Prologue
Ayumi, Eri, Yuka, and Kagome were all united again for the first time in months since their high school graduation. The four young females all chatted happily amongst themselves in a small cafe about the usual subjects such as boys they knew and what the future held for them.
“I can’t believe you’re not going to Tokyo University,” Yuka took control of the conversation glaring at Eri who they suppose to be celebrating that night, “you’re going to leave us for Kyoto of all places?”
Despite not seeing each other as often as they should have now that they were all grown ups it wasn’t hard to meet up with each other, but all that would change now that one of them was moving out of the bustling capital they called home.
“You make it sound like she’s going to the sticks,” Kagome interjected often finding herself acting as mediator to stop Yuka from bullying anyone into feeling guilty, “besides don’t you have family there Eri?”
The shy girl gave a nod, “Yes I’m going to be roommating with my cousin when I get there. I don’t see her often but we’re into the same things. She introduced me to half the anime I try to share with you all, but I guess none of it was cool enough.”
Eri had always been the more nerdy of the four girls often having her face buried in manga or talking about the season’s latest anime while the rest of them were more concerned with clothing and dating. The other three often felt guilty they didn’t share the same passion for what they sometimes dismissed as ‘kid’s stuff’ as she did, but if they all had the same interests their long term friendships with one another probably would have become boring a long time ago.
“Oh,” Ayumi’s eyes went big when anime was brought up, “that reminds me of something. Eri what was that game you brought over to Yuka’s? That one video game we played together in middle school when we had that sleep over before summer vacation.”
“Feudal Fairy Tale!” Eri’s eyes lit up with nostalgia, “it wasn’t really a video game though. Just a visual novel really, but you saw the trailer didn’t you? They are making another anime adaptation for it. This time they are covering the Kouga route.”
The moment the title was said all the girls remembered the visual novel in question. They had a sleepover years ago in middle school where they decided to let Eri introduce them to something she was into and all four girls let themselves get absorbed into the lengthy visual novel.
Kagome tried to recall what she could remember about Feudal Fairy Tail as it all came back to her quite easily. The reader was put in the shoes of the female protagonist who time traveled from modern day Japan to the feudal era where they met a half dog demon named InuYasha and went on an adventure with him to collect shards of a sacred jewel while defeating villains. The story, however, changed depending on the choices made and most importantly what male character the player was into the most. It was basically a dating simulator disguised as a thirty hour long adventure story, so it was surprising that the girls had been so into it, especially since it was no multiplayer game by any means. However, it was fun having lengthy debates on which guy to go for and how to respond to each and every conversation or event.
“Oh yeah I remember,” Yuka smiled slyly, “you were so hype for that game you got it when you didn’t even own the console. That’s why you brought it to my place. Who did we go for again? The dog eared boy?”
Eri nodded, “Yeah y’all went vanilla canon route cause you thought InuYasha’s dog ears were cute. Well that and Janis was pretty hardcore about ‘sticking to the canon’ or whatever she kept yelling at us that night.”
The atmosphere turned solemn pretty fast. That was right it wasn’t just the four of them at that sleepover as there had once been a fifth friend in the group of girls. Her name had been Janis and she was an attractive blonde American exchange student. She’d been the one who told Eri about the game in the first place and was obsessed with dating sims, especially the unique brand of them that could be found in Japan. She’d been quick to become a hardcore fan of Fuedal Fairy Tale and looked like a crazed Otaku the way she use to claim InuYasha was her ‘husbando’ and collected all sorts of merchandise that featured him.
Things went quiet because Janis wasn’t in their lives too long after that. One day she just disappeared without a trace from the home of her Japanese hosts. The authorities assumed she had run away so she could be an illegal Japanese immigrant somewhere she wouldn’t be recognized, but the girls all feared something horrible had happened to her.
The night, however, was supposed to be about Eri’s last evening in Tokyo so Kagome trying to be a good friend tried to bring the subject back to the video game.
“Can I confess something dorky?” Kagome asked quietly looking at Eri directly, “you know I’m not really into video games and wasn’t acting as wild as the rest of you were when we played that thing but when I was walking home alone that night I kind of went and bought my own copy so I could make my own choices and experience it all for myself. I kinda got so into it I had gramps lie to the school so I could stay home and play it for two days straight.”
Eri gave a smile at that, “Did you? I can’t see you being the kind to commit to a long visual novel like that. I heard all the routes combined are longer than all the Lord of the Rings books.”
