Chapter 1

I somehow finished looking over the first half of the first chapter for this week. The second half is about three to four times longer than this one so that (or the succeeding chapter) might take a while. As usual, reading the other volumes in advance, along with playing other games also eat into my time that I just can’t speed up work here.

Also, in the previous post, people asked why I won’t just skip the volumes the anime adapted (volumes 1-4) and just skip to the continuation. The main reason is: Volume 5 (which is the housing update and part-time job volume) relies on events in the anime that weren’t really expanded upon (Master’s P2W tendencies) or just plain cut (Nekohime’s Elite Guard asking for a reward for participating in the guild war). I feel that a summary just won’t do it justice since it really shows how the main characters and side characters develop (albeit slow or some slight regressions here and there). And yes, this includes Bats.

Well then, with that aside, please enjoy reading the first part below.

Chapter 1

Love Sawed

TL note: Title is probably a reference to a play in the card game Duel Masters which is named the ‘The Love Sword’. I really couldn’t understand much of the stuff going on as I haven’t played it myself, but it looks like another endless loop strategy where you can endlessly attack your opponent until the match ends, which will leave them saying ‘Just where is the Love part in all of this!!!’. You can see the explanation here in Japanese (https://blog.goo.ne.jp/tcg1234/e/124ccf55e0afb28a4e3f8f6f6fb5b6cf). Also, take note that I’m not really sure since most chapter titles seem to all come from game titles and I have no idea of any game named Love Sword (that should have been available back in 2013).

Part 1

Translation: Yamaking

“Come on, I’m going to carry teacher’s desk.”

“Fine with me, you go do that.”

“I meant help me do that.”

This is a common spectacle in my school where, at the pace of at least once a week, we get to be on cleaning duty.

Though there’s people who would say, ‘Why not just leave it to the janitorial staff?’, we’ve been doing this since the first year of elementary school so it’s nothing out of the ordinary.

“Today’s heaviest desk award goes unanimously goes to Takasaki. Just what the heck did that guy put in there?”

“How about we leave his chair on top like that as punishment?”

It would look like you’re bullying him so stop that.

Anyway, it wasn’t that big of a deal so we just finished up what we had to do.

“Sorry guys, for making you help out like this.”

“Well, we were free anyway—.”

“That’s just you though.”

“Shaddup.”

I thought that normies would usually just loiter around after class while chatting away but it seems that they actually help out the person in charge of cleaning duty as well. Hmm? ‘Aren’t they unexpectedly nice then?’ is the illusion that I perceived by them doing this.

“And… We’re all done.”

As I was throwing away the dirt that had accumulated in the dustpan, one of the normies proceeded to tap at my shoulder.

“Later Rusian, nice job today.”

“See you tomorrow—, Rusia—n.”

“Later Rusian-kun.”

“……Ah, yeah.”

They each flashed their bright smiles at me as they bid their rowdy goodbyes as if nothing happened. Without even waiting for a reply, they proceeded to leave the classroom. As they were quite a distance from the classroom, I muttered to myself.

“…You guys have no right to call me Rusian.”

I kind of understand Ako now that time she got mad when she got called by her name.

In addition to Ako, who would periodically spawn in the classroom blurting out ‘Rusian this, Rusian that’, ever since the ‘I guess it can’t be helped— Meowkay.’ incident, Akiyama-san has been calling me by my character name too that it couldn’t help but spread toward the class.

“But the number one cause for this probably has to be that time in class where Nekohime-san suddenly blurted out ‘Okay, Rusian read the next part.’”

The whole class burst into laughter as Nekohime-san was the only one who had an expression that look like it said ‘Me, meow got it wrooooooong!’

And though I said it spread to the class, putting Ako, Nekohime-san, Segawa, and at worst, Akiyama-san aside, having my other classmates that I’m not really close with call me that only feels like they’re making fun of me. Preferably, I’d like them to stop.

I guess I really just can’t get along with those kinds of people. Just like that, I completely forgot my gratitude towards them for helping me clean as I walked onward. It seems like there’s other groups that stayed in their class like that as well.

Really, you normies should just hurry up and head home— is what I was thinking, but it seems I got it wrong. That wasn’t a normie. There’s definitely someone caught up there that isn’t a normie.

“…Oh, Ako’s there too.”

In the room after class was a group of girls fussing about with Ako in the center.

That girl is a net game addict who has a tendency to be adverse to social situations that would probably just stay home all day were it not for school. Such a person is my wife. I thought for sure she wouldn’t be coming to school given that club activities are suspended prior to the upcoming tests, but I didn’t expect her to be fitting in so well.

She was currently surrounded by Segawa and Akiyama-san on both sides that it looked like they were forcefully keeping her there, but it looks like I can see Ako in the middle of the ring from here. It seems like they’re having a heated discussion about a magazine they’re showing her.

“Look! I’m sure Tamaki-san can pull this off!”

“Eeh? Isn’t that a no go? Wouldn’t this fit her better?”

“Ha, haa…”

‘Kyaa! No way!’, were some of the things they were saying out loud but I have no idea what they’re talking about. And just like myself, Ako seems to have no idea what they’re talking about as well.

‘She’s doing pretty well isn’t she? Good for her!’ is what I was thinking while watching this spectacle but somehow I also felt a sense of defeat rising up within me. Just like the boss of a group of kids, thoughts like ‘Even though you’re just Ako, you’re getting pretty cocky aren’t you?’ were stirring up in my chest.

Just what is with this feeling when you witness a close friend suddenly escaping from being an otaku and achieving normie status? Is this the feeling of defeat or some inferiority complex? Or is it a feeling of contempt or that of envy?

“Ah this is no good. I should honestly just be happy for her.”

‘I guess my role here as the husband is done’, is what I thought in my melancholy as I passed by classroom. She may have caused trouble for me a bunch of times during our time together, but I really enjoyed them.

Goodbye, even if it was for but a moment, my youth has truly been brilliant.

“I can’t take it anymore! This thing— a cursed item like this—!”

I just heard a voice that sounds to be somewhat displeased.

As I took a bit of a glance to what was happening, I saw Ako teary-eyed while she was gripping the fashion magazine she was being shown earlier in both of her hands. It looked like she was about to rip it out and throw it away that Segawa looked very troubled and caused Akiyama-san to burst into laughter. The other girls surrounding her seem to be seriously taken aback.

Really, just what is this girl doing?

You’re going to end up driving away all these friends you’ve just made you know—.

“—Hey, just what are you doing there Ako!”

“Ru, Rusian—!”

Having noticed me, Ako ran up towards me with tears in her eyes. Hey, wait, stop it! If you do that here… See! Those group of girls are going to look at us with a tepid gaze!

“Please listen to this Rusian! It’s terrible, they’re being mean!”

“I’ll listen to what you have to say later but you’re the one being mean here!”

“Rusian is a meanie too—!”

Even if you show me a face that yells out ‘You traitor!’, I feel like I’m the one being betrayed here. Weren’t you already starting your life anew?

“Ah—, it looks like the husband has arrived?”

“Should we just take the hint and leave this to him?”

The girls surrounding Ako hurriedly dispatched, as if they were aware of Ako’s bothersome tendencies when she blows off her top like this. The only ones left now are: Akiyama-san, who’s still laughing, and Segawa, who was grasping her head.

“…That was close. Real close.”

“But I kind of understand her. Even I feel like ripping up and throwing this thing sometimes.”

“Nanako, I think yours and Ako’s reason for that are completely different though.”

Segawa seemed to be tired from have to work hard on cleaning up after Ako’s mess. Trying to cover up for Ako while not letting a single glimpse of her hidden otaku self show must be pretty hard on her.

“Ya-ho—, Nishimura-kun.”

“Ah yeah, ya-ho to you too. …So, what happened here?”

As I asked Akiyama-san, who was clinging to Ako’s hip to hold her back, she seemed to be having extreme amount of fun as she laughed.

“We—ll, we were thinking about how it would be nice if Tamaki-san were a bit more stylish, so we were recommending some accessories and stuff to her.”

“You, you’re being pretty cruel to my wife aren’t you?”

“Right? They’re really mean aren’t they?”

“Eeh? Is that so?”

That is very much so. It’s cruel. This is the workings of a fiend.

To Ako— no, to us, that kind of thing would definitely be tantamount to torture.

“Look, look at this! This whirlwind of smug faces that look as if they’re saying ‘I am the model that reigns supreme at the top of the school caste! Bow down before me commoners!’! Just who would enjoy reading this stuff?!”

“Well, I’m sure that image is pretty biased even going by reader model standards but…”

TL note: I just used reader model here since I don’t really know much about the equivalent in English and amateur model just doesn’t seem to fit this particular word. It’s those models who are actually supposed to mirror the expected readers of the fashion magazine (thus, reader models) but they usually have their own jobs (e.g. OL). If anyone knows the actual word for this, please let me know so I can edit it.

You still shouldn’t be holding hatred over the other people involved in the making of magazine too.

“Hm—, is that what you think? I’ve learned a great deal from it though.”

“I don’t want to learn about those things!”

Ako dejectedly hung her head. It seems she’s received quite the damage from the bright smiles of those reader models.

“If you hate them, then feel free to do so, but could you leave my magazine out of this? Come on, give it back.”

“Oh? This magazine was yours?”

“…Yeah, but do you have a problem with that, huh?”

Segawa in her ‘school-mode’ took the magazine back. She also looked a bit pissed as she said that. Well, it’s not like I wasn’t expecting that or that I have any complaints about it but, it just feels a bit off from your usual image.

“The second and third edition had stuff about it for makeup that suits a first-year and stuff like how to choose clothes for beginners, so Akane went out of her way to buy it back then.”

“In the first place, I’m not planning to raise my level anyway.”

Even if it was aimed towards beginners, if the person herself doesn’t wish for it, then it’s pointless.

“You really don’t get it do you Ako? This is an important item that you really shouldn’t miss out on.”

“When you say important item, it’s probably one of those quests items that don’t disappear until you’ve progressed with the quest and just keep taking up space in your inventory right?”

“It’s not like that! I mean, in the game it’s like that—! —Uh, err…”

It looks like Segawa wanted to say something as she was slurring on her words. She took quick glances at Akiyama-san as she fumbled to say something out loud.

“……Nanako, isn’t it about time for you to go home?”

“Nope, there’s still plenty of time so I’ll keep I can still hang around you know?”

“…That so?”

Ah, oh! Having a normal person in the conversation is restricting her from going full otaku!

Putting aside the fact that she was already exposed to Akiyama-san, Segawa is still in the middle of acting out her facade so it can’t be helped that she’s troubled by this. She began seeking for any possible help around her as she had a flustered look on her face.

(“Hey, do something about Nanako here.”)

Segawa seemed to convey that as she desperately stared at us. Though, even I couldn’t do anything but shake my head in response.

(“You’re in charge of Akiyama-san aren’t you? Do something about it yourself.”)

(“It’s impossible! Impossible! There’s just no way!”)

(“Tch, you’re both useless.”)

Aren’t you being too unreasonable there?! Ah, but I’m not really sure if that’s what she was saying though!

“Could you not suddenly leave me out of the loop by talking with your eyes like that?”

“Aah, err, that’s not it at all you know?”

For a brief period, Segawa was mumbling as she was troubled by all of this, but it seems she’s finally gathered her resolve as she went to face Ako.

“I guess there’s no helping it now that it has come to this… Err so then, Ako. Listen well you hear? You see, fashion magazines like this…”

She strongly clenched her fist as she said this.

“Are the equivalent of a ‘Real-life Offline Occupational High-School Girl’ strategy Wikis!”

“…Wiki?”

This girl just blurted out something pretty strange!

“I mean, that’s just how it goes! Just by looking at this, you’re able to learn skincare and the use of makeup, the models that everyone should at least know, and brand names that could come out often in different conversations! It’s the one-stop strategy site for everything you need on how to live your life as a typical high school girl! Tearing up and throwing away something like this is unheard of! I’m going to cast those who don’t cherish the Wiki deep into the pits of hell!”

“I, if you say it like that, I’m starting to feel like it’s really important…”

Ah, it seems that convinced her.

It seems that explanation got through to Ako while she gave the said fashion magazine a strange look. I guess she really just can’t accept those glamorous girls on the cover.

“But, but, for beating a game, the Wiki isn’t everything you know. Sometimes the Wiki could be wrong or sometimes there could even be better ways to do something that’s not in the Wiki. I know there’s lots of cases like that.”

“So you say, but when I play with PUGs, those illiterates who can’t be assed to look at the Wiki because ‘it doesn’t have everything’ end up dragging everyone down you know! This is why you should at least give the Wiki a one pass! You’ll be useless otherwise!”

“I, I kind of remember those people—!”

“So you’ve played with people like that huh…”

‘If you ask me, Ako would definitely belong in the group of those illiterates’, is what I held back on saying.

Also, if I had to point it out, those other types also definitely exist. There are those people who would place complete trust in the Wiki even though the info on it is outdated, wrong, or just plain inefficient.

“Hey Nishimura, you’re in the same side as me right!? You’ve followed a proper strategy guide for Real-life Offline too right!”

“…Well, maybe a little. I watch live broadcasts of shows that the guys in class seem to be interested in. Even if it doesn’t particularly interest me, I make sure to just give it a look.”

Keeping up the appearance of an all-rounder otaku who seems to be alright with any topic otaku-related is pretty tough as well. Like that time with the ‘Internet Karaoke Man’, I really had no interest in it, but when I heard the guys talking about it, I just had to look it up. These kinds of things are important for when fellow otaku are engaged in some sort of secret communication under the radar of everyone else, so it would be bothersome if I didn’t learn them.

TL note: Internet Karaoke Man was quite a popular word in JP tweets back then (whether they received it well or not) with people saying they want to be the next Internet <insert anything here> Man!. I really didn’t pay heed to the topic as I’m not interested either, but you can look at it here (https://dic.nicovideo.jp/a/%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%8D%E3%83%83%E3%83%88%E3%82%AB%E3%83%A9%E3%82%AA%E3%82%B1%E3%83%9E%E3%83%B3)

“…Akane, is that how you see it when you talk with us?”

“That’s not it at all! I’m just pointing out that you need that knowledge!”

Segawa desperately tried to convince the now uneasy Akiyama-san, but it looks like she doesn’t believe that one bit.

The reason why you read that thing in the first place was to beat Real-life Offline right? This is probably like one of the stories you’ve read in that Wiki where you just went ‘Ah yeah, yeah, I understand’ while you jeer at them with that smug face thinking ’RIP noob’.

TL note: This particular sentence made use of net slang such as あーはいはい (a phrase used to make it look like you’ve understood everything when someone talks to you) and noob乙 (乙 being short for おつかれさま so I just went with RIP noob).

“A-ny-way! You understand it now right, Ako? If you don’t look at a strategy guide beforehand when playing something like a net game, there’s definitely going to be a gap between you and the other players!”

“I kind of prefer playing blind though.”

“The blind play period ended a long time ago! Right now, in the offline world, all that’s left are 100% completion parties who are only recruiting players with regular work experience!”

“I hate end-game focused gameeeeeees!”

“Give up already! There’s no choice for us but to embrace Real-life Offline! Just how much do you think I’ve sunk into it up until now!?”

“Stop it, please, stop…”

Talking about a depressing topic like is just going to leave me in tears as well.

“Hey Akane, don’t you think there’s something strange about that way of thinking? It’s not like everyone’s picking out clothes out of obligation, and they don’t meet with other people just to talk about their favorite brand names you know? I think Tamaki-san should just go at her own pace and little by little…”

“Argh, you’re really noisy you know that! And you’re not getting this either!”

“E, eeh? Me!?”

“I’m talking about when you’re playing as Sette! As a beginner, you won’t even take a look at the Wiki so you end up just causing trouble for us in LA! Do you get it now!?”

It seems Segawa was bottling up most of her frustration like that so she blew her top magnificently.

Akiyama-san was taken aback by its sheer impact, that Segawa continued with her ramblings.

“In the first place, you could see everything that we’re trying to teach you if you’d just read the Wiki! You’re able to properly to do it once you’ve practiced it by yourself, am I wrong!?”

“B, but, since there’s the chance, I figured we might as well just play together though…”

“I even told you to at least look at the basics of going into a dungeon! It’s because you didn’t look at it that you keep nonchalantly triggering traps and causing a huge disaster!”

“Well I really think that was my fault but…”

Now that I remember, whenever we bring Sette-san into a dungeon, she just keeps pressing buttons in any order without any thought that’s why those big explosions occurred…

“Come to think of it, yesterday, you kept mistakenly attacking this large monster that was already lured by another party. You really kept attacking until you made mincemeat out of it…”

“I, I didn’t know that! I thought the large enemies were something everyone has to defeat together.”

“Don’t think you’ll be let off the hook just because you don’t know! If you know yourself that you are lacking in knowledge, then you should be reading up more!”

“S, sorry! I’ll be more careful from now on you see.”

Wow, their roles just got reversed.

Seeing THAT Akiyama-san dejectedly apologizing like this is a first for me.

“I understand now. I’ll work hard on reading up so that I won’t end up like that.”

Ako vehemently nodded as she took back the magazine from Segawa. She began flipping through the pages, passing through it as if she were looking for info on only a particular topic on a strategy Wiki site. Is that really the proper way to be reading that thing?

All’s well that ends well I guess.

“…I somehow just can’t accept this.”

Akiyama-san seems to be the only one with an unsatisfied look on her face.

“Err, now that that’s settled, can I go home now?”

“Oh, are you not going to club today?”

“All club activities are suspended right now though.”

“Then what did I even come to school to for!?”

“Even if you get mad at me…”

No actually, even if there’s no club, I’d like it if you’d still properly go to school.

Not even sensing my thoughts on the matter, Ako proceeded to regret her decision as she stooped her shoulders.

“I’m feeling a bit more stressed than usual all because my classmates decided to irresponsibly drag me into this.”

“Well, it’s not like I don’t understand what you’re saying…”

Having to talk with someone you don’t really want to seems to be a lot more tiring than just pretending to sleep.

“Oh well, you two head on home. I have something important to talk about with Nanako here.”

“Eh? Wait, wait! Let’s all go home together.”

“It’s fine, just stay here with me okay?”

“…Well then, see you later—”

As Segawa was looking at her with those scary dead eyes, I called out to Ako from behind.

“Come on, let’s leave the last boss to Schew and go home.”

“Okaaay.”

As I was pushing Ako from behind, she looked back at the clubroom as if reluctant to part ways with it. We then proceeded to head on our way home.

“There’s not going to be any club activities for a while huh…”

“You’re still hung up on that?”

Even though we’ve already left the school, she still seems to be regretting that fact.

I’m glad that you’re looking to the club that much, but having it as your sole objective is also troublesome in itself.

“I’m going to school just for the club after all. If there’s no club then there’s no meaning to me going at all!”

I mean, she ends up saying stuff like this.

“I hope that you’d go to school, for the sake of your own future.”

“That won’t help me in my future with Rusian though.”

“I’m not going to be the one responsible for your future.”

I’ll leave matters of the future to the future me. The present me already has his hands full just thinking about what to farm after logging in to the game.

