It might be a day early, but here is the first part to the first chapter of Volume 2. I decided to split the release into the parts available in the light novel as to give more time for myself to translate and proofread (also, this chapter is pretty long). The current editor is still working on the speed of the edit so I’m serving it with just mostly my input.
In relation to this release, I’d like to know if people still require TL notes for usual MMORPG terms. I’m not really fan of including them unless there is a pretty obscure reference but people may think otherwise (I also can’t serve as a barometer for what would be good to put a note for since I’ve played a lot of these games myself and just see them as common words). Also, if anyone notices any reference that I may not have conveyed properly, I would appreciate it if you point it out. Especially for this chapter title, because I have no idea what the reference is (I’m also not too savvy about Japanese culture besides some random stuff here and there so please forgive me).
Translation: Yamaking
“This is bad. I’ve really done it now.”
Right now was a scheduled break in between classes.
In front of the vending machine, which was beside the currently deserted school store, I was shaken up by the current state of things.
“I forgot to bring my wallet didn’t I?”
I came all this way to the vending machine just to not have my wallet with me.
As I checked the both the right and left pocket of my pants, there was no wallet to be found.
Actually, now that I think about it, I have the feeling I just left it lying at home.
Also, I remember that I already realized that I left it when I was just about to leave home.
“But I didn’t even care that much about leaving it. There had to be reason why I thought it would work itself out and just decided to go to school. Uh, what was it again…”
The reason I’d be fine going to school even without a wallet was probably because…… Ah, that’s right. When I left home, I was thinking this.
“Ah, school is pretty far so I’ll probably encounter some monster I can defeat along the way and that’ll get me enough money for a meal.“
“As if that would happen!”
With all of my energy, I took a jab at myself for the event that had happened earlier.
I’m not in the game so that kind of absurdity just couldn’t pass. Also, did I just really just go to school thinking that?
I can’t buy it. I can’t even buy juice.
A monster didn’t appear after all. Even if it did, I’d die.
“…Guess I’ll head back.”
As if anyone would be willing to lend me money after hearing this stupid story. I should just give up on it.
Yep, I’ll just have to make do with tap water for the day. As for lunch… I wonder if Ako made me anything.
As I turned around while thinking that— Oh, someone seems to be walking this way.
Those downcast eyes, that meek attitude while walking… that face covered by her bangs… was the figure of a person that I was quite used to seeing.
“Heeey, Ako?”
“…? Ah, Rusian!”
She suddenly raised her head in reaction to my voice. Looking at my direction was someone I was used to seeing, Ako.
I could only see her feet for about three seconds before she suddenly skipped over here. As she did, her expression began to softly relax.
“To think that we would meet in a place like this, this must be fate!”
“Having a fateful encounter in front of a vending machine is not something to be happy about. Also, stop calling me Rusian.”
I’d prefer if our wonderful fated meeting would have occurred somewhere a little more romantic.
“So, what’s up? Are you getting a drink at a time like this?”
“That’s kind of it but it’s not just that.”
“That’s not all?”
“It was kind of tough staying in class, so I thought I could go buy a drink as an excuse to escape from the classroom.”
“…I, I see. Hang in there.”
Serious. Your reason for going here is way too serious, Ako.
Make some friends will you… was something I couldn’t word in a different way so I just gave a vague nod.
“I mean, this Real Life Offline Game is a shitty game. The stats you start out with are completely random, you can’t just use the skills you want, and you have no control over stat allocation. But most of all, don’t all the players seem to be way too hardcore!? It’s too much that casual players like me don’t even seem like they’ll be able to take part! Don’t you think so too!?”
“Well, it’s offline so it should be somewhat inconvenient.”
“I’m probably the only one experiencing lag that’s why I’m not really good at it.”
“This is the first time I heard someone lagging in real life.”
I don’t really mind about her own self evaluation but I think the meaning that Ako seems to be a bit slow when it comes to anything she does is true.
“Well,let’s just leave it at that. If you’re going to buy something, go ahead and buy it already.”
“Okay. Let’s see, if I get something in a plastic bottle to take back, even though I went alone, it wouldn’t look like I actually had no business to do outside. Yup, let’s go with that.”
I’m telling you, your current situation is way too serious.
As she was about to hand over something to the vending machine, she stopped and instead reached for her skirt pocket and proceeded to take out her tiny purse. As she opened it—
“…Ah.”
She suddenly stopped moving as she uttered that.
“What’s the matter?”
“Oh that’s right. I forgot to put money in my wallet.”
Seemingly surprised at her own situation, Ako stared in wonder.
Actually, shouldn’t I be the one surprised here?
“How can you not remember the contents of your own wallet?”
“No, no that’s not it. I did remember my wallet having nothing at all inside of it.”
Then why did you come all the way to the vending machine? Well, there was no need for that kind of joke, as Ako already started tapping her wallet for the contents.
“It’s just that, I thought I could sell some unneeded items in my school inventory so I could get enough to buy a juice so I went to the school store but…”
“…Yeah.”
“When I thought about it, the school store doesn’t really buy items, do they— and when I thought about it some more, I also figured, oh I also don’t have any items. This wasn’t the game after all.”
“…That’s right.”
I feel like I’ve heard something like this before.
Is it that? The longer you stay with your spouse, the more you seem alike, that kind of thing.
“W, what do I do now?”
Ako looked at me in a fluster.
Yeah, if it’s just juice I would have wanted to be at least able to buy it for you.
“Sorry, I forgot to bring my own wallet as well.”
“Eeh? Then why did Rusian go to the school store?”
“…I thought I could hunt some monster on the way to school to get some money.”
“……Ehehehehe.”
“Hey, stop it! We were just being stupid together! It’s not something to be happily snuggling me for!”
‘I guess we really think alike—’, is a weird reason to be happy about so stop it!
Being tightly embraced by Ako and having her push hard into my body while it unexpectedly felt really good— was not what I was I thinking, but I still had to desperately hold myself back. The game and reality are different. This kind of conduct is not suited for a girl who I just met a few days ago!
“What the heck are you two doing?”
“Oh?”
As I turned around to the source of that exasperated voice, there stood the figure of Segawa, looking a bit tired.
“Ah, Schew-chan also came.”
“I told you to stop it with the Schew-chan.”
Segawa, who was playing the part of a closet otaku, would scowl at anyone if she got called by her ingame character’s name.
But when you look at it, there’s no other students going to the vending machine during this short break. The surroundings were completely deserted so Segawa approached the front of the vending machine without getting mad.
“I barely made it in time, running to school, so I had to take classes while I was really thirsty. Ah really, just what have I done. That was a huge mistake.”
