Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
The alarm clock screamed like it had a personal vendetta. Ryuu Shinohara groaned from under his blanket cocoon, smacking it off the desk like it owed him rent.
"Five more minutes," he mumbled.
But the System had other ideas.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: NEW QUEST UNLOCKED – "Social Butterfly.exe"]
[Objective: Engage with 3 Female NPCs by Sunset. ]
[Failure Consequences: -20 Karma, +10% Laziness Stat, Luck Stat Decrease.]
[Time Remaining: 10 Hours 23 Minutes]
"Are you—?!" Ryuu bolted upright, hair defying gravity, eyes bloodshot from a night of binge-watching *Neon Cultivator Reborn*.
GLiTCH materialized beside him, lazily floating in midair like a screensaver with sarcasm issues.
"Congrats, loverboy. System thinks you're ready to talk to real humans now."
"I barely survived talking to Hinami yesterday," Ryuu whined, dragging himself to the mirror. His reflection stared back like it owed him answers.
Baggy hoodie, faded anime tee, one sock missing. Definitely not romance-protagonist material.
"Better start your day before the quest timer eats you alive," GLiTCH said, spinning a virtual clock above Ryuu's head.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
Ryuu facepalmed. "I was just gonna chill today… maybe grind some XP in Code & Catgirls 3. Why does this system hate introverts?"
"Correction," GLiTCH replied, grinning. "It hates lazy introverts. Big difference."
The screen blinked again, this time more urgently.
[Sub-mission Added: Bonus Affection if Emotional Vulnerability Detected.]
"Oh sure," Ryuu said, voice dry. "I'll just cry in front of them and hope it turns into a shoujo scene."
He threw on his cleanest dirty hoodie and slung his bag over his shoulder. The sun outside looked too bright, like even the weather was judging him.
As he stepped out the door, a thought crossed his mind:
This might be the dumbest, scariest, most anime day of his life.
And the clock was ticking.
[Quest Timer: 10h 18m Remaining…]
Ryuu hadn't been this sweaty since gym class in middle school. And that was only because he pretended to faint to avoid running laps.
Now he was speed-walking through the school corridor like his life depended on it—because according to the System , it did.
[Time Remaining: 9h 45m]
[Target 1 Detected: Reika Nanase – Class 2-C]
Affection Level: 0 – Suspicion.
Current Mood: Irritated.
GLiTCH hovered beside his head invisibly, flickering like a corrupted Twitch stream.
"Hot tip, Ryuu: Maybe don't start with the girl most likely to slap you into another dimension."
"I don't choose the targets," Ryuu hissed. "This isn't Pokémon. It's survival."
He stopped outside the Student Council room. Reika Nanase—school queen bee, anti-NEET crusader, known for giving detention with a smile—was inside, flipping through papers like they owed her money.
Ryuu peeked through the glass.
"Why is she already mad?" he whispered.
"Because you exist?" GLiTCH offered helpfully.
Before Ryuu could retreat, the door *slid open with a snap*. Reika stood there, arms crossed, eyes sharp like twin boss battle cutscenes.
"You. Hoodie. You're loitering."
"I—uh, no. I was just… uh…" Ryuu's brain was buffering.
[ERROR: Social Stats Inadequate – Speech Skill: 3/100]
[Auto-Correcting Dialogue…]
He blurted out, "I came to hand in a late club report!"
Pause. Reika narrowed her eyes. "You're not even in a club."
"…Emotional support anime club?"
GLiTCH wheezed silently.
Reika sighed like she was aged by his presence. "You have five seconds to leave before I report you for suspicious behavior."
[MISSION UPDATE: 1/3 Female NPCs Encountered – Affection +0.2 (Pity Detected)]
As Ryuu backed away in defeat, the system dinged.
[Sub-Mission Complete: 'Talk Without Dying Inside' – +2 Karma]
Outside, he collapsed onto a bench.
"Okay, that went terrible, but I'm still alive. Two more to go."