“I didn’t go to school the next day remember? I told gramps I wasn’t prepared for the exam that day and begged him to call into school with some excuse so I could have the day off. He had no idea I was playing that game for thirty hours straight.”
“Wow!” Eri’s eyes lit up, “just like the protagonist. Her grandfather always had to make excuses while she was fighting demons in the feudal era.”
“That’s where I got the idea. I knew my mom wouldn’t care for any of my excuses.”
Yuka got a devious look on her face, “So which copy of the game did you get Kagome?”
“What do you mean?”
“There are two versions if I remember right. The tame PG version Eri brought to the sleepover-
“It was a gift for my birthday so of course it was the tame version!” Eri interjected.
Yuka continued, “or did you get the one with the hentai scenes Kagome? I mean you bought it so you could play it on your own.”
Kagome gave a blush if she tried to remember, “I- I think I did get the hentai one, but not because you think I’m a pervert or whatever you’re thinking Yuka! It was because it was the only copy the place had.”
“Wow,” Eri thought about it, “they discontinued that version when the anime went into production. The physical disc is the only way you can get that content. Do you still have it? It might be worth a lot of money if you sell it online.”
“It’s probably in a box somewhere,” Kagome muttered a bit ashamed she had a game with dirty content and still hadn’t unpacked all her belongings in her new apartment.
“So who did you go for?” Ayumi asked, “I’m assuming you didn’t go for InuYasha since we did that route at Yuka’s. What were all the options again?”
Eri quickly unleashed her knowledge, “InuYasha, Miroku, Kouga, Kohaku, and I think in the version Kagome has Kikyo is a secret yuri route. It’s pretty short though since she’s doomed to die no matter what.”
Kagome was trying her best to recall her time with the visual novel as she took a sip of her tea, “That’s all there is? Cause I’m pretty sure I didn’t go for any of those. Sesshoumaru?”
“Sesshoumaru?” Eri asked, “InuYasha’s older full demon brother that hates him?”
“Yeah that’s him. You really do know everything about that game don’t you? He wasn’t all bad. He has a little girl traveling with him because he has a healing sword he used to bring her back to life.”
“You sure you didn’t go with Kouga? I think that information is revealed in that route, but then again Sesshoumaru only really shows up in InuYasha’s story.”
“I’m glad I didn’t go with Kouga it’s his fault that little girl got killed,” Kagome shook her head doing her best to remember, “wasn’t her name Rin? Anyway I’m sure Sesshoumaru isn’t my type or whatever but he was mysterious enough I was interested to see his story.”
None of the other girls responded when she revealed her choice of virtual lover. They seemed more confused than anything else, which left Kagome thinking she said something wrong.
“Kagome,” Eri shook her head, “I don’t mean to keep sounding like a super nerd but that isn’t possible.”
“What do you mean?”
“Sesshoumaru isn’t a route or a choice for a lover. He’s just a side character. I mean he got popular when the anime came out so if they ever remade the game he probably would get his own route, but in the game you had it’s not possible.”
It was true Eri knew everything about the visual novel inside and out, but Kagome couldn’t be mistaken as she played the game almost two days straight.
“Maybe it was a secret route like Kikyo’s. Maybe I did a secret cheat code without realizing it. Jealous that I know something about the game that a fan girl like you doesn’t?”
“You going to take that Eri?” Yuka giggled.
Eri had a serious look on her face as her brow furrowed, “No because it isn’t possible. There is no cheat code or secret route. The game has been data mined. That's how I know all the routes and all the endings. Here!”
Eri pulled out her phone going onto an internet browser and pulling up some kind of walkthrough for the game and the chapter options featuring all the romance routes.
“See Kagome! InuYasha, Miroku, Kohaku, Kouga, and maybe sometimes Kikyo. Those are your only options. No Sesshoumaru.”
Ayumi gave a giggle, “Wow you sure are passionate Eri. It’s all there though. Kagome is your memory really that bad or are you trying to tell one of those Creepypasta video game stories to creep us out? My brother and his friends were going on and on the other day about the old Pokémon games and how a certain song from it causes suicide. Is this like that?”
“Video game creepypasta?” Kagome shook her head, “what are you talking about. I swore I wound up with Sesshoumaru. I don’t think I’d forget spending that many hours on the thing and being wrong about the anime looking dude I was staring at.”