“Come to think of it, you arrived just right after our teacher came in the classroom, didn’t you?”
“That’s right. I might have been in trouble if our adviser wasn’t Nekohime-sensei, you meow? Is what she’d probably say.”
“Don’t you dare say that in front of Saitou-sensei, she’s going to hit you a lariat.”
Segawa brushed it off as if saying, ‘it’s fine, it’s fine’, while gulping down a bottle of tea. Hey, that’s a pretty manly way of drinking.
“Pwha! I feel revived!”
“Schew-chan, Schew-chan, if you don’t need that plastic bottle, can I have it?”
“…What are you going to use it for?”
Segawa suspiciously asked her. Well you see, she’s going to be using it to show off that she went out during the break to buy a drink. Don’t ask and just give it to her already.
“C, come to think of it, you coming in late is pretty rare. Did something happen? Did you end up staying up too late while farming last night?”
“There was a weapon I just really wanted to buy so I went to farm solo. Because of that, I ended up oversleeping— And then you see, well, it’s a bit of a stupid story.”
Segawa handed Ako the empty plastic bottle as she said that while forcing a smile.
“When I woke up, I immediately realized that it was pretty late but, ‘Aah, if it’s just this late, I can probably make it in time to the train station by using a teleport gem. As expected from my bad self, being late is just not possible.’ was the kind of stupid thing I was thinking so I took my time to get ready. Since I did all of that, it’s kind of expected that I was going to be late.”
“……”
“……”
As if saying, ‘I really did something stupid didn’t I?’, Segawa laughed while we remained speechless.
“…Why are you two suddenly quiet?”
“Ah no…”
“That’s…”
I’m sorry, we’re also the same.
I mean, you’re probably better off than us since you at least have money on you when you came here.
In that moment, a fourth voice, who seemed to be watching us from behind, called out to us.
“What’s this you guys? It seems you’ve all gathered here.”
“Ah, Master.”
Even Master unexpectedly came here. The Modern Electronic Communications Game Club— that’s not it, the guild, Alley Cats, has gathered in this place.
“Our timings just happened to be perfectly be in sync. Master…… err, what’s with you too Ms. President? The second year classrooms are pretty far from here right? You would go to the trouble of coming to the school store during this short break?”
Master solemnly nodded at Akane’s words.
“Yes, this circumstance was something beyond my control.”
That elegant face showed a bitter expression as if she had a grave matter on her hands. From what has happened so far, my gut tells me this is probably something worthless. To be honest, I don’t really want to hear it but one couldn’t help but ask at this point. Just in case, I’ll at least ask about it.
“So, that circumstance is?”
“I am glad you have asked. First of all, when you talk of a ‘drink’ at school, it can be a beverage you brought from home, something from the water fountain or from the sports club-only taps that provide cool water. Listen carefully, primarily these things are free to procure. In other words, they are ‘Basic’. —Are you following me so far?”
“Well that’s true.”
Ako would nod from time to time.
But wait, just wait a minute, something’s off here. Her choice of words are clearly strange.
“Hey, I’m already getting a bad feeling about this.”
“…To be honest, me too.”
I knew Segawa would have the same impression.
The moment Master’s “Basic” was uttered, was the time I knew that I had a bad feeling about this.
“Well, listen first. So, to compare with the ‘Basic’ tap water, the stuff from the vending machine near the school store requires you to pay. Instead of drinking normal tap water you can get without paying, you can pay an additional fee and procure higher quality drinks— that is in other words, ‘Premium’. Am I not mistaken?”
I knew it was about that kind of thing!
“I see, I was not able to come to that kind of conclusion!”
“More like you never needed that kind of conclusion.”
Why is my wife always bright eyed in delight of these otherworldly logic? Just what was it about the topic that struck a chord with her? As always, I have no idea.
“Well then, I believe you’ve already gotten it now that I’ve explained it this far.”
I don’t get it. Master then proceeded without delay, avoiding our gaze.
“It was based on that premise and something that happened during the first period. As I was listening seriously in class, I can remember my throat suddenly feeling parched. I thought to myself, ‘Ah, I would like to drink the lemon tea that they sell in the vending machine’. And when I thought about it, I couldn’t help but feel like I just had to get a taste of it. It was like my throat was only able to accept lemon tea from that point on. Don’t you think so too?”
“At the very least, I won’t say that it’s not available.”
“Is that so!”
Master, who kept nodding her head as if she felt her meaning got across, vigorously answered Segawa, who was saying the former with a fed up expression.
“I would like you all to think about it. No matter what the game, a system where you could always buy premium items from anywhere is a given. If you wanted to buy something, you can always buy it right away. Even if you don’t plan on buying anything, the Purchase button is always there, taunting you. It’s that kind of thing.”
Of course, over there they receive payment using those things, so it’s normal that the net games using those microtransaction models design it to be so unnecessarily easy to use.
“And so, I thought of buying it from where I was. Why you say? Because that lemon tea is this school’s ‘Premium’ item. Being able to buy it anytime should be no problem, was what I thought. —That is until, hear me out here and be surprised. Somehow, I couldn’t buy it while I was in class! I couldn’t buy that ‘Premium’ item. Isn’t that weird? I couldn’t purchase a premium item when I wanted to. Is this inconvenience even allowed? It was totally unpleasant. Never before have I felt such displeasure. However, I am also an adult. So as I contained that feeling of rage in my chest, accepting that inconvenient things will be inconvenient, I took on the trouble of carrying my legs over and that is why I am here.”
Master said that as she nodded while she puffing out her chest.
If my memory serves me right, this person is supposedly really smart but, yeah, there’s no doubt it.
This person’s an idiot.
She’s definitely an idiot.
“—and I think I’ll leave the jokes there. We’ll have club activities later today as always. Each of you should properly take your lessons and come to the club room afterwards. Got it?”
“It would be nice if all that was really a joke.”
“Of course it is. Isn’t it obvious that I just thought up that silly thing and went with it.”
So you actually thought about it.
Master, who was smiling at me when I was giving her an astounded look, went to buy her lemon tea and went back to her own class gracefully.
“Oh right, Rusian! Wouldn’t it have been okay to borrow some money from Master?”
“Ah, now that you say it. That could’ve worked.”
Of course, these kind of stupid things are something I can only talk about with my guild members.
But Master has already left, so it can’t be helped.
“I’ll just give up and put up with water for now.”
“I see… I also already have the plastic bottle I need to fool my classmates with.”
Don’t say such sad things.
“Like I said before, just what did the two of you come here to do?”
“……”
“……”
While Segawa was looking at us with questioning eyes, we, as a couple, proceeded to avert our look from her gaze.
