Alice’s hand suddenly shot out beside me and tightly grabbed my finger.
If the situation were romantic, I might have enjoyed the touch of the hand of the cute girl holding mine.
But right now, the reason Alice was holding my hand was to prevent me from moving it to control the controller. The reason was simple: she probably wanted to see me control ‘Leo’ to talk to ‘Sylvia’ in this situation.
“Alice, please calm down and let go of my hand. I haven’t done anything yet.”
“Well, I saw your finger going towards the ‘O’ button on the controller. It looks like a circle, but you’ve been using it to go back on the screen ever since.”
……How did she know?
Ah, of course. When you play games hard, you get a rough idea of how to control things even without knowing the language. You figure out what button to press to move on to the next screen and what button to press for attacks… Even when I was a kid and didn’t understand English or Japanese, I could enjoy the games at my cousin’s house, though it was a bit inconvenient.
However, figuring out the controls just by touching them a little is something that only comes from personal experience. If she could grasp the controls just by watching, that meant she had amazing intuition.
After all, even though Alice doesn’t have the power to turn back time, she could manage to achieve top grades at the academy. And her swordsmanship was also outstanding, enough to rival that of regular knights.
“……”
And when I fought her in a fair fight, I had no confidence in winning.
Even now, I couldn’t shake off Alice’s hand that was holding my finger.
“You’re trembling, so it seems you were embarrassed to choose for yourself. Sister, we want to see Leo talk to you.”
“……Didn’t you vehemently oppose my connection to Leo?”
“Well, that’s because the real you would connect with Leo, but in this story, it’s about the you in the game connecting with Leo.”
No, why do they assume I would connect with him?
The connection events are marked with hearts, but they could be seen with male characters too. There were stories where I put just as much effort into creating them, though there’s no overtly romantic content like with female characters, but ‘those with boundless imagination’ can easily imagine them being connected.
Of course, male characters hardly appear in this game. The only major male character in the noble class is Jake, and the rest are from the commoner class.
……Though I hadn’t even had real conversations with them. There weren’t that many, and they didn’t play a significant role in the main story.
Thinking back, it seems all female characters have the chance to connect if you see their connection events through to the end.
“……Alright. I understand, so please let go of my hand for now.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
[It’s not a cosplay, but a real concept]
[Is this an ad? Did you get sponsorship from Millennium?]
[Is this a back ad?]
“It’s not an ad.”
[If it’s free advertising, that’s funny too hahahaha]
[How much of a nerd are you hahahaha]
It’s fine if they tease me about being a nerd. After all, I’m a real nerd.
Plus, with a look like this, I don’t really have to be uptight. The world is quite unfair; as long as you’re good-looking, you can like any cute girl character and wear t-shirts with cute girls on them without getting too much hate.
If there are people who would even criticize someone in cosplay, those people would have extremely twisted minds from the start.
……Hmm, thinking again, it seems like there were quite a few comments of sexual harassment on pictures of cosplayers.
Fine, I’ll stay away from internet boards while I’m here.
[No! Sylvia is going to marry me!]
“Thank you for your support, but I have no intention of becoming your wife. Please calm down for ten minutes and come back.”
I put the supporter on a ten-minute chat ban.
Should I say I’m lucky or fortunate? Usually, crazy people tend to flock to internet streams, but given that the game we’re playing is a somewhat minor series and that we appear foreign by this standard, real crazies haven’t shown up.
I don’t know what will happen when actual viewership picks up later.
By then, I might have to hire a manager or something.
“For now, alright. Since the viewers seem to want it, I will… talk to Sylvia.”
“Sis, do you really have to read it?”
“Claire, do you want to hear your sister whisper sweet nothings with someone else?”
“Technically, I want to tease my sister with that.”
“…….”
“To be honest, it sounds funny.”
Alice chimed in from the side.
[Getting bullied by two younger sisters hahaha]
[Are you the eldest? hahaha]
“Wait. What do you mean I’m the eldest?”
“Hmm?”
Alice blinked at my reaction to the chat.
“Did I just say I was the eldest?”
[Uhm uhm]
[Uhm uhm uhm]
[Spoiler ban]
[It’s a trap!]
“No, wait a minute. How can Sylvia be the eldest? Isn’t she me?”
[Hahahaha]
[Hahaha]
[Hahahahaha]
The chat room turned into a sea of laughter.
Last time, when Alice and Sylvia asked me to explain a few simple expressions, I jotted some down, so they should understand what this means.
“Wait, please tell me what I need to do to hear you call me sister.”
[Trap?]
“It’s not a trap. Should I ring the guidance bell?”
[Just do what you were going to do]
[Okay]
[Go for Sylvia as Leo]
Oh ho.
So that’s what it means.
“Sylvia, upon thinking about it, I don’t think I need to pursue you. How about I pursue Alice instead?”
Alice gave me a serious look and said that—
“Anyway, there are three chances, so I’ll pursue you, Alice.”
“No, hey!”
Anyway, since it’s not the ending yet, there won’t be any kissing scenes right away.
So what I have to do is follow Sylvia’s route to the very end, and then at the end of the first year, choose a character other than Sylvia to make a promise with.
“Alice might end up as my sister?”
“……I can’t say for sure about that.”
Claire asked with curiosity from the side, and I almost laughed without realizing.
Then, I controlled Leo in the game and approached Sylvia.
Even though it was late at night, Sylvia was sitting on a park bench.
*
Leo cautiously approached Sylvia.
Sylvia, who would normally notice immediately, said,
“Crown Princess?”
“…….”
At the call of Leo, Sylvia turned her head to look at him.
“What is the matter?”
“Ah… um, no, I just happened to pass by, and I saw the Crown Princess…”
“……Is that so.”
And then there was an awkward silence for a while.
In the game, the two characters were looking at each other, but the dialogue box didn’t show up for about five seconds.
“There’s no need to be so stiff. There’s no rule that says you can’t talk to me.”
Only after Sylvia said that, a small font appeared showing Leo letting out a “Phew.”
“So, does that mean you had no reason to speak to me?”
“Correct. I was just wondering if I might have intruded—”
“As I said earlier, it’s not particularly wrong for you to have spoken to me. We are both students of the same academy.”
Sylvia was staring intently at Leo.
Still, due to the significantly improved graphics compared to the previous installment, even with her expressionless face, Sylvia was quite beautifully represented.
“I was just contemplating about you, Your Highness.”
“Yes?”
Leo appeared flustered by the sudden mention of the Crown Princess’s contemplation.
“Are you referring to… Crown Princess Alice?”
“That is correct.”
Sylvia nodded and then gazed silently at the sky again.
“I seem to have made some significant mistakes, and it appears that the Crown Princess is quite angry. I have been contemplating how to appease that anger.”
……For some reason, it feels like Sylvia in this world might have been able to turn back time once.
Of course, I had also turned back time several times by this point, so it was natural.
However, I didn’t think she would share such personal matters with someone she was meeting for the first time properly.
It was as if she had already experienced everything and felt like she was already friends or acquaintances with Leo.
“……Is that so?”
“Why don’t you ask what the mistake is?”
“……Am I allowed to ask about a mistake?”
“……Well, if I were to tell you what the mistake is, would you also get angry and contemplate it?”
“……Yes?”
“No, I’m just joking.”
With an expressionless face, Sylvia said that and stood up from her seat.
“It’s late at night. Would you like to head back to the dormitory now?”
“Y-Yes? Ah, yes…”
As Sylvia got up and left Leo standing there in a daze, she swiftly walked away.
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