Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

'I thought you were supposed to have an actual guide for these types of things' Is what Kaveh thought while blankly staring at the piece of paper he held, that which had a drawing of a magnifying glass and a hand that had it's pointer finger out. 'This tells me nothing'

Okay

Look, it isn't as if he wasn't exposed to these transmigration, isekai, reincarnation or whatever tropes in the past. He's read Scum Villain Sel*-****** Sys*** before, always got a kick out of those 'Reincarnated as a ______!' manhwas and actively searched for visual novels of this genre whenever he had the time.

'Maybe I shouldn't have enjoyed such things as much as I did, what I should have done is been sympathetic toward the Main Characters emotional distress from being transported to another world, and stopped before they could be put through anymore hardships'

He sighed as he pocketed the note in his silk pants which had small red and white birds embroidered on it's hem.

Kaveh looked at himself in the mirror he was sat in front of and got increasingly convinced that someone was actually playing a joke on him. What do you mean there was an exact copy of himself in a Historical-Fantasy alternate universe? did he somehow knock himself out and got transported onto a very detailed set as one of those social experiment things? He definitely remembers not dying, so when are the camera people going to come out of hiding?

If one were to look from an Omniscient POV into the room he was standing in right now and focused very intensely on him, they would probably see spirals in Kaveh's eyes right now from how he was emotionally spiralling into the depths of 'Denial Chasm' only to fall face first onto the shiny marble floors of 'Harsh Truth' after hearing a distinct, three knocks coming from his door.

How do people even talk here?

"The doors unlocked!" Says Kaveh hoping it doesn't come out too stilted from his slightly thawed mouth.

The one behind the door reveals themselves to be a familiar face to the Not-Not Dead Kaveh, in fact, he only just saw this exact face about 4 hours ago, before his untimely transportation

A translucent, pastel yellow screen pops up in front of him and time seems to have slowed, going by how the birds outside his window seem to have significantly slowed their take off from the branch they were on. This would make an incredible reference for stills, if only Kaveh had a Kamera, and his faculties running at 100%

"Congratulations! User KAVEH, has been specially chosen by the AKASHA team to beta test their latest instalment in the ROMANCE?! NO! AKADEMIYA! series."

"As a SIMULATED Non-Playable-Character. User KAVEH may refer to the HELP or FAQ screen, if they have any questions regarding gameplay."

"If User KAVEH has any questions NOT pertaining to gameplay, they may refer them to SYSTEM M3#R4K or MEHRAK"

As a visual novel fan himself, Kaveh has definitely heard of the name AKASHA before. And if not, then the series name is impossible to not recognize, considering how he was actually just talking about it over drinks with a junior of his. Who just so happened to be in front of him right now, with his arms crossing over his chest, towering over Kaveh.

Look all Kaveh's got to say is that, if this is payback for shit talking the game, he sincerely apologizes, he's a naturally expressive person and even more so when drunk. He can't help but complain if he thinks that the latest addition didn't live up to the legacy the 10th addition left behind.

He may or may not also be slightly peeved that he lost all his progress on a character route because the game froze and wouldn't go back to normal unless he closed out of it.

In hindsight, considering how dedicated the AKASHA team was to old school game mechanics, he really should've remembered to save ever so often.

"Look! what do you mean Pir Kavikavus dies in the middle of nowhere, leaving behind nothing?! that's not how it works! what a cheap way to set up a mystery, surely there must be something else right? No researcher would just up and vanish just like that unless he wanted to go on some soul searching journey, and even if he did, why would he?!"

"Jazari's route was cute and all but would it seriously hurt them that much if they gave his good ending a bit more romance? sure, becoming a successful researcher and receiving the Pir Kavikavus prize is amazing! don't get me wrong, but I did feel like the player character got, oh I don't know, neglected? after Jazari achieved his goals?"

"And also! Auto-Save is a-!"

Before Kaveh could continue his drunken rantings, a smooth voice cut him off.

"Alright senior, while hearing your criticisms for your interests is nice and all, it's 10pm right now and I for one tend to keep a very strict sleep schedule"

Ah, yes, Alhaitham.

"What?! 10pm already? but I could've sworn that we just got here. Ah, wait, let me finish my drink and we'll get going"

Kaveh downs his wine in one gulp, quite impressive.

"All done now? let's get going, make sure you don't fall on your way out" Alhaitham says as he grabs hold of Kaveh's shoulder after he successfully stands up.

"Hey! don't underestimate your senior! I'll tell you, that im quite balanced right now"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes!"

"I'm sure"

Oh that smug voice, I'll get him one day.

But if that's the case, isn't this a bit extreme? surely you don't transport people to another world just because they talked shit about your game? Look, if someone said some of his building designs were bad, sure he would get heated but he understands that not everyone shares the same taste, so he probably wouldn't just throw someone into another world.

In any case, he's got bigger fish to fry, namely a large fish with silver hair and striking eyes.

"Daydreaming are we?"

Oh, Alhaitham, we really can't stay away from each other can't we?