“But knowing that there’s no club activities tomorrow just makes you feel like skipping school tomorrow right? It’s like that feeling when you find out the final reward for that daily login event isn’t really a big deal so you stop doing it.”

“Though if you’d just take a bit of effort to login, you’d still get other items, so keep at it.”

“But knowing that I won’t be able to get the complete attendance special reward because I missed a day just makes me want to cry.”

“In your case, having the lowest allowable login count give something is already strange. Listen to me please, I’m begging you.“

And I mean your attendance in school in this case.

For now, if you don’t work on getting the minimal attendance count required, getting that special reward is out of the question.

“Ooh I have an idea! Why don’t we use something similar to the server wars event? Even if I don’t do anything, someone from the class will check in for attendance and I’ll still be able to get the special reward!”

“That’s what the trolls from other servers say when they go into threads for the other servers. Everyone is just going to be giving you a cold stare you know.”

“So that’s no good too huh…”

Ako dejectedly hung her head as she sluggishly moved forward.

As I proceeded to support her from the back with my hands, I was surprised to find that she was actually pretty light.

“Come on, I’m going to keep pushing you, so do your best!”

“Walking is such a chore so please keep pushing my back like this—”

“Stop shifting your weight towards me.”

“Hyau—”

Ako’s light body suddenly jumped forward as I lightly pushed her from the back. However, just like a dog affectionate to her master, she comes flying back to my side.

As soon as she’s livened up, she’s suddenly walking shoulder to shoulder with me. My wife is walking really, really close beside me.

Her long, swaying black hair seems to be a bit longer compared to the first time we’ve met.

It gives me this warm fuzzy feeling. It’s a very warm and fuzzy feeling.

Even though she’s just right beside me, I’d like to get just a little bit closer to Ako. I just want to get a little closer to her. That’s just how I feel.

“…? Rusian?”

Ako flashed me a smile as she saw me staring at her, so I shook my head.

Ah crap, I don’t really get it, but I was thinking of something really embarrassing just now.

I hurriedly tried saying something to throw off the fact that I was staring at her.

“Ah, that reminds me, it’s almost summer vacation isn’t it.”

“Yup—”

Ako replied without paying attention to how I just said that in monotone.

“This harsh and painful school life has finally come to an end. All that awaits from now on is days filled with dreams. I’ll take my time getting up at noon and then play net games. Then, I’ll eat dinner and play some more. I’ll keep playing through the night, and when the sun rises, I’ll finally go sleep.”

“That’s no different from how I’m going to be spending my vacation, but hearing another person say it makes me realize that it’s completely the doings of human trash.”

“It gets really lively in LA and new events would keep coming, so you just can’t help but play right?”

I don’t know if Ako is completely immersed in the idea of just playing net games the whole day, but she looks like she’s so charmed by that idea that she might start drooling any second now.

Of course, I’m looking forward to summer vacation too.

I’ll start with net games, and end with net games. With that ideal summer vacation in mind, I’ll even swear to God that I will fully enjoy it with all my might to fulfill that goal.

Yeah, I’m really looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to it but… there’s just something that bothers me.

“But you know, when school’s out, I won’t be able to see you for a while.”

“Eh? We can always meet up in LA though?”

“We can meet up in LA sure, but I won’t be able to see you in person.”

No matter how much I try to correct her, Ako still can’t differentiate games from reality, even now. For her, seeing each other in LA is no different from seeing each other in real life.

However, to my extremely normal self, not being able to see a girl I really get along with for more than a month is rather disappointing, in more ways than one.

“Are there no club activities during summer vacation?”

“Saitou-sensei was seriously pleading to our club president to please give her a break.”

The adviser has to be present when there are club activities to be done after all.

“Is that so…”

“Yeah.”

“…”

“……”

It seems like the conversation just suddenly ended. Like this, we continued walking in silence.

But well, when I first realized that we wouldn’t be able to meet for a while— I was pretty down about it, but just thinking again that we wouldn’t be able to meet just dampened my mood even further.

“…It seems that before I even realized, I was already infected by Ako.”

“P, please don’t say that! Just hearing it makes me remember my childhood when I kept getting bullied by everyone saying ‘Ah! It’s the Tamaki toxin! In short, the Tamaxin—!’”

“How should I say this? I’m really very sorry.”

I didn’t mean to trigger your past trauma. Honest.

“If someone calls me that at school, I’ll definitely quit school this time.”

“No one would do something that childish. And when the tests are over, it’ll be summer vacation. You could take that time to calm down and prep yourself up for the second term.”

“Uu!”

Ako seemed to be nervous as her body shook. Hm? Just what did she react to there?

Let’s see, the things I said were, second term, summer vacation, and then—.

“—Tests.”

“Uu!!”

Ako visibly trembled as a response to what I just said.

Ah, this girl’s way too easy to read.

But, having that much of a reaction to the word ‘tests’ must mean…

“Ako, have you properly studied for the tests?”

“………M, my future dream is to be a housewife so…”

Ako turned away her gaze as she said that. Uwah, this girl’s really hopeless.

Summer vacation. A summer’s worth of memories. A summer’s worth of experiences.

Before she can even begin talking about those things, my wife will have to be on the watch for a huge wall coming her way.

 

Part 2

Translation: Yamaking

In net games, there are times when the player count may encounter a sudden rise and fall even though there’s no event happening in particular.

To be specific, these periods are the time before periodical tests, and after it.

For a net gamer like me, who’s not too serious about these things, I would still be calmly logging into the game during the test period. But, as I’ve thought, the number of students logging in to play the game before tests will decrease.

During this occasion, not having the members of the guild Alley Cats gather up is no rare occurrence either.

Even though I didn’t pay attention to it before, if I just thought about it, having everyone disappear before the tests should have hinted that the people behind the characters were actually students.

And so, presently, here we are, right before the highly acclaimed end of term exams.

In the online game ‘Legendary Age’, in the tavern that we frequently gather at, is nobody— at least, that should have been the case.

Rusian: On to the next question then. What was the name of the system where the government distributed land and charged those who were granted by the former with taxes?

Ako: The Handenshuju Law…

Rusian: Correct. Make sure you know how to write the kanji. Also, it goes without saying that you would have to explain in a paragraph on how it’s different from the Konden’einenshizai Law.

TL note: Not sure if I should even be including this here but I guess I would. Handenshuju, as Rusian has stated, distributes the land first (privatization) and charges those given land with taxes. On the other hand, Konden’einenshizai is a sort of privatization where someone who has tended to a plot of land for a long time would eventually become its rightful owner. That’s what I got from a quick glance of the Wiki at least, so I could be wrong here. Also just pointing out here that it could be hard to point out the difference if you didn’t study about it (as with most things).

Ako: Auu… I’m done with Japanese History… All these kanji are dancing around in my head…

Ako, slowly but steadily, tried distancing herself from me.

But little does she know that another assassin was already behind her, lying in wait.

Schwein: A’right, then let’s get to the Maths. I’ll show you exactly what my bad self is capable of. I’ll be teaching you from the ground up starting with factoring, so hurry up and bring out your notes.

Ako: I hate Math even moreeeeeeeee!

Ako snapped and tried to escape from the tavern. As she headed towards the warp point which led to the outside, a wall of ice suddenly appeared in front of her vision with no explanation.

Apricot: Don’t even think you can get past my Icicle Wall!

Ako: Blocking the warp points is against the game’s terms of service!

TL note: This is a reference to misconduct done in Ragnarok Online before where people would block warp points with Ice Wall. As this was considered griefing, it was a bannable offense (temp ban). Eventually they just updated the game to make the skill be unable to cast in certain areas.

Schwein: Stop your whining and let’s do this. Let’s start with the practice problem A on page thirty-five.

Ako: This is weird! This is definitely weird! I’m supposed to be playing the game, but no matter how you look at it, I’m up and about studying!

We just passed off Ako’s desperate protests as if it were nothing.

Rusian: And that’s exactly why we’re studying.

Ako: Why do I HAVE to studyyyyyyyyyyy!?

Rusian: It’s because your scores during the midterms were so horrible!

That’s right. I had a really bad feeling about it, so I even went to her house to see what she got on her midterms. The results were so horrible that I was completely taken aback.

I heard that her grades were bad, but I had no idea it was THIS bad. This was completely beyond my expectations.

Ako, in her current state, would probably end up in an endless loop as a first year student. And if you leave her alone, she’s definitely not one who would study by herself.

She’s my wife after all. Just like me, Ako, to the best of her ability, would try to run away from any bothersome thing that she hates.

To get Ako to forcefully study even though she’s like that, I have devised a plan to forcefully teach her in-game like this.

Ako: Isn’t that fine? It’s just one term! And even if I get bad results, I could just take a bit of supplementary class during summer vacation!

Nekohime: Sensei already has her hands full with the students preparing for entrance exams you meow? I would really prefer if meow first year students would avoid having to take supplementary classes.

Ako: I’m not really concerned with Sensei’s circumstances! I’ve already worked on Math so much yesterday that I’m sick of it! I’m not doing it again today!

Nekohime: If you don’t like Math then meow should try Modern Japanese. Come on, open meowr textbook to page eighty-three.

Ako: Please wait! Is a Modern Japanese teacher really going to teach me Modern Japanese!? Isn’t this actually already a supplementary class!?

In a sense, Ako’s rebuttal was on point, but Nekohime-san just smiled and said.

Nekohime: Nekohime-san is not a teacher you meow? But if meow won’t do this properly, Ako’s personal evaluation might suddenly dip you meow?

Ako: That’s too unreasonableeeeeeee!

You should be thankful that you’re even getting any points in your evaluation at all, given that you’ve skipped so many classes.

Nekohime: Keep quiet meow. I’m going to include this in the test so make sure meow remember it.

Nekohime-sensei’s Passionate Supplementary Class in Legendary Age is now starting. Having a teacher do a review right before the tests seems like a pretty good deal. I wonder if I should listen in too?

TL note: This is a reference to 家庭教師の熱血先生, a home tutorial service in Japan. See the site here (https://www.012345.co.jp/).

Sette: Hey, hey Nishimura-kun.

Rusian: Whoever could you be referring to—?

Sette: Hey, hey Rusian-kun.

Rusian: Oh hey, what is it?

Actually, are you sure you shouldn’t be studying right now, Akiyama-san?

I mean, it doesn’t really matter if she’s here or not, but Ako seems pretty scared of her so it was easier to get this plan going with her around.

Akiyama-san— Sette-san, that is, went to use the question mark emote she just recently learned about as she said,

Sette: That Nekohime person just said ‘“I’m” going to include this in the test’ right?

Rusian: Don’t say anything about that and just take notes on what she’s going to say.

Sette: Kaay.

Ako: Difficult books are too difficult to read…

Nekohime: Essays are compulsory so make sure meow don’t miss out on that.

This in-game study session hell continued on until the last of the end of term tests, whether the participant was willing or not.

I thought Ako would simply run away from it all, but she continued to solve the problems we gave her, albeit reluctantly. I wondered if all that would actually bear any fruit.

Ako: I managed to get over it… I really, did it… Ehe, ehehehe…

Ako needed only to use the chat to relay just how broken down she was.

However, that effort was properly rewarded, as it seems she will be able to spend her summer vacation as she pleases.

Schwein: I didn’t expect that she wouldn’t even need to take supplementary exams. I suppose this is all thanks to my bad self huh?

Apricot: In the first place, having someone undertake the supplementary exams in our school is a rare occurrence in itself.

Rusian: I guess Ako really fits the bill for being one of those rare occurrences…

Ako: I didn’t end up being one though so it’s an epic win for me!

‘All’s well that ends well!’ is what Ako blurted as she boasted about her win. In response to this, Nekohime-san indifferently replied.

Nekohime: At the very least, meow barely failed Modern Japanese. And I think meowr standings on the other subjects are also somewhat failed.

Schwein: Hey, are you sure you shouldn’t be using passed there instead?

As Schwein said that, Nekohime-san vigorously stood up while shaking her fist.

Nekohime: Don’t meow go thinking I also have summer off just because I’m a teacher! I still have to go on regulated work days, work during the regulated work hours, attend meetings, do my job as a club adviser, and even provide supplementary classes you meow! Seeing all these students in their summer vacation just adds even meowr unnecessary stress!

Rusian: So you couldn’t have Ako adding on top of all that just because she has to take supplementary classes alone huh…

And because of that reason, Ako was barely able to escape from such a fate. Is that a good or a bad thing though? I wonder.

Nekohime: It’s meowkay. I’ll make sure to properly meowtor her properly in the second term and decide what we’ll do about her in another meeting.

Ako: I’m really a problem child, aren’t I?

You just noticed that now?

You’ve been quite the problem child since a long time ago.

Ako: That aside, let’s go farming—

Ako said that as she unsteadily wielded her weapon.

Rusian: Aren’t you pushing yourself there?

Ako: I’ll do it. I can definitely do it!

Her words seem to be full of vigor but her controls are being sloppy.

I guess she really built up fatigue from all that studying that she wasn’t used to doing.

Rusian: You already worked pretty hard on the tests so just sleep early for today.

Ako: But…

Apricot: We still have our final club activities before summer vacation tomorrow. Skipping school is absolutely not permitted.

Ako suddenly stopped as Master said those words.

Ako: …I’ll go to sleep.

‘You were completely planning on skipping tomorrow weren’t you?’ is the retort that I desperately held back saying.

There’s no class anyway, so it would be the perfect day to come to school. This way, you can also make up for the days that you’ve skipped.

And well, you know…

There’s not many chances left for us to see each other before summer vacation comes.

So make sure to go to school you hear? Make sure you go to school and see me— is of course, something I couldn’t say.

Rusian: Good night, Ako.

Nekohime: I’ll also go grade some papurrs and head on to sleep.

Please also overlook and forgive me for whatever my marks I have.

With a ‘powaaan’ sound effect, Ako and Nekohime-san both logged out and disappeared.

Schwein: Well, it’s thanks to her that my bad self’s grades went up, so I guess that’s fine.

Rusian: Eh? Your grades went up even though you’ve been playing LA so much?

Schwein: When someone else teaches you, it becomes easier to understand no?

Though you say that, if the person in question is Ako…

I feel like there’s no difference compared to just reading out loud the contents of the textbook to her.

Apricot: So your grades dropped huh, Rusian?

Rusian: I’m maintaining my current average… I guess?

Thanks to Nekohime-san, my grades in Modern Japanese went up. Though it’s only by adding that and everything together, including the midterms, that I can really say that I’ve maintained my average.

Apricot: Then I’ll allow that.

‘Indeed’, is what Master proudly said. Given this attitude, I don’t even want to ask how well her grades are.

And, thinking about her not being able to boast to anyone about it and just simply looking at it simply makes me want to cry.

Apricot: Very well, I suppose I will retire for today.

Schwein: Ah, the same goes for my bad self as well.

The flow of the conversation somehow shifted to stopping for the day, so the two of them planned to logout one after the other.

Rusian: Ah, wait a bit you two,

I hurriedly stopped them from going their way and logging out.

Schwein: Hm?

Rusian: I want your advice on something.

As I said that, the two of them both displayed the ‘!!’ emotion over their heads at the same time.

It’s not like I’m Snake you know.

TL note: Snake as in Metal Gear. Guards do this when surprised.

Schwein: What’s with that serious tone?

Rusian: It’s a pretty serious subject to me after all.

No actually, more than that, it’s a very serious subject for me.

It seems Master felt this nervous air around me, so she went back and sat on her chair.

Apricot: Interesting. Ask whatever you want from this guild master!

Why is this guild master so happy to be depended on? It’s cute though.

Rusian: Ah, I’m going to switch to another chat channel then.

I switched over to the guild chat channel that’s specifically only for our use. In the unlikely event that Akiyama-san suddenly appears and hears about this, it would mean a lot of trouble for me.

Rusian: So, about that advice…

Schwein: Yeah?

Apricot: Go ahead.

It’s not like we were talking in real life, but I just gulped saliva down my throat.

With my slightly trembling hands, I typed away, not even looking to correct what I just typed.

Rusian: I want to confess to Ako, but how do you think I should do it?

——.

A bit of time passed as the surroundings suddenly felt strange. There was completely no response from anyone at all.

Eh? Is it lagging? Did my chat not go through?

Rusian: I want to confess to Ako, but how do you think I should do it?

Schwein: I heard that! We already heard you say that!

Schwein instantly replied.

Ah, that’s her real self right now. Good evening Segawa.

Rusian: It’s just, there wasn’t any reply so I thought maybe it didn’t go through.

Schwein: I hear you! I was just thinking about that nonsense you just said!

Is me asking for advice on that really that silly?

To me, there just wasn’t anyone else I could turn to, so I’m pretty serious about this.

Schwein: Though even if you say that… Confess? To Ako? Why now of all times?

Rusian: Why you ask? That’s kind of hard to answer but… It’s been quite a long time since I’ve started hanging out with the real Ako, and I’ve even had the chance to meet her parents. And well, there’s a bunch of other things too…

Mainly, it’s me seeing her bare skin, and also something even more amazing.

Even I think that it’s about time for me to steel my resolve about this.

And, the biggest reason is that…

Rusian: It’s almost summer vacation right? When that hits, I won’t be able to see Ako outside of the game for a while. I just thought that… I’ll be pretty depressed when that happens.

Schwein: Ah, yeah, yeah, we get you, we get you.

Schwein— Segawa, look very bothered as she waved her hand.

What? There’s no need for you to say it like that is there?

Even though you normally love gossip like this.

Schwein: If you can do it, then just go confess to her. Why do you even have to involve us in this? It’s not really related to us, is it?

Apricot: I won’t go so far as to say that this is somebody else’s problem but, this definitely is something that concerns Ako and Rusian. If you say that you both love each other, then I won’t be stopping you.

No, no, you’re wrong. That’s not what I’m trying to say here.

You two really are misunderstanding this aren’t you? Seriously.

Rusian: That’s not what I’m getting at.

Schwein: …Then what are you trying to say?

Schwein: Come on man, spit it out.

Segawa, there’s really no need for you to go back to talking like that.

You’ll probably just end up acting weird even after going back to it.

Rusian: I’m not asking this to see if you’ll get mad if I go out with Ako. I’ll properly ask about that once my confession actually goes through.

For matters of romance in the Modern Electronics Communications Game Club, I would be asking our club president, Master, for permission to that. Of course, I don’t feel like she’s going to disapprove of it— But, that’s a topic for after I actually succeed.

Rusian: What I wanted to ask was, what would be the best way to confess to Ako?

——.

Quite some time passed again.

It seems like it’s really laggy today. Is the server alright?

There have been new MMOs releasing recently so I wonder if this server is getting the short end of the stick.

Rusian: When I confess to Ako, what do you think is the best way I could do it to succeed?

Apricot: You don’t have to rephrase it, we hear you.

Rusian: Ah, it’s just that there was no reply again.

I thought there was a problem with the chat or something.

Rusian: So, what do you think? I don’t mean to brag, but I just don’t know how to calm down about this, so I went and sought for your advice.

Schwein: Even if…

Apricot: You ask us that… You know?

They both displayed a question mark over their heads.

Apricot: No matter how you decide to convey your feelings, I think that it won’t change the outcome much at all.

Schwein: It just feels like you’re trying to pick a fight with me, asking that.

