It had been one week since Ryan arrived here, and for that same week, he had also been sick with a fever.
Ryan… or maybe now it's Kai. Age 16, attending Greenfield High School.
Right now, he's at school.
The atmosphere is like any typical school, quite crowded and noisy. It captures the energy of teenagers. But for Kai, whose previous life was as a college student who had obviously been through high school, this situation wasn't anything new.
Kai is now in the cafeteria. The time is 11:15 AM. The bell for the lunch break rang fifteen minutes ago.
He's standing in line of students waiting to get lunch. A few minutes later, Kai sees the available menu and, as usual, the school cafeteria food is seriously below standard.
"Mashed potato, young lad?" asks the lunch old lady, holding a ladle and scooping up mashed potatoes.
"Yes, thank you."
Kai holds his tray and receives one full scoop of mashed potato. The lunch lady also scoops some chips and pours on some gravy.
Having gotten his lunch, Kai goes to look for an empty spot among the sea of students in the cafeteria, which is starting to get lively.
Walking while glancing left and right, he finally finds a table that's not too crowded. He sits down on the bench, places his tray, and starts eating his lunch with a spoon.
The taste isn't bad, standard. Maybe if it had a little more salt in the mashed potatoes and if the chips were cook a little longer, this food would actually be good.
Ahh… "Kai" really has no friends, huh.
He remembers that the events in the game start from the second year of high school… right now he's in first year, meaning the character "Ren" will appear in a few months, because in a few months he'll become a second-year student.
"Nom…" Kai's eyes land on a girl with long, silky brown hair that shines like mahogany. She's eating with her friend. "... From any angle you look at it, wouldn't they make a good couple?"
He mumble about the girl that he is looking. Daisy Marigold, one of the capture targets in the game's story… but even now, he's still unsure if the things that happened in the game could actually happen in this world.
Isn't it bad to treat everyone in "this world" as just 'game' characters? However, looking again, Ryan can't deny that he still sees himself, his sister now, Risa, as just part of a game story that hasn't started until the protagonist arrives.
But seriously… from another point of view, isn't that character "Ren" like a self-insert character who can fuck around as he pleases to get all the girls he wants?
Kai continues chewing his food, while glancing towards Daisy who's having lunch with her friend, Caleb Leonard, who in the story is an obstacle character or villain like "Kai".
Hmm… it would be really funny if "Caleb" was a reincarnator like him, Kai thinks while chewing. Maybe if the story really does happen, forming a group of villains wouldn't be a bad idea.
Kai stands up from the bench after finishing his food, walking towards the tray return station to put his tray away.
"Hee~ you actually finished your food."
Kai lifts his head to see who's speaking. A young woman, around 24 or mid-20s. Long black hair braided and resting on her shoulder. Round glasses. She's a real "book girl."
Seeing the male student in front of her staring at her, the young woman lets out a small laugh. "Hahaha, are you mesmerized by me, sweet boy~"
"Yeah. You're pretty." Kai says it without stuttering or embarrassment. Just straight up complimenting this woman.
"Hahaha~ You really have a sweet lips, huh?" says this beautiful woman. She then rests her chin on her palm as she bends down a little to look into Kai's eyes. "You're handsome too."
"..."
"Hahaha~ why silent? Cat got your tongue?"
Kai shakes his head and points to the milk cartons. "Can I get my milk now?"
The young woman smiles, then takes two milk cartons and gives them to Kai.
"Here, sweetheart~ because you complimented me, I'll give you two milks." Seeing the male student receive the milk, she rests her chin on her palm again, bending down. "What's your name?"
"Kai."
"Kai… nice to meet you, Kai. You know, I just started working here and because I think you're interesting lad," the young woman then makes a fist and holds it out to Kai.
Kai is confused, and tilts his head to look at the woman's face and her fist.
"Hehehe~ this is for you~"
Seeing what's inside the young woman's palm, Kai sees an object like a pin or brooch shaped like a shoe, colored red.
"A shoe brooch?"
"Yep… a shoe brooch." The woman gives one side of the shoe-shaped pin into Kai's hand. "I'll keep the other side~"
Kai looks at the woman. "Isn't it weird to only get half a shoe instead of a whole pair at once?"
The young woman laughs at Kai's words. "Hahaha~ not everything has to be a pair, right?"
But this is a shoe.
"Hmm… yeah, well, it's just a brooch anyway." Kai puts the small pin into his pants pocket, and picks up the two milk cartons he had placed on the table when he received the shoe pin from this older sister. "Oh yeah, by the way, what's your name, Miss?"
"My name?" The woman smiles sweetly. "Reva… Reva Rhoeas."
