The Beginning

“Akito, I’m leaving now. I need to run a few errands before my shift starts. Call in case of emergencies”
Akito Kurosaki’s gaze left the TV for a moment to see his father walking towards the front door with quick steps while wearing a familiar white scrub. It wasn’t unusual for medical professionals to get called in during later hours of the day, but he certainly seemed more tense than usual. His tension most likely came from the absence of his wife - Akito’s mother. She had to travel to Osaka to help her brother and sister-in-law with their newborn baby, after he ended up in a serious car accident. He survived the accident, but was in no condition to leave the hospital for quite some time. The emergency trip meant that Akito’s father now had to take care of two children by himself until his wife would return. Granted, said children were high school students, so they were fine on their own at home while their father worked. He likely just missed his wife dearly, and refused to admit it.
“Yeah, sure” he responded.
As his father grabbed the doorhandle, he glanced back at his son. “And refrain from watching that show for too long. Your exams will be around the corner before you know it. I expect your grades to be on top, as always”
“Have I ever settled for second best?” Akito countered with a rhetorical question.
His father gave a short nod before opening the front door, and stepping outside.

Not even fifteen minutes had passed before the front door suddenly flung open, making Akito flinch from surprise. He could hear the front door slam shut soon after. It couldn’t possibly be one of his parents, so there was only one option left; his younger sister. When he averted his gaze from the TV screen, he noticed the figure of a black-haired teenage girl running past the living room, and up the stairs. Not a single word was spoken. Not even a glance. Aktio blinked a few times in confusion, trying to grasp the scene he just witnessed. It was unusual for Fuyumi - his younger sister by a year - to be acting like this. Every time she was upset about something, she would state her thoughts loud and clear. Swearings weren’t uncommon. This time, however, was different. Something must’ve happened.
‘Wasn’t she just out with her friends?’ Akito thought to himself.
He soon heard the door to Fuyumi’s door being slammed shut as well. The situation didn’t seem good. What was he supposed to do? Personally, he would’ve wanted to be left alone for a while before having a talk. But this wasn’t about him or his preferences. After considering his options for a few minutes, he had made up his mind.
‘I should check how she’s doing first, and ask if she wants to talk. If she wants to be left alone, then so be it. But I should at least ask’
Frankly, Akito wasn’t the best when it came to talking about emotions, and helping others working through them. But he was at least a good listener.

After turning the TV off, Akito made his way towards his sister’s room. When approaching the door with quiet steps, he froze in place the moment he heard a noise coming from her room.
‘Sobbing…?’
There was no doubt about it. Fuyumi was sobbing in her room, but tried her best to remain as quiet as possible. Probably to avoid alerting Akito.
Resisting the urge to barge through the door and demand to know the name of the person who had dared to hurt her, Akito gently knocked on the bedroom door. The sobbing abruptly stopped when he knocked.
“It’s just me” he said. “Can I come in?”
He could hear Fuyumi clearing her throat, most likely trying to compose herself.
“Uhm…Sure…”
Upon opening the bedroom door, Akito noticed that his sister was sitting on the edge of her bed with her attention focused on the hand-held game console. Fuyumi had her head down, so her hair prevented him from seeing her face.
So she was crying after all. Otherwise she would’ve looked up. He had to keep his composure. Did one of her friends do this? Did they say something hurtful? Maybe they left her behind to go somewhere else? No, that couldn’t have been it. Akito had met those girls before. They didn’t seem to have toxic behavior.

