My Arata Complex

Wild would not fit to describe what happened that night, but Arata still woke up knackered despite the comfort of the hotel bed. He could feel hair on his mouth, which could have been from Attori. Strands of her dyed hair sprawled all over her face, his face, and maybe even on Yukari's face on the other side of bed. Even her limbs were sprawled on her boyfriend, taking advantage of his body heat. Yukari had her back against the king, but her stillness meant she was still asleep.

The man pulled himself up as he sat, making sure he would not wake the women with his actions. He only yawned and squinted at the clock that read 6 AM. For obvious reasons, he could not wake up late in this world since every day starts with a 6 AM action time, unless the activity was announced to have an action time penalty like when the player had to sneak in the club to 'rescue' a date-able. "It must be so good to never run late."

He turned to his left to see Attori mumble in her sleep. The king smiled and planted a kiss on her cheek before noticing that most of the sheets were hogged by Yukari, sparing some to trail off their legs. It was rolled into a body pillow which she held like a stuffed toy. He rubbed his thumb on her cheek, taking off visible drool streaks. He then planted a kiss on her as well. He crawled off to the foot of the bed and got off from there. He picked up his robe which was the first one he spotted that he could wear.

Arata then picked up more garments on the floor, folding them neatly and placing them on the nightstand next to Attori. He resisted the urge to smell the girls' clothes; he was all over them last night after all. If ever, all he clearly remembered was the sweet smell of their shining bodies, along the sight of them under the faint moonlight.

As wonderful as it was, things had to end. Like their stay in the hotel. It was not like it was hard to go back here with that kind of money Arata had. Then again, it would be impractical. He used his shower time to think about it. With the water gushing down his face, he had his hand on his chin. "If I managed to keep my money, then that would mean the restaurant was operational. Could it be that... I wasn't collecting from it for the past few days? That's so much of a waste." He huffed. "I need to see if they are open after class. Oh wait, I agreed to meet Tohru today after class..." He turned to the direction of the door. "Is she going to ask about what happened? She just passed yesterday, saying she had an important thing to do."

After showering and drying himself, he started waking the girls and reminding them of school. It would be Yukari's first day in the Basketball Club, and he also invited Attori to come watch with them. That was the only time Attori burst in joy and yelled 'I'm meeting Mama today' before racing to the bathroom. The best friend only yawned and waited for her turn like a good old sister she was to her little siblings. Arata was happy that the morning that followed was nothing out of ordinary, Yukari not making a big deal of what happened between them.

Or that was what he thought.

Lunch action time came, and Yukari invited Arata to grab some lunch from the school cafeteria and eat at their usual place, that shaded spot next to the fences by the hill behind the main school building. Their school was situated along the main road, but the back was left open with a collection of small hills. There were multiple trees in the area, and it was the same view one would get if one walked to the edge of the garden. High criss-cross fences were the only thing that separated the school from the unoccupied hills, aside from the stories of it being haunted. Most students kept away from the haunted hills; those who call the bluff met accidents, they said.

However, it was Yukari's favorite spot. She could just turn away from the school and get transported to another setting the moment she faced the hills. It was a stress reliever to her, so she liked hanging out near it. There were stone seats and tables there after all, making it a viable spot to take lunch. Even though their lunch were just school-prepared box lunches.

"Arata," Yukari called his attention without laying eyes on his face, "can we talk about last night?"

The king hummed, hurriedly chewing the food in his mouth and gulping it down so he could answer. "Yeah?" He brought his chopsticks down. "Didn't you like it?"

"It's not that I didn't like it." She faintly blushed again with an angry pout, still not looking at him. "I was just... curious by what you said." The girl glanced at him. "What do you mean by... you can't do it like usual? Is there something wrong?"

Arata sighed in relief; he would have panicked if she asked about Botan. He then leaned against his left arm that he placed on the seat. "I don't normally hold back when it's other women. I mean, I don't have anything to protect aside from the romance and flesh. They're the same with me, I guess." He chuckled as he tried to make himself believable. "But with you, I have to think more about your feelings and our friendship. I don't want to make you feel like you're just another girl I want to date." He twitched and waved his vacant hand. "Not that I don't love everyone else; it's just that you're really special to me, Yukari. You and Attori."

She then hummed and pulled her knees to her face, placing her chin on them. She then brought her chopsticks down and hugged her legs. "Oh. So you're holding back with Attori, too?"

"Not at all. Attori's my wife; in fact, if I could stay longer, I want to get a chance to marry her." The king looked away with a bitter grin. "That's so far away." He turned to Yukari who was now looking at him. "Yukari, you're nothing less than any of my girls. In fact, you're like the second most important person to me." He reached out to stroke at her head. "I love you, Yukari, but it's not the kind of love where I want to be the one making you the happiest."

Arata then bowed his head low. "If I have offended you by touching you last night, I'm sorry. I didn't plan for it to happen, it just did. Not that I would take it back, but I would like to keep it to a minimum." He lifted his face and nervously smiled at the girl. "You're my best friend, Yukari. You're like the net that would catch me so I wouldn't hit rock bottom. I have a feeling that if I start treating you like those girls, I will lose a very important part of my body." He raised both of his hands. "Like one of my hands. I need both you and Attori."

