My Arata Complex

His eyes weren't with him last Friday, and so he did not notice that Keiko was not around as well. To think about it, he should at least check up on her. During the time in-between classes, he would send Keiko a message, hoping she would reply. There was nothing wrong with asking a childhood friend why she was not in school for two days. The class president only heard about a house emergency, but there was no further details.

Classes had ended around lunch, giving the students a choice to take lunch or go home already. Since Arata and his two Hands were going to get ramen, they did not bother taking lunch. It was also by then that he messaged Tohru about seeing her in the afternoon at the Lumen Park. A good day in general rolled, if he would not count being extorted by Attori to pay for more expensive meals since they did eat at Imperial Kitchen.

Since it was a Saturday, there was quite a crowd building in the streets. Arata, who had gone home first and changed into something more stylish and comfortable, went to see Tohru who was waiting by the fountain. She was fiddling with her phone with a frown on her face. She lifted her gaze as she felt someone was looking at her before waving with only her fingers moving like a flirting fortune cat. The man walked up to her and sat next to her.

"Enjoy chatting with more women?" Tohru greeted him with a bitter pout, eyes going back to her phone screen. "Geez, she won't stop."

"Who?"

"No one." She locked her phone and pocketed it. "Ready? Let's go." She got up and led Arata to a less populated part of the park.

They reached a part of the park where the crowd was seen far away. There were no other people around but them, which was nice considering the space. The king looked around at the surroundings, feeling refreshed by the shining leaves against the orange sun.

"Acchan, eyes on me." Tohru giggled and beckoned Arata to search the bushes with her. She picked up a stick and asked him to find one similar to it. She watched him get one before humming as she walked away from him as if making distance. "Well, I'll be testing you starting from this day. Do you think you can make it out alive?"

"Huh?" Arata twitched at the dialogue.

[You have unlocked the Challenge Mode! This mode is only exclusive to players who have three or more date-ables with maximum affection rate, and are playing non-route. Non-routes will now merge constantly after every playthrough so there poses a threat of the date-ables harming one another.]

The king's eyes widened, remembering the angry glaring Ruby just gave Attori earlier. And of course, Keiko's plead that he leave Attori behind.

[There are three parameters during a Challenge Mode: HP, Dodge, and Subdue. HP deals with your health during a Challenge Mode. An attacking date-able might damage your HP. Defending another date-able will also damage your HP. When your HP hits 0, you will lose consciousness, and gets sent to the next action time.]

[Involved date-ables also have their own HP. Be wary of it. If either the attacker or defender date-able hits 0, they will be knocked out.]

[Dodge parameter gives you the ability to save your HP from being depleted fast. However, some attacks cannot be reduced. Subdue gauge will dictate if the attacking date-able could be stopped. Filling up the gauge will let you end the Challenge Mode in a success.]

[Failing a Challenge Mode will affect your date-ables such as decrease in Affection, Obedience, and Encounter Rates. This might also cause them to run amok when their Obedience Rate falls down to 0%. Date-ables who had run amok will vanish from the playthrough.]

[Conditions to succeed in a Challenge Mode: Subdue the Date-able. Conditions to fail a Challenge Mode: Player or Date-able HP hits 0. Reminder: You cannot initiate a Challenge unless training with Tohru to increase Dodge.]

[Would you like to repeat the instructions? Yes / No]

"What is wrong with these devs?" Arata mouthed away from Tohru's sight as he listened to the instructions. He sobbed visibly, earning another raised eyebrow from the she-jerk. He then turned to the girl. "Yeah, I'm ready."

"Try to dodge my attack, Acchan." Tohru grinned as she moved the stick as if a sword.

She entered into a stance, making Arata answer with a guard stance. It was good enough that Arata bought the new magazines for the Challenge Mode. He had a beginning Dodge Rate of 30% thanks to those. Their training was not intense; in fact it was too light for an actual fight. Tohru was impressed nonetheless.

"Wow, I didn't know you know how to fight now. Really impressive!" The she-jerk laughed out before swinging the stick away. "Well, I guess we're done for today! I'll see you again sometime for this, okay?" She flashed a grin, satisfied with the results.

[You have completed the tutorial for the Challenge Mode. Meet Tohru during any afternoon in the Lumen Park to start training. Your Dodge rate is now 33%! Congratulations!]

[The Affection Scene has ended! You have additional 50 points! Affectionate Jerk Hamada Tohru now has 5% Affection Rate! Congratulations!]

Headache. Arata felt like he was going to get a headache from this content he just unlocked. Given that he was outside the game, he must have been very excited to see what happens when Attori becomes the attacking date-able. Then again, it would be painful for him since he might get knocked out for real. It always happen to him in real life, but he cannot risk it in-game.

Then again, reviewing the game's proposition of the heroines getting a complex over the player, he could see that a merged route would result to them fighting one way or another. The Challenge Mode was simply a way for the player to choose which side will win. A way to show who he values more among the women lest he forget there is more than one woman in his heart. A mode to show the date-able rankings.

A question popped out of his head. Will this affect the rate of him bumping into least favored date-ables?

