Date A Live Encore - Volume 6 - Chapter 2

Nia Galgame

 “Actually… there is someone that I care about right now…” 

 One day, Honjou Nia suddenly said such a thing. 

 Short dark hair and red-framed glasses were the distinguishing characteristics of this young woman. She was just a little older than Shido, and was currently wearing a high neck sweater and denim jeans. 

 Up to this point these were features that Shido was familiar with. But—the expression on her face was subtly different from her usual expression. 

 Her cheeks were flushed a deep red and her eyes were slightly moist. Nia, a girl who was not usually feminine, was now acting like a young girl in love for the first time. 

 However— 

 Shido wore a puzzled expression on his face that matched how he felt as he responded to her. 

 Afterward, there was a deafening silence in the room, the only sound was the new broadcast from the TV which, in the presence of the otherwise silent room, sounded even louder than normal. 

 …Just to be clear, it wasn’t Shido’s intention to look down on Nia at all. She was still a young woman after all, and if she found something or someone that made her happy, Shido thought that was wonderful and wanted to do everything he could to support her. 

 However, Shido didn’t know whether what Nia wanted would be fully accepted… No, it might be a little too optimistic to say. She did hold such beliefs after all. 

 Shido took a deep breath as he faced Nia. At the same time, a gentle smile appeared on his face as he asked: 

 “So, which manga character is it? What’s with those loving eyes of yours?” 

 Nia tapped on the table as she uttered a high-pitched sound. 

 However, it wasn’t a surprise that Shido would react the way he did. After all, Nia was a veritable otaku. At one point, she used to believe that she could only like people that were 2D. To see a young woman like her give such a shy answer, it only reminded him of this time of life. 

 “Huh? It isn’t?!” 

 “That’s not it! You really are a boy! You don’t understand the hearts of girls~!” 

 “…” 

 “Hey! Why are you silent all of a sudden? Do you really think that I don’t have a girlish heart?” 

 “Uh, I never said that…” 

 Shido scratched his cheek while sighing softly before replying: 

 “…So is there really someone you feel that way about? If that’s the case—I will support you.” 

 “Huh, really?” 

 “Yeah. Well, it also depends on what kind of person the other party is… but I never had a reason to believe that you were interested in 3D people.” 

 After he finished saying that, Shido narrowed his eyes in amusement. 

 “Oh~? Could it be that Boy is jealous~?” 

 “W-Why do you have to say such things so suddenly…” 

 Hearing Nia, Shido couldn’t help but frown. 

 Honestly… Shido was a little worried. 

 This wasn’t a surprise after all. Although it was only for the sake of sealing their Spirit powers that he dated and kissed the Spirits, Shido had grown to value them and wanted to do his best to help them and not just be in love with them. 

 Of course—Nia was no exception. In fact, when he learned that Nia wasn’t talking about manga characters, Shido’s heart felt a complicated emotion sweep through him. 

 But Shido understood that he couldn’t control how Nia thought and felt. This fact made his heart feel very unpleasant. 

 After seeing Shido’s expression, Nia laughed as though she were aware of his thoughts: 

 “Hahaha! It was worth it to see your expression just now!” 

 “S-Stop that!” 

 Shido sighed and continued: 

 “…So what’s the problem with that guy? You called me specifically because there was something you wanted to discuss with me, right?” 

 That’s right. Shido wasn’t currently in his own home but instead in the apartment where Nia lived. Earlier that morning, Shido received a call from her and said that she needed his help with something, and Shido immediately came by. 

 “Hm… actually, although that person is very good looking, there is still a problem…” 

 “A problem? What is it?” 

 After Shido tilted his head and asked, Nia put her hand on her chin and answered: 

 “The other party doesn’t feel the same way about me.” 

 “…So this is an unrequited love?” 

 “That’s right.” 

 Nia replied with a laugh while Shido crossed his arms and responded: 

 “So… how exactly am I supposed to help you?” 

 “Long story short, I want Boy to help me catch that person. After all, you have several Spirits who are crazy about you.” 

 “…I still think that you’re picking the wrong person here…” 

 Shido smiled bitterly as he felt sweat trail down his cheeks. He thought it would have been better to consult Kotori or Reine about this sort of thing. 

 However, Nia shook her head as she quickly stood up and grabbed Shido’s hand. 

 “That’s not the case. Let me introduce you two.” 

 “Wait. Right now?” 

 “Well, it’s better to choose the date rather than have it chosen for you. Or is it something that you leave for later?” 

 “That’s not… where exactly is this person?” 

 “Huh? Right here in my room.” 

 Shido listened to what she said and immediately fell silent for a moment. 

 “So… let me just confirm something really quickly: you didn’t kidnap this person and hold them here as a prisoner, right?” 

 “What?” 

 Nia’s eyes shot wide open in an instant before turning away from him. 

 “How fascinating…” 

 “What’s so fascinating about that?!” 

 “Ahaha, I’m just messing with you. How could I do such a terrible thing? No matter how much I like someone, you usually wouldn’t imprison them, right? Then I had a thought: shouldn’t you want to imprison your favorite girl in your heart?” 

 “H-How would that even be possible, just…” 

 “Just what?” 

 “…No, never mind.” 

 Shido couldn’t bring himself to tell the truth by saying that he had some experience with being imprisoned so he glossed over it vaguely. 

 “Anyway, let me introduce you to each other.” 

 “Wait a minute!” 

 After speaking, Nia turned on the computer sitting on the table and the title of a dating simulator appeared on the screen. 

 “…Isn’t this just a dating sim?!” 

 “Hmm? Yeah, but it’s not a manga character though~” 

 “I think your self confident tone speaks to indicate what your favorite 2D character is…” 

 Shido sighed heavily as he sat down on the chair next to her. 

 What could he say? A sort of helpless mood and an inexplicable sense of peace were intertwined and his whole body felt weak. 

 Perhaps having noticed Shido’s reaction, Nia flashed him a playful smile as she spoke: 

 “Huh? What? Could it be that you’re relieved? Could it be that Boy feels relieved because Nia hasn’t been stolen away by another man?” 

