Book 1: Chapter 53: Patch 9.0: Preparing for the Tournament

Fenrir was supposed to confess to Serra and Cassiel in-game. He had finally manned up, sent those messages telling them when to meet him in-game, and has been anxiously waiting for the time to come.

So, how come his avatar is fast asleep in-game when he’s supposed to be meeting the girls?

Because he somehow found the courage change his plans.

He’s pretty sure that he’s going to die at any second from just how intensely his heart is beating. It legitimately feels as if it is trying to tear out from his chest and run away.

So, if he isn’t in-game, just where exactly is he?

Ryouta is standing at New Charleston’s maglev train station.

His hair is combed so that it isn’t as messy as it usually is, he’s wearing properly-fitting clothes instead of baggy and wrinkled ones, and he’s even using the leg braces that he hates wearing so that walking and standing isn’t such a pain.

Behind his back are two bouquets of multi-colored roses, and he’s nervously looking around waiting to see which direction Cassiel and Serra are going to come from.

What if one of them approaches from behind and ruins the surprise of the flowers?

Wait, what if only one girl gets here first? Does he just wait until they’re both here to give the flowers, which would mean awkwardly keeping both of his hands behind his back while talking to whoever arrives first? Doesn’t he already look silly in general with his hands both behind his back and nervously looking around?

Now that he looks around himself, he realizes that several of the passersby are looking at him with confusion or suspicion. A few people walk by who look at him and then whisper to whoever they’re with, usually resulting in some not-very-subtle giggling.

He wants to die. Letting his heart jump out of his chest to run away and hide, leaving his overthinking brain behind to die, is sounding like a very tempting deal right now.

There were times in-game with his “ex’s” where he tried to do nice things for them, but it never worked out. There was one girl where he wanted her address so that he could hire a flower company near her to deliver her a bouquet, but she made jokes about him potentially being an axe-wielding stalker to avoid giving a proper answer. There was another girl where he tried setting up a large and romantic “date” for her in-game, but she got bored after a couple of minutes and logged out since she said she had to study.

He still remembers seeing a notification pop up five minutes later showing her playing a different game.

Sometimes he worries that Serra and Cassiel are just taking advantage of him, but no matter how objectively he tries reflecting on them, he cannot find anything wrong with either of them.

At the very least, there aren’t any suspicious red flags screaming at him to run away. Only his heart and mind are doing that, and that’s only because they’re afraid of rejection or screwing this up.

A gust of cold air brushes against him.

There’s a problem.

It messed up his hair.

How is he supposed to fix his hair when both of his hands are full? He either has to set down one of the bouquets or try to hold them both in one hand, but he’s worried about messing them up if he does either of those.

There’s only one thing he can do.

He has to try and flick his head to fix his hair. He feels like one of those edgy looking teenagers who are obsessed with flipping their hair.

“What are you doing?” a familiar voice asks.

Ryouta freezes.

More importantly, the voice came from behind him.

He turns around.

Cassandra and Serra are standing together looking at him.

At this point, he feels so sickeningly nervous that he just—

Serra taps something into her phone before holding it up for Ryouta to read.

The flowers are really pretty and your hair looks cute when messy!

Ryouta smiles and hangs his head.

The only concern left is whether he’s really good enough for them or not. But, he’s going to try his best to prove that he is.

He brings the bouquets from behind his back and holds them out to the girls. Serra has a wide smile while Cassandra blushes and struggles to look at him directly.

With his hands free, he’s able to make hand signs that match what he’s saying so that each girl can properly understand him. “Sorry. I wanted to surprise you with the flowers,” he says.

“It’s nothing, you ba--… Ryo…Ryouta,” Cassandra says. It’s the first time he’s ever heard her say his real name. “It was Serra’s idea to sneak up on you and surprise you anyways.”

Ryouta can’t help but smile as he looks over at Serra who is… crying?

Serra tries wiping away her tears with the hand that isn’t holding the bouquet, but she just can’t stop herself.

She sees Ryouta looked at her with such a concerned expression and panics. She tries signing to him, but given that one of her hands is occupied, it’s pretty difficult.

Fortunately, Cassandra picks up on this and takes the bouquet from her so that she can properly sign.

Don’t worry! I’m okay. Sorry. I’m surprised that you know sign language. I’ve never met anybody other than personal tutors and my parents who cared. I’m really happy. Sorry, please don’t worry about me, I promise I’m just really happy and surprised. Thank you.

It’s hard for Ryouta to keep up with her, but he more or less understands what she’s saying. He signs back at her letting her know that he’s glad she’s just happy and not upset. For Cassandra’s sake, he continues speaking alongside the signs so that she’s not left out. “I learned it just for you, so you better appreciate it,” he ends with a tease.

The bright smile that Serra gives him is just – he could never properly express just how precious of a smile it is.

Serra reaches up for her bouquet, taking it back from Cassandra.

One of the petals came off as Cassandra held it. It’s stuck on her face and she doesn’t seem to have noticed it.

“Stay still, Cass Cass,” Ryouta says.

She wants to shout at him for using that name in real life, but she freezes up when she sees his hand and face approach her own face.

Her cheeks turn bright red. She frantically looks around as if she’s trying to find an escape route, but in the end, she just closes her eyes and anxiously purses her lips.

“Got it,” Ryouta says, holding the flower petal to show her.

Cassandra feels so hot that she’s pretty sure steam is about to blow out through her ears.

Her situation is made even worse when Serra pokes her in the side, making her squeak out in that feminine voice she hates to let them hear.

Cassandra looks down at the shorter girl and begins shouting, but it is the passersby who hear Cassandra’s embarrassed frustration rather than Serra.

