Because Aoki suddenly spoke to her, the girl in front of him lifted her head a little. Her gaze shifted from her phone screen to his face, a clear hint of blank surprise in her eyes.
But she only froze for a moment before quickly reacting.
Coming back to herself, Ijichi Nijika spoke, her tone carrying a trace of confusion.
"Huh? Um... I am looking for a guitar player. And you are?"
"I'm a second-year at Jousei Private High School. My name is Aoki Suke. I heard some passersby saying there was a blonde girl nearby looking for a guitar player. And it just so happens I know a little about guitar. Need a hand?"
Aoki replied.
The System's Option required him to temporarily become Kessoku Band's guitar player. If Nijika didn't agree, he probably wouldn't receive the 100,000 yen bonus.
Still, just getting a conversation going was already half the battle. According to the information from the System, Kessoku Band was currently in the state where Ms. Runaway, Kita Ikuyo, had bolted, leaving the band short a guitar player. Nijika likely wouldn't refuse his offer to help.
Even if he was only doing it to claim the reward—deceiving the pure-hearted Nijika-mama with a dirty little lie—he probably wouldn't be able to help her in the end...
Things went about how Aoki had expected. When she heard him, Nijika's eyes lit up.
The doubt in her voice vanished all at once. In a voice brimming with energy, she answered decisively.
"R—really?! I'm a student at Shimokitazawa High School. I'm Ijichi Nijika. We've got a show tomorrow, but our guitar player disappeared a few days ago, so I've been looking around here for one... If Aoki-kun could help, I'd be so grateful!"
Hands pressed together, the girl blinked, and expectation immediately filled her eyes.
"Our songs are really simple! As long as you can play guitar, you'll pick them up fast. And the audience will basically just be classmates and friends—super low pressure!"
Aoki had never intended to refuse; if anything, to complete the Option he wanted Nijika to hurry up and ask.
So as soon as the energetic girl finished speaking, he answered without hesitation, "I've got no problem being your temporary guitar player."
Nijika had been mentally prepared to fight a long battle to find someone, so she hadn't expected to land a temp guitarist this easily. A note of excitement slipped into her voice as she said, "Then—no time like the present. Let's head out now!"
...
Looking at the girl so full of energy, and hearing that slightly impatient eagerness in her voice, a faint pang of guilt welled up in Aoki Suke for lying just to snag that 100,000 yen.
But before he could apologize in his heart, a clear electronic chime rang by his ear, cutting off his thoughts in time.
[Ding. Host has completed Option Three. Reward has been automatically granted.]
[Ding. Host has completed an Option for the first time. The Heroine Panel function has been automatically unlocked.]
[Ding. Host has received Points. The Points Shop function has been automatically unlocked.]
Three prompts chimed in quick succession.
Aoki blinked, then immediately understood.
Option Three complete. Mission reward auto-credited. And the Cheat had unlocked a bunch of functions he didn't yet know how to use.
Considering the hard cash—100,000 yen—Aoki set his guilt aside for the moment.
To conveniently check the rewards issued by the System, he thought for a second and chose not to answer Nijika right away.
Lifting the Cheap Bento in his hand, Aoki offered an excuse.
"It's a bit inconvenient carrying stuff. My apartment's really close by. Just tell me where to meet you later, and I'll head back to drop this off, then come straight over. I'll be quick."
"Um..."
Maybe because Kita Ikuyo's sudden runaway had left a shadow in her mind, Nijika hesitated slightly when she heard him.
But only for a moment. Then she stopped hesitating and nodded firmly. "The destination is a Live House in Shimokitazawa called [STARRY]. Aoki-kun can find it by searching Google Maps."
She paused, then, as if worried he'd pull a Kita Ikuyo and vanish, added,
"It's not far from here. Aoki-kun, you have to come, okay!"
"Don't worry."
Nodding to show he was fine, bento in hand, Aoki waved to her under Nijika's gaze and walked out of the park.
Just as he'd told Nijika, his rented place was indeed close—so close he didn't even need to take the train. After about five minutes on foot, he returned to his cramped apartment.
