Yoshida Aiko stood with her hands clasped before her, unable to raise her head to look at the man standing before her. She made sure to put so distance between herself and Daichi-sensei.
"Aiko-chan..." He voiced. "Have... Have you thought about it?"
Aiko imdiately spoke up.
"I-I’m sorry! I don’t think this is right, Daichi-sensei. I cannot reciprocate your feelings!"
The bespectacled maths teacher smiled awkwardly and stepped forward, but Aiko flinched back, so he paused.
"Wait, Aiko-chan. I really love you. I see the way you look at too. You even bought a birthday gift. W-Was it all just a lie?"
Aiko’s discomfort was evident on her face.
"I didn’t think you would see it that way. Sorry."
"Aiko!"
She turned and ran away.
Daichi remained standing there, a dark shadow hovering over his eyes.
Roy watched Aiko’s back as she ran away. He had gotten close so he could hear what they were saying, but hid when she ran out.
’So that’s how it is, huh?’ he thought.
Truly speaking, the Class Rep wasn’t that kind of girl. But Daichi-sensei was that kind of man.
’What a bastard.’
His character profile would surely be updated with this revelation.
’Since it’s like this, who spread the false rumour that Aiko and Daichi-sensei had a thing? Was it Daichi-sensei himself? Or a third-party?’ Roy wondered and waited in the vicinity, hiding behind so bushes.
After the problematic maths teacher left the indoor swimming pool hall, Roy was about to leave when another individual ca out shortly after.
She looked like she had been crying heavily, but now there was a sly smile on her face.
To his shock, it was Suzuki Kyouno!
’Suky spreads the false rumours?! But she only ca here to cry because of the note I gave her. The original Takahashi didn’t do that, so how did she find out about Daichi’s confession in the previous run?’ Roy thought about this deeply and rembered what his system said about ’roles’ in the story.
All characters must act according to their assigned roles to make sure the story runs as it should, like how his response is overridden when he’s interacting with Pierre. This was more akin to destiny.
In other words, even if Roy didn’t give Suky the note, she would have still found her way here and discovered Daichi’s improper feelings for Aiko, his star student. Her role as the antagonist of the level made her destined to find out.
’But what should I do? Once that rumour gets out, Aiko will be more inclined to commit suicide...’
Roy contemplated further as he headed for the school gate.
’In Pierre’s first run of this level, Aiko was stabbed to death on Day 15. There was nothing about a rumour then. And in his second run, the rumours started on Day 8, and she killed herself the next day...’
All this had happened, but it was only the second day of the simulation. In the real world, not more than a few seconds had even passed.
"I’ll wait and see what Suky and Daichi will do."
The day ended, and as soon as it blacked out for Pierre, it blacked out for Roy too.
When he ca to, he was already in a clean set of his nerd uniform style, walking to school.
During lunch break, Pierre asked Aiko to ntor him on maths. Initially disagreeing, Utahi stepped in and spoke on his behalf, and Aiko finally agreed.
anwhile, Suzuki Kyouno kept to herself and didn’t cause any drama. Whereas Daichi-sensei threw Aiko so weird glances when they walked by each other.
On the fourth day, Aiko ca up to Roy and asked him to be her assistant teacher, as Utahi, Nishi Sakamoto, and Sato Himari had subscribed to the after-school math lessons too. Shyly, Roy agreed.
After school, the math lessons started, and Pierre had bought so snacks for everyone. Roy and Pierre noticed when Suzuki Kyouno passed by the class, but she stared ahead with a bright smile on her face.
With all Roy had observed so far, he concluded that although this was a simulated world, each character was as real as an actual human. They were complex, and no matter what—even if Pierre reached every single action he made in a previous run—the outco would still be different. These characters were 100% alive in this system world.
On the fifth day, Daichi-sensei started acting weird; he was quieter than usual. During his class, he asked Pierre questions he couldn’t answer and insulted him, causing the handso brat’s Reputation to tank. Aiko stood up for him when it was getting too much, and Pierre finally noticed the awkwardness between them.
The maths teacher, Murasa Daichi, got so mad that he gave a hefty assignnt for the weekend and left the class.
