A Hollow Night's Eve

Last Tuesday had been unloading its cargo on top of my mind for a couple days now. After Hajime had informed me of her theatre background, I had simultaneously become more aware yet less worried over my own performance. In the end, I had caved in and cut corners because, as an advanced actress, it wouldn’t have been right of her to hold any standards for a pure amateur like me.

However, that wasn’t a fair way of thinking. I knew that much now. After all she had done for me, I wanted to live up to her expectations – not for my sake, but for hers. So, I was going to do what any smart person would have done as a prologue in my situation: familiarize myself with the source.

As I was feeling humbled over my lack of preparation for my first date as Mikarin, I had once again turned to the only person in my life I was able to go to advice for when it came to dealing with Hajime. Though, the last time I had trusted him, it only ended up making things worse.

“Iruka, I need your help with something.”

“is this about ur chick again”

Iruka was an unbelievably lazy texter. To get through to him, it was important to express things succinctly.

“I want you to clear Mikarin’s route in Once Upon a Hollow Night’s Eve with me.”

“rare of ya to feel any remorse but sure. be there in 5”

“I do have a conscience! I just hide it well, I guess. See you soon.”

This time, Iruka wasn’t going to be here as a helping hand: he was accompanying as an expert. I invited him because I figured his vast knowledge of dating simulators couldn’t be anything short of an advantage.

Iruka was the only boy in a family of four kids and a single mother. Out of his three sisters, especially the youngest one was a huge game nerd, thanks to his major influence, and otome games happened to be her forte. I obviously wasn’t close with his siblings to the point where I could invite them over without receiving a geta to the face, so I had to settle for the next best option: his second-hand insight.

Both of my parents were at work which meant we could play on the big TV screen downstairs. It made things a lot easier for us: sitting on the couch allowed us, two heterosexual guys about to play a dating simulator where the romance options are strictly male, to keep a proper distance between us. Actually, I wasn’t too sure about the direction Iruka’s swing was swaying towards but as long as I wasn’t about to try getting into his pants, it was honestly none of my business.

“Once Upon a Hollow Night’s Eve is a free-to-play, choices matter dating simulator where the player assumes the role of a female transfer student in a magic academy. In defiance of being the daughter of a prestigious sorcerer couple, her blood runs red without the slightest hint of mana! To maintain her parents’ image and keep her pest in the academy, she needs to keep her complete lack of supernatural abilities a secret”, Iruka read from the synopsis. “Sounds kinda fire, not gonna lie. Ya girl’s got taste.”

In short, the game entrusted us with two main tasks: blending in as a magicless scum and scoring ourselves a hot boyfriend. The dateable cast consisted of a nerdy know-it-all wizard, a dumb athletic shapeshifter with a heart of gold, a mean-spirited tsundere werewolf, a mysterious melancholic vampire and, of course, the spoiled childish fox boy already beknown to us. According to Iruka, this was an extremely common collection of tropes for an otome game.

“I diagnose ya girl with shotacon”, he commiserated sarcastically – I told him to shut it.

After we had gotten past the forever-seeming introductory scenes, tutorials and opening songs, the game finally let us get into the action.

“We need to choose between a library, football court, cellar, dorms and the cafeteria”, I enumerated.

“These kinds of scenes usually just determine the order ya meet the characters in, it doesn’t really matter what we pick. But I’ll bet ya five hundred yen we’ll get Mikarin first if we head to the cafeteria”, Iruka instructed.

He was right. My fantasy doppelganger and his cursed speech gimmick were residing in the cafeteria.

“Ah! Nee-san must be the new transfer student... Irukuji-san? Is nee-san looking for something?”

We had the option of either continuing the conversation by asking him to show us around, politely excusing ourselves or telling him to straight up piss off.

“What the hell? This is easy”, I scoffed as I picked the first option.

Our like meter went up moderately as the boy took it upon himself to fulfill our request.

“That guy looks like a total masochist. Ya should’ve told him to piss off”, Iruka mentioned.

“No way... I don’t think it matters that much but now you’ve made me curious”, I whined as I loaded the last save point.

Upon picking the meanest option, the like meter rose by ten percent.

