The Choice (5)
Meet Noel and figure out how she dumped the ghost story on me.
Then use the same method to dump it on someone else.
That should solve… or at least let me avoid this ghost story.
‘Maybe I’ll just dump it on the homeroom teacher.’
No hard feelings.
She was supposed to die during the Ellie-mom ghost story anyway.
If I’m lucky, the homeroom teacher dies and we get a pretty, big-breasted teacher instead.
Someone like Rapori-sensei, for example.
…Just imagining it makes me look forward to tomorrow’s morning assembly.
“Haa…”
So, Friday evening.
I decided to visit Noel tomorrow and lay down in my dorm room to sleep.
Nothing major should happen until Thursday, when I have to cut off my arm.
…Wait, is touching Ellie’s chest really “nothing major”?
Under perfect justification and forced will, groping Ellie’s chest was a serious matter.
‘Then I’ll figure out how to dump it on Saturday…, touch her chest on Monday, and immediately go to the homeroom teacher…’
While lying in bed thinking about the schedule, I heard it.
Knock knock knock.
“Huh…?”
A knock on the door.
“……”
The door had only ever been knocked on twice after sunset.
During Lana’s knock-knock ghost story.
And when B came to my room during the movie theater ghost story.
…I don’t have many good memories of someone knocking on my door.
“……Who is it?”
So I asked warily toward the other side.
[Ares, this is the dorm supervisor.]
“……Supervisor?”
It was an unexpected person.
The dorm supervisor was basically just a title with no real duties.
I rarely even saw them around the dorm.
“What is it?”
It didn’t seem like a ghost or ghost story, so I asked directly.
Maybe there was a special reason.
And then—
[Ares, come outside the dorm right now.]
“……Excuse me?”
The supervisor suddenly told me to go outside without any reason.
[—Or stay in your room and talk to yourself for an hour.]
“……”
[You have to choose one.]
Of course…
It was the ghost story I was currently experiencing.
‘It even comes at night…’
This choice game ghost story apparently wasn’t limited to once a day.
Since it happened at night, even Ellie didn’t know about it.
[Ares, if you don’t choose quickly, I’ll pick for you.]
“Ah, yes yes. I’ll talk to myself.”
[……]
Going outside at night was basically asking to die.
The night outside belonged to ghosts and monsters.
The answer had been decided from the start.
…Tap, tap, tap.
“……”
After I answered, footsteps faded away from the door.
I sat on the bed and looked around the dark room, muttering.
“What am I even supposed to talk about alone…”
An easy yet incomprehensible mission.
“Umm…”
Since I chose, I had to complete the mission.
But I really had no idea what to say by myself.
“Uuuu…”
While I was thinking and worrying—
“……Hey, you know what?”
‘Huh…?’
My mouth moved on its own and started talking to itself.
‘I see. Forced mission execution.’
Just like during the naked running incident.
When I didn’t move, the forced power executed the mission by itself.
“I held hands with a really pretty girl during class today. I thought my heart was gonna explode.”
My voice came out regardless of my will.
‘This is convenient.’
Automatic mission execution.
This ghost story was surprisingly user-friendly.
At this rate, I could easily fill the full hour without any trouble.
“But then she stuck right next to me saying she’d take notes for me… It was really exciting, you know?”
“Really, I’m not lying.”
“What do you think? She probably likes me too, right? It feels like it… but also kinda not…”
“Huh? What do you think?”
So I spent the entire hour babbling like a madman.
My voice echoed through the quiet room.
Aside from that strange sensation, nothing was particularly wrong.
‘I’ll have to stay close to Ellie starting tomorrow.’
Since my consciousness had nothing to do for an hour, I planned tomorrow’s schedule in my head.
And after a while—
“Ah, that was fun. I’m gonna sleep now. See you next time.”
Finally, the hour ended and the mission stopped.
“……”
My voice disappeared, leaving only silence in the dark room.
…It felt strangely creepy.
“Alright, sleep…”
I lay down on the bed and tried to sleep.
But that damn bitch
Wasn’t even there???
Ellie checked directly.
‘This is troublesome…’
The next day, Saturday.
After waking up and getting ready, I headed straight to the girls’ dorm.
Figuring out how to dump the ghost story on someone else was the priority.
“Is there something important you need to say…?”
“Yeah, there was something I wanted to ask.”
“……”
The first person I called out was Ellie.
Since I planned to spend the whole day with her anyway.