True to her words, an angry mark came flying out of Schew’s head as she said that.

Schwein: You can just say something like that however you like. If you want, you could call her right now and just kind of confess to her. It’s not like that girl will reject you or anything.

She snorted.

Is that what you think? Is that what you think, Schwein?

Schwein: Good grief. You said you had something serious to talk about so I wondered what it was. I’d just like to point out, I don’t really want to hear you gushing about your girlfriend.

Apricot: When all’s said and done, the best outcome should present itself. I’ll give you two my blessings.

Rusian: Hold on you two.

Don’t just wrap up the conversation just like that.

‘It’s the same no matter when you confess’? ‘You’ll probably succeed anyway’?

You’re both taking this pretty lightly aren’t you?

Rusian: ‘You’ll definitely succeed so just do it however you like’ is what an outsider who thinks too lightly of this would say— Hey, just what guarantee do you have that that will happen?!

Schwein: Didn’t she just tell you some time ago that she loved you?

Apricot: Indeed.

Rusian: That was for ‘Rusian’! That wasn’t for me!

I vigorously stood up as the feelings of uncertainty buried deep in my heart began to take form in words that I typed away at the keyboard.

Rusian: True, I’m loved by Ako in-game! It’s mutual love! There’s no question about it! But, outside of the game, I do not have the slightest bit of confidence at all that Ako loves me!

Schwein: ……Why do you look so proud in saying something so pitiful?

That’s just how I really feel so it can’t be helped!

She loves ‘Rusian’ enough to marry him, but I just can’t say it’s the same feelings for the real me.

Taking my ‘Rusian’ part aside, I wondered what Ako thought of me. This feeling of uncertainty has been plaguing me ever since we first met.

Rusian: You see, Ako, she’s cute you know. And when she talks to me, she looks pretty amiable that she’s even caught the attention of some guys in our class. She just seems like a flower well beyond my reach.

Schwein: Even if others take interest in her, she’s just going to turn them down with that One Hit Decisive Strike of hers.

Schew muttered ‘good grief’ as she shrugged her shoulders, looking all important.

Schwein: Well true, if you just did something about her personality, hairstyle, and clothes, she would definitely be popular.

Apricot: Sch, Schwein? If I take that as it is, aren’t you just saying that aside from her face, everything else is no good?

Master, who was a bit taken aback by those words, was ignored by her.

Schwein: But in reality, she’s an unsociable loner who has a lot of problems to deal with, so doesn’t it actually seem possible for you to get with her?

Rusian: I guess…

Schwein: If you Check her, you’ll get a message saying ‘Even Match’, probably.

TL note: In FFXI you can use the Check command on enemies to give a rough reading on their strength relative to you. ‘Even Match’ is displayed when they’re at the same level.

Couldn’t you interpret that in a lot of ways? That seems pretty unreliable don’t you think?

But I see. Even I could get with her huh? It would be nice if that’s the case… But, I just have no confidence at all.

Apricot: That aside, it appears to me that when Ako-kun mentions that she loves Rusian,  this is spoken without any regard to whether it’s in the game or real life.

Master said that with an odd look on her face.

Schwein: Yeah, I guess so too. Originally, she was a girl who couldn’t even differentiate between games and reality, but recently, she seemed really happy when she told me about you meeting her parents and you becoming her sort of official fiancee.

‘Don’t you think it’s going to work out like that?’, is what Segawa said.

Rusian: …That’s also what I think. If you ask my honest opinion, I think my chances of succeeding on this one is pretty high.

I can’t imagine Ako ever turning me down. That is a fact.

Actually, I wouldn’t even think of confessing to her if I thought otherwise.

Schwein: Then why don’t you just confess?

Rusian: Don’t take this too lightly!

I howled at Segawa, who was too composed about this.

Rusian: ‘I think it would probably work out’, ‘It would definitely go well, I think’, ‘It’s probably fine’— in the end, that’s all the assurance I have right!? What do you think will happen if I get turned down even after that!?

I would ruin this comfortable atmosphere that Ako and I have going on right now. I would part ways with the guild and go solo again, making interactions with Master and Schew in real life become awkward in the process. Even worse, this fact could spread around the school. Since I would be placing some distance between me and Ako, my other classmates would become aware of that fact and—.

Rusian: It would mean the end of me in every sense of the woooooooooooord!

Apricot: I can’t dispute the truth that the damage you receive is quite high when something that is supposed to have a high success rate, actually fails.

Schwein: It doesn’t really matter if you stay in the guild even after she rejects you though, right?

Staying would just make it even more painful you know.

And anyway, if even you tell me that it’s only Ako, giving a proper confession is still pretty harsh on a good-for-nothing otaku like me. It’s scary, you know?

Also speaking of my experiences regarding confessions, I’ve never even experienced proper feelings of love like this before!

Disregarding those times where ‘I found a girl quite attractive, but since I never got the courage to speak even one word to them, I just ended up forgetting about them’, Ako is my first love you know!

Rusian: It’s so scary that I feel like my heart is going to burst just thinking about it!

Schwein: Just how unconfident can you get?

It’s the thing I’m most uncertain about in my life!

But, but you know.

I want a girlfriend after all. Not to mention Ako’s really cute too. If you ask me whether or not I’d like to go out with her, then of course I would.

Even if it’s just for a little while, I’d like to experience us being in a normal boyfriend and girlfriend relationship.

Schwein: …I figure I should at least ask…

Rusian: Yeah?

She moved to face me directly as she said that, as if glaring at me.

Schwein: You love Ako right?

……Err, that’s…

Rusian: Do I really have to answer that? No matter what? Just thinking about it makes me feel like my face is going to burst into flames you know?

Schwein: There’s no need to answer if you’re going to show that much of a reaction.

I can’t help it, I’m shy you know? I can’t help but be embarrassed you know?

Never in my life have I told anyone else I loved them except for Ako.

It seems Schwein was convinced by my reaction as she distanced herself from me and returned to her seat.

Schwein: Ugh, this is such a pain—. If you love her that much then there’s no need for you to act so arrogant saying ‘The game and reality are different’ right?

Rusian: This and that are different matters, so I don’t regret saying that. Even now, I’m asking for advice in real life without mixing the game into it… That’s why I feel so uneasy about this…

If you just take the real life me into consideration… All that’s there is a failure of a human being…

Schwein: The ‘you’ in LA is ten times more dependable than your real self after all.

Rusian: I know thaaaaaaaaat!

Damn it, that’s exactly why I’m asking for your advice right now.

Apricot: I don’t think the actual Rusian is someone that I would just take for granted… But I see… A high success rate confession with Ako as a partner huh…

Schwein: How to confess huh…

——.

Quite some time passed again.

I wonder if they’re thinking about it?

Rusian: …Do you have any ideas from your perspective as a female?

As I nervously asked that, the two of them subtly put some distance between me and them.

Schwein: Err… Master, you seem pretty popular, so don’t you have a trove of experiences related to this?

Apricot: Don’t be absurd. Not once have I ever had a boyfriend, not even for a single frame.

Not even for a single frame huh? Well I suppose that’s understandable.

Apricot: And well, I don’t really want to admit this, but generally…

Rusian: Yeah?

Master looked at us with a sullen face as she said.

Apricot: No matter how much money I spend, it won’t get me a boyfriend.

This is the first time I’ve seen Master talk about the limits of the power of money.

Schwein: …That’s not… really impossible though right?

Rusian: Even if you get someone, that’s probably not a boyfriend anymore but something else…

That was the sad truth.

Apricot: That aside, Schwein, you’ve proclaimed before that you were confessed to, weren’t you?

Schwein: I was the one being confessed to in that case… And actually, I already turned that down. If Rusian uses that as reference, won’t he just be completely rejected then?

I definitely don’t want to use that then.

This is bad. It’s too bad of an omen.

If I get turned with a reason like Segawa’s ‘My playtime would decrease’ I might probably die.

Rusian: Then how about this instead? If you were going to confess to someone, what would you two say?

As I was wondering if I’ll actually be able to use their answers as reference, Schwein answered after a bit of time passed.

Schwein: Let’s see… My bad self will be going out with you, so consider it an honor!

Rusian: I’m not asking about Schwein’s answer, I’m just asking how you would do it normally.

But well, Schwein’s character would definitely say it like that.

Schew thought for a bit, and then.

Schwein: …I’ll be going out with you, so you better be thankful.

That answer of hers didn’t change at all!

Rusian: This person’s no good… If I don’t do something soon…

TL note: This is a reference to a line in the Death Note manga but you probably already knew that right? Actual line: 駄目だこいつ…早く何とかしないと…

Schwein: Is that… no good?

Rusian: …Eh?

Schwein: From your perspective… is a confession like that… no good?

This doesn’t seem at all like her usual self. She’s using quite a lot of ellipses there.

When you say it like that, it really feels like you’ve just been turned down.

Rusian: Ah, no…

I was at a loss on how to respond to that. Th, this was Segawa true self. I thought she was trying to crack a joke or something.

And now that I’ve thought about it like this, it’s now harder to actually give a retort.

But considering Segawa’s character, I can’t actually say this is a bad thing.

Rusian: Uhm… That could work for you if your target is just an ordinary person since your specs are pretty high, but it won’t work for me.

Schwein: …Is that even a compliment?

Rusian: It’s a pretty huge compliment though.

If I go and say something like ‘Ako, I’ll be going out with you!’, the chances of success are probably— No wait, in her case, she might actually be overjoyed.

Apricot: If you would ask me, I would say it like this: ‘Would you like to conquer the world with me?’

Rusian: Master, I’m sorry for asking you something strange. I’m really sorry. It’s all my fault.

Apricot: Now listen here. Even I sometimes get hurt by the things you say, you know?

I apologize for everything, including that.

But I couldn’t really learn anything like this. What should I do?

Apricot: In the first place, having a consultation with three people whose Age = Years of having no BF/GF doesn’t seem like it would yield anything.

Rusian: That’s the fundamental problem here huh…

Schwein: I guess. But since tomorrow is the last day of club activities before summer vacation, you’ll have to confess by tomorrow then.

Rusian: Eh? Tomorrow? What about the time needed to prepare myself!?

My whole high school life is on the line here you know!?

Schwein: I guess it’s fine to do it after that, but do you plan on calling her out and then confessing to her?

Rusian: That’s even more impossible.

That is way too much for me.

Actually, if I were to go out with Ako together alone in my current state of mind, I would definitely just freeze up.

Apricot: Then let’s set tomorrow as the date of your confession and conjure up a plan until then.

Schwein: For what it’s worth, I’ll try to come up with something too.

Rusian: Thanks. I’m counting on you two.

When all’s said and done, my guild members are really reliable.

But… tomorrow? I’m going to confess tomorrow?

“…I’m already getting nervous.”

And then, it was the morning of that fated day.

After arriving to school thirty minutes earlier than usual, I holed up in the classroom with my eyes closed.

“Good morning. What this? Well aren’t you unexpectedly calm?”

Segawa, who was in the classroom, said this to me.

Calm? Calm you say? It was really painful moving my body just to look up at you after it froze up on me and you still call this calm?

“I, if, I look c, calm to you, then, y, y, y, you must have holes for eyes.”

I, i, it’s not really the t, time to b, be p, p, panicking just y, y, yet.

“…In consideration of how much your voice is shaking, I’ll let that one slide. Are you that nervous about it?”

More than being disgusted at how I’m acting, she just seems to be showing me sympathy as she said that.

I can’t help but be nervous when I’m nervous. I’m going to be confessing today you know.

“Look, just have a touch and see for yourself.”

I stretched out both of my hands towards Segawa. Just then, her small fingertips began to wrap around my hands.

As soon as she touched my surprisingly slippery hands, it gave off the sound of her hand colliding with something sticky.

“Wai, wha, you’re all gooey aren’t you! Uwah, disgusting.”

“My throat’s all dry from all the sweat coming out of my hands.”

“Just what kind of abnormal reaction is this…. Just how nervous are you?”

I already feel like I’m on the brink of death just by sitting here.

Ha, hahaha… As I gave out a dry laugh, something black was reflected in my field of vision.

Behind Segawa, who was directly in front of me, was the sight of a black shadow that looked like it would engulf her.

“…Rusian, Schew-chan, just what are you two doing?”

A, Ako!? You appear now of all times!?

Segawa’s body jumped in surprise to the frightening voice.

“Y, yo, you got it wrong. Don’t misunderstand this okay?”

“G, good morning Ako. W, we’re not really doing anything in particular you know?”

As we frantically separated our hands, Ako gave us a cold gaze.

“Just for today, I feel like I have the right idea on what’s going on…”

Just for today you say? Then that means you were aware that you were falsely accusing me of stuff all those other times then weren’t you!

“It’s nothing, it’s nothing.”

“Is that true? I won’t have to rip open Schew’s stomach later and embrace Rusian’s head as I ride off in a boat later will I?”

“To—the—other—side of—”

“Get a hold of yourself Segawa!”

The person I was supposed to be confessing to is going to end up putting me in a Nice Boat! Stop it! Seriously, please stop it!

TL note: Ako here was referencing School Days where *SPOILER* Kotonoha proceeds to rip open Sekai’s stomach to check if she was really carrying a child (that she allegedly made with Makoto). Kotonoha also cut off Makoto’s head prior to when Sekai stabbed the latter to death. She then stuffed his head in a bag and rode on a boat. The ‘To the other side of’ part is also another joke from its bad end theme ‘To The Other Side of Sorrow’ that begins with that phrase. It is a theme that is played (jokingly) as a prelude to someone dying a gruesome death. The nice boat is still another joke related to this where they cancelled the broadcast the final episode of School Days, and instead replaced it with this scenery:

The reference for all the stuff above could be pretty much summed up in this video including the bad ending theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKsJunlsgFk).

I managed to calm down Ako, whose eyes looked like they were already swirling as if she were possessed by something. Without me being even aware of what has transpired so far, the time for homeroom ended and it was now after school.

Today was the last club activity for the Modern Electronics Communications Game Club before summer vacation.

Master contacted all of us saying ‘We’re going to have a meeting today so make sure you attend’. Since Ako came to school, I’m sure she’s definitely going to be attending that as well.

“…Did you really walk that slow before?”

“I used to be able to walk much faster than this, then I took an arrow to the knee…”

TL note: Reference to Skyrim. You know the one.

“Just get Ako to treat that.”

I— don’t— wanna—.

My legs felt heavier. I could feel it throbbing so much that it hurt.

No matter how sluggishly I walked, I still inch ever closer towards the clubroom.

As I slowly opened the door of the clubroom, I saw the sight of Master alone, along with a whiteboard and a pen.

“So you have arrived Rusian. …Umu, you seem to be far calmer than I had expected.”

Master had satisfied look on her face as she glanced at me while saying that.

Hey, just how did you come up with that conclusion, seeing me all frozen up like this? Huh?

“His lips were already turning pale earlier though so I already applied a bit of lip balm on them.”

“You’re near your breaking point, aren’t you Rusian?”

Do you say that because it was enough to turn my face pale? Or was it because I was able to swallow my shame and let Segawa apply stuff on my face?

“Once we’re done with the club, I’m going to be confessing to Ako…”

“Calm down, calm down.”

“I actually already bought a bouquet of flowers beforehand too…”

“Don’t say that Rusian. Those words seem to be foreboding your oncoming death.”

Ah, so this is how good it feels to set yourself up for destruction.

And that part about the bouquet of flowers was a lie by the way.

“Like hell I can keep staying in this room… I’m going home…”

“This is really driving you into a corner huh…”

This is barely outside of my limits.

“In any case, we both have thought out a plan for this. Give this paper a look before you go and confess later.”

“O, oh… You’ve really thought one up for me huh?”

Master handed over two small pieces of folded paper to me.

Written on the front of them were round characters that look like they were written by Segawa. It had the message ‘Good Luck!’ written on it.

“Good luck with that—.”

“Thanks, the two of you.”

Nothing has even happened yet but I already feel like crying.

“Good luck, and make sure to become a proper normie…”

“I told you to please stop it with the death flags.”

“Ako still hasn’t dropped by. How about you calm down for a bit first?”

“I guess so. I suppose I’ll start with taking deep breaths.”

‘Inhale—, exhale—’, is how I went as I tried to adjust my breathing. It feels like my heartbeat is finally starting to go back to normal.

“Inhale—, exhale—, inhale—”

“I’m here! Ah, Rusian! Listen to this—!”

“Gafugefugofu!”

“A, are you alright Nishimura!?”

You! It’s because you decide to show up right when I was inhaling!

As I was completely choking over here, Ako smiled as she scooted closer to me. Even though it’s just her usual self, I’m still pretty nervous. Uwah, just what is this.

“Rusian? Are you okay?”

“I, I’m fine…. You sure took your time getting here, didn’t you Ako?”

“I thought about going here right away, but I kept getting stopped by the teachers along the way.”

“Did they tell you to take supplementary classes?”

“They gave me more summer homework to do…”

It’s a shame, but it seems she’s still not fully acquitted from her past failures.

“Isn’t it great that they’re letting you off with just that? Originally, the practice of self-study was the proper way to spend your summer vacation.”

The proper way, you say? I wonder if that’s what’s really okay for youth?

“I’d just like to spend the summer with Rusian in decadence though.”

“Even I’d like to do that as well…”

“Yes? Did you say something?”

No sir, I didn’t say anything.

It’s not like I intended to say that out loud, so I tried to throw her off by avoiding her gaze.

“Sorry to keep you waiting—. Is everyone here?”

Our adviser, Saitou-sensei, has just arrived. Now we can start we the club activities.

I went to sit at the desk I always use, and as always, Ako also went and sat beside me. It was nothing out of the ordinary, but my body shook in surprise.

“Rusian?”

“Ah no, it’s nothing.”

Ako was looking at me with a suspicious gaze. What am I going to do? Today is supposed to be an important day after all.

“Well then, let’s start with our club activities. Rusian, you don’t have to turn on your PC. We’re just going to have a meeting for today.”

“Ah, sorry.”

I was shaken up just by having Ako sit next to me so I just did it unknowingly. Being the only one who has his PC making up startup noises is pretty embarrassing.

Everyone showed me a wry smile as I said that.

“Well then, to reiterate.”

Master cleared up her throat as she gave us all a glance.

“Everyone, good work on periodical examinations. It gives me great joy that we are able to welcome the summer vacation without leaving any of our men behind. However, don’t let your guard down. As you are each a proud member of the Modern Electronics Communications Game Club, I ask that you be aware of this and never forget our aspiration to strive to be better, as you spend your summer vacation productively.”

“Will you stop saying things that reek of a student council president?”

“Uhm, but Master is the student council president you know.”

“…That’s right.”

I just don’t have the leeway to seriously play the straight man to Segawa’s act right now.

“Concerning our club activities for the summer, as per our adviser’s, Ms. Saitou’s, insistent request, we won’t be having any.”

“Make sure you have a good long rest everyone.”

Saitou-sensei smiled as she said that.

“I can sort of understand being told it’s okay not to come but… Do club advisers normally tell their members to stop it with the club activities?”

“Normal clubs don’t threaten their club advisers you know?”

I could feel just how pathetic Sensei feels from her words.

“Furthermore, we will be proceeding with the plans for summer camp that I’ve mentioned a few days back. We will be having it on the first weekend of summer vacation. I will be contacting you for the specific details of this programme later.”