“Isn’t it getting worse?”
This was during our club activities for that day. In the Modern Electronics Communications Game Club’s clubroom, after hearing the details of what happened that morning, Saitou-sensei shook her head in dejection.
“It’s not just Tamaki-san but all of you as well. Even I don’t like using the term ‘Game brain’ but it’s because things like this happen that it becomes a concern.”
“That’s what you call needless anxiety, Ms. Saitou.”
“Rather than reassuring me, that confidence just makes me more uneasy… Let’s see, let me ask you all a question. When a person dies, what happens?”
Ah, is that it. Recently, some students answered that ‘Even if I die, I will just revive’ when asked that ridiculous question. Even if it’s us, there’s no way we’re going to make that same mistake.
To our teacher,who was a bit uneasy about being impolite to us, we confidently provided our answer.
“When you die, you go back to your save point.”
“And then you lose EXP.”
“Your equipment durability also decreases.”
“Rusian gets a little mad.”
Me, Master, Segawa, and Ako answered in that order.
That was undoubtedly the perfect answer— And no Ako, that’s only when you mess up your controls and let me die. I’m not always mad when it happens you know?
“Haaa…”
Our teacher who was looking at us with bright eyes gave out a sigh.
“All of you, are you answering this seriously?”
“There’s no way we’re taking this seriously when we answered right after you asked right?”
“Well I see that, but if something like the incident today happens again, I’ll be troubled. If a time comes when your life is really in peril and you think just for a moment ‘Ah, this is fine’, you won’t be able to take that back you know?”
Ugh. Even if I get told that, there’s no way I can definitely say that it won’t happen.
I can definitely imagine a scenario in real life where when my life is fading away, I start thinking to myself ‘Ah, I’m going to die… Where was my savepoint again?’.
By the way, the cause of death for that scenario was me being stabbed by Ako.
‘I’ll kill Rusian and then kill myself!’ is what she’d say before jumping on me.
An event like that actually recently happened, but there’s no way right? There’s no way Ako would stab me right? Hahaha, hahahahaha.
“Ako, you wouldn’t stab me right?”
“Eh… It can’t be. Rusian, are you planning on cheating on me!?”
So you’ll stab me if I cheat on you!?
I won’t do such a thing! We don’t have that kind of relationship in the first place!
“I think it’s better to disband this club sooner and have everyone quit playing online games. Distancing everyone from the internet and having a healthy student life would be—”
Master smiled at our teacher,who was earnestly saying this to us, as she said.
“That would be a big problem you meow?”
“—Well then, make sure you keep at it in today’s club activities as well. Sensei has a meeting to attend to so I’m going.”
Our teacher said that as she left the room without allowing her serious expression to crumble one bit. The sight of her back looked even smaller than it normally was or was I imagining it?
It would be nice if she wouldn’t put in any bad words for us during the meeting. But when I think about Saitou-sensei’s difficult position, I couldn’t help but shed a tear. When Nekohime-san gets back, I’ll console her.
“Nekohime-sensei sure has it rough.”
“And we’re entirely to blame for that.”
Contrary to what she just said, Segawa didn’t really seem to sympathize with our teacher.
Also, stop it with the Nekohime-sensei. If you say that out loud in the classroom she would probably turn into ash. And along with that, your hobby of playing net games would also be exposed leading to both of you burning out.
“However, even though our club was created to prevent Ako from confusing games and reality, it seems to have worsened the situation. Aah, it seems that our reason for having the club still continue on.”
“Why do you look like you’re that happy about it Master?”
It seems that Master has a lot of things in store for us, as a huge smile showed on her face. It didn’t look like she was regretting it one bit.
“That’s not true at all, I’m making progress as well. Recently, even when I call Rusian Rusian, the number of times he gets mad has been fewer.”
“From just that one statement we can see you’re already contradicting yourself.”
You talking about me? That’s not really about me getting called by my ingame name, that’s just about me not getting mad at Ako.
“Ako, that’s not you making progress at all. Rather, it’s your training of Nishimura that’s making progress.”
“Don’t call it training. Getting used to it, or getting accustomed to it, there are a lot of better ways to put it.”
“They all mean the same thing though.”
It’s not the same. It’s not the same at all. At least it isn’t to me, in the psychological sense. Saying I was supposed to reform Ako but somehow ended up getting trained by her is a joke I can’t accept. I’m certain that’s not the case here at all.
“Hey, isn’t that right Ako?”
“What is it Rusian?”
Ako was staring blankly at me as she answered.
That response didn’t feel off but even so, it’s still no good.
“It’s not Rusian, it’s Nishimura-kun. Now say it like that.”
“What is it Nishimura-kun?”
While looking up towards me, she tilted her head a little as she said this.
Ah, what’s this? This feels a bit different from before. Just what is it, this sensation? It doesn’t feel off. It’s like a feeling of nervousness when a girl you know well suddenly changes how they address you. To be honest, it’s a bit heart-pounding— NOT! I’m the one in the right here!
“Calm down me, keep it cool… The game and reality are different, the game and reality are different.”
“Rusian? What’s the matter?”
“The sleeve, don’t pull on the sleeve.”
It’s cute so don’t do that.
Master and Segawa left us flirting like that and went to their seats.
“Leaving that topic aside, what do you say we get started on our club activities? At any rate, today’s update has added new premium items in the game, so I for one am very excited.”
“Master is probably the only one who would be excited about an update that did doing nothing but add new premium items…”
To Segawa, who had a bitter expression on her face, Master curiously replied.
“What are you saying. Today’s update has a new gacha implemented. Anyone would be excited about that.”
“When you say gacha, it’s that thing where you put in money and you get an item in the game right? Don’t tell me you roll for it?”
“Of course. What else do you think it does?”
When you say gacha, it’s just as Segawa said. You sink real money into it to get a random item ingame, is what everyone generally criticizes as its function. For basically free to play games, this serves as the main source of revenue. There’s also cases where a monthly fee is present but premium items also exist. This is what’s a so-called hybrid business model which has these items as an additional source of revenue.
For the record, I don’t do gacha. I have no money after all, and it feels like a waste.
“No way, gacha is just out of the question.”
“I have never done this thing called gotcha as well.”
‘It seems like a waste of money’, is what Ako said, looking troubled.
“What nonsense are you spouting! Listen here, gachas, for just a small amount of money, allow you to chase your dreams! It’s the hope of every single net game player!”
Master said that all fired up……But, fundamentally, it just causes despair.
“I won’t be doing gacha either, it’s just ridiculous.”