He walked inside Fuyumi’s room without closing the door behind him. No one else was home, so there was no point in closing it. He calmly walked over to her bed before sitting down next to her without saying a single word. A moment of silence passed without either of them saying anything. Only the sound of Fuyumi pressing buttons on her hand-held console could be heard. But words weren’t necessary for Akito to notice that she was trying her hardest to keep her emotions under control.
“...I’ll be fine. I’m just having a bad day” she finally mumbled.
The sadness she felt was evident in her tone and voice. A part of Akito wanted to ask “Whose face do I have to punch?”, but he refrained.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked her in a soft tone while glancing at the console’s screen. It was one of her favorite games - an otome game she wouldn’t shut up about. She even had her favorite character as the background image on her phone before she started dating her current boyfriend.
“It’s nothing. I just…”
She struggled to speak without sniffling. Biting her lower lip, she tried to remain calm. Then she continued;
“...It’s Kei. We bumped into him and his friends, and hung out with them for a while. We stopped by the café next to the train station, and the guys went to get our orders. He had left his phone on the table. That’s when he got a text. I didn’t mean to pry. I-I just…” Fuyumi tried to explain before using her right hand to rub her eye while her left hand was still holding on to the console.
Akito took a deep breath, trying to keep himself calm. It was obvious what had transpired, but he still patiently waited for her to finish explaining.
“So I glanced at the screen and saw a girl’s name. She called him ‘babe’ and wrote that she was looking forward to seeing him again the next weekend. I unlocked his phone and checked his DMs. I-I know it was bad of me to do that, but...I had to see…”
For multiple reasons, the reveal wasn’t surprising to him. He never liked Keisuke, also known as ‘Kei’ among the students at school. That guy didn’t seem to take anything seriously. Of course that half-assed moron wouldn’t take a relationship seriously either.

Akito used his left hand to gently pat her on the head. He had always done this to comfort her ever since they were little kids. It always made her feel better. Although, he wasn’t sure how much it would help in this situation. Before he could say anything, Fuyumi’s phone started buzzing inside her shoulder bag, which she had thrown onto her bed when she came home. She used her free hand to open the shoulder bag before reaching for her phone. By the look of her expression, it was Keisuke. Fuyumi let out a frustrated sigh. That guy was the last person she wanted to talk with right now.
“He’s been calling me nonstop since I left…”
Deciding not to remain as an observer, Akito gently grabbed the phone out of her hand before answering it.
“If you keep harassing her, I’ll gladly tell your other girlfriends about how you had to change your underwear to a smaller size because you couldn’t fill them out” he bluntly said in a calm manner. Before Keisuke could respond, Akito hung up.
Then he returned her phone like nothing happened.
“That should get rid of him”
For the first time in a while, Fuyumi stared at her older brother with wide eyes. Her eyes were puffy from crying. But, right now, she seemed more surprised than sad. Akito understood that she wanted an explanation about why he knew that information.
“There’s a reason why that guy won’t take a shower at the same time as the rest of us after gym class. He claims that he stays behind to ‘keep honing his skills’, or that he doesn’t want to stop working out while he’s ‘still in the zone’. But that’s just a cover-up”
A giggle almost escaped Fuyumi’s lips as she wiped a tear away.
“Now that I think about, he does care a lot about his image”
Although she found the comment amusing, discovering that Keisuke had been unfaithful still hurt. Akito didn’t blame her for how she was feeling. It was natural to feel hurt after a betrayal, even if the traitor was - in his opinion - a waste of time.
“Making good decisions isn’t that guy’s strength, so don’t let his actions drag you down. There was nothing you could’ve done to prevent it - because you can’t fix stupidity”
A sad smile appeared on Fuyumi’s face.
“I know…But it still hurts. I thought playing some NoroMagi might make me feel a bit better, but…”
Akito shook his head.
“There’s no need to put pressure on yourself. This isn’t something that’ll disappear over night. Take the time you need. Just let me know if you need an alibi”
Fuyumi rolled her eyes with a slight smile on her face, fully aware that the last part was only meant to brighten the mood.
“I’ll keep that in mind” she replied.

