Chương 51: I Can't Leave You
Given that he still had two more days left, he decided to visit Usagi at the Lumen Park that night. He had plenty of rest after heading home with Yukari. No Dates meant no Stamina was spent... as if trying to offset the ones used the day before.
Like last night, the Lumen Park was dimly lit at 9 PM. There were no person in the place, and only a few stray cats occupied some of the benches. Arata walked towards the fairy's flower bush and waited for her to show up. It had been only a week since they last chatted. Seeing that no one was showing up, the player chose to call out.
"Sayaka? Sayaka, are you here?" He cupped his hands before his mouth like building a megaphone. "Sayaka!"
Due to the 'screen view,' he saw lights surfaced from the nearby bush. He spun on his heel as if turning to greet her, but it seemed she had other plans. In the end, her supposed hug from behind placed his face against her chest. She still had her arms around him like she did not even noticed what happened. Then again, the impact his skull gave her breastbone made her sob.
"A-Arata! You're here again!" The fairy chuckled before pulling back and hovering in front of him. She clapped her hands together and presented a smile. "I missed you!"
"...Are you Sayaka or Usagi?" He frowned at her, checking for the purpose of his visit. It would not hurt to talk to the actual Usagi after all.
"Don't be silly, of course I'm Usagi"—she sent a karate chop to his head—"not!" She then swirled to escape Arata's reach. "Why would you—?!" She was startled when the player lunged forward to catch her by the waist. Since this fairy took on a form almost in the same size of a human, it was pretty easy to catch her. "Hm? Is there something bothering my dearest?"
"Why are you talking to me like that?" Arata sighed as he held her close to him, hiding the curls shaping his lips with a dismissive tone. "Anyway, you're always watching me, right? You should have an idea at least."
Sayaka held his elbows and squeezed her way out of his hold. She continued to hover nearby though. "Ah, I can't be around twenty-four-seven. After what happened, we're upping the security of the game. I can't have anyone see you or notice you moving around."
The player stroked at his chin like he had a goatee. "Yeah, you did say you own the game, right? You're some kind of a secret CEO or something?"
"Uh, no." Sayaka had her arms behind her and swayed in the air. "That's not true, but this game is mine. This is my project that had been expanded a lot..." She looked up in the night sky and noticed the absence of stars. "I should fix the graphics. It looks horrible from this point of view."
"It's not like we can look up. I'm even surprised that the game looked like a real world than just a bunch of walls with pictures." Arata chuckled as he waved his hand. He then remembered his original purpose. "Sayaka," he spoke in a serious tone, "there's something I need to talk to you about."
"Yes?"
"Will I be revived from the last save when I messed up and hit 'Game Over?' " He did not even try to sugarcoat or smoothen his question at least. "You know, this game had pitfalls. I never encountered one, but everyone else did say there are."
"I'd be surprised if you encountered a 'Game Over' sequence." The fairy shrugged her shoulders. "It's only triggered by low Affection Scene success rate after all. The lower the success rate, the higher the chance that the date-able will give you a dead end. Besides, most pitfalls are in the previous patch. This patch centers about you"—she made frontal finger guns to gesture towards him—"keeping up with the women. Of course, from a nonroute playthrough perspective. First patch is about you rising from the rubbles, and the third one will be you— damn, I almost said it." She huffed to the side and mumbled to herself.
"Anyway, pitfalls are not that common... especially that most of them are from scenarios." There was a weird glint in her eyes. "You saw that creature already, right? So what can you say? This time, it's not just a girl in a Halloween costume."
"Yeah, I remember the players crying for non-human date-ables. What's next— an animal hybrid?" Arata spoke like he cared too little about the diverse races of the date-ables.
"Animal hybrids are too much of a stretch." Sayaka pouted. "You're just supposed to be a famous high school student here, not a man that will save the world." She giggled right after her words. "But you are, in a way, aren't you? You gotta save your world from deletion."
The player only watched her from his spot. He scratched his head. "I don't want to ask this, but... Sayaka, you said you saw me die when the game opened. We both know that's impossible because you're not really someone from inside the game, right?" He waited for her to cast her gaze on him. "Why do you cater to me so much? If I was just a precious customer, I can't pay you anymore since I'm dead. Why did you lie so I wouldn't know you're... alive?"
She only hovered nearer and landed her feet on the ground. She only smiled innocently at the player. "If you manage to survive the entire second patch, I will tell you. Do we have a deal?"
"No, and that's not cute at all..." He petted her head though.