 “N-No, nothing like that…” 

 “Huh? Really?” 

 “Yeah. I really intend to support you…” 

 “Oh? Wait, was I mistaken? …I have to make a note, teenagers are into NTR…” 

 “Don’t try to maliciously twist my words! Hey, why are you taking so many notes?!” 

 After Shido shouted at her, Nia waved a notebook she had pulled out of nowhere and smiled boldly at him. 

 Talking to Nia would always lead to situations like this. Shido scratched his head, sighed, and soon gave up. 

 “…So are you unable to make the characters in this game fall in love with you?” 

 “Well, I have plenty of experience playing these kinds of games, but the difficulty of this game is ridiculous; I can’t clear it.” 

 “So that’s the problem…” 

 Shido rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he glanced at the screen. 

 It looked like a very real dating simulator game. In that respect, he was better qualified than most people to help Nia in this pursuit. Not that he was bragging or anything, but he used to play the training simulation game <Love! My Little Shido> under the condition that if he picked the wrong choices, he would be severely punished. He managed to clear it at once. 

 “So who is the target character?” 

 “Oh, it’s this girl. Her name is Maruna Alice.” 

 Nia operated the mouse and displayed illustrations of the characters—a cute-looking female high school student that answered Shido’s question. 

 “…A girl?!” 

 “Well, yeah… ah, could it be that you’re not used to playing with male characters and you can’t help it? Sorry, sorry.” 

 “Definitely not.” 

 “Must make a note… Teenagers are into boys…” 

 “Stop that! Don’t try to take notes about such dangerous matters!” 

 Shido reached out in an attempt to snatch the notebook from Nia’s grasp, but missed. Nia quickly opened the collar of her turtleneck and tucked the notebook back into her clothes. 

 “Hey! Nia, aren’t you being cruel?!” 

 “Hey, hey, if you want it so badly, then come over and take it. I don’t mind.” 

 After she finished speaking, Nia twisted her waist. Shido raised his head and made an uncertain noise. 

 “Well? Aren’t you going to take it from me? You really are still just an innocent teenager.” 

 “No… I don’t want to trouble you!” 

 Nia poked Shido’s nose with a finger to tease him. Shido, in turn, blushed and looked away. 

 “In short, I hope you can help me win her over, Understand?” 

 “…Although there are still many problems, I get it. If you’re okay with me, I can try to help.” 

 “Really? Yay! Boy, I love you~ You’ve won my heart! I’ll allow you to come over to my house and hug me.” 

 “…Ah. Well, okay. A hug.” 

 Shido replied indifferently as he made a move to coax her; Nia pouted, her expression dissatisfied. 

 “You just spoke so coldly that it makes me want to cry.” 

 “Then don’t say things that are difficult for other people to respond to.” 

 “Ah, by the way, the phrase “Then” was actually a pun, did you realize it? 

 “Okay! So let’s get started playing this game! I’m looking forward to it!” 

 Shido was quick to shout to interrupt what Nia was about to say. He felt that he couldn’t let her continue. 

 “What’s the matter, aren’t you excited yet?” 

 Nia smirked as she sat down next to Shido, her hand on the mouse again. 

 She then operated the screen to start the game. 

 So far, nothing looked strange. The protagonist was a student. The people that could fall in love included classmates, sisters, colleagues at the office, etc. There weren’t any options to choose from just yet at the beginning of the game. It was just to introduce the relationship between the protagonist and the female characters. 

 “What. This seems pretty standard to me. Where is it difficult?” 

 Shido glanced at Nia in confusion and asked. Nia suddenly lowered her shoulders in a charming way as she raised her sultry gaze and stared at Shido. 

 “Actually, I only said that as an excuse to break the ice. The real purpose was to bring you here to my room.” 

 “Okay, I’m going home.” 

 “Ah~! Wait, I was only joking!” 

 Shido immediately stood up from the chair and Nia grabbed onto his clothes. It really seemed like she’d been joking. 

 “Oh, you’re always joking around but if you keep that up, no one will believe you when something does happen.” 

 “Ah~! It’s the so-called Boy who cried wolf. But isn’t there a saying that all boys are all wild wolves? Be careful. In other words, a wolf boy is actually just a boy boy. Boy x Boy means…” 

 “Hey, did you just have another dirty idea for that boy?” 

 “In short, just keep playing.” 

 After speaking, Nia clicked on the screen to continue the dialogue. Shido continued to watch the screen quietly despite his wonder at the situation. 

 Soon, the protagonist in the picture started a conversation with the female character, Alice, that seemed to conquer Nia. It seemed that she was a difficult girl, always criticizing the protagonist’s every move. 

 “It always turns out like this. If there was such a person in reality, it would be really difficult… But this is a game character. In other words, there is a correct option in order to progress, no matter how troublesome her personality is…” 

 “Wait a minute, the options are coming soon.” 

 Nia interrupted Shido as she clicked the mouse. 

 Usually for these kinds of dating simulator games, the game will provide a set of options, and the player’s choice would determine the protagonist’s actions. Then, the different options selected would affect the protagonist’s favorability, and can change the story’s development. 

 Therefore, unlike action or puzzle games, even if you didn’t have any particular skill, you could still find the correct route through a few replays. 

 Therefore, if he were being honest, Shido didn’t understand why Nia would say that this game is difficult. 

 “…Huh?” 

 Soon after, just as Nia said, the options were displayed on the screen. 

 —Tons of options filled the entire screen. 

 “There are way too many!” 

 Shido couldn’t help but shout out loud. 

 This wasn’t a surprise. Normally, there were usually only three options for these kinds of games, but for this game that wasn’t the case. There had to be at least a hundred options just from a glance. 

 “No way…” 

 Shido’s eyes narrowed. Upon closer inspection, there was a scroll bar on the right side of the screen. After scrolling down, Nia discovered even more options below. 

 “H-Hey… what’s with this? Are all of these really options for us to choose how to proceed?” 

