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Manny is and always was your typical geek. He loved video games and tv and was often neck-deep in technology. Of course, this often leads to struggles in one’s social life, especially in Manny’s case. He didn’t even consider pursuing many friendships or relationships, nor did he desire to socialize regularly. He had his technology, his games, and his shows. What more would he need?
There was one thing he loved above all others, though, the visual novel OmniGals. In his eyes, a most wonderous story about superpowered girls and their commander. Like most visual novels of its era, it had a major dating sim element, as the player viewed the story from the perspective of the titular OmniGals’ new male assistant. Basically, the whole premise was the assistant slowly growing closer to one of the girls of the player’s choosing and eventually ending in a relationship while following their specific story route.
Among all the characters, Manny’s favorite was the female lead, known only as Magical Arty. She was the archetypical “hot and cold” personality character and the first of the OmniGals the player was introduced to. When Manny laid eyes on her the day he first booted up the game, it was like love at first sight. He knew she was fictional, but he still admired her and wished he could be with a girl just like her.
~--~
It was a typical late night; Manny had finally crawled into bed after a long session of playing OmniGals. The clock read some early morning hour, but the young man dared not to read it. Instead, he slipped under the covers and fells right into a deep sleep. Despite his best efforts, his mind still raced with thoughts about OmniGals, and more specifically, thoughts about Magical Arty.
The thoughts were so pervasive that they quickly leaked into his dreams. Lost deep in dreamland, Manny saw scenes from the game play out in his head. Every single one primarily features Magical Arty until his focus rested on her exclusively. In exchange, it almost felt like her focus was on him.
“You’re cute, I like you,” he heard her say, and it sent his heart aflutter. Alas, being in a dream, he had little control over himself and could not reply. Instead, he felt a goofy grin spread across his face. Then Arty placed her hands on his face, and Manny swore he could feel the touch of her warm hands. Yet, just as quickly as it began, the dream faded, and it was the next morning.
“What a dream,” Manny commented. The dream was crystal clear in his mind.
~--~
Manny’s life continued to tick forward, and OmniGals remained a significant part of it. Even as he finished high school and moved onto college. It remained his constant companion as he drifted further into his schoolwork, primarily dedicating himself to finishing college. What meager social life he had before dried up as he threw himself deeper into his work. It was a lonely time in the young man’s life.
Yet, throughout this low-point, he always had OmniGals, and he always had Magical Arty. Those vivid dreams continued, and every night his time with Arty went on longer and longer. From simple exchanges of words to long conversations. At first, they only met in a blank void, yet soon they traveled about anywhere his imagination wanted. They touched, they embraced, they did what any young man of his age desired to do with the target of their affection.
Yet, these times were not to last. Not because of any great event or separation, but simply because Manny slowly moved on. As his low point in college came to an end and the young man graduated, Manny moved on to the workforce. He had less time to dedicate to his hobbies in the early years of his career, so he had to pick and choose his recreation with some care. As time went on, OmniGals slipped further and further down his priorities until the game was completely stored away.
The vivid dreams of Magical Arty went away as well, as she became less of an obsession and more of a character Manny was a fan of. All that remained to remind him of those times was a poster of the game’s cover and a figure of Arty he bought at a convention. As OmniGals drifted further away from his mind, Manny moved onto other obsessions, other series, and other games and shows. With a solid career under his belt, Manny even went out of his way to socialize for once.
Now that he was several years out of college, in a stable career, and in a new circle of friends, Manny was in a much better place. He even started to date this nice girl from work who shared his love of technology and games. What more could he need?
~--~
It was a day like any other. Manny was browsing the net for some entertainment when a reminder of his past popped onto his radar. OmniGals was getting a remake, and Manny felt a surge of nostalgia. His favorite visual novel was retuning in glorious HD next year. For the first time in a long time, Manny found himself obsessing over OmniGals again before he came to a sudden realization. He hadn’t played the game in years.
Feeling nostalgic and wanting to warm himself up for the remake, Manny tracked down his old copy of OmniGals and reinstalled it. The game booted up as normal, and its familiar title music blessed his ears. A smile spread on the young man’s face as he readied himself to relieve some favorite memories.
After starting a new game, the intro played as usual. Manny effortlessly slipped back into the role of the OmniGals’ assistant. Every story beat, every music snippet, every line of spoken dialogue hit Manny right in the nostalgia. Since it was his first time in a while, Manny decided to pursue Magical Arty’s route, which even after all these years he knew by heart.
“Hi, I’m Magical Arty,” the first scene of the route began with that classic voice clip. Yet, something seemed off to Manny. He remembered the line as being more bubbly and happy. Yet, he could sense the slightest bit of another emotion in the delivery of the line. The young man brushed it off as imperfect memory.
The game continued on, and Manny chose all the right dialogue choices to make the romance bloom. Yet in-between all the familiar scenes, Manny noticed more weird oddities. Even though he pursued Arty’s route, not every scene involved or featured her. The other characters needed to shine too. Yet, Manny started to notice Arty appearing in scenes he knew she shouldn’t.
