A 2D or 3D Kind of Love?

Day 01

I wiped the sweat off my brow.

No matter how far I ran, I couldn't lose the person chasing after me.

Just then, the toe strap on my left sandal snapped causing me to fall down and swallow a mouthful of dust on the ground. I had a coughing fit. When the dust around me cleared, I noticed a shadow extending itself on the ground.

He's here.

In one last attempt at saving myself, I gathered all of my strength and stood up, limping as fast as I could on a sprained ankle.

But, it was too late.

I felt a stinging pain in my upper abdomen and looked down. I saw the tip of his blade poking through my originally snow white kimono. In my shock, I touched the area where his blade made contact with my skin.

It's blood. My blood.

In one smooth move, he pulled out his sword and my blood spilled out. As my breaths were grew shallow, I knew I was gonna die.

But before the inevitable happened, I had to know who my killer was. Perhaps, it was due to my curious and stubborn personality, but before I could lose my strength, I turned around and faced my killer.

「 Wh-who are you ？」 I struggled to ask.

I grabbed onto the black cloth that was wound around his face, unravelling it as I fell to the ground.

Unfortunately, my world had already faded to black.

+++

"Sugoi ！ This game is so cool ！"

A vermillion-haired girl squealed as she stared at her cell phone screen.

"The Owee company really outdid themselves this time. I wonder who that girl was."

The screen turned white, then the game's catchy opening played, revealing the silhouettes of what she assumed to be several handsome-looking men to a catchy tune. Then, a fancy title flashed in the middle of the screen.

『 Message Me, Silly 』

"Oh, so I guess the scene before was the prologue."

A block of text appeared next, which briefly explained the setting of the game.

In short, the heroine of the game lived as a princess during the Meiji Restoration Era. When her castle fell under the attack of assassins hired by revolutionists, she witnessed her father's murder and her mother's sacrifice in order to let her escape. Unfortunately, one of the assassins found and attacked her. She would've followed the same fate as her parents if not for the pendant that her mother had given her before passing away. When her blood fell on the mysterious pendant, it activated when she lost consciousness. After opening her eyes, again she found herself in an unfamiliar setting.

「 Where am I ？」 The heroine pondered after looking around her surroundings.

「 Oh. You're awake ？」

An elderly lady entered the room and set aside the basin of water and a small towel on top of a nearby dresser. She came close enough to feel the heroine's forehead with her left hand.

「 I was worried when I found you passed out on the sidewalk and wouldn't wake up for a week, but it seems as if your fever has finally broken. How are you feeling, Miss _ _ _ _ _ _ ？」

The game paused on a screen with a keyboard.

"Ugh. I hate choosing names. Let's see. How 'bout 'Queen of Kabukicho'？Darn. It was two characters too long. How 'bout 'Queen Kagura' ？ Still too long. Guess just 'Kagura' will do."