Prince Academy was set in the titular Prince Academy, a formerly all-boys private school for the sons of rich noblemen and businessmen. It had been made coed just the year before, and the protagonist was one of the first girls to enroll there. It was a classic reverse harem otome game where all of the boys were smart, handsome, and witty. Moreover, it was a pure visual novel with no gameplay elements aside from making choices at key points. The only games Stella had played before were FPSs and racing games, so for her, the text-heavy introduction was a bit lacking in excitement.
“Hey...when does the game start?” she asked after a few minutes.
“It already has,” Alisuin explained.
“Huh? But there’s no enemies for me to shoot.”
“I-It’s not that kind of video game... I suppose some visual novels do involve fighting man-eating monsters in the middle of dates, but not this one. Don’t worry, Issei-kun’s about to show up.”
Just as Alisuin said that, the protagonist, whom Stella had named Stella, bumped into Washimine Issei, the boy who looked so much like Ikki, and his sprite popped up on the screen.
“Watch where you’re going, fatass,” he said in a voice that sounded eerily similar to Ikki’s. “I’m the heir to the Washimine Corporation. Do you have any idea how much trouble you’ll be in for if I get so much as a scratch because of you?”
Three choices appeared on the screen:
Apologize
Tell him, “You’re the one who should watch where they’re going.”
→ Hit him with a German suplex
Stella immediately picked the third choice, showing no mercy to Issei. The screen transitioned to a CG of the main character suplexing him, her form perfect.
“Heh heh, I’d expect no less from my protagonist. That was a perfect bridge!”
“Geh. I can’t believe you went straight for the suplex. Don’t you want to get on his route?!”
“I mean, he pissed me off. Who does he think he is?! Sure, he looks and sounds like Ikki, but his personality’s completely different! You guys tricked me! These writers don’t know the first thing about Ikki!”
“They weren’t trying to make an Ikki copy to begin with. Issei just happens to look and sound like him... Though the suplex is the correct choice here,” Alisuin explained.
“Huh?”
On the screen, Issei got back up and said in an impassioned voice, “I’ve always been searching for the one...who’d correct my twisted personality with a merciless German suplex. Please go out with me!”
“I-Is he a pervert?!”
“It seems like a joke choice at first, but that’s how you get onto the Issei route. I totally blundered my first time playing.”
“What kind of crazy backstory does this guy have for him to fall for the first girl who suplexes him?!”
“Apparently, whenever he did anything wrong, his late mother used to scold him with a German suplex.”
“Isn’t that child abuse?!”
“I’m amazed you figured out the correct choice on your first try, though. You didn’t even need my help.”
“Does that mean I’m on this boy’s route now?”
“Indeed. There’s no more choices after this, so all that’s left is to read.” Alisuin got to her feet and made for the door. “I’ll be heading back to my room, then. Games like this are best enjoyed alone.”
Stella sighed as she watched her friend leave. Honestly, she wasn’t really in the mood to keep playing. Even if Issei looked and sounded like Ikki, his personality was so different that she’d lost interest in him. She had no idea who was into weirdos like that, regardless of whether or not they looked like Ikki.
Maybe I should just give the game back to Kagami.
Just as Stella reached out to press the power button on the PlayingStation Kagami had lent her, Issei’s next line popped up.
“You’re all I can think about now!”
“Huh?!”
A voice that sounded very much like Ikki’s came out of the speakers and into Stella’s eardrums. She looked over at the screen and saw Issei staring at her with puppy dog eyes. He really looked entirely too much like Ikki.
Stella silently grabbed her headphones and stuck the jack into the port. As she kept reading, she started to learn the reasons behind Issei’s eccentric behavior. It turned out that he was the illegitimate son of a commoner woman whom the previous head of the Washimine Corporation had had an affair with. After his father died of an illness, his grandfather had ripped him away from his mother and forcibly made him the heir to the Washimine fortune. After that, his mother had died of illness as well, and he had grown to resent the Washimine Corporation for pulling them apart. They hadn’t even let him visit her when she’d been on her deathbed. As a powerless child, there weren’t many ways he could get revenge against such a massive corporation, so he’d started acting like an arrogant bastard to at least try to besmirch their name.
“Sniffle... You really had it hard, didn’t you?” Stella muttered as she listened to him bare his soul to the protagonist. She’d been annoyed by Issei’s actions at first, but now that she understood the reasons behind them, she couldn’t hate him. In fact, his circumstances reminded her of Ikki’s, and she got even more absorbed in the story.
The start of the game had been rather boring, but the more Stella read, the more she found that there was a surprising amount of depth hidden within the normal everyday lives of these students. Furthermore, she got to vicariously experience the wonders of youthful love. Walking to school together with Issei, going to the amusement park with him on the weekend, sneaking away during the field trip to go to the beach at night—all of those moments felt special, and Stella was genuinely moved by them. She didn’t get to shoot down hordes of zombies or Soviet troops, but the read was far from boring.
Indeed, the game was teaching her that the joys of life were rooted in love. That being the case, it was only natural that time spent with one’s lover would be enjoyable. On top of that, the Ikki in the game was always looking directly at Stella and no one else. Even if there was someone standing next to him, he didn’t turn to face them. His gaze was focused on her and only her (because that was how his sprites had been drawn). He also whispered words of love to her when they were alone. There was no mention of his sister anywhere.
He only cares about me. No one else... Stella was completely entranced.
The three years of school that the game covered went by in a flash, and before she knew it, Stella had reached the graduation ceremony. Once it was over, she found herself alone in the classroom with Ikki. He gave her the most earnest look she’d ever seen and proposed to her.
“I love you, Stella. I want you to stay by my side after we graduate and keep my heart in a choke hold.”
“Ah...”