Otome Games are Tough, Unexpectedly

Hikigaya Hachiman was not one to play visual novels or dating sims. While he is a light otaku, he mostly watches anime and reads mangas and light novels. After the many admittedly shameful and embarrassing actions he had done in the past, it was only natural for him to look for comfort in a fictional world. Fiction are, well, fiction. They're not real but one can find solace in a world free of the burdens weighing down in real life. They're just that; a fantasy.

But that does not include...whatever this was.

"This is even worse than gacha pull rates...who the hell made this?"

It wasn't from his own volition to play this game. Komachi, his younger sister, insisted on him to play it. While she had not been so forceful of it, him being the good older brother he is, wanted to help her to get what she wanted. A 100% completion of the game as well as unlocking all the CGs. He is in college right now but being the lazy bum he is, he took liberty to take full classes in two days while the rest are reserved for his others like part time jobs and entertainment. Essentially, he has a lot of free time to finish the game. He is a man of his words, and this will surely earn him a lot of points from his younger sister.

While he had no prior experience with dating sims, he sure as hell could tell it wasn't supposed to be this tough. And what kind of dating sims, specifically an otome game, have an RPG gameplay as well as mechas? He didn't think many girls would like mechas considering most of them cater towards guys. Mechas are a man's romance after all.

But what they do like are the capture targets being these handsome, beautiful guys that just reeks of perfection. He couldn't fault them though, even guys have a thing for clearly fantastical women with appearance befitting of a goddess. Still, while he could see the appeal of this otome game, the gameplay for it just in general sucked ass.

Kusoge [1] is what this is.

"Komachi would be better off trying Dark Souls...or Bloodborne." He gave it a thought again. "Maybe not Bloodborne, that secret should just lay buried with me, heh."

Now, Hachiman is also an avid gamer. He had played many games on Vita-chan, RPGs and JRPGs included. And none of them sucks this much. It's almost impressive really, he could applaud them for it if not for the fact that they really tried making it good. Like the strategy, turn-based gameplay had clearly been put some thought into it but somehow, they made it nigh impossible to beat with the enemy being too powerful to even put a dent on. No, that's not right.

"The capture targets are just useless!" Hachiman nearly threw his controller but with how limited his budget is, he stopped. "What the hell is with these characters? Their stats are useless! How about you put your skill points into vigor [2], you damn ikemen!?"

From a gamer standpoint, the decision made does not make sense. Why go out of your way making a decent gameplay system only to give your clients useless characters? It's almost intentional.

After another game over, Hachiman returns to the main menu where he finally catches a glimpse of what the devs were aiming for; transaction. If it had not been clear before, Hachiman played many games. It's funny that he pointed out that the chances in the game to land hits or dodge was comparable to gacha pull rates, because the shop offers ships that are considered to be too overpowered for the game. He knew what they wanted.

"EA should die for making this a thing." He muttered, feeling his soul draining from his being as he browsed the shop page. "When will game devs learn that making a good game was all it takes to create money? It's like we're in an endless cycle..."

Looking through, he found a set of ships along with an interesting character being sold at a suspiciously decent price. He narrowed his eyes, it's cheap enough for him to consider but this has to be their marketing strategy. Trying to pull players in to buy it in desperation to beat the game. He checks his balance in his phone and since he did take a few part time jobs, he has more than enough money to consider it.

Hachiman looks at the clock, releasing a sigh. "The things I'd do for you, Komachi. This better earn me a lot of points..."

And with that, he spent days to complete the otome game tirelessly, putting more effort into it than he thought...

"Finally...finished it...that was unnecessarily...long..." Hachiman croaked out apthetically.

Interestingly enough, the reason why Komachi wanted him to complete the game was because the VAs for the game would say their names out loud in the live interviews or something, it was an irritating reason. Not because he was jealous of them voicing these handsome guys and getting Komachi's attention, not at all! Besides, he couldn't care less. All he cares about is that he completed the game and he is tired as hell right now. Nothing a tin or two of Max Coffee couldn't fix. And maybe a bowl of ramen, actual ramen and not the instant ones.

He has been holed up in his apartment for days he actually began craving for sunlight. Hachiman reached his phone and opened up his contacts.

{Komachi, I cleared the game.}

Almost immediately, he received a reply.

{You did!? I thought it would take longer! As expected of onii-chan! You earned a lot of points!}

He rolled his eyes but had a fond smile on his face. Komachi while can be annoying at times was one of the reasons why he hadn't fallen into the pits of darkness. He didn't know what to do without her honestly, he was thankful for her presence in his life.

{Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna go out for ramen. I'll send you the flashdrive later.}

{Thanks, onii-chan! Btw, I'm currently heading to your apartment so let's meet up on the bottom floor and go to the ramen stall together!}

{Sure.}

He closed off the app and stood up, stumbling a bit as he did so. Hachiman shook his head and slowly made his way towards the front door, slipping into his shoes and grabbed the door knob. Once he opened, his sight was met with the bright sunlight, too bright. A result of closing himself in a dark room for days. As he made his way to the stairs, smiling at the thought of seeing a happy Komachi, his vision began to blur. His head was spinning and his legs were shaking, losing his balance.

He tried to grab the rails but the strength in his body was completely drained. He found himself heading onto the flight of stairs, visions of the past flashed before his eyes. Not too long after, his body impacted the ground and he was sent tumbling down before his head landed square on the hard and cold concrete. His body was screaming out in pain but his head in particular felt warm. No, hot. It feels hot and Hachiman could feel himself losing consciousness.

"Onii-chan!?" His blurry vision could make out Komachi's figure, upon the sight of him she immediately ran towards him. "Onii-chan!! No, no! You're bleeding!" She quickly held his head and placed it on her lap, panicking as he took out her phone. "Ambulance, ambulance! Come on, come on! Onii-chan, get it together!"

