Special Class in the Old School Building (4): Apocalypse
The apocalypse. To put it lightly, it's not a term to toss around casually, but for players, it equates to 'game over'. A bad ending. The end where humanity perishes. Most of those endings lead to 'humanity's extinction'.
'By sending down angels, that is.'
Up there in the heavens, beyond the planet, the goddess seeks to wipe out humanity and create a new race. Her own divine new humans. But since ordinary methods won't easily exterminate mankind, the goddess tries every trick in the book to make it happen. Take Esta, for example. People call her the 'Eternal Virgin', though academy folks turned it into a punchline. And through various circumstances, Esta reaches utter despair and breakdown, pushed to the brink.
'After her mental collapse, an angel descends into her flesh.'
Her heroine persona gets deleted, and her body becomes host to an angel that's basically an AI bent on humanity's destruction. Then Esta unleashes unicorns across the world. Those holy-powered unicorns eradicate anything they deem unworthy, forcing humanity to abandon its instinct for racial preservation just to survive. Or hide from the unicorns' patrols in underground bunkers or places they can't reach, carrying on the spark of life there.
In every way, it's a world ripe for 'apocalypse'. And since the trigger is always 'the heroine's mental breakdown', Chang Yeom and I spent a lot of time agonizing over it.
-No one snaps and abandons their sense of self over something minor.
Chang Yeom analyzed the processes leading to bad endings for the original heroines based on the play data in my memories.
-If a woman thinks the world should end just because she's mocked as an old spinster, even an angel couldn't handle her. That kind of weak mentality.
The heroines were different.
-They're not your average folks mentally. Even thrown into a battle royale system, they'd rally together with a 'let's go!' spirit or sacrifice themselves hoping others survive. Sure, some have different leanings.
Heroines don't crack from ordinary setbacks; even if they do, they pull themselves together fast.
-The ultimate trigger for them becoming angels is 'love'. But even those heroines have one breaking point.
Love. A woman's heart. Specifically, the emotional conflicts arising because they're 'heroines'.
-Know what turns a heroine into an angel? When the protagonist flirts with her, builds her route right up to the edge, but never commits—then dates someone else.
'Visual novel elements' at play.
-Picking one girl means discarding the rest? Wait, weren't we a thing? But he's marrying some other chick? I trusted him... Yeah, something like that. Puhuhu.
They could endure society's injustices, but the heroines' shattered girl hearts in the original story were beyond repair. For instance—
-A girl who's lived her whole life chasing money stakes everything on one man, only for him to cheat right after they start dating? The Golden Apocalypse begins. Every human gets valued as capital, ushering in a world ruled solely by it.
-A girl raised believing 'incest is our family's tradition, the path to great bloodlines' falls for an outsider, but he goes for a woman of inferior blood? The Incest Apocalypse kicks off.
...The prefix before 'Apocalypse' varies by heroine, but they all end in 'human extinction'.
-We could physically counter angels sent directly from the goddess up there. But when the apocalypse starts with an angel descending into a heroine's flesh, even we struggle to control it. Angels from heaven cross realms, so we can manage that. But heroines are grounded here on earth, with talents that can reach A-rank or even S-rank and beyond. So.
The surest way to prevent it?
-Just make 'em a harem.
If her mental breakdown comes from her man dating others, make her accept from the start that she's 'part of the harem'.
-Force it into her head. Yeah, that one line. What is pure love? Gazing only at one person is beautiful and noble, but it could doom the world.
Thus, to avert humanity's end, to preserve this world, to stop the goddess from sending angels—we have no choice.
-Harem pure love!
....
-Better to snag her first as a member of the Golden Sun Demon King's harem than let an indecisive protagonist trigger apocalypse!
All this, for this world's peace and revenge against the goddess.
Snore, snore.
While giving Unia a massage and briefly explaining Esta's future—
"She's out."
Unia had fallen asleep. Hearing that a heroic figure she met today could become a world-destroying tyrant far in the future must've worried her plenty, but—
[I'm here to stop that.]
At those words, Unia nodded faintly and entrusted herself to my hands. Just like on the bus.
I massaged her with mana-warmed hands like a hot compress, easing the fatigue and toxins built up in her body, stabilizing her mana flow, and setting her up for perfect deep sleep. A sort of sleep therapy.
