There was a long pause in which his sonorous echoed in the door-less stone chamber.

Franchesca was the first to respond. “Did you just say otome... death game?” She sounded hesitant.

He flipped back upright, still grinning beatifically. “Indeed I did! The greatest challenge ever made for otome gamers.”

We all exchanged confused glances. “Ano… like, a yandere otome game? I’ve played a few of those before. You don’t die in all the endings,” Aiko asked hesitantly.

He shook his head and tutted. “No no no, if they were yanderes your chances of survival would be almost nil. We don’t want that now do we?”

“Erm… do you mean we’re having some kind of… otome gaming tournament?” In another world? My mind finished scathingly. Why the hell would you need to be summoned to another world for a video game tournament?

Nameless finally set his feet to the floor and spread out his arms. “Allow me to explain. You five are here to play the ultimate otome game. There are five routes, each with either a happy ending, where you capture the target’s heart, or a Bad End, where you mess up in the middle. You with me so far?” He looked at us expectantly and we nodded. So far it sounded just like every other otome game in history. “The five of you were selected because of all the seventeen year old females on earth you are the best otome gamers. Not necessarily the most prolific, though I’ll admit that your hours are enough that any psychiatrist would worry about your mental health, but the best at figuring out what character type you’re dealing with and knowing what responses to select for maximum affection points.” Okay, I was still keeping up. “And so I have brought you here, for the ultimate challenge. All of you will be placed in the palace of this world’s monarchy. And, working together, you have to capture the hearts of your targets.”

Chiyo half raised her hand. “You don’t mean… real guys… do you?”

A flash of teeth. “Indeed I do!”

There was a sharp intake of breath and then we were all talking over each other.

“But that’s—”

“I’m a hikikomori!”

“—can’t talk to men—”

“—have the wrong—”

“No way in hell!”

He let us freak out for a while before clapping his hands together. “Alright, that’s enough panicking, bring it back to the front of the class.”

I half leapt forward. “What if we refuse to participate?”

Something in the cheerful smile turned shadowed. “Then you’ll inevitably reach a Bad End.”

A lump of ice appeared in the pit of my stomach. “And that entails?” As an experienced otome gamer, I thought I knew the answer, but I was praying that I was wrong.

His expression didn’t change as he slowly slid his finger across the base of his throat. “Game Over.”

None of us could respond.

The flashes of teeth that showed through his smile looked more threatening that exuberant. “Now then. Would you like to hear the rest of the rules?” He didn’t bother waiting for our response. “Fantastic!” The shadows were gone, and he was once again a whirlwind of brightly colored cheer. “As in any good otome game, the heroine’s backstory stays the same in all routes. Of course, since this isn’t a video game, we can’t literally have the same person capture all the targets, which is why there are five of you,” he added conspiratorially. “You were all orphans, brought into the palaces as low ranking court ladies thanks to an old tradition of this world. You see, in this world, magic is a talent found strong only among the nobility. However, that doesn’t mean that all a noble’s children will have strong magic. So, in order to make sure that any bastards who inherited the power are bred into the nobility, all orphans are tested for magic when they’re seventeen. If they’re unusually strong, they’re brought to court to help infuse strong magic into the noble lines. Right now, that’s you.”

Ichigo shook her head. “But we’re not orphans and we weren’t tested. Won’t they notice that?”

“As far as this world is concerned, you are all absolutely orphans—do you see any parents in the room?” He asked rhetorically. “As for the testing, you will all be undergoing it tomorrow. Consider the upcoming month of training as the game’s prologue.”

“A month?” Aiko asked in horror.

He reclined back into the air, hands folded behind his head. “Yep, a month.” He crossed his legs. “The game won’t start until a month from now, when the ambassador party from the eastern country comes for talks at the western country’s palace—your game setting. Until then, take some time to get used to the world and analyze each other’s targets. Good luck!”

And it was like I was a blob of half-dry ointment being squeezed out the nozzle of my tube through pure force, popping through some cosmic curtain—and into the most terrifying otome game in history.