Since it was a Sunday, all action times were vacant unless Arata decided to go around places or take date-ables to dates around the city. It was the 8 AM action time when he got home, and straightly sat on his computer to enter the forum site. There were tags and messages everywhere, but he chose to go through the thread and hope someone was talking about the Challenge Mode. Then again, none had, making him announce his presence again.
"Challenge Mode for Dummies: Tips and Guides from Anyone," had become the subject of his post. It was then followed by a short entry post for the thread. "I'm going to find myself in a Challenge soon. Any advise from those who had succeeded already? I don't want to fail. Getting knocked out is bad; getting my date-able knocked out is worse. Worried emoticons."
For a while, no one posted a reply aside from that guy who asked what a Challenge Mode was. Arata complied with an answer, but he knew that person would not help him because he was probably taking a routed playthrough.
Then again, Giddyup Horsepower posted a response. "Look at all those idiots not taking a non-routed playthrough at the beginning of a new calendar. Well, at least you knew better than them, huh."
"Get off of my post, Horsie. This isn't for bragging." Arata grunted as he posted a reply. "Got anything?"
"Well, not much."
That was a suspicious answer. If he was someone else, the followers of the post would have bashed him for being arrogant.
"Got K.O.-ed, didn't you? Devil laughter." The king managed to smirk.
"Well, in my defense, everyone else who played Challenge Mode got one-hit-kill-ed by Attori." It was followed by a smug emoticon. "I pressed retry seven times, until I just let it happen."
"Attori was the attacker?" Arata murmured his response as he typed it. He then sent it with a thinking emoticon. He then spoke to himself, "well, that could be real. Then again, a one-hit-kill?"
"Attori has high Accuracy because of her passive effect, remember?" Devin sprouted out of nowhere. "Even if you have 80% Dodge, she'll hit you. Not to mention that she armed." He posted in a different reply. "The attacker varies depending on your completion rate. The last one you maxed will always be the first attacker. The game sees it that you chose her last."
"I knew this has something to do with some ranking!" Arata posted a reply as well. "So... Keiko would be my attacker. Her passive effect was All Eyes on Me, so... how does it affect her as an attacker?"
Devin took a while to respond, but no one dared to interrupt the flow of their conversation. "All Eyes on Me grabs a date-able's attention so it would probably affect your Dodge Rate as well. How's your Dodge rate?"
"33%? I haven't met with Tohru again."
"Haha, good luck with that." Devin sent a salute emoticon.
"Nice, a hacker comes to brag his findings." Horsepower must have snorted as he posted that reply. "How come you can spill the beans even before anyone finds out about it, huh?"
"Whoa, hold your horse self. He's a beta player." Arata glared at the man attacking one of his friends as he responded. "Of course he knows the features before they get released."
"Stupid loaf of bread, there's no beta for an update patch."
"Who're you calling stupid loaf of bread, frizzy horse hair!?"
For others, it might have seem to be weird for veterans to be cursing at each other like children. Then again, the veterans knew that in context and harsher words, they could be caught by CM Ruby who guards the forums. Arata and Horsepower had been both suspended for engaging in a fight in the forums before, causing them to get banned for a whole week, lose EXP, and half of their JPY. That was why the veterans ended up mudslinging like five-year-olds, not that almost-adults like them should be still mudslinging at all.
"Ladies, please. Sunglasses emoticon. I just have a good source, that's all." Devin could have been laughing as he watched the thread move.
"Data mining, huh." Pantsu suddenly appeared in the thread. "Then again, you haven't answered the post. Geez, I thought there are a lot of tips right now after all that reply count."
"Someone's getting killed by Attori, too?" Horsepower sent a barrage of laughing emoticon.
"Whoa, shut up. You gave up on her, too."
Arata felt the need to organize the thread by then. Some more veterans started complaining about Attori killing them. If Devin was correct, it was not questionable that Attori becomes the first attacker since most veterans completed her last due to her date-able difficulty. The king would not encounter that problem, but it meant that if ever someone managed to give tips, it might be exclusive to Attori's Challenge. The player sighed at the way the thread was going.
Notifications started singing again, but Arata only looked at them. He saw Devin asking about the situation in his playthrough; but being the good goat that he was, Arata tagged Devin in a reply in his post. "(At) Charge Devin, if you have to say something. Say it here please."
"Just when I gave you tickets to a cheat." Devin laughed with his emoticons. "Fine, to have a good outcome, you should study the scenario and every item you could buy from the shops. There should be an item that voids the first strike."
His tips went on and on, but Arata realized that those were only for the normal players. Those items would not probably work in his current state. However, he got some valuable things from their accounts and tips. Items play a big role during a Challenge. He should stock up with anything he could carry. There were also magazines which could help him develop a defensive fighting style, and increase his Dodge and Subdue Rate, or the rate the gauge fills.
Arata's mind was then disturbed by another notification beep from the computer. He checked the tags, and saw Devin tagging everyone with (at) posters, or everyone that followed or posted in the thread.
"Be reminded that even if it was not said, your stats will play a role in the Challenge. High Strength will reduce the damage to your HP, high Charms will heighten your Subdue Rate, and high Intelligence will give you a Dodge buff." The so-called data miner continued. "Try to max one of those, or two using various items, to survive a Challenge. Devil laugh emoticon. Take it from someone who didn't die during Attori's Challenge."
"Keh, I'll just keep that in mind next time." Horsepower sent a barrage of sighing emoticons, learning about these too late. It also seemed he got the agreement of most veterans.
