NOVEL NEXT Arc 2, Ch.6: …My system is still being rebellious, goddamnit!
I watched him hurry up with packing away and sped up myself, my twitching fingers making it hard. The system decided to go right to annoying with prompts.
[Offer to eat dinner together.]
Hell no. I’d die of shame, asking him to such an obvious date.
The prompt closed obediently as I acknowledged it. Other than dialogue choices, I wasn’t forced to follow the prompts.
[Offer to eat dinner together.]
...Ah? Yes, I read you. And I reject. Shoo, go away.
“Okay, I’m finished”, I told Mizuki while I glanced back to see him stand up as well. He stretched, his casual clothes slipping up with the movement. I hurried to look away.
[Offer to eat dinner together.]
...What do I do when my system is getting obnoxious, need help fast, thanks.
I frowned lightly, though I made sure not to do it so that Mizuki could see. My forehead was smoothened out again when the prompt faded out of sight and I could reach for my bag, swinging it over my shoulder.
“Let’s go?”
“Yeah.”
We left the building, waving at the tired children and saying goodbye to anyone within ear’s reach.
[Offer to eat dinner together.]
Meanwhile, I was starting to have a really bad feeling. The path to the station we’d have to take from the orphanage was through a small, very scenic corner of the city near the river. A small park area had been left next to the river and countless restaurants and stalls had settled down, using the beautiful view to attract customers especially in the evening.
I ignored the prompt one last time.
The annoyed intake of breath that the system did was definitely not an imagination.
When the choice appeared, it was written in bold and all over my view.
[(Please choose what to say.)
- “Let’s get something to eat.”]
...You’re not even trying now?! There’s only one choice!! You goddamn bastard!! I want to talk to the ass who programmed you! Don’t ignore me!
I couldn’t not talk for the rest of the way, of course, so I wasn’t left any choice in this matter. Once again, I’d have to talk after a while.
I bemoaned my fate for the next three minutes - which was an acceptable time for staying quiet - before I opened my mouth. The system kept my voice somehow even, otherwise I would have sounded like I wanted to cry. Or die of embarrassment.
I wasn’t asking him to eat something after a movie, which was quite normal.
I was asking him to stop by a river lit up by the setting sun, in a park surrounded by hundreds of blooming flowers, on a warm spring evening. To eat dinner together.
No one was that stupid.
My heart throbbed along wildly with every step and my left hand, hidden from Mizuki’s sight, fiddled with a part of my shirt.
“Let’s get something to eat”, I said, forced. Then offered a small explanation to soften the impact, which was something I was allowed to do, because I had already said the choice, so fuck you. “I’m hungry after all that work and the food from the stalls smells nice.”
I directed his attention at the stalls on purpose. The system definitely wanted me to sit down with Mizuki somewhere, resulting in a sappy romantic situation I didn’t want.
If it was just a stall then it’d be a short stop to eat and we’d be standing, much easier to endure and way lighter on the atmosphere.
I swear I heard a soundless curse.
“Hm.” Mizuki just hummed in agreement, looking up at me for a few rather long seconds before scanning the stalls.
We ended up choosing a stall that sold mostly snacks, settling around an outdoor bar table away from the owner’s view. I dug in immediately. Saying I was hungry wasn’t a lie.
My eyes were locked to the truly beautiful sight of the sun being reflected on the river, quivering with the movement of the water. This area was quiet and serene.
“Can I try yours?”, a voice asked me from the side.
I wasn’t concentrating on it, drifting off in my own thoughts again, so I reacted with a tiny twitch.
“Sure.” I lifted up my fork for the person asking, only to meet Mizuki’s slightly widened eyes and incredulous gaze.
My brain played jeopardy until my thoughts caught up with the fact that this was neither one of my friends nor my family, who would just take the lifted fork out of my hand.
Since that’s what you’d normally do when someone holds up a fork with food for you, right? I’m pretty sure that’s the normal route, right?
Mizuki took the squealy route.
Why squealy? Because I wanted to squeal at the sight of his tiny shrug, his head leaning forward and mouth opening.
His lips closed around the plastic - wasn’t staring, I wasn’t staring - and tugged lightly back. Tingling electricity went through my fingers holding the fork, up my arm and down my spine.
His throat bobbed as he chewed and swallowed. A pink tongue licked over his lips, savouring the taste.
He hummed in appreciation, then pointed at his own snack.
“Want a taste, too?”
“Yeah, want.”
...My tone was a tad bit too determined. He tilted his head as if feeling something was wrong and the mood turned a bit weird. I steadied my legs.
I really wanted to have a taste. Why did my food look so much more delicious when he ate it? I would sneak a taste right from his lips, just to check if it was different in any way, if only I could-
I pinched my leg and gave him an unsteady smile while lifting my fork. “Don’t mind me.”
Unceremoniously, I stole some of his portion to try, forcefully diverting the meaning of my answer back to food.
“Hmm, a bit too spicy for me.”
He kept looking at me with his tilted head, revealing his long neck. I lowered my eyes and concentrated on my food.
Sometimes, when you’ve got a crush, literally everything looks like temptation. I think my system was laughing at me. 'All men are beasts' even includes herbivores like me when faced with the right temptation, huh.
The rest of my way home was me skipping over Mizuki’s inquisitive gaze. I talked about the food and the river to make him look at it. I mentioned weird-looking ads to make him look at them. I opened funny pictures on my phone on the train to make him look at my phone.
Basically, I did everything so that he wouldn’t look at me because oh boy, did I get nervous.
My imaginary sweatdrops were amassing.
My parents were home but they were used to me vanishing inside my room immediately, so that’s what I did before I started cursing the system. I threw myself onto the bed and tilted my head towards the ceiling.
“I demand payback!”, I hissed into nowhere, glaring at my menu button. “You can’t just do that to me!”
Of course there was no way for me to actually know, but I had a feeling the system was deliberating my words. I ended up suggesting something while the feeling lasted.
“Why don’t you let me see the locked areas in the menu? You can use an empty template or an example. I just want to see.”
The locked areas had been irking me for a long time now, waking my curiosity. What was there about a dating sim beyond info on how to get your target? One area was completely locked, the other area just had a locked subcategory.
The button rippled like the surface of the river, then began to blink. I took that as an ‘okay’.
“Alright!”
I kept my exclamation quiet, throwing myself back onto my pillows and opening the system while staring up.
The first tab were my entries. I could open them to see the exact entry at the side and Mizuki, who was now my only entry under the ‘love interests’ category, had extra information. One thing were the additional notes that showed my dialogue with him like a backlog or conversation history and gave comments on what happened, what I did good and what I should change. That was opened by the small button next to the points scale.
The second tab had had a greyed out subcategory next to the one showing current hints. In this area, I could get hints on what Mizuki liked and how I could progress our relationship. The subcategory’s colour had changed and was now tinted lightly orange, not striking like the unlocked first tab, but enough to be visible.
I let it open and opened my mouth in an ‘Oh.’
