2 The New Basics of the Game (1/2)

Chatters were everywhere as Arata walked along his path to his homeroom. Even though it was not displayed in-game, he seemed to know where the classroom was. Upon reviewing the journal, he found his place in the game's story line. The routes had been indeed merged, and even though his stats were opposite the ones needed to unlock someone's route, it retained the max level of the date-ables in the route.

Right now, he has moderate Strength and Intelligence, with Max Charms. This meant that he was regarded as one of the most popular boys in school, but he was not a core member of the Student Council, or another big shot in the school's Basketball team. Then again, being one of the most popular still gave him access to be their acquaintance. It was not the much of a problem, but he deduced it could have been the stats that were carried over because he had Attori equipped as his main girl. Equipping a main girl used to have a passive skill given to the player, but he seemed to think those would be useless by now.

Arata then started waving at the girls on his way to the class. Some of them lightly fainted, while most just crowded around him. He almost got triggered by their sudden dash towards him, but another person darted through the crowd and grabbed Arata out of their crushing pit.

”Geez, Arata, you should know when and where to ask those girls to be around you!” Yukari looked down at his pants once. ”Someone even opened your fly!”

The man who got transported stared at the character who took him away from the women. It was his in-game best friend, Yukari Ginmachi. Even though she was just someone who talked to the player a lot, Arata still felt like their friendship was real. She was a girl, but she chose to bond with boys more than other girls. She may have developed a masculine personality, but she was still soft and forgiving. She was neighbors with Arata ever since the player moved in to that house for high school.

”Fly, Arata! Your fly!”

Yukari's voice thundered across Arata's ears before he managed to drag himself back to Earth. His best friend was in front of him. They were at a different hallway, and Yukari was standing right in front of him. He felt the girl glaring at him, very lost at what was going on.

The friend hit her face with a palm before zipping Arata's fly for him, despite the faint blush. ”Geez, what is wrong with you!?” She patted the player's cheeks twice. ”Wake up!” Yukari made a deep sigh before holding his face with both hands, feeling his neck. ”Are you sick? Did Attei do something to you?”

”Yukari...” Arata went there again. For some reasons, two of his most valued game characters just stood in front of him, each he could go ahead and touch. He then wrapped his arms around the best friend. ”Yukari!”

”What? What's happening!?” Yukari panicked under his embrace. ”Are you okay!?”

Arata finally pulled back and laughed out. ”Yeah, sorry. I just... missed you a lot. I kinda had a very... long dream...”

Yukari sighed in defeat before grinning at him and ruffling his textured hair. ”Geez, brother. I'm not leaving you any time soon.” She then gestured to the adjacent hallway. ”We should go to class now. Attei might start looking for you.”

Even if it was hard to believe, Arata was actually living the life he created inside the game. It was a lot to take in, but he was enjoying himself. He had friends aside from Yukari and Attori, and that girl named Keiko was also around. His teachers also came to class, the player loving how he got to hear them teach for real. The first day was fun for his artificial life...

”This must be heaven... or some kind of solitary insanity...” Arata whispered to himself as he was fixing his things in his locker. He then traced his fingers at the contours of the metal. ”This can't be real...”

”What a big bitch-!”

Arata twitched as he heard Yukari's voice from the other side of the lockers. He walked to see Yukari fitting a big bag inside the top compartment of her locker, but it would not fit at all. The friend noticed him and smiled at him as if everything was okay. Arata offered to help, and they both pushed the bag in... but Arata heard another chime in his head.

[Not enough Strength!]

”What?” He whispered, before the heavy bag fell from both of their hands.

As reflex, he pushed Yukari down before using his own back to shield him from the heavy bag that fell on them. The moment he opened his eyes, Yukari was almost under him. They were both sitting down, but he was pinning his friend down with the heavy bag on his back. Yukari's eyes could have been as wide as Arata's, and she was blushing furiously. That was the only moment that Arata noticed the strange ellipsis emoticon hair clip on Yukari, and he immediately knew it was a bad sign.

”O-Oi, d-don't move!” Yukari slid her arms under Arata's to take a hold of the bag and pulled on it to slide the bag down behind him. She continued to speak while growing as red as tomatoes. ”What were you doing!? You could have hurt yourself!” She then paused. ”You're so close...”

[An Encounter Mode has started! Secret Admirer Yukari Ginmachi has a total of 5 Excitement points right now. Obedience is at 80%, Excitement at 5%, and Affection at 5%. Try touching the date-able.]

”No.” Arata's eyes widened in horror.

”N-No?” Yukari almost squeaked in confusion, her shoulders shrinking.

”W-What I mean is-!” He caught Yukari look away, sneering at herself with a bite on her own lower lip. ”Yukari, I-!”

With a quick motion, Yukari's hand flew to hold Arata's jaw. A sudden kiss suddenly came after, which froze Arata who was left in denial. Yukari then backed away, hand covering her red face. She also slipped out of the position and ran off back inside the school. The player was pretty much frozen.

[The Encounter Mode ended with 0 additional excitement points. Try again next time, lover boy.]

”No, not Yukari...” he murmured under a faint cry. ”Why are you trying to screw me over, you devs...?”

The player ended up storing the bag inside the main compartment of Yukari's locker. He also went home alone and came home to an empty house. He went to his room and lied down at the bed. He held his head and growled. He flung himself and checked his journal... seeing Yukari's name under the list of unlocked date-ables. Arata sighed too loud, before noticing that there were four more locked date-ables. He sighed and stored the journal before noticing his computer. He went to it and sat down, seeing a default website... the game's in-game forum.

Arata held his mouse and looked around, seeing posts and replies from other players of the game. There was also a button there where he could find his in-game friends, and give them daily stamina.

”Huh? Aren't these... my actual in-game friends?” He checked on everyone in the list. It was really them.