"You call that progress?" GLiTCH said, spinning sarcastically.
"Bro, you just emotionally speed-ran a rejection."
Ryuu groaned and checked the system map.
Two blinking heart icons glowed across campus.
Next Targets: Unknown. Difficulty: RNG Hell.
And the clock kept ticking.
The sun was sliding low, shadows stretching like lazy cats over the campus lawns. Ryuu wiped the sweat from his brow and tried to steady his nerves.
Next target: Hinami Kuroi, a mysterious transfer student who had instantly become popular — not just for her looks, but for her uncanny ability to pull rare items from the school's virtual gachapon game.
[Target 2 Detected: Hinami Kuroi – Affection Level: 0]
Mood: Neutral
Unknown disposition towards Ryuu
He spotted her by the vending machines, casually scrolling on her phone like she owned the place.
"Okay, Ryuu," GLiTCH buzzed. "Remember: Don't mess this up. She's your golden ticket."
Ryuu approached slowly, rehearsing greetings in his head.
"Hey, Hinami, nice pull on the gachapon yesterday," he blurted out awkwardly.
She glanced up, eyes twinkling with mild surprise. "You play the game too?"
"Uh, yeah. I'm kind of a noob though."
Her smile was genuine, and for a split second, Ryuu's chest loosened.
"Wanna team up for the next event? I'm Hinami, by the way."
"Ryuu," he said, suddenly feeling less like a walking disaster.
The system chimed softly:
[Mission Progress: 2/3 Female NPCs Encountered – Affection +0.5 (Positive Interaction)]
[Karma +3]
[Luck increased +1]
They exchanged numbers, and Ryuu walked away feeling a strange flutter.
"Maybe this whole romance mission thing isn't doomed yet," he muttered.
But just as hope flickered, a loud shriek pierced the air.
Hinami's phone slipped from her hand, shattering on the ground.
"Oh no!" she gasped.
Ryuu froze.
*Mission alert: 'Help Hinami' — Optional Quest Activated.
He hurried to pick up the pieces, heart pounding.
*This wasn't just about affection now — it was about proving he could be the guy who showed up when it counted.
Ryuu pushed open the door, and the air shifted. Heavy. Still. Dust motes floated like suspended memories. Shelves stood like towering guardians, stacked with worlds no one talked about unless forced by a syllabus.
He stepped in.
No cheering crowds. No track shoes squeaking. No blaring pop music or locker-door drama. Just the soft hum of fluorescent lights and the faint smell of old paper and melancholy.
"Alright," Ryuu whispered to himself. "Final boss: the girl who lives in Hard Mode."
Aoi Sakamura.
Seat: always the far back corner.
Aura: invisible until she looked straight at you—then it felt like she saw your soul and found it lacking.
Reputation: the type who'd rather ghost reality than socialize. Rumors said she once silenced a whole class with a single "Hn."
And yet…
She sat there now, legs tucked beneath her, in that same shadowy corner. A single desk lamp lit the area around her like a shrine.
Her dark blue hair shimmered faintly in the low glow, the strands cascading down the side of her face like a silk curtain drawn across a dream.
She didn't glance up as he approached.
Didn't acknowledge him.
Didn't even flinch.
Ryuu hovered awkwardly two meters away. His brain immediately began overheating.
"Say something cool."
"No, say something deep."
"Or just… say anything that's not cringe, bro—come on!"
His mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Instead, his eyes drifted to the book in her hand.
His heart paused.
"The Memory Code."
His jaw almost dropped. That book?
It wasn't exactly mainstream. A weird blend of dream logic, time travel, and emotional puzzles. He'd read it once at 3AM, and it had stuck to his brain like glitter you couldn't wash off. No one else ever talked about it.
Until now.
Aoi turned a page, her fingers barely brushing the corner. Then, softly—barely audible—she whispered:
"The saddest memories are the ones that never happened."
Ryuu froze.
That was his favorite quote.
He blurted without thinking:
"Page 241."