 “It looks like that’s the case. And even after this, there are even more options. Based on the different combinations, the story’s development will further divide. Plus, this is clearly a dating sim, but there’s no way that there’s a guide for it. I’m telling you, I’ve already run into at least 80 bad endings with just Alice. I wonder if the people who developed this game were neurotic…” 

 Nia shrugged and looked at Shido helplessly. 

 “…So you’re telling me that this game doesn’t want anyone to advance through the story? Why is there such a weird game on the market? Who made this?” 

 After Shido asked this with sweat dripping down his forehead, Nia tilted her head blankly. 

 “No idea.” 

 “You don’t know? Did you throw away the box? Even if you downloaded it, there should be a receipt…” 

 “No, it’s because I didn’t buy it.” 

 “Huh…?” 

 After hearing Nia’s answer, this time Shido tilted his head in wonder. 

 “What do you mean? Then where did this game come from?” 

 “Hmm~… Just a few days ago, I received a strange email that contained only a single URL in it. After I clicked on that URL, the window jumped to the game download page.” 

 “That’s way too suspicious!” 

 Shido couldn’t help but shout loudly. This was clearly a fraudulent tactic. 

 “You need to be more careful about this sort of thing… Those kinds of websites are hard to track down. It can potentially leak personal information.” 

 “Okay~.” 

 Nia replied casually. At the same time, she was still staring at the characters on the screen as she replied. 

 Obviously, what Shido said went in one ear and out the other. Shido could only sigh and faced the screen again. 

 “Anyway… we can only choose one option to advance. This character is called…?” 

 “Alice.” 

 “…Now, this seemed like this was my first contact with Alice. It was reasonable to think that you ought to compliment her, right? 

 “According to common sense, that would be true. However…” 

 Nia’s eyes narrowed as she scrolled down the screen. 

 “What exactly do you want to compliment? Her face? Body? Hairstyle? Clothing? The atmosphere? Should I go with a direct compliment? Or compliment her with a poem? Each option is divided into many detailed similes: Like a doll? Like a goddess? There are so many tempting options. Which one do you want to choose?” 

 “…” 

 Seeing the sheer variety of options that only seemed to increase as he continued to read, Shido found himself panicking. There were unlimited options when it came to talking to real girls, but there was something really disorienting about seeing them displayed like that. 

 However, if they didn’t make a decision, they wouldn’t be able to move forward. Shido looked up as he frowned and continued: 

 “Hmm… now that I’m thinking about it… isn’t this girl more difficult to please? So wouldn’t it be better to not choose something that’s not too exaggerated?” 

 “Oh, so it’s something like that. Then we should probably choose something like ‘your hair is pretty’ on the 129th row?” 

 “Hmm… yeah. Let’s try that first and see what happens.” 

 “Okay!” 

 Finally, Nia moved the mouse and clicked that option— 

 [“Your hair is so beautiful!”] 

 [“…Huh? Who are you?”] 

 Alice asked in the picture with a puzzled expression. Shido couldn’t help but scream. 

 “If we’re meeting for the first time, this seems like a little too much!” 

 But if they thought about it, this would make sense. If it was an ordinary girl in this situation, this would be the standard option, but because there were so many options, maybe they should take it a step at a time. 

 “No, wait a minute. The next options have shown up.” 

 “Huh?” 

 Hearing Nia’s voice, Shido’s gaze immediately snapped back to the screen. Indeed, there was another set of seemingly endless selection of options to choose from. Alice regarded the protagonist with a suspicious expression. 

 “Uh… in short, now we have to defend ourselves. We have to choose an option with an apology first and then try to compliment her again.” 

 “So that’s the approach we should take… So… I should do this one: “Ah… I’m sorry. It’s because it was so beautiful, I couldn’t help it…”? 

 “Although that choice is a little too apologetic… I think it’s acceptable.” 

 After Shido finished explaining, Nia nodded in agreement and picked that option. 

 [Ah… I’m sorry. It’s because I couldn’t help it…”] 

 [Ah…] 

 […Ah, is that so? Anyway, I’m in a hurry.] 

 Alice immediately left after taking another look at the suspicious person’s expression. Then, Alice’s favorability displayed in the corner of the screen suddenly dropped. 

 “That’s too realistic!” 

 Shido couldn’t help but shriek. 

◇◇◇

 In the apartment complex next to the Itsuka household, Yatogami Tohka gazed intently at the smartphone in her hand. 

 “Wow… I had no idea that my phone could do all of this…” 

 Her beautiful dark hair twitched slightly in excitement, her crystalline eyes following as she scrolled through her screen on her phone. Every time she swiped, her throat let out a surprised “Whoa!” or “Amazing!” 

 “…You get excited way too easily. You were actually serious when you said you didn’t know any other functions aside from calling?” 

 A petite girl sitting on the bed asked Tohka. Her hair and face were a little messy. She was one of the Spirits living in the complex: Natsumi. 

 “Well, I have seen Shido and Kotori using their cell phones… anyway, this is really amazing! Can I really use this small box to take pictures, listen to music… and a bunch of other things, right?” 

 “Isn’t there something called the Internet…?” 

 The answer came from another Spirit sitting next to Natsumi, Yoshino. She was a cute girl with a rabbit puppet on her left hand. 

 That’s right. Tohka and Yoshino were listening as Natsumi explained how to use their cell phones. Both of them received cell phones from Kotori, but they barely knew how to use them. 

 “Well… that’s right. Nowadays, new cell phones emphasize Internet access rather than being able to call people.” 

 “Muu… I still don’t really get it, what exactly is the Internet?” 

 “If you ask me something like that, it’s hard for me to explain… In short, as long as you remember that the network is formed by the interconnection of computers, it allows you to do many things at home.” 

 “Many things…?” 

 “What kinds of things can we do~?” 

 Yoshino and her hand puppet Yoshinon tilted their heads as they asked, Natsumi operated her own smartphone and answered: 

 “…Well, for example, you can watch movies, check the news, and communicate with anyone all over the world. …It’s also possible to reserve tickets, buy books, or order takeout without having to call, you can just do it online.” 

