I never liked otome games. I always found them very monotonous and boring because what's the point of all that? Picking a guy and diving into a cliché plot that would only bore me? I also didn't think it was fair what happened with the villain in the games she always ended up being exiled or killed by the protagonist. And I was supposed to fall in love with someone who kills people for my sake? No thanks.
I watched some animes too. They played up the plot of being reincarnated in an otome game as either the protagonist or the villain, but when you were the latter all you wanted was to keep a low profile and survive to have a peaceful life or it would all end in your death. I'm not judging I would probably do the same, if I were in their place. But there was always something that left me unsatisfied: if the villain became a heroine, who would be the villain? That question was answered by some things that happened at the time whether it was the appearance of a new character or some supernatural event that threatened the lives of the characters, the universe always managed to return everything to its natural order.
Still there was always a part of me that wondered what would happen if… the protagonist was the villain. What would happen if that innocent and beautiful young woman became the origin of all evil? Well, they also released animes with that premise clarifying some of my doubts. But they never satisfied me. Because none of those stories had an exemplary villain who didn't suddenly change her way of thinking, who didn't let herself be influenced by the main character on duty. I wish that one day someone would make a story with that kind of imposing and determined character. Maybe everything will be different that way.
One day at school my best friend Anna recommended a new otome game to me it had been released relatively recently and Anna had become a fan of the story. At first I didn't pay much attention to it, it wasn't something I was interested in but my friend insisted so much that I decided to give it a try.
That day at home when my parents and brother were asleep I started playing the game.
The name of the game was "How to be a Villaness". The plot was simple: my character was a commoner girl who entered a magic academy and met a group of four predominantly handsome boys and won the hearts of each one of them, it was nothing out of the ordinary and it had nothing to do with the title of the game. However everything changed when the game gave me the option to change characters that had never happened before.
At one point I was playing with Anika, the protagonist and center of the reverse harem. But then she appeared, Hosui appeared.
Hosui was a secret character that I managed to unlock after taking Anika to a cave deep in the forest and the only way to do it was to go alone and without the company of any of the boys (which cost me a lot to achieve because they were all very persistent). Upon entering the cave, I went into the darkness until a girl with black hair that reached her waist appeared, she was sitting on the ground in a fetal position and with shackles on her ankles.
"Oh, for God's sake! Are you okay?" Anika would say "Let me help you."
And at that moment my control passed from the protagonist to that black-haired girl. I could refuse Anika's help or accept it but in the case of doing so a warning sign would appear on the screen.
"If you accept Anika's help, you will be able to use this new character in the future."
At that moment it seemed interesting to me so I didn't think about it too much. I accepted the help of the protagonist and Hosui was freed.
"What is your name? My name is Anika Leonhart."
"I am Hosui… Hosui Yoshino."
And that was the end of the game for now. I had to go to sleep because I had to get up early tomorrow to go to school. I paused the game and i went to take a shower and got into bed. That night I dreamed about Hosui for some reason. We were together in the cave and she thanked me for freeing her, that she would reward me for that and that she would give me her life if I ever needed it. I told her that it was not necessary, that it would be inhumane to leave someone prisoner inside a cave to which Hosui laughed with a chuckle. After that I woke up.
The next day I went to school like every day, there was nothing strange… until I saw the news.
My brother's name is Caleb, he is 18 years old and is in his last year of high school. He always leaves for school earlier than me, rides his bike through rush hour traffic, which drives my mother crazy with worry because it can be dangerous. Caleb always had warnings about this but he ignored them every time. And now the fruit of his decisions was on the morning news where they reported a traffic accident near my house. A car going over the speed limit and a red bicycle were involved… my brother's bicycle. The driver of the car was identified as a businessman who was late for work.
The identity of the driver of the bicycle was also made public. He was an 18-year-old boy with a mole on his chin, red hair and blue eyes. My brother, Caleb Miller.
My mother who was serving my breakfast at the table dropped the cup of coffee she was holding and the plate full of scrambled eggs and sausages on the floor. She left the house and ran three blocks to the scene of the accident. I could see on television how my mother arrived at the scene, how she broke down in despair in the arms of a police officer who blocked her way and how she screamed and cried at the same time: "My baby" "It's my son" "It's my baby."
I couldn't feel anything I just watched the television. I wondered if my father had seen it too. He worked at a brick factoryand maybe he had a small TV or radio in the employee break room where he could listen to the news. I don't know. I just hoped I wouldn't be the one to tell him that Caleb was being loaded onto a stretcher and into an ambulance.