“Y, you fool…… Look at today’s gacha. Just for today, for a 24-hour limited period, there’s a very, very, very! high boost to the rate that you’ll get your coveted items!”
What’s the deal with that very 3x. That smells really fishy.
“That’s probably that isn’t it? It’s not the item you want that you’ll get, but other items with the same rates as it will be the one you keep getting, that kind of event.”
“What are you saying! The management team could not be mistaken! Making fun of this festival is not allowed!”
That pointless vigor is somewhat scary.
“Uhm, uhm!”
Suddenly, Ako was raising her hand as if she was trying to get called.
“Master, I don’t have money but I’d like to try gacha as well!”
“Oh! As expected of Ako, you show great promise! Alright, I’ll send some funds towards Ako’s account.”
Seriously!? Then I want to do it too! I want to try the gacha at least once!
“Wait, wait, wait. If that’s the case, I’d like to try it too!”
“You guys, do you have any pride at all!?”
How rude. It’s not like I’m trying to sponge off of Master.
Even though I said I wasn’t interested, I would want to at least try it once after all.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. No matter what item I get, I’ll be sure to hand it over to Master.”
“If that’s the case then…”
“Eh?”
“…Eh?”
Ako turned her face away, as if she’d just heard something unbelievable.
“Wait a minute, it looks like your wife is in this for the treat.”
“Hey now Ako, I don’t remember having such a shameless wife.”
“No, no, that was not my intention, at all, either?”
Her attitude of avoiding eye contact and broken speech just serves to heighten my doubt.
During this time, Master just finished charging our accounts and began raising her mouse in the air as she let out a voice of elation.
“Alright we’re going to start rolling everyone! Today marks the start of the Net Game Club’s 100 consecutive gacha opening tradition!”
“Yeah, let’s do this!”
“Master, you look really cooool!”
“Hey, don’t start making traditions out of nonsensical things— And you two! Stop encouraging her!”
“Why didn’t any rare items come out when it was my turn? I demand a do-over.”
“You can only ask your real life luck about that…”
I was consoling the depressed Ako on our way home.
The result of the very, very, very high boost rate gacha event was that Ako did not pull any useful items at all. If you think about it, the odds of such a thing happening is near impossible. At first, we just laughed it off but as it progressed towards the middle, we started to turn a bit pale.
‘You’ll get one for sure! Next time! It’s okay, see? How about you keep trying at it?’
Was what Schew said to Ako when this was happening. Though, it was kind of amusing to see Schew, who was so adverse to gachas, desperately trying to follow up on what was happening by trying to get Ako to roll some more.
“This is just like how my life is, isn’t it. I keep getting bad draws here and there. This is just what I think, but it’s like this is a special difficulty setting only made for me. It’s like when a game gets localized here in Japan and you compare it to its original version. As a result of localization, it ended up being even harder than it originally was to the point that I can’t even feel pain anymore.”
TL Note: Renting games in Japan is illegal. For this reason, if a game is to be localized, it could be purposefully made harder to make you have a longer time playing it. This in turn could justify buying the game as you wouldn’t be able to finish it in a short amount of time, removing the possibility that you could finish the game just by renting it.
“It’s fine, everyone’s life is equally hard.”
“Life is a shitty game… I’d like to dropout…”
“Let’s go at it for a little longer, okay?”
Needless to say, I already know that Real Life Offline is a shitty game, but even so.
In short, today’s activity of the Modern Electronics Communication Game Club was business as usual with Ako remaining unchanged.
In other words, we barely made any progress.
It’s been a few days since the incident where Ako tried to stab Sensei and yelled out ‘Rusian move away or else I can’t kill her!’.
Contrary to the huge shock I experienced during that time, it seems the only change to my daily life was from ‘Getting back home from school to play net games’ to ‘Play net games at school and play some more when I get home’.
Continuing on like that, I even got the addition of nice event where I get to go home, walking side by side with a girl.
“If my luck status was only higher… If my luck was only higher, I feel like I can go on living.”
But that girl, Ako, was not someone you could call normal girl.
There’s no way you could engage in a deep conversation about net games with a female high school student after all—.
“But in net games, there’s no real point to allocating stats to luck besides those leftover points right?”
“Don’t you think it kind of increases the chance of a rare drop?”
“Do you even have the willpower to keep running around an instanced dungeon with only full luck gear on, Ako?”
“That goes without saying!”
Says Ako, finally loosening up as she smiled.
Don’t you think the reason why nothing good happens is because you don’t put effort into it? The reason why your character is able to level up is because you put all that time into playing net games after all.
“But you know, the part where you can just leisurely play and get stronger is one of the good things in net games.”
“If you did that in real life, you end up weaker, right?”
That’s the weird thing about Real Life Offline.
If you leave it alone, somehow, your stats keep getting lower on their own.
“Come to think of it, if I could only see my level and skills I would be a lot more motivated. Like if it let me know when my intelligence or vitality has increased.”
“And, and, you could see the communication skill in your unacquired skill list right.”
“Skill Acquisition Quest please!”
I feel like it’s going to be hopeless if I don’t get it soon! Since if I don’t acquire this skill, no matter what I do, my current level isn’t going to rise!
“But are our stats actually measured in numbers by things like the sports tests and the school exams, aren’t they?”
“That’s not the real me.”
“Is that how it goes—.”
I understand it, but I refuse to accept it. But certainly, numbers don’t lie.
As we both sighed, Ako said.
“But I understand too. That I have to do better. I keep causing Rusian trouble after all.”
“I don’t mind the part about you causing me trouble though.”
Even though I said we weren’t progressing, I know Ako is working hard in her own way.
The way she treats the real me and ‘Rusian’ ingame is still not yet cured, but it’s because of that that she’s able to put in the effort in working hard together with me. She’s even been coming to school properly recently.
The problem is that, even though you think you’d like to work hard from now on, after a while, you end up thinking ‘Nah, it’s fine’, is a disposition that we both share.
“Even better would be an option to give up on life, right?”
“Don’t go forcibly adding new choices if they’re not available.”
You shouldn’t throw away your life.
“Why am I not allowed to throw away real world! The Internet, our second world, is just right there! Isn’t the second one just fine!”
“I love the Ako that aims for the top.”
“I hate it when I feel like doing my best just because you’re treating me so nice—!”
I love that part of you though, Ako. But I won’t say it.
“How about we buy some twin popsicles and head on home?”
“We’ll each share a piece right.”
“Yep. Just like a real normie.”
Ako’s eyes were shining as she straightened her back.
I’m not really one who could proudly boast about himself to others, but having Ako better herself as we make progress together is a pretty nice thing, is what I secretly thought to myself.
