My Arata Complex

The assurance Arata got from Sayaka last night wasn't as credible as her words had always sounded to him. Days before, Sayaka had always fought with him about contacting the outside world, and yet she suddenly grew supportive of his actions to the point of making hm host the next live. Whatever it would be about was not what he thought of the most.

His true self.

It had been quite a month since Arata started walking and fitting himself inside the skin of another person. Even if it was his own avatar in a game, he was still convinced that the past and the body of that man wasn't his. They only shared the same name, and that was it. Then again, it wasn't even about the avatar—it was about him. He had looked at a mirror, seeing a different face for a month now; how much did he remember about his real face? Would Sayaka even let him host the live using the face of his avatar?

A loud sigh came from Arata as he and his girls walked through the halls of the school. Attori, Cora, and Yukari threw their gazes at him—only to see a rather disturbed young man. Yukari was the first one to stop and spin on her heel.

"Something wrong, Arata? You've been sighing since this morning... is there something bothering you?" The best friend hummed as she moved her head to catch any change or twitch on his face. Arata only turned to them with a forced grin, not knowing what to say.

"Are you worried about something?" Cora clasped her hands together. The Music Club was practicing for the remaining of the week, and her only time spent with Arata was this part of the morning when they walk together. Seeing him agitated right now made her spirit sink low. Her first concert would be this coming Saturday, and she would like Arata to be smiling when he watches her performance.

The man noticed the stagnant worry in the eyes of the first two girls. He could say any kind of excuse to them and made sure they wouldn't be bothered, but he knew he must be careful with Attori. She was colluding with Ruby for a lot of things, and she might end validating that his excuses were lies. Arata only laughed out. "I'm just a little nervous. I'm about to play guest in a friend's stream. Do I look awful?"

Yukari puffed before shaking her head. "Geez, since when did you become shy?" She then chuckled and patted his shoulder. "Come on, just pretend they're all chicks. That'll make you comfortable!"

The player's eyes met with the mad girl's, and Arata knew she had something to say later. Time was of the essence right now, and so he decided to drop it and walked Cora to her class. His activities outside the game were not supposed to influence this world, right? He'll just have to trust Sayaka more about this issue.

Time flew by, and the only memorable minutes were during lunch. Arata was supposed to eat with Keiko to ask about her brother, and yet she was not in class again. She had been skipping a lot, and he somewhat grew worried about it. Keiko used to be the grade-conscious type. She had high dreams for the future, and he was really bothered that she was skipping these days. Being excited about guaranteed high grades in homework and projects used to be a luxury back in her route—perhaps, the only thing Arata grew excited about.

Since he heard from Tohru that Attori was with them when Keiko visited the hospital, he opted to talk to her about the issue instead. He knew that Attori knew about his need to make sure every girl was being taken care of. The mad girl didn't have any reservations about the topic; however, she seemed to be interested in seeing Keita a lot. She did tell him that she would be going to the hospital if she had no dance practice.

It sounded like an imperative schedule change again, just like back in Hibiya Fest. Arata could only sigh bitterly as he reminded himself that he was playing non-route, and getting a lot from the Hibiya Fest phase was a bug designed by Sayaka. Disregarding the fact that Attori had the most difficult route, it was a given even back in her first route that it was hard to spend time with her outside school.

Forgetting about the game mechanics, it was suspicious for her to hang out with Keiko these days. The only thing he knew was that Attori and Keiko had seen the creature together, and perhaps it was that common misfortune that made them bond. Then again, something else was irking Arata. If they keep on visiting Keita, that meant Attori would keep on running into this Yoshitaka guy. He must be quite an NPC since he ran into him more than once. There was also this stabbing incident.

There was an unpleasant feeling churning inside Arata. How much of this must have Attori felt every time she had to look at a woman next to him and tried her best not to shed blood? Then again, he was playing a dating sim; it was normal for him to get a lot of women.

Thinking about it, he hadn't seen a dating sim which made use of the player's acc.u.mulated relationsh.i.p.s and lined them up in a single playthrough. Ah, had he forgotten about the Challenge mode which showed a bit of violent battles among the girls?

A groan escaped from him as he rubbed his forehead. There seemed to be no event for the month of October, but he was already feeling the headache.