‘Well then’, she said as she cut off her words.

“Let’s leave it at that for now. Do you have any questions?”

This is bad, the meeting’s already over. It ended just like that.

What am I going to do? I haven’t even calmed down at all yet.

“Me! Me!”

Ako said, as she raised her hand.

Just what is she going to ask? As I was thinking that…

“What are we going to do as a guild during the summer?”

She suddenly asked about our plans for the game!

“Are you really going to ask about that here?”

As usual, Ako doesn’t really mind talking about anything, whether it’s in the game or the real life.

However, Master didn’t seem to particularly pay any attention to that as she answered.

“Our guild, Alley Cats, will maintain its usual operation. I have matters regarding my parents that I have to tend to and there’s also the matter of my studies so I won’t be able to immerse myself in the game right after lunch.”

“Hmm, I wonder what I should do then… I don’t want to get scolded by my parents saying that all I do is play net games all day, so I guess I’ll also go out with my friends.”

“Did you… just say… going out… with friends… during summer…?”

Ako was left speechless at Segawa’s declaration.

“How very normie of you. I wouldn’t have expected for there to be an enemy right beside me. Summer vacation is a time where you just keep playing net games over and over and over again and never get your summer homework done right!?”

Make sure to finish it properly. Else, you’re going to end up suffering for the second term again.

Segawa then gave a cold gaze towards Ako.

“…That’s much better than going out with a boyfriend right?”

“…Uhm, what?”

“It’s nothing—”

She then pouted as she looked away.

What’s with the statement! It certainly feels like you said it with the intent of being a death flag for me! Stop that! Seriously, stop that! Please stop saying that kind of thing!

“And in conclusion, guild activities will be carried out by people who are present at that time. In other words, it would be just like how we always operate. However— let’s see… I suppose I’ll have to mention it here as well.”

Master took a great nod and then continued.

“Listen well everyone, make sure you take caution in your daily activities in LA during summer vacation.”

“Caution? Why’s that?”

“When you speak of summer, it’s a particularly dangerous season for net games.”

As the rays of sunlight seeping through the gap of the curtains hit her, she then continued her explanation.

“Though I’m sure you’re already familiar with this seasonal spectacle that has been going on for years now, I’m concerned in the rise of the amount of troublesome players engaging in misconduct during this time. It’s those so-called players that pick at you.”

“Ah, I’ve heard of people referring to them like that.”

“Pickatchoo?”

“Come on now Ako. Saying it like that is going to make me mistake it for something else so stop that.”

What exactly do you think they are? Electric mice?

“In other words, it’s those repeated occurrences of itemplz, leeches, and noobs appearing. Besides the act of actually being directly inconvenienced by them, there’s also the case where they can overreact to any slip up you’ll make to publicly humiliate you. Make sure you each take precautionary measures against this.”

“Itemplz? Leech? Noob? What are you talking about?”

“In other words, we’re talking about you here.”

“M, me you say!”

Ako had her mouth open in shock as she heard that. Did she really have no idea that she appeared like that to others?

And well, even though I can’t really disagree with what she just said, Segawa seems to be especially harsh towards Ako today.

“In the game’s attempt to attract even more players, the amount of scammers are also on the rise. I’ve only heard about this info in-game but, it seems that the victims of account hacking have been increasing recently. Make sure to diligently change your password often and to consider using a security token.”

“Sounds like a hassle—”

Account hacking huh? That’s such a huge problem.

Speaking of security tokens, they’re those things that require you to verify access for machines that are not yet connected with your account which heightens security for that account. You would have to input a one-time password which would be sent by the verification server during that time frame or else you wouldn’t be able to log in. You could also opt to use a USB token which can be used to verify your identity instead. There are a lot of ways to implement this, but premise is that you’ll need to prepare an item you have in the real life in order to verify your identity before logging in. This way, no one else but you can log in to your account which would drastically reduce the cases of account hacking.

I too think it’s important, but it’s just too much of a hassle so I don’t use it.

“I haven’t used the token system yet. And as for Ako…”

“?????”

Ah, there’s a lot of question marks appearing over her head.

She has no idea at all about this, does she?

“I don’t want to talk about studying anymore you know?”

It’s fine. This is about the game, not school.

“Account hacking is where a stranger logs into your account and goes around using your character. They end up causing mischief and stealing all of your items. The security token is the tool used to protect yourself from this. The LA verification server would send a one-time password which would be available for use during a limited time frame…”

“… *smileeeeee*”

“And then you…”

“… *smileeeeee*”

Ako was staring me with such a pure smile. As I stared into her eyes, I feel like I could see myself being reflected in them.

I would have probably been captivated by them, if only she didn’t do it at a time like this.

“…Do you not get it?”

“Nope.”

There was no speck of hesitation in that reply or smile of hers.

I guess explaining how the security token works is just too much for Ako…

“…Just make sure to diligently change your password.”

“Oka—y.”

It can’t be helped so she’ll have to stick with that temporary solution.

“Actually, are there even things such as scams in-game?”

Segawa said that while pointing at the monitor, seemingly unconcerned with the situation.

“There is. There’s plenty of them in fact.”

“Seriously?”

Segawa looked like she seriously wasn’t expecting that reply.

Oh, did you not know about them?

“Indeed. Let’s see… The ‘It’s me, it’s me’ scam should be the easiest to understand. You could be a victim of this too, Schwein, if you don’t watch yourself.”

“What do you think I am? Someone’s grandmother?”

It’s not that kind of ‘It’s me, it’s me’ scam.

It’s not that scam that goes ‘It’s me, it’s me. Yeah! It’s Takashi’.

“No, no, you got it all wrong. It’s a much simpler yet more problematic thing.”

“Simpler but more problematic?”

“That’s correct. For example, Schwein, imagine yourself in-game just hanging around in the usual tavern organizing your equipment. It should be around that time that the rest of us would be going online.”

“Okay.”

It seems Segawa was trying to imagine it as she cast her gaze off into space while answering that.

“During that time, a beginner character named ‘Rus☆ian’ arrives.”

Master began writing the word ‘Rus☆ian’ in large characters on the whiteboard that was needlessly brought here.

“You should think more about how you name your character.”

Segawa seemed upset as she said that while facing me.

I don’t know what to think of getting scolded for something I don’t even remember doing though.

“That’s it. Your reaction to this situation is the problem here.”

“Ha?”

She ignored Segawa, who had a puzzed look on her face, and continued.

“That Rus☆ian fellow then comes up to speak to you Schwein. He then mentions he just made a new character so he would like to borrow at least 100K. What do you do then?”

“Well, I don’t really mind lending him that much.”

“Indeed. Since it’s not that huge of an amount to you, you would easily hand it over. Rus☆ian would then thank you and leave. After a while, ‘Rusian’ then logs in.”

Master then pointed at me as she said that.

“Since you’re back in your main hurry up and pay me back my money.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about though?”

“Haaa? Didn’t you just borrow some money from me!? Are you trying to tell me that wasn’t you just because there was a ☆ in their name? What’s with that stupid scam!”

“Indeed. That is indeed a scam. But the culprit here isn’t Rusian.”

Master then goes out of her way to show a villainous looking smile. You’re really having with this aren’t you?

Master then turned her attention to Ako, who was sitting beside me.

“What would you do if you were in her place Ako-kun? What would you do if you were in the same situation and Rusian asked to borrow some money?”

As she said that, Ako began to shake her head.

“Putting aside me borrowing money from Rusian, having Rusian borrow money from me is definitely strange… Is that person really Rusian?”

Isn’t your assumption on how our relationship works there a bit biased? Well, not that I mind though.

“That’s right! That’s exactly it!”

Master drew a large X over the word Rus☆ian. Being treated like a reject like that is pretty painful for me though.

“Knowing that a character named ‘Rusian’ frequents this location, someone makes a character named ‘Rus☆ian’. This person— someone we don’t know, is the culprit.”

“So that’s a fake Rusian?”

“You fool! That was Rusian!”

Ako looked like she was having fun saying that.

“But pops, I wouldn’t have known since I’m not you…”

TL note: This is a reference from Sazae-san. Here is a video but just look it up in case you’re curious (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agl82A81550)

Yeah, she wouldn’t have known.

Heck, even I wouldn’t have figured it out either.

“That’s exactly it. Determining who the person really is can prove to be difficult. Since this is a game where the only thing being conveyed is a person’s name, the probability of scams like this succeeding are actually more prevalent compared to the ‘It’s me, it’s me’ scams in real life.”

“It’s just 100k though so it’s fine…”

“Since the scope of the damage done is just small, it can still be overlooked. However, if this sort of thing occurs between hardcore players, the amount lent out would be in the range of Ms. And, if left unattended, the damage could very well be much greater than that.”

“Oh, like when they begin to say stuff like ‘give back that gear you borrowed from me last time’ or something like that right?”

Segawa suddenly turned her gaze at me as I said that.

“If ‘Rus☆ian’ had asked me that and went to I lend him the Valentine’s armor…’”

“It would be up on the marketplace the very same day.”

“Nooooooo!”

Actually, isn’t it about time you gave that back to me already? I won that from our rock-paper-scissors fair and square so it strange for you to be the one who keeps using it.

“Since Rusian and Ako understand each other pretty well, it wouldn’t be much of a problem but…”

She gave a quick glance towards our direction.

“I’m not saying that you should always be doubtful of others but, if something feels off to you then make sure to verify who you’re talking with first. There are people who eavesdrop on the conversation of others in-game just so they could pose as someone else and borrow their friend’s expensive equipment after all.”

The one who seemed to be a giving a lecture just now was Nekohime-san.

“Oh, Sensei, you were there?”

“I’ve been here this whole time, listening.”

“Didn’t you just say listening in on others is no good?”

Well, the one to give this kind of advice is usually a teacher anyway. But upon being told that, Nekohime-sensei just blurted out ‘Hoeee?’ while making a face like that of a clueless student.

Master then spoke out amidst all of that.

“In cases like this where someone uses a distinct way of speaking, such as adding ‘meow’, makes it very easy for the perpetrator to mimic so make sure to be wary of Ms. Saitou.”

“What did meow say!?”

Ah, she just said it.

“Now that you say it, I don’t know anybody else besides Sensei that talks like that.”

“Having mannerisms like that but actually being like this in real life already feels like a fraud in itself.”

“I’ve actually been fooled by her once already too.”

“…You guys… you all seem to be slacking because the tests just finished but I can still change your report cards until the term actually ends you know?”

“We’re very sorry!”

All three of us bowed down our head in apology in no time.

We were being too cocky. We won’t do it again.

No matter the situation, a normal player just can’t win over a GM.

“Anyway, as a result of the management trying to draw in more players during summer, the number of people with ill intentions being drawn in also increases. Your primary concern should be your own safety so that we may all spend this summer vacation with no incident.”

“Okaaay.”

Ako energetically replied.

I’ve managed to calm down a little due to all that nonsense we just talked about. I’m thankful for that at least.

“Well then… That wraps it up for today. The next time we meet will be during the summer camp.”

Master then ended the meeting with those words.

“Everything I’ve wanted to point out was already said and I’ve no particular announcements to make as your adviser. Take care everyone.”

Sensei said that as she waved at us.

“Ah! Summer vacation! My lovely summer vacaytion! I made it!”

Ako was being her usual self. And from this moment on, just like usual, we would be going home together…

As I turned my gaze towards Master and Segawa,

“Ah, me and Schwein have a little business to take care of. You two can go on ahead.”

“Business?”

“Ah, it’s just a little something, right?”

As she said that, Master didn’t look at me but turned her gaze towards Segawa instead.

“I’m telling you I don’t really need one.”

“…?”

I wonder if they’re just trying to be considerate of us? Sorry you two.

I made sure the memo that I’d slipped into my pocket earlier was still there as I took a deep breath.

“Alright, then… Shall we go home?”

“Yup.”

Ako smiled as she walked up beside me.

I still couldn’t stop my legs from shaking as we walked on home.

Just like always, I’m walking on the way back home with Ako.

As I looked around to find if anything has changed from the road we frequent— there was nothing. It’s precisely because nothing has changed that I get even more nervous. The only thing that’s strange in this scenario is me.

“What do you think we’ll be doing in the summer camp?”

Ako happily said that. We’re on a break starting tomorrow so that putting her in a good mood really helps.

The only thing I’m worrying about right now though is if she doesn’t mind that we’re not going to be able to meet at all.

“At the very least, I think it should at least involve playing some net games.”

“I want to go headshot some people again.”

“Stop that.”

My wife suddenly turning into a sniper after the summer break ends? I’ll have to pass on that.

“That reminds me, I was told to keep this a secret but…”

“Hm?”

Ako seemed like she wanted to keep it down as she scooted closer to me.

“Master told me to prepare a swimsuit so I was sure we were going to the beach or something.”

“Aren’t I the exact reason why you were told to keep it a secret then?”

Master was probably planning to surprise me by having them all show up in swimsuits.

“I have no reason to hide anything from Rusian you know? It’s Master’s fault for telling me that.”

“Haven’t you been recently keeping a lot of things from me though?”

Like when you made that improvised cutter, or that time you said you were going to quit school.

“There’s nothing like that in my logs you know?”

“That’s a very convenient log you have there.”

“Ehehe.”

Ako laughed as if to throw me off.

Ah—, this calms me down.

I just love this time spent when I’m having small talk with Ako.

Since whenever I talk with my classmates, no matter what point in the conversation, I always seem to regret it. ‘I shouldn’t have said that thing’, ‘I really went too far on that one’, ‘I wonder if they think I’m just annoying?’ are just some of the things that I end up thinking about.

But when I talk with Ako, none of that seems to matter.

We just happily talk about whatever we like without thinking too much about anything else.

Nothing else could replace this kind of atmosphere with Ako.

And, if my confession falls through— I’ll probably end up destroying this all.

“…I guess I should give up on it.”

“…? What?”

“A, ah nothing.”

I guess I’ll just give up on it. Isn’t this just fine? This ‘more than friends but less than lovers, but also husband and wife’ kind of relationship is just fine right? The temptation to just give up on the confession keeps assaulting my mind.

“And uhm, you see… I still haven’t bought the swimsuit in question.”

“Oh?”

“So I’d like to ask: Rusian, what kind of swimsuit do you like?”

“Why are you asking me? Just picking whichever one you want is fine right?”

“Why wouldn’t I ask Rusian for his preference when I’m clearly buying the swimsuit to show it to him!?”

“I would really like it if you would stop saying that though!”

If any of the passersby hear this, it might draw too much attention.

“Then are you saying you don’t want to see me in a swimsuit!?”

“Well, if you’re going to wear it in front of me then I’m at least going to look. It’s like when we defeat a boss: I’ll at least take a look at the drops.”

I’ll just give the whole thing a quick glance and if something catches my fancy then I’ll be keeping my attention on that.

“I guess you’re right. You were really staring at me that time I stripped naked right?”

“Please forget that.”

“No way. I’ll have you take responsibility for that.”

She said that cheerfully.

Uuu, I guess it’s really useless. Keeping things in this vague state is just no good after all.

With regards to Ako, not acting here would be even worse than just being labeled an online hookup predator. I don’t even know if I’ll have the courage to confront my feelings like this in the future again.

I have to say it. I have to.

But what do I do? How should I say it?

“And so, please tell me what you’re hoping to see. If you don’t say anything then I’ll pick my school swimsuit from middle school.”

“Huh—”

What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?

“I bought that one during the first year of middle school so it would probably be a tight fit for me now, but Rusian might unexpectedly prefer that instead.”

“Is that so.”

What do I say? What do I say?

“It’s just, uhm… Wearing it and then having to take it off afterwards is probably going to be a problem so I’ll need you to prepare some scissors beforehand.”

“Wait, just wait a bit there. Stop talking about that for a second.”

Even I would notice what she just said at a time like this so I had her stop.

“Didn’t the conversation just take a weird turn while I was spacing out there?”

“It’s all going as I expected though?”

It’s your expectations that are being strange here.

Just how did the topic drift to you wearing your middle school swimsuit? And what’s more, you want me to cut it up with scissors?

Talking about it will inadvertently make me imagine you in a tight school swimsuit you know?

“But Rusian spacing out is also weird! Even though I was thinking of a swimsuit that you could fap to— ”

“I’m being treated like mere fapper… Strange, this kind of thing is unacceptable…”

TL note: This is again a reference to 見抜き and おかしい、こんなこと許されない, which are just the usual net lingo used when they find something unacceptable (I could be misunderstanding this though, no idea about Japanese pro baseball) . The latter is related to professional baseball where the person in question was comparing his salary with players along the same bracket and uttered the following lines: 半分泣きました。おかしい。こんなことは許されない which doubles as a pun because 半泣き and 半抜き sound alike (hanbunnaki and hannuki respectively) so I just went with fapper since it rhymes it batter (as in a baseball batter). Links are here (https://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E8%A6%8B%E6%8A%9C%E3%81%8D) and here (https://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E3%81%8A%E3%81%8B%E3%81%97%E3%81%84%E3%80%82%E3%81%93%E3%82%93%E3%81%AA%E3%81%93%E3%81%A8%E3%81%AF%E8%A8%B1%E3%81%95%E3%82%8C%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84)

No matter how you look at it, I’m just a normal high school student who has nothing to be ashamed about.

“In the first place, would you even wear that kind of thing if I asked you to?”

“T, that’s…”

As I expected, Ako looked a bit troubled after I said that.

“If Rusian would ravage me like an animal after then I could bear the shame of wearing it.”

“Why do you think I would do that!?”

“I thought that maybe the school swimsuit has the Provoke effect on Rusian…”

“It doesn’t! If you ask me it would probably decrease my aggro towards you instead!”

“So the school swimsuit has no effect huh—”

“Of course… No, actually, this kind of topic is no good at all!”

“Huh?”

Ako tilted her head to the side in wonder.

Ah that’s right. It’s because we keep talking about things like this that I just can’t find the right timing!

I have to find the perfect timing to confess soon or else I’ll keep mulling over this!

“Ah that’s right. Ako, do you mind if we pass by that park over there?”

“Strolling through the park feels like a very normie thing to do!”

“R, right?”

My goal is for me to become a normie with you after all.

“There’s so many trees here that it’s so refreshing—”

We continued walking along the shadows of the trees, as if to avoid the sunlight.

And yeah, it definitely feels cooler being around so much nature.

“I wonder if the jungle maps in LA are this cool too?”

“I think jungles are different from this one.”

“I’ve also been wondering for a while what was up with the weather in-game. When you head outside the winter country, there’s suddenly plains in sight.”

TL note: Probably a reference to Lutie > Al De Baran in Ragnarok Online.

“It’s because some games tried to fix that that it took hours just to get to other cities in those other games.”

“There’s good and bad sides to it right?”

“Well,they all have their definitions of open world after all.”

—Err, what do I do? I even went out of my way to pass by the park but the atmosphere just isn’t changing.

I really like this atmosphere when I’m talking with Ako. That’s an indisputable fact. But I don’t need this right now.

As I was wondering what to do, I slipped my hand into my pocket and felt something touch my fingertips.

Oh yeah, there’s that note.

Schwein and Master’s confession strategy guide should be written there.