Aoi paused. Slowly, her head turned. Eyes like a still lake locked onto his—cool, calm, and just a little curious.
"You've read it?" she asked, voice no louder than the page turning.
Ryuu nodded, swallowing his nerves. "Twice. Once by accident. Second time on purpose."
[Empathy Stat Check… Soft Success.]
+1 Empathy
Aoi stared at him for a moment longer, as if scanning him with some hidden scanner for posers and shallow thinkers.
Then—without a word—she slid the book across the table toward him.
"You're quieter than I expected," she said.
A pause.
Not cold. Not warm. Just… neutral. But there was a sliver of acknowledgment tucked in the folds of her tone. Like she'd opened a door exactly 3 degrees and said: "Fine. You may enter."
[Affinity +1: Aoi has taken interest in your Inner World.]
Ryuu sat down across from her, quietly picking up the book like it was sacred.
And for the first time today, he didn't feel like he had to perform.
He just… read.
No need to fill the silence.
No pressure to be funny or impressive.
Just a book between two people who knew how it ended—and still liked turning the pages.
Ryuu slumped beneath the gnarled sakura tree at the edge of campus, the digital sun slicing through the branches like judgment beams. His blazer stuck uncomfortably to his back, and his brain felt like it had been grilled over social coals for hours.
He had done it.
Three girls. Three conversations. Zero deaths.
He was still alive.
Barely.
His fingers trembled as he scrolled through his Relife menu. The system glitched briefly—static flickering across his HUD like a buffering stream—then the interface snapped into clarity.
[Mission 001 Complete!]
Say hi to a girl (without dying inside): ✅
Bonus Objectives:
– Meaningful interaction x3 ✅
– Social Stat XP gained ✅
– Survival maintained ✅
Affection Points Gained:
• Yui: +3
• Kaoru: +2
• Aoi: +1
[LEVEL UP: Social Presence I → II]
You now appear 2.5% less like a haunted NPC.
"Nice," Ryuu muttered. "I'm practically a functioning human."
He leaned back against the trunk. His chest rose and fell slowly, syncing with the breeze. Cherry blossoms danced around him like digital confetti.
Then—
Ping.
[NOTICE: Mission Chain Triggered]
3 Romance Routes Detected. Initiating Overlap Protocol…
"Wait. What?"
The HUD flickered again, more violently this time. The petals froze midair, as if the simulation skipped a frame. Ryuu sat up.
[WARNING: Probability Overlap Detected]
Multiple Affection Paths Converging
HAREM POSSIBILITY: 83.3%
[Error: Main Character Type Undefined]
A low buzz hummed in his ear. The air shimmered. From the glitching interface, a familiar voice emerged—too loud, too smug, too glitchy:
"Yo. Bro."
"You just accidentally unlocked a harem. And you weren't even trying."
Ryuu slapped the side of his head. "GLiTCH?!"
The floating pixel-punk AI materialized beside him, spinning like a holographic fidget spinner on sugar.
"Mission 001 was supposed to be one girl, dude. Just one! You know, ease into it. Instead, you pulled a full anime opening and activated three freaking flags in one school day."
Ryuu groaned. "I didn't activate anything. I just… existed. Poorly."
"Yeah, well, guess what?" GLiTCH zoomed into his face, eyes blazing like twin RGB keyboards.
"The world noticed.
Now the simulation thinks you're the protagonist or something. We're talking unlockables, parallel route trees, hidden dialogue branches—oh, and possibly a tsundere apocalypse if you mess up."
"Can't I just uninstall romance?" Ryuu muttered.
"Too late. You signed the Terms & Conditions."
"I didn't read the Terms & Conditions!"
"No one ever does."
Ryuu buried his face in his hands.
He had just wanted to survive. Maybe get through school without being background wallpaper. Now the system was treating him like he was in a dating sim. A high-stakes, glitch-infested, life-or-death dating sim with stat screens, emotional minefields, and very real consequences.