The future in the diary wouldn’t change unless I acted.
If I stayed with Ellie all day today and promised to stay together tomorrow too, it would reflect in the diary and give me more future information.
So I called Ellie first…, and asked her to call Noel as well.
“Where could she have gone?”
“I don’t know…”
“Hmm…”
Ellie and I stood in front of the girls’ dorm, thinking.
She stared straight at me.
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
“No…”
“Why? Is there something you want to say?”
“……”
Her eyes looked like she had something to say.
When I asked, Ellie hesitated for a moment, then blushed slightly and asked with difficulty.
“D-Did you call me… to go on a date with Noel…?”
“What…?”
“You called her because you wanted to go on a date…?”
“……”
Ah… Well, if someone saw me looking for her first thing on a weekend morning, that misunderstanding could happen…
Wait, but you’re the one who called her first, Ellie.
“That’s not it.”
“Really…?”
“Yeah. If I were going on a date with anyone, it’d be with you, Ellie.”
“H-Huh…? Really?”
“I only called Noel because I had something to ask her.”
“……”
My answer must not have been bad, because Ellie’s anxious expression brightened.
She blushed and smiled shyly, lowering her head.
…Cute.
“If she’s not here, there’s nothing we can do. I can ask tomorrow. Let’s go.”
“……Yeah.”
Yeah, I didn’t need to learn how to dump the ghost story on Noel right this second.
Today I’d just spend time with Ellie and gather information in the diary.
Once I knew what missions were coming in the future, I’d also understand why I had to cut off my arm.
Of course, if I could dump the ghost story, I wouldn’t need to know that anymore.
“What do you want to eat?”
“Umm… What do you want, Ares?”
“Hmm… Pork cutlet?”
“Then let’s eat that.”
“I asked what you wanted.”
“I-I wanted pork cutlet too.”
After that—
I ate with Ellie.
“Look at this cover.”
“……Cute.”
“Doesn’t it look like Ellie?”
“Hehe, this rabbit…?”
“No, the raccoon next to it.”
“……”
“Sorry sorry…! It was a joke…! I meant the rabbit!”
We went to the bookstore and looked at books.
“Do you know this movie?”
“…Deserted Island? Haven’t seen it.”
“It’s really fun.”
“Hee… I see.”
“Wanna watch it together later?”
“……Huh? But this is rated for adults……”
“……Ah, I-I meant a different one! My mistake! Hahaha!”
“……”
We stopped by the video rental store and checked out movies we each wanted to watch.
Before we knew it, it was late afternoon.
Saturday passed in the blink of an eye.
“That was fun.”
“Me too. …Next time let’s rent a video and watch together. …A wholesome one.”
“……Yeah, I want to. Definitely.”
We reminisced about today’s events as we walked from the shopping district back to the dorms.
While walking, I suddenly remembered the time we spent as lovers when I’d lost my memories.
‘Honestly… it was really nice, but…’
Ellie was cute.
Pretty.
And her chest was big.
…If I hadn’t suspected she was a ghost, I might have confessed, dated, gotten physical, accidentally made a kid, and ended up married.
In other words—
“……”
“……”
Neither of us wanted the date to end.
Ellie seemed to feel the same, sticking close to me without saying a word.
Yet the dorms kept getting closer.
‘…Huh? Come to think of it, I haven’t gotten any missions today.’
According to the diary, I should have completed one mission this morning.
The content was probably… dancing by the water?
I’d been so focused on the exciting date that I didn’t even notice the mission never came.
‘That means the future changed.’
Probably because the date course changed, or because I asked Ellie to call Noel this morning, the future had shifted slightly.
So—
It would probably come at night.
Just like last night.
“Hey, Ellie.”
“…Huh, yeah?”
Remembering that, I carefully called her name.
Ellie, who had been walking quietly, looked at me with a tense expression.
We had arrived at the fork between the boys’ and girls’ dorms.
Should I check the night missions in the diary in advance too??
Then bringing Ellie to my room to sleep together is unavoidable, huh?
This idiot got blinded by lust and forgot something so simple LOL
‘……Right, I could’ve just told her.’
Only after reading the gallery comments did I realize there was no need to bring Ellie to my room.
“……”
“……It’s been a while. Hehe.”
“Yeah, it has.”
Ellie and I stood awkwardly in front of the door inside my room.
It was awkward, yet my heart was pounding…
‘No, I’m not going to do anything. This is really just for gathering information…!’
