The Simulacrum

«He who fights with harem tropes should see to it that he himself does not become a harem protagonist. And if you gaze for long into a narrative, the narrative gazes also into you.» ~ Friedrich Nietzsche (…probably?) How would you react if one day you found yourself in an environment running on tropes and clichés? For allegedly average high-schooler Leonard Dunning, this rhetorical question became uncomfortably real on the day he woke up on a strangely pristine island in the middle of the Atlantic, without any memories, surrounded by classmates who are barely more than characterless placeholders, and with a classic indecisive harem protagonist and his impossibly beautiful love interests for friends. That would be hard to deal with already, yet his investigation into the tropes governing the world, trying to avoid harem shenanigans, and his odd blend of outside-context knowledge, unique abilities, and a penchant for causing trouble wherever he goes ends up dragging him into the center of the action anyway. Disclaimer: This is a tongue-in-cheek, slice of life romantic comedy, with occasional sprinkles of combat and mystery to spice things up. Please do not expect a straight up deconstruction beyond some in-universe meta-commentary by the characters. Show more