“Um, yeah, I did.”
At this point, I pretty much had to show myself, so I obeyed. When I appeared, Akira let out a scream.
“EEEEEK! REN?!” She started trembling with fear. “Aaaahhh!”
Seemingly immune, Akabane flashed a smile at me. “Well, Takashiro, the rest is up to you. Akira, consider this a present from me to you. A token of our friendship, so to speak. Going at your own pace would be far too slow, so I decided to move things along for you.”
Shizuku added, “Takashiro, you plan to come to our house tomorrow, right?”
“Y-Yes, ma’am. I mean, sir.”
“It’s thanks to you that Akira is so lively and happy at this school. I assure you, it’s not often that you can meet a person who has such an effect on you. As such, tomorrow, I want to entertain you as I would any potential husband of hers. I married into the Aoyagi family too, you know. You’ll get used to it before long.”
“Oh.”
“Grandpa, what the heeeeck?! You’re scaring Ren, you dummy!”
“Aww, look. I’ve gone and angered my granddaughter. Well, I’ll leave it to you now. We’ll await you with open arms tomorrow. Nozomi, let us be off.”
“Yes, let’s.”
As they logged out, Shizuku and Akabane disappeared. All that remained was me, standing there stunned, and a crying Akira. Silence fell over us, getting only heavier and heavier while we struggled over what to say.
What should I say at a time like this? I have no experience, so I’ve got no idea!
“Say something already! You, um, already heard what I would say,” Akira said, averting her eyes.
At that moment, I knew I had to respond. I leaned over the railing and took a deep breath.
Then, I screamed out into the sky, “I love you, toooo! Do you wanna go out, or whaaat?!”
For some reason, it sent a shiver down my spine.
This is more embarrassing than I thought! I wanted to be fair since Akira did it, but dang, that was hard! I can’t believe she had the nerve to do that on her own.
I turned back to face her. “So, how about it?”
“Just so you know, this isn’t like making two characters in a video game love each other! This is real-life stuff, okay?! I mean, we haven’t even met yet. Are you sure?”
“I know, I know. I don’t have that much of a disconnect with reality, trust me.”
“You basically live inside the game world, though.”
“Well, let’s put this in gaming terms, then. This is optimal! I wanted to game with you forever, so dating and maybe getting married would be optimal anyway!”
Akira loved my answer so much that she burst out laughing. “Ahahaha! Yep, that’s so you. I agree!” Tears sprang to her eyes as she continued to chuckle.
“You laugh, but I’m being serious. I’ve always loved playing games with you, even before we came to this school. You don’t know how shocked I was to see you were actually a cute girl.”
“Yep. You never doubted that I was a boy, right?”
“Never! It surprised me, but we kept on gaming like usual, and I found myself having even more fun. This might be selfish, but I can’t even calm down unless you’re smiling by my side. Just sucks to be without you, y’know? That’s why I was so serious about getting that Rainbow Guard for you.”
“Aww, Ren. I know how hard you tried.”
“If nothing else, I can at least tell you’re special to me. I’m just a simple gamer, so I’m satisfied with just playing together every day. But if we were to put a label on us, like boyfriend and girlfriend or whatever, then hey, why not? Anything’s fine as long as I’m with you.”
“Yeah, I feel the same way. I’m happy to hear how much you’ve been thinking about me.”
It felt as though the reason for her tears had changed. Akira gazed at me, radiating both joy and sorrow. She was ridiculously adorable.
“Yep. So I figured I’d wrap it all up in a few neat little words and follow your lead by screaming it to the world!”
“I-It wasn’t my idea, it was Nozomi’s! Jeez, you didn’t have to copy me!”
“Whatever, it’s all water under the bridge. Though the sight is eternally saved in my brain now.”
“Aaaaargh!” Akira put her hands on her head, but then she giggled. “Pfft... Heehee.”
“Uh, what’s up?”
“Since you embarrassed me so bad, maybe I oughta get what I want!”
Akira looked at me with a glint in her eye.
“Um... What’s the plan here?” I asked awkwardly.
She reached up and wrapped her arms around my neck. Then, she stretched as tall as she could and leaned in. Her beautiful, flawless face drew closer.
“Hey, Akira! Hold on, what are you doing?”
“Can’t you tell from the buildup? We’re gonna kiss!”
“But we’re outside. Besides, this is too sudden!”
“Like Nozomi said, I think with my heart and not my head. When I’m with you, I always want to do this. It’s not sudden; I’ve just been waiting for my chance! We’re already totally embarrassed, so we might as well.”
“S-Still, I...”
“What are we now? I seem to recall us having new titles.”
“Um, yeah. Boyfriend and girlfriend, right?”
“Then what’s the problem? C’mon, give up and close those eyes!”
“O-Okay.”
I gave up. I gave up so hard! I was surprised by how sudden it all was, but Akira was right; there really wasn’t a problem here other than the location. I figured I might as well enjoy the situation as much as I could. I closed my eyes and leaned in, to the point that I could feel her breath on my face.
Bzzzzt! Craaash!
There was a warning noise, accompanied by the sensation of something hitting me.
“Urk!”
I opened my eyes and saw a warning message in my system log!
This is a violation of the moral code! Lewd and lascivious acts are forbidden in this space!
Gaaah, seriously?! Well, okay, this is still a school! Does the game forcibly cancel these kinds of actions?
Fortunately, it didn’t do much but shake me a little. However, Akira—the one who had initiated the kiss—took quite the impact and was blown away. She flew high into the air, sailing over the park’s fence. Then, she fell straight down!
“Aaaaahhh!”
Her scream trailed off into the distance.
“Oh crap! She fell!”
Akira is exhausted...
Whoa, and she died!
So, to summarize... A girl agreed to go steady with me for the first time in my life, and just when she tried to kiss me, she got blown away and died.
It was incomprehensible, but at the same time, it was the truth!
“Umm... I guess I’ll go home. She should revive back at the cottage.”
Just as I tried to head home, I heard a ping!
Oh, hey, a message from Akira.
It read: “Don’t look for me.”
Yeah, fair. That was pretty embarrassing.
At that point, I decided to log out.
The next day, while I was at home, I heard the sound of the doorbell.
Ding-dong.
I went up to the door to answer.
“Um, good morning, Ren. Sorry about yesterday.”
There stood my first-ever real-life girlfriend, Akira, with incredible shame on her face!