 “What! Can all of that really be done?” 

 “That’s… convenient…” 

 Tohka and Yoshino’s eyes seemed to shine with excitement and Natsumi could feel sweat trail down her cheeks. 

 “…But there are also dangerous websites out there. It’s best to use it with someone who knows how to use a cell phone before you decide. But… It looks like Kotori installed a child lock on your phones so it probably won’t let you go to any weird websites…” 

 “Muu… I don’t really get it, but you’re really amazing! Natsumi, you know so many things!” 

 “Yes… Natsumi-san is really amazing!” 

 “No… I’m nothing special…” 

 Faced with their looks of admiration, Natsumi shrugged her shoulders in embarrassment. 

 “No, you’re incredible! I have so much to learn from you!” 

 “Natsumi is really knowledgeable… and admirable.” 

 “N-No… I’m not as impressive as you think I am…” 

 “Don’t be humble, you are very smart.” 

 “Yes, Natsumi-san is… so beautiful.” 

 “W-Whooooooah!” 

 While Natsumi was blushing and protesting, the intercom in the room rang. 

 “Muu?” 

 Tohka tilted her head and approached the intercom before taking a look at the picture displayed above. 

 At most, this apartment could only be visited by relevant personnel from <Ratatoskr> like Shido or Kotori, so Tohka originally thought that this time it must have been one of them, but… that wasn’t the case. 

 Standing in the picture was a strange man holding something in his hand. 

 “Who is that?” 

 After Tohka pressed the call button on the intercom, the man replied in an energetic voice and said: 

 [“Sorry to keep you waiting! I work for PIZZA GRAZIE! I have your delivery right here!”] 

 “Muu…?” 

 Tohka turned around and looked at the others curiously. Yoshino, who was sitting on the bed, looked at Natsumi who shook her head. 

 “I… didn’t order anything.” 

 “…Me neither… Could it be for you, Tohka? You know that you can order food online.” 

 “But I haven’t done that yet! Besides, do they really deliver it that quickly?” 

 After Tohka finished speaking, the voice came through the intercom again. 

 [“Sorry to keep you waiting, Asakusa Sushi is here! The five-piece sushi you order has arrived!”] 

 [“This is Penglai Pavilion! The ten bowls of ramen you ordered has arrived!”] 

 “H-Huh? What the hell is going on?!” 

 It seemed that all kinds of takeout restaurants flocked to the apartment one after the other. Tohka frowned in confusion. 

 “Ah… Natsumi-san! Tohka-san!” 

 At that moment, Yoshino peeked out the window as though she’d discovered something. Natsumi and Tohka also peeked out the window, likewise also frowning in wonder. 

 The street seemed to be clustered with deliveries from several pizza restaurants and sushi restaurants, with some fire trucks, ambulances, and patrol cars mixed in as well. 

◇◇◇

 “Choose this… now!” 

 —Shido used the mouse that Nia gave him to make the selections in the game. 

 After a few hours, Alice’s favorability was finally improving slightly. 

 “Oh! So there is a way, Boy! Truly, you are worthy of being a Spirit Killer!” 

 “Don’t give me such a weird name, okay?!” 

 Shido narrowed his eyes and responded to Nia as he sighed. 

 In the dialogue during the initial contact, there were three questions with nearly a thousand different options each, and if they didn’t pick the correct combination, it would lead directly to a bad ending. In the end, Shido finally managed to pass this incredibly difficult level, and his spirit was tired. 

 “Wow, this is the first time I’ve seen Alice’s favorability increase into the double digits.” 

 “We’ve still got a long road ahead of us…” 

 Just then, Shido’s eyebrows twitched. Because, once again, the options showed up, and the picture began to change. 

 It seemed that the protagonist found Alice, who was entangled by a delinquent during school. At that time, there was a long list of options. 

 “We… We have to save her.” 

 “Yeah. It’s a classic scenario where the hero saves the beauty so that they have a good impression of the hero.” 

 Shido and Nia nodded to each other and chose the option to confront the bad boy. 

 Although there were several options to say whatever they wanted, the safest bet was choosing a standard option that wasn’t too innovative. 

 [“Hey! Can’t you tell that this girl doesn’t want to deal with you? Let her go.”] 

 [“Huh? Who the hell are you?”] 

 The bad guy’s response was old-fashioned. Basically, the process is almost the same as always. Next, as long as the bad guy runs away, Alice’s favorability can be improved. Usually, the bad guy would end up falling into the water, Alice calls the police, the bad guy flees, and the protagonist wakes up with his head on Alice’s thighs… This kind of development. 

 However, in the next moment, the picture that displayed on the screen was far beyond what Shido could have imagined. 

 The background music suddenly changed to something more majestic, and the screen, originally composed mainly of the character’s full body illustration and dialogue box, now showed the protagonist facing the bad guy face-to-face, and there was a health meter also displayed at the top of the screen. 

 That’s right—it was like a fighting game. 

 “Huh! W-What the hell is this…” 

 Even if he shouted, the game wouldn’t wait for anyone to read. After the text “Fight!” appeared at the center of the screen, the bad guy immediately attacked the protagonist. The protagonist made a painful noise and his health meter fell. 

 “Hey wait a minute! Why did it suddenly turn into a fighting game! I’m using a mouse to play! How do I—” 

 During Shido’s protests, the bad boy still kept attacking. Finally, his hands released a mysterious energy bomb, knocking the protagonist out cold. 

 “No way!” 

 “What kind of trick is this?!” 

 The protagonist, along with Shido, and Nia’s exclamations, muttered, “W-W-Whoa…” He let out one last painful cry before he slumped to the ground, unconscious. 

◇◇◇

 “…” 

 “…” 

 In an abandoned building on the outskirts of Tengu City, two figures appeared. 

 One was a slender girl with light shoulder length hair; the other was a tall girl with light indigo hair. 

 Both of them were wearing trench coats and sunglasses to conceal their identities. They both also held hard aluminum suitcases, just like the Mafia did when they were doing illegal trade business. 