Ako was looking up at the sun, squinting her eyes towards it as if she was some kind of vampire that was weak to sunlight. I took my gaze off of her for a moment and opened the note in secret.

Written above the note was a concise message written with skillful penmanship.

“…Don’t screw with me.”

She’s really useless.

Well, if a plan like hers, who hasn’t had a boyfriend for a single frame, actually worked, this wouldn’t be a problem.

Let’s look at the lower side of the note then.

The next characters were written in girly handwriting.

She really sticking to her bad self act isn’t she?

As I looked further below,

Profit my ass!

I’m already going to fail at the first step!

These guys really had no intention of helping me out at all… Darn it…

I clicked my tongue as I went to fold back the note.

Though, as I did that, I noticed that there was something else written at the back.

“…You guys…”

They’re both really great people after all.

I have to do my best so as to not let them down. I want to do my best but…

“But… How exactly do I get a nice mood going?”

“Yes?”

Ah, I unconsciously said it in a voice loud enough for Ako to hear!

Just what the heck am I doing asking the person directly that!

“Y, you’re asking a pretty hard question aren’t you Rusian? I know very well how to ruin the mood but… creating a nice one you say…”

“…I figure I might as well ask, how exactly would you ruin the mood?”

“Well, you see… Like when a classmate is excitedly talking about something that I’ve been listening attentively to, but then I tell them I didn’t hear a thing when asked. Or like when someone goes out of their way to look out for me and asks ‘What do you think Tamaki-san?’ and I just reply to them with a ‘—Huh?’. Acting like that when people get chummy with me is sure to turn the previously cheerful mood to a thing of the past.”

“Sorry. It was my fault for asking.”

That example just sounds so real that it hurts to hear it. Just how hard have you lived up until now?

Even though I felt like crying already, my wife seemed quite happy as she smiled.

“That’s why I’m having so much fun when I’m with Rusian.”

“Eh?”

“I mean, you see, when I’m with Rusian, we’re always in a nice mood. I guess it’s because we’re husband and wife after all, right?”

If this were in-game, a heart mark would probably be appearing out of her head to express her intense emotion.

She’s like a bugged character in the fact that I can raise her likeability just by being around her.

It’s because she’s like this that I’m able to muster up all my courage to come up and talk to her like this.

It doesn’t matter anymore. I’ll make Ako take responsibility for this emotion.

“Hey Ako.”

“Yes?”

Ako turned to face me as I stopped in my tracks.

I gently looked up towards her and began to stretch out my right hand. I then softly swept to the side her bangs which usually covered her face.

Not having an ounce of uneasiness towards the hand touching her, she continued to look at me with her trusting gaze.

As all this was happening, I continued to strongly grasp the note in my left hand.

“Ako—”

I didn’t stutter on calling out her name.

That alone provides me great relief. I then gulped down my saliva as I continued.

“Please, go out with me.”

“……”

There was no response.

Ako suddenly stopped as if taken aback by what I just said.

Once more, I squeeze out every remaining bit of courage I had in my body and opened my mouth yet again.

“Please become my girlfriend!”

—In that moment, the sun was overcast.

A cold breeze blew through me and Ako, as her hair began to ruffle in the wind.

Ako’s expression was now hidden because of that.

“U, uhm…”

The wind stopped, and I was able to see her expression again.

And over there, was the expression of someone who was at a complete loss— It’s that expression that yells out ‘I thought we were just friends, but you confessing all of a sudden is kind of troubling’ was what Ako had on at that moment.

“Er, erm…”

Right now, I still won’t stop sweating, but this is because of a much different reason than before.

At this moment, a feeling of regret I had never ever felt before came over me.

I truly didn’t wish to hear what else that beloved voice of hers has yet to say.

But, as if to completely ignore what I was thinking, Ako’s mouth began to move again.

“—No way.”

It was spoken so clearly that I couldn’t even mistake hearing it for something else.

And from my hand fell the note, which by now, had lost its purpose.