"You seemed frustrated. Attei not caring enough now?"

"Hmm, how about me, Arata? Can I help you?" Ruby chuckled lightly, replacing the coldness in her gaze with a rather scorching flash. Her fingertips slid down his arm. "You've done a good job during the meeting earlier. Also in dealing with the proposals of the classes. Don't you think a reward is due?"

There was a sudden change in the atmosphere of the Student Council room. They just finished meeting for that day, and the other members had already gone away. Arata only stayed behind because he fell into a little daze. Ruby, however, had been waiting for him to snap out of it.

Her beautiful face fell to the side in a slow pace as she let her maroon hair slid down her face and neck. It seemed to be a loud yet soundless growl for attention—attention that Arata had forgotten to give her. He had already maxed a lot of date-ables, and he even took advantage of some Encounters to raise their stats. He only complied to the story addition and date bonuses to raise Ruby's Encounter rate... without actually playing an Encounter with her.

Arata's eyes widened a little before gulping down a little. He was nervous not because it was the first time he would do this—he had done it a lot. He was nervous because of the notification that flashed in front of his eyes.

[You have activated a rerun! School Queen Tohsaki Ruby's Intro Encounter was passed one time/s. Failure to score 100% in this rerun might result to a reduction to overall stats of the date-able. Passing the Intro Encounter might result to its unavailability in the future. Failing to play Intro Encounters might result to an Encounter Ban with the date-able. Play? Yes / Pass]

'How brutal...' Arata blinked, sobbing inside.

He had read about this rerun sequence from Horsie and Pantsu before. Devin even clarified that the conditions were set differently from one date-able to another. It seemed that Ruby was upset that her Intro Encounter had been skipped, and so her conditions were rather hard to meet. He received comments that Ruby's Encounter was rather hard to perfect since it ran for only a few turns with quite a little increment for every choice. Then again, Arata wouldn't know if he wouldn't play it himself.

Mentally pressing 'Yes' activated the sequence. Unlike before, the side of the 'screen' now had a small window which said '1/4'. Needless to say, it terrified Arata into a mental bitter chuckle. Did it mean he only had four turns to maximize Excitement? How many turns did he have before? It didn't matter now, really; it's not like he could do something if he would suffer from a reduction.

[An Encounter Mode has started! School Queen Tohsaki Ruby has a total of 30 Excitement points right now. Obedience is at 70%, Excitement at 30%, and Affection at 100%. Try touching the date-able.]

"Hm? What's this? You seemed to be growing rather aggressive today." Ruby chuckled as she picked up the hem of her skirt, showing off more of her glorious shapely t.h.i.g.hs and fitting black u.n.d.e.r.w.e.a.r. "I don't mind feeding a hungry wolf from time to time."

[You just gained 15 Excitement points! Keep on going!]

Was there a higher score than 15? It would be impossible to reach 100 even if he had four perfect scores. Arata could only sigh and lament at the incoming reduction.

Taking the hint from the queen, Arata gently shoved his face between her legs, his nose tracing her inner t.h.i.g.hs along with his warm breath making her shiver a little. With his lips finding their way to the base of her crotch, the player started teasing her with his tongue. Even if he didn't manage a takedown, at least he would have as much fun as he could.

However, there was a different 'screen' flashing in his mind. It was Ruby's faintly flushed face, which didn't seem to be enjoying his action. Her eyes were locked away from him, and there was hesitation in her face. Something was going on, and Arata had no idea if he should stop. Then again, Ruby had the initiative to reach out and slip her delicate hand between her area and his mouth.

"...Maybe, we should... stop..."

The notification just gave him 15 points, and yet she was asking for him to stop? Arata frowned internally, but he only pulled away to respect her wish. For some reasons, the Encounter was still not finished. The player sighed inside his head; did they just heighten the difficulty of Ruby's route?

He got off of the chair and held Ruby against him, gently swinging her and mounting on the desk n front of them. A sharp gasp came from her, but she showed no resistance. Ruby only stared at Arata as he pinned her down on the desk. The player gave her a rather assuring smile. "What's wrong? I thought you're giving me a reward?"

"Y-Yes, but I realized..."—she turned her face to the side, her eyes half-lidded as she shivered a little—"am I not dirty?"