She then squinted at him and raised her own left hand. "I must be the left hand, because Attori's the right one. You're right-handed, right? You'd surely use the right for jerking-"

"Why are you making a joke out of this!?" The king whined before earning a laugh from the girl. He then chuckled before looking at her for an explanation.

"Geez, so sweet." Yukari laid the side of her head against her knees, hiding her smile from him. "I didn't expect that I would trigger you to talk like this, Arata." She brought her legs down and grinned at him with a faint blush tinting her cheeks. "I don't know how to respond so I just went with the joke." She paused for a while, containing her grin to a smile. "I knew from the beginning that I can't compete with Attori, but hearing you say I'm way ahead than everyone else but her makes me feel so happy.

"Then again, if you insist that I shouldn't fall in line with them, then I should stop asking for it." She giggled, reaching out to pet Arata. "Let's just be friends then." Her hand rested on his head, her palm slipping to cover his sight as beads of tears rolled down her eyes. "I'll be your best friend forever."

Despite the lack of sight, he could tell that she was crying even though the lacking shake in her voice. Arata wanted to keep his silence over the guilt of making her cry; then again, this kind of silence was fatal to his best friend's heart. He knew that very well. The king then held her wrist and slid her palm to his lips, kissing it with his eyes closed.

"You don't have to cry, Yukari. This doesn't mean I won't love you back."

"You stupid player." The girl sniffed and pulled her hand back. She wiped her eyes with the same hand and tried to chuckle off the sobbing. "It might take a while for me to accept this, even though I thought I already had." She smiled at the king. "I still want to stay next to you, Arata. Can I still stay next to you?"

Arata got up and went to her, soon leaning down to kiss her lips. A hand of hers went to hold the back of his head, not letting him stop before she says he could. They both pulled back slowly, with Arata wiping more tears off of her eyes.

"Promise me a kiss is the most intimate thing we do." Yukari hummed, blushing faintly again, lips wriggling to curl as if forcing to keep a smile.

"About that," the king spoke as he raked his hand through his hair again, winking at the date-able, "it's your call. You can always ask for more-"

Smack to the nose. "I said promise me, you idiot!" The best friend seemed to be back with a glare and a growl.

[The Affection Scene has ended! You have additional 75 points! Secret Admirer Yukari Ginmachi now has 43% Affection Rate! Congratulations!] For some reasons, Affection Scenes began playing without him hearing an opening notification.

After so, they started eating again, Yukari commenting on how good the sticky rice was. Their conversations strayed away from their previous topic more and more. However, as if Arata could see it, he could feel someone was hiding behind a tree somewhere. His in-game perception seemed to have remained since the game play was more of modified rather than changed. Without making a sound, she seemed to have run away. The king then turned to the direction from where the girl used to stand.

The day went on, and Arata was watching the Basketball club train from the benches alloted for those who wait inside the gymnasium. He had the report he needed to submit to Ruby tomorrow, and so he was just sitting there, following Yukari with his gaze as the members ran around the gym. Some of the new ones failed to keep up with the speed, while his best friend managed to catch up with the older members. The boys started warming up by the time the girls ran around as if asking them not to ogle at the women, which Arata would do given that his stats were different.

"I wonder how Momoka is doing after the patch. Maybe I should visit the club tomorrow night." He mumbled to himself. She was the date-able that needed maximum Strength to complete her route, and the one whose route had the most action time penalty. Being a member of the Basketball team was the best way to raise Strength after all.

All of a sudden, Arata was lost remembering how the game stats work, like how different they are between a non-routed and a routed playthrough. Base stats used in non-routed playthroughs only extend until 40 which was too low to finish routes, and were limited by the player's level. Routed playthroughs had additional stats that can be gained from doing activities, which max was 75. Since he was playing a non-route, there was no point in doing stat-raising activities. And to think that he was level 99, giving him no room to gain additional stats. Then again, he had not read the patch notes; more locations and date-ables were always reasons to adjust ceiling level.

Thud! A loud sound popped Arata's balloon of thoughts. He came to and saw Yukari on the floor, being helped by other members of the team. He was tempted to go fetch her, but he saw Tohru approach the scene. Also, he noticed some girls from the club gossiping away from them. The king glared at those before going down to where they sat Yukari. Hitting the hard floor while running at that speed busted a lip, but she was faring well with the pain.

"Geez, nasty newbies." Tohru sighed as she watched the team captain help Yukari. She brought her gaze to Arata who just came to the scene. "Hey, took you so long."

"Sorry." The king snuffed at her mocking grin before asking the captain to let him do it. He caught Yukari gasp, but he only smiled at her. He watched the captain call on Tohru and get the girls run their last lap before the boys take their place. He turned to Yukari who was glaring at her reflection as she was looking at the compact mirror. "That's going to sting when we kiss."

The injured shrieked and frowned at him. "Well, no kiss then." She brought her gaze back at the mirror. "But geez, why would they push me?" She then glared at the chattering group Arata saw earlier. "What did I do to them?"

"Give me that face, Yukari." Arata used a hand to hold her chin and make her face him so he could clean the cut and put an ointment to keep it from bleeding. He then poked her nose, causing her to pout and wince at the pain.

He caught the girls running past them; one of them scoffed, maybe at the sight of Yukari being next to a school king. Arata could only sigh, knowing that Yukari's route will take off from there.