Chapter 11: The Other You, and the Me Who Knows the Truth

"Ah! Towa-chan, good morning~!"

"Morning, Towa-chan!"

"Yeah, mornin’—"

"TOWA-CHAN, WE NEED TO TALK!!!"

"GYAAAAAAAAH?!?"

Mid-greeting, Yui yanked my arm in a panic, dragging me into the same empty classroom as yesterday. She fumbled with a key, shoved me inside, and locked the door behind us.

"Where’d you even get a key?"

"Turns out it was in my desk this whole time."

"…Administration, huh."

"That’s not the point!"

"That’s not the point?"

I shrugged. If this went south, some teacher might get a pay cut—but hey, not my problem. Literally.

"How much do you actually know about AnaKoi?"

"Huh? We went over this yesterday. All we remember are the characters, right?"

"Not the characters. The backstory."

"Backstory?"

Nothing came to mind.

"Did you know AnaKoi was originally a galge?"

"Oh, the manga by that washed-up writer, Namida Tomo? Yeah, the game was so dark it got banned. The manga only got published because they promised all routes would have happy endings."

"Exactly. And I played that game. There was a childhood friend heroine in it—the kind who never gets a happy ending."

"No… way…"

I already knew where this was going. I just didn’t want to.

Yui took a deep breath, her voice grave.

"The no way is right. This world… might be the game’s version, not the manga’s."

"DAAAAAAAAH?!?! THIS IS THE WORST!!!"

"Yeah... this is way beyond what I expected."

But I only knew about the infamous galge—I never actually played it.

"Alright, bad news first. Let me explain the differences between the manga route—let’s call it P-Route—and the galge’s G-Route. As much as I can remember, anyway."

"Huh? P-Route? G-Route?"

"There’s this indie shooter I like with branching paths like that."

"Ohhh~"

She sounds completely uninterested. Good. Next time, I’ll make her play it and drag her deep into the abyss. Most of the games from our old world exist here anyway.

"Got it. Well, the biggest difference is the core setting. Since this is the galge world... things get insane."

"That’s... vaguely terrifying. ‘Insane’ how? Like heroines dying?"

"They die."

"...How? Hunted by assassins?"

"Hunted."

"Attacked by supernatural crap?"

"Attacked. By vampires. Depending on the route, vampires do show up."

"...Please tell me there’s no, like, serial killer arc during a school trip."

"There is."

"Surely there’s no god-like entity or some sh—"

"There is."

"WHAT KIND OF MADHOUSE IS THIS?!?!"

I doubled over, clutching my head.

"Oh, and also? We’re all basically hamburger steak."

"You mean, we’re all the main course... Got it. Also, are you hungry? I’ve got some Ryukakusan if you—"

"I hate minty stuff! Ugh—no, I mean, the gameplay. You pick a heroine, guide her choices, and manipulate events so the protagonist confesses to her in the ‘Final Judgment’ event. The concept was edgy enough to sell, but... each heroine has at least two bad ends. Some have three."

"That’s just horrifying."

My teeth chattered. This wasn’t just shock—this was real fear.

"You saw that prison break on the news yesterday, right?"

"Yeah...?"

"That’s foreshadowing. In a few years, our school gets taken hostage. If you mess up, one or two heroines die."

"WHAT KIND OF HELL-WORLD IS THIS?!?"

I lurched forward, screaming—then clapped a hand over my mouth.

"Relax. For some reason, nobody can perceive us in this classroom."

"What, like that Stand from JoJo Part 6? The one with the so—"

"Similar, but no. It’s the god’s doing."

"HAHAHA! Oh, my GOD..."

I crossed myself, laughing hollowly.

"Oh, and major characters get ‘special perks.’ No clue what, though."

"That’s terrifying."

"Lastly... the most important thing. Or—well, I can’t remember the rest."

Can’t remember? That vague phrasing set off alarm bells.

"‘Can’t remember’? More like... why did we forget in the first place? I was there. I should remember."

"I don’t know either... Last night, I was looking at your self-intro card, and it flooded back. Like... someone sealed those memories."

"So the god’s suppressing them?"

"...More like flags."

"Huh?"

"I think we need triggers to remember. I only recalled this because I focused on you—something that shouldn’t exist in the original."

"So we need specific triggers...?"

"And... Towa? There’s one more thing."

Yui’s face twisted like she’d bitten something bitter. After a deep breath—

"That childhood friend heroine? She only has one ending."

"And she dies in it."

"Because of the ‘Final Judgment.’ She couldn’t remember more—but the way she said it felt like she was blaming herself.