It might be a day early, but here is the first part to the first chapter of Volume 2. I decided to split the release into the parts available in the light novel as to give more time for myself to translate and proofread (also, this chapter is pretty long). The current editor is still working on the speed of the edit so I’m serving it with just mostly my input.
In relation to this release, I’d like to know if people still require TL notes for usual MMORPG terms. I’m not really fan of including them unless there is a pretty obscure reference but people may think otherwise (I also can’t serve as a barometer for what would be good to put a note for since I’ve played a lot of these games myself and just see them as common words). Also, if anyone notices any reference that I may not have conveyed properly, I would appreciate it if you point it out. Especially for this chapter title, because I have no idea what the reference is (I’m also not too savvy about Japanese culture besides some random stuff here and there so please forgive me).
Translation: Yamaking
“This is bad. I’ve really done it now.”
Right now was a scheduled break in between classes.
In front of the vending machine, which was beside the currently deserted school store, I was shaken up by the current state of things.
“I forgot to bring my wallet didn’t I?”
I came all this way to the vending machine just to not have my wallet with me.
As I checked the both the right and left pocket of my pants, there was no wallet to be found.
Actually, now that I think about it, I have the feeling I just left it lying at home.
Also, I remember that I already realized that I left it when I was just about to leave home.
“But I didn’t even care that much about leaving it. There had to be reason why I thought it would work itself out and just decided to go to school. Uh, what was it again…”
The reason I’d be fine going to school even without a wallet was probably because…… Ah, that’s right. When I left home, I was thinking this.
“Ah, school is pretty far so I’ll probably encounter some monster I can defeat along the way and that’ll get me enough money for a meal.“
“As if that would happen!”
With all of my energy, I took a jab at myself for the event that had happened earlier.
I’m not in the game so that kind of absurdity just couldn’t pass. Also, did I just really just go to school thinking that?
I can’t buy it. I can’t even buy juice.
A monster didn’t appear after all. Even if it did, I’d die.
“…Guess I’ll head back.”
As if anyone would be willing to lend me money after hearing this stupid story. I should just give up on it.
Yep, I’ll just have to make do with tap water for the day. As for lunch… I wonder if Ako made me anything.
As I turned around while thinking that— Oh, someone seems to be walking this way.
Those downcast eyes, that meek attitude while walking… that face covered by her bangs… was the figure of a person that I was quite used to seeing.
“Heeey, Ako?”
“…? Ah, Rusian!”
She suddenly raised her head in reaction to my voice. Looking at my direction was someone I was used to seeing, Ako.
I could only see her feet for about three seconds before she suddenly skipped over here. As she did, her expression began to softly relax.
“To think that we would meet in a place like this, this must be fate!”
“Having a fateful encounter in front of a vending machine is not something to be happy about. Also, stop calling me Rusian.”
I’d prefer if our wonderful fated meeting would have occurred somewhere a little more romantic.
“So, what’s up? Are you getting a drink at a time like this?”
“That’s kind of it but it’s not just that.”
“That’s not all?”
“It was kind of tough staying in class, so I thought I could go buy a drink as an excuse to escape from the classroom.”
“…I, I see. Hang in there.”
Serious. Your reason for going here is way too serious, Ako.
Make some friends will you… was something I couldn’t word in a different way so I just gave a vague nod.
“I mean, this Real Life Offline Game is a shitty game. The stats you start out with are completely random, you can’t just use the skills you want, and you have no control over stat allocation. But most of all, don’t all the players seem to be way too hardcore!? It’s too much that casual players like me don’t even seem like they’ll be able to take part! Don’t you think so too!?”
“Well, it’s offline so it should be somewhat inconvenient.”
“I’m probably the only one experiencing lag that’s why I’m not really good at it.”
“This is the first time I heard someone lagging in real life.”
I don’t really mind about her own self evaluation but I think the meaning that Ako seems to be a bit slow when it comes to anything she does is true.
“Well,let’s just leave it at that. If you’re going to buy something, go ahead and buy it already.”
“Okay. Let’s see, if I get something in a plastic bottle to take back, even though I went alone, it wouldn’t look like I actually had no business to do outside. Yup, let’s go with that.”
I’m telling you, your current situation is way too serious.
As she was about to hand over something to the vending machine, she stopped and instead reached for her skirt pocket and proceeded to take out her tiny purse. As she opened it—
“…Ah.”
She suddenly stopped moving as she uttered that.
“What’s the matter?”
“Oh that’s right. I forgot to put money in my wallet.”
Seemingly surprised at her own situation, Ako stared in wonder.
Actually, shouldn’t I be the one surprised here?
“How can you not remember the contents of your own wallet?”
“No, no that’s not it. I did remember my wallet having nothing at all inside of it.”
Then why did you come all the way to the vending machine? Well, there was no need for that kind of joke, as Ako already started tapping her wallet for the contents.
“It’s just that, I thought I could sell some unneeded items in my school inventory so I could get enough to buy a juice so I went to the school store but…”
“…Yeah.”
“When I thought about it, the school store doesn’t really buy items, do they— and when I thought about it some more, I also figured, oh I also don’t have any items. This wasn’t the game after all.”
“…That’s right.”
I feel like I’ve heard something like this before.
Is it that? The longer you stay with your spouse, the more you seem alike, that kind of thing.
“W, what do I do now?”
Ako looked at me in a fluster.
Yeah, if it’s just juice I would have wanted to be at least able to buy it for you.
“Sorry, I forgot to bring my own wallet as well.”
“Eeh? Then why did Rusian go to the school store?”
“…I thought I could hunt some monster on the way to school to get some money.”
“……Ehehehehe.”
“Hey, stop it! We were just being stupid together! It’s not something to be happily snuggling me for!”
‘I guess we really think alike—’, is a weird reason to be happy about so stop it!
Being tightly embraced by Ako and having her push hard into my body while it unexpectedly felt really good— was not what I was I thinking, but I still had to desperately hold myself back. The game and reality are different. This kind of conduct is not suited for a girl who I just met a few days ago!
“What the heck are you two doing?”
“Oh?”
As I turned around to the source of that exasperated voice, there stood the figure of Segawa, looking a bit tired.
“Ah, Schew-chan also came.”
“I told you to stop it with the Schew-chan.”
Segawa, who was playing the part of a closet otaku, would scowl at anyone if she got called by her ingame character’s name.
But when you look at it, there’s no other students going to the vending machine during this short break. The surroundings were completely deserted so Segawa approached the front of the vending machine without getting mad.
“I barely made it in time, running to school, so I had to take classes while I was really thirsty. Ah really, just what have I done. That was a huge mistake.”
