(P)lanets

Love Interests from top to bottom: Kaius, Ryuu, and Lucan.

(P)lanets is a Freeware otome Visual Novel created by TeaCup Production.

Marin Kazuoki is just an average high school student who, despite the fact that she may be a bit of a slacker, gets good grades, cares about others, and has a fairly optimistic view on life. One day, Marin accidentally falls down a flight of stairs at her school. When she wakes up, she finds that she thankfully does not have a concussion or any major injuries; however, she has the newfound ability to read minds.

After being overwhelmed by her new power when she returns to school the next day, Marin rushes home to find a boy named Kaius waiting at her door who invites her to attend “Planets”, the Psychokinesis Learning Academy for New and Exciting Tactical Studies, a school for psychics to learn how to control their powers.

Of all the students at Planets, Marin mostly interacts with Ruiko, her roommate, and three love interests: Kaius, the misunderstood Jerkass loner, Ryuu, the flirty delinquent, and Lucan, the kind and gorgeous Big Man on Campus.

You can download it here at the LemmaSoft community. You can also check out the development blog here.

Tropes used in (P)lanets include:

• After-School Cleaning Duty: Ryuu has to clean the entire classroom as punishment for being late one too many times.
• All Just a Dream: Subverted. The first morning Marin wakes up at Planets, she’s convinced that all the strange things happening to her were just part of a dream. That is, until her new roommate chucks a pillow at her.
• Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?: When Marin and Kaius head up to his room, she suggests that they do that “thing” that couples do. She’s talking about a First Kiss, but explains it in such a vague way that he thinks she’s talking about sex. Hilarity Ensues.
• Armor-Piercing Question: More of a statement. Marin tells Kaius that she’s beginning to buy into the rumors that he doesn’t have a soul because he’s so uncaring and closed off. Rather than his usual snark, he flinches, followed by a brief silence.
• Asleep in Class: Ryuu’s favorite class activity.
• Attempted Rape: When Marin is left behind by her group during their visit into town, she gets lost and attempts to ask a group of guys for help. Bad idea.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Many of the interactions between Marin and Kaius.
• Bridal Carry: Kaius carries Marin to the infirmary this way when she runs into him, falls, and skins her knee.
• Brought Down to Normal: Marin mysteriously loses her telepathy some time after she transfers to Planets, forcing her to transfer back to her old school.
• Crash Into Hello: Marin and Lucan literally bump into each other when heading for the same dinner table.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: Marin and Lucan hide in a small janitor’s closet after running away from his fangirls. While pressed up against each other, Lucan’s comments get progressively more awkward as he tries to correct himself.

Marin: Hopefully, this is a good situation compared to being trampled.
Lucan: Ah, well, that’s not to say I mind being in here with you, Kazuoki-san, but—Ahh, what did I just say?! I didn’t mean that in a perverted way, really! I just meant, I’d rather be here with you, than out there, but more than anything, I’d rather be neither place…That sounded rude, didn’t it?! Honestly, Kazuoki-san, being here with you isn’t bad at all! Really, I-I-I’m enjoying it!