 “—Do you have the goods?” 

 First came the slender girl—Origami. The taller girl, Miku, chuckled and replied: 

 “I do, Origami-san, but you haven’t forgotten either, have you~?” 

 “Of course not.” 

 The two nodded at each other and placed the hard aluminum suitcases in their hands on the ground. 

 They then opened their respective boxes to show the contents to the other party. 

 “Come on, this is a valuable photo of Shido hidden from everyone else~!” 

 “This is a body pillow that contains records of Shido’s dreams.” 

 After introducing their belongings, the two took a quick sip of water and walked toward each other’s suitcases. 

 “So it turns out… just hug like this…” 

 “U-Um… let’s just rest for another five minutes…” 

 “How nasty! Darling really is so cute, it’s so unbearable!” 

 Miku flailed wildly as she clutched the pillow tightly. Origami glanced at Miku and examined the photos in Miku’s suitcase. 

 “—Perfect.” 

 The photos showed Shido wearing women’s clothing, as taken from various angles, each of which was a composition not currently found in Origami’s collection. 

 “However, I have to say I’m a little surprised. I figured that you should already have this most basic photo of Darling, Origami-san~.” 

 Origami heard what Miku said and shook her head in denial. 

 “The ‘Former me” would have them. But in this world, the fact that I had taken those pictures has disappeared, so my top priority right now is recovering as much of the collection as I can.” 

 “Ah … that’s what happened.” 

 Miku nodded in understanding. 

That’s right. The course of history in this world was changed thanks to the power of the Spirits. It ended up saving Origami—but at the cost of losing her entire collection of Shido memorabilia she’d accumulated over the years. 

 “The inspection is complete. Now, the negotiation is correct~!” 

 “—No objections. However, there is one more thing I would like to discuss with you.” 

 “Discuss…?” 

 “Yes. I want the original files of these photos. Of course, I won’t leave you disadvantaged. I’ll give you the audio file of the pillow in exchange, okay?” 

 After Origami finished speaking, Miku’s eyes radiated a blinding brilliance. 

 “Really~! I’m okay with that, of course! Now then, let me pass those files on to you~!” 

 Finally, Miku whipped out her smartphone and quickly went to work searching for the files. 

 Origami nodded, pulled out her smartphone too, and opened a folder saved on her server. 

 “…?” 

 But she noticed immediately that something was wrong and frowned. This was because all of the various archives she had of Shido that should have been there, some of them had been replaced with different folders. 

 “Is this… a hacker…?” 

 “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!” 

 Miku suddenly screamed in horror and fell to the ground. Origami’s head shot up and rushed to her side. 

 “What happened?” 

 “Dar… Darling’s photos… Oh my God…” 

 Miku’s face was pale, and her voice was clearly filled with emptiness, like an explorer who discovered something they wished they hadn’t seen. 

 “…?” 

 Origami glanced at the smartphone screen in Miku’s hands. Instead of the many pictures of Shido, there were a bunch of photos of muscular men. 

◇◇◇

 “—Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!” 

 “Go! Now’s our chance! Finish him off!” 

 Shido, with Nia’s support, mashed the keys. At the same time, the protagonist in the picture was covered in a bright aura and continued to attack the baddie. 

 Incidentally, by this point, Shido was not holding an ordinary mouse but instead a game controller which was connected to the computer. An ordinary mouse and keyboard wouldn’t work for this game, so Nia managed to dig out a game controller from the depths of her drawer. 

 However, even with the game controller, Shido continued losing to the bad guy. The reason was simple: the opponent was too strong. However, after what felt like an endless wave of defeats, the character that Shido controlled finally managed to push the bad guy into critical health. 

 “Take this… the finishing blow!” 

 Shido slid his heavenly worn fingers and quickly activated the Nirvana command (something he discovered the existence of through numerous battles). The protagonist was enveloped in a mysterious aura, before attacking the bad boy relentlessly. 

 The bad boy was shocked, and the coveted “You Win!” appeared on the screen. 

 “We did it!” 

 “We did it!” 

 Shido suddenly shot up from his chair, while Nia screamed emotionally and hugged Shido. 

 In that moment, Shido felt only joy. …After a moment, he finally managed to calm down and suddenly he felt embarrassed and pushed Nia away. 

 “N-Nia, don’t hug me.” 

 “Eh? Why? Could it be that you’re shy? You’re so cute.” 

 “D-Don’t make fun of me. The point is, we can move on to the next stage.” 

 Shido sat back down in his chair and continued to play the game. The screen from the previous fighting game had reverted back to the original screen of the dating sim game. 

 [“Are you alright, Alice?”] 

 [Tch… You should really just mind your own business. Why would you want to save me…”] 

 Alice’s words were sour, but her favor was rising. Shido couldn’t help but clench his fists. 

 After that, the story proceeded smoothly. They’d even managed to get her to agree to a date. 

 So that Sunday, they met in front of the station and walked side by side on the street. 

 “Oh. It looks like everything’s going smoothly.” 

 “Yeah. I don’t know where I’m going to take her.” 

 Shido continued the conversation—but suddenly, he paused. 

 The reason was simple. 

 [“I never would have guessed that you, Alice, would come to such a place. It was a little unexpected.”] 

 [“Why would that matter? I always come to visit the playground at least once.”] 

 “…” 

 “…” 

 Seeing the dialogue on the screen, Shido and Nia couldn’t help but look at each other as a very ominous hunch formed in their minds. 

 “Say, Nia, this…” 

 “Uh, no, how could it be…” 

 The two of them both smiled. As they continued their conversation, the screen became an interface for a rhythm game, and in accordance, several symbols quickly fell from above. 

 “Not again!” 

 “What the hell even is this?!” 

 The apartment was filled with the two’s protesting wails. 

◇◇◇

 “Behold! Cleaving through the darkness, the Yamai sisters have arrived!” 

 “Visit. We’re here to play, Kotori.” 

