| Yume Miru Kusuri: A Drug That Makes You Dream | |
| Developer: | Rúf |
| Artist: | Kiyotaka Haimura |
| Composer: | Funczion Sounds[1] |
| Genre: | Eroge, Visual novel |
| Modes: | Single Player |
| Platforms: | Microsoft Windows |
is an adult visual novel for Windows developed by Rúf. The visual novel was initially released in Japanese on December 22, 2005 and translated into English by Peach Princess. It was illustrated by Kiyotaka Haimura. According to Peter Payne, founder of Jast USA, it is believed the writers were trying to explore themes relevant in Japan for high-school students.[2]
Kouhei Kagami is a Japanese student with excellent grades and a fairly normal social life, but feels empty and transparent inside. The story revolves a pivotal moment in Kouhei's life where three girls, that have more problems than himself, meet him for the first time and soon make his life a roller coaster of emotions. Kouhei must choose to save one of them from their own despair.[3]
The plot follows the same basic route for the first half of the game. Kouhei goes about his life and makes friends with three main girls: Aeka, Mizuki, and Nekoko.
Rúf initially released the game in Japanese on December 25, 2005 and was later reprinted on March 19, 2009. The game was translated into English by Peach Princess and released April 25, 2007.[4]
If the player follows this story arc, Kouhei begins to pay closer attention to Aeka Shiraki, a girl in his class who is mistreated by her classmates. He begins a friendship with her, not thinking much of the situation, but after she almost commits suicide, Kouhei agrees to begin a sexual relationship with her and help her with her troubles. They eventually develop feelings for each other, and Kouhei distances himself from his classmates, choosing not to let her be mistreated alone.
With Kouhei's help, Aeka becomes stronger and overcomes the situation, eventually attacking (and almost killing) the bullying leader, Antoinette, after an incident where Antoinette's group tries to rape her in front of Kouhei. After this incident, both lovers abandon the school, and Aeka ends up adopted by Kouhei's parents, working part-time at a bakery. They plan on continuing their education, and moving away, and becoming more independent in the future.
One day, Aeka will simply disappear. Kouhei will learn through gossiping that she eventually tried to commit suicide by jumping. She survives, but at the end of the game her condition is critical. Furthermore, now that the player has snubbed Antoinette's minions, Kouhei becomes the new target of their bullying.
If the player follows this story arc, Kouhei begins a troubled relationship with the high school student council president, Mizuki Kirimiya. After going to Hong Kong, snorting cocaine and practicing strangulation sex with Mizuki, Kouhei returns to Japan, faces the consequences of his actions, and struggles to maintain his relationship with Mizuki.
After a final night of passion, Mizuki disappears. Kouhei becomes the new head of the Student Council, and nobody but him seems to care about the former president. One day, Kouhei comes back home and finds Mizuki waiting for him, visibly pregnant. Disinherited by her family, but still rich and talented, she's adopted by Kouhei's parents. She moves to Kouhei's house and gives birth to their daughter.
After a final night of passion, Mizuki disappears. Kouhei becomes the new head of the Student Council, and nobody but him seems to care about the former president. Kouhei even paid a private detective to look for her, but the results were unfortunate; Mizuki had died of pre-eclampsia, or pregnancy toxemia. She was buried alone, on a nameless grave, and thus erased from the collective memory.
If the player follows this story arc, Kouhei becomes involved with a girl calling herself Cat Sidhe Nekoko and claiming to be looking for the home of the fairies. Kouhei, who has been forcefully asked to help her, believes Nekoko is crazy, but after ingesting some of the powder she claims is fairy dust, he realizes that she is addicted to a new type of drug. Kouhei attempts to help her with her addiction. Near the ending, Nekoko's supply of the drug becomes depleted; during a difficult withdrawal, Nekoko believes that Kouhei is a monster. When her parents intervene, Kouhei sees that Nekoko is Hiroko, the painfully shy girl who runs the school library, who took the drug to escape from the world she feels she cannot fit into. Kouhei and Nekoko take one more hit of the drug, and both climb to the top of a high tree in the town square, both believing that they can see the "fairy's home" appearing in the clouds above them. Nekoko asks if Kouhei will accompany her there, and he refuses.
Nekoko turns away from the clouds, saying that the image cannot be the real fairy's home if Kouhei would not join her there. They climb down the tree and she apparently returns home and is hospitalized for drug rehabilitation. Two years pass. Suddenly, Kouhei sees on TV an ad about a new amusement park called Cat Sidhe Wonderland. Even more, he receives by mail two invitations to the inauguration. Kouhei goes, thinking he may learn about Nekoko, but she's nowhere to be found. The intercom tells him to go to the Ferris Wheel. There, Nekoko and Kouhei meet again, and promise eternal love.
Nekoko apparently enters the fairy's home alone and disappears, possibly in fact having killed herself in a fall from the tree. Months pass, and there is still no sign of Nekoko. The police investigate and question Kouhei a few times, but to no avail as Kouhei has no new information. One day, when he's out shopping he recognizes a familiar voice in the crowd, and manages to catch a glimpse of Nekoko. Nekoko soon vanishes leaving Kouhei to wonder if seeing her was just a dream, and he begins to believe he made a terrible mistake by not joining her, and to wish to find the fairy's home again for himself.