37. Stop Doing That in Front of Me
37. Stop Doing That in Front of Me
Someone once said.
Beginners mess with anything and everything,
experienced players look up walkthroughs,
goinmul veterans already have the walkthrough etched into their heads,
and rotten water creates their own walkthroughs.
Among these, I unfortunately was not quite at the rotten water level.
But then again, I wasn't quite at the goinmul level either.
If you asked if I was an experienced player... I figured I was maybe a little better than that.
"So... uhm..."
To put it simply, I was maybe about Grade C water that fell just short of goinmul.
I leisurely browsed what requests had come up through the academy's central 'Quest Board.'
[1st Year Quest Board]
- Goblin Subjugation (5p)
- Herb Gathering (3p)
- Slime Extermination (3p)
...
..
.
"Overall, they're pretty much the same."
I wouldn't do any of them right away.
There was still about a month left until the midterm score tally anyway, so it wasn't too late to take my time thinking it over.
'For now... should I plan to start two weeks before?'
Getting impatient and starting right now was also an option, but the more you rushed, the more your Sp acquisition would drop.
Skill points could only be earned by attending classes all week long. That was why efficiently choosing and focusing was the very first stepping stone toward a Pure Love Ending.
"So, should I take this request then?"
"I'm going with you, right?"
"Of course. I'd love to bring Mars along if it were up to me... but if she says no, what can I do."
"Ter, you're a bad guy, aren't you? Merk here likes bad guys!"
'...Ugh.'
Of course, for a 2nd loop, Strong New Game player, it was irrelevant.
Since you carried over your specs exactly, you could spend your training time elsewhere.
But that was strictly limited to the protagonist, and all the other characters needed their own time.
"It won't blow up right away... but."
I had a feeling it might get a bit tough later on.
The game wasn't one where a protagonist one-man show was possible.
I finished looking at the requests and began calculating this and that, and the protagonist's group glanced at me before—
Tuk...
"Ah, sorry. Didn't know you were standing there."
".............."
He bumped my shoulder once and walked past.
It was such an obviously open ploy that I didn't even get angry.
It was just laughable. Laughable in many ways. I wondered if it was okay for a Protagonist to be like that, but then I thought, what big expectations should I really have for the protagonist of an NTR game?
You could say there was a reason for everything when it came to getting NTR'd.
I paid it no mind and looked back at the requests.
"...Tch."
The protagonist simply walked away.
What a dull fellow.
...
..
.
"What are you thinking of doing, Chrono?"
"About what?"
While carrying luggage for the teacher's chore alongside Minerva, she suddenly spoke up to me.
"About the midterms."
"Aaah, that?"
So you were worried about that too, I saw.
"Supposedly, within the same class, we can form parties and act together. So... if I wouldn't be too much of a burden, would you mind forming a party with me?"
"Someone of Minerva's caliber, I'd be the one asking... though..."
It was true I would be the one asking.
But Minerva was a heroine.
If we ended up moving together and the protagonist suddenly went berserk again, the aftermath would be on me to handle...
'Should... I have to handle it?'
It was a thought that had suddenly occurred.
To begin with, the NTR villains and other extra villains had all NTR'd the heroines half-forcibly.
Patterns like: seducing them with words, grabbing them by a weakness, or if not that, then just pouncing on them going, 'I'll make you know the taste of this cock!'
On the other hand, what were the things I did?
Nothing particularly strange. Just perfectly routine daily life between student cadets.
Feelings could come and go in the middle of it, sure, but wouldn't pointing fingers calling that NTR be crossing a line?
'No, even so, he's the protagonist...'
If the kid's brain broke and he just KABOOM'd me with a lightning strike, I'd turn into electric rotisserie chicken on the spot.
Crispy on the outside, moist on the inside, thoroughly cooked.
To at least avoid that miserable sight, I needed to keep some distance but...
"Uuuuuum..."
Should I go?
Should I not?
That was the question.
"If it's because you can't decide due to Mars... don't worry. I'll tell Mars in advance."
"Ah, sorry. That's not... the kind of meaning I was agonizing over."
"I'll be careful never to cause any harm to your relationship with Mars."
"...Well, if you'd do that, then sure."
Misconceptions and misunderstandings had piled up, but in a sense, it also arrived at the outcome I wanted.
At least she wouldn't be getting too close to someone already taken.
Minerva and I soon finished all the assigned chores and went back to the classroom.
"Hey... Chrono, have you already gotten a midterm party?"
"I've got one person, yeah? Why?"
As soon as Minerva left, this time Yuno approached.
Yuno hemmed and hawed, tailing off her words, before finally asking me.
"Uhm... would it be okay if we partied together?"
"Why, of course..."
It would? Or wouldn't it?
Conflict crossed paths in my head in an instant.
If I took her into the party right now, Yuno was a beauty you could place wherever and use—not quite octagonal versatility, but at least quadrangle versatility.
But the point I just couldn't erase was that she was the protagonist's true heroine.
If we got tangled up together for nothing and things blew up, it might turn into a situation you truly couldn't pull out of...
"Would... it not work...?"
"...I'll welcome you with open arms."
How could I refuse when she was making that kind of face?
