TLN: Sorry that this isn’t the “Is it Tough Being a Friend?” that you were waiting for. I’ll continue that now.
This caught my interest, and I thought about doing a quick teaser for the time being.
Also, the English title that this LN provides is “The World of Otome Games is a Tough for Mobs” but that’s not grammatically correct.
Justice and evil can change depending on one’s point of view.
I was so tired that philosophical lines, which I normally wouldn’t think of, popped up into my head.
My willpower has been shaved down to the point that…I’ve been having a blank expression for a couple hours now.
I want to lie down on my bed and spend some leisure time on the manga and anime I love so much. Either that, or I’d like to play some games that have a male audience in mind.
With eyes like that of a dead fish, I, a functioning adult, am playing…an otome game. (TLN: An otome game is basically a romance game directed towards a female audience. Most commonly, they’re dating sims with a female protagonist.)
It’s one of those so-called love simulation games which play similarly to the gal games that are directed towards males, but are on the opposite end of the spectrum. (TLN: Gal games are basically romance games directed towards a male audience, pretty much the opposite of an otome game.)
The protagonist is a girl. It’s an otome game, so the capture targets are males. On the other hand, if the protagonist is a boy and the capture targets are females, then it’s a gal game.
That’s right, during my time off, I’m not playing a game directed towards males.
It’s not as if I like otome games, I prefer gal games.
“Why do I have use this morning to the win over some likeable guy?”
I’m not happy to see the male character on the other end of the screen blushing.
Basically, every captureable character that appears in the game is beautiful.
They’re created by popular illustrators and voiced by famous voice actors. If this were a gal game…I’d be glad to hear the female characters, but the sweet voice of a guy doesn’t make me happy!
With a blank expression, my focus was on a smartphone’s screen.
Since I have no motivation, I have to rely entirely on walkthroughs to play.
Once selecting a choice on the flickering screen, you’ll know if the love meter rises, accompanied a sound effect and a varying pose that the 3D character will make.
The male character had a pose where his hand was brushing through his hair, along with his cheeks slightly blushed.
‘You’re different from normal girls. Let me hear your name.’
This guy’s the crown prince──an capture target character that appears in the game, and is established as a male character that’s highly popular around the campus. This is a scene where the protagonist comes across him by chance, and not knowing that he’s the crown prince, interacts with him normally.
I’m far past my second playthrough. I could only let out a complaint about these first-meeting scenes I’ve seen many times.
“You gotta be kidding. There’s no way that one wouldn’t know who the crown prince of their own country is. How sly. How sly of the protagonist.”
It seems that the crown prince doesn’t notice the sly behavior of the protagonist.
“…He’s blushing while in delight. He’s got no keen eye.”
I’m spending my long-awaited weekend break playing an otome game.
Currently, it’s noon on a Sunday. I’ve been playing this otome game non-stop since Saturday. I’ve been busy recently and didn’t get a weekend break in a while.
At that moment, I heard an electronic sound from my smartphone.
Upon checking, it was a message with an image from my younger sister.
‘Enjoying it abroad with my friends~’
…Seeing my sister’s smile made my blood boil.
My sister was having fun at a beach and hotel with her friends.
I immediately replied.
‘Stop kidding me! Didn’t you push this game onto me because you said you were busy!’
Right now, I’m playing my sister’s otome game.
On Saturday morning, my sister, a college student living with her parents as opposed to me who lived alone, visited my apartment.
I thought of it as unusual before she forced a game onto me.
With a smile, she said “Since you have free time, complete this game for me, brother.”
And complete means to really complete it. After seeing an image, video, or scene in-game at least once, it can be replayed many times over. She told me to complete everything.
‘Stop screwing around, do it yourself!’ is what I also said.
──I got a reply from my sister.
‘Huh? Is it alright for you to say that? I won’t resolve the misunderstand with mom and the others that way. I’ll buy you a souvenir, so please complete it~. *If you don’t complete when I get back, I’ll do more cruel things that will keep you stuck in that apartment. From, your cute sister.’
As I read the message, I yelled while fighting the urge to slam my phone onto the floor.
“Damn iiiiit!!”