“Well Eri showed us the routes,” Yuka shook her head, “you probably went for InuYasha and couldn’t admit you went through that story twice. Well not really since you had the sex scenes and all. Anyway enough about your creepypasta or bad memory or whatever. Let’s talk about where we're going to hang out when we visit you in Kyoto Eri.”
Yuka wanted to stop the conversation because not only did creepypastas creep her out but she couldn’t get any dirt on Kagome’s perversions if they didn’t know the actual route she picked. Kagome should have been pleased they were no longer talking about a small embarrassing part of her middle school life, but she was a bit annoyed that no one would believe her. She was one hundred percent sure Sesshoumaru was the route she found herself on when playing the visual novel for herself and she didn’t care what some online walkthrough said or what Eri believed.
She tried to have a pleasant evening with her friends and gave Eri a farewell, but the whole time in the back of her mind she was questioning herself about her time with the visual novel and whether she had been right or not. When Kagome returned to her apartment there was really only one way to discover the truth.
Her apartment was not only small, but usually very dark as she still had yet to buy a proper floor lamp and the ceiling lights had yet to be repaired. The darkness never really bothered her as she was used to being out all day and going to bed once she returned from her demanding day of work and cram school. She planned on going to University one day, but was studying for the entrance exams at her own pace trying her best to enjoy adult life for at least a year or two, so it was almost depressing how she still managed to rarely have time for herself. She had work in the morning so the best thing to do was to go immediately to bed, but that option was robbed from her as she had to prove to herself she was correct.
“Dammit,” Kagome had difficulty navigating her closet in the dark trying to locate a cardboard box shoved way back on the top shelf and got assaulted by several heavy coats and clothes hangers in the process.
Eventually she found what she was looking for as she unpacked the box on her kitchen counter revealing a gaming console that real gamers would consider ancient. Only reason Kagome had it was because her brother years ago had gotten a newer model and let her have it to play her visual novel. She began to hook the console up being thankful her TV was pretty old since most flat screens didn’t have the inputs for older devices. She was also thankful that the empty blue screen lit up her dark living room somewhat so she could see what she was doing.
Kagome pop opened the console to discover the Feudal Fairy Tale disc was still inside of it never returned to its original box, so she hoped it didn’t get scratched up in the move.
She hit closed the console and hit the power button hearing the light humming sound of the disc spinning inside of it when she noticed there was no memory card in the console.
“Just great,” she sounded annoyed peeling herself off the carpet, “if I don’t have a memory card I can’t continue where I left off can I?”
The blue screen disappeared when the system turned on revealing logos of the console itself as well as the companies that had developed the game. While it fully booted up Kagome searched the cardboard box trying to find a memory card.
“That’s right,” she released a heavy sigh, “I never had a memory card did I? I think I beat the game, but I couldn’t save it or get through the epilogue. Souta never gave me a memory card and the power went out that night. If I had tried to play the game after that I would have started all over, so I didn’t. Lost out on me and Sesshoumaru’s happy ending and now I can’t prove anything. Just my luck.”
Kagome heard the melody of the visual novel’s title screen not able to see it from the kitchen shaking her head. She could use an online walkthrough to ensure she didn’t die in the game, therefore wouldn’t need a memory card, but if she followed the one Eri showed her she couldn’t get back to Sesshoumaru’s route and she couldn’t recall how she did it in the past. Even if she could the visual novel was just way too long and she had to go to work in the morning.
“Guess I just have to let it go,” she returned to the living room to shut off the TV when she let out a surprised gasp.
On the TV screen there was the still image of a dark forest acting as a background image for the character and text on the screen. In front of the background was the image Kagome was hoping to see when she first took on her mission. A man that obviously wasn’t human with his long white hair, eyes of gold, and furry boa that hung over his beautiful white kimono.
It was a portrait image of Sesshoumaru, the youkai the protagonist had fallen in love with during her play through of the game years ago. However, it wasn’t a default image of him as he had anger in his face. If she could recall it was rare to see anything other than a default image of him for he didn’t often show emotion.
The text beneath him read:
I returned to find Sesshoumaru there staring down at me with resentment in his eyes. I hadn’t seen him stare at me like that since he tried to kill me years ago back when I journeyed with InuYasha. The look he gave me sent a shiver down my spine as I knew I was in the wrong and had better come up with a good excuse for my absence.
He took a couple slow strides towards me releasing an audible growl with his sharp claws at the ready.
“Where have you been all this time my Kagome?”