Reva?
DING-DONG! Only 10 minutes left of break.
"Oh, looks like I've been talking to you for too long." Reva picks up the bin containing the dirty trays. "Yeah, nice to meet you, Kai. You know, you can call me 'big sis' hehehe~"
"Yeah, yeah… I'll call you big sis, if you keep giving me two milk cartons," Kai says with a smile. "Well then, I'm heading off first, Big Sis Reva."
Kai then leaves the cafeteria, with two milk cartons in his hands, he walks along the school hallways.
7 minutes, only 7 minutes of time he can use before class starts. Next class is chemistry, which is a pretty irrelevant class for Kai because this guy's brain is seriously as sharp as it gets.
"-Hey Chloe, is it true you got recruited as a model for an ad?"
Chloe?
"Hahaha~ of course Miss Chloe here got recruited as a model, listen up you guys, I already have 150k followers on Instagram hahaha~"
Kai stops at a three-way intersection in the hallway, glancing to the right. He sees four girls gathered and talking.
One name, Chloe, Chloe Kalani. One of the four capture targets besides his sister, Risa.
Chloe, that girl is seriously eccentric. A girl who truly shines, brilliant, and truly has a cheerful personality.
She really is an immeasurably beautiful girl, maybe just under the character "Lily". She's the second prettiest girl after Lily. Yeah… it's like comparing 4K to 8K.
And that 'asset' of hers… she really has a 'personality' that is truly… great.
Calm yourself down, Ryan… you're 21 even though you're now in the body of a 16-year-old kid.
Kai shakes his head and continues walking to his locker to put away the two milk cartons he'll take home because class is about to start.
•°•(￣ー￣)•°•
Time passes quickly.
It's now 3 PM, the last class ended a few minutes ago.
Kai walks to his locker, takes out a few things. Putting one milk carton in his bag, he pokes a straw into the other milk carton and drinks while walking.
The weather is nice today, plus it's still 3 o'clock, so walking to town seems like a good plan. Besides, he's living in a new area, a new world.
Walking towards the school exit, Kai continues towards the school gate to leave this place.
"Wow, look at that Campbell gal, she's really beautiful, isn't she…"
"Yeah, she's really beautiful and smart too… truly like a princess."
"Did you hear, they say she's already engaged and her fiancé is also very handsome."
Kai overhears the gossip and chatter from the girls as he walks. He sees a beautiful girl get into a luxury car that came to pick her up.
Of course, what the girls are talking about refers to "Lily".
Lily, Lily Campbell. One of the capture target girls with a difficult route.
If ranked, in the game, the capture target routes from easiest to hardest start with Risa, Chloe, Daisy, and Lily.
And for Lily, the difficult part isn't because of the villain… that is, her fiancé. But something that's difficult from the start because it seems impossible: time and illness.
In the game, Lily is a character both loved and hated, because many things in her route rely on so many RNG stuff, so Lily's route is truly nicknamed the "Harem route true villainess", because her route is really annoying.
Hmm yeah… 5 hours of my time, and 2 and a half hours were just spent quick-loading on Lily's route.
Kai remembers his experience playing this "game". However, again, it might just be in the game and might not happen.
Kai finishes his milk, throws the carton into the trash can, and leaves the school.
In the middle of the road leading home, he sees a familiar figure also walking. Speeding up his pace, he taps the girl's shoulder.
"Hyaa!"
The girl lets out a cute scream, startled. Seeing who tapped her, she pushes Kai lightly to keep her distance.
"Kai, idiot. Don't do that again," says Risa, making a pouty face and turning her face away from Kai. "Eww… shoo shoo, keep your distance from me."
Kai smiles a little. Even though his sister now isn't like "Mimi", well actually Risa is truly like Mimi… just a little more annoying and well... quite shy maybe.
Kai opens his bag, takes out the milk carton, and offers it to Risa. Surprised, Risa just accepts the milk carton from Kai.
"You know… you've really been weird since you drowned." Risa pokes the milk carton with a straw and takes a sip, before looking at her brother. "Don't get me wrong… we're still enemies."
"Hmm… yeah, yeah… whatever."
The brother and sister then walk home. A little awkward, because Kai honestly doesn't have any topic to bring up, but he notices Mimi's eyes keep stealing glances at him.
Yeah… it seems their relationship will stay like this until time forces something to change.
Shoes. The two of them are truly like shoes.
Not just "Kai" and "Risa". But all the villain characters in the game are truly like shoes.
Shoes… always together, yet unable to truly unite. Even when already in the same box and always paired up every time.
They never truly be one.