Come morning, she'd wake refreshed, as if she'd slept over 12 hours straight—like when she got off the bus.
The issue?
'In my bed, in my room.'
Unia was asleep. Whether she'd forgotten this wasn't her room or slyly pretended to sleep here on purpose—only she knew.
My guess?
'She's protecting me.'
Like at that inn in Pregnant Village, Unia carried her own sense of mission. Protect me. Beyond man-woman stuff, help so I don't fall victim to shady schemes from other girls.
'Gender reversal?'
...Not quite. Just circumstances making it look that way.
And because of those circumstances—
Knock knock knock.
The person lightly knocking outside showed no real hostility.
Whoosh.
I pulled the blanket over sleeping Unia and stepped out.
Creeeak.
I quietly opened the door, and there stood Esta in her instructor uniform, scanning me up and down.
"Inside—"
"Shh."
I pressed a finger to my lips toward Esta, then pointed at the bed.
"Miss Unia's sleeping. Shall we talk outside?"
"...Very well."
Esta glanced at me, the room, and Unia on the bed before stepping back. She'd probably overheard with perked ears, but a hint of caution lingered.
"What brings you here?"
"Planning to sleep in your room?"
"Is there a problem?"
"...You think it's fine for a man and woman to share a room?"
Once in the hallway with the door closed, Esta asked seriously.
"Really?"
"One thing I'm curious about."
"What?"
"Are you worried about Unia, or about me?"
This event originally kicks off around the protagonist's third year. But some reason has already unlocked the setup, aligning with current-era common sense.
"Can you trust Unia?"
Exactly.
"Are you sure she won't jump you while you sleep?"
Right now, mana-holding men are more vulnerable than women.
"Yes."
"...Why?"
"If she wanted to, she'd have done it back at the village inn or in the terminal."
"......."
Esta nodded gravely.
"Of course, I don't think Miss Unia lacks mana so badly she'd need to drain a man's that much. But...."
"No. Be careful. All women are foxes."
Esta stated firmly, pointing down the hall.
"Unlike this old school building... the academy dorms don't strictly separate men and women anymore. Guys don't wander at night either. You know why?"
"Because of mana drain?"
"Yes."
Mana drain. Or in other words, 'harvesting essence from men'.
Esta glanced out the window.
"About a year since some idiots unleashed the S-rank monster Gumiho and S-rank monster Succubus Queen. In that year, their yokai spells spread, teaching women how to absorb mana fast."
Esta's eyes flicked downward briefly.
"Be really careful. Last year alone, 13 victims at the academy."
"...Pardon?"
"Heard the saying? 'The haves are the worst offenders.'"
"Of course. Common sense."
"Yeah. Gumiho and Succubus Queen's method works on any man and woman, so...."
Esta sighed deeply.
"Guard your essence. Losing it means losing mana, and...."
"That's why even Binyu Group's women can enroll and grow here?"
"......Yes."
Esta stepped closer, lowering her voice.
"Some students have been spotted."
"......!"
Esta mimed pinching her nose.
"My familiar observed them. They're already targeting guys."
"......."
"You're a special admittee. Same for Miss Unia, but especially you—more women will eye you."
"Why?"
"Rumor has it."
"Rumor?"
"Yeah."
Esta pointed at my face.
"Blond hair, tanned skin, blue eyes... Stats say it's the mark of a man with way more essence than average."
"......."
"Did I misread?"
"No."
Spot on.
"Just between you and me, Instructor."
I leaned in, whispering in her ear.
"Probably the strongest in the world."
"......!"
Esta froze.
No lie.
"I'll watch out for mana drain and essence theft. Thanks for the advice, Instructor Esta."
"...Ah. And, just in case."
Esta placed a hand on my shoulder, nodding earnestly.
"If someone tries jumping you at night, come find me. I'll guard your nights."
Her gaze held zero ulterior motives.
"You're the guy all the faculty are worried might get... targeted."
Pure as can be—the look a cop or teacher gives a crime-prone victim.
'Tricky.'
A woman like this.
"Thank you, Instructor."
I need to make her.
"I'll take you up on that sometime."
Develop dark desires, pounce on me.
Until she can't ride her unicorn anymore.
-Yeah, it's your fault. Seducing me with that body and those moves...!! Make her fall.