A 1R unit with a unit bath; the kitchen and living space weren't separated. Small and narrow, every fixture crammed into a single room.
Embarrassingly shabby.
Still, the upside was obvious. In this part of Tokyo, rent for a place like this was dirt cheap—half or less compared to other layouts.
He stepped inside, changed into slippers, and set the bento aside. Without fuss, Aoki tried to open the System—the one that had just chimed in his head—using his thoughts.
His phone had just buzzed with a bank notification for the 100,000 yen deposit. He'd confirmed it on the way back, so he wasn't planning to focus on the material reward first.
A light-blue screen suddenly popped up in front of him.
Front and center, in bold, heavy black font:
[Welcome to the Love Trouble Simulator. Once the game begins, it cannot be terminated. Note: Any consequences after the host reaches an ending will be borne by the host and have nothing to do with this game. Do not speak of any game content to anyone; violators bear all consequences.]
It read like a disclaimer. Aside from the bold text, two other options flashed on the screen:
[Heroine Panel] and [Points Shop]—the very functions the electronic voice had mentioned.
Ignoring the disclaimer, and curious about this tardy Cheat, Aoki tapped [Heroine Panel].
The pale blue virtual screen shifted at once.
[Selectable Heroine: Ijichi Nijika]
[CGs Unlocked: (None) (Note: Unlock CGs by meeting specific conditions. Unlocking CGs grants rewards.)]
[Ijichi Nijika Route Achievements: (None)]
[Ijichi Nijika Route Endings: (None)]
The layout was a lot like a galgame. After carefully reading the list, Aoki closed the [Heroine Panel].
CGs, achievements, endings—he hadn't unlocked any of them. At the moment, the [Heroine Panel] didn't do much for him.
So he switched to the Points Shop.
Just like before, the screen changed.
Compared to the [Heroine Panel], the [Points Shop] was much more bare-bones.
A simple table, densely packed with items purchasable via Points.
All sorts of strange and varied goods—like Master-level culinary skills for 400 Points, or 10,000 yen for 100 Points, or sheet music and lyrics for certain songs priced at 100 Points.
A quick skim was enough for Aoki to grasp the general pricing.
First, skill-type items like "Master-level culinary skills" had prices that fluctuated with the quality prefix. The minimum was 200 Points; the highest was 1,000 Points.
Notably, despite the variety of skills, when Aoki browsed through them, he realized some knowledge-based skills he wanted weren't in the shop at all—like mathematics, chemistry, or biology and the like.
As for manuscripts of literary works from his past life or sheet music and lyrics for certain songs, those were uniformly priced—regardless of fame or quality—at 100 Points each.
Lastly, there was the Points-to-yen exchange: 100 Points for 10,000 yen. Compared to other items, converting to yen had pretty poor value.
Since he'd just completed an Option and received a reward, Aoki currently had a balance of 500 Points. If he exchanged it all, he could get 50,000 yen.
But he wasn't stupid. Better to teach a man to fish than give him fish; he understood that much. Rather than cashing out all 500 Points, there were better choices right now.
Eyes still on the simple Points Shop screen, Aoki hesitated briefly.
Since some professional knowledge couldn't be redeemed, picking a money-making skill became his top priority.
There were plenty of fast-cash professions. Spending 400 Points for a Master-level skill would be enough to get him out of poverty after a while.
But recalling the look on Ijichi Nijika's face—how worried she was that he'd run off—Aoki decided, after weighing things, to redeem a Master-level guitar performance skill.
Making money and keeping his word didn't conflict. Guitar Technique (Master Level) happened to satisfy both wishes at once.
He spent the Option reward Points on [Guitar Technique (Master Level)] for 400 Points, leaving him with 100 Points.
He didn't plan to buy anything else. A glance at the clock on the wall told him more than ten minutes had passed since he'd returned.
He closed the screen and didn't dawdle.
With Guitar Technique (Master Level) redeemed and confidence in his pocket, Aoki opened Google Maps and began searching for the Live House in Shimokitazawa named [STARRY].