4 Will I...Never Return to Earth? No! I Don’t Accept This!

I had a dream about Earth. It's cliche, but it's the most likely thing to dream about. After all, I haven't even transmigrated to this world for a day, so how could I not miss Earth?

My best friend Raina and I watched that movie together. It was the one I was going to watch before I came to this crazy world. I don't remember what the movie was about, but I do remember the cinnamon sticky rolls I love to eat and never will eat again. No wait a minute, I'll just make them! Is the information o make them online?

The dream was interrupted at that thought. I opened my eyes and sat up. Raina...

Will I never see her again? I know I have pictures and videos, but it's not the same. I just...want a chance to say goodbye. I don't how she reacted when she discovered I was missing. And what about mom? When she pulls off the covers and sees nothing but air...

Will she berate herself for yelling at me before I disappeared? Will she think it was her fault? I can't even check or give her consolation. Maybe I can message her using my iPhone that's dated ten years ago.

No, it might cause a butterfly effect. What if it causes me to never come to this world in the first place? Or change my memories? I won't even notice! It's best if I stick with searching up information on the Internet.

"Akira, you're awake?"

Oh right, I was so caught up in my memories that I forgot about the psychopath. "Mm, yes. Did you finish watching that anime?"

"Not yet, I'm on the twelfth episode." There are thirteen episodes in one season. Meaning, he watched at least ten episodes. Each episode takes up 23 minutes, but I'll just simplify it to 20 minutes and add 20. So, I've been sleeping for 220 minutes, or around four hours.

"We should be landing soon, right?" The trip only takes 273 minutes approximately.

"Yes. By the way, where did you get this anime?"

'Did you make this?' I saw this thought bubble appear on his head.

"Yeah, I did. I'm planning to put it on an app I made." I show him an anime app with all my anime on it. I'm just going to copy and paste the app and upload to this world's version of the App Store. It would be published under my company's name and need a subscription to use.

"That's amazing! Akira, you're really talented!"

Is this really the crazy psychopath who kills for fun? He's looking at me with his eyes lit up, a bright smile on his face. Wait, it's impossible for me to have changed him in such a short amount of time! Was he supposed to be like this?

"Thanks. But it's not really impressive." I do take the compliment, but this anime's not really mine, so I downplay it. Plus, anime is not that developed here. It does hold the same popularity, it's just that no one in the computer industry has the time to discover better animation techniques. Plus, creativity in terms of art is limited in this cynical, hypocritical world.

'Not even professionals have this standard, and you're saying it's nothing much?' Keotex's thought bubble popped up.

'Cute!'

What did he just think?! Cute?! What? What is happening? Waaait, I don't a psychopath to be in love with me! This is an otome game! What if he kills me?!

But wait, he doesn't seem to be aware of the fact that he likes me. Oh right, he's like a dense MC from a fantasy anime. I'll just have to keep him in the dark! If there's any sign he starts realizing his feeling, I'll notice and divert him!

"Why don't you finish watching the anime? I'm sure you can finish before Starlit Future lands."

"Okay!" He returns his attention to my phone.

Now, about high school...

I'm now the main character. That means all the "love encounters" will occur to me. I don't want future villains or current villains to like me!

Although, two of the love interests are still not villains. If I recruit them into my company and stop their transformation, I could save lives! Plus, they won't cause problems for me!

But will their development stay the same? After all, the events will still happen no matter what I do. I mean, it's reasonable for huge events that have been building up for years like the war, but even smaller events like classmate deaths will still happen. For example, that tall extra that supposed to die but didn't? He still died.

After the main character's body was taken by the police—laws still are enforced in this world, they're just different—the tall man managed to trip and fall directly on the knife. It was jutting out the main character's body point up after the body was moved by the police and sliced into the man's spine. He died on the spot.

I glance at Keotex nervously. He won't still become a killing psychopath, right? He's already a psychopath, but at least he doesn't like killing. He doesn't seem so bad to me.

And the people who I'm trying to reform, will their reformations plans work? Or will it be rendered ineffective? If so, can I even do anything in this world?

What if my multi-company follows the others and also falls due to a tiny mistake? Is my knowledge of the future useless?

I can't be sure. After all, who knows whether or not the tall man's death was coincidental. But for the knife to "coincidentally" be sticking up and slicing directly into the man's spine...wouldn't that be too exaggerated?

That can't be known. I guess, for now I'll just have to wait and see. If one of the two "good" love interests approach me, I'll come up with a reason to invite them to my company. Otherwise, I'll just act normally. I won't avoid them or try super hard to keep a low profile. If I accidentally become popular, it wouldn't hurt me. After all, I have Keotex to protect me. Plus, the MC Shop has many useful items. If I get infamy points from being popular, I'll get enough power to defend myself.

—————

A half hour later, Starlit Future docks at the space station. Star Academy. The most prestigious school in the country. It really does live up to its name. The space station must span at least 100,000,000 kilometers!

Keotex hands me my iPhone and lets me out of the aisle. Again, he pulls the same stunt as the space port before boarding the starship. I pretend to fiddle with my iPhone.

Once off the starship, I look around the dock. Shining metal sparkles under cold fluorescent lights. It would have been the ideal sci-fi look, but this space station looks like it belongs to one of the villains in War of the Stars. Everything is black! What will I see next, red lightsabers?!

Oh right, I was going to make lightsabers. I have the blueprint from a netizen...

Some guards come to lead us to the auditorium. A long parade of students follow them. Some try to vandalize the walls or attack the guards, but fail. The walls are too hard for anything the students have and the guards trained in the military. They killed the students who attacked them.

It's only been a minute and already around twenty students have died. This not only shows how ruthless the guards are, but how the students are...