"K-Ko..." He tried to utter her name but even his lips couldn't get the strength to mutter it out.

"Don't talk! Just look at me and don't close your eyes! You're bleeding too much!" Tears streak down from her eyes, he could feel the faint droplets landing on his face. "Come on, answer! What are they doing!?" The sight of her face was not pleasant to see, he was so used to seeing her being cheerful and mischievous that it felt wrong. "Onii-chan, just stay with me!"

"..." Darkness began to cover his vision.

"Onii-chan, please! Just keep your eyes open!" Her face becomes more blurry. "No, please...don't leave me again!" Then, his vision was all black. "Onii-chan!? Onii-chan!? No! Please! Onii...leave...me...no..."

Her voice became distant, leaving only echoes to reach his ears. Then, silence ensues.

August 6th, 2022. Hikigaya Hachiman left the world. All his family and friends were devastated by the sudden news and the funeral was carried out the next day.

"...!" He lets out a gasp as he opens his eyes, sweat covering his form.

He awoke under the sun as it was about to set, a look of shock and confusion. He looks around, seeing the familiar yet unfamiliar plains with some floating islands decorating the sky.

"What...?" He shook his head. "That was a strange dream..." He blinks as he tries to recall. "What was I dreaming about again?"

Leon Fou Bartfault was really confused. He guessed that was the result of not sleeping for days to...what?

He shook his head again. "I gotta go back..." Then his eyes widened. "Oh no, father's gonna be mad at me."

And he was right. After walking back to the mansion, his sight was greeted by the intimidating figure of his father with his shadow looming over his small stature whilst he could see his supposed "mother" smirking along with two of his siblings. Seeing those gaze somehow...felt familiar. That wasn't right, he couldn't understand why they looked at him that way before so why...?

"Ow!" Leon held his head in pain, tears swelled up in the corner of his eyes.

"Where were you? You should be studying with your brother!" His father, Balcus Fou Bartfault scolded right after he knuckled Leon on his head.

"Sorry..." Leon apologized, he actually forgot that he had a study session with his older brother.

Not the one behind his father, his other brother whom he shares full blood with.

"Useless child. When will you be useful for once?" His "mother", or rather his father's wife spat, looking as disdainful as ever.

Your staring is annoying, old hag.

Huh...? Why did he–?

"..." His father blinks as he looks at Leon straight in his eyes. "Have you been sleeping well?"

Leon furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at the strange question. "Yes?"

"Hm." His father closed his eyes with a hum. "Go on now, Nicks is waiting for you."

"Alright, old man [3]."

Huh? Since when did he call his father like that?

"...?" His father was confused as well but did not think about it further.

Leon entered the small and rundown shack where he was supposed to study with his older brother, Nicks Fou Bartfault. Seeing how they were treated reminded him that he was treated worse due to being the third son as well as the concubine's child. That was strange, he should know this so why was he confused about it?

"Hey, don't just stare–wha!?" Nicks was about to scold Leon when he noticed something. "What happened to your eyes!? Did you not get enough sleep? I told you already to go to bed early!"

"W-What? What are you talking about?" Leon exclaimed, surprised at Nicks' sudden outburst.

"Go to the mirror and see for yourself!"

Leon did as he told and stared at himself in the mirror. Indeed, there was something wrong with his eyes yet at the same time, wasn't it like this a long time ago...?

Then like a snap and a finger, he finally remembered. Everything makes sense now but he needed to make sure. Slowly, the memories flooded in.

"Nicks, where are we right now?" Leon asked.

"Huh? What are you talking about? Of course we're in the Bartfault territory." Nicks replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

"No, I mean what country are we in right now?" Leon elaborated further.

It seems...

"Are you joking? We're in the Holfort Kingdom, you should know about this right now." Nicks then widened his eyes as if realizing something. "Are you trying to escape again!? Father won't be happy with that, you know?"

"No, I'm not and the old man won't worry about that anymore." Leon replied.

I, not Leon Fou Bartfault...

"Now you're talking weird. Are you trying to act older now? What's wrong with you?" Nicks sighed before sitting down. "Whatever, I'm just gonna go back to studying now."

'Leon Fou Bartfault...Holfort Kingdom. No way...did I...? And of all places...' Leon could feel dread now that he knew what was happening.

No, it seems I, Hikigaya Hachiman, was reincarnated into an otome game. And it's the worst one too...

"Goddamnit..." He stares at himself in the mirror, seeing the same rotten dead fish eyes he used to see in his previous life. "This is...going to be tough."

"Hey, get back to studying!"

I reincarnated into a merciless world for a loner like me.

[1] Kusoge translate to crappy game. Or shitty game. It is what it says it is.

[2] Vigor is a stat in Elden Ring which increases your health. This reference is also a meme where if people found it hard to beat the boss, fans will tell you to "level up your vigor" since in ER it helps you a lot.

[3] Old man is Oya-jii in Japanese, a very informal way to refer you father. Otou-sama is what essentially Leon used and it's incredibly formal before Hachiman reincarnated into his body.

The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs or MobuSeka for short is one of my favorite light novels of all time. The series was what got me into reading LNs after all since I was going at it from the manga. Leon's character was fun to read about along with the developments and the world building however I cannot help but think...what would Hachiman do in this situation?

So here we are, Hachiman will become Leon but the story will be different considering this is Hachiman we're talking about. Characters will no doubt get more in depth with his involvement.

In the mean time, this fanfic serves just an idea since my brain shits out ideas constantly. I'm well aware that this should be placed in the crossover section but like with my Bloodborne fanfic, I just think this'll get more attention here.

That being said, I hope you enjoyed it. I got nothing more to say.

See you in the first chapter.