Chapter 1I somehow finished looking over the first half of the first chapter for this week. The second half is about three to four times longer than this one so that or the succeeding chapter might take a while. As usual, reading the other volumes in advance, along with playing other games also eat into my time that I just can't speed up work here.Also, in the previous post, people asked why I won't just skip the volumes the anime adapted volumes 1-4 and just skip to the continuation. The main reason is: Volume 5 which is the housing update and part-time job volume relies on events in the anime that weren't really expanded upon Master's P2W tendencies or just plain cut Nekohime's Elite Guard asking for a reward for participating in the guild war. I feel that a summary just won't do it justice since it really shows how the main characters and side characters develop albeit slow or some slight regressions here and there. And yes, this includes Bats.Well then, with that aside, please enjoy reading the first part below.Chapter 1Love SawedTL note: Title isprobablya reference to a play in the card game Duel Masters which is named the The Love Sword'. I really couldn't understand much of the stuff going on as I haven't played it myself, but it looks like another endless loop strategy where you can endlessly attack your opponent until the match ends, which will leave them saying Just where is the Love part in all of this!!!'. You can see the explanation here in Japanesehttps://blog.goo.ne.jp/tcg1234/e/124ccf55e0afb28a4e3f8f6f6fb5b6cf. Also, take note that I'm not really sure since most chapter titles seem to all come from game titles and I have no idea of any game named Love Sword that should have been available back in 2013.Part 1Translation: YamakingCome on, I'm going to carry teacher's desk.Fine with me, you go do that.I meant help me do that.This is a common spectacle in my school where, at the pace of at least once a week, we get to be on cleaning duty.Though there's people who would say, Why not just leave it to the janitorial staff?', we've been doing this since the first year of elementary school so it's nothing out of the ordinary.Today's heaviest desk award goes unanimously goes to Takasaki. Just what the heck did that guy put in there?How about we leave his chair on top like that as punishment?It would look like you're bullying him so stop that.Anyway, it wasn't that big of a deal so we just finished up what we had to do.Sorry guys, for making you help out like this.Well, we were free anyway.That's just you though.Shaddup.I thought that normies would usually just loiter around after class while chatting away but it seems that they actually help out the person in charge of cleaning duty as well. Hmm? Aren't they unexpectedly nice then?' is the illusion that I perceived by them doing this.And We're all done.As I was throwing away the dirt that had accumulated in the dustpan, one of the normies proceeded to tap at my shoulder.Later Rusian, nice job today.See you tomorrow, Rusian.Later Rusian-kun.Ah, yeah.They each flashed their bright smiles at me as they bid their rowdy goodbyes as if nothing happened. Without even waiting for a reply, they proceeded to leave the classroom. As they were quite a distance from the classroom, I muttered to myself.You guys have no right to call me Rusian.I kind of understand Ako now that time she got mad when she got called by her name.In addition to Ako, who would periodically spawn in the classroom blurting out Rusian this, Rusian that', ever since the I guess it can't be helped Meowkay.' incident, Akiyama-san has been calling me by my character name too that it couldn't help but spread toward the class.But the number one cause for this probably has to be that time in class where Nekohime-san suddenly blurted out Okay, Rusian read the next part.'The whole class burst into laughter as Nekohime-san was the only one who had an expression that look like it said Me, meow got it wrooooooong!'And though I said it spread to the class, putting Ako, Nekohime-san, Segawa, and at worst, Akiyama-san aside, having my other classmates that I'm not really close with call me that only feels like they're making fun of me. Preferably, I'd like them to stop.I guess I really just can't get along with those kinds of people. Just like that, I completely forgot my gratitude towards them for helping me clean as I walked onward. It seems like there's other groups that stayed in their class like that as well.Really, you normies should just hurry up and head home is what I was thinking, but it seems I got it wrong. That wasn't a normie. There's definitely someone caught up there that isn't a normie.Oh, Ako's there too.In the room after class was a group of girls fussing about with Ako in the center.That girl is a net game addict who has a tendency to be adverse to social situations that would probably just stay home all day were it not for school. Such a person is my wife. I thought for sure she wouldn't be coming to school given that club activities are suspended prior to the upcoming tests, but I didn't expect her to be fitting in so well.She was currently surrounded by Segawa and Akiyama-san on both sides that it looked like they were forcefully keeping her there, but it looks like I can see Ako in the middle of the ring from here. It seems like they're having a heated discussion about a magazine they're showing her.Look! I'm sure Tamaki-san can pull this off!Eeh? Isn't that a no go? Wouldn't this fit her better?Ha, haaKyaa! No way!', were some of the things they were saying out loud but I have no idea what they're talking about. And just like myself, Ako seems to have no idea what they're talking about as well.She's doing pretty well isn't she? Good for her!' is what I was thinking while watching this spectacle but somehow I also felt a sense of defeat rising up within me. Just like the boss of a group of kids, thoughts like Even though you're just Ako, you're getting pretty cocky aren't you?' were stirring up in my chest.Just what is with this feeling when you witness a close friend suddenly escaping from being an otaku and achieving normie status? Is this the feeling of defeat or some inferiority complex? Or is it a feeling of contempt or that of envy?Ah this is no good. I should honestly just be happy for her.I guess my role here as the husband is done', is what I thought in my melancholy as I passed by classroom. She may have caused trouble for me a bunch of times during our time together, but I really enjoyed them.Goodbye, even if it was for but a moment, my youth has truly been brilliant.I can't take it anymore! This thing a cursed item like this!I just heard a voice that sounds to be somewhat displeased.As I took a bit of a glance to what was happening, I saw Ako teary-eyed while she was gripping the fashion magazine she was being shown earlier in both of her hands. It looked like she was about to rip it out and throw it away that Segawa looked very troubled and caused Akiyama-san to burst into laughter. The other girls surrounding her seem to be seriously taken aback.Really, just what is this girl doing?You're going to end up driving away all these friends you've just made you know.Hey, just what are you doing there Ako!Ru, Rusian!Having noticed me, Ako ran up towards me with tears in her eyes. Hey, wait, stop it! If you do that here See! Those group of girls are going to look at us with a tepid gaze!Please listen to this Rusian! It's terrible, they're being mean!I'll listen to what you have to say later but you're the one being mean here!Rusian is a meanie too!Even if you show me a face that yells out You traitor!', I feel like I'm the one being betrayed here. Weren't you already starting your life anew?Ah, it looks like the husband has arrived?Should we just take the hint and leave this to him?The girls surrounding Ako hurriedly dispatched, as if they were aware of Ako's bothersome tendencies when she blows off her top like this. The only ones left now are: Akiyama-san, who's still laughing, and Segawa, who was grasping her head.That was close. Real close.But I kind of understand her. Even I feel like ripping up and throwing this thing sometimes.Nanako, I think yours and Ako's reason for that are completely different though.Segawa seemed to be tired from have to work hard on cleaning up after Ako's mess. Trying to cover up for Ako while not letting a single glimpse of her hidden otaku self show must be pretty hard on her.Ya-ho, Nishimura-kun.Ah yeah, ya-ho to you too. So, what happened here?As I asked Akiyama-san, who was clinging to Ako's hip to hold her back, she seemed to be having extreme amount of fun as she laughed.Well, we were thinking about how it would be nice if Tamaki-san were a bit more stylish, so we were recommending some accessories and stuff to her.You, you're being pretty cruel to my wife aren't you?Right? They're really mean aren't they?Eeh? Is that so?That is very much so. It's cruel. This is the workings of a fiend.To Ako no, to us, that kind of thing would definitely be tantamount to torture.Look, look at this! This whirlwind of smug faces that look as if they're saying I am the model that reigns supreme at the top of the school caste! Bow down before me commoners!'! Just who would enjoy reading this stuff?!Well, I'm sure that image is pretty biased even going by reader model standards butTL note: I just used reader model here since I don't really know much about the equivalent in Englishand amateur model just doesn't seem to fit this particular word. It's those models who are actually supposed to mirror the expected readers of the fashion magazine thus, reader models but they usually have their own jobs e.g. OL. If anyone knows the actual word for this, please let me know so I can edit it.You still shouldn't be holding hatred over the other people involved in the making of magazine too.Hm, is that what you think? I've learned a great deal from it though.I don't want to learn about those things!Ako dejectedly hung her head. It seems she's received quite the damage from the bright smiles of those reader models.If you hate them, then feel free to do so, but could you leave my magazine out of this? Come on, give it back.Oh? This magazine was yours?Yeah, but do you have a problem with that, huh?Segawa in her school-mode' took the magazine back. She also looked a bit pissed as she said that. Well, it's not like I wasn't expecting that or that I have any complaints about it but, it just feels a bit off from your usual image.The second and third edition had stuff about it for makeup that suits a first-year and stuff like how to choose clothes for beginners, so Akane went out of her way to buy it back then.In the first place, I'm not planning to raise my level anyway.Even if it was aimed towards beginners, if the person herself doesn't wish for it, then it's pointless.You really don't get it do you Ako? This is an important item that you really shouldn't miss out on.When you say important item, it's probably one of those quests items that don't disappear until you've progressed with the quest and just keep taking up space in your inventory right?It's not like that! I mean, in the game it's like that! Uh, errIt looks like Segawa wanted to say something as she was slurring on her words. She took quick glances at Akiyama-san as she fumbled to say something out loud.Nanako, isn't it about time for you to go home?Nope, there's still plenty of time so I'll keep I can still hang around you know?That so?Ah, oh! Having a normal person in the conversation is restricting her from going full otaku!Putting aside the fact that she was already exposed to Akiyama-san, Segawa is still in the middle of acting out her facade so it can't be helped that she's troubled by this. She began seeking for any possible help around her as she had a flustered look on her face.Hey, do something about Nanako here.Segawa seemed to convey that as she desperately stared at us. Though, even I couldn't do anything but shake my head in response.You're in charge of Akiyama-san aren't you? Do something about it yourself.It's impossible! Impossible! There's just no way!Tch, you're both useless.Aren't you being too unreasonable there?! Ah, but I'm not really sure if that's what she was saying though!Could you not suddenly leave me out of the loop by talking with your eyes like that?Aah, err, that's not it at all you know?For a brief period, Segawa was mumbling as she was troubled by all of this, but it seems she's finally gathered her resolve as she went to face Ako.I guess there's no helping it now that it has come to this Err so then, Ako. Listen well you hear? You see, fashion magazines like thisShe strongly clenched her fist as she said this.Are the equivalent of a Real-life Offline Occupational High-School Girl' strategy Wikis!Wiki?This girl just blurted out something pretty strange!I mean, that's just how it goes! Just by looking at this, you're able to learn skincare and the use of makeup, the models that everyone should at least know, and brand names that could come out often in different conversations! It's the one-stop strategy site for everything you need on how to live your life as a typical high school girl! Tearing up and throwing away something like this is unheard of! I'm going to cast those who don't cherish the Wiki deep into the pits of hell!I, if you say it like that, I'm starting to feel like it's really importantAh, it seems that convinced her.It seems that explanation got through to Ako while she gave the said fashion magazine a strange look. I guess she really just can't accept those glamorous girls on the cover.But, but, for beating a game, the Wiki isn't everything you know. Sometimes the Wiki could be wrong or sometimes there could even be better ways to do something that's not in the Wiki. I know there's lots of cases like that.So you say, but when I play with PUGs, those illiterates who can't be assed to look at the Wiki because it doesn't have everything' end up dragging everyone down you know! This is why you should at least give the Wiki a one pass! You'll be useless otherwise!I, I kind of remember those people!So you've played with people like that huhIf you ask me, Ako would definitely belong in the group of those illiterates', is what I held back on saying.Also, if I had to point it out, those other types also definitely exist. There are those people who would place complete trust in the Wiki even though the info on it is outdated, wrong, or just plain inefficient.Hey Nishimura, you're in the same side as me right!? You've followed a proper strategy guide for Real-life Offline too right!Well, maybe a little. I watch live broadcasts of shows that the guys in class seem to be interested in. Even if it doesn't particularly interest me, I make sure to just give it a look.Keeping up the appearance of an all-rounder otaku who seems to be alright with any topic otaku-related is pretty tough as well. Like that time with the Internet Karaoke Man', I really had no interest in it, but when I heard the guys talking about it, I just had to look it up. These kinds of things are important for when fellow otaku are engaged in some sort of secret communication under the radar of everyone else, so it would be bothersome if I didn't learn them.TL note: Internet Karaoke Man was quite a popular word in JP tweets back then whether they received it well or not with people saying they want to be the next Internet insert anything here Man!. I really didn't pay heed to the topic as I'm not interested either, but you can look at it here https://dic.nicovideo.jp/a/%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%8D%E3%83%83%E3%83%88%E3%82%AB%E3%83%A9%E3%82%AA%E3%82%B1%E3%83%9E%E3%83%B3Akane, is that how you see it when you talk with us?That's not it at all! I'm just pointing out that you need that knowledge!Segawa desperately tried to convince the now uneasy Akiyama-san, but it looks like she doesn't believe that one bit.The reason why you read that thing in the first place was to beat Real-life Offline right? This is probably like one of the stories you've read in that Wiki where you just went Ah yeah, yeah, I understand' while you jeer at them with that smug face thinking 'RIP noob'.TL note: This particular sentence made use of net slang such as a phrase used to make it look like you've understood everything when someone talks to you and noob being short for so I just went with RIP noob.A-ny-way! You understand it now right, Ako? If you don't look at a strategy guide beforehand when playing something like a net game, there's definitely going to be a gap between you and the other players!I kind of prefer playing blind though.The blind play period ended a long time ago! Right now, in the offline world, all that's left are 100% completion parties who are only recruiting players with regular work experience!I hate end-game focused gameeeeeees!Give up already! There's no choice for us but to embrace Real-life Offline! Just how much do you think I've sunk into it up until now!?Stop it, please, stopTalking about a depressing topic like is just going to leave me in tears as well.Hey Akane, don't you think there's something strange about that way of thinking? It's not like everyone's picking out clothes out of obligation, and they don't meet with other people just to talk about their favorite brand names you know? I think Tamaki-san should just go at her own pace and little by littleArgh, you're really noisy you know that! And you're not getting this either!E, eeh? Me!?I'm talking about when you're playing as Sette! As a beginner, you won't even take a look at the Wiki so you end up just causing trouble for us in LA! Do you get it now!?It seems Segawa was bottling up most of her frustration like that so she blew her top magnificently.Akiyama-san was taken aback by its sheer impact, that Segawa continued with her ramblings.In the first place, you could see everything that we're trying to teach you if you'd just read the Wiki! You're able to properly to do it once you've practiced it by yourself, am I wrong!?B, but, since there's the chance, I figured we might as well just play together thoughI even told you to at least look at the basics of going into a dungeon! It's because you didn't look at it that you keep nonchalantly triggering traps and causing a huge disaster!Well I really think that was my fault butNow that I remember, whenever we bring Sette-san into a dungeon, she just keeps pressing buttons in any order without any thought that's why those big explosions occurredCome to think of it, yesterday, you kept mistakenly attacking this large monster that was already lured by another party. You really kept attacking until you made mincemeat out of itI, I didn't know that! I thought the large enemies were something everyone has to defeat together.Don't think you'll be let off the hook just because you don't know! If you know yourself that you are lacking in knowledge, then you should be reading up more!S, sorry! I'll be more careful from now on you see.Wow, their roles just got reversed.Seeing THAT Akiyama-san dejectedly apologizing like this is a first for me.I understand now. I'll work hard on reading up so that I won't end up like that.Ako vehemently nodded as she took back the magazine from Segawa. She began flipping through the pages, passing through it as if she were looking for info on only a particular topic on a strategy Wiki site. Is that really the proper way to be reading that thing?All's well that ends well I guess.I somehow just can't accept this.Akiyama-san seems to be the only one with an unsatisfied look on her face.Err, now that that's settled, can I go home now?Oh, are you not going to club today?All club activities are suspended right now though.Then what did I even come to school to for!?Even if you get mad at meNo actually, even if there's no club, I'd like it if you'd still properly go to school.Not even sensing my thoughts on the matter, Ako proceeded to regret her decision as she stooped her shoulders.I'm feeling a bit more stressed than usual all because my classmates decided to irresponsibly drag me into this.Well, it's not like I don't understand what you're sayingHaving to talk with someone you don't really want to seems to be a lot more tiring than just pretending to sleep.Oh well, you two head on home. I have something important to talk about with Nanako here.Eh? Wait, wait! Let's all go home together.It's fine, just stay here with me okay?Well then, see you laterAs Segawa was looking at her with those scary dead eyes, I called out to Ako from behind.Come on, let's leave the last boss to Schew and go home.Okaaay.As I was pushing Ako from behind, she looked back at the clubroom as if reluctant to part ways with it. We then proceeded to head on our way home.There's not going to be any club activities for a while huhYou're still hung up on that?Even though we've already left the school, she still seems to be regretting that fact.I'm glad that you're looking to the club that much, but having it as your sole objective is also troublesome in itself.I'm going to school just for the club after all. If there's no club then there's no meaning to me going at all!I mean, she ends up saying stuff like this.I hope that you'd go to school, for the sake of your own future.That won't help me in my future with Rusian though.I'm not going to be the one responsible for your future.I'll leave matters of the future to the future me. The present me already has his hands full just thinking about what to farm after logging in to the game.But knowing that there's no club activities tomorrow just makes you feel like skipping school tomorrow right? It's like that feeling when you find out the final reward for that daily login event isn't really a big deal so you stop doing it.Though if you'd just take a bit of effort to login, you'd still get other items, so keep at it.But knowing that I won't be able to get the complete attendance special reward because I missed a day just makes me want to cry.In your case, having the lowest allowable login count give something is already strange. Listen to me please, I'm begging you.And I mean your attendance in school in this case.For now, if you don't work on getting the minimal attendance count required, getting that special reward is out of the question.Ooh I have an idea! Why don't we use something similar to the server wars event? Even if I don't do anything, someone from the class will check in for attendance and I'll still be able to get the special reward!That's what the trolls from other servers say when they go into threads for the other servers. Everyone is just going to be giving you a cold stare you know.So that's no good too huhAko dejectedly hung her head as she sluggishly moved forward.As I proceeded to support her from the back with my hands, I was surprised to find that she was actually pretty light.Come on, I'm going to keep pushing you, so do your best!Walking is such a chore so please keep pushing my back like thisStop shifting your weight towards me.HyauAko's light body suddenly jumped forward as I lightly pushed her from the back. However, just like a dog affectionate to her master, she comes flying back to my side.As soon as she's livened up, she's suddenly walking shoulder to shoulder with me. My wife is walking really, really close beside me.Her long, swaying black hair seems to be a bit longer compared to the first time we've met.It gives me this warm fuzzy feeling. It's a very warm and fuzzy feeling.Even though she's just right beside me, I'd like to get just a little bit closer to Ako. I just want to get a little closer to her. That's just how I feel.? Rusian?Ako flashed me a smile as she saw me staring at her, so I shook my head.Ah crap, I don't really get it, but I was thinking of something really embarrassing just now.I hurriedly tried saying something to throw off the fact that I was staring at her.Ah, that reminds me, it's almost summer vacation isn't it.YupAko replied without paying attention to how I just said that in monotone.This harsh and painful school life has finally come to an end. All that awaits from now on is days filled with dreams. I'll take my time getting up at noon and then play net games. Then, I'll eat dinner and play some more. I'll keep playing through the night, and when the sun rises, I'll finally go sleep.That's no different from how I'm going to be spending my vacation, but hearing another person say it makes me realize that it's completely the doings of human trash.It gets really lively in LA and new events would keep coming, so you just can't help but play right?I don't know if Ako is completely immersed in the idea of just playing net games the whole day, but she looks like she's so charmed by that idea that she might start drooling any second now.Of course, I'm looking forward to summer vacation too.I'll start with net games, and end with net games. With that ideal summer vacation in mind, I'll even swear to God that I will fully enjoy it with all my might to fulfill that goal.Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to it but there's just something that bothers me.But you know, when school's out, I won't be able to see you for a while.Eh? We can always meet up in LA though?We can meet up in LA sure, but I won't be able to see you in person.No matter how much I try to correct her, Ako still can't differentiate games from reality, even now. For her, seeing each other in LA is no different from seeing each other in real life.However, to my extremely normal self, not being able to see a girl I really get along with for more than a month is rather disappointing, in more ways than one.Are there no club activities during summer vacation?Saitou-sensei was seriously pleading to our club president to please give her a break.The adviser has to be present when there are club activities to be done after all.Is that soYeah.It seems like the conversation just suddenly ended. Like this, we continued walking in silence.But well, when I first realized that we wouldn't be able to meet for a while I was pretty down about it, but just thinking again that we wouldn't be able to meet just dampened my mood even further.It seems that before I even realized, I was already infected by Ako.P, please don't say that! Just hearing it makes me remember my childhood when I kept getting bullied by everyone saying Ah! It's the Tamaki toxin! In short, the Tamaxin!'How should I say this? I'm really very sorry.I didn't mean to trigger your past trauma. Honest.If someone calls me that at school, I'll definitely quit school this time.No one would do something that childish. And when the tests are over, it'll be summer vacation. You could take that time to calm down and prep yourself up for the second term.Uu!Ako seemed to be nervous as her body shook. Hm? Just what did she react to there?Let's see, the things I said were, second term, summer vacation, and then.Tests.Uu!!Ako visibly trembled as a response to what I just said.Ah, this girl's way too easy to read.But, having that much of a reaction to the word tests' must meanAko, have you properly studied for the tests?M, my future dream is to be a housewife soAko turned away her gaze as she said that. Uwah, this girl's really hopeless.Summer vacation. A summer's worth of memories. A summer's worth of experiences.Before she can even begin talking about those things, my wife will have to be on the watch for a huge wall coming her way.Part 2Translation: YamakingIn net games, there are times when the player count may encounter a sudden rise and fall even though there's no event happening in particular.To be specific, these periods are the time before periodical tests, and after it.For a net gamer like me, who's not too serious about these things, I would still be calmly logging into the game during the test period. But, as I've thought, the number of students logging in to play the game before tests will decrease.During this occasion, not having the members of the guild Alley Cats gather up is no rare occurrence either.Even though I didn't pay attention to it before, if I just thought about it, having everyone disappear before the tests should have hinted that the people behind the characters were actually students.And so, presently, here we are, right before the highly acclaimed end of term exams.In the online game Legendary Age', in the tavern that we frequently gather at, is nobody at least, that should have been the case.Rusian: On to the next question then. What was the name of the system where the government distributed land and charged those who were granted by the former with taxes?Ako: The Handenshuju LawRusian: Correct. Make sure you know how to write the kanji. Also, it goes without saying that you would have to explain in a paragraph on how it's different from the Konden'einenshizai Law.TL note: Not sure if I should even be including this here but I guess I would. Handenshuju, as Rusian has stated, distributes the land first privatization and charges those given land with taxes. On the other hand, Konden'einenshizai is a sort of privatization where someone who has tended to a plot of land for a long time would eventually become its rightful owner. That's what I got from a quick glance of the Wiki at least, so I could be wrong here. Also just pointing out here that it could be hard to point out the difference if you didn't study about it as with most things.Ako: Auu I'm done with Japanese History All these kanji are dancing around in my headAko, slowly but steadily, tried distancing herself from me.But little does she know that another assassin was already behind her, lying in wait.Schwein: A'right, then let's get to the Maths. I'll show you exactly what my bad self is capable of. I'll be teaching you from the ground up starting with factoring, so hurry up and bring out your notes.Ako: I hate Math even moreeeeeeeee!Ako snapped and tried to escape from the tavern. As she headed towards the warp point which led to the outside, a wall of ice suddenly appeared in front of her vision with no explanation.Apricot: Don't even think you can get past my Icicle Wall!Ako: Blocking the warp points is against the game's terms of service!TL note: This is a reference to misconduct done in Ragnarok Online before where people would block warp points with Ice Wall. As this was considered