23 Quite the Metacharacter (1/2)
The events earlier made Arata realized that Attori did not take up much after her mother. They only had the same comparable beauty and probably dancing skills, but their temperament and wake-up behavior were different. Not only did Kanaru forgot she had guests over, but she was also in a deep trance of getting rather grouchy as soon as she wakes up in the morning. Attori was a lot calmer and composed, but she had her violent tendencies as well.
The mother had only managed to recognized her guests after the first sip of coffee. Kicking him out of the bathroom needed an apology, but Kanaru only reasoned with him. Attori was left to attend to their breakfast with an amused chuckle, wanting to hear more. Probably because she had not heard her mother's voice for a long time.
”You'll get used to her when we see her more soon.” The girlfriend giggled at her boyfriend who was sighing at the mother's antic and behavior suited for someone half her age.
”Argh, I wished she was more like you.” He sobbed at the table, the breakfast already finished and Kanaru had gone away to take over the bathroom again.
”Eh? Would you start liking her, too, if that happens?” The mad girl hummed with a devious curling of her lips. She received a faint shaking of Arata's head, which she patted carefully. She liked how he always pat her hair, and doing the same to him felt a lot better.
His hair was still so soft and so cool even though he did not wash it with shampoo. The soft feeling against her palm and fingers excited her a little, causing her to ball her fist and pulling some hair without force.
”What are you doing, Attori?” Arata noticed the hold on his hair. He then used both hands to cup her hand.
”Do you ever have the urge that whenever you see something nice and fluffy, you just want to... crush it?” The girl chuckled in a meaningful tone, slightly pulling on his head.
”T-That's terrifying.” The boyfriend could only laughed, knowing she was not that serious at all.
The rest of the Sunday was uneventful as it was busy. Attori and Arata handled the storefront a lot more than Kanaru did, since she had been working on it when classes were in session. The mother knew it was not right to entrust her work to her daughter and supposed son-in-law, but she was happy someone was helping her with the booth. Her company refused to send another person with her, thinking about how expensive that would be.
Then again, if it was not for that, Attori would not have the chance to present her prized boyfriend to her mother. Even though Kanaru had a two-sided impression on Arata, she was willing to let her daughter continue to see the man. Arata, however, tried his best to gain the mother's favor, despite playing a non-routed playthrough where things were just fixed and non-negotiable unlike in routed playthroughs. It sounded so unnatural to the player, but he had to accept that there was only so much that codes could do.
Thinking about it, he asked the mother if he could take Attori home tonight after the dinner rush. They have classes the next day so it would be bothersome if they had to join the morning rush towards school. Kanaru was grateful of their whole day service after all, and so she gave permission. The king walked the blue-haired girl back to her own house, and left for his own after a few minutes.
However, instead of entering his house, he ran the long way towards the Lumen Park. It was still the 9 PM action time; he figured Usagi would still be there. She would have been pissed, but that suspension had been decided long ago.
Like expected, the fairy was stumped at a bench near her flower bush. She was seated on the back of the metal bench and puffed with her arms crossed before her chest. She glared at the approaching man. ”I hope you're happy with what you did.”
”I'm sorry. I was careless.” Arata smiled at her nonetheless. ”I'm glad to see you again, Usagi.”
Usagi sighed and flew to his arms, the man propping them out so he could hold her in a bridal carry. She wrapped her arms around his neck. ”Aren't you scared? At this rate, they could be...”
”I think I'm getting a little help from someone. I just don't know why.” Arata hummed as he walked towards the bench and sat down, letting the fairy sit on his lap again. ”Do you have an idea why a dev would try to cover for me?”
”Cover for you would be really irresponsible if you know how hard it was.” The fairy pouted.
”Am I really talking to you, Usagi, or is there someone using her dialogue box to talk to me?” The player hummed as he held on her shoulder tighter as if not letting her fly away if she wanted. He received a gaze from the fairy who looked so curious at his words. ”I've been testing the limits of the game, and I can tell Usagi should not be talking like she's from outside of it. She plays a part in the campaign so she must tied to the world.
”So who really are you? How come you know of my condition?” Arata looked at her more intently, with his brows furrowing a little as if begging for an answer. ”Are you the reason why the dev team saw irregular codes in my game?”
”Didn't it occur to you that you could be the irregular codes?” Usagi pouted again, but she was not mad anymore. She could feel the restraints Arata was putting on her, and she did not even bother with releasing herself. ”It's your fault for establishing contact. If you didn't show up in the forums, none of this will happen.”
Arata slid his eyes to the side and snuffed. She was right about that. It was his fault to begin with, and he was the one who would take the most damage after all. Then again, there were things that only other players would be able to know.
”I'm sorry about that.” The player would scratch his head if he could. ”I just needed their help from time to time. I didn't count on Devin telling my problem to a CM in a snap.”
”It was you, though.” Usagi sighed as she leaned against the man's body. ”So what are you planning to do now, Arata? Are you going to call for help in getting out? Or are you going to hide forever?”