I wanted to refuse doing this.
However, my sister who lives at home──hid a large amount of her personal books in my room. They were books she liked and were for fujoshis. My mother happened to find them when she was cleaning, and now it’s caused a misunderstand about me supposedly having that kind of preference. (TLN: Fujoshis are girls that have a very strong passion for yaoi/homosexual relationships between men in manga/anime/novels)
I tried to resolve the misunderstanding, but the more I tried to explain──the more she thought I was trying to deceive her.
…It’s a nightmare.
I’ve also learned that my sister is a fujoshi as a result of this misunderstanding.
And, perhaps you could say it’s just bad luck, but…people trust my sister more than me. Even from the perspective of her brother, her looks are on a different class and her grades are also superior. I’ve also heard talks about how she has a gentle and friendly personality.
In truth, she’s just skilled at feigning kindness, and she always gets me into trouble.
Judging from this otome game matter, I can also tell that she has the worst kind of personality.
She hides her hobbies, and no matter how much I try to explain to my parents, they place more faith in my sister’s words.
When my worried mother gave me a phone call, I almost cried. That’s also the moment where within my mind, I deeply engraved the desire to take revenge on my sister.
Holding back the urge to rage, I returned my line of sight to the screen.
Once picking up the controller again, I only thought about clearing the game so that this misunderstanding can be resolved. It’s annoying, but my parents trust my sister.
My sister promised to clear up the misunderstanding if I complete the game.
…There’s nothing left for me to do other than completing this otome game.
This is frustrating, but my sister excels at talking her way through a situation. On Saturday morning, she refuted my objections to her needing cash for her trip──and demanded I give pocket money to her. It’s quite pathetic that I was frightened into giving her cash.
However, I will definitely take revenge. I will continue my scheming as I fill up the love meter for this guy on the other end of this screen.
“You’ll regret incurring my wrath.”
Since a long time ago, sister has been clever with getting her way.
She knows that she’s cute, she’s the exact opposite of me. Her only weak point is probably how she hides her hobby from her surroundings.
I knit my eyebrows while continuing the game with feelings of frustration.
“…I can’t get pushed around each time.”
My sister forced an otome game onto me.
Aiming to be a large-scale otome game, it has quite a lot going for it. My younger sister is one of those that bought the limited edition immediately for the illustrations and voice actors.
However, the problem is that despite being an otome game, is has RPG elements and even strategy simulation elements in it.
As expected, this is a strange change of pace compared to the games made by companies with a male audience.
The game’s setting is a fantasy world of swords and magic.
It’s a setting where people live in a magical world that stands out from Earth.
I believe that it’s a world with royalty and nobles, where the level of society isn’t that high, but it’s also a world where airships fly through the sky and knights can wage war while wearing armor that are like powered suits.
In this world, the protagonist goes to a nobles’ academy.
the protagonist herself seems like a simple girl from the countryside. She’s a student that’s not a noble, but a commoner, and yet, she’s given special permission to enroll in the school.
Since her position is special, she gets picked on by the high-status noble girls. At that school, she comes across the prince and some noble sons, but at the same time, she gets involved in various matters and even a war.
Anyways, it’s a game that tosses adventure and war into a school love game.
In addition, it’s “a world very convenient for women.”
In the beginning, my sister also tried clearing it herself, but in the end, it seems she wasn’t well-versed in the factors of boys and gave up.
Thanks to that, I ended up getting stuck with a tedious job. She said “You just have to do this simple game. Easy, right?”
Well, I certainly like games, but even I think that this is difficult.
“Nobody would want these sections inside an otome game in the first place.”
Though I complained, I stared at the screen while operating the controller.
On the screen, a unit of airships were lined up.
The design of the airship looked like a rugby ball. Various other airships were facing it.
There were hexagonal grid lines. It was turn-based combat where you move allied ships to have them attack using the cannons on their side, and knights wearing armor will swoop down on the enemy, but──.
“Damn it! What kind of enemy skill is being activated here! This is strangely hard. I’m trying to clear this more efficiently.”
The enemy’s skills and special techniques will activate, and the attacking allies received large damage.
