Outside the window was a modern nightscape, with neon lights and the hum of engines. Yuu took off his helt, sat up from the bed, and pondered for a few seconds with his hand on his chin.
Suddenly, he grabbed his phone beside him, opened the ssaging app, confird Asuna hadn’t sent him any ssages, and then opened the chat with Kouichirou.
Before logging out, Asuna hadn’t accessed the system nu. She even seed eager to hatch the egg with him, which proved she didn’t log out voluntarily. There were two main reasons for a forced disconnection: first, a device or network issue; second, soone unplugging the power or NERvGEAR.
Though just a guess, it was highly likely that Asuna’s secret gaming had been discovered by her mother, leading to her being forcibly logged out. It was like a boy turning off the lights to watch adult films, only to turn around and find his mother standing at the bedroom door.
Yuu instinctively glanced at his door—thankfully, he always locked it while gaming, so no one could barge in. His phone was also linked to his virtual helt, so if Sora needed him, he’d know from within the ga.
Shifting his gaze, he sent a ssage to Kouichirou.
Right now, he absolutely couldn’t ssage or call Asuna directly. Given her ho situation, it was easy to imagine what would happen if she was caught playing gas secretly—a family eting was likely unavoidable. At this mont, either she couldn’t check her ssages, or her mother might see them, complicating things further.
Yuu wouldn’t recklessly turn her attention into sothing negative. So, the fastest way to understand the situation was, of course, to ask his brother-in-law... Tch, to ask Kouichirou, who loved selling out his little sister.
Yuu: {Kou-nii, are you at ho right now?}
Not long after, Kouichirou, who seed perpetually online, replied.
Kouichirou: {I’m back at campus, living in the dorm now. Not to brag, but it feels amazing not being controlled by parents!}
Yuu: {...Heh, good for you then.}
Kouichirou: {By the way, why’re you looking for ?}
Yuu: {Your sister got caught gaming by your mom, just got forced offline. I’m a bit worried about her.}
Kouichirou: {??? What happened?}
Kouichirou: {Wait, my mom’s calling . Talk later.}
The conversation cut off there. Yuu could only set his phone down for now, think briefly, and then open the system panel to check. Recalling sothing, he muttered to himself, "Is this the path to the story’s end...?"
As his relationship with Asuna deepened, the rewards on the system panel grew more nurous and varied. Not to ntion, his physical stats kept improving, nearly reaching the level of a professional athlete.
Though no new permanent statuses appeared, there were four one-ti-use statuses: You must taunt the servant first, Early Prediction, Smooth Talk, and Gender Swap.
Unlike previous missions, Yuu was too lazy to figure them out and directly asked the damned system to explain these statuses. If it could talk but not act cute, it should at least be useful for sothing, right?
[Host can click the text description.]
Facing his request, the system responded coldly. Yuu chuckled, "My eyes are temporarily blind. Ask the system to explain, and they’ll recover once it’s done."
[...]
For so reason, though the AI system lacked emotions, there was a faint sense of exasperation. After that, Yuu got detailed information about the statuses from the defeated damned system.
The first three were straightforward: one for protection, two for prediction, three for communication. The fourth was weirder—it allowed him to change his gender at will for a day, seemingly fine for more intimate actions too. Absolutely insane.
Without hesitation, Yuu kept the second one, tossing the other three into the synthesis pool. Early Prediction was different from regular statuses; it couldn’t be actively used but would trigger automatically at specific tis, allowing him to foresee danger and likely avoid it successfully.
A life-saving item like this—only a fool would synthesize it. Even if it was a one-ti use, it was invaluable. And the permanent status he got after synthesis surprised him.
[Spotlight (Permanent): Select one action, and all beings aware of it will unconsciously focus their attention on you, amplifying the emotions it evokes.]
"Is this an evolution of taunt...? Good thing it’s controllable."
Yuu sighed in relief. If it couldn’t be controlled, constantly being the center of attention for every action would be unbearable. He’d experienced a similar effect before—when he played the Perfect Lullaby at the subway station, nearly everyone who heard the piano crowded around him. Though most closed their eyes to enjoy the music, it undeniably drew all nearby attention.
While he didn’t love the feeling of being a spectacle, this status could be useful in certain situations.
"As expected, I’m super lucky with status synthesis..."
Smiling with a hint of pride, Yuu turned his attention to the one-ti-use skills. From the start of the mission until now, he’d collected six one-ti skills, more than the statuses—unfortunately, all were proficient-level. Finding none worth keeping, he synthesized two permanent skills.
Soccer (Proficient Level) and Basketball (Proficient Level).
"Will this make a ball master...?"
Grumbling resignedly, Yuu looked at all the skills on his panel. Billiards, table tennis, tennis, baseball, soccer, basketball... Just four more ball-related skills, and he’d achieve the Ten Ball Mastery accomplishnt. This damned system was doing this on purpose, wasn’t it?
An idea flashed through his mind, and he suddenly recalled the sumr when he went through the Six Trials with Haruno at the sports center. If the system hadn’t perfectly tid each skill and status, gradually letting him reach or surpass Haruno’s level, he wouldn’t have so smoothly changed Haruno’s view of him, drastically closing the gap with soone so complex and troubleso.
Thinking it over carefully, Yuu was even shocked to realize that if he’d proposed those skills at the Service Club, his success rate would’ve skyrocketed... No, it would’ve been a guaranteed hit!
If the system was really behind this, did the upcoming Autumn Club Exhibition have sothing to do with Asuna’s desires?
"Damned system, you..."
Yuu frowned suspiciously, but before he could question the system, his phone suddenly chid with a ding-dong, and the screen lit up. It was a ssage from Kouichirou.
Kouichirou: {As you guessed, Asuna got caught gaming by my mom. Since it’s my helt, I got chewed out too...}
Kouichirou: {Haaa, anyway, I tried taking as much bla as I could. She can’t really do much to from far away. The important thing is Asuna... Thankfully, my mom’s super rational. Her words might be harsh and cutting, but she won’t yell or hit, so no need to worry too much about Asuna being in trouble.}
Kouichirou: {But she probably won’t be able to play.}
Kouichirou: {By the way, if you can’t et online, why not just et in the real world? Don’t overthink it—online-to-real-world etups are totally normal~}
Pausing the system issue for now, Yuu rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he read the ssages.
"No more eting online...?"
That ant if he wanted to achieve his goal, he’d need to start approaching Asuna now—the girl who loved splashing in artificial pools. His temporary virtual wife, the rapier-wielding, brown-haired swordmaster with a smile as beautiful as a flower, her post-bath scent more fragrant than an entire garden, who once lay under the sa blanket as him—Asuna.
Perhaps from now on, there’d be no more chances to et her...
Yuu let out a soft sigh, then shook his head, brushing off the faint sense of regret and loss. How to approach Asuna and what to do after that—he hadn’t figured it out yet.
But what he could do now, Yuu already knew. He glanced at the clock, thinking hard about each step to take next, his fingers moving to type a ssage in the chat. In short, he still needed more information—more information about Asuna.
The cold light of the screen reflected on his face, the corner of his lips curling slightly in resignation as he sighed:
"My online girlfriend, now chasing into the real world, huh..."
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