They always tell you that skipping meals is bad for your health.
What they don’t tell you is that it can violently eject your soul from reality and drop you straight into a high-spec dating simulation.
The last thing I remember was the blinding white glare of my computer screen.
I had been pulling a grueling, seventy-two-hour marathon on Sparkling Hearts: Academy Love, a wildly popular modern-school otome game.
I wasn't even playing it for the male leads.
The true selling point of the game was its breathtakingly gorgeous card illustrations—specifically, the women.
Rumors on the internet claimed that if you maxed out your intimacy with the two beautiful background NPC mentor characters, you could unlock a hidden, unlisted route.
A secret route.
As a closeted lesbian with a desperate weakness for elegant older girls and cool, aloof senpais, I couldn't resist.
I played.
I plotted.
I min-maxed my stats.
And I completely forgot to eat.
My stomach had given one final, pathetic rumble, my vision blurred, and I passed out cold right on my keyboard.
When I blinked my eyes open, the stale smell of my messy apartment was gone.
Instead, the sharp, expensive scent of fresh cherry blossoms and polished mahogany flooded my senses.
"Kurogane-san? Are you feeling alright? Your face is terribly red."
I snapped my head up.
Standing over my desk was a girl with soft, wavy brown hair, a perfectly tailored blazer, and wide, amber eyes filled with genuine concern.
Hinata Haruka.
My heart did a violent flip.
She was the official heroine of Sparkling Hearts.
The sweet, hardworking scholarship student who was supposed to be fought over by the school's elite male hierarchy.
She was even cuter in person than she was on a high-definition screen.
"I—I'm fine!"
I stammered, my voice sounding a pitch higher than usual.
I looked down at myself.
I was wearing the prestigious midnight-blue blazer of Yuoka Academy.
I glanced at my reflection in the polished glass of the classroom window.
Plain black hair, completely average eyes, and a face that screamed
"NPC Student A."
I had been reincarnated as
Kurogane Mei.
A literal nobody.
A background character whose only purpose in the game's script was to whisper gossip when the main characters walked by.
Suddenly, a loud commotion echoed from the hallway.
The classroom doors slid open, and a heavy, stifling wave of pure main-character energy flooded the room.
"Haruka! There you are," a booming, arrogant voice called out.
It was the three male leads, moving in their usual, inseparable reverse-harem formation.
In the center was Ren, the narcissistic heir to a global conglomerate, flanked by Kyo, the brooding athletic prodigy, and Itsuki, the deceptively gentle student council president.
They were flawlessly handsome, glittering with an almost obnoxious aura.
In the game, this was the exact moment the prologue ended and the player had to choose which guy's route to pursue.
Rem marched straight toward our desks, completely ignoring my existence as he reached for Haruka's hand.
"We're going to the rooftop. You're coming with us."
Haruka shrank back slightly, her eyes darting uncomfortably between the three towering boys.
She looked overwhelmed.
Helpless.
And that’s when I saw them.
Walking gracefully down the corridor just outside the classroom door were the two reasons I had starved myself to death in my past life.
The academy's two legendary
"Background Beauties."
On the left was Shizuku Fuyumi, the icy, silver-haired captain of the archery club, looking like an untouchable goddess.
On the right was Kazari Shiori, the wealthy, golden-haired daughter of a traditional noble family, radiating effortless elegance.
They were just passing by, completely detached from the main plotline.
My breath hitched.
They were magnificent.
They were real.
"Hey, Hypocritical trash, you're blocking the view. Move," Kyo snapped at me, noticing I was staring past them.
Something inside me snapped.
I didn't care about the male leads.
I didn't care about the pre-destined otome plot.
I died trying to find a secret route for the girls, and by the yuri goddess, if there's no hidden route, I was going to build one myself.
Instead of moving away like a good little NPC, I stood up, deliberately stepping right between Ren and Haruka.
I grabbed Haruka's soft, delicate hand and pulled her behind my back, shielding her from the abomonical dude' aggressive gazes.
"Excuse me,"
I said, my voice steady despite the adrenaline pounding in my ears.
"Hinata-san clearly looks uncomfortable. As her classmate, I think you should leave her alone."
The entire classroom went dead silent.
Ren jaw dropped.
Kyo frowned in pure disbelief.
Even Haruka gasped softly behind me, her fingers tightening around mine.
Out in the hallway, the two beautiful leads, Fuyumi and Shiori, paused in their tracks.
For the first time in the history of this game's script, their eyes turned away from the main road and locked directly onto me.
I squeezed Haruka's hand, feeling a warm, electric thrill run up my spine.
Goodbye, male leads.
This background character is rewriting the script—and this time, it's definitely a Yuri Route.