“Come to think of it, you arrived just right after our teacher came in the classroom, didn’t you?”
“That’s right. I might have been in trouble if our adviser wasn’t Nekohime-sensei, you meow? Is what she’d probably say.”
“Don’t you dare say that in front of Saitou-sensei, she’s going to hit you a lariat.”
Segawa brushed it off as if saying, ‘it’s fine, it’s fine’, while gulping down a bottle of tea. Hey, that’s a pretty manly way of drinking.
“Pwha! I feel revived!”
“Schew-chan, Schew-chan, if you don’t need that plastic bottle, can I have it?”
“…What are you going to use it for?”
Segawa suspiciously asked her. Well you see, she’s going to be using it to show off that she went out during the break to buy a drink. Don’t ask and just give it to her already.
“C, come to think of it, you coming in late is pretty rare. Did something happen? Did you end up staying up too late while farming last night?”
“There was a weapon I just really wanted to buy so I went to farm solo. Because of that, I ended up oversleeping— And then you see, well, it’s a bit of a stupid story.”
Segawa handed Ako the empty plastic bottle as she said that while forcing a smile.
“When I woke up, I immediately realized that it was pretty late but, ‘Aah, if it’s just this late, I can probably make it in time to the train station by using a teleport gem. As expected from my bad self, being late is just not possible.’ was the kind of stupid thing I was thinking so I took my time to get ready. Since I did all of that, it’s kind of expected that I was going to be late.”
“……”
“……”
As if saying, ‘I really did something stupid didn’t I?’, Segawa laughed while we remained speechless.
“…Why are you two suddenly quiet?”
“Ah no…”
“That’s…”
I’m sorry, we’re also the same.
I mean, you’re probably better off than us since you at least have money on you when you came here.
In that moment, a fourth voice, who seemed to be watching us from behind, called out to us.
“What’s this you guys? It seems you’ve all gathered here.”
“Ah, Master.”
Even Master unexpectedly came here. The Modern Electronic Communications Game Club— that’s not it, the guild, Alley Cats, has gathered in this place.
“Our timings just happened to be perfectly be in sync. Master…… err, what’s with you too Ms. President? The second year classrooms are pretty far from here right? You would go to the trouble of coming to the school store during this short break?”
Master solemnly nodded at Akane’s words.
“Yes, this circumstance was something beyond my control.”
That elegant face showed a bitter expression as if she had a grave matter on her hands. From what has happened so far, my gut tells me this is probably something worthless. To be honest, I don’t really want to hear it but one couldn’t help but ask at this point. Just in case, I’ll at least ask about it.
“So, that circumstance is?”
“I am glad you have asked. First of all, when you talk of a ‘drink’ at school, it can be a beverage you brought from home, something from the water fountain or from the sports club-only taps that provide cool water. Listen carefully, primarily these things are free to procure. In other words, they are ‘Basic’. —Are you following me so far?”
“Well that’s true.”
Ako would nod from time to time.
But wait, just wait a minute, something’s off here. Her choice of words are clearly strange.
“Hey, I’m already getting a bad feeling about this.”
“…To be honest, me too.”
I knew Segawa would have the same impression.
The moment Master’s “Basic” was uttered, was the time I knew that I had a bad feeling about this.
“Well, listen first. So, to compare with the ‘Basic’ tap water, the stuff from the vending machine near the school store requires you to pay. Instead of drinking normal tap water you can get without paying, you can pay an additional fee and procure higher quality drinks— that is in other words, ‘Premium’. Am I not mistaken?”
I knew it was about that kind of thing!
“I see, I was not able to come to that kind of conclusion!”
“More like you never needed that kind of conclusion.”
Why is my wife always bright eyed in delight of these otherworldly logic? Just what was it about the topic that struck a chord with her? As always, I have no idea.
“Well then, I believe you’ve already gotten it now that I’ve explained it this far.”
I don’t get it. Master then proceeded without delay, avoiding our gaze.
“It was based on that premise and something that happened during the first period. As I was listening seriously in class, I can remember my throat suddenly feeling parched. I thought to myself, ‘Ah, I would like to drink the lemon tea that they sell in the vending machine’. And when I thought about it, I couldn’t help but feel like I just had to get a taste of it. It was like my throat was only able to accept lemon tea from that point on. Don’t you think so too?”
“At the very least, I won’t say that it’s not available.”
“Is that so!”
Master, who kept nodding her head as if she felt her meaning got across, vigorously answered Segawa, who was saying the former with a fed up expression.
“I would like you all to think about it. No matter what the game, a system where you could always buy premium items from anywhere is a given. If you wanted to buy something, you can always buy it right away. Even if you don’t plan on buying anything, the Purchase button is always there, taunting you. It’s that kind of thing.”
Of course, over there they receive payment using those things, so it’s normal that the net games using those microtransaction models design it to be so unnecessarily easy to use.
“And so, I thought of buying it from where I was. Why you say? Because that lemon tea is this school’s ‘Premium’ item. Being able to buy it anytime should be no problem, was what I thought. —That is until, hear me out here and be surprised. Somehow, I couldn’t buy it while I was in class! I couldn’t buy that ‘Premium’ item. Isn’t that weird? I couldn’t purchase a premium item when I wanted to. Is this inconvenience even allowed? It was totally unpleasant. Never before have I felt such displeasure. However, I am also an adult. So as I contained that feeling of rage in my chest, accepting that inconvenient things will be inconvenient, I took on the trouble of carrying my legs over and that is why I am here.”
Master said that as she nodded while she puffing out her chest.
If my memory serves me right, this person is supposedly really smart but, yeah, there’s no doubt it.
This person’s an idiot.
She’s definitely an idiot.
“—and I think I’ll leave the jokes there. We’ll have club activities later today as always. Each of you should properly take your lessons and come to the club room afterwards. Got it?”
“It would be nice if all that was really a joke.”
“Of course it is. Isn’t it obvious that I just thought up that silly thing and went with it.”
So you actually thought about it.
Master, who was smiling at me when I was giving her an astounded look, went to buy her lemon tea and went back to her own class gracefully.
“Oh right, Rusian! Wouldn’t it have been okay to borrow some money from Master?”
“Ah, now that you say it. That could’ve worked.”
Of course, these kind of stupid things are something I can only talk about with my guild members.
But Master has already left, so it can’t be helped.
“I’ll just give up and put up with water for now.”
“I see… I also already have the plastic bottle I need to fool my classmates with.”
Don’t say such sad things.
“Like I said before, just what did the two of you come here to do?”
“……”
“……”
While Segawa was looking at us with questioning eyes, we, as a couple, proceeded to avert our look from her gaze.
