The study session lasted until evening.
As the sky darkened, Toru looked at his paper-thin wives, exhausted and weary, and felt a twinge of guilt.
The Spartan-style teaching method really wasn't ideal.
It easily lowered affection levels.
But without the cram-style approach, this group of idiots' future would be hopeless!
Hitori rolled her eyes and collapsed onto the floor.
She had originally thought today would be a perfect day to cling to Toru, but reality dealt her a heavy blow.
Kita let go of her small hand holding the pen and regretted that in previous simulations she hadn't used full realism mode to study properly.
Having such powerful tools, yet spending every day thinking about romance, what a waste!
Nijika stared blankly at the ceiling, lost in thought. Today's lessons had been exhausting, with only a half-hour break in between.
Ryo yawned, opened the simulator, and found the manually copied past exams from previous simulations, the Tokyo University entrance exams. She felt confident about the exam a year from now.
She had a simulator, so why bother studying properly?
If she encountered a problem she didn't know, she could just search with one click, and the answer would appear.
"Soon it'll be the second year of high school… time really flies."
Toru muttered softly while tidying the papers.
Only a year had passed in reality, yet in his simulations, he now had seven wives. At this rate, he would soon become the male protagonist of a harem romance novel.
He needed to get his mind back on track.
Moreover, the simulator had a certain chance of implanting memories into the real heroines' minds.
Speaking of which.
Toru once again thought about testing Kita.
How much did she actually know? Did she only inherit the memories from the fourth simulation, the violin one? Or did she also inherit the memories from the later, more extreme simulations?
If it was the former, Toru wasn't too worried. After all, he had been a fresh-faced pure-love war god back then.
If it was the latter…
His heart skipped a beat.
Damn it, the Life Simulator really plays dirty. It promised it wouldn't affect reality, yet here it was.
[No effect on reality.]
And you still have the audacity to pop up?
[Respected player, you destroyed Earth twice in the simulation, yet the Earth is fine, isn't it?]
…Well played.
If we talk about reality, it's true that nothing was affected, well aside from his love life being completely messed up, the Life Simulator was essentially a very powerful cheat.
Fortunately, this wasn't some cruel "torment the protagonist" story.
"Only one month until the new semester. It would be great if I ended up in the same class as Hitori-chan. Just thinking about it makes me so happy!"
Kita picked up the thread from Toru, shaking off her fatigue and returning to her energetic self.
Having inherited simulation memories, she actually knew about the new semester's class assignments.
Toru, however, had no idea.
Or rather, he only knew half of it.
"This is so nice… you three will be at the same school together." Nijika was insanely envious.
She had been in the same class as Ryo for several years.
Ryo-san clung to her like a vampire… no, a slug from copying homework, sleeping in mobile labs, impossible to wake, and Nijika always helped iron her wrinkled high school uniforms and clean up her discarded dresses.
"Nijika-sama."
Ryo's expression was devout. "If possible, I'd like to parasitize you again next semester."
Nijika pouted. "Stop making such shameless declarations! This year, I will not take care of you at all."
As she spoke, she noticed that Ryo-san's ribbon had come undone again.
"Ryo, your ribbon is crooked."
Nijika instinctively moved forward and helped fix it.
"Thank you, Nijika-sama, for fixing my ribbon."
Ryo clasped her hands and prayed: "Nijimon~"
Question: Why is heaven empty?
Answer: Because the angels are right beside you.
"Ugh, my body moves without me realizing it, even though I don't want to take care of you anymore."
Nijika felt like crying.
After caring for someone too long, she had developed a bunch of bad habits.
————
"Hitori, what are you thinking about?"
Toru noticed Hitori had recovered from fainting, only to drift back into her own world.
"Nothing." Bocchi-chan shook her little head.
She had been thinking about when she could get closer to Toru again.
Despite dating for almost half a month, she still hadn't done anything intimate with him.
After checking online, Bocchi-chan knew that normally couples would be intimate within three months at the slowest, and some even immediately.
You might wonder why Bocchi-chan was in such a hurry.
Simply put: she was sexually frustrated.
Nothing more complicated than that.
Toru noticed his girlfriend was troubled and wondered if he had been neglecting her recently…
Probably not, right?
Bocchi-chan was easily satisfied and thoughtful. Apart from some social anxiety, she really had very few flaws.
Then what was going on?
"…I want to do naughty things."
Bocchi-chan looked at her boyfriend, thighs slightly pressed together under her pink tracksuit, hands nervously folded over her chest, pressing out a full, rounded shape.
Toru saw this and confirmed his suspicion.
He must have unknowingly made her sad somewhere!
————
One hour later.
The members of Kessoku Band went their separate ways.
Ryo didn't want to go home, so she stayed at the live house, Starry's second floor was the Ijichi sisters' living space.
Kita hurried home because her building had a curfew.
In short,
Toru and Hitori were left to go home together.
With no outsiders around, the young couple held hands, walking toward the train station.
Toru planned to first see Hitori home and then head back.
It was only 7 PM.
Time was not an issue.
Toru turned his face toward his silent girlfriend and spoke first: "Hitori, want to go on a date tomorrow?"
"Ah… a d-date?"
Bocchi-chan shivered slightly, like she had been electrified.
Her mind was filled with lewd thoughts, leaving no energy for anything else.
"You don't want to?"
"N-no…"
Hitori scratched the back of her head and gave a shy laugh. "Of course I want to."
Refusing was impossible.
Being the one to get a date invitation was a right only a girlfriend could have.
Hehe~
Ryo-san, Kita-chan, Nijika-chan, I really want to see your jealous faces right now.
Lose in simulations? Fine.
Win in reality? Total victory!