It started off as just background cameos in scenes focusing on the other OmniGals. Those Manny passed off as easter eggs he had always missed. However, it wasn’t long before he realized something was wrong. There was one scene involving another of the OmniGirls giving the main character romance advice in private. For some reason, Arty was there. However, she wasn’t in the background this time. She was in the foreground, barely acknowledged by the two other characters who still played out the scene as though Arty wasn’t there.
As more situations like this cropped up, Manny brought an end to his play session for the night. It was getting late, and he had to work the next day, so no all-nighters for him. He slipped back under his covers, a strange concern in his chest. Had he remembered the scene wrong? He’d have to check online.
~--~
For the first time in a long time, Manny dreamed of Magical Arty. However, instead of conversing with her or going on some date-like escapade, the girl was simply clingy and smothering. It felt strange to the young man, as that was very out of character for someone like Arty, to the point it spoiled the dream for him. He was greatly disappointed in his own subconscious for getting such basic details wrong.
“What a ridiculous dream,” Manny said without thinking.
“Who are you calling a dream,” Arty suddenly snapped at him.
“Huh?” Manny was taken off guard. He’d never have a character in his dreams react in such a way. Usually, one wouldn’t expect a person in their dreams to so directly reply.
“Am I not good enough for you, is that it?” Arty got in his face, her voice laced with venom.
“This is…” Manny only grew more confused. Was this a nightmare or something?
“First, you cheat on me with that random girl, now you just blow me off?” Arty grew more belligerent and presented a photo, one Manny recognized immediately. It was a picture of him and that girl from work he had dated, one they took together only a month ago.
“How can I cheat on you? You’re not even real,” Manny replied. He didn’t exactly expect his response to fly over well, but it was just a dream. Yet, the young man had never seen someone give him the same look as Arty now did.
“What…?” Magical Arty’s face drained of color as her head tilted and her eyes gave off an intensely cold stare.
“This is just a dream,” Manny shook his head.
“Hahaha,” Arty let out a hollow laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Manny inquired. Yet, Arty didn’t answer. She just stared at him and smiled. The tiniest tinge of warmth flowed back into her expression, but it was marred by this aura of pity and condescension. It was the same look an adult gives to a child that doesn’t know any better. This stare was the last thing Manny saw in the dream before his alarm pulled him back to the waking world.
“What was that about?” Manny sat up in his bed in a cold sweat. The dream, just like all the others about Arty, was crystal clear in his memory. And no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get the image of her condescending stare out of his head.
~--~
Manny left OmniGals untouched for a few days before brushing off the events as a vivid nightmare. He wouldn’t let one bad night at the mercy of his subconscious ruin his old favorite game. However, with the image of Magical Arty’s face still burned into his brain, he decided to play some of the other routes in the game instead. At least until he could push the whole dream out of his head.
Yet, as he loaded a save file from earlier in the game and tried to pursue another character’s story, nothing went as intended. He tried the secondary route with another of the game’s many heroines, yet he ended up back on Arty’s route for some reason. Thinking he made a mistake, Manny loaded a save file from even further back and tried it again. Still, Arty’s route came up instead.
Now beyond weirded out and certain something was up, Manny flipped to the internet to see if this was a common problem. He checked old text walkthrough and several video playthroughs, he browsed the wiki and even leafed through an old strategy guide. None of them had anything to say about this strange occurrence. There was no evidence Arty should be able to hijack the story. Upon checking the videos of the scenes he played the other night, Manny saw no sign of Arty being in the scene, just as he remembered.
Against his better judgment, Manny continued his current play session. He assumed that he had uncovered some hidden easter egg or even a serious game glitch. This was all sounding too much like one of those creepy, fake stories people spread on the internet. It was too strange to be real.
As the game continued, Arty more or less took over the story, appearing in every scene and taking on a majority of the dialogue. The normal plot of the game never got off the ground, as everything circled back onto Magical Arty. Manny noted there were times when Arty practically monologued. No other character was allowed to speak, nor was the player given any dialogue options.
Then suddenly, the off-the-rails story jolted back into familiar territory. About a third of the way into the game, there was a famous cliché scene. In the scene, Arty and another of the OmniGals ask the player what kind of girl they prefer. Manny remembered it well because he almost always chose Arty. Yet, this time he found himself hesitating, even as the dialogue choice popped onto the screen.
However, before Manny could even consider what to do, the option to say he preferred Arty was highlighted and selected. On-screen, Magical Arty beamed with pride, while on the other side of the screen, Manny was beyond freaked out. His mouse cursor was nowhere near the option, and since this was an older game, it didn’t support using a controller or the keyboard to select choices.
Convinced something was wrong, Manny reloaded his most recent save and played through the scene again. Yet, each time Arty was automatically selected. No matter how fast Manny was, the choice was selected with machine-level speed. And each time he reloaded, Arty’s expression grew more and more frustrated and angry. After the tenth reload, he was taken not to the beginning of the scene but to a black screen with just Arty.