"The game will only feel so real to you," she spoke as she took his hand from her head. She pressed it against her cheek. "And I'm so happy someone could enjoy it this way. Then again, the game system still counts it as an error if it finds a blob of foreign codes. It would registered as a cheat so... I can't guarantee that the autosave function helps you. If you die here, you might not even comeback anymore...
"So promise me, you'll take care..."
He could only stare at the fairy— at the head dev that was risking her position to protect him. He felt like the words she always tells him had more meaning than what he could understand at the moment. She was a real woman, and not a date-able of the game. His in-game charms and life was irrelevant to her; she knew her target audience— super fanboys who would spend money on imaginary women who only exist in their hearts.
'Why would she show me this kind of treatment? Can someone fall in love through my in-game achievements? Or it is because I was her game's number one player?' The man made a soundless deep breath. 'I don't even know what she looks like. What if she's a middle-aged woman who doesn't have a husband? One that likes high school boys at that.'
He mentally shook his head to clear his train of thought. 'If she cares enough because I got stuck here, then that means we're supposed to be friends.' He then went back to the past set of thoughts immediately. 'But she reacted in a weird way when I mentioned about Encounters with Usagi. Is she interested in me? No, that can't be right. She knows me; she knows that this isn't the real Hamasaki Arata.' He averted his gaze from the girl in front of him. 'Hideki talks to her casually even though she's his boss. Is it possible that they were in the same age? That would make her around her twenties. Player-kun Complex only started months ago—'
"You're strangely quiet. What are you thinking?" Her huffing tone came, but her face was still hidden from his sight because of his hand.
"Give me my HUD..." Arata used his other hand to comb the fairy's blonde bob cut. He smiled at the fairy who looked up at him. "I need to see certain things to make sure I would be able to feel danger. I don't know if there's a way for you to help me with it, but you know that's a main tool for survival." He then cupped his free hand on hers that held his other hand. "The girls are showing signs of chaotic events playing in their heads. I want to make sure I can survive the game; having one of them severed from me is bad for my heart.
"I need my HUD, Sayaka." He tried to smile bigger.
Instead of a promising grin from the fairy, she only looked down at his watch that she could see from his wrist. "I can't put it up to your screen because I can't slap UI on your eyes. Would it be okay if I put it in your watch? Instead of seeing the time alone?"
Arata blinked thrice. 'Why did I feel like she's a little familiar?' He cleared his throat. "S-Sure. I don't mind if you put it there..."
Sayaka pulled away and clapped once more. "Then it's a task! I'm so happy you came to see me tonight, Arata!" She placed her arms behind her again. "I would work on that soon. I just need to do more tweaking for a certain thing for the third patch. It'll take a long while, but... I'll be able to finish it as soon as possible..." She looked away, eyes drooping in hidden frustration. "I can't have you replaying any point of the game. I don't know what it could do to you since you were forced to play a non-route—"
Her words suddenly stopped flowing. She looked down on her chest and found Arata's hands on the side of her bosom. She was conflicted whether he could be considered groping her.
"Ah, she stopped," was all he said. He looked at her again. "Sorry, I don't know how much of the game affects you. I mean, you're not like me."
"If I dive in the game completely, no one will be there to finish it." She glared, baring her gritting teeth as if posting a warning against his touch. "Would you please stop touching me? You're not even affiliated to Usagi yet."
"How are you doing this anyway? Are you diving like some kind of VR? Wait, that's too advanced for Player-kun Complex!" He slid his hands up and down, as if feeling the sides of the fairy's B cups. He could remember her advances before so he figured she would not hate it all that much. "If you're just typing down codes, how come you can feel my hands on your body? Are my actions just text or"—he used his thumbs to feel the tips of her breasts under the fairy's thin clothing—"not?"
Just right after he asked, a fist came flying from underneath his chin. The upper cut punch effectively removed him from her. The player got knocked to the ground while Sayaka squeezed her body.
With a trembling voice, she yelled, "S-Stupid Arata!" The fairy flew away and hid inside her bush.
The god started laughing while having his back against the cold ground. He consoled his sore chin as he sat up from the floor. "I learned a lot of things tonight. Do I still have enough Stamina to go home?"
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
droopyghost
droopyghost UI is User Interface.
Guys! Since it's December, I would like to call on the top three voters of my novel: SoraHatsune, Noobless_Noob, and pass1458!
Please contact me via Discord so I could-- wait for it-- give Spirit Stones! Get your codes from me today... or on Monday onwards.
You can reach me via Discord: droopy#6289
Thank you so much!