The Class Rep’s reputation tanked too because now, the rest of the class was angry with her for speaking up for a delinquent bully like Pierre.
After school, Nishi Sakamoto and Sato Himari suggested that the entire group should go out for a picnic during the weekend. The Class Rep protests, as the assignnts given were quite the task, but her friends convinced her that life is for living, but she still declined.
"W-Why don’t we have a study session instead? We can et at Pierre’s house on Saturday, and if we complete the assignnts, then we can have the picnic on Sunday..." Roy voiced.
"Takahashi-kun, that’s a brilliant idea!" Sato Himari concurred.
Pierre nodded, and Utahi nudged Roy with her elbow, causing him to chuckle.
With the eager eyes on her, Yoshida Aiko let out a sigh.
"It really is a brilliant idea. Fine."
"Yay!" Sato Himari jumped and gave the jovial Nishi Sakamoto a high five. Those two had serious chemistry.
"I’ll bring cookies!" Utahi said.
As the study group made plans, Roy noticed an individual had been standing by the back door of the class, but ran away shortly after.
On the sixth day, Roy found himself on the path to Pierre’s house, following the directions on the map displayed on his flip phone.
By 9 a.m., the entire group had assembled. Utahi had arrived with the Class Rep and Sato Himari. Roy was given dialogue options to complent Utahi’s cute dress.
"Y-Y-Y-You look very cute, Utahi-chan. I an, Yoshida-san and Sato-san too."
Utahi’s face flushed, and she looked away. "T-Thanks. You look good, too."
"Just kiss already, you two!"
Sato Himari grabbed both of them and dragged them into the semi-duplex house. Pierre’s house.
Ding dong~
"Pierre-kun, you awake yet?" Sakamoto voiced, repeatedly ringing the doorbell.
The door opened, and Pierre wore a frown.
"Tch. You bastard, wanna spoil my doorbell?"
Sakamoto grabbed Pierre’s neck and made a joke, but his attention was already elsewhere.
"Wh... What?" Yoshida Aiko asked him, looking away shyly. "Why are you looking at like that?"
Pierre cleared his throat. "Nothing."
Himari cunningly whispered sothing into Aiko’s ear, and she annoyedly pushed her friend away. Although there was a slight blush on her face.
Pierre pointed with his thumb. "Let’s go in. We’re lucky my parents aren’t around."
’You don’t have any parents in this world,’ Roy lampooned and entered with the others.
Pierre closed the door after the last person, but just as he was about to lead them to the dining table, where they would study and solve the assignnt together, his doorbell rang out.
Ding dong~
"I suspected this would happen," Roy muttered, furrowing his eyebrows as he glanced back at Pierre.
Pierre frowned and answered the door.
"Pi-senpaiii!"
Suzuki Kyouno scread and threw herself on Pierre.
"What are you doing here?" Pierre asked, anger seething in his tone.
"Hm!" Suky folded her arms and looked away, pouting. "You were having a study session, and you didn’t invite . No fair!"
"Yes, I didn’t invite you."
Pierre didn’t say anything further and stepped back to close the door.
"Wait!" Suzuki stopped him. "Pi-senpai, can’t I join you too? Pleaseee~"
"No. Get lost."
Nishi Sakamoto appeared beside Pierre and placed his arm across his shoulders. "Pierre-kun, why are you being harsh to the girl? She can join us, right guys?"
"Sure." Yoshida Aiko shrugged.
"No problem." Sato Himari didn’t mind either.
Only Utahi glanced at Roy wearily but didn’t say anything.
"See? Everyone agrees. Take it easy, Pi-senpai." Sakamoto jokingly nudged Pierre with his elbow and allowed Suzuki Kyouno in. "Co on in, Suzuki-san."
"Call Suky!" She stomped in with her school bag on her back.
Sakamoto laughed. "Sure."
Pierre clicked his tongue and closed the door.
Yoshida Aiko, Sato Himari, Utahi, and Roy as Takahashi were already sitting at the dining table.
Suzuki Kyouno smiled as she approached them.
"Hi, everyone. Pi-senpai and I have been friends since we were kids. Nice to et you!"
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