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.
He wandered around the forum and saw a newly-opened post by a friend with subject: Yukari's Introductory Encounter Mode. He browsed the comments saying they haven't unlocked it just yet. One player named Unclosed Botan, who opened the post, kept on repeating that it can only be unlocked during September 2, which was the first new day in the updated calendar, in short, today. Since Botan was a chatmate of Arata, he felt obliged to answer.
He commented in the post. "I unlocked Yukari's Encounter Mode during the locker scene if that's what you meant."
"Really!? Holy crap!" Botan replied faster than a bullet.
"I feel so betrayed by the game. Crying emoticon. I didn't get to read the patch notes, so I didn't know she will become a date-able." Arata sighed as he entered his replies. "I really wished I could keep her out of the drama, but I cannot NOT date a date-able. And she looks so sad when she feels you're rejecting her. How can she watch me screw all the other girls!? Seven crying emoticons."
"Oh, wow. So passionate." Botan replied, probably with sarcasm and bitterness. "Darn. How did you unlock it?"
"I don't know. I just managed not to have enough Strength to carry the bag." Arata sighed again, recalling the past events before the Encounter Mode.
Opantsu Pantsu, another chatmate and in-game friend of Arata, posted a reply. "Of course Arata gets to unlock Yukari, too!"
"Meaning?" Botan sounded like he growled.
"To unlock Yukari's intro Encounter, you have to have Low to Moderate Strength and the Second Line Title 'with your name as a complex,' which Arata owns by maxing all the first seven date-ables." He continued in another reply. "Haha, the devs joked about it as the Anti-Greedy protocol! Starting from today, those who are able to max seven date-ables will gain the title and ruin their friendship with Yukari! A whole line of laughing emoticon."
Botan posted another reply after a few seconds. "Screw ruining friendship! I am going to max Yukari even if I had to sit through maximum friendzone! Yukari number one waifu!"
"Ahahaha, I almost forgot Botan is so obsessed with Yukari even though she was not a date-able." Arata managed to laugh while posting his reply.
"Jokes on you guys! She's a date-able now!" Botan followed it up with a barrage of devil laugh emoticons.
Pantsu replied. "Sweat. Sweat. And I thought Botan loves girly girls."
"I do. I'm just not going to make Yukari cry over this piece of womanizing trash." Botan posted. He then mentioned Arata. "(At) TheKing Arata, you better max my Yukari, too! I will roast your thin limbs if you abandon her!"
"Oi, don't worry. You're talking to the king!" Arata replied, putting three crown emoticons after.
Arata hummed to himself. "Even my in-game name is recorded here. That means... I'm talking to real people... outside the game?" He leaned back against his seat. "What. Is. This."
[You were mentioned in a post with the subject: Usagi Unlock.]
Arata pressed back and responded to another post where he was being called. He saw the post asking about where to start Usagi Unlock, which was surprising since Usagi was the fairy who guides them through the game. It was even her voice who was whispering in his head.
"Where can I unlock Usagi? Even if I press her at the player lobby, she was not doing any date-able related thing," the entry post said.
Arata hummed to himself again, taking a look at the clock in his room. It was only the 6 PM action time, which means he could either cook dinner or go out for dinner. He still had one more action time before the day ends.
He then looked back at the post, and noticed he was tagged by Pantsu. He responded to the post. "I haven't checked yet, but I will try looking for her tonight at 9 PM."
"9 PM? Why?" The poster asked immediately.
The king refused to reply. Instead, he logged off and stood to have dinner. That was when he received a call from Attori. He answered her call while on his way downstairs. "Yes, Attori?"
"Have you eaten dinner? I was hoping you can join me outside tonight!" she spoke in an excited voice. "I just saw this good place to eat!"
"Oh, sure, why not!?" Arata agreed to her. "I'll see you in the plaza!"
The conversation led to the meet up at the plaza, and a rather long dinner at the restaurant. Attori was talking about her dance class. Soon, the night ended, and Arata was walking back home. Instead of going straight home, he went to the place called the Lumen Park. It was already the 9 PM action time, and the person he wanted to see was there.
"Yo!" Arata walked up to her and greeted her. "Usagi, you're really here!"
Instead of a happy fairy, a sad girl turned to him. She was crying so much before flying to him and pulling him into a hug. "Arata!" She cried louder. "I thought I'll never see you again!" She pulled back and sniffled, forcing a smile. "How are you faring in the game? Is it confusing now?"
Arata twitched. "You can tell I'm not playing this... the normal way?"
"Yeah," -Usagi nodded- "you got your consciousness saved in our servers."