Chapter 3 - MagiKoi

“Wow, that was a shock…”

As we both muttered the same thing in amazement, we looked at each other and laughed.

“In any case, I’m looking forward to working with you from now on, Play-By-Play Endo-kun.”

Saying so with a laugh and a smirk on her face, Kobayashi-san reached out her hand to me.

My name is Endo Aoto, a sophomore in high school. I’m currently a member of the Broadcasting Club.

The girl smiling in front of me was Kobayashi Shihono, a fellow member of the club.

――――

Everything began the day that Kobayashi-san brought an otome game to our clubroom.

Our broadcasting club is pretty lax.

Apart from when a major tournament was coming up, obligating us to spend a few days in advance practising our commentating, we usually only gathered completely as a group once a week in the clubroom on a Wednesday.

But because of the nature of the club, even outside of the days when everyone gathered for practice, someone always had to be on duty before school, during lunch, and after school.

So, other than after classes on a Wednesday, only those on duty will be in the clubroom, with a lot of time on their hands.

In order to kill time, over the years members have left all sorts of stuff in the clubroom, like manga, a television and even a gaming console.

As for my dear Kobayashi-san, she had left a certain otome game there to play.

【Majikaru ni Koi Shite]A Magical Romance, or MagiKoi for short, is set in a world much like the Renaissance period of European history. You play as a common girl named Finne who, at the age of fifteen, discovered that she could use magic that was supposed to only be usable by those of noble blood, for whatever reason.

Finne enrolled in the prestigious Royal Academy, where only the sons and daughters of aristocratic families were permitted to attend. It is there that she encounters 5 capture targets (not including the hidden route), such as a knight and one of the teachers, and takes part in all sorts of romance and adventure.

Technically the Academy tutors students from 15 years old until they’re 18, but the entire story takes place during Finne’s junior year.

“Ahh jeez, that tsundere Villainess Liselotte is just too cute! Those hot boys are good as well!”

Ever since the day she fully cleared all the routes of MagiKoi, Kobayashi-san never stopped talking passionately about it, always imploring me to play it whenever we were on duty in the broadcasting room together.

It got to the point where the club members, obviously conscious of how I felt about Kobayashi-san, conspired to always make sure we were on duty together. Naturally, I was eventually compelled to play that otome game by her.

Well, at first I didn’t really care about the game or Liselotte, but as Kobayashi-san watched me play she laughed and cried, as well constantly looking over at me to see my reactions then swiveling back to the screen when I turned to look at her. Maybe it was because of this strange little dance, but eventually, I began to get more and more invested. Well, there was also the fact that the more I got into a game that she enjoyed, the more we had to talk about.

“So, what which route would you recommend?”

When I asked Kobayashi-san that, instead of telling me which capture target to go after first, to my surprise she instead thrust a fan-disc into my hands.

The reason for that was apparently this fan-disc contained Liselotte’s main story.

Liselotte’s role in the story was the villainess noble girl who harasses the main heroine, trying to get in the way of her romance. Eventually, she is possessed by the 【Ancient Witch], and transformed into the last boss of the game. An unfortunate character who meets a grisly fate in every ending except for the reverse harem route.

In the fan disc, Liselotte’s true character is revealed. As well as loving the Crown Prince Siegward, she also held a secret admiration for the cute and innocent Finne, but the evil Ancient Witch led her astray and into ruin until her spirit was completely eroded, which ended up in her becoming possessed. In the fan-disc, this is all narrated from a personal diary that she had written.

It was so sad and earnest that I actually teared up a little bit when playing it.

After that, Kobayashi-san recommended that I play the reverse harem route, which is the only way Liselotte survives the normal story.

Usually, you’d have to finish all five capture target’s good endings to be able to get onto this route, but since Kobayashi-san who was recommending it already had a 100% save, I could play it.

In the reverse harem route, as well as having all five capture targets at her beck and call, there is even a sudden yuri development where Liselotte becomes part of Finne’s harem. Finne is pretty scary.

The six of them all fight both Finne’s enemies for her and with each other for Finne’s affections, and Liselotte, in particular, is saved from the witch’s malevolence because of her deep love for Finne serving as a sort of spiritual anchor. Since there’s no last boss, the party beats the Ancient Witch easily, and they all live happily ever after…

My ass they do!

If a bunch of important young noblemen, a marquis’ daughter, an influential teacher and even the Crown Prince are all still fighting for Finne, won’t there be problems!? Will the country really be okay!?

That’s what I thought, but Kobayashi-san didn’t think it was so bad.

“Because, apart from this route, someone always ends up dying…”

According to Kobayashi-san, the knight character called Baldur had the second highest number of fatalities when it came to the game’s endings, apart from Liselotte, and the reverse-harem ending was the only one where both of them were able to live.

I can only vaguely remember it from watching her play but it seemed to be right, apart from in his own route and the reverse-harem route, he supposedly always dies early when saving Finne. He dies quickly, and he dies a lot. It’s as if he’s looking to die in those routes.

I know that the death of a friend is important for the development of our main heroine, Finne, but it would’ve been nice if he could have stuck around a little longer.

Because the witch is defeated easily in the reverse-harem route with overwhelming force, Baldur also survives.

Well, living is important after all, but still…

After playing the fan disk, I was so mad when I learned that there wasn’t a route where Liselotte and Siegward end up together! Where is that happy ending!? I remember grinding my teeth in frustration.

“Hey… Rize-tan is super ultra cute, right? Yeah, so, knowing how adorable Rize-tan is, I just can’t help but feel bad for what happens to Rize-tan in these routes. So, let’s play the route again where her favourite Siegward is captured by Finne-chan!”

But, at Kobayashi-san’s suggestion, I solemnly shook my head.

“No, let’s not… I’d feel too sorry for her.”

“Isn’t that fine!? Let’s cry together! Then, we can use the despair in our hearts to write a Sieg x Rize fanfiction together!?”

“Stop it! Ah, um, what I meant was, I want to practice club activities so… Y’know, like, practising my elocution and stuff like that…”

I tried to weasel out of having to play Liselotte’s most miserable route by using the club as an excuse, but Kobayashi-san wouldn’t let me get away that easily.

“No, but, Siegward on the Siegward route is so cool though! I want you to understand just how cool he is, Endo-kun, and it makes Liselotte’s diary even sadder! Also, you need to play it so that we can make an exquisite SiegxRize story! When they defeat Rize-tan just before the ending, Sieg struggles to come to grips with fighting against Rize-tan who was his childhood friend, and when Rize-tan sees Sieg spilling his own bloo- Ah, no good! That’s a spoiler! But you’ll play it, right!? Right!?”

No matter how much she spins it, it didn’t sound like a happy ending for Liselotte and Siegward, if anything it sounded like a bad end…

But if Kobayashi-san says it like that, maybe playing it wouldn’t be too bad…?

I’m not sold on the idea of writing a fanfic with her, but the idea of crying together is…?

As I pondered about it, a smile suddenly spread across Kobayashi-san’s face as if she had thought of an idea.

“Oh, that’s right! Endo-kun, why don’t you do a play-by-play commentary! I’ll do the colour commentary analysis too.”

“…Eh? Huuh…?”

Then, she said something strange.

Well, I mean, I guess I was the one who said I wanted to do some club practice.

But, doing commentary on a game like this…?

“See, it’ll be good practice, right!? Right!?”

‘Haven’t I come up with an amazing idea!?’ Her face seemed to say, her dazzling smile left me transfixed by how cute and refreshing it was.

And, as weak to Kobayashi-san’s smile as I was, I followed along with her suggestion.