29 Its a Bittersweet Experience (1/2)
Horrifying screams would go out of his mouth if only he was not feeling weakened. It was already Wednesday, and it was another live practice for the dance class. Arata felt that he should always look his best on Wednesdays since a lot of the women would be around him. And to think that Attori would be looking at him for inspiration and strength to dance.
So seeing his face that morning horrified him. There were bags under his eyes, and his skin was not as bright as before. His normally squared shoulders were slouched no matter how much he corrected his posture. He was also breathing heavily. If this was his old world, he would be called sick; in this world however, he was on a Stamina penalty.
Arata cried as he realized he had made a mistake. He could not see his Stamina bar, but he could feel if it gets consumed or depleted. Stamina was a basic parameter in the game which granted the player the ability to do activities during an action time. It was also the Health of the player. Constantly depleting one's Stamina bar would result to Stamina penalty which halved all the basic parameters, no matter how many Items were used to raise it. Recovery items did not help since the Stamina is full at half-gauge during a Stamina penalty. The player's Charms, Strength, and Intelligence had all been dragged back to Low.
The king was cussing without a sound as he panicked despite the exhaustion. Stamina penalties last for a day, and another day if the player still depleted the Stamina bar during a penalty. The only way to get rid of it was to either be very passive in school, or sleep all day. Arata cried as he thought of missing school again; he had not attended three days straight of his morning classes, and it was impossible not to spend Stamina on a school day. His head continued to hurt, more than his eyes.
His phone started to ring, and so Arata picked it up. Even his Speed was halved. He answered the phone after seeing the caller ID. ”Hi, Ruby. How can I help you today?”
”What's wrong with your voice? Are you sick?” It seemed that it did not take her a photo of his face to know. She then seemed to talk to someone else, lowering the phone to not confuse Arata. Her voice came loud again. ”Arata? I was thinking of picking you up from school because you left me no message yesterday. Can I see you today?”
”I... don't know.” Arata sat on the rim of his toilet with the lid close. ”I'm not sure if I'm going to school today as well.” He snorted to himself, forgetting that he should have sent a message to Ruby yesterday. He forgot they had meetings for the Student Council. He then looked down at himself, seeing how sad his body looked under the open robe. ”If you come to see me at my house, you might not like what you're going to see.”
”Tell me that wretch didn't do anything bad to you.” Ruby gritted over the phone. Her anger was apparent to Arata, event though it was not Attori's fault at all.
”Nah, she's busy tending to her mother. Don't blame her. She's my girlfriend, not my nanny.” Arata chuckled as he felt weakening. He knocked on his forehead using the tips of his finger bones; he failed to realize that answering a phone call did use up Stamina. ”Ah, this is so bad...”
Now he knew why the game MC refused to move when in Stamina penalty. It felt more than a simple flu.
”I'm pulling up on your driveway right now. Can you stand to let me in?” Ruby spoke in a calm manner, but her successive breaths told him otherwise.
”Sure. I'm hanging up.” Arata ended the call and placed his phone on the lidded toilet tank before getting up from the seat. He closed his robe and tightened it to keep himself from freezing.
He made his way downstairs carefully, wary of tripping and hurting his Stamina some more. He checked the driveway through his kitchen window, seeing that there was this black luxury car outside. By the gate stood Ruby who was in her school uniform. It was almost time for Cora and Yukari to check up on him, and so he just hurried to get the door and the gate open for her.
”What happened to you!? Oh, my God, Arata!” The usually composed woman whined and whimpered at every second Arata was in her sight. She tried to help him back inside- after he put the latch back on so Cora could just walk in. She closed the door behind her and managed to take him to the sofa. She then moved around the house in haste, hoping to find whatever she needed.
”Easy.” Arata laughed a little as he watched her go. He had never seen such a side of the school queen so he was a little happy about it.
”What are you laughing about?” Ruby glared at him as she went to him again. She then dissolved it as she made a worried face. ”Come on, let's get you to bed. I'm not allowing you to go to school today. I'm letting your class president know.”
The fit yet not strong woman helped him up and tried her best to carry him. Ruby had been excellent when it comes to intellectual matters. Physical activities were not something she would shy away from, but Arata thought she was forcing herself too much. They managed to make it back to his bedroom, and she ended up almost throwing the man towards the bed. But due to Arata's antic, she tripped and landed above him. The player laughed out as the queen fell for another trap of his, soon earning a light smack on his arm.
”You could have torn my uniform, you jerk.” Ruby glared at the man under her, but she then smiled after realizing the view. She gathered her hair to one side and pulled one of her legs near, not wanting to straddle him. She lied on her side next to him, soon leaning on her elbow to keep her upper torso lifted, staring down at Arata's waning face. ”Still playing games even though you're weak? How irresponsible.”
”Sorry, I just saw the opportunity.” He smiled and kept it even though his eyes closed.
Maybe he should just sleep for now, rather than take advantage of Ruby's presence. Among all the date-ables, he classified Ruby as the sexiest among them. However, she was the only one he had not 'encountered' just yet. Feeling her chest next to his face, he decided to move closer and shove his face down there again like it was ambrosia. Since they were in a private place, Ruby did not mind unbuttoning her shirt to let him indulge more with the warmth.