Chapter 187: Game Mode
If one day, your world turned into a game, what would you do?
Become a hero and defeat the demon named capitalism? Or become Prometheus, stealing the fire of the stars to dye the Earth red?
Sakurai Saki chose to do nothing.
[Today's Superpower: Player Quest System]
Effect: Will receive random quests over time. Just complete the quests to receive stat boosts or items (permanent).
Side Effect: This ability lasts a long time, with an effective duration of 7 days.
To put it simply, this ability is very normal and easy to understand.
A quest system like in online games. The basic process goes like this — receive quest, run errands, complete quest, and get rewards.
Don't even doubt it, half of all online game quests are fetch quests.
Even when you're playing Apex, you still spend half your time running around the map.
So much meaningless time wasted, all because of those bastard game developers trying to maintain players' online hours.
Daily quests in mobile games are just there to keep players hooked. Wasting ten minutes a day just to get a few 'gems,' which sometimes aren't even enough for a single gacha pull — and yet people still say the game is made with love. Can you believe that shit?
[You have received a quest — Morning Exercise]
[Run 10 laps around the park]
[Reward: Stamina +1]
See? A total fetch quest.
"Who the hell would go running just for one point of stamina? Probably no one, right?"
"Sigh, so this so-called goldenfinger is just this much. Those protagonists in webnovels who wish for a quest system from ROB really are no different from a bunch of idiots."
Sakurai Saki shook his head, changed clothes, washed his face, then went outside for a jog.
System! Add the stat point!
…
In front of the school gate, Sakurai discovered that this ability could also give out some bizarre quests.
[You have received a quest —— Kiss (Part 1)]
[Kiss the target named Iino Miko, and insert tongue.]
[Reward: A smartphone with a hypnosis app pre-installed]
Pushing his bicycle, Sakurai Saki didn't even glance at Iino Miko's small, pink lips, and walked away directly, his movement completely nonchalant.
After he left.
Miko touched her lips with her hand. Just now, Sakurai-senpai kept staring at this spot on her face.
'Did something weird get stuck there or what?'
( ╹ -╹)?
Turning her back sneakily, she took out a mirror. After seeing nothing, Miko let out a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness.
But why was Sakurai-senpai staring at her lips? So strange.
No way! Could it be that Sakurai-senpai wanted to kiss her? But...
He already has a girlfriend!
Miko-chan spaced out for several minutes before snapping back to reality.
'I'm definitely overthinking. There's no way Sakurai-senpai would want to kiss me.'
(ᵕ—ᴗ—)
————
Shoe Locker Area.
Sakurai received another new quest. He noticed that quest triggers were related to location.
[You have received a new quest: Love Letter]
[Write a sincere love letter and place it in Shinomiya Kaguya's shoe locker]
[Reward: Aphrodisiac pill x1]
Are you sure this is a player system? Not something way more questionable?
Player... hold on, don't tell me this is the "player" type from those 18+ games?
Sakurai seriously suspected that, after completing this prerequisite quest, the ability would make him drug Kaguya.
No, please — I'm a serious person! And besides, that's Shinomiya Kaguya we're talking about. Are you sure about this?
The one who holds the title of "Ice Princess Kaguya" — although she's gotten a lot more gentle lately, every time they argue, she still goes at it relentlessly. A strange girl like her, if he drugged her to make her fall for him, what would even be the point?
...
To the Classroom.
Sakurai sat down at the protagonist's special seat by the window.
Called the protagonist's seat, but really it was just the last seat next to the window.
The view from here was great — you could see the school gate.
That's… Yotsuba? Is she about to be late?
Today Sakurai didn't come early — he arrived just barely in time.
Being late meant writing a reflection letter. Sakurai Saki had already written three lately, and he really didn't want to write another one.
Turning his head, Sakurai looked toward Hayasaka Ai.
[You have received a quest: Kiss (Part 2)]
[Kiss the target named Hayasaka Ai]
[Reward: Stamina +1]
Sakurai Saki realized something — the quest rewards seemed to be tied to difficulty.
The more he didn't want to do something, the better the reward it gave.
For example, kissing Miko — a normal person probably wouldn't do that, right? A cute kouhai like her should be cared for, not taken advantage of.
Compared to that, kissing his girlfriend didn't give Sakurai Saki any psychological pressure at all.
"Ai-chan, come here for a second."
Hearing him call, Hayasaka Ai walked over with a face full of suspicion.
Sakurai Saki looked around, and after making sure no one was paying attention, gently wrapped his arms around her snow-white neck and kissed her.
After a short touch.
The two separated. Even though it was just a brief kiss, Hayasaka Ai's face had already turned completely red.
(⸝⸝๑﹏๑⸝⸝)
"Why did you kiss me?" she asked, looking around, and after confirming that no one saw, she let out a relieved breath.
"Morning kiss," Sakurai Saki said gently.
[Stamina +1]
And just like that, the quest was completed.
...
After school, Sakurai didn't go to the student council — his purpose, of course, was to cut off further contact with Kaguya.
He was afraid the quest rewards would be too tempting, and he wouldn't be able to resist.
You might ask: now that he has a superpower, why bother doing quests for items?
Shallow! So shallow!
If humans had no limits, they'd lose their joy.
If you don't believe it, try turning on hacks in some game — max your stats so you kill monsters in one hit, get all items at max quantity. It might feel novel and fun at first, but over time, it'll get boring.
That's exactly why Sakurai Saki found today's power so interesting.
Because lately, he really didn't have any clear goals. The main storyline was to defeat Shinomiya Kaguya, then make her wear a miko outfit and dance an embarrassed little dance just for him.
Side quest… well, actually, there wasn't one. If he had to name something, maybe helping the five Nakano sisters improve their studies?
The semester was about to end — he had to make sure all five sisters passed. Sakurai Saki wasn't setting any big goals, because that wouldn't be realistic. Like, say: getting Nino's grades to the top of the school — is that even possible?
The answer: No way in hell!
No matter how hard Nino tried, it just wasn't possible!
What's more, ever since it was publicly known that he was dating Ai-chan, Nino's motivation to study had taken a heavy hit!
Sakurai genuinely couldn't figure it out —
People often complain about teachers' words, like: [These grades are for you! This question type is already given here — the score is basically a gift! Whether you review or not is up to you.]
But honestly, everyone knows — studying is for yourself.
Yet Nino didn't seem to understand that.
Girls in love can be truly terrifying in this regard.
Because of love, there's nothing they can't do — but they're also easily pushed to the extreme.
For example… turning into a yandere.
[Sakurai-kyun, if I can't have your heart... then I'll just take your real heart instead, ufufufu~. (yandere face)]
(♡´▽`♡)▬ι═ﺤΣ(°△°ꪱꪱꪱ)
Lost in all sorts of wild thoughts, Sakurai stepped into the library.
Today was the day before Tanabata, a Wednesday.
Tutoring was still being held as usual.