a fantasy world of swords and magic ——magic bullets.

The fired magic bullet leaves a faint light in its trajectory so that the light tails off and makes a line.

A direct hit is made, but is intercepted by the robot's magical barrier and explodes.

The robot itself was not scratched.

A robot with a round, glowing camera under its head visor, declares my actions to be meaningless.

[It's useless. You cannot defeat me with that level of attack.]

"If so!"

I took my right hand off my rifle and picked up a grenade.

When the pin is removed by biting it with the mouth and throwing it down, it causes a huge explosion.

The impact blew me backwards too, but when I managed to get up, the robot was damaged.

"It was my trump card, so stop trying to hold out or something."

[——New humans don't use magic and rely on guns and explosives. It seems that they have deteriorated a lot.]

The robot, whose visor was cracked, had discharged from part of its joints.

I didn't defeat him completely, but apparently I did some damage.

After replacing the magazine of my rifle, I touch the dagger at my waist.

[And if so. I will go out and destroy the new humans and their civilization. Now that the old humans are gone, my top priority goal is to destroy the new humans.]

"Don't keep bringing up the old days."

——It sucks.

[For me, it is a war that is still going on, not in the past. My fight is not over until I burn all of the new humans.]

When I came to collect the paid downloadable content, Luxion, he started talking about some unknown setting and said he was going to destroy the world.

At this rate, it's as if I woke him up and caused the destruction of the world.

When I run out and approach the robot, a large hand grabs me violently.

In the process, the rifle was dropped on the floor.

"Kuh!"

I immediately draw my dagger with my right hand and the robot brings its face close to mine. It seems to want to observe me up close with its camera.

[I will eliminate all new humans. Eliminate——Eliminate——]

Gradually, his grip tightens and I can hear a creaking sound coming from my body.

Spouting blood from the pain in my stomach, I pointed the dagger at the robot's head.

The target is a cracked visor.

[Do you really think you can defeat me with such a weapon now?]

"Drop dead, piece of junk."

When the dagger's mechanism is activated, a spring in the hilt ejects a 40-centimeter-long patterned blade with great force.

The blade pierced through the visor, and as it pierced inside, the pattern began to glow as it was. The blade was treated in the same way as the magic bullet, and a violent discharge occurred at the robot's head.

The robot weakens and releases me, and I fall to the floor and pick up my rifle.

The robot, which was behaving strangely, fell on its back with its upper body on the floor.

"——It's my victory."

Dropping the hilt of my dagger to the floor and clutching my side, I head toward the control panel.

Part of it is silver, and I bite the glove and take it off and put my hand on it.

[Are you trying to use me? I would choose to self-destruct rather than be used by you, the new humans.]

It seemed strange to the robot that I knew how to register as a master.

I wondered if the room was equipped with speakers, and the electronic voice from them, the same as the robot's, sounded a bit impatient.

"I'm just here to collect my purchased item."

[Purchased —— Item?]

I felt a tingling pain in my hand, which was placed on the panel.

Apparently, they are taking blood samples.

The black control panel has several screens when launched.

When asked to select a language, I saw the nostalgic letters.

"Haha, I never thought I'd see Japanese in another world."

[You can read Japanese?]

After completing the language selection, the control panel and monitor display the message 'Analysis in progress'.

At the same time, red light emitted from various parts of the room pours on me.

It's not an attack, but apparently they're checking me out.

When it was over, I sat down on the floor, unable to stand.

As I lean my back against the wall and look up at the ceiling, I hear the robot's startled voice.

[It is impossible. How can you be a new human and yet have all the characteristics of the old humans? Besides, they did not use Japanese. No, there is no way that the language of the old humans is still in use today. Who are you?]

I was too tired to answer the questions that kept coming, but I persevered and made conversation.

"Because my soul is Japanese. My soul food is white rice and miso soup."

Aah, and while I'm at it, I'd like to try some grilled fish, and the robot looks curious.

[Is it the concept of reincarnation? It's unbelievable.]

"Your existence is proof. The reason I'm here, the reason I can speak Japanese. I am here because I was reborn in that Otome game world."

[Otome game?]

Yes, somehow I had been reincarnated into the world of that Otome game after my death.

My current name is Leon.

In this fantasy world of sword and magic where the land floats, I was born into a rural baron family in a remote area.

Baron Bartfalt is a noble family in name only.

However, Baron Bartfalt family's surname did not appear in that otome game either.

I was reincarnated as the so-called mob character —— a kind of background that didn't have much of a role in the game, no name, and just a few lines of dialogue.

"Did you know? This world is basically an Otome game with a crazy setting."

[——It sounds like a delusion. But I find you very interesting.]

"Thanks for —— that"

After I finish saying it, I cough and look at the hand holding my mouth.

It seemed that I had vomited blood, and my palms were stained red.

Ah, again.

Am I going to die in such a silly way again?

When I fell to the floor like rubbing against the wall, I heard a robot voice.

[There is a problem with Master's life. Please send him to the infirmary immediately——]

With my consciousness fading, I was thinking about a lot of things.

"If I die again, will I be reborn in a different world? If so, I want to be born into a better world this time. No, I want to go back to my former world."

Looking back, Japan was a better place to live in my previous life than this world.

There would have been many problems, but it would have been better than this world —— a world that recreated that otome game.

"I want to apologize —— to my parents in my previous life——"

What came to mind was the faces of my parents.

And my little sister's face also comes to mind.

I remember my sister with her little annoying smile on her face, and I should be irritated, but for some reason, my mouth starts to smile.

"Does she —— at least —— show a little bit of remorse?"

I'm sure it's her fault that I was reborn in this world —— or not, but at least I can be a little bit angry with her.

She can take a beating from our parents, once.

That's where my consciousness is cut off.