Yamiyo no Hotaru

Chapter 2

'Firefly of the Dark Night' was a famous game sold in my previous life...in other words, in Japan in the 21st century. It was popular for its splendid voice actors, abundant still pictures, long story, and many branching routes.

The worldview of the game could be described as a Japanese-style dark fantasy. Fuso-kuni, the setting of this work, looks like the Edo period in Japan, but it is an infinitely massive world where supernatural powers such as sorcery and Onmyojutsu exist, and abnormal beings called "Youkai" have been dominating the world since ancient times. Then, the imperial court has given the role to a family of exorcists, who hold extraordinary powers and are in charge of exterminating or subduing them in various parts of the country.

The main character of the game originally lived in a peaceful village as a child of the village headman. He has kind parents and close brothers and sisters, but one day his destiny is drastically changed.

The village was attacked by the 'Youkai'... specifically, the most dangerous and least numerous of all the 'Youkai', the 'Calamity Youkai', and the villagers and his families were all killed. But just as he is about to be killed, he awakens a powerful supernatural power and succeeds in striking back at the 'Calamity Youkai'.

However, the power of the unusual ability, which is easily inherited and becomes more powerful through interbreeding, is not something that a farmer's child can have, so it is unlikely that he can kill a top-class 'Calamity Youkai'. But then, the main character is discovered and taken in by the Kizuki family, a famous family of exorcists that controls the area including the village, and he aims to become an exorcist to avenge his family and protect people... and there he learns about his unusual ability, the secret of his birth, and the darkness of the Kizuki family and other exorcists. That's the general story.

Well, a friend of mine recommended me to play this game, and I was impressed by the high quality of the game and regretted the depressing story. It is true that the illustrations were created by a famous illustrator, so not only are the character drawings good, but the backgrounds and battle descriptions are also very elaborate. That alone is enough to make the otaku community very happy. I can't tell how many times my 'son' has been taken care of by the service scenes in the adult version...

But, but... As I get further into the game, that initial satisfaction is easily erased. Why? Because of the numerous erotic and grotesque events, the abundance of bad endings, and the high rate of landmines among the heroines that accompany such events.

Seriously, it's not cool! Basically, 'Youkai' is too much for ordinary people to handle, and as for the named ones, as can be seen from the setting alone, there are too many of them who have abilities that only the heroes and heroines can beat them at first sight, or who beat them physically after they have not only raised their level, but also leveled up to the maximum. What the heck!

This is why there are bad endings, and even if there aren't bad endings, erotic scenes of named characters appear in the events without any hesitation. For example, when Youkai attacks, a female character's head is smashed one moment while she was chatting the next, or she is swallowed whole while still alive. No, it is better than that. Because many of the characters have different powers, there are too many scenes in which they are raped by Monster. It was a mental blow for me to see Ayaka, whose gentle personality had been a comfort in the early stages of the game, being attacked by Harabote chest-buster in an event in the middle of the game!

And it's not only the enemies that are dangerous. The allies are also dangerous. They are in a very complicated situation with love, hate, and power struggles. Assassinations and plots are common occurrences.

For this reason, if the main character makes a bad move, the heroines can get depressed rather easily, depending on their likability and character correlation. This is not surprising, since they are routinely confronted with unreasonable Monster and their own personal intrigues. Some of them have their fiancées or best friends killed by Monster or are distrustful of people because they have been set up by them. In such a place, why would the main character carelessly make an unintentional move after the likability level reaches a certain level? These girls are not good. There is no telling what they might do.