Besides, it wasn’t like Ellie coming into my room was a rare occurrence.
She’d even admitted she snuck into my room before during the board game incident.
Yeah, there was no danger.
We were just going to sleep innocently like last time.
“Th-Then… Can I shower first…?”
“……Huh? Y-Yeah, sure.”
“…Thanks.”
Huh? Shower…?
Well, of course she’d shower after going out, but…
‘You idiot, she showered last time too…!’
When a guy and a girl were alone in a dark room, their inner desires naturally got stimulated.
So even simple things felt loaded with meaning.
For example… imagining doing all sorts of things with Ellie after she came out of the shower.
‘Get a grip. …I’ll die if I do anything.’
Honestly, the lingering regret after the date was so strong that I ended up bringing Ellie to my room, but—
The more important goal was getting information for the future diary.
Since I told her to sleep over, the action was already taken.
If I told her to sleep here tomorrow and the day after too…, until the ghost story ended, the diary would now have information……
‘Wait? But if I just tell Ellie what mission I got…’
At first, I’d planned to bring Ellie to my room to find out the night missions.
But after thinking it over, I realized there was no need.
“……”
Shhhhhhhhh…
In the end—
I had brought Ellie to my room simply because I wanted to sleep with her.
“No no no no…!”
No…!
Let’s think this through properly!
Explaining the mission content to Ellie meant telling her about the ghost story I was trapped in.
Was it really a good idea to worry her over something so trivial?
She might get dragged into the ghost story for no reason.
Even though Ellie was heavily suspected of being a ghost, she was still a female student who might be human.
Yeah.
To keep Ellie from getting involved in the ghost story—
Bringing her to my room tonight was absolutely necessary.
“Right… This is a necessary procedure… that must be done……”
Sitting on the bed, I muttered to myself like last night, trying to convince myself.
Good.
With this, today’s actions weren’t completely pointless.
In fact, it might even be the optimal move to minimize risk……
—Knock knock knock.
“……”
Shhhhhhhhh…
Right then—
—Knock knock knock.
The door rang.
“……Who is it?”
It’s here.
Thinking that, I answered toward the door.
Then the dorm supervisor’s voice from last night returned.
[Ares, sorry for bothering you so late.]
“Yes…”
[You must set the first floor on fire right now and sleep in your bed.]
“……”
The supervisor said something that didn’t even sound like words.
……It was a mission.
‘Then the next part is what I have to do tonight…’
I stared at the door, waiting for the supervisor to continue.
And then—
[Or, while looking in the mirror together with the female student who came with you, you must grope her chest for 30 minutes.]
“—I’ll grope her chest.”
[……]
“Ah.”
Of course, the latter was the only choice.
So I reflexively picked it right away.
‘Grope her chest…?’
It was a mission I’d heard somewhere before.
Right… It was the mission I was supposed to do on Monday.
‘Because the future changed… it got moved to tonight?’
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
While I was thinking, the supervisor’s footsteps faded away from the door.
With this, tonight’s mission was confirmed.
—Grope Ellie’s chest.
“……”
Gulp.
Shhhhhhhhh…
Creak.
Ellie seemed to have finished showering, as the sound of running water stopped.
And a moment later—
Ellie came out of the bathroom, drying her hair with a towel.
“Ares…?”
“……”
“What’s wrong?”
Ellie’s cheeks were slightly flushed from the warm water.
She looked at me with a languid, pleasant smile.
“……E-Ellie.”
“Huh…?”
Seeing my unusual expression, she immediately tensed up, her eyes trembling.
It looked like she already had an idea of what I was about to say.
Swish.
I stood up.
Then I carefully walked over to Ellie and placed my hands on her shoulders.
Twitch…!
Her slender, soft skin.
Ellie’s slightly damp, warm shoulders from the shower touched my hands.
Looking straight at her, I spoke seriously.
“Don’t misunderstand and just listen.”
“Y-Yeah…”
“Can I… touch your chest right now?”
“……Huh?”
Drip…
A drop of water fell from Ellie’s still-wet hair, trailing down her cheek.
Plop.
The drop fell from her chin—
and landed on her large chest.
“……”
“……”
Ellie stared at me blankly with trembling eyes.
Then she blushed and lowered her head.
“……Yeah.”
“……”
And she gave permission.
To touch her chest.
“……Then I’ll let you after you dry your hair.”
“……Y-Yeah.”
Ghost story…… thank you.