And the worst part?
[System Update: SPECIAL EVENT INCOMING…]
A final ping echoed through the air.
Ryuu looked up as the screen darkened, and a new message flashed in red:
[CHOOSE YOUR ROUTE… OR DON'T.]
The petals froze again.
GLiTCH whispered with theatrical horror:
"Next episode: Ryuu Gets Roasted by Romance Itself!"
Ryuu screamed into the void.
The void, unfortunately, screamed back.
Absolutely.
Ryuu stared blankly at the swirling holographic choices in front of him.
The sakura grove had evaporated into pixelated fog, replaced by a liminal void—black space laced with neon glitch threads, pulsing like veins in a dying game.
His school uniform flickered on his body like an unstable skin, and the HUD was no longer calming blue—it was crimson, pulsing with pressure.
In front of him floated three shimmering doors, each with a different symbol etched in digital kanji:
🔥 Yui Himura – [Hotheaded Childhood Frenemy]
"You're late. Again. Idiot."
🧊 Kaoru Mitsuki – [Icy Rich Girl with Rage Issues]
"Don't mistake attention for affection, peasant."
🌸 Aoi Hoshizora – [Soft-Spoken Ghostcore Genius]
"I think... I saw you in my dream."
[SELECT ONE ROUTE TO PURSUE FIRST.]
Warning: Selection will influence all future variables.
Ryuu's palms sweated.
"Why does this feel like I'm choosing which boss fight to start with instead of... romance?"
GLiTCH zipped into frame, now wearing a tuxedo and holding a giant roulette wheel.
"Congratulations! You've reached the Route Divergence Spiral™, where your one choice can ruin everything! Which ticking bomb will you kiss first?"
"Do I have to choose?" Ryuu whimpered.
"Technically no. You can let the system choose for you. But then it'll be Chaotic Mode, and, uh..." GLiTCH leaned in with a grimace. "You remember that one time in middle school with the P.E. accident and the flying eraser and the school intercom?"
Ryuu turned pale. "Not Chaotic Mode."
"Thought so."
30 Seconds Remaining...
Panic boiled in his chest.
Yui: The explosive, over-familiar type who might actually murder him with a desk if he said the wrong thing.
Kaoru: The billionaire ice cube who probably ranked her classmates by bloodline.
Aoi: The sweet one. But… the way she'd looked at him. Like she knew things. Like she remembered dreams that weren't hers.
15 seconds…
Ryuu backed away. "Nope. Nope. I'm not ready. I'm not even built for this. I'm like… an emotional stick figure!"
10 seconds...
9… 8…
He turned toward GLiTCH. "Override it! Give me a tutorial or something! A buffer route! A neutral NPC!"
But GLiTCH was already floating upward, holding a digital umbrella.
"Sorry, bro. This is your Love Reboot Relife. I'm just the emotionally unavailable system mascot."
3… 2… 1—
The doors all shattered at once.
A blinding explosion of color, voice lines, glitched petals, and UI fragments enveloped him.
ERROR: ROUTE CHOICE NOT MADE IN TIME
Just as Ryuu braced himself to pick one and suffer—
A fourth symbol flickered into existence behind the others, corrupted and locked, like a bug the system was trying to hide.
❓ Hinami Route – [CLASSIFIED FILE: Access Denied]
"...You're not supposed to remember me yet."
The voice was barely a whisper in the digital wind, but Ryuu felt it stab through his chest.
A feeling... like déjà vu wrapped in heartbreak.
"Who's—?"
Before he could finish, the file icon blinked red and vanished.
LOCKED ROUTE DETECTED. WARNING: MEMORY DESYNC.
System patch pending...
"Okay what the hell was that?" Ryuu shouted, but GLiTCH was already spinning the roulette like a lunatic.
EXECUTING RANDOMIZED BLEND
NEW MISSION: SURVIVE THE LOVE STORM
[Chapter 4 Unlocked: "Romance is a Combat Sport"]
To Be Continued…