Chapitre 45: Beta Function: Secret DA Service
Minutes passed since the 6 AM action started, but Arata knew as long as he would not do any 'activity', it would not even count as time spent. He sat on the bed with the pillows behind his bare back. The blanket from last night rested around his hips, where Tohru's arm was wrung. Her other arm was tucked between her and the man's leg. Her head was on the space between pillows, her forehead pressed against Arata's side. It seemed that this girl was a heavier sleeper than him.
As to how Ruby was able to drag her to his house yesterday so early in the morning— he will never know.
He looked down as her head and all the strands of hair that was sprawled across the pillows. Attori's hair was wilder and longer than hers; Arata felt nice not waking up chewing on hair. He used his hand to comb her hair and gathered the tickling strands behind her back. Also unlike his girlfriend, Tohru's hair froze and hardened from sweat, making it hard to comb. It also tangled a lot much to Arata's frustration. He did not want her to wake up with him freeing his fingers from her golden hair.
However, the soft tugging roused her from her sleep. Her droopy eyes opened and blinked a lot as if fighting off the melatonin. Seeing another human being in front of her, she lifted her gaze to see Arata who was bathing in cold sweat so early in the morning. She noticed that his hand was stuck in her hair. Tohru closed and hummed. "Are you disappointed?"
"No, I'm just scared of getting you upset at this hour." He used his other hand to help out. He soon felt Tohru's hand move to trace the contours of his abdomen as he twisted and curled to reach his entangled hand. "Liking what you see?"
"Are you getting tickled?"
"It takes more than that to tickle me." He was strangely proud of the immunity— he built against Attori's fingers. However, he was still so weak against bristles.
"What time is it?" Tohru motioned to get up from under the blanket. Instead of away from him, she got on fours in front of the player. She made her morning mean smirk as their gazes connected. "I'm surprised you're not looking past my chin." She crawled closer and sat on his thighs.
With the blanket sliding behind her, the cool breeze of the AC kissed their skin. She leaned closer and pressed her chest against his, her face buried on the crook of his neck. Arata loved the feeling of getting crushed against two pillows— one warm and one so soft he would sink. However, no matter much they both wished to stay, time was marching. Arata knew that if he missed going out at 8 AM action time, he would arrive in school at noon.
Despite the ache in his heart, he could only laugh out. "Hey, Tohru, we still have classes, remember? We have to leave..."
"Ah, don't want to miss another morning class, huh?" She chuckled before pulling back a little and planting a kiss on his lips. Tohru took a deep breath and sat up straight. She tilted her head a little to the side to shake the hand off of her hair. "Hey, you're still obligated to help me with Imperial Kitchen..."
"I know. I offered first after all." Arata helped out in getting hand out. After succeeding, he just stared at Tohru who was combing her own hair. He could see the annoyance on her face as her hair would not stop tangling with one another.
This affectionate jerk looked so different with her hair down. She looked remotely masculine as she posed to be, and appeared to be more delicate than she wants people to believe. There was a chance that he only saw it that way as he heard their story from Ruby. He reached out to trace the shape of her body with his palms.
The girl caught his arms and only gave him a mischievous smile.
Early morning memories replayed in his head as Arata daydreamed in the middle of a class. It was a self-study class after all. His gaze flew around as he broke out of his own trance. Attori was busy with her phone while Yukari was catching up with homework due for the next class. Keiko, however, was not in her seat. He turned to the side not covered by his view.
To his surprise, three or more people were sleeping on their desks. He made a deep sigh and turned towards his girls again. Yukari was now staring at him before she lifted her notebook as if asking for help. Arata pulled on his seat to get near hers.
Just like yesterday, the day dissolved quite quickly. He waited with Attori and Ruby by the benches of the basketball club as the tea had their routinely training. Like expected, Yukari and Tohru were taking on spotlights for their practice teams. The team coach and team manager discussed among themselves as they watched the play. Scoring five points higher, Tohru's team won. However, Yukari's three-point shot against Tohru's guard earned more notice.
"Wow, she's really good at this," Attori spoke in awe as she clapped in amusement. She then grinned at Arata. "Hey, hey, Arata! Let's watch their games in the athletic meet!"
"Sure."
"They're done for today." Ruby hummed as she noticed that the advisers were talking to the students already. She turned to the man. "I'm sure she'll ask for you to treat her again today. Are you okay with this happening all the time?"
"Why not?" The player did not even look at her as he waited for them to finish changing. Besides it was the day for them to drag Ruby into working in the restaurant after all.
It was already the 6 PM action time when they reached Imperial Kitchen. However, instead of going straight to the staircase to get a table, Arata talked to the floor supervisor of the ramen house in the first floor. Tohru was so excited to hear about the results while Ruby was slowly catching on what was kept from her. Attori only watched from behind them all, her smile plastered on her face.