"I know this is out of topic, but since (at) TheKing Arata is here." Pantsu posted a reply with a tag that would give him two notifications. "OP one, why aren't you participating in the Comeback Event? Don't you want Attori Bikini?"
"Ooh, a chick is crying to the hen." Horsepower tried to rile them up, but he was surprised, probably, when Arata deleted his reply.
"No time to farm event points." Arata responded with an angel emoticon. He waited for Devin to spill beans, or for Pantsu to say something else about him lying. Then again, if he talked to Devin or Botan, he would know about the supposed phone issue lie Arata made.
Instead of Devin or Pantsu, other followers commented how they hate not seeing his name up there, or seeing Horsepower as number one instead.
"Geez, we were so looking forward to see you!" Some of them claimed, which triggered Arata's curiosity.
"The winner of the Comeback Event will be featured with CM Hideki for the Challenge Mode promotional." Devin posted as if he knew what Arata was thinking. "We all looked forward seeing your face, Arata."
"Whoa, I might have max charms in-game, but I look a just a bit more handsome than a trash bag in real life. My face is not impressive at all." Arata chuckled as he responded, overwhelmed by the number of people who expected to see him. This had made him wonder about his face, if he had become cute in any way. Then again, he realized it was because he was famous in-game. He laughed out to himself. "So that's why they were all asking about why I wasn't there..."
Then again, he remembered Usagi's words. He shook his head to get rid of the poisonous thoughts that would have troubled him in the future. He just came to get insights about the actual Challenge Mode. Nothing else.
Amidst the hopefulness of the other veterans who wanted to see Arata's face, another notification blared through his ears. He checked the message and saw Horsepower's name and a slight of his message. The king was obliged to reply in curiosity.
"Hey, join the event. I pretty much whaled the points, but my gift cards are still unused. No time, my ass." For some reasons, Horsepower sounded like he was baiting the man.
"Then what? You tell everyone I cheated by whaling?"
"No. Whaling is part of winning, stupid. Gift cards included." There was a pause in between his replies, and the absence of the emoticons made Arata suspicious. Then again, Horsepower was a real sport despite his arrogance and intimidating rudeness. "Join."
"Why? Don't you want to win this one for once?"
"And what? Have all those angry faces at me during live because I was not you? How many people do you think would go boo because of this?" The replies started to come in slower as if he was constantly erasing his lines before sending one short reply. "It hurts."
The king would like to feel compassionate, but he did not like this man at all. Then again, he could only sigh at the helplessness of the situation. "Sorry. Can't."
"Scared to be seen on screen?" Horsepower started to employ all strategies he could think up to lure Arata back into the leaderboards. He tried mudslinging to call his attention, while begging did not work as much. Provoking him personally should do the trick.
"I'm not ugly, but I don't like standing next to Hideki. That's uncomfortable."
"At least they go 'yay' when they see you. Do you think it's like this with me?"
"Geez, stop bothering me, Horsie."
And after that, he stopped. Arata was relieved that the other player stopped probing just like that. He then went to check the post, and it seemed it had gone quiet after a few 'please we want to see you' trailed by the time he started talking with Horsepower. The king stared at his... constituents, unable to deliver since he had no means to do so. He only sat in front of the computer, imagining what could have happened if he did not die that day. It only had been almost a week, and yet he felt natural in his new living space.
Pushing away the keyboard, the king decided to rest against the table. He was starting to reorganize his thoughts as to how to address the Challenge Mode. For some reasons, he was feeling too scared about it. It was not like he was going to die again if he failed. Perhaps he was overthinking.
Even with discomfort, Arata went through his messages and read through Pantsu's messages. He then decided to talk. "Pantsu, yeah, I can't play the event even if I want to. And, yeah, what happens when you fail Challenge Mode? The defending date-able gets what?"
"???" Pantsu replied all of a sudden as well. "Only the attacking date-able gets the demerit, I think? Attori just lost 300 Affection points and dropped her Obedience to 45%." He then sent another reply. "Devin suddenly told me about the phone issue. Is it fixed? Is this what Hideki talked with you?"
"Didn't Botan or Devin tell you beforehand?" Arata mixed it with a squint emoticon.
"JERK! You should be saying that to me yourself! Crying emoticons. I thought we're friends, Arata OP." In the contrary, Pantsu must have been laughing when he sent these replies to him. "How come those two heard about it but I didn't?"
"Err, because they asked. Anyway, sorry. And thanks." Arata took a deep breath and sobbed inwardly. He whispered to himself, "why am I getting so worried?" He then stared at the earlier answers of Pantsu. He spoke, "Attribute demerits, huh. Like what the tutorial said..."
The next action time chime came to his ears as he realized the clock moved to 12 PM, the lunch action time. He suddenly felt hunger, and he decided it was time to leave the forums even though more notifications had gone flooding in. He did not even bother check, missing a GM message due to his disinterest.
The king made his way to his kitchen, before he noticed that there was black car that rolled into the side of the street. It seemed like someone pulled over in front of his house. Since he could see the front yard from the window above the sink, he continued to watch while washing a glass to fetch a glass of milk. However, he almost dropped it when he saw who got out of the car.
Ruby stood in front of his gate, donned in a slim fit sweater and tight-fitting shiny black jeans. Her wavy maroon hair was swept to the side like usual, and she was wearing more make-up than normal. She had a big basket with her, but she managed to hold it with one hand as she waved at the car which drove away. She then caught him staring from the window.
"Why is she here?" Arata mumbled as he put the glass down and turned off the faucet. He went to a mirror near the foyer and tousled his bed hair with his wet hands to make it look a little better. He straightened the creases on his shirt with his hair-dried palms before opening the door and fetching the socialite outside.