HELP! I want to go home! Back to Earth! And mom! Raina! My world, where villains are not heroes, magic doesn't exist, and the worst problem I had was college!

I may have acted calm, and planned for my future do meticulously, but actually I'm extremely upset. I only was so calm before because I was in shock. But now, while I take my seat in the auditorium of an academy that only existed in a game, I really start to miss Earth. It would always remain my home, even if I grow old and eventually die here. Even if I become a villain...

No! I refuse! I will never become a psychopath! I will find a way to return to Earth! This world has technology and magic! If I gather all the geniuses together, I don't believe that I will never find a way to return to Earth! Besides, my iPhone brought me here, maybe it can bring me back! It's possible!

—————

The orientation went as expected. Originally, Tractos was supposed to sit next to the main character—or me—and try his pick up lines her again. Today, I have Keotex sitting next to me. It's not any better though...

You can probably guess that he was trying to do all kinds of inappropriate things, without knowing how bad they were. He tried hugging me, rubbing all over me, and even tried to sit in my lap! D*mn the game producers for making him so dense! Why is this an otome game anyway?!

The orientation mostly covered some rules (some were hidden deliberately, but I already know about them and tell them to Keotex) and talked about some things in school. I already knew about this, so I just watched anime. Keotex watched with me.

After the assembly ended, I was led to my dorm. Keotex was led to a separate dorm. He tried to attack the guards, but I told him to stop. We would meet in every single one of my classes anyway.

As the current main character, all the love interests have the same classes. It doesn't make much sense, but it was a game after all, so I didn't think much of it. Now I'm dreading classes...

Good thing I'm allowed to bring my iPhone and use it in classes. This applies to tests too. After all, iPhones are supposed to be antiques, so how would they have any answers? If they did, the student must be a genius at programming, so the teachers would let it go. You're allowed to cheat as long as you can get around the rules.

My dorm is also made of black metal. The bed is a metal slab with no blankets whatsoever. There's nothing else in the room. My room is actually a luxury, single-person dorm as I bought it. I bought it out for a straight year, so I don't have to remember rent.

Next I dump all my furniture and other items into the room. I move them to satisfactory positions and finish furnishing my room twenty minutes later.

Now my "metal slab" has a plump mattress on top on it. Feather pillows and white cotton bedsheets lie on top. I didn't buy silk because I'm not used to it. I'd rather buy something comfortable than luxurious.

I don't have any personal items. All my pictures are in my iPhone. Even if I did print and frame them, they would reveal my identity as someone from another world right away. All the pictures I would frame feature people that don't exist in this universe, places that could never exist. Therefore, all my tables and desks are devoid of personal touches.

It's not unusual in this world. It's not exactly the norm, as teenagers are still sentimental or hot blooded, but it's not uncommon to see. No one will think I'm a transmigrator from Earth.

I'm done with my room. There's no classes today, so I'll get Keotex and take him to my starship. I'll also meet my other employees.

But before that...

I play a video from my iPhone. There's no security cameras in my dorm. Even if this is a villain world, a privacy rule still exists. It's even more enforced here than on Earth.

In the video, Raina and I are ten-year-olds playing in the snow. We built a snowman that had its head bulging to one side with some broken sticks for arms. My mom was holding the phone. "Hey you two, smile at the camera!"

We turn to her. "Look mommy, we made a snowman! It's Olef from Iced!" I say, smiling with my chubby cheeks.

"It's very good! Are you two Ann and Ella?"

"Yeah! I'm building an ice castle!" Little Raina throws a handful of snow into the air. She sings the iconic song.

"Then I'm here to bring you back!" I say. I throw a snowball at her.

"That just makes me angrier!" Raina growls. She tosses several mini snowballs at me. Most miss.

"Isn't that the snow monster, not Ella?" My mom asks offscreen.

"Now I'm the snow monster. Rawr!"

Raina and I gather snow from the ground and chuck snowballs at each other. The snowballs burst into powder on contact, spraying puffs of sparkling ice into the air before they blow away in the wind. We laugh and squeal, chasing each other around the Olef snowman.

Tears fall from my eyes. They hit the cold, metal floor silently, leaving only a small pool of water briefly before it's absorbed by the automatic cleaning floor. I know I'm an adult in college, but d*mmit! Why don't you teleport to a world where killing is expected and these types of moments are nowhere to be seen! Even if there's a similar situation, kids wouldn't be chasing each other with snowballs, but mini daggers! The snow would no longer stay pure white, but be stained with dark red, ruining the moment. A-and Raina...

And mom...

I'LL NEVER SEE THEM AGAIN, D*MN YOU WORLD!

I collapse to the ground, silently sobbing. Good thing I closed the door and locked it, or I would be dead if anyone sees me. I can't even cry in this world!

Suddenly, I start floating. My phone is jerked out of my hand. Wait, I'm floating?

No, someone just picked me up! And saw the video on my phone! No wait, I've done nothing but watch a video and cry! Don't kill me now!

"What's this?" A familiar voice says in a flat tone.

"Keotex?!" I start struggling to get out of his grasp. However, the difference in strength, not to mention magic, foils my attempts.

"Stop struggling." I see his face. He's looking at my iPhone and scrolling through the photos app.

"Uh, this is just my family. A-and my friend. Nothing strange about that! A-about before..." I stammer out.

Keotex finds the home button and manages to tap on the search app. He looks through my search history.

"Earth? Conquering Villains? Why is there detailed information on me? What? Information from the future? What? Heroes? What's an otome game?"

Don't kill me, don't kill me, PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!

"Akira?" He slowly turns to me. "Are you...from another world?"