Title: New Game Minus?

Summary: Looking towards the fountain, I saw a familiar boy with a forlorn expression. So the harem ending was no good either.

Looking towards the fountain, I saw a familiar boy with a forlorn expression.

So the harem ending was no good either.

I was at my wits end. What will it take to escape this purgatory? Nothing I do seems to grant me freedom.

The harem end was no good. The monogamous end was not good. Seducing the fiancées was no good. Going celibate was no good. Becoming queen of the elves, beastmen, goblins, and/or orcs was no good. Getting in an orgy with all the destitute barons and viscounts, while fun for a while, was no good.

Nothing I did seemed to work. After a set amount of time or death, I was always returned to this moment.

Why? Why was this happening to me? What did this world want from me? Was I simply cursed to be stuck in this time loop?

I could only sigh over my predicament. My anger had long been extinguished. Despair had also left my being long ago. At this point, I felt almost nothing. Everything was numb to me nowadays. The most I ever felt nowadays was annoyance.

Speaking of annoyances, I had to compose myself. I needed to meet Julius again. He was an ornery brat even at the best of times. It was annoying, but I needed to at least be friends with him. Clearly fate desired me to meet him if my return point was of any indication. Plus, time would reset if I didn't slap him.

As I took a few moments to recall the lines I needed to say, I saw another girl enter the area. That was new. Had I taken that long to lament my fate?

Did she just slap him?

Oh... she also said the same thing I learned to remember by heart...

Julius gleefully dragged the girl away as expected.

Whelp, that was a short run. In about...

Three...

Two...

One...

...

Time didn't reset? Was I replaced... or had I always replaced her? Please don't tell me that I was stealing that girl's role this entire time. Don't tell me God had been forcing me to undergo all this because of a simple switch in interaction.

I looked up at the sky before giving it a double salute and screamed, "You couldn't have given me a sign before!"

Fuck it.

I needed a vacation. I was going to enjoy the next few years of my life and not get involved with the boys. At the very least, I won't have to deal with my currently immature ex-future-lovers.

I had a strong desire to drink the night away, but I ran into the predicament of not having the coin to drink the good stuff (something I'll be sure to fix as soon as I got permission to go dungeon diving again). I would have to be satisfied with the local pub and the piss water it tried to pass off as beer.

As I began to down my fourth pint, I looked around the pub. It was surprisingly lively and filled with students. Why these blue bloods deigned to throw money into this cesspool was beyond me. You would think nobles would be throwing their money at somewhere more pretentiously reputable.

As my eyes looked over the crowd, I noticed one boy was giving me an astonished look. Did I know the boy? I could not recall him at all.

Noticing I noticed him, he shook his head and turned away. I snorted.

Virgin. Can't even maintain eye contact with a pretty girl.

Looking on at the scene, I saw the boy's friends were ribbing him. Judging from the loud teasing, they were... Oh. They weren't teasing him so much as warning him away from any potential flings because it would hurt his marriage prospects.

A well of pity surfaced up from me. The girls at the school would and likely will have had eaten him alive given how meek he seemed.

Meh.

Not my problem.

It was a dog eat dog world in the Academy.

"Ms. Gardenia. I would kindly ask you not to sleep during the exam. Even if you don't feel intellectually capable of answering the questions, you should still at least try to appear respectable," my teacher snootily said.

She was one of those noble supremacists. She was a vile bitch that would constantly harangue me and overlook the obvious transgressions of the other girls. Her attitude had stopped bothering me during my fourth life. I couldn't even relish putting her in her place anymore.

That being said, I always made sure to give correct answers since detention was always such a waste of time.

"Finished," I mumbled as I handed the assessment exam.

After looking at my exam, she quickly looked at the surrounding students to check their sheets.

"Care to explain why your answers are the exact same as Sarah's verbatim?"

"Care to explain how you expect me to know the exact words of a student's answer who sits behind me without me ever turning my body?" I innocently said.

"We will be speaking to the headmaster."

"And I'll be tested verbally, get all the answers right, you then try to cheat by asking me questions meant for third years, I still answer, then Professor Lucas gets involved, and then you get sacked both for unprofessionalism and for going out of your way to get me kicked out of school despite the royal decree."

"Headmaster now!" she screamed as she hauled me through the door.

As prophesied, she was sacked. Though my former mentor did lecture me about minding my manners. An unfortunate side effect of all this was that I was expected to attend etiquette lessons with him for the foreseeable future. Normally this wouldn't have happened, but without Julius getting involved, I was shit out of luck.

"Ah, it's the virgin," I said in surprise as I saw the guy at the bar dutifully preparing some tea.

Professor Lucas had me sit in his other protégé's tea party. The boy was apparently so pathetic that none of the girls accepted his invitation. Seeing the familiar boy, everything fell into place.

Probably a blessing on his part to be honest.

"... Whore," the boy responded after a few moments.

I raised my eyebrow at that. So he wasn't spineless.

"Tisk. Tisk. You shouldn't speak like that to a lady. I thought you were apprenticed under Professor Lucas, or is it that you're so incompetent that this is... bleh!" The professor had whacked the top of my head.

Looking at Leon, Professor Lucas said, "While Livia is correct in that you shouldn't speak so crassly," he then turn to me. "You had it coming. You don't have free license to insult others just because you are a woman. Kindly do not take your peers' actions as normal behavior."

"Yes," Leon and I both said.

"Now then, why don't we try this again. Livia, please start from the top."

I resisted rolling my eyes. It would just extend my punishment. Better to get my detention over with. Maybe I could be released early on good behavior.

... Nah. I was bored.

"So how many kids do you expect me to pop out?"

Okay... I'll admit it. The virgin was a damn stud in bed when he was angry.

AN

1) Another short abandoned plot. I just couldn't work up the will power to keep writing once I hit the tea party event.

2) I do think Troll Olivia could be fun, but I honestly can't think up more plot points for this at the moment.

3) I guess you could consider this Olivia to be infected with Japanese Leon's more intrusive thoughts. So would this make it selfcest?

Review Response

Dragon Blaze-X: Please do share your fic.

A.Deeno: So you'll have the pleasure of experiencing the chapter for the first time again, right?

Qriiz: I mean Stephanie didn't even know, and she's an earl's daughter and engaged to Brad. I don't think not having a TV matters at that point or being a lower noble. At this point, it really just feels like all the children live enough in a bubble that they have zero clue about anything besides the Academy.

Tidus: Sure.