Chapter 18: Want to Go Together? Sakura-san
Sakura Airi pursed her lips, and her heart seemed to quicken its pace.
'If I go with Katsuragi-kun...'
Sakura cautiously observed the boy beside her through her peripheral vision. He was still focused on his handheld console, the cold glow of the screen reflecting off his face. Sakura felt that talking to him didn't carry as much pressure as talking to others.
'Perhaps... precisely because his attention isn't on me?'
But regardless, if someone accompanied her, she might actually have the courage to buy the camera.
"Mm..."
The sound was as light as a feather landing on the ground, dissipating into the air the moment it left her mouth. She panicked instantly, fearing he hadn't heard her and that this rare spark of courage would go to waste. She hurriedly followed up with a slightly larger nod.
In the eyes of an onlooker, however, it was merely her chin moving down by two centimeters, causing her fine pink hair to sway gently.
After receiving Sakura Airi's response, Katsuragi Keima gave an almost imperceptible nod, seemingly ready to return his focus to his game. After all, he had promised Elsie yesterday that he would take action today. While time was theoretically sufficient, he did need to push the "Main Quest" progress a little. Otherwise, Elsie might stir up some other kind of trouble.
Currently, Sakura Airi was likely the easiest character to capture.
Unlike Horikita Suzune's aloofness or Kushida Kikyo's disguise, Sakura Airi simply suffered from a pure fear of social interaction. To close the distance, one only needed to reduce her "sense of alienation" toward him. As long as the frequency of contact was high enough, that barrier could be broken.
As for the other mission targets—
His peripheral vision accurately captured a gaze coming from the other side—a look that, for several minutes now, had been locked onto his face like a searchlight.
Horikita Suzune.
She sat straighter today than before. Her textbook was spread open on the desk and her pen was in hand; at first glance, she looked entirely like a diligent student focusing on her preview. But from time to time, her gaze would drift over the edge of the textbook toward Katsuragi Keima.
Ever since the test results were announced yesterday, Horikita Suzune had developed an indescribable fixation on this eccentric seatmate. She had originally thought Katsuragi Keima
was just a game-addicted shut-in whose grades would be a disaster, but reality had delivered a harsh slap to the face.
'What is the deal with this guy?'
This question had circled her mind all night. She had even suffered a rare bout of insomnia, tossing and turning in bed while replaying the day's scenes. The image in the cafeteria of Keima casually reciting Chabashira-sensei's lecture while playing a game; the matter-of-fact expression he wore when handing in his paper early; and that infuriating look on his face when he uttered the word "Tsundere"...
Especially the way Elsie looked at her afterward!
How could such a strange term have anything to do with her?
Just then, Keima suddenly turned his head without warning. Their gazes collided in mid-air.
Horikita froze, her fingers tightening slightly around her pen. She hadn't expected him to look over so suddenly, and she certainly hadn't expected herself to actually be caught staring for so long—it was completely out of character for her.
"You..."
"You've been staring at me for quite a while," Keima said, pushing up his glasses. There was no fluctuation in the gaze behind the lenses. "If you want to play, go buy a console yourself. But as a friendly tip, I suggest beginners start with Tokimeki Memorial. The system is friendly and the difficulty is moderate."
"I don't want to play such boring things!"
The corners of Horikita's mouth twitched uncontrollably. She grabbed her textbook and flipped to the next page with a loud rustle. She forced her eyes to focus on the dense text of the book...
'Don't get involved with a guy like this!'
She repeated it three times in her mind. But the more she thought it, the less she could concentrate. Her peripheral vision seemed to have a will of its own, constantly drifting to her side.
Then, she saw an even stranger sight—
Katsuragi Keima had actually put down his handheld.
The gaming device that had seemed permanently attached to his hands since the first day of school was now resting gently on the corner of the desk. In its place was his student terminal, held in both hands, his fingers dancing across the virtual keyboard with dizzying speed. She could see large blocks of text scrolling across the screen, occasionally interspersed with flowchart-like structures.
'This guy... stopped playing games?'
Horikita felt a sense of absurd curiosity.
'Could it be... he's starting to study seriously?'
No, that's not right. She immediately snuffed out the thought.
'Whatever he does has nothing to do with me. Preview. Focus on the preview.'
But the sound of Keima tapping the screen seemed to possess a magic that wormed its way into her ears. Tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap. The rhythm was steady and dense, like raindrops hitting a windowpane. It wasn't loud, but in Horikita Suzune's ears, it felt exceptionally intrusive.
One minute. Two minutes.
Horikita found that she hadn't processed a single word.
"You... what on earth are you doing?"
The words slipped out before she even realized it. But she quickly found a justification for herself: this guy's behavior was affecting her studies. Yes, that was it!
So, she reached out and grabbed Keima's arm, giving it a light twist—
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"
Keima's body instantly arched like a cooked shrimp, his entire face scrunched in a ball of pain. But his other hand was still death-gripped onto the terminal, as if it were his very lifeblood.
Horikita was startled. She really hadn't used much force; she only applied a bit of pressure to make him stop and explain.
'This guy's physical condition... is way too poor, isn't it?'
When she pinched him, it felt soft, as if there wasn't a single bit of muscle.
'Does this guy never exercise?'
A nearly negligible flash of guilt crossed her mind, but she suppressed it immediately. She let go of his arm, turned her face away to stare out the window for two seconds, and then turned back, her expression returning to its usual coldness.
"I should be the one asking you that. What are you so busy with so early in the morning? It's rare to see you actually put down your handheld."
As she spoke, Horikita leaned in slightly, her gaze crossing Keima's shoulder to look at the terminal screen. Then, she froze.
On the screen was not the study notes she expected, nor some complex formula chart, but—
[Full Walkthrough and All-Endings Guide for "Say Goodbye to You: A Youthful Love Story"]
Below the title was a line of small text:
Author: God
Further down were dense branching diagrams: affection trigger conditions, the impact of key choices, ways to unlock hidden events... every detail was marked meticulously, even including analytical advice based on the different characters' personalities.
Horikita Suzune suspected she was hallucinating.