Chapter 73 – The Soon-to-Be-Dead Martian Believer

Writing a script is not something that happens overnight.

Inspiration is a mysterious thing, even if the creator is full of energy, but when there is no inspiration, there is a bit of nothing to do.

Asaba Rika is full of energy right now. After capturing some inspiration, she starts to set up the setting and characters of the story, but always feels unsatisfied, writing and deleting, and finally leaning back in her chair, staring at the ceiling in a salty daze.

It’s a good opportunity to have a lot to talk about with Shen Yu!

When she spoke to Shen Yu, he was usually indifferent, but if she was discussing a script, which was part of her work, Shen Yu would be happy to talk to her.

The game does not require Asaba Rika to write lines for the characters, as the AI girlfriends interact intelligently with the player, but she is still required to give the AI girlfriends a full personality and experience set in order to ensure that the interaction is effective.

As a text adventure game, the plot is quite important and amounts to creating a world in which the player and his AI girlfriend have adventures together.

Unlike the fixed script, Shen Yu’s selling points are ‘superb freedom’ and ‘AI interaction’, which the player cannot ctrl all the way through.

To get to the next scene, you have to chat and interact with your girlfriend and find a way to find clues to the main line from her.

The interaction between the player and his AI girlfriend may lead to a number of hidden subplots, all of which Rika has to design, and the more scenarios there are, the richer the experience will be.

Although Shen Yu has said that the initial game need not be overly complex. For example, the original idea that players could freely set the appearance, personality and preferences of their AI girlfriends was cut out and the pre-defined emotional model was used directly. The scenes don’t need to be too many, and it doesn’t matter if you don’t want anything other than the main line, the focus is on AI chatting and interaction.

But when Asaba Rika was given the script and art work, she wanted to do it better, and she had a strong desire to impress Shen Yu.

……

Sunday morning arrived as planned and it was another great day.

It’s nearly October and the mornings are much cooler than usual. Rika sleeps with the air conditioning on at night and turns it off at regular intervals until around 4am.

Her room is east-facing and in the morning the bright sunlight falls on the curtains and radiates out to illuminate the room.

On Rika’s desktop sits a plain white sketchbook in which she writes down the outline of her story and various settings, the pen gently pressed against the paper, the computer screen still lit up with an unfinished sketch of a scene, and in front of the mouse pad sits a panda doll given to her by Shen Yu.

On her bedside table is a small black and white square alarm clock with hands ticking away, her mobile phone sits next to it, along with a small wooden comb and beige hairband.

The young girl in the bed was sound asleep, having worked on the script until twelve o’clock last night, and had fallen asleep in a daze when she got into bed.

Rika’s sleeping position is similar to Bai Xiaomeng’s, not at all restless.

She was still in bed, but her pillow had run into the wrong place, and she was sleeping sideways, the duvet had been kicked against the wall, covering only the feet partly, the bear she had been given on her phone bill was in her arms, she was wearing little grey home shorts, her long, snow-white thighs were clutching the pillow, and her hair was falling down in a messy way, covering her little face.

The little alarm clock’s bell dinged again.

Asaba Rika’s eyes don’t open, he rolls around twice in place holding the bear, extends his white arms to fumble on the bedside table, feels the little alarm clock and presses stop, then falls asleep again in this position.

Until Shen Yu came knocking at the door.

“What time is it? Aren’t you up yet? Are you going to the event or not?”

No answer.

Shen Yu shouted several times, but there was no movement inside.

He tried unscrewing the door of the room and it unexpectedly managed to open.

So he saw a pair of snow-white legs through the doorway and immediately closed it again, hurrying to shake the charming images from his mind.

It was only after five calls to her that she got through in a daze.

“Moxie Moxie ……”

“Get up!!!”

……

Forty minutes later, Asaba Rika, fully dressed and washed up, sat down at the table to eat breakfast by himself, while Shen Yu had finished his breakfast.

“I’m usually on time …… I stayed up late last night ……”

Rika takes a sip of the noodle soup, which has been soaking for so long that the soup is almost drained by the noodles.

