After the Date
"Phew."
I slumped into the chair in the hotel room.
Next to it sat a tower of crumpled tissues, each one stained with cum.
"Finally done cleaning up."
I looked over at Yupi, sound asleep on the bed. She was breathing softly and evenly, deep under. Maybe one round had been enough to wipe her out, because she'd dropped off the moment it was over. She'd looked so uncomfortable that I had carefully washed her down for her. I couldn't do a truly thorough job without waking her, but on the surface she looked fine enough.
I had only just come out of the bathroom myself, freshly scrubbed. New clothes from the department store, plus a shirt and shorts I'd bought for lounging around. Loose, breathable, comfortable. Expensive clothes really were different — even the feel of the fabric against my skin was a cut above.
I should get some sleep too.
The date was over. We'd wandered the streets like a proper couple, killed time shopping, caught a movie as the sun went down, and when night fell we'd booked a room at a love hotel and whispered our love to each other. The long day had come to an end. For my health's sake, going to bed early so I wouldn't be wrecked tomorrow was the smart move. Once my "work" was done, I'd spread out my bedding and sleep on the floor next to the bed myself.
Yes. As soon as the work is done.
"You've been watching all of that, haven't you?"
I muttered into empty air. Anyone else would have called me a lunatic, but I paid it no mind and kept talking to myself.
"I did everything you told me to, so out of common courtesy you can at least answer me, right?"
{Of course.}
{Anything within the limits of what I'm allowed to answer.}
The chat window scrolled up in response to my words. Someone who spoke in a tone completely unlike the Writer's usual manner. There was no mistaking it — this was the very entity that had been egging me on at the dock, and on the street.
"So what the hell are you?"
{The Helper. Details are hard to disclose, so that question ends here.}
"What's your relationship with the Writer? Why can you talk through this chat window at all?"
{We merely know each other, more or less. She, however, doesn't know me.}
Well, well. Look at this guy. I ask the questions and he gives me half-hearted answers. He seemed to be replying politely one by one, but it was all empty calories — nothing he told me was actually worth anything.
"I noticed something, by the way. Whenever you contact me, the Writer can't post anything in the chat window. What's the deal with that?"
{Point-to-point communication. When A and B are on a call, no matter how many times C dials them, C can't wedge into the line. Simple principle.}
"Is that how it works? Writer, you idiot. If she'd built the system as a multi-point network like a damn group chat, this wouldn't have happened."
{She never imagined anyone would intrude on this line of hers. And even if she had, she hates others butting in — she'd have stubbornly kept this setup anyway.}
"Hmm."
A feeling washed over me. This person knew the Writer. And from the way they talked, they were close. Maybe I should ask the Writer later whether anyone else held permission to enter the chat window.
"Okay, next question. Why did you have me do all that? Voyeurism — is that what this is?"
{It would be a lie if I said the view wasn't pleasant, but my purpose is something far grander than that trivial nonsense.}
"And that purpose would be?"
{Saving someone. I want a world where that child — one who could only ever end in misery — can smile.}
"Uh huh. Right. What a noble mission."
This guy was cracked in the head too. The sheer level of chuunibyou radiating off the chat window left me honestly speechless.
"And what does that have to do with me and Yupi having sex? I genuinely cannot even begin to guess."
{It won't make sense right now. But as time passes, like a tangled knot loosening thread by thread, you'll come to understand it naturally.}
"What a great answer. If your goal was to make your listener want to die of frustration, congratulations — it worked."
{My apologies. Even if I wanted to tell you everything, the rules of this world bind me — it's impossible. Above all, I need to keep my existence hidden from the Writer for now. Would you cooperate with me under those conditions?}
"Out of the goodness of my heart?"
{As if. In exchange, I'll give you two gifts.}
Ooh, gifts. Nice. Whether it suited my tastes or not, I wasn't about to refuse a gesture of good faith. Coming from a being who knew the Writer — the god of this world — and could secretly interfere with the chat window behind her back to talk to me, it wouldn't be anything ordinary.
{The first is information. Within the bounds of what I can speak of, I'll reveal my secrets to you.}
"Go ahead."
{Until now, I've only ever said what I needed to say, then vanished without so much as a goodbye. Here I am, chatting back and forth with you so naturally, but back then I had no choice but to deliver my will to you one-way, like a broadcast with no return signal.}
"Which sounds suspiciously like 'it's fine now.'"
