Horimiya — Interactive Visual Novel

Horimiya — Secret Faces

In the hallways of Katagiri High School, nobody is who they appear to be. Hori Kyouko walks these halls like she owns them — the popular girl, the honor student, the one everyone looks up to. Miyamura Izumi shuffles through the same corridors like a ghost — the gloomy kid with glasses nobody really sees. But when the school bell rings and the uniforms come off, everything reverses.

About This Experience

Horimiya is not a story about falling in love at first sight. It is a story about what happens after the masks come off — after you discover that the perfect girl goes home to an empty house where she is the sole caregiver for her little brother, and the gloomy nobody has nine piercings and a full-back tattoo hidden under his uniform.

This interactive visual novel lets you live the slow, beautiful process of two people discovering each other's hidden selves. When Hori's younger brother Souta falls at the park and is carried home by a stranger covered in metal, neither Hori nor Miyamura expects the collision of worlds that follows. She sees him at school the next day — unrecognizable in his "safe" persona — and the secret becomes theirs to share.

The magic of Horimiya is in the quiet moments. Miyamura's first time eating dinner at the Hori household, chopsticks trembling because he has never been welcomed like this before. Hori's genuine laughter when she realizes her terrifying reputation at school somehow makes Miyamura laugh instead of cringe. The way every classmate who stumbles upon their secret becomes woven into a larger tapestry of friendships that feel earned rather than assigned.

Game Features

• Dual-Life Narrative System — Switch between Hori's public persona at school and her private life at home, making choices that reveal or protect her secret. Your decisions determine who discovers the truth and how it reshapes your relationships.

• Relationship Web With Real Depth — Every side character has their own arc: Ishikawa's quiet, hopeless crush on Hori; Yoshikawa's fierce loyalty that masks her own loneliness; Sengoku's student council chaos hiding genuine competence; Remi's vanity concealing surprising emotional intelligence; Sawada's prickly exterior protecting a vulnerable heart.

• The Miyamura Transformation — Watch the most satisfying character arc in romance fiction unfold through your interactions. From the boy who let his hair cover his face because eye contact hurt, to someone who can stand in front of a classroom and say "this is who I really am." Every choice either pushes him forward or lets him retreat — and the difference is visible in every scene.

• Seasonal Storytelling — The narrative flows through a full school year, with festivals, exams, summer break, and the inevitable approach of graduation. Time passes. Relationships deepen. And some goodbyes are harder than others.

Characters You Will Meet

Kyouko Hori — At school: the perfect honor student, student council member, and the one person nobody wants to anger. At home: a tired big sister who cooks dinner, does laundry, and misses her parents more than she admits. Her anger is legendary, her kindness is quiet, and her heart is bigger than anyone knows.

Izumi Miyamura — Nine piercings. Full-back tattoo. Hair long enough to hide behind. And a gentleness that transforms everyone who takes the time to know him. He has spent years invisible, and being seen terrifies him — but being seen by Hori might be the first thing in his life that feels right.

Toru Ishikawa — The cheerful classmate who develops a crush on Hori before knowing about Miyamura. His feelings are genuine, his heartbreak is real, and the way he handles it — with grace, humor, and eventually a different kind of love — makes him one of romance fiction's finest second leads.

Yuki Yoshikawa — Hori's best friend. Loud, loyal, and perceptive enough to notice the changes in Hori long before anyone else. Her own story — about feeling like a supporting character in everyone else's life — resonates deeply.

Who This Game Is For

• Romance readers who crave authenticity — No love triangles manufactured for drama. No misunderstandings that could be solved with one conversation. Just two people learning to trust each other with the parts of themselves they have never shown anyone else.
• Fans of the anime and manga — Every beloved scene is here: the rainy rooftop, the sports festival, the Christmas confessions. But the interactive format lets you linger in moments the original had to rush past.
• Anyone who has ever hidden something about themselves — Horimiya speaks directly to the part of us that wonders: if people knew the real me, would they still stay?