“Why do you stay up late?”

“Do the script and the persona.”

Shen Yu froze and said, “Why don’t I just get two more artisans outside to help?”

“No, no! I can do it!” Asaba Rika said in a rush.

Shen Yu looked at her for a moment, and although she was up late today, at least she was in good spirits, and said, “There is no rush at all on this project …….”

“You can do it slowly, just when you have time, and if you still stay up like this, I’ll just hire someone else to help.”

He spoke with a stern face and in the hardest tone of voice.

Asaba Rika suddenly felt a little warm and said with a smile, “I know, Shen Yu is afraid that I am tired, right?”

“I was afraid no one would wash the dishes.”

Shen Yu went downstairs with a black face.

“Heck, I just like washing dishes ……”

Asaba Rika spits his tongue out at his back and makes a face, in a happy mood.

This time it was an outdoor activity and at Shen Yu’s request, Asaba Rika changed into a sports uniform.

“What are you doing with the cosmetic ones?”

“You have to touch up your make-up when you’re sweating, otherwise you’ll look like a little flower cat.”

“You’re wearing makeup?”

“Yeah, yeah! I have to wear makeup when I go out, just for my eyes and my face, and I’m with Shen Yu, so if I’m ugly and sloppy, I’ll make Shen Yu look bad.”

“……”

The Japanese makeup is fresh and natural, Shen Yu did not see where she had put on makeup, if other girls were as good looking as her, I guess I would not want to close the door in the shower, I want the whole world to know that I am super good looking.

“That’s the most practical thing.”

Shen Yu slips a bottle of mosquito repellent into her small bag, which, despite its small size, still holds a lot of stuff.

Out the door, the two of them met together in front of the school.

Including Asaba Rika, there were twenty-four participants in the event, ten girls including Zhao Yage.

Shen Yu and Rika arrived at about the same pressure point, and the crowd saw the pair from afar and thought they were a good match.

“She’s my friend.”

“Phew~! It’s a girlfriend, right! When’s the wedding? You can get extra credit for getting a license!”

During this period, he picked up Asaba Rika from school every day and naturally, he also met other students in his class, and Shen Yu was unable to explain these jokes.

The other students had little contact with them, so it didn’t matter.

It was Asaba Rika who froze at these words.

Girlfriend?

Married?

Doesn’t it mean girl friend ……

Does girlfriend and girlfriend mean the same thing ……

It was only then that she realised the extent of the problem.

Sneaking out my phone to look it up, I was dumbfounded to see the results.

“Dying! It’s going to die!

“I told everyone that Shen Yu is my boyfriend, no wonder everyone seems to be reacting strangely, they must have misunderstood!

“How can I explain this now? If Shen Yu finds out, he’ll kick me out of the house!

She felt her heart beat faster and her little face burned as she recalled the image of herself telling someone that ‘Shen Yu is my boyfriend’, and suddenly her eyes glowed with a different light.

“Boyfriend …… seems …… also …… well …… not to be… …not to marry him ……”

Shen Yu saw Asaba Rika with his head bowed and his face red and white at one moment, like a broken light bulb, so he said, “What’s wrong with you? They are joking, just ignore them.”

“It’s okay ……”

Asaba Rika waved his hand hastily and followed Shen Yu with his head down, eyes on his toes, tugging at the corners of his shirt in a frenzy of thought ……

“Shen Yu If I knew, I would have told everyone that he was my boyfriend and lived together ……”

“He’ll spank me! He’ll throw me out of the house! And not give me my dinner!”

“It must be kept secret! Absolute, top secret!”

“Even if there is a misunderstanding, we will all understand it after some time.

“After all, we’re clean”

“Time will tell”

“Shen Yu Sorry! Please forgive my ignorance ……”

When she thought that she had told many people she knew that Shen Yu was her boyfriend, she couldn’t explain herself.

O great Mars, grant that your pious, loving, kind-hearted devotees may live!