Chapter 160: Urgent Schedule
「Senpai, why did you suddenly bring up the past.」
「Tell me, back then you were rejected by me countless times, so why did you still persistently strike up conversations with me, trying to find a way into my heart until you succeeded? Wouldn't a normal person, after being brushed off by me so many times, be angry with me?」
「That's true, I never liked entangling persistently with a girl, much less losing my self-respect to cling to someone's coldness. But at that time I still recklessly wanted to help you.」
「Do you want to know the real answer?」
「Then come a little closer, Hinako-senpai…」
——
The calendar once again moved forward two squares.
[Another two days passed, the deadline Holmes set was getting closer and closer.]
[But your progress was truly very little, because whenever you tried to strike up conversation with Yu Ji she would immediately explode, while the three heroines who were already married in Love Sleeping 2 endlessly tangled and cursed you, the moment you came online in the game you were ambushed from all sides.]
[There was hardly any time left, but you still hadn't seen even the slightest sign of success.]
[You sank into deep despair.]
[If there has been any change recently, it is that the number of people playing the mobile game "Romance Singularity" has been increasing.]
[…However, the number of missing Servants has also been rising, especially couples.]
[Just like that, time reached May 10th.]
[The remaining time to save Yu Ji is only 5 days.]
...
Morning, Britain classroom.
Eikou, exhausted, collapsed onto the desk, still clutching the handheld game console tightly in his arms.
"I really regret it, I shouldn't have agreed to Holmes from the very start. If I hadn't agreed to him, then I wouldn't have thought of conquering Yu Ji. If I hadn't thought of conquering Yu Ji, then I wouldn't have played Love Sleeping 2. If I hadn't…"
The two Round Table Knights behind him saw the aura of resentment radiating from his body and couldn't help but worry about his condition.
"Sir Eikou, what's wrong with him lately?" Gawain quietly asked Tristan next to him.
"He's been playing Love Sleeping 2 lately…"
Tristan revealed a hard-to-describe expression,
"I'm not sure why, but this game seems to treat Sir Eikou especially harshly. The female characters he wants to conquer are not only the most troublesome ones in Chaldea Academy, but whenever he tries to use cheating methods, like paying to buy a new save slot, formatting, or even cracking the console, the game resists those cheating actions. Even if he changes consoles, the dead save still carries over."
"You mean this game is like it has its own consciousness, deliberately targeting Sir Eikou?"
"Logically it shouldn't be like that, but right now that's the most reasonable explanation."
As for Eikou, he didn't hear the whispers of the two behind him, he was focusing all his energy on grinding the game.
One hand held the phone to raise Yu Ji's affection, while the other worked the analog stick of the console to dodge the three wives chasing him, and occasionally there was even a 'blue dog' leading a crowd of Celt simps chasing from behind. Doing two things at once, his skillfulness was almost pitiful to behold.
On the screen of his phone, Yu Ji with glasses could be seen absentmindedly flipping through a book in the game's waiting interface.
"I'm telling you, Mochizuki Eikou, you should just give up already,"
Yu Ji looked toward him through the screen and said,
"I have no interest in men other than Xiang Yu-sama. Any man who talks to me, I'll immediately explode. I've self-destructed in front of you over and over again, and even now you still persist in talking to me?"
Eikou only smiled indifferently:
"Haha, what a pity, I'm still far from giving up! You must be tired too, you should also act spoiled like a normal girl, every time we talk you should add a 'nyan~' at the end."
From the other side of the console came Kriemhild's voice: "One day, I'll kill you to avenge myself, nyan~"
"Kriemhild, I wasn't talking to you!" Eikou shouted.
Medb also chimed in: "Come do it with me one more time~ nyan~"
"Not you either!"
Could you people just stop butting in already, damn pixel married women!
Looking at Eikou on the other side of the screen, so busy and in chaos yet still refusing to give in, Yu Ji couldn't help but let out a small sigh.
"Haiz, humans really are troublesome… being rejected by me again and again, don't you feel frustrated?"
"Yu Ji-senpai,"
He blinked and smiled again, speaking to the bespectacled girl on the phone,
"Could it be that you're feeling pity for me, feeling guilty about your unintentional rejections? You're really kind."
"Not at all!"
Yu Ji angrily turned her head away, revealing a small adorable fang, showing a look like she was about to explode.
Seeing her about to blow again, he panicked.
"Don't explode so fast, you fool! I'm only doing what I think is right, I don't want to abandon you alone in that terrifying Singularity. Because if it were me, I'd also hope for someone to reach out to help me, even if I unintentionally rejected them countless times——"
Her cute little face was already burning red, like a bomb counting down,
BOOM!
She exploded right on the spot again!
"Oh——My——Nasu"
Eikou shouted in grief,
"Why did you explode again! Another puddle of mosaic!"
Looking at the phone screen full of glaring red patches, he couldn't help but feel that the road ahead was distant and arduous.
And on the other side of the game console, his character once again failed to dodge Medb's Noble Phantasm.
His character was pulled into her 'love chariot', and then countless pink hearts immediately rose up inside the carriage.
"On this side too, it's full of mosaic fragments, I don't even dare to look directly…"
Seeing both battlefronts completely shattered, he only felt exhausted, powerless, and collapsed onto the desk.
The deadline was drawing nearer and nearer, but he had absolutely no way to deal with these girls.
"It's just…"
Eikou glanced at the game interface on his phone,
"Even though Yu Ji always speaks as if she really hates me, exploding on the spot at every turn, in the end I've managed to raise her affection, at least it's no longer in the negatives…
"But despite grinding for so long, affection only rose from 'as if seeing a maggot' to 'even if we meet, won't bother greeting'!
"Judging by this rate of growth, the time is completely insufficient, there's absolutely no way I can make it in five days."
Just as he was complaining, suddenly a message came through on his phone from Holmes.
「Mr.Mochizuki, please come to the principal's office.」
「We've long known you've been bringing a phone into class, no need to worry about punishment, rest assured.」
"So, you people finally can't wait any longer…"
Eikou hurriedly put away his phone and quickly walked toward the principal's office.
...
The principal's office looked just the same as before. Rather than an office, it was more fitting to say this was Da Vinci's magic workshop.
Principal Da Vinci warmly invited him to sit down on the sofa. Through the messy drafts piled on the tea table, he could barely make out that the person sitting across from him was the famous detective in a cloak, with a pipe in his mouth.
"The deadline we agreed upon is less than five days away now, Mr.Mochizuki. How are things going on your side?"
Holmes asked.
"Not very smoothly…"
"What is your definition of 'not very smoothly'?"
"Right now Yu Ji's affection toward me is 3%, with a maximum of 100%. No matter what, I can't possibly raise full affection in just three days. What should I do, Holmes?"