• Erotic Eating: When Marin’s ice cream cone starts to melt onto her hand, Lucan proceeds to lick it off. Marin blushes endlessly.
• Extranormal Institute: Marin is invited to attend Planets, a school for psychics.
• Friendless Background: Both Marin and Kaius. Marin because she's the Newcomer, Kaius because he’s The Loner.
• Fun with Acronyms: “Planets” stands for the Psychokinesis Learning Academy for New and Exciting Tactical Studies.
• Girl in a Box: Male version. Once summer vacation is over and Marin heads back to Planets, she opens her luggage to find Haruhi inside.
• The Glomp: Ryuu tackles Marin and teleports her to the creek near his home for an unofficial picnic date. Haruhi’s also fond of this. Suprisingly, once Marin gets Kaius to open up, he greets her in this way as well.
• Gym Class Hell: Marin’s first day in gym at Planets is spent playing baseball against a rival class; however, the catch is that everyone uses their psych to cheat and no one but Marin cares about playing fair.
• Hidden Depths: All of Marin's main love interests turn out to be More Than Meets the Eye in some way. It's the most obvious with Kaius, a Jerkass loner who naturally turns out to have a heart of gold and a love of cats to boot, but more surprising is Ryuu, a playful and carefree delinquent who turns out to be a Stepford Smiler suffering from a heart condition that could potentially end his life at any moment and Lucan, a popular and perfect gentleman who turns out to be so deeply insecure and lonely that he used his Mind Control psych to become popular and loved by everyone and does some very dark actions if Marin turns her back on him.
• Indirect Kiss: Referenced by name. Marin shares her leftover sandwich with Ryuu, who teases her about sharing an Indirect Kiss with him. Marin also teases Kaius about sharing an Indirect Kiss with her when he steals one of her half bitten rice balls, but he dismisses it as “elementary school bullshit.”
• Instant Fanclub: The "Lucan-Sama Fanclub". Ryuu also has his share of fangirls, although they aren't quite as obsessed as Lucan's are. Mainly because Lucan's fangirls aren't entirely acting on their own power.
• Just Friends: Ruiko thinks Haruhi is Marin’s boyfriend when she sees him in their room. Marin says they’re “just friends.”
• Just in Time: During Ryuu’s fight with Kaius on the roof, Marin tackles Kaius to try and knock him down. Unfortunately, this works too well, and Marin manages to knock both her and Kaius off the roof. Ryuu teleports and grabs them just when they’re a few inches from impact.
• Lame Excuse: Kaius tells Marin that he has something to do to avoid eating lunch with her. But when she later asks him for homework help, he rescinds his excuse.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: After angering Kaius, Marin mentions that she “probably got minus ten points on his scale of how much he likes [her].” Keep in mind that she’s in an Otome Game, where relationship values for a guy typically increase or decrease on a scale due to a single action.
• Loony Fan: Lucan’s fangirls threaten to cut off Marin’s hair when they perceive her as a threat.
• Love Confession: When Ryuu finally confesses that he wants Marin to be his girlfriend, she’s surprised because she thought he was equally as flirty with all the girls. Haruhi’s confession comes as just as much of a surprise after he kisses her.
• Luminescent Blush: All of the characters get this at some point. Repeat offenders are Marin and Lucan, who experience this as a side effect of being around Ryuu’s unabashed personality.
• Malicious Slander: The school only thinks Kaius is evil because Ryuu spread rumors about him after Kaius accidentally injured Ryuu with his psych.
• Memento MacGuffin: Kuma-chan. It’s special to Marin because it’s a reminder of the close friendship between her and Haruhi.
• A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: When Marin is first able to read minds, she finds out that her dad thinks she’s a wiseass and dislikes having to look after her, and her mom finds her annoying and regrets having a child.
• Mind Control: Lucan does this to quite a few people. It’s the reason why he has so many fangirls despite his shy personality. He also brainwashed his irresponsible parents to make sure they cared for his sisters when he left to attend Planets.
• Mind Rape: It’s suggested that since it’s possible for Marin to lose her Psychic Powers, she may have her memories of her time at Planets erased.
• Missing Mom: Where’s Kaius’s mother? He accidentally disintegrated her with his psych when he was a boy who could not control his emotion-based powers.
• Not What It Looks Like: Marin and Lucan are hiding from his fangirls in a small, dark closet. When Lucan loses his footing, they both fall to the floor. When Lucan’s fangirls finally find them and open the door, Marin realizes that she fell on top of Lucan, and says it’s all a misunderstanding.
• Odd Couple: Lucan and Ryuu are roommates and best friends, but they’re completely different. While Lucan is a good student with a somewhat bashful and subdued personality, Ryuu is a slacker with an energetic and overly friendly personality.
• Parental Abandonment: After Marin arrives home for summer vacation, she learns that Haruhi has moved into her house because his parents disowned him.
• Parental Neglect: Marin’s parents’ seem to treat her well until she reads their thoughts and realizes they care more about themselves. Lucan’s parents were also irresponsible, leaving him to take care of his siblings.
• Power Incontinence: This is Marin's main problem with her telepathy. Kaius also loses control of his psych if he gets too angry.
• Psychic Powers: Everyone at Planets has one, from Telepathy and Telekinesis to Teleportation and even Phasing.
• Real Men Eat Meat: The bento that Ryuu packs is only filled with meat. When Marin complains about it, his excuse is that he’s “one hundred percent man.”
• Sleep Cute: After beating up the thugs, Kaius falls asleep with his head on Marin’s shoulder.
• Speak in Unison: Played for laughs. Marin and Ryuu both didn’t do their homework for class, and simultaneously ask Lucan if they can borrow his.
• Staircase Tumble: How Marin gains her powers.
• Telepathy: It’s revealed that not only are telepaths like Marin able to read people’s thoughts, but they may also plant thoughts in people’s minds, also known as “imprinting.”
• Teleport Spam: Ryuu’s preferred method of dodging Kaius’s punches.
• Umbrella of Togetherness: When Marin slips and falls in the rain on the way to class, Lucan offers to share his umbrella with her.
• Unwanted Harem: The club of 200 fangirls that are pursuing Lucan. The same group is also after Ryuu, but unlike Lucan, he actually wants the attention.
  • Ironically, it turns out that Lucan ended up with one mainly because he wanted one so desperately when he first came to Planets that his secret Mind Control psych unconsciously kicked in and made that wish reality for him.
• Visible Silence: When Marin catches up with Kaius on the way to her room for her first day at Planets, there’s a long, visible uncomfortable silence the equivalent of six back-and-forth dialogue boxes between the two.