“And that’s the final boss down—no microtransactions, no assists, just pure grit.”Rei Kazuki leaned back in his chair, forcing a smile as fireworks exploded across the screen. "Academy Hearts: Final Year" fshed in gold, backed by a triumphant chorus that made his skin crawl.
“Man, what a journey. Thanks for sticking around, chat. One hell of a ride, huh?” He ughed, a practiced sound. Emotes and “GG” spam flooded the side of the screen.
CHAT:
that was insane brou really solo'd that fight??best end route frnow do the secret romance ending ??
“Yeah, yeah, I know, best ending. S-tier route. You all happy now?” He stretched his arms, cracking his neck. “Time to uninstall this sparkly pile of dopamine.”
He clicked End Stream.The fake smile dropped immediately.
“God, I hate this game.”
He slumped forward, dragging both hands down his face. The neon-drenched UI still hovered on his monitor—glittery icons, hyper-stylized characters with hair that defied physics, and an overbearing soundtrack that made his ears ring.
“Why do they all have to look like fashion runway rejects from a fantasy circus?” he muttered. “Why does everyone talk like they’re reading Shakespeare fanfiction?”
Rei’s room was dimly lit, messy in a lived-in way—empty energy drink cans, a couple of survival game posters (gritty and brutal), and two curved monitors glowing in the dark. He reached for the mouse and clicked out of Academy Hearts without a second gnce.
“Bet's done,” he said to himself. “Game cleared. No romance routes. No side quests. No outfits collected. Screw you, Yuto. I win.”
The bet had been stupid—“Stream the whole game. No skipping. Finish it. All on hard mode.”Rei had only agreed because losing meant shaving his head live on stream.
He opened his library and clicked on his real love: Primeval Sanctum.Now this was a game.
Survival sandbox. Zero handholding. You spawned naked in the wild with a rock and a dream. You crafted every tool from scratch. You tamed monsters by force or finesse. And when you messed up? You died. Brutally.
As the loading screen booted up, showing a storm-ravaged coastline and a hulking wyvern circling above a jungle, Rei smiled for real this time.
“Daddy’s home.”
Then—a ding.
A new email notification blinked in the corner of his screen.
Subject: [Academy Hearts Completion Reward – Personalized Experience Awaiting]
“Huh?”He almost ignored it. Then curiosity got the better of him.
Rei clicked.
Congratutions, Pyer ReiKazuki!You’ve completed Academy Hearts: Final Year with impressive dedication and no monetized assistance!However, we’ve noticed your pythrough cked… heart.We believe you haven't truly experienced what the Academy has to offer.As a thank-you, we’ve prepared something special. A tailored experience just for you.We hope this helps you grow to love our world the way it deserves to be loved.Initializing personal immersion protocol...
“What the hell does that even mean?” Rei scowled. “Did Yuto mess with my PC?”
He went to close the window——but his hand froze mid-click.
The screen fshed white.
Then his room was gone.
The chair, the desk, the glowing monitors—all of it swallowed by blinding light and a high-pitched whirring like a server screaming in his ear. His body lifted—no, it disintegrated. His breath caught.
“Wait, wait, WAIT—!”
His voice was ripped away.
And then came silence.
Rei Kazuki woke up in a bed that wasn’t his.
Soft silk sheets, high-thread count, embroidered pillowcases—this pce screamed fancy. The ceiling was painted with consteltions. The furniture was mahogany. The air smelled like vender and money.
He sat up slowly, eyes scanning the unfamiliar room.
“This… is not my crappy apartment,” he muttered.
A bookshelf full of old tomes lined the wall. A window opened out to a courtyard bathed in soft, magical sunlight. Students in spotless uniforms strolled across cobblestone paths, ughing, sparkling, looking like they belonged on the cover of a fantasy dating sim.
“...oh, hell no.”
Memories smmed into him like a server g spike.
The email.The white light.That creepy-ass message about giving him a ‘tailored experience.’
Rei groaned and buried his face in his hands.
“They really did it. They really freaking Isekai’d me into Academy Hearts,” he said, voice dripping with disbelief. “This is what I get for finishing that damn game?”
He pushed himself out of bed, stumbling a little. His body felt... off. Leaner. Taller. More graceful than he remembered. He caught sight of a full-length mirror in the corner and walked over slowly.
What he saw made his blood pressure spike.
“No. No-no-no-no. You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Staring back at him was Lucien Vale.
Sharp features, pale skin, stormy gray eyes. Tousled bck hair and the faint scowl of a man who’s seen too much and trusts too little. Dressed in the signature dark blue academy coat—Lucien’s coat—embroidered with silver thorns.
“I’m Lucien. They made me Lucien.”
He stared at the mirror like it had personally betrayed him.
“This isn’t just a joke. This is a personal attack,” he growled. “This is the devs flipping me off for liking Primeval Sanctum.”
He turned away and started pacing.
Lucien. The overlooked side-vilin. The "support css loser." The guy who got shunned for taming monsters and crafting traps instead of casting fshy fireballs or throwing holy swords around.
The guy the game bullied.
“Out of all the characters… They could’ve made me a background NPC. Hell, I would’ve taken generic male love interest number four. But Lucien?”
He stopped and clenched his jaw.
“They really couldn’t stand me pying Sanctum. I swear, they designed this guy as a walking insult to pyers like me. ‘See? Taming is me. Crafting is for cowards. You should py the hero like a good little consumer.’”
He kicked the foot of the bed. It didn’t help.
“Lucien’s whole story is just the devs trying to say, ‘Look what happens when you don’t py our game the right way.’ Like... screw off.”
He rubbed his temples.
“Alright. Fine. Deep breath. What do I know?”
He closed his eyes.
Lucien’s arc. Year two meltdown. Betrayal in the group project arc. Illegal Eidolon taming. Mental breakdown. One fight ter, he gets wrecked by Protagonist-kun and either dies or goes MIA.
“Bad end city,” Rei muttered. “But I’ve pyed this game. I know what’s coming. So I’m not scared.”
He cracked his knuckles.
“All I need is access to the system. If I’ve got Lucien’s skill tree, I can min-max it into something actually broken.”
He took a breath, centered himself, and said clearly:
“Open system.”
A chime rang out.
But the interface that popped up?
Was not from Academy Hearts.
Rei blinked. Then leaned in.
“...wait a second.”
The UI was rugged. Sleek, but gritty. Minimalist. Functional. Just like the one he knew.
Top bar: Stamina / Hunger / HydrationSide panel: Inventory / Crafting / Taming / Blueprint DatabaseStatus effect: “Mild Confusion | +2 to Focus”
His jaw slowly dropped.
“This is… this is Primeval Sanctum’s system.”
He opened the Inventory. Raw materials. A primitive stone knife. Some dried meat.He opened Taming. There it was—a familiar interface, with slots for creatures, bonding meters, aggression levels.
“Are you serious?” He ughed, a little unhinged. “You gave me Lucien’s body... but you gave me Sanctum’s mechanics?”
His eyes lit up.
“Oh, that’s rich. That’s dangerous.”
He scrolled through Crafting and saw the blueprints. They started simple: snares, fire pits, stone tools. But he knew where it could go—trap arrays, mana-suppressing colrs, custom gear, even modded Eidolon hybrids if he pushed the system hard enough.
He stepped back, heart pounding—not in fear, but excitement.
“They wanted to punish me. Make me ‘learn to love’ their golden-boy fantasy fluff.”
He smirked.
“Guess what? I’m gonna love it my way.”
