~My Lovely Harem School Life~

"Hey Alex, do you want me to lead you to salvation, to heaven, and BEYOND?"

A sleepy-looking youth who was slumped on his desk turned to look at the pimply face of his 'best friend' who was practically sweating with excitement.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Are you deaf? I said I shall lead you to salvation, as an ode to our joyous friendship!"

"Ollie, how many times do I have to tell you, if you're gonna keep spouting random bullshit like you have 8th Grade syndrome, do it at home. Don't make my ears bleed," Alex replied, his lazy voice laced with frustration.

"Alright, geez! I was just joking. I wanted to show you this awesome game I've been playing, and I know you'd like it. It's a dating sim where the player's character has to make choices during each interaction that can increase or decrease favorability, which changes the storyline!"

Ollie tried to calm down, but he started to get worked up again as he went on.

"Oho, that sounds pretty fun. I haven't really played dating sims but the choice system sounds cool, what's it called?" His interest was piqued.

"It's called ~My Lovely Harem School Life~!"

"...What is that cringy name, are you sure you're not messing with me?" Alex asked incredulously.

"Hey trust me, how long have we been friends? You can check the reviews, it's actually pretty popular right now. The character art for the heroines is godly, and the story is pretty expansive, with many pathways. It was made in Japan, but there is an English version available as well."

'We're only friends because we're neighbors dumbass' Alex thought in his head. Although Ollie wasn't really a bad guy, he was pretty perverted and enjoyed talking about stuff in that 'area'. Almost every conversation would end in him making a lewd remark about one of the female students, which sometimes disgusted him.

"Fine, I'll give it a shot, I'm free this summer anyway" Alex sighed. He had nothing else to do after the semester ended. Ollie was his only real friend, simply because he was too introverted and lazy to maintain relationships with others. He enjoyed reading books, playing niche story-based games, and liked cooking. None of those are hobbies that would resonate with the other students. It's not like he was a loner though, he was decently smart and was on the school's basketball team, so he did have 'friends', though no one he really enjoyed being around.

"EXCELLENT! Thou shalt not regret the trust placed on this heathen, your journey shalt be GLORIOUS!"

The rest of the class, who had started to pack up for the break, glanced over with disgusted expressions, causing Alex to frown again.

"Jump off a cliff, you heathen."

***

"Holy shit, he wasn't lying. This is pretty damn good"

Alex had spent the entire weekend on the game, and had just finished the first playthrough. A wholesome harem ending with the protagonist landing a high-paying job after college.

"The characters are pretty cliche but still have a lot of depth, and apparently there are over 100 different endings? Haha, looks like I'm gonna be a shut-in this summer break."

***

"HAHA, eat that you toothpick dick"

1 month into the summer break, Alex was holed in his room and was on his 35th playthrough.

"Hmm, this time I only 'conquered' one heroine, but somehow the other ones are doing pretty well? That's pretty rare, usually if they aren't 'conquered' they'd be devastated or sad."

***

"Damn, so it's possible to have an ending this bad?"

Alex stared at his screen in utter horror after seeing the end credits of his 99th playthrough. The result was so bad that he wanted to smash his laptop and throw it out the window, even though he had deliberately made the worst choices to see what would happen. What shocked him even more is that he had achieved more bad endings than good ones so far, because of the sheer amount of events that could derail the story even if the choices made had been great up until that point. Although the choices themselves weren't too difficult to figure out which one was best, making a different one on a whim or as an oversight could have huge repercussions.

"Haaaa, I'm gonna play it one more time, but this time I want that asshole to have the worst ending possible. I don't understand why the devs even included an antagonist this bad and annoying.... I can't beat him in a fight, but what if I....."

***

The 100th playthrough.

Alex cracked his neck in satisfaction, stretching his back as he stared at his masterpiece of a faceslapping route. He had managed to completely shatter every single one of the villain's plans, destroyed his family, his relationships, and even his manhood, as he watched the character on screen cry pathetically.

"Even as a dating sim you can focus the story on trampling the villain. I don't know how much time the devs spent on making this possible, but thank you for you service, you guys are awesome," Alex said as he brought his hands together for a prayer.

Suddenly the scene changed on the screen, and instead of the usual end-credits...

- Thank you for your kind words

"Huh, what the hell is this? This never came up before," Alex's confusion was evident, as he blinked at the text that had popped up on his screen.

- For your dedication, thoroughness, and undisguised joy, we bestow upon you our gratitude

"Gratitude? Is it a thank you message for finishing the game 100 times? That's pretty nice of them"

- Live, Laugh, Love, it's time to enjoy your life, but with more than a little SPICE

"What does that mea-"

His words were caught in his throat, as the text on the screen started to swirl. Alex blinked multiple times, as the hypnotizing movement made him incredibly dizzy. He grabbed the edge of his desk, trying to balance himself but a splitting pain barraged every single inch of his head as he cried out in fear.

The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was a cartoon truck driving towards him on the screen through the rapid swirls, headlights flashing and a loud horn blaring.

***

"ohhhgrmff, oh my head hurts"

Alex muttered as he slowly woke up, grasping at his head as he massaged it slowly.

'HUH'

"Wh- why did I just speak in Japanese?"

Again. Both sentences he had said out loud were in Japanese, a language he had never spoken but could somewhat understand because of anime. he didn't have much time to think, with the headache getting even worse as the pain started to feel like a thousand knives were repeatedly being stabbed directly into his brain.

Random pictures started to assault him at this moment, with different people and events flashing past with incredible speed, yet he could register them clearly for some reason. This happened for a good three minutes, as Alex rolled around in pain the whole time. As it slowly subsided he started to regain his clarity, giving him the ability to think once again.

He settled down to try and catch his breath, but his eyes widened in horror as the imag- no, the memories imprinted themselves into him. His hands squeezed his chest and stomach, and his horror intensified as he found abs on his stomach, something he DEFNITELY did not have. He looked around and, as expected, found himself in a large bedroom with lavish furniture. He stood up urgently and ran to a door on the opposite side to his bed, which he 'somehow' knew was the bathroom.

He threw the door open and stared at the massive mirror over the marble sink and his heart sank as he stared at the face that greeted him. shoulder length blonde hair that looked very obviously dyed, multiple piercings on both ears that were adorned with various earrings, piercing blue eyes, and a chiseled face that could only be described as 'fuc*ing handsome'.

"Hahaha, I'm so dead, hahaha," Alex laughed at the ridiculous situation as the reality started to sink in. He had transmigrated into the game ~My Lovely Harem School Life~.

Sounds awesome, why is he sad? Is that what you were gonna ask?

Because he wasn't the main character. He wasn't a side character. He wasn't even a mob character.

No.

He was the main antagonist of the game, the absolute vermin who harassed the main cast of the story in a variety of ways, the trash that made it his life's goal to destroy anyone who even looked at him wrong, the garbage that would eventually forcefully steal the heroines if the right choices weren't made.

If it was just that, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, he could've just lived a normal upright life from here on out. But no, Alex's misfortune didn't end there.

He had become the son of the biggest yakuza group in the country, a force that controlled the black market, handled dealings under the table, resorted to violence if their rule or their pride was threatened. He was the heir of the Yagami Syndicate, the son of Yagami Daichi the ruler of the underworld.

He was Yagami Reiji, the scoundrel of the game.