I’d felt a sense of déjà vu about this world for as long as I could remember.
Take my name, Rai Arkberg. For some reason, it felt both oddly familiar and slightly repulsive. Then there was magic—an unknown power in this world—which I could wield perfectly despite never having been taught.
Everyone around me showered me with praise. My parents, my tutors, my personal maid... they all marveled at my talent. Yet, I couldn't bring myself to accept their accolades. I had this nagging premonition that if I grew conceited and let it go to my head, something would break.
The days turned into years. Then, shortly after my sixteenth birthday—with my transfer to the Royal Arcadia Academy of Magic only a day away—it happened. The memories of my past life came flooding back.
"Kyaa!"
The trigger was a scream and a loud thud behind me while I was studying in my room. I turned to find Lene, my personal maid and contemporary, sprawled on the floor. Books were scattered near her outstretched hands, and the impact of the fall had sent her skirt flying upward.
Beneath the hem, I caught a glimpse of white fabric—panties decorated with a pale pink ribbon.
In that instant, something snapped in my mind.
Wh-what is... this...?!
Unfamiliar scenes raced through my head. The setting was definitely the House Arkberg estate, in the very room where I stood now. But in the vision, Lene’s face was crimson with shame, her light brown eyes brimming with tears.
A man sat on the bed, watching her. He was a pudgy youth with black hair and eyes, featuring deep-set traits and sharp, narrow lids. He was half-naked, his layers of unearned fat visible through his disheveled clothes.
"Hurry up. Open your legs and show me your panties. Don't make me say it again."
"I-I understand..."
Biting her lip, Lene gripped the hem of her skirt and slowly lifted it. While she wore an expression filled with shame and loathing, the man before her—Rai—smirked with satisfaction. He approached her exposed thighs, stroking her, nuzzling against her, and eventually reached for her underwear—
"R-Rai-sama?!"
"...!"
I snapped back to reality. Lene was standing before me, her face flush with a vermilion hue—just like in the vision. But unlike that scene, there wasn't a trace of loathing in her eyes. Instead, she looked... worried? And embarrassed, of course. I had just seen her underwear, after all.
"U-Um... did you... see them...?"
"Ah, yeah. I did. I think they're quite cute, actually."
"U-Ugh... Please, Rai-sama! If you can, please forget you saw anything!"
I tried to smooth things over by patting her head as she pleaded. Unfortunately for her, that mental image was already burned into my permanent archives. The shock was simply too great on multiple levels.
Wait, that scene... it was one of the early events from CHOICE//MAZE, wasn't it?
I dwelled on the imagery while continuing to stroke Lene's head.
CHOICE//MAZE – Girls and the Labyrinth of a Year –
It was an eroge I’d loved in my previous life. A dark fantasy set in a world resembling medieval Europe, the story followed students at a magic academy—gifted youths who fought to conquer the Primal Labyrinth, a calamity that awakened every century.
The game's catchphrase was: "The only one who can be saved is one..."
True to those words, it was a heavy, emotional action RPG where choosing one of the four main heroines meant the others would meet their demise in one way or another. That brutal scenario was exactly why it was so popular.
I can't believe this is the game world.
I remembered it all now. That vision was a scene from the game—a glimpse into the daily life of the villainous Rai Arkberg. It was a tragedy that unfolded for a young girl while the protagonist's party was busy exploring the labyrinth. A senseless, cruel violation at the hands of the Arkberg heir.
While the protagonist achieved greatness in the labyrinth, Rai would take his frustrations out by toying with his maid’s body. Bound by her station, she had no choice but to endure it. Seeing her suffer with no one to save her had been utterly nauseating.
Attacking girls out of petty jealousy... and that's supposed to be my future? Not funny.
The character was the epitome of a high-born scumbag—arrogant, self-centered, and obsessed with claiming every heroine for himself. He was the classic eroge villain, dialed up with excessive lust. His only saving grace was having the highest mana capacity in the entire game.
Not that he ever used that mana for anything useful before he died.
Rai’s end was pathetic. During an accident in the labyrinth that separated the protagonist's party, he cornered a heroine to force himself on her. The protagonist arrived just in time to beat him to a pulp, leaving him wounded and abandoned in the depths of the dungeon. Watching him cower and scream as monsters closed in was a quintessential "serves him right" moment.
"I don't want to die! Help me! Hey! I know you can hear me! Are you really going to leave me here?! Me?! I'm—I'm—I'm aaaaaagggghhhh!!"
It’s one thing to watch that happen to a character; it's another thing entirely when it's your own future. Luckily, I had my memories now. I had no intention of living like that piece of trash.
All those times I felt anxious whenever I tried to act out? That must have been my past self’s subconscious acting as a brake. A warning that certain paths led straight to ruin. Good job, past me!
Thanks to those instincts, I'd avoided the path to destruction. I'd even managed to stay in shape. Who would ever choose to be a pathetic, doomed villain? If I was going to be in this game, I’d rather flip the script and aim for the impossible: a Happy Ending where every heroine survives.
I'd played the game dozens of times. No matter how many times I replayed it, there was no way to save everyone. I’d seen them cry behind the screen so many times, wishing I could reach out and help. Back then, the screen was an impassable wall.
But now, I’m actually here.
I can reach them. I can save their lives. I’m going to make it happen. The perfect ending where everyone lives happily ever after!