When Alain stepped into the empty new version, the door behind him automatically swung shut, closing with a "click" that separated him from the Mitas.
He instinctively turned to look, but faster than his gaze, his vision went white—and an incredibly familiar game interface appeared.
"What is this?"
The game interface consisted of a large, bold, centered title at the top, a few lines of Chinese characters, and a character background image.
The large title read [Mita Love Story]. The lines of characters were "New Game", "Continue", "Settings", and "CG". There was no exit option.
As for the character background image, it was a Mita standing in a Mita room... Not a three-dimensional Mita, but a completely two-dimensional one.
That was it. The reason it was so familiar was because this was the interface of a galge.
As a master in the field of 2D culture, Alain had played countless galges. From Yuzusoft's Senren Banka and Sabbat of the Witch to Clockup's euphoria and so on, he had dabbled in them all.
The galge title before him screamed "moege". He wondered if he'd need to apply a patch...
He raised his hand, intending to see if the cube Short-Haired Mita had given him had a voice communication function.
But just as he was about to speak, he discovered that his lips wouldn't move.
"???"
What's going on?
"Alain! Something strange is happening on our end!"
In Tiny Mita's room, Short-Haired Mita had already transmitted the feed monitoring Alain's side to the computer screen.
The two Mitas on the screen, and Misha outside the screen, were all watching intently... the galge's title screen.
"What's going on? Why isn't Alain responding? Why are we seeing this instead..."
Misha's murmur earned a nod of agreement from Short-Haired Mita. "Right... Perhaps we should start with this title screen."
Big Sister operated the mouse, focusing on the "New Game" option.
But she stared at it seriously for a few seconds before suddenly exhaling. "No good. I don't know if it's dangerous to click it—"
"You're too slow, Sister!"
"Eh?!"
Before Short-Haired Mita could react, Prankster Mita beside her snatched the mouse, left-clicked, and pressed "New Game".
Not good.
"Wait, look!"
Before the three girls' eyes, Alain on the computer screen merged into the two-dimensional space, as if he had become the protagonist of a galge.
That was it, Alain had become 2D in the literal sense, a "paper person".
[Where am I?]
Soon, the screen was filled with a white light. After the light faded, they finally saw Alain's figure.
"Th-Thank goodness..." Misha let out a sudden sigh of relief, then subconsciously felt that something was off.
The game's dark blue dialogue box popped up at the right moment, seemingly displaying Alain's current state of mind.
His gaze swept around. The Mita version's room had now completely turned into a two-dimensional plane...
The room was like a piece of concept art, perfectly still.
"Where am I?" His lips moved on their own, uttering words that were not his own thoughts.
Wait... He didn't say that.
Alain vaguely recalled that even before entering the game, his mouth seemed to have lost its autonomy.
Combined with the current galge scene... did this mean he could only speak lines related to the plot?
Seriously? Was his silver tongue now useless?
I'm really going to be a yasashii protagonist...
"Alain, can you hear me?"
Just then, the voices of the Mitas came from the cube by his hand.
The girls focused on the computer screen before them as the words in the dialogue box changed in real-time,
[I wonder if it's my imagination, but I can hear my darlings' voices. Perhaps, this isn't so bad after all.]
"Hmm... It feels so pretentious." Prankster Mita's little face drooped. "It seems Alain's thoughts are getting through, but they're all being... embellished..."
[I can tell that was Prankster Mita who spoke.]
"...As expected of you." Short-Haired Mita marveled at Alain's talent when it came to Mitas; he was practically a genius.
"No, wait. Alain, can you hear us?" the short-haired girl realized, speaking at the right moment.
[Although I am in this strange place, Big Sister's voice is like a child's stuffed animal, putting me at ease.]
"Ugh... that's so gross!"
Short-Haired Mita felt a chill run down her spine. She still preferred Alain's usual way of talking...
[Her words wounded me. I don't know what I did wrong. Perhaps, only Misha can soothe my injured heart.]
"Eek..." Even Misha was starting to find Alain creepy. But then she had another thought.
"But it's a good thing, all in all. At least Alain can hear us and can answer us in this way."
Inside the game, Alain felt a sense of comfort hearing that.
He felt the sensation of being shackled all over, and the feeling of having become a thin sheet of paper, which was extremely uncomfortable.