{All thanks to you. Because you won Yupi's love — her heart — the range in which I can interfere with the chat window has expanded.}
"So that's why you had me do it."
So if I had sex with Yupi, the territory this guy could exert himself over grew wider. The total absence of any discernible cause and effect stunned me, but for the moment I shut up and listened.
{That's not all. My purpose — saving someone. The more you have sex, the closer I get to that goal.}
"Saving someone through sex. The more I hear, the more my head hurts."
{You're not at the stage where you can understand yet. This is the stage where you simply accept it in silence. What matters is this: just as you did with Yupi, you must go and nail every one of the other women.}
"Hold on — other women?"
{Exactly what I said. I want you to capture not just Yupi, but those girls — the ones called the heroines of this world.}
"You do realize that goes directly against the Writer's wishes, right?"
The Writer had wanted Eva's happiness. She'd wanted her to save the world and find partners besides Chloe, and be happy because of it. Was this guy trying to shatter the Writer's dream?
{No, it's you who's mistaken about one thing — those partners don't have to be women. Anyone who can make Eva happy will do. Man or woman, I couldn't care less.}
"If you tell the Writer that, she'll reject it before you even finish the sentence."
{Which is exactly why I'm proposing we move behind her back. You want it anyway, don't you — sex with them.}
It was a sweet proposal. Faces flickered through my mind unbidden. Marin. Chloe. Ter. Eva. Women of untouchable, unapproachable beauty. Any man who laid eyes on them couldn't help but feel that pure greed — the wish to hold their hand — and that fiercer desire too, to explore the secrets hidden beneath thin fabric.
But it was impossible. That went for anyone, really, but Eva and Chloe especially loved women. Forcing myself onto them would do nothing but backfire.
And yet — what if. Yupi's bizarre behavior back at the dock. That hazy, dazed look she'd worn, like she'd been hypnotized. What if all of it had been this "Helper's" handiwork?
"Don't tell me the remaining gift you're about to give me is—"
{Precisely as you suspect.}
Tap!
An onomatopoeia popped up in the chat window, followed by the crisp sound of a finger snapping right beside my ear.
Whoosh!
"Whoa, wait — why is that here?!"
The halo had been summoned behind my back out of nowhere. Blazing with brilliant light and announcing its presence to the whole room, I scrambled to hide it. If Yupi saw this thing, all hell would break loose!
{Don't panic. I'm only adjusting it to fit you.}
More chat scrolled up, and along with the reassuring words, the halo's light died down. A moment later, the ring that had been larger than my head shrank in an instant, transformed into a bracelet, and coiled itself around my wrist.
It changed shape?
{In that form, it has roughly the same effect as drawing out the halo, just within the line of not getting caught. And as a bonus, wooing women will become far easier for you.}
"I never got anything like this even from Solis's memories. And 'wooing women becomes easier'? There was nothing like that written in the setting bible either."
{Just roll with it. The important thing is that while you're wearing it, winning the affection of women becomes easier.}
"That's it? Honestly, I find that hard to believe."
{Seeing is believing. Strike up a conversation with any woman later and find out. As for me, it's time — I'm off.}
"Wait—!"
I reached out to stop the one who'd introduced himself as the Helper. Just one last thing — I needed him to tell me how the hell I was supposed to explain this bracelet to the Writer...
"Solis, are you okay?"
"Mmnh... Yupi?"
Yupi appeared in front of me out of nowhere. She must have just come out of the shower, because she was wiping her damp hair dry with a towel.
Wait. Hold on. Why was I lying in the bed?
"I was just—"
"Rest easy. I'm the one who carried you up here myself."
"You did?"
"Mm. When I woke up and looked around, I found you dozing in that chair. So I moved you onto the bed so you could sleep comfortably."
I fell asleep?
I looked at the window, just as she'd said, and instead of pale moonlight, bright sunlight was slicing down through the gap in the curtains. I had no memory of losing consciousness, but with this much evidence piling up, it probably wasn't a lie.
Then that was... a dream?
The whole conversation with that Helper, too?
No way. There's no way.
A strange sensation on my arm. I raised it into my view.
There, on my wrist, was a bracelet that hadn't existed before — the halo he'd given to me.