The supervisor hummed as she looked at her current employee count and noticed possible spaces. The girls were supposed to work in the evening after all. She only sighed. "I guess I can fit one of them here. One of them should be upstairs."
[Welcome to beta-function: Secret Date-able Service! Secret DA Service would add considerable amount of profit to your property depending on your date-able's Obedience Rate. They will also automatically deposit your collection to your bank account. Your property must be LVL 15 or higher to enable this beta-function! Your restaurant Imperial Kitchen with Seats is at LVL 15! Three slots are available for the beta-function!]
[Only date-ables with the Affection Rate of 50% are allowed to be hired! Which date-ables are you going to hire for this property? Please pick three for the floors respectively. Keiko / Attori / Meme / Momoka / Seri / Ruby / Cora / Yukari / Tohru]
'I only have two of them with me. I wonder what will happen if I picked a date-able that I am walking around at the moment.' He hummed as he stared at the notification window. He looked at his surroundings, and the women were all waiting for his decision. 'I don't want to make Attori work so I should just pick anyone I think would fit the skydome atmosphere...
'To think about it, putting Keiko here would help me track her when I need to see her. I just hope it works.' He took in a deep breath.
[First floor: Tohru / Second floor: Ruby / Third floor: Keiko. Are you hiring these date-ables? YES / NO]
An employee in an apron came near to the supervisor and handed her three file folders. The supervisor received it and hummed as she checked the contents. "Okay. I can only accommodate Tohru-san. Tohsaki-san, please proceed to the second floor."
"Well, guess you won't be able to handle this area after all." Tohru only shrugged and gave a cat grin to Arata. She twirled and followed the supervisor inside the zone for authorized personnel only.
"That rascal." Ruby only huffed before giving a gaze at Arata.
Likewise what happened, Ruby was quickly accepted by the supervisor at the second floor. Arata and Attori went to the skydome area, but he saw no traces of Keiko. He felt his phone vibrate and received a message from Keiko. She thanked him for trusting him with a part-time work in his restaurant. Perhaps, it was the only notification he will receive instead of a screen that shows the date-able and their reactions.
They got a table, and he made Attori handle their orders. He suddenly got busied by the updated Calendar where he could check the club schedule and interaction restrictions for each date-able. It now showed that he could not invite Ruby, Tohru, and Keiko during Monday and Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons. His Challenge practice was gravely limited to Sunday only.
"You gotta be kidding me!" Arata muffled his own frustrated scream as he realized the consequence of the beta-function. Then again, how come this only displayed now? Did they announce about this in the forums? The player could only sigh aloud.
His gaze crawled from the vacant table to Attori's face who was gazing outside the windows of the skydome. Their seat was at the side where the dome was left open, giving a full view of the skyline and the night sky to the diners. There was a glass enclosure after all, so the cool wind was kept inside as well as the noise. He noticed how her eyes glittered along with the night lights of the city. The date notifications started, but he ignored them all again.
Arata smiled as he leaned his head on his hand. "Are you enjoying the view?"
The girl turned to him and nodded. "To think that you owned such place. Are you going to buy our house soon?"
"Yeah, but not right now. I still have to make sure I have enough money to buy and renovate it." He continued smiling and adoring the girlfriend who stared out at the windows as if they were both compelled to do so. "I promised you I'll take you to a place where we can get what we like. Do you believe me more now?"
"That promise doesn't have anything to do with you owning buildings." She giggled before scooting her chair and pressing herself against the glass window-wall. "But I have to say. I love this place." She then turned to him. "Do you know I like high places? Let's see a tower some time, okay?"
"Ah, sure..." Arata twitched.
He did not because he was surprised with her reaction. His surprise came from a realization that they do not have a tower Dating Site in the city. Is that sign that he would be unlocking more and more places? As he thought about it, he noticed there were strange things in the skyline he knew he was familiar with ever since the game started. Perhaps it was because the Skydome skyline view was new, but he failed to recognize three more distant buildings forming the shadows.
One of them sure looked like a viewing tower though.
The king chuckled as he sighed. The food soon came to their table, and the two indulged with another bunch of topics for the date completion. He even gifted her with some spare items he left in his inventory for her.
The date was again accomplished, gifting him with his ninth Cosmos Crown, to which three were now reserved for Tohru. However, he was more delighted by the fact that Attori did not mind him collecting gifts for other women. It must be the composure of a god's wife!
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
droopyghost
droopyghost Melatonin is the chemical responsible for making people fall asleep.
Sorry if there are mistakes. I got swamped by a lot of work I didn't know would be hitting me this hard, haha. Tomorrow update might be late...