I can’t believe he keeps taking Shizuku’s side, that damn siscon! He even said he loved me, so how come he won’t spend more time with me?! You said you loved me, and I’m your girlfriend, so hang out with me! Stupid Ikki!
Stella stomped down the dorm hallway, embers flaring in flaming red hair. As she rounded a corner, someone called out to her.
“Why, hello there, Stella-chan.”
Stella turned to see Alisuin Nagi and Kusakabe Kagami.
“Stella-chan, you’re sending sparks everywhere. Did something happen?”
“Not really... Anyway, you don’t normally come to this dorm building, Alice. Did you need something?”
“I just came here to return the game I borrowed from Kagami.”
“Ta-da! The hot new otome game that has everyone in tears: Prince Academy! I went to Akiba last week and waited in line for a whole night to make sure I got a copy!” Kagami proudly held up a game box. The cover had a number of handsome boys on it, all with disgustingly long eyelashes.
Otome games were dating sim games marketed toward women. Stella knew of their existence, but she had a rather biased view of what they were.
“Aren’t those games for lonely women who can’t make friends in real life?” she asked, frowning at the game box. “Are you two really into those kinds of otaku games?”
“My, it’s not good for a princess to be unjustly biased. Isn’t that right, Kagamin?” Alisuin said, turning to Kagami.
“Alice’s right, Stella-chan. Japanese visual novels are avant-garde pieces of art. They’re cultural artifacts! Going to Japan and not trying at least one VN is like going to France and not trying the cheese! Rumor has it that people in South America got so hooked on visual novels that they stopped being addicted to drugs! That’s just how amazing these games are!”
“R-Really? I suppose my knowledge might be a little lacking.”
What a sucker, Alisuin and Kagami thought in unison. Truly, they were the kinds of friends you didn’t want to have.
“Why not give this one a try, Stella-chan?” Kagami asked, her eyes gleaming.
“Um, it doesn’t sound like my kind of thing. I haven’t played these types of games before either...”
“That’s exactly why you should—to broaden your horizons. Besides, there’s a guy here I know you’ll like. Isn’t that right, Alice-chan?”
“Indeed. Take a look at this black-haired boy over here. Doesn’t he resemble a certain someone?” Alisuin said, taking the box from Kagami and bringing it up to Stella’s face.
Upon closer inspection, Stella realized that among the various boys with colorful hair and punk rock outfits was a black-haired boy with gentle features.
“Ikki...”
“They look really alike, don’t they? This guy’s called Issei-kun. Even his voice resembles Senpai’s. Fans of the Worst One have been talking up a storm about this game because of that.”
“That’s actually why I borrowed it from Kagamin to begin with. If I tried to lay a hand on Ikki in real life, Shizuku would kill me, after all. By the way, if you play it with headphones on, it’s like he’s whispering right into your ear. It’s unbelievably seductive.”
“I can hear Ikki...whispering into my ear?”
Stella gulped as she imagined Ikki whispering promises of love into her ear. Of course, as his girlfriend, she could just ask the real Ikki to do that, but unfortunately, she wasn’t that straightforward. Not to mention that it was the first time either of them had dated anyone. She was too embarrassed to even hold his hand; there was no way she could ask him to whisper in her ear. In fact, when they were alone together, they were so awkward they could barely even talk to each other. That was why the thought of getting to experience those things through a game sounded so appealing to Stella.
“What do you say? Why not give this game a try, Stella-chan?” Alisuin suggested with a smile.
“Bweh?! I-It’s not like I’ll play a game just because it has someone that looks like Ikki in it...”
Even as she said that, Stella kept sneaking glances at the black-haired boy who looked like Ikki. Noticing her gaze, Kagami grinned.
“I see. Well, if you don’t want to, we won’t force you.”
She took the game box back from Alisuin and started to put it into her bag. But before she could, Stella’s hand shot out and grabbed the package with surprising force.
“While I may not have any personal interest in playing a game with an Ikki look-alike, I, uh, said bad things about otome games just based on rumors I’d heard, and that was wrong of me. Since you’re offering, it’s probably a good idea for a princess like me to get a better understanding of Japanese culture, so...”
She really is so easy to manipulate.
I’ve never met anyone this gullible. But that’s what makes her so cute.
Unbeknownst to Stella, her two friends were thinking dark thoughts.
“Here you go. I’ll lend you the game console as well, since I doubt you or Kurogane-senpai have one in your room. You can return them whenever, there’s no rush.”
“Th-Thank you...”
“I can tell you what choices you need to make to get onto the Issei route. From the looks of it, you don’t care about any of the other boys, right?” Alisuin said.
“Yeah. I don’t want anyone but—um, I mean, it sounds annoying to do everyone’s route! And I’m not picking this guy just because he looks like Ikki!”
“Yeah, yeah. We know.”
“Don’t worry, Kagamin and I understand completely. We both know you’re even more of a tsundere than Vegeta, Stella-chan.”
“H-Hey!”
Thus, the princess of the Vermillion Kingdom began her foray into the world of otome games.