Arata sobbed louder, realizing that it was amusing to most who wanted to have all the girls for themselves. To be honest, most veteran players get all the women just so they could mix and match them during the minigames and the Multiplayer. And these veterans also knew it was a must to always play a non-route when a patch rolled in with an updated calendar so they could unlock all locations and date-ables in one go. Imposing a hierarchy might end up letting them see their favorite date-able more than the ones they favor less. And this hierarchy will be decided how they play the Challenge Mode. On the other hand, not choosing a side might cause the date-ables to vanish from the playthrough.

"Arata, are you okay? You're crying all of a sudden." Tohru went to inspect the male. "Did I hit you somewhere you can't stand?" She grinned differently and pushed the stick up between his legs. "I don't remember hitting you right there."

The stick broke his trance and agony over the Challenge Mode. Arata, who had his head hanging down, was fast to dart his gaze at the stick touching his organic one. And for obvious reasons, it kept on moving. Arata brought his gaze up to see Tohru's face with a rather disgusted look despite the grin. "You must like it, don't you? But I'm sorry. My hands are too clean for that."

The king then brought the stick he was holding to poke Tohru at the side of her neck, to which her vacant hand flew to protect. He chuckled before a bitter grin. "I'm trained to play games. Want to check?"

"You know we just picked up these sticks. They're dirty." The jerk tossed the stick she was holding and stepped back with both arms up while shrugging. "If you think I'm a type to go outdoors, nah."

"How about a room?" The king kept his grin. "Like... in Sight-see Delia. Gone there yet?"

The jerk then flushed red. She only stared at him, showing interest but not falling for his charms. Tohru only chuckled and waved her hand. "Don't you think it's a little early to ask?"

[Affectionate Jerk Hamada Tohru only had the Obedience Rate of 50%. Would you like to insist? Yes / No]

Arata hummed inwardly as he remembered how the Obedience parameter worked. It gave the date-able the choice to refuse gifts and dates. It seemed that even an Encounter can be refused using this parameter as well. Then again, he just unlocked Tohru; he was thinking she must have an Intro Encounter like the others. However, by the looks of it, he should retreat for now. He chose 'no.'

"Y-Yeah, sorry about that." The man scratched behind the ear. "Did that sound too desperate to you?"

"Desperate? Not really. I mean, like you, I get a lot of asks, too, you know. I just settled for Keita because he's a busy bod, making him unable to drag me around dates and all." Tohru looked to the side with a guilty and bitter grin. She started combing her hair with her own fingers. "Maybe I did make a mistake by then, but I like the protection he gave me. My relationship with him stopped those perverts from asking. Then again, after breaking up, he had taken their place."

"So you never liked Keita for real?" The king twitched.

"Huh? No, I like Keita, but not to the extent of sticking with him to college." The jerk chuckled and made sing-song noises. "You know, I'm not exactly the girl he should be having in college. I'm more of the high-schooler type so yeah, we don't fit anymore."

"So rude." Arata frowned at the girl. "How dare you decide for him about that?"

Tohru then hummed in a rather offended manner. "Hey, I don't remember giving you the right to judge my actions." She then sighed and smiled nonetheless. "I want to go home now. Thanks for seeing me today. I enjoyed it really."

"Even though I offended you?"

"Hm, yeah. You see, no one actually calls me out on my crap." She laughed out and waved. "Save me, okay? See you around, Acchan!" She ran out of sight.

Arata only waved at her until she disappeared. For some reasons, he managed to put a grin on his face, getting quite an insight about her relationship with Keita. As a veteran player and one of those who were revered by the community, he had this habit of speculating the hidden stories he can only unlock through a routed playthrough. Maybe her route will deal about her closure with Keita... just like how Momoka had closure with one of her close clients. He was not worried about the endings though; they never failed the player if he managed to max the date-able.

It was time to go home so the king chose to walk back towards his house. Then again, a familiar face stood next to a lamppost along the street. The king walked up to her and flashed a smile to get her attention, looming into her view.

"Keiko~" he called out, earning a twitch from the girl. He straightened and looked around. "Are you here by yourself?"

"N-Not really." She seemed to avoid his gaze. Keiko had somewhat wrapped her arms around her, burring as if getting rid of a feeling.

"You want me to walk you to your house?" Arata reached out to pat her head. It pained him to see another date-able cry no matter how much he likes Attori. He should at least employ some sort of damage control starting from today, knowing that he just opened Challenge Mode, the gateway to carnage.

"We haven't talked again since that day. Are you mad at me?" Keiko lifted her face and showed her reddened nose and teary eyes to the man. She turned away. "I know forcing you is wrong, but I don't think I have other means. I..." She flung her gaze at his face again. "I love you, Arata! I can't-"

Her speech was stifled by a kiss Arata placed on her lips. Her eyes widened a little before closing at the warmth of his mouth. After putting putting seconds into a deep kiss, he pulled back and stroked at her hair.

"You're right. We should talk." The king used his other arm to wrap around her shoulders, the other arm gesturing to the path before them. "I'll walk you. Let's find a good place to talk."

"Arata..." She finally smiled and took a hold of Arata's hand on her shoulder.