 That came from the twin Spirit sisters as they entered the temporary command center for Ratatoskr: Yamai Kaguya and Yamai Yuzuru. 

 <Ratatoskr>’s Commander Itsuka Kotori whose hair was tied into twin tails with a pair of black ribbons let out a faint sigh. 

 “…Like I said, even though it’s temporary, it’s also still the command center.” 

 “Oh, there’s need to look so worried. The online game that Yuzuru and I were originally going to play was suddenly down for maintenance and so we had some free time.” 

 “Gift. Please accept this. Cream puffs from “La Pucelle” that we bought on our way here.” 

 After she finished speaking, Yuzuru passed her a beautiful box. Kotori pursed her lips and let out a thoughtful ‘Mmm.’ 

 “Honestly… I have been working at this for a while. I guess I can spare some time for afternoon tea.” 

 Kotori finished speaking as she let out a sigh. Kaguya and Yuzuru smiled at each other and extended their hands up to give each other a high-five. 

 However, just when Kotori was about to stand up to leave— 

 “—Commander, sorry to interrupt, but please take a look at this.” 

 A crew member sitting on the lower platform in the command center, Shiizaki, called out, showing an image on the main monitor to Kotori. 

 “What’s this?” 

 “It seems that someone just attacked the <Fraxinus> AI through the Internet.” 

 “What are you talking about? Did we lose anything?” 

 “No, the AI was able to quarantine the program before it could cause any damage. But…” 

 “But what?” 

 “Well, I investigated it because I was worried. This program didn’t seem to be directed at <Ratatoskr> specifically, just randomly distributed. It looks like it was the result of an email with a URL prompting recipients to click on it. These lead to fake files disguised as games, which were used as a starting point to spread out more broadly.” 

 After hearing what Shiizaki said, Kotori frowned. 

 “…What’ll happen if someone gets attacked by that program?” 

 At that moment, the other crew members who were also sitting below expressed their concerns one after the other. 

 “Commander, there seem to be several incidents in Japan that required emergency vehicles to be dispatched as a result.” 

 “It seems that it can also take files stored on either a public or personal server, which would then be replaced with different files.” 

 “It looks like the bank ATM failure this morning was because of this. What’s worse is that it looks like the virus is still spreading rapidly. If left unchecked, it could lead to some major problems down the line.” 

 After hearing what the crew reported, a serious expression appeared on Kotori’s face. 

 “Well, we’re not exactly experts in this area… but we can’t ignore this. Let’s have the <Fraxinus> AI analyze the virus.” 

 “Roger!” 

 “Kaguya, Yuzuru, I’m really sorry, but it seems I’ll have to take a pass on afternoon tea for now.” 

 After Kotori finished, the Yamai sisters, having realized how serious the situation was, nodded in understanding. 

 “It’s fine.” 

 “Support. Please let us help.” 

 Kotori nodded in response as she turned her attention back to the main screen. 

 “Whew…” 

 “Wow… that was exhausting…” 

 After several more hours of gameplay, Shido and Nia were both worn out, laying on the ground. 

 They finally managed to clear the music game and Alice went on to play other games ranging from racing, puzzle, shooting, a slot machine, horse racing, and so on. Therefore, Shido and Nia had no choice but to follow suit. 

 What’s worse was that every game was incredibly hard. Despite the two taking turns, they were at their limits. 

 However, Alice was still going strong. She moved on to the next game. 

 [“I want to play this next.”] 

 [“Huh? Isn’t this…”] 

 After the protagonist responded, the screen displayed the game in question. There were several mahjong tiles with illustrations of sexy half-naked girls. 

 “…Why would we play strip mahjong on a date?!” 

 Shido couldn’t help but shriek. Yes, it looked like Alice chose the so-called strip Mahjong, where those who lost at Mahjong had to take off their clothes. 

 However, there was no point complaining about the game itself. It had to be the same as the other games so far; once they cleared this game, the story could continue. 

 “Mahjong, huh? Hmm… leave this game to me.” 

 Nia rolled up her sleeves and picked up the game controller. 

 “Nia? Have you played Mahjong before?” 

 “Yeah. I used to play online for nights at a time before.” 

 Nia replied confidently as she began to play the game. As a result, the computer automatically began dealing out cards— 

 The next moment, the word “Tianhu” popped up on the screen while showing the opponent’s card. 

 “Huh…?” 

 Nia saw this, and looked astonished. However, this wasn’t a surprise. Mahjong was basically a game of dealing, discarding, and drawing cards, but “Tianhu” was the equivalent to already playing the winning card before the game could even start, similar to how Nirvana couldn’t be countered. 

 To put it simply, Nia lost before she could even play. To be perfectly honest, playing with a computer and then losing in this sort of situation was really ridiculous. 

 However, Shido and Nia didn’t have any other choice but to keep playing. Nia frowned impatiently but still kept up her morale as she pressed the retry button. 

 “Damn, I need a do-over.” 

 However, even though Nia pressed the button repeatedly, the game didn’t restart. Instead, a message window popped up on the screen. 

 [Computer wins. The player must now take off an article of clothing.] 

 “What…? What the hell are you talking about?” 

 Nia continued to press the restart button with a confused expression. But every time she hit the button, the microphone sounded an error. 

 “This is strip Mahjong, but how does the computer know whether the player has undressed or not…?” 

 It was at that moment that Nia fell silent. 

 It was then that she noticed something, she spotted the camera lens set above the computer screen where the two were playing the game. 

 “…Is it checking using the built-in camera? Do I really need to take off my clothes to restart the game?” 

 “Ugh, what kind of ridiculous game is this? …Assuming it’s that good, there’s no need to keep playing this game, you know.” 

 “Then… that means…” 

 Nia heard what Shido said and agreed. 

 However, at that moment, the picture changed again. The character pointed his finger at them and asked, [“Have you taken it off yet? if you don’t want to play, get lost, and bring shame upon your family!”] 

 A vein burst atop Nia’s forehead at the provocation. 

 “Fine! I’ll take it off!” 