Ryouta finally relaxes. As worried as he was about this – as inexperienced as he feels, this is just like how they are in-game. The only difference is that he’s not as tall and as masculine looking as he is in-game, but neither of these girls seems to care. They both agreed to meeting him offline, after all.

He finally gets a good look at them as Cassandra shouts and Serra tries not to laugh.

How did he not notice sooner?

He feels like a traitor to himself.

Cassandra is wearing a… she’s wearing…

A sweater. Sure, she’s wearing black leggings that accentuate her legs and thighs, but a sweater.

Even if it’s a sweater and slightly baggy, it hugs against her chest which reminds Ryouta that she’s actually pretty busty. It’s almost impossible to tell in-game since the armor she wears keeps everything suppressed and hidden without any hints, but this sight in addition to remembering how she looks at work reminds him that she’s got a great chest.

Ryouta normally wouldn’t think of such things just from looking at a girl, but she’s wearing a sweater. There is nothing more that Ryouta wants to do when he sees a girl wearing a sweater than grope and poke her through it. It would combine two of the best things there are in this world: one, groping boobs; and two, the softness of a sweater.

At least, he imagines that groping boobs would be one of the greatest joys there is.

Serra looks adorable as well. She’s wearing a knitted hat that looks two times too large for her head and a parka that looks more like a dress on her petite figure than a jacket.

Cassandra lifts her head to look at him with a raised eyebrow. “Hey. Just where do you think you’re looking?” she asks.

He’s totally caught.

To Ryouta's surprise, Serra gives Cassandra's chest a quick poke through her sweater as if trying to assist in whatever perverse thoughts he's been conjuring up within the sweater-obsessed mind of his.

Serra may not be able to hear it, but Ryouta and everybody else around hears the surprised squeak that Cassandra makes.

Cassandra doesn’t even know how to react. Her lips are quivering, eyes are twitching, and she’s pure red because of what Serra just did in addition to knowing what sound she just made.

Serra and Ryouta exchange a thumbs-up as Cassandra tries processing all of this.

Cassandra is only taken out of her bluescreen of a thought process when Ryouta speaks up. Serra watches his lips to read what he’s saying mainly but follows his hands as well.

“I uhh, sorry. I wanted to be cool and smooth with this, but I can’t really think of a good way to ask this, so – Serra, Cassandra, will you…” his voice grows quieter with every word as he hesitates both with his voice and hands.

If he was able to man himself up to confess to them properly in real life instead of through the game, he can man himself up again.

He takes a deep breath.

“I like you both a lot. A ton. I’ve never really felt anything like this for any other girl before, but being with you two makes me happy, and I want to make both of you happy, so will you go out with me?”

It feels as if time freezes. There is no wind, the only noise comes from those walking around them, and he hears a couple of girls giggle to each other nearby as they walk past him.

He realizes that his eyes are closed.

He shut them as tightly as he could after asking them out. Everything just feels so cringy and awkward and like he has no idea what he’s doing. He’s afraid to see how they look right now.

Something soft and warm presses against his lips.

If his heart didn’t want to jump out of his chest again from asking them out, it does now as he can only assume what – or who, is kissing him.

“H-hey! That’s not fair!” Cassandra shouts.

Ryouta opens his eyes and sees Serra standing on her tiptoes to reach his lips. Even if he’s shorter than most guys are in real life, Serra still has to lean up on her tiptoes to reach him.

Serra looks directly into his eyes with a warm smile and a light blush on her cheeks.

Ryouta has no idea how to respond other than with a smile of his own.

Before he can do or say anything else, Serra hops backward and pushes Cassandra forward.

“Wh-what do you think you’re doing?!” Cassandra shouts at the smaller girl pushing her from behind.

Ryouta’s and Cassandra’s faces are right in front of each other. He’s almost a foot taller than her in-game, but here, he’s hardly an inch taller.

He already let one of these girls take the lead, and he doubts Cassandra could do it from her nervous fidgeting, so he closes the distance by himself and presses his lips against Cassandra’s.

She makes more of those flustered and feminine noises, but they are muffled from her lips pressing against his.

Her heart can’t take much more of it. She pushes Ryouta away and turns away from them both to hide her face. “I didn’t say you could do that!” she shouts.

Ryouta doesn’t know if he just messed up or not. He knows that she’s a bit of a tsundere, but he’s still new to this. He wouldn’t put it past himself to misread a situation and go too far. “Sorry, did I—” he tries apologizing but gets cut off.

“Shut up! I – I didn’t say not to do it!”

“So, it was alright?” he asks, just wanting to make sure.

“I’m… I’m not answering that, you bastard.”

Serra sneaks around to the front of Cassandra and sees just how bright red her entire head is.

Cassandra’s face transcends beyond simple blushing when Serra leans up and kisses her.

Ryouta doesn’t know who’s doing more confessing right now: him or Serra.

But regardless of who’s doing the most work right now, he’s just happy that it’s all going smoothly.

He confessed to the girls he cares about, they accepted his confession, and they get along on their own. He has heard before about how modern harems can’t work healthily unless all parties involved are romantically involved with one another. The biggest problem is that people try to treat them like one person having multiple relationships instead of just being in one large relationship where everybody cares about one another.

But with this, he doesn’t have to worry about that.

Serra backs away from Cassandra with another smile. Only, she’s blushing less than she was with Ryouta.

He’s worried that she’s going to grow dangerously confident and forward.

He doesn’t know if either he or Cassandra could handle her if she does.

Serra may be the weakest of them in-game, but when it comes to displaying affection, her power level is the highest of them all.