When her gaze returned to her console, her eyes widened when she saw that the game wasn’t responding anymore. Panicked, she started pressing some random buttons to see if something on the screen would change, but nothing happened.
“Oh no!” she exclaimed. “I think I broke it!”
Akito furrowed his eyebrows. Yes, some of Fuyumi’s tears had landed on the console’s screen, but that shouldn’t have glitched the game, or made the console itself stop working.
“Let me have a look”
Fuyumi handed the console over to him. He tried to open the console’s main menu, which worked. From the main menu, he shut the game off before trying to open it again. The game booted up like normal. The intro started playing before the game's menu showed up. He tried to select Continue, but a window stating that there was no save file popped up.
“No save files could be found…” he read outloud, thinking that it was weird.
Fuyumi was just as shocked and confused as he was.
“But…that’s impossible! I’ve replayed the game so many times!”
Akito opened the console’s page for stored data. It seemed like save files from other games were fine, but not NoroMagi. Perhaps the game data got corrupted?
“How odd…If it’s just this game, then the problem likely isn’t the console” he stated before returning to the game’s main menu.
He tried selecting New Game to see if the game would start. It did.
“At least it seems to start fine…But since other games seem to be fine, it might be due to a major bug” he said before returning the console to his sister.
Fuyumi let out a heavy sigh. Calling her disappointed would’ve been an understatement.
“What a day. First Kei, and now this…”
“Don’t worry. If it happens again, contact the game developers. They might be able to patch the game or give you a refund” Akito told her.
He gave her another pat on the head before standing up.
“I still have some studying to do before I head to bed. Don’t stay up all night playing the game, alright?”
“You’re starting to sound like dad” Fuyumi stated with a bemused expression on her face. “I don’t play that much”
“Sure you don’t” he replied with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “If you need anything, I’ll be in my room”
After wishing his sister to take care, Akito walked out through the door, and towards his own room.

~

As promised, he sat down by the desk in his bedroom. His eyes were practically glued to his text books, and would remain focused on studying until he’d eventually decide to go to bed. During his study session, Fuyumi never came to his room or sent him a text. Akito figured that she was probably busy with the game. But after having such a terrible day, he didn’t have the heart to nag about her playing video games instead of studying.
Minutes turned into hours as Akito made sure to get as much done as possible before going to bed. His eyes became more and more tired as time went on. In the end, it got to the point of him being unable to keep his eyes open anymore.
‘I’m almost done, but I can’t focus like this. I’ll take a quick nap for a few minutes before I finish the next question. Then I’ll call it a day’
Feeling exhausted, he let his arms rest on the desk before using them as a pillow for his head.
‘Just a few minutes…’
It didn’t take long before Akito’s mind drifted off to sleep.
…
…..
New Game…
Downloading resources…
10%
35%
70%
99%
Calculating…
Download complete…

~ Common Route: Start ~

…
……
When Akito woke up from his nap, his eyes winced in reaction to the sunlight coming from the room’s window.
'Morning already?'
He rubbed his eyes before slowly getting up from his chair. Letting out a yawn, he started walking towards the door. Since it was apparently morning, he needed to brush his teeth, make breakfast…And his father would surely be home soon.
Due to only being half-awake, Akito failed to notice that his room looked drastically different from last night. The moment he walked past the mirror hanging on the wall, he glanced at his reflection. He took a few more steps towards the door before he froze in place.
“...Huh?”
He had walked past his mirror, right? Questioning his own eyes, and sanity, he rushed back to the mirror to check his reflection. His heart sank to his stomach when he looked in the mirror once again, and realized that the person looking back at him wasn’t…him.
Akito used his hand to touch his cheek. The reflection in the mirror did the same gesture.
He then touched his hair. The reflection did the same gesture again.
“No way…”
Light blond hair, violet eyes and different facial features. The hair was in a different style, and was suddenly longer as well. Why would he ever have a low ponytail? Having long hair didn’t appeal to him.
His mind was slowly starting to wake up from his nap. That’s then realized that his eyes weren’t playing a trick on him after all.
‘Who the hell is this guy!?’