Ultimately, I let out a sigh inside my heart at the fact that we'd gotten entangled again, and Yuno, as if she knew it or maybe she didn't, smiled brightly and grabbed my hand.
"R-Really? Thank you, Chrono!"
"E-hey. Someone who has a boyfriend shouldn't be doing this!"
"Ah, s...sorry. I did it without thinking..."
"...Uhm."
The mood was flowing in a strangely odd direction again.
If someone saw, they'd probably say, isn't that an overreaction?
But, speaking as an 'experienced player,' this was an utterly natural progression.
'That makes sense, since I can see the signs of an 'Infidelity Event.'
The Infidelity Event.
A system where, if the protagonist only chased after other heroines, this heroine would also go off to plant an NTR flag with another NTR villain, claiming she'd do the same.
I wasn't sure if you knew, but it was a system of the same class as the 'Bomb System' from Tokimeki☆Memorial.
[You dare say you love me while turning your eyes to other girls?]
Put another way, it meant if you're going to cheat, cheat skillfully.
'But sadly, seeing the protagonist, he really doesn't seem...'
Like the type to cheat skillfully.
Come to think of it, if he could, would he even be the protagonist of an NTR game?
Thanks to the protagonist thoroughly living up to his title in many ways, I got a chill down my spine each time, wondering if an NTR flag had been raised.
"Hehe... sorry, Chrono. Come to think of it, Chrono, do you like Mars?"
"............"
Yuno smiled awkwardly and stepped back one step.
How should I answer Yuno? In what way should I speak to snap the NTR flag? I agonized over it—and Ultimately, I found the answer.
"Yuno, wanna take a look at this?"
"Huh?"
My phone.
The message log between Ur and me.
Especially the part where she sent photos telling me to use them as material, I showed that too.
"....Chrono, you don't mean..."
"Just in case you're wondering, I met Ur first."
"Then... don't tell me that with Mars──"
"──She already knows too."
"........???"
Her eyes went wide and round.
It looked like she was asking how that made any sense.
I shrugged my shoulders and showed there was nothing hidden at all.
"Ask her yourself. You have her phone number anyway, so there's nothing stopping you."
"...I won't ask. Because I believe Chrono."
"Suddenly appealing your trust like that doesn't get you anything out of me, you know?"
"Because Chrono doesn't do things like lie."
"..........."
That was
simply because one wrong lie and it'd be a straight NTR Event.
Truth be told, aside from that, it was also because I was bad at lying.
There was a common saying.
Don't even start talking about things that won't work.
If I was confident I could perfectly deceive someone, I'd do it, but I just wasn't at that level.
"Uhm, so anyway, that means Mars already knows? She knows that and she still says she likes you?"
"That's right."
"Huuung... You're being loved, aren't you?"
"In many ways. So I'm also trying my best to love her."
In Mars's case, I'd also accepted it to some degree now.
If my heart was completely empty, that'd be one thing, but my heart had already gone, enough that I'd held her in my arms once.
'When I went to tell Ur, it was really...'
I immediately bowed my head and begged to be spared, but she was delighted instead, saying an artist ought to date multiple women.
[Ah, right. If you don't leave me my share, I'll really sulk? I can even cast curses.]
[....Yeeeees]
There were a few conditions attached instead, but I'd made up for that part with sheer guts and grit.
My knuckles had stung on the way back. I couldn't even remember how many songs I'd played.
"So, Chrono, why did you suddenly show that to me?"
"Just because. Keep it in mind for now."
"...Why?"
"You know too."
"............."
If she'd asked 'Why?' innocently and brightly, it would be one thing, but the blank space before her changed my suspicion into conviction.
"Just know that it's a possible thing."
"...Even so, I don't like it."
"They say girls who cling too much aren't great either."
"Is it... being clingy...?"
"Who knows."
Honestly, I wasn't sure if it was clinginess.
Maybe I was just seeing Yuno too favorably, or seeing the protagonist as trash.
But still, there was clearly a difference in our mutual positions.
Especially since I had to somehow occupy the polar opposite position of a harem within an NTR worldview, I could understand why the protagonist's disposition was getting twisted more and more.
'I just don't want to accept it, that's all.'
So manage your heroines better, damn it.
Why was he always so frantic about being unable to erect NTR flags?
Toward Yuno, who was growing increasingly somber, I offered some decent words of consolation.
"What was it, you know, after all that running around, you come back to home cooking, right? I'm sure that bastard Ju... Ter, will come back saying he likes you, so don't be like that. Mars has this 'Why are you so wilted? Did you skip breakfast?' face on and would forcibly send you to the cafeteria."
"Puheut... okay. I got it."
Yeah.
She should get it, but...
"...Hey, Chrono."
Yuno asked.
"Am I... wishing for too many things...?"
"You should ask yourself that, is it meaningful to ask me?"
"...Yeah. Sorry, Chrono."
"Don't be sorry. You didn't exactly do anything you need to be sorry for."
"........Mars is so lucky."
"Huh?"
Mars, what was so lucky?
Wondering what she meant, I turned my head toward Yuno.
"Mars, looks like she's, so, very loved."
"......Kkeu-eung."
So stop doing that in front of me.
I can't exactly undergo a real NTR Awakening, now can I.