Once the ally was attacked, they directly received the opponent’s offense and sunk…although skill and ability can help with winning against the opponent, there’s a randomness factor that makes things very difficult.
My sister would give up here.
“Ah, crap.”
The airship that I couldn’t let sink, the one carrying the prince, instantly sunk.
I saw the letters “Game Over” on my screen.
“It happened again! It’s impossible to play while looking at the walkthrough!”
I oh so wanted to tell my sister to give it up. I want to say that I could just download a completed save file off the internet, but…this game has the feature of naming the protagonist. My sister put in her name.
She wants the famous voice actors to whisper her name, or something like that…
Due to that, I can’t solve this by putting in a completed save file.
I have to clear it myself.
“I’ve already done this so many times! The prince sinks too much! Is it that? Does it want me to cave into microtransactions? Is this how it wants me to spend money on microtransactions?!”
Despite being an offline game, there’s paid content for upgrading. Were they a response to players’ cries of not being able to clear the game, or was this done as a calculation…? They give out numerous items that make the war part easy.
I don’t want to cough out even more expenses for my sister, but what’s causing my time to be taken away is certainly the battle and war parts.
Other than those, this is the same as a gal game. No issues arise unless you select the wrong choice. I paused the game to look for paid content.
A large number of items appeared on the screen.
Their prices around around one hundred yen, but things that are helpful for the battle part, like airships and armor, are strangely expensive.
Three hundred or five hundred yen. There’s even paid content going for eight hundred yen.
“…It’s setups like this that make its reputation worsen.”
Initially, this anticipated super-large scale work was criticized on the internet for not being beatable without microtransactions.
Due to it having steep costs, the pricing was reworked and lowered within a month.
Yet even so, I still think it’s expensive. With those thoughts in mind, I was taking a look at the men’s swimsuits for sale.
“I’m not fond of men’s swimsuits.”
What’s on sale is a special item that makes the male characters appear in swimsuits.
Seeing it made me disgusted.
Though, if this was a gal game and this item put the female characters in swimsuits, it would completely be the type of thing I’d purchase.
“It probably doesn’t work for the women like it does for the men.”
I gave off a feeble smile while emotionally exhausted.
I feel displeased imagining a female player getting off to these guys in swimsuits.
“I wonder if women feel the same way about harems? Well, whatever.”
A man surrounded by women is a harem, a woman surrounded by men is a reverse harem. A man seeing a reverse harem will feel uneasy, and a woman seeing a harem would definitely feel unsure.
I’m getting tired about thinking of such things. Anyways, I’ll just think solely about completing the game.
“Well then, what do I buy to quickly finish the game?”
Since they’re paid content, they should be potent.
Special weapons for the male character, special equipment for the protagonist, and other such things were also up for sale.
I’d anything, I’d like to find something useful for the war part and buy it. Anything that can help with progressing through the game.
“…This one?”
What came into view was a battleship that was the most expensive paid item.
It ignores troublesome status effects and the need to resupply, it seems to be a strong airship in any case.
“Rather than an airship, this looks more like a spaceship.”
Its appearance is metallic and it doesn’t look like any of the other airships in the game. Its design would be one that people would think of as a space battleship.
For being one thousand yen, I had nothing to criticize in terms of its performance.
Checking its description, it’s from ancient times or something…at any rate, it was written down as a terrifying spaceship.
“…It really is a spaceship! Or maybe, that’s just a typo?”
Did they write it as a spaceship in the description by mistake? I was thinking about it, but I don’t care as long as I can clear the game.
What’s important is that this purchase could make the game easier.
Next is to check for armor.
Powered suits…they take the form of armor, but they don’t give any sense of realism at all. They’re appearances look like what’s referred to as robots.
The guys who wear this armor while in the midst of war are…the knights.
From a woman’s point of view, perhaps they find it cool to see a man that can fight for them?
Anyways, with a purchase this big, it seems like I can depend on it.
If this makes it easier to reach the capture, then I’ll consider it a cheap expense.
The black armor makes it look a bit villainous, but that’s no problem. Dark heroes are cool… Thinking about it, this was a pretty good design for something coming out of an otome game.