“H-how mean! How could nee-san shed such vile words in the presence of a cutie like Mikarin? Nee-san is... interesting! Please bestow me the honor of granting nee-san a tour around the academy!”

“Did you write this game?” I quizzed, furrowing my brow at my friend’s disturbingly frightening accuracy.

“Maybe”, he smirked.

We got further into the story and soon learned that every single character in the game, excluding the dim-witted shapeshifter, spoke like an ancient war general. It was something OUAHNE’s Fandom Wiki didn’t fathom as worthy of telling but to me and the blossoming bud that was my acting career, it was useful information. In addition, playing the game managed to give me a kind of grasp on the characters’ psyche I couldn’t have gotten anywhere else. And naturally, it was about to make a good excuse to message Hajime afterwards.

“Oh, what a coincidence, Irukuji-san. Might you fancy the company of Kei Gakushiro?”

Kei Gakushiro was the name of the know-it-all wizard. Honestly, he had a bit of a pathetic vibe to him and clearly, Iruka had developed something against this particular man. I didn’t mind it though. In fact, seeing him fume and get so into it was absolutely hilarious.

“Why’s this guy trying to woo us now? Can’t ya see our heart belongs to Mikarin, dumbass?” he pressed as he made me pick the worst option.

“What did Kei ever do to you? Is it because he’s got the thorough aura of a megane character but still doesn’t wear glasses?” I wheezed.

“Well... Ya may not be too off but the dude just annoys me! Look at that entitled smirk of his. Let me tell ya, this asshole’s up to no good”, he bridled.

We were doing pretty well up until the second half of the game. Unfortunately, both me and Iruka had completely forgotten about our secondary mission of keeping up appearances as a supposed witch. As a result, we were about to suffer the consequences of having our cover blown.

“I knew something weird was up when she refused to come to the magic fair with me. Let this be a lesson to you, Mika-san. You shouldn’t hang around with manaless garbage like her.”

“What, we’re supposed to accept a date with another dude to get a happy ending with the brat?! This goes against all laws of the otome!” Iruka damned.

As the expert’s lurking suspicions were confirmed canon once more, I made a mental note to keep my eye out for his name in the ending credits. His cussing was interrupted by a loud slash, followed by a flash on-screen and an ominously long while of total silence.

“Wait. I think we died”, I stated perplexed.

Our Irukuji-san had indeed just been assassinated by another dateable character, Kei Gakushiro, who had gotten wind of our incompetence. Me and Iruka were eagerly anticipating the coming developments after a major character’s death, our intense gazes locked on the glowing screen opposite us. But not for long.

“Ah, nee-san... I’m ridden with guilt now that it’s come to this! I wasn’t strong enough to protect her! The least I can do is become one with the remains of nee-san's mortal body... “

In the animated cutscene that followed, Mikarin’s tail was wagging furiously as he was... well... you know. Consuming the player’s lifeless body through his jaws. Business as usual. Just your regular old Friday evening spiced up with a bit of cannibalistic tendencies.

“So, that’s why the blood color of the character matters”, I noted.

“Eww, that’s graphic as hell! Ya didn’t tell me we were playing horror”, Iruka revolted as he turned his eyes away from the television swiftly.

On the contrary, I was unable to look away.

“Do girls really like... this?” I gulped.

“Not all girls do. For instance, my sisters don’t. But ya happened to pick the one that does, don’t go catching real feelings now!” Iruka laughed uneasily.

I had never seen him unnerved by anything. The fact that this game managed to make the epitome of listlessness, usually cool as a cucumber, gagging dramatically to such an extent along the sinister music was an accurate summary of our first try.

All that work we had put in had been for a bad ending. Be that as it may, I was in no place to give up. Since Iruka was acting both as my guide and emotional support, he had no choice but to keep descending deeper with me.

“Maybe the trick is to keep good relations with all the guys to avoid further suspicions? I know you hate him but we were too aggressive towards that incel”, I theorized.

“I can’t go home until I’ve got that view out of my mind. It’s gonna haunt my dreams”, Iruka shivered.

And we started again. From the very first save point.