 Nia shouted as she removed her denim jeans that she’d been wearing to reveal her sexy black panties and suspenders. Because her upper body still had her high-necked knitwear, the contrast between her upper and lower body was extremely erotic. 

 “H-Hey, Nia…” 

 Shido quickly looked away. However, Nia didn’t show any sort of embarrassment as she stared at the computer again. 

 It seemed that the picture had been replaced with the Mahjong game, which then restarted. 

 “Sure enough… Well, don’t you dare underestimate Honjou-san. Anyway, I will make you regret this. My panties are not coming off!” 

 Nia stared at the screen intently. 

 However, the word “Tianhu” appeared again on the screen. 

 “Fuck, fuck, ah ah ah ah ah!” 

 Nia roared as she chucked the game controller in her hand. 

 “Ah, dammit! I definitely want to take this shitty woman’s clothes!” 

 Nia finished resentfully as she reluctantly tugged the turtleneck shirt on her body and pulled it off in a single breath. It seemed that she wasn’t wearing another shirt underneath that one; all that was left were her underwear and tights. 

 “H-hey, calm down a little! If you lose again, things won’t end well!” 

 “Boy, keep your eyes on the screen! I will definitely show her who has the better chest!” 

Finally, Nia pointed at the girl on the screen. Incidentally, it wasn’t Alice but instead a different character from the Mahjong game. 

 “You’re saying such indecent words again…” 

 Shido glanced at Nia, his face flushed a deep red. 

 “…Nia, do you usually wear that kind of underwear?” 

 “Huh? No, not usually. It’s because you were coming over today, Boy. I figured that, if something happened, I’d have these ready for security purposes.” 

 “What kind of situation did you imagine?” 

 “I just thought about it in general.” 

 “Sorry! You don’t have to tell me about it!” 

 Shido frantically shook his head to stop Nia from talking. 

◇◇◇

 Meanwhile, the map displayed in the main monitor in the temporary command center of <Ratatoskr> gradually turned red. 

 This was a map of the area affected by the virus mentioned earlier; the area affected continued to expand. 

 “Huh… What is the speed of this spread? It’s too unusual.” 

 “I’m afraid to report that it seems that the virus has been lurking around the Internet for several months. It may have been spreading slowly enough that it wasn’t detected before it loaded the offending program…!” 

 “Hey… what the hell is going on…!” 

 Kotori looked worried. At that time, the command center suddenly sounded the alarm. 

 “What wrong!” 

 “Yes… it looks like all the medical equipment in every hospital in the country is also infected with the virus…! The damage is minimal at the moment, but if left unchecked, it will surely endanger the patients’ lives…!” 

 “Are you serious! R-Reine… is the analysis of the virus complete?” 

 After Kotori shouted, analysis officer Murasame Reine made a sleepy voice as she answered: 

 “…I just finished analyzing it. The result… it’s actually quite interesting.” 

 “What do you mean?” 

 “…This isn’t an ordinary computer virus, but rather a program that will grow and learn on its own, similar to an AI.” 

 “W-Wait, this kind of thing…” 

 “…That’s right. It’s impossible to make such a thing with ordinary technology.” 

 “Is it—DEM…?!” 

 Kotori was burning with rage as she spat out those words with scorn. DEM Industries was the enemy of <Ratatoskr>, to which Kotori belonged, and was an organization that possessed technology beyond common sense. 

 “…It would make sense to think so. However, just from looking at the way the virus is acting, it doesn’t look like DEM is the cause of the attack. What I really think is… it’s more likely that data DEM discarded was left on the network and continued to multiply. 

 Reine explained as she manipulated the console. Kotori scowled. 

 “Even so, the threat to society hasn’t changed… Nakatsugawa!” 

 “Yes! I will compile a detox program based on the data analysis!” 

 “How long will it take?” 

 “It should take me about 3 hours…” 

 “Hmm… we need it faster than that. Try to get done as quickly as possible!” 

 “Yes… I understand!” 

 Nakatsugawa began operating his console. The next moment, he seemed to discover something unusual and blinked behind his glasses. 

 “Commander, there is a strange line of text in the virus’s code…” 

 “Text?” 

 “Yes.” 

 Nakatsugawa pressed a button. Then, the English code was immediately translated into Japanese. 

 “…[Love me]? What is this?” 

 “I don’t know. I’m also confused by it.” 

 It was at that moment—a harsh alarm sounded again in the room, interrupting Nakatsugawa’s explanation. 

 “What’s happening this time?!” 

 “This is… It looks like one of the countries’ military satellites has been seized by the virus!” 

 “No way… not even the satellites are safe from this thing?!” 

 “The satellite is ready to attack! The target is… here! Tengu City!” 

 “What…” 

 “Did it somehow find out that we’re writing an antivirus program! How is that possible…” 

 Kotori gritted her teeth in anger. 

 “At this rate, the program won’t be done in time. What should I do—” 

◇◇◇

 “…” 

 “…” 

 They’d both lost track of how many hours it had been since they started playing the game. 

 Regardless, Shido and Nia stared blankly at the screen. 

 After finally winning the strip Mahjong, the story progressed significantly. Alice’s favorability had been rising slowly but surely. She was initially stubborn but she gradually opened up to the protagonist. 

 However, the options that appeared at the climax of the story caused the two of them to freeze. 

 The options themselves were as exhaustive as the previous ones. But the sheer number of them was different. No matter how far they scrolled down, there seemed to be no end to the options available to choose from. No matter what choice they made, there seemed to be no way to move forward. This situation only doubled the stress on the pair of them. 

 Nia listened to the background music that would automatically loop after a set period of time, and spoke hoarsely: 

 “…Hey, Boy.” 

 “…What’s the matter, Nia?” 

 “We should probably just give up here. It’s too late. Even if we can’t clear this level, it’s not like the world would be destroyed…” 

 After hearing what Nia said, Shido remained silent for a moment before he sighed. 

 “…If you want to stop, then stop. I don’t have an opinion either way…” 

 Shido scratched his cheek and replied vaguely. Like Nia, Shido was also tired and had to go back home soon to prepare dinner. …Still, there was one thing that he was curious about. 

