3 Juggling (1/2)

Dead air came as Arata failed to reply to what she just said. The man then gasped aloud and grabbed his hair. ”What do you mean got my consciousness stuck in your servers!? What!? HOW!?”

”Relax, Arata!” Usagi flew back and hovered as she dried her tears. ”It's probably something related to your death. I saw you got fried by electricity the moment you opened the game. I was so worried about you.” She dangled her upper torso and arms. ”But then you checked in, and proceeded with the Encounter Mode tutorial.”

”How come you guys interact with me so casually and human-like!? Is it because I'm made of data right now!?” Arata started running around in frustration. ”Is this really humanly possible!? How did I even put myself inside the game!?”

”Arata...” Usagi could only call his name to make him calm down. She had no answers as well. ”Aren't you getting too loud at 9 PM?”

The king stopped as he almost hurled himself to the ground. He took a deep breath and turned to the fairy. ”I'm not going to be deleted just like that, right?”

”Depends.” Usagi tilted her head to the side. ”Then again, if you get deleted along with your saved game, then this entire world goes with you.” She smiled a small one. ”There's nothing to miss when that happens. So please just calm down and enjoy the game as long as you can.”

”How can you say that so casually?” Arata felt like his heart had been broken. He then sighed and looked at her with a smile he was managing to get out there. ”Anyway, I'm talking to you now. Does this mean, I have unlocked you as a date-able?”

”Not yet. You have to unlock the rest before unlocking me.” Usagi chuckled. ”You see, the new date-ables have prerequisites now. Just like how Yukari can only be opened by low Strength and a second line title. Only veterans can open her route.” She flew around Arata in circles before embracing him again. ”About the others, I can't give you a hint. Just treat this as your special non-routed playthrough.”

Arata pouted a little as Usagi kept on circling him with her arms on his neck. ”Can I still max them if I do it without a route?”

”With the Encounter Mode among others, yes.” Usagi grinned.

The two's gazes locked for some time before Arata cleared his throat. ”I guess I should be heading home by now. I still have classes tomorrow.”

”Don't forget to say hi to the Basketball club tomorrow!”

The late night had officially ended. The next day rolled for Arata, but he was not certain how time in the game relates to real life. Then again, it doesn't matter. As long as he could check in to the game, his account was safe from deactivation. No one was going to delete his data from the SNS as well. He felt safe at the moment, but something still had not sat right.

Morning came, and Arata woke up to his new home. The Player-kun Complex game. He got up from bed and went to the bathroom to wash and take a shower. He got dressed and styled his hair using one of those Style Magazine he had bought in-game to be able to change hairstyles whenever he pleases before leaving the house. He was about to leave when the doorbell rang. He did not open it even though he was in front of the door. It rang again, and so he did attend to it.

”Ah, Arata...” It was Yukari.

”Hi, Yukari, good morning!” Arata greeted her casually, trying not to make her uncomfortable.

”Can we walk to school together?” Yukari, who was evading his gaze, asked with a small pout.

”Sure. Let's go. I'm leaving now, anyway.” The king walked out of the foyer and into the yard. He checked up on Yukari's movements, making sure she was not feeling forced to interact with him at all. Which was the case. Arata could tell she was just trying to talk. ”Yukari, you don't have to feel so closed. It's me. Your best bud.”

[An Affection Scene has started! Secret Admirer Yukari Ginmachi has the Affection Rate at 5%. Try to earn as much points as you can to raise Affection Rate with the date-able! Remember what they like to hear!]

Yukari looked at him with sheepish eyes. ”About yesterday...”

Arata had to hide his cringe at the now annoying notifications that chime inside his head from time to time. He smiled at his best friend. ”Do you want a redo? I wasn't ready back then.”

A loud angry twitch came from Yukari, and she started yelling, ”What do you mean a redo!? Of course not! I was trying to apologize here!” She snuffed to the side, soon pouting. ”It's not like I want to have that kind of thing with you... or something... I just... want to try... since you had been...” -she glanced at him once- ”meeting a lot of women.” She scratched her head. ”You're not... going to ask me to... have dates with you now, are you?”

”Why not? You'd look good in a dress!” Arata gave her a thumbs-up, teasing Yukari some more.

Yukari pouted yet again, before smiling faintly, head lowered in embarrassment. ”Anyway, thanks, Arata. I'll try not to do that again...”

The king reached out to pet her head. ”Okay.”

[The Affection Scene has ended! You have additional 25 points! Secret Admirer Yukari Ginmachi now has 8% Affection Rate! Congratulations!]

Arata had to make a victory pump outside of Yukari's sight. He succeeded in rising his Affection Rate, meaning her chemistry worked like with the rest of the women. He then hooked his arm around Yukari, walking smugly and victorious along the streets of their city. They soon reached the school and were intercepted by someone in the crowd.

”Hamasaki.” A beautiful woman with a red armband asked for his attention. ”You didn't show up in the meeting yesterday.”

Arata was caught off-guard by two things: one, she used his real last name rather than TheKing which was the one in his player record, and two, he completely forgot about the Student Council. He grinned at her, taking his arm off of Yukari. ”Hi, Ruby-sempai. I'm sorry, it completely slipped my mind.”

Ruby, the queen trope, then chuckled before tilting her head to the side, making her thick hair flow to the side. ”I'm kidding. There was no meeting yesterday. I sent emails to everyone that the meetings were moved to Tuesdays and Fridays. I was testing if you received one.” She tilted her head to the other direction as she sighed. ”For some reasons, some members had their names deleted in my group send list.”

”Oh, so that means the meeting is today?” Arata murmured, but he was caught by the woman.

”Yes, so I'm expecting you to come later.” She walked up to him and planted a quick kiss on his lips. ”I'll see you later, Hamasaki.”