Let's try to fight it...
He tried to muster all his strength to resist this feeling of restraint.
His normal strength wasn't enough, so he added the power of the permanent-buff gauntlet he had just received from Big Sister.
Hey, it actually seems to be working!
The three girls watching the game also noticed Alain's inner thoughts and held their breath.
Then, a completely different line of text appeared in the dialogue box:
[I'm free!]
From the tone alone, they could tell it was completely different from the previous "yasashii" persona, and the girls couldn't help but let out a huge sigh of relief.
"That scared me... I thought we'd have to watch that version of Alain the whole time." Prankster Mita's words voiced the thoughts of the other two.
Misha said, "Alright, let's assess the situation first."
She looked at Alain on the screen and the concept-art-like background around him.
"Alain has entered a game world that's like a galge and has become a character in it. His speech and behavior are being influenced."
Misha turned her gaze to the dialogue box. "But Alain has some ability to break free from the game's influence, which makes our position less passive going forward. We can make use of that. However, the key question is, to what extent can you resist the game's influence?"
Hearing this, the in-game Alain tried to move his lips. But there was still no movement. This meant that with the boost from the permanent-buff gauntlet, he was able to break free from some of the restraints.
But only to that extent.
If he wanted to be even freer, or even completely escape the game's shackles, he would have to use the burst-mode of the Failed Works Gauntlet.
Alain's inner voice was also conveyed to the girls.
"Don't use your gauntlet yet; keep it as a trump card," Short-Haired Mita advised. "Because we have no idea what we'll face later, it's better to conserve some of your strength for now."
Although she didn't understand how Alain could always pull off so many miracles, all Short-Haired Mita could do was trust him.
[Big Sister, you're as reliable as ever. I feel bad for always receiving so much help from you.]
"Wha..." Seeing those words appear in the dialogue box, the short-haired girl was caught completely off guard, her cheeks flushing a light red.
"Wh-What are you suddenly saying?"
[...] A few ellipses appeared in the dialogue box.
[It seems they can see my inner monologue. This is... not good.]
"..." The three girls on the outside fell silent. The two short-haired girls turned around and looked at the real-world Misha, and in that moment, it was as if they had reached some sort of strange agreement.
[Why did they suddenly go quiet? I have a bad feeling about this.]
The in-game Alain didn't understand. All he knew was that, as a 2D protagonist, he felt a chill run through his entire body.
He had an ominous feeling.
"Hey, Alain," Misha said to him. "How do you see me?"
What kind of question is that all of a sudden? Doesn't my darling dislike talking about love and romance during a mission?
But... if she had to ask. Misha has been by my side from the very beginning, a bit like a "wife".
It's true, I've had the urge to marry her recently. I'll propose to her when this is all over.
Alain realized what they wanted to do.
But it was already too late.
[Recently, I've had the urge to marry her. When this is all over, I'll propose to her.]
On the computer, the dialogue box displayed this content.
"Mmph, mm, mm... Mmph!"
The real-world Misha clamped her hands tightly over her mouth, her cheeks and the tips of her ears flushing a brilliant crimson as she forced herself not to cry out.
She could only feel her heart pounding, "thump, thump," wishing she could leap into Alain's arms the very next second and let their hearts merge.
"A marriage proposal, huh?" Short-Haired Mita turned back, narrowing her eyes and teasing her.
"Mmm~ A wife, you say?" Prankster Mita, unsurprisingly, followed up on her sister's attack.
The sisters' words, one after another, utterly defeated Misha.
"Honestly... What is my darling saying? A p-proposal..."
She silently picked up her household account book and began calculating how she should save up for the inevitable wedding expenses.
Speaking of which... should I get a job to help with the household finances? But I feel like Alain wouldn't agree...
"Tsk, home-wrecker..." Prankster Mita pouted, then vaguely realized that she might be the home-wrecker in this situation.
They're already planning to get married, and they're a perfect match. And she...
"No way, no way." She composed herself and looked at the screen's dialogue box with great seriousness, "Player, how do you see me?"
Meanwhile, the in-game Alain felt like his heart was about to die.
When you consciously try to control your thoughts, they instead run wild like a horse that has broken its reins.
I feel like... I'm screwed.
_____
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