 “…Nia, let me ask you something.” 

 “Huh, what’s the matter?” 

 “Why are you so dedicated to chasing this girl, Alice? Is it because, as a player, you want to clear the game?” 

 After Shido asked the question, Nia smiled wryly. 

 “That’s a part of it… But this girl seems very outspoken and doesn’t have any faith in anyone. How should I describe it…? She reminds me a little of myself from not too long ago…” 

 “…Ah…” 

 Shido’s eyes widened. Listening to her explain things like this, she really did act like that. Although her appearance and personality were very different, there was still an inexplicable anxiety that she couldn’t put her trust in anyone else that was very similar to Nia. 

 Nia wanted to help this girl through the protagonist, and personally rescue her from her sorrow. 

 She then smiled embarrassedly and sighed again. 

 “—That said, I didn’t expect this to be so difficult at all. How can I make up for all of the time we wasted—” 

 The next words in Nia’s mouth died on her tongue as she watched Shido slowly sit up and grab the game controller again. 

 “B… Boy?” 

 “…If you give it your best shot, you can clear this level. Make your choice.” 

 After Shido finished speaking, Nia stared at him, momentarily stunned, then smiled slightly. 

 “…It makes sense why so many women flock to you, Boy.” 

 “You… What are you talking about? Hurry up and make the choice.” 

 “Right…” 

 Shido and Nia turned their gazes back to the screen and reassessed the situation again. 

 The protagonist and Alice stood next to each other on top of a hill, gazing down at the night view of the city below. 

 It was at this moment that Alice spoke up for the first time. 

 [“I… Is it really special to be born into this world? There’s no one in this world that loves me.”] 

 This must be the critical stage in order to capture Alice. Because of her unhappy family environment, she was afraid to let anyone else into her heart. 

 It was at that stage that the options appeared. Unfortunately—there were over 10,000 of them and all of them used complicated words. 

 Shido and Nia’s eyes were as wide as dinner plates as they browsed through the options. 

 But… neither of them could find an option that caught their eye. 

 “Huh… What the hell is this? There are so many options, but none of them are any good.” 

 “Hmm… But since it’s a game, there has to be a way to get through.” 

 “Normally, you’d be right, but the game was able to use the camera to watch the player during the strip game.” 

 Halfway through the sentence, Shido’s eyes widened in realization. 

 That’s right, the strip Mahjong challenge that Nia cleared automatically activated the computer’s camera to determine whether the player carried out the punishment. 

 That was a problem— 

 “Hey… Nia? Does this computer have a microphone installed?” 

 “Huh? Well, I’m pretty sure there was one built-in… wait, you don’t mean…?!” 

 Nia guessed what Shido was thinking, and her eyes widened in surprise. 

 Shido nodded as he spoke the words that none of the options displayed on the screen. 

 “…I love you.” 

 Then, Nia also added her voice: 

 “Me too. Thank you… for being born into this world.” 

 Then— 

 [“…Hehe…”] 

 Alice, who’d never once smiled on the screen before, finally smiled for the first time. 

 [“Thank you so much. I love you too.”] 

 Then the picture shone brightly… showing the ending of the protagonist’s and Alice’s love for each other. 

 Shido watched the beautiful scene unfold and spoke: 

 “Did… Did we clear the game?” 

 “It seems that way, yes…” 

 Shido and Nia’s bodies were physically weak for a moment— 

 “Yeah~!” 

 “Wow!” 

 They immediately cheered and hugged each other. 

◇◇◇

 Kotori, whose face was strained with tension, frowned deeply because of what suddenly happened. 

 —The siren that had been blaring in the command center of <Ratatoskr> suddenly went quiet. 

 “Huh? What’s going on?” 

 “Commander! Commander! It looks like the military satellite that the virus was controlling is back to normal!” 

 “Not only that, but all of the computers infected with the virus have also returned to normal, with no lingering effects!” 

 “Wh-What on earth just happened?” 

 “I don’t know… it looks like the virus left behind a single text file before it destroyed itself.” 

 “A text file? Can you open it?” 

 “Yes!” 

 The crew followed Kotori’s instructions, opening the text file. 

 [Thank you so much. I love you too.] 

 “What is this…?” 

 Kotori tilted her head in confusion. 

 That night, after Shido and Nia headed home together, Tohka, Yoshino, and Natsumi came out to greet them with worried expressions on their faces. 

 “Oh, you’re alright, Shido! I was really worried when you came back so late!” 

 “Ahaha… I’m really sorry! I just had some stuff to take care of. I’ll prepare dinner right away, so just wait for me.” 

 “Muu… but Shido, you look tired. Are you sure you’re okay?” 

 “I’m fine. Alright, Yoshino and Natsumi, you two should also head to the living room and wait for me there.” 

 At Shido’s urging, the Spirits made their way into the Itsuka living room to wait. 

 What Tohka said was true; Shido was really tired, but since he’d been playing games with Nia from this morning to now, he had no chance to prepare anything for dinner ahead of time. Shido opened the refrigerator with a weary smile and began pulling out ingredients to prepare a late dinner. 

 He almost didn’t notice the porch door open, and an exhausted looking Kotori, along with the Yamai sisters, stumbled in immediately. 

 “Oh, Kotori, Kaguya, and Yuzuru. You guys are late, did something happen?” 

 They all slumped onto the sofa, leaned back, and put their feet up on the coffee table. 

 “What happened today was… really intense…” 

 Kotori slowly looked up to explain what happened. 

 Apparently, there was a mysterious computer virus that was wreaking havoc all across Japan, almost causing a major disaster. 

 “Since it was resolved, does that mean that the <Fraxinus> AI was able to solve the crisis?” 

 “…No. It was really an accident that we were all saved. It seemed that someone out there managed to solve the secret code set in the virus.” 

 Kotori finished with a shrug. 

 Nia and Shido listened— 

 “Yes.” 

 “There really was someone on the other side, then…” 

 And they made equally fond remarks.