griefing, it was a bannable offense temp ban. Eventually they just updated the game to make the skill be unable to cast in certain areas.Schwein: Stop your whining and let's do this. Let's start with the practice problem A on page thirty-five.Ako: This is weird! This is definitely weird! I'm supposed to be playing the game, but no matter how you look at it, I'm up and about studying!We just passed off Ako's desperate protests as if it were nothing.Rusian: And that's exactly why we're studying.Ako: Why do I HAVE to studyyyyyyyyyyy!?Rusian: It's because your scores during the midterms were so horrible!That's right. I had a really bad feeling about it, so I even went to her house to see what she got on her midterms. The results were so horrible that I was completely taken aback.I heard that her grades were bad, but I had no idea it was THIS bad. This was completely beyond my expectations.Ako, in her current state, would probably end up in an endless loop as a first year student. And if you leave her alone, she's definitely not one who would study by herself.She's my wife after all. Just like me, Ako, to the best of her ability, would try to run away from any bothersome thing that she hates.To get Ako to forcefully study even though she's like that, I have devised a plan to forcefully teach her in-game like this.Ako: Isn't that fine? It's just one term! And even if I get bad results, I could just take a bit of supplementary class during summer vacation!Nekohime: Sensei already has her hands full with the students preparing for entrance exams you meow? I would really prefer if meow first year students would avoid having to take supplementary classes.Ako: I'm not really concerned with Sensei's circumstances! I've already worked on Math so much yesterday that I'm sick of it! I'm not doing it again today!Nekohime: If you don't like Math then meow should try Modern Japanese. Come on, open meowr textbook to page eighty-three.Ako: Please wait! Is a Modern Japanese teacher really going to teach me Modern Japanese!? Isn't this actually already a supplementary class!?In a sense, Ako's rebuttal was on point, but Nekohime-san just smiled and said.Nekohime: Nekohime-san is not a teacher you meow? But if meow won't do this properly, Ako's personal evaluation might suddenly dip you meow?Ako: That's too unreasonableeeeeeee!You should be thankful that you're even getting any points in your evaluation at all, given that you've skipped so many classes.Nekohime: Keep quiet meow. I'm going to include this in the test so make sure meow remember it.Nekohime-sensei's Passionate Supplementary Class in Legendary Age is now starting. Having a teacher do a review right before the tests seems like a pretty good deal. I wonder if I should listen in too?TL note: This is a reference to , a home tutorial service in Japan. See the site here https://www.012345.co.jp/.Sette: Hey, hey Nishimura-kun.Rusian: Whoever could you be referring to?Sette: Hey, hey Rusian-kun.Rusian: Oh hey, what is it?Actually, are you sure you shouldn't be studying right now, Akiyama-san?I mean, it doesn't really matter if she's here or not, but Ako seems pretty scared of her so it was easier to get this plan going with her around.Akiyama-san Sette-san, that is, went to use the question mark emote she just recently learned about as she said,Sette: That Nekohime person just said I'm going to include this in the test' right?Rusian: Don't say anything about that and just take notes on what she's going to say.Sette: Kaay.Ako: Difficult books are too difficult to readNekohime: Essays are compulsory so make sure meow don't miss out on that.This in-game study session hell continued on until the last of the end of term tests, whether the participant was willing or not.I thought Ako would simply run away from it all, but she continued to solve the problems we gave her, albeit reluctantly. I wondered if all that would actually bear any fruit.Ako: I managed to get over it I really, did it Ehe, eheheheAko needed only to use the chat to relay just how broken down she was.However, that effort was properly rewarded, as it seems she will be able to spend her summer vacation as she pleases.Schwein: I didn't expect that she wouldn't even need to take supplementary exams. I suppose this is all thanks to my bad self huh?Apricot: In the first place, having someone undertake the supplementary exams in our school is a rare occurrence in itself.Rusian: I guess Ako really fits the bill for being one of those rare occurrencesAko: I didn't end up being one though so it's an epic win for me!All's well that ends well!' is what Ako blurted as she boasted about her win. In response to this, Nekohime-san indifferently replied.Nekohime: At the very least, meow barely failed Modern Japanese. And I think meowr standings on the other subjects are also somewhat failed.Schwein: Hey, are you sure you shouldn't be using passed there instead?As Schwein said that, Nekohime-san vigorously stood up while shaking her fist.Nekohime: Don't meow go thinking I also have summer off just because I'm a teacher! I still have to go on regulated work days, work during the regulated work hours, attend meetings, do my job as a club adviser, and even provide supplementary classes you meow! Seeing all these students in their summer vacation just adds even meowr unnecessary stress!Rusian: So you couldn't have Ako adding on top of all that just because she has to take supplementary classes alone huhAnd because of that reason, Ako was barely able to escape from such a fate. Is that a good or a bad thing though? I wonder.Nekohime: It's meowkay. I'll make sure to properly meowtor her properly in the second term and decide what we'll do about her in another meeting.Ako: I'm really a problem child, aren't I?You just noticed that now?You've been quite the problem child since a long time ago.Ako: That aside, let's go farmingAko said that as she unsteadily wielded her weapon.Rusian: Aren't you pushing yourself there?Ako: I'll do it. I can definitely do it!Her words seem to be full of vigor but her controls are being sloppy.I guess she really built up fatigue from all that studying that she wasn't used to doing.Rusian: You already worked pretty hard on the tests so just sleep early for today.Ako: ButApricot: We still have our final club activities before summer vacation tomorrow. Skipping school is absolutely not permitted.Ako suddenly stopped as Master said those words.Ako: I'll go to sleep.You were completely planning on skipping tomorrow weren't you?' is the retort that I desperately held back saying.There's no class anyway, so it would be the perfect day to come to school. This way, you can also make up for the days that you've skipped.And well, you knowThere's not many chances left for us to see each other before summer vacation comes.So make sure to go to school you hear? Make sure you go to school and see me is of course, something I couldn't say.Rusian: Good night, Ako.Nekohime: I'll also go grade some papurrs and head on to sleep.Please also overlook and forgive me for whatever my marks I have.With a powaaan' sound effect, Ako and Nekohime-san both logged out and disappeared.Schwein: Well, it's thanks to her that my bad self's grades went up, so I guess that's fine.Rusian: Eh? Your grades went up even though you've been playing LA so much?Schwein: When someone else teaches you, it becomes easier to understand no?Though you say that, if the person in question is AkoI feel like there's no difference compared to just reading out loud the contents of the textbook to her.Apricot: So your grades dropped huh, Rusian?Rusian: I'm maintaining my current average I guess?Thanks to Nekohime-san, my grades in Modern Japanese went up. Though it's only by adding that and everything together, including the midterms, that I can really say that I've maintained my average.Apricot: Then I'll allow that.Indeed', is what Master proudly said. Given this attitude, I don't even want to ask how well her grades are.And, thinking about her not being able to boast to anyone about it and just simply looking at it simply makes me want to cry.Apricot: Very well, I suppose I will retire for today.Schwein: Ah, the same goes for my bad self as well.The flow of the conversation somehow shifted to stopping for the day, so the two of them planned to logout one after the other.Rusian: Ah, wait a bit you two,I hurriedly stopped them from going their way and logging out.Schwein: Hm?Rusian: I want your advice on something.As I said that, the two of them both displayed the !!' emotion over their heads at the same time.It's not like I'm Snake you know.TL note: Snake as in Metal Gear. Guards do this when surprised.Schwein: What's with that serious tone?Rusian: It's a pretty serious subject to me after all.No actually, more than that, it's a very serious subject for me.It seems Master felt this nervous air around me, so she went back and sat on her chair.Apricot: Interesting. Ask whatever you want from this guild master!Why is this guild master so happy to be depended on? It's cute though.Rusian: Ah, I'm going to switch to another chat channel then.I switched over to the guild chat channel that's specifically only for our use. In the unlikely event that Akiyama-san suddenly appears and hears about this, it would mean a lot of trouble for me.Rusian: So, about that adviceSchwein: Yeah?Apricot: Go ahead.It's not like we were talking in real life, but I just gulped saliva down my throat.With my slightly trembling hands, I typed away, not even looking to correct what I just typed.Rusian: I want to confess to Ako, but how do you think I should do it?.A bit of time passed as the surroundings suddenly felt strange. There was completely no response from anyone at all.Eh? Is it lagging? Did my chat not go through?Rusian: I want to confess to Ako, but how do you think I should do it?Schwein: I heard that! We already heard you say that!Schwein instantly replied.Ah, that's her real self right now. Good evening Segawa.Rusian: It's just, there wasn't any reply so I thought maybe it didn't go through.Schwein: I hear you! I was just thinking about that nonsense you just said!Is me asking for advice on that really that silly?To me, there just wasn't anyone else I could turn to, so I'm pretty serious about this.Schwein: Though even if you say that Confess? To Ako? Why now of all times?Rusian: Why you ask? That's kind of hard to answer but It's been quite a long time since I've started hanging out with the real Ako, and I've even had the chance to meet her parents. And well, there's a bunch of other things tooMainly, it's me seeing her bare skin, and also something even more amazing.Even I think that it's about time for me to steel my resolve about this.And, the biggest reason is thatRusian: It's almost summer vacation right? When that hits, I won't be able to see Ako outside of the game for a while. I just thought that I'll be pretty depressed when that happens.Schwein: Ah, yeah, yeah, we get you, we get you.Schwein Segawa, look very bothered as she waved her hand.What? There's no need for you to say it like that is there?Even though you normally love gossip like this.Schwein: If you can do it, then just go confess to her. Why do you even have to involve us in this? It's not really related to us, is it?Apricot: I won't go so far as to say that this is somebody else's problem but, this definitely is something that concerns Ako and Rusian. If you say that you both love each other, then I won't be stopping you.No, no, you're wrong. That's not what I'm trying to say here.You two really are misunderstanding this aren't you? Seriously.Rusian: That's not what I'm getting at.Schwein: Then what are you trying to say?Schwein: Come on man, spit it out.Segawa, there's really no need for you to go back to talking like that.You'll probably just end up acting weird even after going back to it.Rusian: I'm not asking this to see if you'll get mad if I go out with Ako. I'll properly ask about that once my confession actually goes through.For matters of romance in the Modern Electronics Communications Game Club, I would be asking our club president, Master, for permission to that. Of course, I don't feel like she's going to disapprove of it But, that's a topic for after I actually succeed.Rusian: What I wanted to ask was, what would be the best way to confess to Ako?.Quite some time passed again.It seems like it's really laggy today. Is the server alright?There have been new MMOs releasing recently so I wonder if this server is getting the short end of the stick.Rusian: When I confess to Ako, what do you think is the best way I could do it to succeed?Apricot: You don't have to rephrase it, we hear you.Rusian: Ah, it's just that there was no reply again.I thought there was a problem with the chat or something.Rusian: So, what do you think? I don't mean to brag, but I just don't know how to calm down about this, so I went and sought for your advice.Schwein: Even ifApricot: You ask us that You know?They both displayed a question mark over their heads.Apricot: No matter how you decide to convey your feelings, I think that it won't change the outcome much at all.Schwein: It just feels like you're trying to pick a fight with me, asking that.True to her words, an angry mark came flying out of Schew's head as she said that.Schwein: You can just say something like that however you like. If you want, you could call her right now and just kind of confess to her. It's not like that girl will reject you or anything.She snorted.Is that what you think? Is that what you think, Schwein?Schwein: Good grief. You said you had something serious to talk about so I wondered what it was. I'd just like to point out, I don't really want to hear you gushing about your girlfriend.Apricot: When all's said and done, the best outcome should present itself. I'll give you two my blessings.Rusian: Hold on you two.Don't just wrap up the conversation just like that.It's the same no matter when you confess'? You'll probably succeed anyway'?You're both taking this pretty lightly aren't you?Rusian: You'll definitely succeed so just do it however you like' is what an outsider who thinks too lightly of this would say Hey, just what guarantee do you have that that will happen?!Schwein: Didn't she just tell you some time ago that she loved you?Apricot: Indeed.Rusian: That was for Rusian'! That wasn't for me!I vigorously stood up as the feelings of uncertainty buried deep in my heart began to take form in words that I typed away at the keyboard.Rusian: True, I'm loved by Ako in-game! It's mutual love! There's no question about it! But, outside of the game, I do not have the slightest bit of confidence at all that Ako loves me!Schwein: Why do you look so proud in saying something so pitiful?That's just how I really feel so it can't be helped!She loves Rusian' enough to marry him, but I just can't say it's the same feelings for the real me.Taking my Rusian' part aside, I wondered what Ako thought of me. This feeling of uncertainty has been plaguing me ever since we first met.Rusian: You see, Ako, she's cute you know. And when she talks to me, she looks pretty amiable that she's even caught the attention of some guys in our class. She just seems like a flower well beyond my reach.Schwein: Even if others take interest in her, she's just going to turn them down with that One Hit Decisive Strike of hers.Schew muttered good grief' as she shrugged her shoulders, looking all important.Schwein: Well true, if you just did something about her personality, hairstyle, and clothes, she would definitely be popular.Apricot: Sch, Schwein? If I take that as it is, aren't you just saying that aside from her face, everything else is no good?Master, who was a bit taken aback by those words, was ignored by her.Schwein: But in reality, she's an unsociable loner who has a lot of problems to deal with, so doesn't it actually seem possible for you to get with her?Rusian: I guessSchwein: If you Check her, you'll get a message saying Even Match', probably.TL note: In FFXI you can use the Check command on enemies to give a rough reading on their strength relative to you. Even Match' is displayed when they're at the same level.Couldn't you interpret that in a lot of ways? That seems pretty unreliable don't you think?But I see. Even I could get with her huh? It would be nice if that's the case But, I just have no confidence at all.Apricot: That aside, it appears to me that when Ako-kun mentions that she loves Rusian, this is spoken without any regard to whether it's in the game or real life.Master said that with an odd look on her face.Schwein: Yeah, I guess so too. Originally, she was a girl who couldn't even differentiate between games and reality, but recently, she seemed really happy when she told me about you meeting her parents and you becoming her sort of official fiancee.Don't you think it's going to work out like that?', is what Segawa said.Rusian: That's also what I think. If you ask my honest opinion, I think my chances of succeeding on this one is pretty high.I can't imagine Ako ever turning me down. That is a fact.Actually, I wouldn't even think of confessing to her if I thought otherwise.Schwein: Then why don't you just confess?Rusian: Don't take this too lightly!I howled at Segawa, who was too composed about this.Rusian: I think it would probably work out', It would definitely go well, I think', It's probably fine' in the end, that's all the assurance I have right!? What do you think will happen if I get turned down even after that!?I would ruin this comfortable atmosphere that Ako and I have going on right now. I would part ways with the guild and go solo again, making interactions with Master and Schew in real life become awkward in the process. Even worse, this fact could spread around the school. Since I would be placing some distance between me and Ako, my other classmates would become aware of that fact and.Rusian: It would mean the end of me in every sense of the woooooooooooord!Apricot: I can't dispute the truth that the damage you receive is quite high when something that is supposed to have a high success rate, actually fails.Schwein: It doesn't really matter if you stay in the guild even after she rejects you though, right?Staying would just make it even more painful you know.And anyway, if even you tell me that it's only Ako, giving a proper confession is still pretty harsh on a good-for-nothing otaku like me. It's scary, you know?Also speaking of my experiences regarding confessions, I've never even experienced proper feelings of love like this before!Disregarding those times where I found a girl quite attractive, but since I never got the courage to speak even one word to them, I just ended up forgetting about them', Ako is my first love you know!Rusian: It's so scary that I feel like my heart is going to burst just thinking about it!Schwein: Just how unconfident can you get?It's the thing I'm most uncertain about in my life!But, but you know.I want a girlfriend after all. Not to mention Ako's really cute too. If you ask me whether or not I'd like to go out with her, then of course I would.Even if it's just for a little while, I'd like to experience us being in a normal boyfriend and girlfriend relationship.Schwein: I figure I should at least askRusian: Yeah?She moved to face me directly as she said that, as if glaring at me.Schwein: You love Ako right?Err, that'sRusian: Do I really have to answer that? No matter what? Just thinking about it makes me feel like my face is going to burst into flames you know?Schwein: There's no need to answer if you're going to show that much of a reaction.I can't help it, I'm shy you know? I can't help but be embarrassed you know?Never in my life have I told anyone else I loved them except for Ako.It seems Schwein was convinced by my reaction as she distanced herself from me and returned to her seat.Schwein: Ugh, this is such a pain. If you love her that much then there's no need for you to act so arrogant saying The game and reality are different' right?Rusian: This and that are different matters, so I don't regret saying that. Even now, I'm asking for advice in real life without mixing the game into it That's why I feel so uneasy about thisIf you just take the real life me into consideration All that's there is a failure of a human beingSchwein: The you' in LA is ten times more dependable than your real self after all.Rusian: I know thaaaaaaaaat!Damn it, that's exactly why I'm asking for your advice right now.Apricot: I don't think the actual Rusian is someone that I would just take for granted But I see A high success rate confession with Ako as a partner huhSchwein: How to confess huh.Quite some time passed again.I wonder if they're thinking about it?Rusian: Do you have any ideas from your perspective as a female?As I nervously asked that, the two of them subtly put some distance between me and them.Schwein: Err Master, you seem pretty popular, so don't you have a trove of experiences related to this?Apricot: Don't be absurd. Not once have I ever had a boyfriend, not even for a single frame.Not even for a single frame huh? Well I suppose that's understandable.Apricot: And well, I don't really want to admit this, but generallyRusian: Yeah?Master looked at us with a sullen face as she said.Apricot: No matter how much money I spend, it won't get me a boyfriend.This is the first time I've seen Master talk about the limits of the power of money.Schwein: That's not really impossible though right?Rusian: Even if you get someone, that's probably not a boyfriend anymore but something elseThat was the sad truth.Apricot: That aside, Schwein, you've proclaimed before that you were confessed to, weren't you?Schwein: I was the one being confessed to in that case And actually, I already turned that down. If Rusian uses that as reference, won't he just be completely rejected then?I definitely don't want to use that then.This is bad. It's too bad of an omen.If I get turned with a reason like Segawa's My playtime would decrease' I might probably die.Rusian: Then how about this instead? If you were going to confess to someone, what would you two say?As I was wondering if I'll actually be able to use their answers as reference, Schwein answered after a bit of time passed.Schwein: Let's see My bad self will be going out with you, so consider it an honor!Rusian: I'm not asking about Schwein's answer, I'm just asking how you would do it normally.But well, Schwein's character would definitely say it like that.Schew thought for a bit, and then.Schwein: I'll be going out with you, so you better be thankful.That answer of hers didn't change at all!Rusian: This person's no good If I don't do something soonTL note: This is a reference to a line in the Death Note manga but you probably already knew that right? Actual line:Schwein: Is that no good?Rusian: Eh?Schwein: From your perspective is a confession like that no good?This doesn't seem at all like her usual self. She's using quite a lot of ellipses there.When you say it like that, it really feels like you've just been turned down.Rusian: Ah, noI was at a loss on how to respond to that. Th, this was Segawa true self. I thought she was trying to crack a joke or something.And now that I've thought about it like this, it's now harder to actually give a retort.But considering Segawa's character, I can't actually say this is a bad thing.Rusian: Uhm That could work for you if your target is just an ordinary person since your specs are pretty high, but it won't work for me.Schwein: Is that even a compliment?Rusian: It's a pretty huge compliment though.If I go and say something like Ako, I'll be going out with you!', the chances of success are probably No wait, in her case, she might actually be overjoyed.Apricot: If you would ask me, I would say it like this: Would you like to conquer the world with me?'Rusian: Master, I'm sorry for asking you something strange. I'm really sorry. It's all my fault.Apricot: Now listen here. Even I sometimes get hurt by the things you say, you know?I apologize for everything, including that.But I couldn't really learn anything like this. What should I do?Apricot: In the first place, having a consultation with three people whose Age = Years of having no BF/GF doesn't seem like it would yield anything.Rusian: That's the fundamental problem here huhSchwein: I guess. But since tomorrow is the last day of club activities before summer vacation, you'll have to confess by tomorrow then.Rusian: Eh? Tomorrow? What about the time needed to prepare myself!?My whole high school life is on the line here you know!?Schwein: I guess it's fine to do it after that, but do you plan on calling her out and then confessing to her?Rusian: That's even more impossible.That is way too much for me.Actually, if I were to go out with Ako together alone in my current state of mind, I would definitely just freeze up.Apricot: Then let's set tomorrow as the date of your confession and conjure up a plan until then.Schwein: For what it's worth, I'll try to come up with something too.Rusian: Thanks. I'm counting on you two.When all's said and done, my guild members are really reliable.But tomorrow? I'm going to confess tomorrow?I'm already getting nervous.And then, it was the morning of that fated day.After arriving to school thirty minutes earlier than usual, I holed up in the classroom with my eyes closed.Good morning. What this? Well aren't you unexpectedly calm?Segawa, who was in the classroom, said this to me.Calm? Calm you say? It was really painful moving my body just to look up at you after it froze up on me and you still call this calm?I, if, I look c, calm to you, then, y, y, y, you must have holes for eyes.I, i, it's not really the t, time to b, be p, p, panicking just y, y, yet.In consideration of how much your voice is shaking, I'll let that one slide. Are you that nervous about it?More than being disgusted at how I'm acting, she just seems to be showing me sympathy as she said that.I can't help but be nervous when I'm nervous. I'm going to be confessing today you know.Look, just have a touch and see for yourself.I stretched out both of my hands towards Segawa. Just then, her small fingertips began to wrap around my hands.As soon as she touched my surprisingly slippery hands, it gave off the sound of her hand colliding with something sticky.Wai, wha, you're all gooey aren't you! Uwah, disgusting.My throat's all dry from all the sweat coming out of my hands.Just what kind of abnormal reaction is this. Just how nervous are you?I already feel like I'm on the brink of death just by sitting here.Ha, hahaha As I gave out a dry laugh, something black was reflected in my field of vision.Behind Segawa, who was directly in front of me, was the sight of a black shadow that looked like it would engulf her.Rusian, Schew-chan, just what are you two doing?A, Ako!? You appear now of all times!?Segawa's body jumped in surprise to the frightening voice.Y, yo, you got it wrong. Don't misunderstand this okay?G, good morning Ako. W, we're not really doing anything in particular you know?As we frantically separated our hands, Ako gave us a cold gaze.Just for today, I feel like I have the right idea on what's going onJust for today you say? Then that means you were aware that you were falsely accusing me of stuff all those other times then weren't you!It's nothing, it's nothing.Is that true? I won't have to rip open Schew's stomach later and embrace Rusian's head as I ride off in a boat later will I?Totheotherside ofGet a hold of yourself Segawa!The person I was supposed to be confessing to is going to end up putting me in a Nice Boat! Stop it! Seriously, please stop it!TL note: Ako here was referencing School Days where*SPOILER*Kotonoha proceeds to rip open Sekai's stomach to check if she was really carrying a child that she allegedly made with Makoto. Kotonoha also cut off Makoto's head prior to when Sekai stabbed the latter to death. She then stuffed his head in a bag and rode on a boat. The To the other side of' part is also another joke from its bad end theme To The Other Side of Sorrow' that begins with that phrase. It is a theme that is played jokingly as a prelude to someone dying a gruesome death. The nice boat is still another joke related to this where they cancelled the broadcast the final episode of School Days, and instead replaced it with this scenery:The reference for all the stuff above could be pretty much summed up in this video including the bad ending theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKsJunlsgFk.I managed to calm down Ako, whose eyes looked like they were already swirling as if she were possessed by something. Without me being even aware of what has transpired so far, the time for homeroom ended and it was now after school.Today was the last club activity for the Modern Electronics Communications Game Club before summer vacation.Master contacted all of us saying We're going to have a meeting today so make sure you attend'. Since Ako came to school, I'm sure she's definitely going to be attending that as well.Did you really walk that slow before?I used to be able to walk much faster than this, then I took an arrow to the kneeTL note: Reference to Skyrim. You know the one.Just get Ako to treat that.I don't wanna.My legs felt heavier. I could feel it throbbing so much that it hurt.No matter how sluggishly I walked, I still inch ever closer towards the clubroom.As I slowly opened the door of the clubroom, I saw the sight of Master alone, along with a whiteboard and a pen.So you have arrived Rusian. Umu, you seem to be far calmer than I had expected.Master had satisfied look on her face as she glanced at me while saying that.Hey, just how did you come up with that conclusion, seeing me all frozen up like this? Huh?His lips were already turning pale earlier though so I already applied a bit of lip balm on them.You're near your breaking point, aren't you Rusian?Do you say that because it was enough to turn my face pale? Or was it because I was able to swallow my shame and let Segawa apply stuff on my face?Once we're done with the club, I'm going to be confessing to AkoCalm down, calm down.I actually already bought a bouquet of flowers beforehand tooDon't say that Rusian. Those words seem to be foreboding your oncoming death.Ah, so this is how good it feels to set yourself up for