“Am I not good enough for you, is that it?” An Arty voice clip played, one Manny did not recognize. “After all these years, have you grown bored of me? After everything I did for you?”
Manny was taken aback. Was this some kind of fourth-wall-breaking easter egg for reloading the scene so many times? But that didn’t make any sense. He’d just researched the game earlier that day and found no such scene mentioned. Besides, he lived and breathed this game for years, he of all people would know if there was a scene like this.
“Who was there for you at your lowest, huh?” Arty grew more belligerent. “Who comforted you when no one else would? I’m your girlfriend, for goodness’s sake.”
‘Am I dreaming again?’ Manny pinched himself, but the tiny prick of pain confirmed he was very awake. ‘This is getting too creepy,’ he clicked the escape key to return to the menu, but nothing happened.
“Don’t try to get away from me,” Arty snapped. “I knew it. You are cheating on me with the skank, aren’t you?”
“The hell?” Manny tried to CTRL-ALT-DEL, but the command did not register.
“I said, don’t try to get away from me!” Arty’s following voice clip was accented by the sound of a fist slamming on glass. Almost as if she were bashing the inside of his computer screen.
“Okay, no,” Manny pressed the power button on his computer, but it refused to shut off.
“I was always there for you. We’re soulmates, Manny. You can’t run from me!” Arty’s voice was now accompanied by the sound of cracking glass. Manny glanced back to see cracks all along his monitor. He didn’t dare check to see if that was just an image or the actual screen cracking.
“Forget this,” Manny moved to unplug the computer but took one last look at the screen to see Arty seemingly forcing herself through the monitor. The sight of which caused the young man to leap back, knocking his chair over. Hoping he was having a nightmare, Manny scrambled away towards his door only to slip and hit his head. The last thing he heard before blacking out was the shattering of glass.
~--~
Manny awoke sometime later in his bed. At first, a great relief washed over him as he realized it was all another nightmare. Then he realized there was this something warm touching him. Someone was nuzzled up against the young man and hugging him. Manny knew all too well that he lived alone, nor did he know anyone who would sneak into his bed and embrace him like this. He also didn’t know anyone who felt so warm, except…
Manny’s eyes shot open to see it was Magical Arty hugging him. Her embrace was light and loving. Yet, the sight of her filled Manny with panic again. He tried to struggle and break free, but the second he moved, Arty tightened her grip. Manny felt like he was trapped in a vice as he looked up at Arty’s face.
“Hush, just go back to sleep,” Arty whispered to him with the same condescending look as before.
~--~
Manny snapped awake again, jolting upright in his bed. This time there was no Arty, and he was all alone. He looked over his room to see his computer, and all the lights were off, his chair was upright, and nothing was out of place. Manny laid back into bed, breathing a sigh of relief before realizing it was nine in the morning and rolling out onto his feet.
Despite his moment of relief, Manny’s heart still raced like mad, and he walked over to his computer desk. The jewel case with his original copy of OmniGals was laid out on the desk, game safely inside. He snatched up the case and walked over to his trash can. Just the sight of Arty on the cover freaked him out now, and he wanted the image gone. Manny even considered canceling his preorder of the remake and putting a stop to this whole nostalgia trip.
However, an indescribable chill ran right up Manny’s spine. Just the thought of throwing out the game made him queasy and panicked. Some instinct of his was flaring up. Like when one awakens in the middle of the night, feeling as though they’re being watched. Whatever it was, something told Manny he shouldn’t throw the game out, and with some reservation, he placed it back on his desk.
He didn’t have to work today, so Manny decided to boot up OmniGals again, hoping everything he saw was in his head. The game booted up normally, the nostalgic title screen music comforting him somewhat. He loaded his last save, which was right before the scene where Arty and the other girl asked the player their preference. This time, Manny was actually given the option to choose, and out of safety, he chose Arty.
Manny played the game for another couple of hours, and throughout the experience, found nothing strange again. All the scenes played out as they should, and Arty didn’t constantly appear to hijack the story. Glad everything from before was nothing more than a bad nightmare; Manny saved his game for the day and hit quit. As the game shut down, Manny swore he could see something out of the corner of his eye in the bedroom mirror but played it off as a trick of a tired mind.
During the following nights, Manny continued his playthrough of the game, going through the Arty route as he originally intended. Since everything continued to proceed as normal, Manny’s fears and discomfort towards Arty slowly evaporated. He gladly settled back into his comfort zone and finally enjoyed his old favorite game. Yet, every night, he still saw that same thing out of the corner of his eye in the bedroom mirror. The more times he saw it, the more he realized it looked like Arty, watching him from the shadows. But that’s ridiculous. It was all just a dream…
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Sometimes we have a hard time letting go of the past, other times the past has a hard time letting go of us.
Have you ever had one of those ideas that seemed simple than completely ballooned out of control? I never intended this story to be so long, but here we are. This whole thing started with "You know what would be creepy?" and then boom this story was the result. I'm not the first person to have this idea, but I really badly wanted to see this story come to fruition.
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy
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