“Isn’t it getting worse?”
This was during our club activities for that day. In the Modern Electronics Communications Game Club’s clubroom, after hearing the details of what happened that morning, Saitou-sensei shook her head in dejection.
“It’s not just Tamaki-san but all of you as well. Even I don’t like using the term ‘Game brain’ but it’s because things like this happen that it becomes a concern.”
“That’s what you call needless anxiety, Ms. Saitou.”
“Rather than reassuring me, that confidence just makes me more uneasy… Let’s see, let me ask you all a question. When a person dies, what happens?”
Ah, is that it. Recently, some students answered that ‘Even if I die, I will just revive’ when asked that ridiculous question. Even if it’s us, there’s no way we’re going to make that same mistake.
To our teacher,who was a bit uneasy about being impolite to us, we confidently provided our answer.
“When you die, you go back to your save point.”
“And then you lose EXP.”
“Your equipment durability also decreases.”
“Rusian gets a little mad.”
Me, Master, Segawa, and Ako answered in that order.
That was undoubtedly the perfect answer— And no Ako, that’s only when you mess up your controls and let me die. I’m not always mad when it happens you know?
“Haaa…”
Our teacher who was looking at us with bright eyes gave out a sigh.
“All of you, are you answering this seriously?”
“There’s no way we’re taking this seriously when we answered right after you asked right?”
“Well I see that, but if something like the incident today happens again, I’ll be troubled. If a time comes when your life is really in peril and you think just for a moment ‘Ah, this is fine’, you won’t be able to take that back you know?”
Ugh. Even if I get told that, there’s no way I can definitely say that it won’t happen.
I can definitely imagine a scenario in real life where when my life is fading away, I start thinking to myself ‘Ah, I’m going to die… Where was my savepoint again?’.
By the way, the cause of death for that scenario was me being stabbed by Ako.
‘I’ll kill Rusian and then kill myself!’ is what she’d say before jumping on me.
An event like that actually recently happened, but there’s no way right? There’s no way Ako would stab me right? Hahaha, hahahahaha.
“Ako, you wouldn’t stab me right?”
“Eh… It can’t be. Rusian, are you planning on cheating on me!?”
So you’ll stab me if I cheat on you!?
I won’t do such a thing! We don’t have that kind of relationship in the first place!
“I think it’s better to disband this club sooner and have everyone quit playing online games. Distancing everyone from the internet and having a healthy student life would be—”
Master smiled at our teacher,who was earnestly saying this to us, as she said.
“That would be a big problem you meow?”
“—Well then, make sure you keep at it in today’s club activities as well. Sensei has a meeting to attend to so I’m going.”
Our teacher said that as she left the room without allowing her serious expression to crumble one bit. The sight of her back looked even smaller than it normally was or was I imagining it?
It would be nice if she wouldn’t put in any bad words for us during the meeting. But when I think about Saitou-sensei’s difficult position, I couldn’t help but shed a tear. When Nekohime-san gets back, I’ll console her.
“Nekohime-sensei sure has it rough.”
“And we’re entirely to blame for that.”
Contrary to what she just said, Segawa didn’t really seem to sympathize with our teacher.
Also, stop it with the Nekohime-sensei. If you say that out loud in the classroom she would probably turn into ash. And along with that, your hobby of playing net games would also be exposed leading to both of you burning out.
“However, even though our club was created to prevent Ako from confusing games and reality, it seems to have worsened the situation. Aah, it seems that our reason for having the club still continue on.”
“Why do you look like you’re that happy about it Master?”
It seems that Master has a lot of things in store for us, as a huge smile showed on her face. It didn’t look like she was regretting it one bit.
“That’s not true at all, I’m making progress as well. Recently, even when I call Rusian Rusian, the number of times he gets mad has been fewer.”
“From just that one statement we can see you’re already contradicting yourself.”
You talking about me? That’s not really about me getting called by my ingame name, that’s just about me not getting mad at Ako.
“Ako, that’s not you making progress at all. Rather, it’s your training of Nishimura that’s making progress.”
“Don’t call it training. Getting used to it, or getting accustomed to it, there are a lot of better ways to put it.”
“They all mean the same thing though.”
It’s not the same. It’s not the same at all. At least it isn’t to me, in the psychological sense. Saying I was supposed to reform Ako but somehow ended up getting trained by her is a joke I can’t accept. I’m certain that’s not the case here at all.
“Hey, isn’t that right Ako?”
“What is it Rusian?”
Ako was staring blankly at me as she answered.
That response didn’t feel off but even so, it’s still no good.
“It’s not Rusian, it’s Nishimura-kun. Now say it like that.”
“What is it Nishimura-kun?”
While looking up towards me, she tilted her head a little as she said this.
Ah, what’s this? This feels a bit different from before. Just what is it, this sensation? It doesn’t feel off. It’s like a feeling of nervousness when a girl you know well suddenly changes how they address you. To be honest, it’s a bit heart-pounding— NOT! I’m the one in the right here!
“Calm down me, keep it cool… The game and reality are different, the game and reality are different.”
“Rusian? What’s the matter?”
“The sleeve, don’t pull on the sleeve.”
It’s cute so don’t do that.
Master and Segawa left us flirting like that and went to their seats.
“Leaving that topic aside, what do you say we get started on our club activities? At any rate, today’s update has added new premium items in the game, so I for one am very excited.”
“Master is probably the only one who would be excited about an update that did doing nothing but add new premium items…”
To Segawa, who had a bitter expression on her face, Master curiously replied.
“What are you saying. Today’s update has a new gacha implemented. Anyone would be excited about that.”
“When you say gacha, it’s that thing where you put in money and you get an item in the game right? Don’t tell me you roll for it?”
“Of course. What else do you think it does?”
When you say gacha, it’s just as Segawa said. You sink real money into it to get a random item ingame, is what everyone generally criticizes as its function. For basically free to play games, this serves as the main source of revenue. There’s also cases where a monthly fee is present but premium items also exist. This is what’s a so-called hybrid business model which has these items as an additional source of revenue.
For the record, I don’t do gacha. I have no money after all, and it feels like a waste.
“No way, gacha is just out of the question.”
“I have never done this thing called gotcha as well.”
‘It seems like a waste of money’, is what Ako said, looking troubled.
“What nonsense are you spouting! Listen here, gachas, for just a small amount of money, allow you to chase your dreams! It’s the hope of every single net game player!”
Master said that all fired up……But, fundamentally, it just causes despair.
“I won’t be doing gacha either, it’s just ridiculous.”
