Chapter 146: Touching Yu
The calendar flipped another page.
Time officially stepped into May, the air gradually carrying warmth.
[May 1st, morning.]
[The deadline to save Yu Ji: only 15 days left...]
[Today you woke up quite late, hurriedly ate breakfast in the cafeteria, then went to class to attend morning self-study.]
[Just as Holmes had said, this dating game was being widely promoted throughout Chaldea Academy, you already saw many students in class open this mobile game, starting virtual romances with their ideal heroines.]
[You reminded yourself of your mission—you weren't simply playing a dating game, but carrying out a secret operation tied to Yu Ji's safety, as well as thwarting Sesshouin Kiara's evil plot.]
[Of course, your success or failure would also directly affect your 20000QP reward.]
...
Britain Classroom, 7:20 AM.
With less than ten minutes left before class began, Eikou walked in carrying his bag.
"I miss you, Tristan."
"I miss you, Gawain."
"I miss you, Barghest."
After greeting a few familiar faces, Eikou sat down at his seat.
He glanced around for a while, and suddenly noticed that quite a few classmates were sneaking time during the morning self-study session to secretly play Academy Romance Singularity on their phones.
"Holmes really did say this game would spread today, but this speed is way too fast..."
Eikou muttered in confusion.
"Then again, this isn't an ordinary dating game, it's a special program directly connected to the Romance Prison Singularity. Can they really allow students to test this on such a large scale? Could this also be part of the plan to save Yu Ji?"
Perhaps he would have to wait until the 15th before Holmes would finally explain clearly what this was all about.
That annoying detective—always speaking halfway, hinting like a riddle.
But before the deadline, he had no choice but to figure out how to max out Yu Ji's affection.
Eikou glanced around cautiously, making sure no one was paying attention to him, then slid his hand into his desk and secretly opened the dating game.
Not because he was afraid of being caught by a teacher using his phone, but because he worried his classmates might see his game screen.
If they saw that he was dating a virtual character with Yu Ji's face, they'd definitely think he had some kind of twisted fetish—he'd die socially on the spot.
Especially, Tristan must absolutely never see this!
「Loading game...」
「Please begin your journey of love together with her~」
On the small phone screen, Yu Ji sat in the classroom setting of the game, holding a book in her hands and quietly reading.
Just looking at the idle screen already exuded that innocent youthful atmosphere unique to dating games.
Yu Ji wore black-rimmed glasses, had her hair braided into a single ponytail, dressed in a schoolgirl uniform—she really did give off a bit of a "girlfriend vibe." Yet those deep, heavy eyes of hers paid no attention to her surroundings, cold and indifferent, as if nothing in this world had anything to do with her.
Though she was nearly assimilated by the singularity into an NPC, her personality and aura had hardly changed.
Next to her floated several options: 「Date, Chat, Gift, Touch, Personal Info」
Since class hadn't started yet, might as well give it a try.
Eikou tapped the 「Date」 option.
Immediately, the game popped up a notification.
「Affection not high enough, Yu Ji doesn't want to go on a date with you.」
Completely ignored—well, that was to be expected.
After all, it was just the beginning, how could she casually agree to a date? If this woman were that easy to conquer, Holmes and the others wouldn't have had such a headache in the first place.
He then tried tapping the 「Chat」 option.
「Affection not high enough, Yu Ji doesn't want to talk with you.」
Not even willing to exchange a few basic words? That was a bit much! Wasn't this supposed to be the most basic interaction at the start of a game?
Eikou was unwilling to give up, so he glanced over at the 「Gift」 option.
He had never played this game before, but in the gift box there was a teddy bear and an adult ticket to an amusement park—probably beginner starter gifts for new players.
「Affection not high enough, Yu Ji doesn't want to accept any gifts from you.」
Yu Ji sat at the desk, still keeping her cold appearance, hugging the book in her hands, rejecting all forms of interaction.
"..."
Eikou really didn't know what to say anymore.
Low affection was one thing, but this was basically not even giving him a chance to flirt. Clearly, in her heart she was still always thinking about her deceased husband, wasn't she?
Struck speechless, Eikou opened up the personal info tab to take a look.
「Yu Ji」
「Current Affection: -100」
「Note: She hates you, but it isn't aimed only at you. She hates all of humanity, including you, equally.」
Haizz, why did he have to accept such a mess? She was already someone else's wife, yet she had no intention of cooperating at all.
People always say the higher the difficulty, the sweeter the success. But wasn't this character practically impossible to conquer?
"Ahhh, Xiang Yu-san, why did you have to leave so early? With my meager ability, can I really conquer sister-in-law? Just the fact that I have to pursue another man's wife already makes me uncomfortable, but her withdrawn attitude makes me feel even worse."
"Why do I have to conquer this woman anyway? Not only does she keep thinking of her late husband, she also has no affection whatsoever for humanity. Every kind of debuff is stacked on top of me!"
Eikou truly didn't know what else to do.
Out of hope, he decided to try tapping the 「Touch」 option.
On the screen, Yu Ji suddenly let out a flustered cry, hurriedly covering her face with the book and exclaiming in a panic:
"Don't—don't just touch me like that! Human!"
Huh? It really let him touch her?
All the other options required a certain affection level, but "Touch" could be used even with negative affection?
But judging by that reaction, if affection wasn't high enough, this was practically no different from sexual harassment.
"But still——"
This was currently the only way he could interact with Yu Ji!
And the only method that made Yu Ji actually react!
「You used 『Touch』 on Yu Ji again」
In the game, Yu Ji once more reacted, her face blushing red. She looked toward him from the screen and shouted:
"I told you not to touch me again, human! This is your final warning!"
"...I'll just assume you're a tsundere." Eikou muttered.
If this could make her react, then he would just have to enthusiastically keep touching!
[Do you want to use 「Human Anatomy Research A」?]
A string of words suddenly appeared on the screen.
What the hell, could he actually use the skills he had learned inside this game?
Since this was originally a Singularity, did that mean all the personal skills he had ever learned could be brought into this game?
"..."
In that moment, Eikou suddenly felt as if he saw a glimmer of hope!