Here For Sweethearts
is a friend-sim styled visual novel by arcadekitten taking place in the same universe as It's Not Me, It's My Basement, Crowscare, Cemetery Mary and Tricks N Treats.
You (Name customizable but default name is Nova) are the newest student at Aether West Academy, a prestigious and highly acclaimed school. Your main goal is to capture the hearts of all your classmates in any way possible, platonically or romantically. There also seems to be a mystery going on in the school, if the fact that you're the only person living in a dorm alone means something.
Here for Sweethearts was updated in chapters sporadically, with the first chapters uploaded on July 26, 2021, and the final chapters uploaded on November 16, 2022. Each chapter takes around 10-15 minutes to complete.
Here For Sweethearts contains examples of:
- Ambiguously Related: The Headmistress and Vasilis both appear very similar and are the same species. There is an option in Vasilis' chapter where you can ask them about it, and Vasilis answers that they are not biologically related, rather that they are considered siblings by their culture.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
- Netina. She appears at first as a friendly, somewhat ditzy girl that shows Nova around the school. However, she is also very passive-aggressive to others, and bullies Mary after breaking off her friendship with the latter girl.
- Nova is revealed to be this. While they seem like a carefree student who just wants to befriend people, they just do it with the intent to break their hearts and eat their negative emotions.
- The Cameo:
- Nova has a poster of Dr. D. Light from It's Not Me, It's My Basement.
- The librarian Ms. B was Ingram's surrogate mother in Crowscare. Here she's Nova's biological mother.
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: You can name the protagonist, though they do have a Canon Name, Nova. The ending reveals their true name is Vanilla.
- Gecko Ending: After Nova's true nature is revealed, they go to the prom dance with the intent to break the hearts of their new friends and eat their negative emotions. Then Twyla appears, takes Nova to the woods and beats them with a bat, putting a stop to their plans. While Nova survives, they're forced to go on the run, their plan to eat negative emotions of the students completely foiled.
- Emotion Eater: All pathospires are this, such as Nova, their father and the dead student.
- Evolving Title Screen: Once Nova's true nature as a villanous Emotion Eater is revealed, the title changes to "Here to Eat Hearts".
- I Love You Because I Can't Control You: Nova is obsessed with Twyla mainly because she shows complete indifference to their friendship attempts. And that excites Nova more than they care to admit.You were sure she'd be someone like Vasilis or even Jaxter. Someone who appears rough on the outside, but is easy to break down...And yet she provides you with difficulty you never anticipated...which in turn, makes her more desirable. Because once you do have her heart....it'll be much more satisfying to eat it whole.
- Posthumous Character: The student that used to live in the same dorm Nova uses. The last chapter reveals that they were a pathospire just like the protagonist.
- Shrinking Violet: The school librarian, Ms. B, is very timid and actively tries to hide herself from the students. She doesn't even appear in the chapter selection screen. It's implied through a photo of her younger self that she used to be more sociable and outgoing before Nova's dad left her.
- Spanner in the Works: Twyla is the only one who doesn't fall for Nova's charms, since as The Sociopath, they don't have emotions.