“Y, you fool…… Look at today’s gacha. Just for today, for a 24-hour limited period, there’s a very, very, very! high boost to the rate that you’ll get your coveted items!”
What’s the deal with that very 3x. That smells really fishy.
“That’s probably that isn’t it? It’s not the item you want that you’ll get, but other items with the same rates as it will be the one you keep getting, that kind of event.”
“What are you saying! The management team could not be mistaken! Making fun of this festival is not allowed!”
That pointless vigor is somewhat scary.
“Uhm, uhm!”
Suddenly, Ako was raising her hand as if she was trying to get called.
“Master, I don’t have money but I’d like to try gacha as well!”
“Oh! As expected of Ako, you show great promise! Alright, I’ll send some funds towards Ako’s account.”
Seriously!? Then I want to do it too! I want to try the gacha at least once!
“Wait, wait, wait. If that’s the case, I’d like to try it too!”
“You guys, do you have any pride at all!?”
How rude. It’s not like I’m trying to sponge off of Master.
Even though I said I wasn’t interested, I would want to at least try it once after all.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. No matter what item I get, I’ll be sure to hand it over to Master.”
“If that’s the case then…”
“Eh?”
“…Eh?”
Ako turned her face away, as if she’d just heard something unbelievable.
“Wait a minute, it looks like your wife is in this for the treat.”
“Hey now Ako, I don’t remember having such a shameless wife.”
“No, no, that was not my intention, at all, either?”
Her attitude of avoiding eye contact and broken speech just serves to heighten my doubt.
During this time, Master just finished charging our accounts and began raising her mouse in the air as she let out a voice of elation.
“Alright we’re going to start rolling everyone! Today marks the start of the Net Game Club’s 100 consecutive gacha opening tradition!”
“Yeah, let’s do this!”
“Master, you look really cooool!”
“Hey, don’t start making traditions out of nonsensical things— And you two! Stop encouraging her!”
“Why didn’t any rare items come out when it was my turn? I demand a do-over.”
“You can only ask your real life luck about that…”
I was consoling the depressed Ako on our way home.
The result of the very, very, very high boost rate gacha event was that Ako did not pull any useful items at all. If you think about it, the odds of such a thing happening is near impossible. At first, we just laughed it off but as it progressed towards the middle, we started to turn a bit pale.
‘You’ll get one for sure! Next time! It’s okay, see? How about you keep trying at it?’
Was what Schew said to Ako when this was happening. Though, it was kind of amusing to see Schew, who was so adverse to gachas, desperately trying to follow up on what was happening by trying to get Ako to roll some more.
“This is just like how my life is, isn’t it. I keep getting bad draws here and there. This is just what I think, but it’s like this is a special difficulty setting only made for me. It’s like when a game gets localized here in Japan and you compare it to its original version. As a result of localization, it ended up being even harder than it originally was to the point that I can’t even feel pain anymore.”
TL Note: Renting games in Japan is illegal. For this reason, if a game is to be localized, it could be purposefully made harder to make you have a longer time playing it. This in turn could justify buying the game as you wouldn’t be able to finish it in a short amount of time, removing the possibility that you could finish the game just by renting it.
“It’s fine, everyone’s life is equally hard.”
“Life is a shitty game… I’d like to dropout…”
“Let’s go at it for a little longer, okay?”
Needless to say, I already know that Real Life Offline is a shitty game, but even so.
In short, today’s activity of the Modern Electronics Communication Game Club was business as usual with Ako remaining unchanged.
In other words, we barely made any progress.
It’s been a few days since the incident where Ako tried to stab Sensei and yelled out ‘Rusian move away or else I can’t kill her!’.
Contrary to the huge shock I experienced during that time, it seems the only change to my daily life was from ‘Getting back home from school to play net games’ to ‘Play net games at school and play some more when I get home’.
Continuing on like that, I even got the addition of nice event where I get to go home, walking side by side with a girl.
“If my luck status was only higher… If my luck was only higher, I feel like I can go on living.”
But that girl, Ako, was not someone you could call normal girl.
There’s no way you could engage in a deep conversation about net games with a female high school student after all—.
“But in net games, there’s no real point to allocating stats to luck besides those leftover points right?”
“Don’t you think it kind of increases the chance of a rare drop?”
“Do you even have the willpower to keep running around an instanced dungeon with only full luck gear on, Ako?”
“That goes without saying!”
Says Ako, finally loosening up as she smiled.
Don’t you think the reason why nothing good happens is because you don’t put effort into it? The reason why your character is able to level up is because you put all that time into playing net games after all.
“But you know, the part where you can just leisurely play and get stronger is one of the good things in net games.”
“If you did that in real life, you end up weaker, right?”
That’s the weird thing about Real Life Offline.
If you leave it alone, somehow, your stats keep getting lower on their own.
“Come to think of it, if I could only see my level and skills I would be a lot more motivated. Like if it let me know when my intelligence or vitality has increased.”
“And, and, you could see the communication skill in your unacquired skill list right.”
“Skill Acquisition Quest please!”
I feel like it’s going to be hopeless if I don’t get it soon! Since if I don’t acquire this skill, no matter what I do, my current level isn’t going to rise!
“But are our stats actually measured in numbers by things like the sports tests and the school exams, aren’t they?”
“That’s not the real me.”
“Is that how it goes—.”
I understand it, but I refuse to accept it. But certainly, numbers don’t lie.
As we both sighed, Ako said.
“But I understand too. That I have to do better. I keep causing Rusian trouble after all.”
“I don’t mind the part about you causing me trouble though.”
Even though I said we weren’t progressing, I know Ako is working hard in her own way.
The way she treats the real me and ‘Rusian’ ingame is still not yet cured, but it’s because of that that she’s able to put in the effort in working hard together with me. She’s even been coming to school properly recently.
The problem is that, even though you think you’d like to work hard from now on, after a while, you end up thinking ‘Nah, it’s fine’, is a disposition that we both share.
“Even better would be an option to give up on life, right?”
“Don’t go forcibly adding new choices if they’re not available.”
You shouldn’t throw away your life.
“Why am I not allowed to throw away real world! The Internet, our second world, is just right there! Isn’t the second one just fine!”
“I love the Ako that aims for the top.”
“I hate it when I feel like doing my best just because you’re treating me so nice—!”
I love that part of you though, Ako. But I won’t say it.
“How about we buy some twin popsicles and head on home?”
“We’ll each share a piece right.”
“Yep. Just like a real normie.”
Ako’s eyes were shining as she straightened her back.
I’m not really one who could proudly boast about himself to others, but having Ako better herself as we make progress together is a pretty nice thing, is what I secretly thought to myself.