Blades are strong, but master swordsmen don’t have a projectile weapon. Their weakness is their reliance on weapons, and if a guy has poor equipment…they’re a feeble magically-illiterate fool that’ll get struck.
Due to the unhelpful capture target characters, I’ve gotten a game over many times…
“I have to finish this…and at any rate, I want to complete it easily.”
I’m going to lose my precious time off playing an otome game.
I don’t have patience here, so by using the paid content that I purchase, I can continue progressing through this otome game.
As afternoon passed and it became evening, I managed to unlock over 90% of the events and CGs.
All that remains is the reverse harem ending.
The remaining ending is where all of the male characters get married to the protagonist.
This is what’s called the true end of the game──the proper ending, but it doesn’t matter to me whether it’s true or not.
I’m not playing this for the thought of capturing them.
In the daily life part…I took the items received by the guys when their love meter reached a certain amount, and sold them off for money at a second-hand shop the next day.
Nevertheless, the protagonist is a companion of the people in question.
It would be fiendish to sell them off in front of their eyes, but it’s a game so it doesn’t matter.
If this were a gal game, it would be impossible for me to take such an action. Even though it’s a game, I can’t be so fiendish.
Anyways, this my sister’s otome game. Nothing matters as long as I can clear it.
I continued playing while thinking as such…and then I realized that it had turned to night.
Finally reaching the reverse harem end, the joy from the liberation was accompanied by a sense of emptiness.
“…It took a whole two days to conquer this.”
When seeing the ending, feelings of rage, then sorrow, welled up.
Why did I have to do this?
I saved the data, and having kept my promise with my sister, I collapsed onto my bed.
Looking at my clock, it was a little early to sleep.
I don’t feel like moving because of my exhaustion, but the outcome of being relieved that it’s all over was an empty stomach.
Placing my hand on my stomach, I remembered that I ate little in the morning and nothing by the end.
“There was nothing in the refrigerator.”
I was planning to do some shopping during my time off, but I prioritized clearing the game, so I did not go outside.
“Perhaps I’ll go to a restaurant?”
When checking the time on my smartphone, I got a message from my sister.
‘I’m worn out from all the fun~. I’m going to return in a few days, so you better clear it by that time. If you don’t take this seriously, you’ll forever remain a perverted, foolish brother 😂.’
“This girl is the worst.”
She’s making demands to me as she enjoys herself and tells me to work seriously. Furthermore, she’s extorting money out of me…
However, a small question arose.
“Has she been taking a part-time job or something? Where is her travel money coming from?”
The pocket money that I gave her wouldn’t be enough to cover it.
Perhaps she’s trying not to reveal it because of her imprudently high pride. If she works during closing time, she wouldn’t have any leisure time until late at night.
In addition, she said that she won’t do a part-time job because doesn’t want to do labor.
Now that I think about it, I remember that my mother said something a little before that.
“She said that money was needed to get a license, or something like that.”
It seemed my parents thought about getting a car license and were preparing money for it, but only part of it had to do with using it for travelling.
I took a snapshot to copy my sister’s message.
I’ll compile it with a PC so that I can send it to my mother.
Of course, what’s accompanying it are images of her comments.
“…What an idiot. She’s makes light of her brother, so I’ll do this.”
She threatened me and went on a trip.
If I show this to our parents, what would they think?
As to be expected, she won’t be able to make an excuse in light of hard evidence. Then finally, the mask hiding her true character will come off.
I noticed that I was grinning while thinking about it. Then I realized something.
“Huh? If I did this from the start, I wouldn’t have had to pointlessly clear this game…argh, it’s no use crying over spilled milk now.”
While realizing how stupid I was, I got up and took my wallet in my hand since I was hungry.
I’ll temporarily put the matter of my sister on hold and go eat.
I’m not going to rack my brain over this otome game anymore.
While thinking so, my steps got lighter.
It was a strangely fluffy feeling, kind of like the feeling of joy after being free from work.
“Now then, I’ll go on splurge today and even take something more pricey from the menu…”
I left my door while looking forward to my gorgeous dinner. I walked through an empty passage with flickering fluorescent lights, and then was attacked by a sudden dizziness as I approached the stairs.