destruction.And that part about the bouquet of flowers was a lie by the way.Like hell I can keep staying in this room I'm going homeThis is really driving you into a corner huhThis is barely outside of my limits.In any case, we both have thought out a plan for this. Give this paper a look before you go and confess later.O, oh You've really thought one up for me huh?Master handed over two small pieces of folded paper to me.Written on the front of them were round characters that look like they were written by Segawa. It had the message Good Luck!' written on it.Good luck with that.Thanks, the two of you.Nothing has even happened yet but I already feel like crying.Good luck, and make sure to become a proper normieI told you to please stop it with the death flags.Ako still hasn't dropped by. How about you calm down for a bit first?I guess so. I suppose I'll start with taking deep breaths.Inhale, exhale', is how I went as I tried to adjust my breathing. It feels like my heartbeat is finally starting to go back to normal.Inhale, exhale, inhaleI'm here! Ah, Rusian! Listen to this!Gafugefugofu!A, are you alright Nishimura!?You! It's because you decide to show up right when I was inhaling!As I was completely choking over here, Ako smiled as she scooted closer to me. Even though it's just her usual self, I'm still pretty nervous. Uwah, just what is this.Rusian? Are you okay?I, I'm fine. You sure took your time getting here, didn't you Ako?I thought about going here right away, but I kept getting stopped by the teachers along the way.Did they tell you to take supplementary classes?They gave me more summer homework to doIt's a shame, but it seems she's still not fully acquitted from her past failures.Isn't it great that they're letting you off with just that? Originally, the practice of self-study was the proper way to spend your summer vacation.The proper way, you say? I wonder if that's what's really okay for youth?I'd just like to spend the summer with Rusian in decadence though.Even I'd like to do that as wellYes? Did you say something?No sir, I didn't say anything.It's not like I intended to say that out loud, so I tried to throw her off by avoiding her gaze.Sorry to keep you waiting. Is everyone here?Our adviser, Saitou-sensei, has just arrived. Now we can start we the club activities.I went to sit at the desk I always use, and as always, Ako also went and sat beside me. It was nothing out of the ordinary, but my body shook in surprise.Rusian?Ah no, it's nothing.Ako was looking at me with a suspicious gaze. What am I going to do? Today is supposed to be an important day after all.Well then, let's start with our club activities. Rusian, you don't have to turn on your PC. We're just going to have a meeting for today.Ah, sorry.I was shaken up just by having Ako sit next to me so I just did it unknowingly. Being the only one who has his PC making up startup noises is pretty embarrassing.Everyone showed me a wry smile as I said that.Well then, to reiterate.Master cleared up her throat as she gave us all a glance.Everyone, good work on periodical examinations. It gives me great joy that we are able to welcome the summer vacation without leaving any of our men behind. However, don't let your guard down. As you are each a proud member of the Modern Electronics Communications Game Club, I ask that you be aware of this and never forget our aspiration to strive to be better, as you spend your summer vacation productively.Will you stop saying things that reek of a student council president?Uhm, but Master is the student council president you know.That's right.I just don't have the leeway to seriously play the straight man to Segawa's act right now.Concerning our club activities for the summer, as per our adviser's, Ms. Saitou's, insistent request, we won't be having any.Make sure you have a good long rest everyone.Saitou-sensei smiled as she said that.I can sort of understand being told it's okay not to come but Do club advisers normally tell their members to stop it with the club activities?Normal clubs don't threaten their club advisers you know?I could feel just how pathetic Sensei feels from her words.Furthermore, we will be proceeding with the plans for summer camp that I've mentioned a few days back. We will be having it on the first weekend of summer vacation. I will be contacting you for the specific details of this programme later.Well then', she said as she cut off her words.Let's leave it at that for now. Do you have any questions?This is bad, the meeting's already over. It ended just like that.What am I going to do? I haven't even calmed down at all yet.Me! Me!Ako said, as she raised her hand.Just what is she going to ask? As I was thinking thatWhat are we going to do as a guild during the summer?She suddenly asked about our plans for the game!Are you really going to ask about that here?As usual, Ako doesn't really mind talking about anything, whether it's in the game or the real life.However, Master didn't seem to particularly pay any attention to that as she answered.Our guild, Alley Cats, will maintain its usual operation. I have matters regarding my parents that I have to tend to and there's also the matter of my studies so I won't be able to immerse myself in the game right after lunch.Hmm, I wonder what I should do then I don't want to get scolded by my parents saying that all I do is play net games all day, so I guess I'll also go out with my friends.Did you just say going out with friends during summer?Ako was left speechless at Segawa's declaration.How very normie of you. I wouldn't have expected for there to be an enemy right beside me. Summer vacation is a time where you just keep playing net games over and over and over again and never get your summer homework done right!?Make sure to finish it properly. Else, you're going to end up suffering for the second term again.Segawa then gave a cold gaze towards Ako.That's much better than going out with a boyfriend right?Uhm, what?It's nothingShe then pouted as she looked away.What's with the statement! It certainly feels like you said it with the intent of being a death flag for me! Stop that! Seriously, stop that! Please stop saying that kind of thing!And in conclusion, guild activities will be carried out by people who are present at that time. In other words, it would be just like how we always operate. However let's see I suppose I'll have to mention it here as well.Master took a great nod and then continued.Listen well everyone, make sure you take caution in your daily activities in LA during summer vacation.Caution? Why's that?When you speak of summer, it's a particularly dangerous season for net games.As the rays of sunlight seeping through the gap of the curtains hit her, she then continued her explanation.Though I'm sure you're already familiar with this seasonal spectacle that has been going on for years now, I'm concerned in the rise of the amount of troublesome players engaging in misconduct during this time. It's those so-called players that pick at you.Ah, I've heard of people referring to them like that.Pickatchoo?Come on now Ako. Saying it like that is going to make me mistake it for something else so stop that.What exactly do you think they are? Electric mice?In other words, it's those repeated occurrences of itemplz, leeches, and noobs appearing. Besides the act of actually being directly inconvenienced by them,there's also the case where they can overreact to any slip up you'll make to publicly humiliate you. Make sure you each take precautionary measures against this.Itemplz? Leech? Noob? What are you talking about?In other words, we're talking about you here.M, me you say!Ako had her mouth open in shock as she heard that. Did she really have no idea that she appeared like that to others?And well, even though I can't really disagree with what she just said, Segawa seems to be especially harsh towards Ako today.In the game's attempt to attract even more players, the amount of scammers are also on the rise. I've only heard about this info in-game but, it seems that the victims of account hacking have been increasing recently. Make sure to diligently change your password often and to consider using a security token.Sounds like a hassleAccount hacking huh? That's such a huge problem.Speaking of security tokens, they're those things that require you to verify access for machines that are not yet connected with your account which heightens security for that account. You would have to input a one-time password which would be sent by the verification server during that time frame or else you wouldn't be able to log in. You could also opt to use a USB token which can be used to verify your identity instead. There are a lot of ways to implement this, but premise is that you'll need to prepare an item you have in the real life in order to verify your identity before logging in. This way, no one else but you can log in to your account which would drastically reduce the cases of account hacking.I too think it's important, but it's just too much of a hassle so I don't use it.I haven't used the token system yet. And as for Ako?????Ah, there's a lot of question marks appearing over her head.She has no idea at all about this, does she?I don't want to talk about studying anymore you know?It's fine. This is about the game, not school.Account hacking is where a stranger logs into your account and goes around using your character. They end up causing mischief and stealing all of your items. The security token is the tool used to protect yourself from this. The LA verification server would send a one-time password which would be available for use during a limited time frame *smileeeeee*And then you *smileeeeee*Ako was staring me with such a pure smile. As I stared into her eyes, I feel like I could see myself being reflected in them.I would have probably been captivated by them, if only she didn't do it at a time like this.Do you not get it?Nope.There was no speck of hesitation in that reply or smile of hers.I guess explaining how the security token works is just too much for AkoJust make sure to diligently change your password.Okay.It can't be helped so she'll have to stick with that temporary solution.Actually, are there even things such as scams in-game?Segawa said that while pointing at the monitor, seemingly unconcerned with the situation.There is. There's plenty of them in fact.Seriously?Segawa looked like she seriously wasn't expecting that reply.Oh, did you not know about them?Indeed. Let's see The It's me, it's me' scam should be the easiest to understand. You could be a victim of this too, Schwein, if you don't watch yourself.What do you think I am? Someone's grandmother?It's not that kind of It's me, it's me' scam.It's not that scam that goes It's me, it's me. Yeah! It's Takashi'.No, no, you got it all wrong. It's a much simpler yet more problematic thing.Simpler but more problematic?That's correct. For example, Schwein, imagine yourself in-game just hanging around in the usual tavern organizing your equipment. It should be around that time that the rest of us would be going online.Okay.It seems Segawa was trying to imagine it as she cast her gaze off into space while answering that.During that time, a beginner character named Rusian' arrives.Master began writing the word Rusian' in large characters on the whiteboard that was needlessly brought here.You should think more about how you name your character.Segawa seemed upset as she said that while facing me.I don't know what to think of getting scolded for something I don't even remember doing though.That's it. Your reaction to this situation is the problem here.Ha?She ignored Segawa, who had a puzzed look on her face, and continued.That Rusian fellow then comes up to speak to you Schwein. He then mentions he just made a new character so he would like to borrow at least 100K. What do you do then?Well, I don't really mind lending him that much.Indeed. Since it's not that huge of an amount to you, you would easily hand it over. Rusian would then thank you and leave. After a while, Rusian' then logs in.Master then pointed at me as she said that.Since you're back in your main hurry up and pay me back my money.I don't know what you're talking about though?Haaa? Didn't you just borrow some money from me!? Are you trying to tell me that wasn't you just because there was a in their name? What's with that stupid scam!Indeed. That is indeed a scam. But the culprit here isn't Rusian.Master then goes out of her way to show a villainous looking smile. You're really having with this aren't you?Master then turned her attention to Ako, who was sitting beside me.What would you do if you were in her place Ako-kun? What would you do if you were in the same situation and Rusian asked to borrow some money?As she said that, Ako began to shake her head.Putting aside me borrowing money from Rusian, having Rusian borrow money from me is definitely strange Is that person really Rusian?Isn't your assumption on how our relationship works there a bit biased? Well, not that I mind though.That's right! That's exactly it!Master drew a large X over the word Rusian. Being treated like a reject like that is pretty painful for me though.Knowing that a character named Rusian' frequents this location, someone makes a character named Rusian'. This person someone we don't know, is the culprit.So that's a fake Rusian?You fool! That was Rusian!Ako looked like she was having fun saying that.But pops, I wouldn't have known since I'm not youTL note: This is a reference from Sazae-san. Here is a video but just look it up in case you're curious https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agl82A81550Yeah, she wouldn't have known.Heck, even I wouldn't have figured it out either.That's exactly it. Determining who the person really is can prove to be difficult. Since this is a game where the only thing being conveyed is a person's name, the probability of scams like this succeeding are actually more prevalent compared to the It's me, it's me' scams in real life.It's just 100k though so it's fineSince the scope of the damage done is just small, it can still be overlooked. However, if this sort of thing occurs between hardcore players, the amount lent out would be in the range of Ms. And, if left unattended, the damage could very well be much greater than that.Oh, like when they begin to say stuff like give back that gear you borrowed from me last time' or something like that right?Segawa suddenly turned her gaze at me as I said that.If Rusian' had asked me that and went to I lend him the Valentine's armor'It would be up on the marketplace the very same day.Nooooooo!Actually, isn't it about time you gave that back to me already? I won that from our rock-paper-scissors fair and square so it strange for you to be the one who keeps using it.Since Rusian and Ako understand each other pretty well, it wouldn't be much of a problem butShe gave a quick glance towards our direction.I'm not saying that you should always be doubtful of others but, if something feels off to you then make sure to verify who you're talking with first. There are people who eavesdrop on the conversation of others in-game just so they could pose as someone else and borrow their friend's expensive equipment after all.The one who seemed to be a giving a lecture just now was Nekohime-san.Oh, Sensei, you were there?I've been here this whole time, listening.Didn't you just say listening in on others is no good?Well, the one to give this kind of advice is usually a teacher anyway. But upon being told that, Nekohime-sensei just blurted out Hoeee?' while making a face like that of a clueless student.Master then spoke out amidst all of that.In cases like this where someone uses a distinct way of speaking, such as adding meow', makes it very easy for the perpetrator to mimic so make sure to be wary of Ms. Saitou.What did meow say!?Ah, she just said it.Now that you say it, I don't know anybody else besides Sensei that talks like that.Having mannerisms like that but actually being like this in real life already feels like a fraud in itself.I've actually been fooled by her once already too.You guys you all seem to be slacking because the tests just finished but I can still change your report cards until the term actually ends you know?We're very sorry!All three of us bowed down our head in apology in no time.We were being too cocky. We won't do it again.No matter the situation, a normal player just can't win over a GM.Anyway, as a result of the management trying to draw in more players during summer, the number of people with ill intentions being drawn in also increases. Your primary concern should be your own safety so that we may all spend this summer vacation with no incident.Okaaay.Ako energetically replied.I've managed to calm down a little due to all that nonsense we just talked about. I'm thankful for that at least.Well then That wraps it up for today. The next time we meet will be during the summer camp.Master then ended the meeting with those words.Everything I've wanted to point out was already said and I've no particular announcements to make as your adviser. Take care everyone.Sensei said that as she waved at us.Ah! Summer vacation! My lovely summer vacaytion! I made it!Ako was being her usual self. And from this moment on, just like usual, we would be going home togetherAs I turned my gaze towards Master and Segawa,Ah, me and Schwein have a little business to take care of. You two can go on ahead.Business?Ah, it's just a little something, right?As she said that, Master didn't look at me but turned her gaze towards Segawa instead.I'm telling you I don't really need one.?I wonder if they're just trying to be considerate of us? Sorry you two.I made sure the memo that I'd slipped into my pocket earlier was still there as I took a deep breath.Alright, then Shall we go home?Yup.Ako smiled as she walked up beside me.I still couldn't stop my legs from shaking as we walked on home.Just like always, I'm walking on the way back home with Ako.As I looked around to find if anything has changed from the road we frequent there was nothing. It's precisely because nothing has changed that I get even more nervous. The only thing that's strange in this scenario is me.What do you think we'll be doing in the summer camp?Ako happily said that. We're on a break starting tomorrow so that putting her in a good mood really helps.The only thing I'm worrying about right now though is if she doesn't mind that we're not going to be able to meet at all.At the very least, I think it should at least involve playing some net games.I want to go headshot some people again.Stop that.My wife suddenly turning into a sniper after the summer break ends? I'll have to pass on that.That reminds me, I was told to keep this a secret butHm?Ako seemed like she wanted to keep it down as she scooted closer to me.Master told me to prepare a swimsuit so I was sure we were going to the beach or something.Aren't I the exact reason why you were told to keep it a secret then?Master was probably planning to surprise me by having them all show up in swimsuits.I have no reason to hide anything from Rusian you know? It's Master's fault for telling me that.Haven't you been recently keeping a lot of things from me though?Like when you made that improvised cutter, or that time you said you were going to quit school.There's nothing like that in my logs you know?That's a very convenient log you have there.Ehehe.Ako laughed as if to throw me off.Ah, this calms me down.I just love this time spent when I'm having small talk with Ako.Since whenever I talk with my classmates, no matter what point in the conversation, I always seem to regret it. I shouldn't have said that thing', I really went too far on that one', I wonder if they think I'm just annoying?' are just some of the things that I end up thinking about.But when I talk with Ako, none of that seems to matter.We just happily talk about whatever we like without thinking too much about anything else.Nothing else could replace this kind of atmosphere with Ako.And, if my confession falls through I'll probably end up destroying this all.I guess I should give up on it.? What?A, ah nothing.I guess I'll just give up on it. Isn't this just fine? This more than friends but less than lovers, but also husband and wife' kind of relationship is just fine right? The temptation to just give up on the confession keeps assaulting my mind.And uhm, you see I still haven't bought the swimsuit in question.Oh?So I'd like to ask: Rusian, what kind of swimsuit do you like?Why are you asking me? Just picking whichever one you want is fine right?Why wouldn't I ask Rusian for his preference when I'm clearly buying the swimsuit to show it to him!?I would really like it if you would stop saying that though!If any of the passersby hear this, it might draw too much attention.Then are you saying you don't want to see me in a swimsuit!?Well, if you're going to wear it in front of me then I'm at least going to look. It's like when we defeat a boss: I'll at least take a look at the drops.I'll just give the whole thing a quick glance and if something catches my fancy then I'll be keeping my attention on that.I guess you're right. You were really staring at me that time I stripped naked right?Please forget that.No way. I'll have you take responsibility for that.She said that cheerfully.Uuu, I guess it's really useless. Keeping things in this vague state is just no good after all.With regards to Ako, not acting here would be even worse than just being labeled an online hookup predator. I don't even know if I'll have the courage to confront my feelings like this in the future again.I have to say it. I have to.But what do I do? How should I say it?And so, please tell me what you're hoping to see. If you don't say anything then I'll pick my school swimsuit from middle school.HuhWhat do I do? What do I do? What do I do?I bought that one during the first year of middle school so it would probably be a tight fit for me now, but Rusian might unexpectedly prefer that instead.Is that so.What do I say? What do I say?It's just, uhm Wearing it and then having to take it off afterwards is probably going to be a problem so I'll need you to prepare some scissors beforehand.Wait, just wait a bit there. Stop talking about that for a second.Even I would notice what she just said at a time like this so I had her stop.Didn't the conversation just take a weird turn while I was spacing out there?It's all going as I expected though?It's your expectations that are being strange here.Just how did the topic drift to you wearing your middle school swimsuit? And what's more, you want me to cut it up with scissors?Talking about it will inadvertently make me imagine you in a tight school swimsuit you know?But Rusian spacing out is also weird! Even though I was thinking of a swimsuit that you could fap to I'm being treated like mere fapper Strange, this kind of thing is unacceptableTL note: This is again a reference toand, which are just the usual net lingo used when they find something unacceptable I could be misunderstanding this though, no idea about Japanese pro baseball . The latter is related to professional baseball where the person in question was comparing his salary with players along the same bracket and uttered the following lines:which doubles as a pun becauseandsound alike hanbunnaki and hannuki respectively so I just went with fapper since it rhymes it batter as in a baseball batter. Links are here https://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E8%A6%8B%E6%8A%9C%E3%81%8D and here https://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E3%81%8A%E3%81%8B%E3%81%97%E3%81%84%E3%80%82%E3%81%93%E3%82%93%E3%81%AA%E3%81%93%E3%81%A8%E3%81%AF%E8%A8%B1%E3%81%95%E3%82%8C%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84No matter how you look at it, I'm just a normal high school student who has nothing to be ashamed about.In the first place, would you even wear that kind of thing if I asked you to?T, that'sAs I expected, Ako looked a bit troubled after I said that.If Rusian would ravage me like an animal after then I could bear the shame of wearing it.Why do you think I would do that!?I thought that maybe the school swimsuit has the Provoke effect on RusianIt doesn't! If you ask me it would probably decrease my aggro towards you instead!So the school swimsuit has no effect huhOf course No, actually, this kind of topic is no good at all!Huh?Ako tilted her head to the side in wonder.Ah that's right. It's because we keep talking about things like this that I just can't find the right timing!I have to find the perfect timing to confess soon or else I'll keep mulling over this!Ah that's right. Ako, do you mind if we pass by that park over there?Strolling through the park feels like a very normie thing to do!R, right?My goal is for me to become a normie with you after all.There's so many trees here that it's so refreshingWe continued walking along the shadows of the trees, as if to avoid the sunlight.And yeah, it definitely feels cooler being around so much nature.I wonder if the jungle maps in LA are this cool too?I think jungles are different from this one.I've also been wondering for a while what was up with the weather in-game. When you head outside the winter country, there's suddenly plains in sight.TL note: Probably a reference to Lutie Al De Baran in Ragnarok Online.It's because some games tried to fix that that it took hours just to get to other cities in those other games.There's good and bad sides to it right?Well,they all have their definitions of open world after all.Err, what do I do? I even went out of my way to pass by the park but the atmosphere just isn't changing.I really like this atmosphere when I'm talking with Ako. That's an indisputable fact. But I don't need this right now.As I was wondering what to do, I slipped my hand into my pocket and felt something touch my fingertips.Oh yeah, there's that note.Schwein and Master's confession strategy guide should be written there.Ako was looking up at the sun, squinting her eyes towards it as if she was some kind of vampire that was weak to sunlight. I took my gaze off of her for a moment and opened the note in secret.Written above the note was a concise message written with skillful penmanship.Don't screw with me.She's really useless.Well, if a plan like hers, who hasn't had a boyfriend for a single frame, actually worked, this wouldn't be a problem.Let's look at the lower side of the note then.The next characters were written in girly handwriting.She really sticking to her bad self act isn't she?As I looked further below,Profit my ass!I'm already going to fail at the first step!These guys really had no intention of helping me out at all Darn itI clicked my tongue as I went to fold back the note.Though, as I did that, I noticed that there was something else written at the back.You guysThey're both really great people after all.I have to do my best so as to not let them down. I want to do my best butBut How exactly do I get a nice mood going?Yes?Ah, I unconsciously said it in a voice loud enough for Ako to hear!Just what the heck am I doing asking the person directly that!Y, you're asking a pretty hard question aren't you Rusian? I know very well how to ruin the mood but creating a nice one you sayI figure I might as well ask, how exactly would you ruin the mood?Well, you see Like when a classmate is excitedly talking about something that I've been listening attentively to, but then I tell them I didn't hear a thing when asked. Or like when someone goes out of their way to look out for me and asks What do you think Tamaki-san?' and I just reply to them with a Huh?'. Acting like that when people get chummy with me is sure to turn the previously cheerful mood to a thing of the past.Sorry. It was my fault for asking.That example just sounds so real that it hurts to hear it. Just how hard have you lived up until now?Even though I felt like crying already, my wife seemed quite happy as she smiled.That's why I'm having so much fun when I'm with Rusian.Eh?I mean, you see, when I'm with Rusian, we're always in a nice mood. I guess it's because we're husband and wife after all, right?If this were in-game, a heart mark would probably be appearing out of her head to express her intense emotion.She's like a bugged character in the fact that I can raise her likeability just by being around her.It's because she's like this that I'm able to muster up all my courage to come up and talk to her like this.It doesn't matter anymore. I'll make Ako take responsibility for this emotion.Hey Ako.Yes?Ako turned to face me as I stopped in my tracks.I gently looked up towards her and began to stretch out my right hand. I then softly swept to the side her bangs which usually covered her face.Not having an ounce of uneasiness towards the hand touching her, she continued to look at me with her trusting gaze.As all this was happening, I continued to strongly grasp the note in my left hand.AkoI didn't stutter on calling out her name.That alone provides me great relief. I then gulped down my saliva as I continued.Please, go out with me.There was no response.Ako suddenly stopped as if taken aback by what I just said.Once more, I squeeze out every remaining bit of courage I had in my body and opened my mouth yet again.Please become my girlfriend!In that moment, the sun was overcast.A cold breeze blew through me and Ako, as her hair began to ruffle in the wind.Ako's expression was now hidden because of that.U, uhmThe wind stopped, and I was able to see her expression again.And over there, was the expression of someone who was at a complete loss It's that expression that yells out I thought we were just friends, but you confessing all of a sudden is kind of troubling' was what Ako had on at that moment.Er, ermRight now, I still won't stop sweating, but this is because of a much different reason than before.At this moment, a feeling of regret I had never ever felt before came over me.I truly didn't wish to hear what else that beloved voice of hers has yet to say.But, as if to completely ignore what I was thinking, Ako's mouth began to move again.No way.It was spoken so clearly that I couldn't even mistake hearing it for something else.And from my hand fell the note, which by now, had lost its purpose.