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."
Arata blinked in surprise. It was not an Affection Scene or an Encounter. Did it mean he would receive random kisses from his date-ables? Well, they had been maxed after all.
"Ah, what a show-off." Yukari growled before slapping Arata's shoulder. "Come on, Arata. It's not like the class is going to kiss you if you come late."
The friend did not have any other choice but to drag Arata halfway. They arrived in the class like normal, and Attori was the first one to greet him. The others followed as well. Class had gone on again, and unlike yesterday, someone came up to him during lunch time. It was Keiko, the childhood sweetheart trope.
Naturally, he agreed to eat lunch with her at a special spot in the school gardens. She had given Arata a boxed lunch as she was a very good cook, and she was sitting next to the king while they were eating. She had brought a tumbler for a special tea she prepared for them, and she poured each of them, using portable folding glasses she brought with her.
"It's been a while since we ate together like this, Arata-kun. You're always with your girlfriend, so I don't know if I was allowed to get near you." Keiko chuckled and hooked some hair behind her ear. She took one of the glasses and drank while gazing at Arata.
Then all of a sudden, tea spilled all over Keiko's chest. She gasped at the mess she had made on herself, whining in frustration as she looked for tissue. They were still wearing their summer uniform, and that was only a white polo shirt with her ribbons. The tea was warm and sweetened, and so she went on and unbuttoned her uniform to dry her chest. It was too late before Keiko realized that she was exposing her chest and bra to Arata who was eating next to her. Keiko started making flustered noises.
[An Encounter Mode has started! Childhood Sweetie Wakaba Keiko has a total of 50 Excitement points right now. Obedience is at 90%, Excitement at 50%, and Affection at 100%. Try touching the date-able.]
"I-I didn't mean to show you-!" Keiko tried to hide her chest with her arm.
"Ah, no! You have to clean yourself! It's going to get sticky!" Arata waved both hands as if gesturing her to calm down. He looked around the place, seeing no soul around. He then chuckled as he took off his jacket. "You should take your uniform off. You can use my jacket."
"R-Really? That's so thoughtful..." The girl blushed as she tried to shrink herself.
[You just gained 5 Excitement points! Keep on going!]
The female looked around as well as she kept the tissues on her chest as she continued to unbutton her uniform. For some reasons, she did not even turn away from Arata, as if she was letting him watch. She removed her top and continued to fill herself with tissue to wipe off the tea.
[You can reach her bra clasp. Unclasp it? Yes / No]
Arata glared at the option and chose No in his head. Keiko then turned to him as if he had said something terrifying to her. She looked away as she grew redder as she wiped herself.
"You want to me to take my bra off?"
"I didn't say anything like that!" The king waved his hands again. It was probably the scene sequence since it was an Encounter mode. He chuckled. "Look you don't have to strip to the skin! Just make sure you get the tea off of you!"
Keiko brought her gaze at him again. She then smiled. "Thank you, Arata-kun." However, she motioned one of her hands to slide down a strap. "Can you... do me a favor?" She smiled wider, and her face grew redder. "Can you look away? I really have to wipe around them."
[You just gained 15 Excitement points! Keep on going!]
"Sure thing!" Arata turned away. He knew he wanted to take a look, but he needed to respect them. It was the key to getting their max levels after all, especially Attori. Treating them as the real people despite the absurdity of their interactions and the possible outcomes of each. The man just closed his eyes and rested his neck in its default position, being unable to relax while turning away.
Then again, he had forgotten that he was in the middle of an Encounter. He suddenly felt someone sit on his groin, with their legs straddling him by the waist. His eyes ripped open before seeing Keiko sitting on him. She was wearing his red cotton jacket, but it was left open, giving him a view of her chest. But he was pretty sure he should only be able to see halfway her breasts. It seemed that the game was pretty serious in trying to rake money... or was it because he was inside the game that it could not censor itself?
"Arata-kun, what do you think? Isn't it... prettier than Attori's body?" Keiko wrapped her arms around his neck. "Arata-kun... please ditch her. I can love you better..."
Player-kun complex. It was a game that makes all maxed date-able obsessed with the player. It had two major modes, non-routed and routed playthrough. Non-routed was used to unlock various locations and most date-ables; a beginner's mode so the player could choose which date-able to tackle first, and see the sequence of possible events in the first half of the school semester. Routed playthroughs are for those who had ideas how to play the game and would like to have a deeper look at their date-able's story. After Arata finished his non-routed play, he never went to touch it again; and that... had haunted him now. Of course the date-ables would have a competition in a merged non-route playthrough. Everyone was now obsessed with him, not just one of them.
It was now a real harem of someone who could only love one.
"S-Sorry! I'm-!"
[You just gained 20 Excitement points! Keep on going!]
Arata was about to make her stop, but Keiko closed in and sealed their lips in a kiss. The king was not experienced in holding back due to his real life standing as a loser, so he could not help but to kiss back as much as she did. She pulled back a little and pushed in her tongue, kissing him as deeply as she needed to make him say 'yes.' The man's hands were not as trusty as they should be, as they went to slip up and feel her chest.
"Ew! Get a room!"
[The Encounter mode ended with 90 Excitement points! Childhood Sweetie Wakaba Keiko's Encounter Rate is now 60%!]
The two twitched as they heard a voice from afar. Arata stared at her, not recognizing her among the classmates or any character he had seen in the game before. Keiko pulled back from her childhood friend and remained quiet. The king looked at Keiko's face, seeing a loathing glare instead of her supposed bashful face. She was glaring at the blond woman who was walking towards them, with a basketball at hand.
"Geez, I came to fetch a ball, but I ended up getting boobs." She laughed behind a fist over her mouth. There was nothing but disgust in her blue eyes as she looked at the two. She was smiling, and yet she could be vomiting inside her head.
"Go away, Hamada-sempai. There's nothing to see here." Keiko snapped at the girl, who sneered in response. "I said go away!"
"Y-You two know each other?" The player tried to lighten up the situation, and the glaring splice between them. Looks like the plot thickened for Keiko's route.