Chapter 3: Arc 1, Ch.3: My rating is, how many stars?

To my surprise, Taizou’s points had suddenly turned to 4 when I looked over them again. I opened the additional info field with our conversation backlog and saw that it had a new entry: [Not trying to forcefully start a conversation and treating the target as any other student increased his goodwill a bit.]

...That was easy? Thinking about it, my acquaintances were all at over 20 points. Just getting to a I-know-you-and-nod-for-greetings basis with someone was actually rather easy, so the earlier points were probably not hard to achieve. The later points were probably harder, right?

Just like leveling up, the needed exp was higher. Hmm. Made sense.

A thought was prodding at me, annoyingly whispering into my ear.
Since I could see this information, I could try to get along with him, right? That wasn’t too much to ask for, right? Just acquaintances or simple friends, that was all. Just so close that it’s not weird to spend some time with him.

My heart throbbed uncomfortably.
I didn’t want anyone to notice that I liked guys. I didn’t want to be stared at. If I got along with him, I’d probably let it show. If that happened, our relationship would break down immediately, anyway, and I’d have ruined my school life.

Was that worth it?

I thought about just sitting down in that empty seat across him in the library, where I sometimes saw him. Just quickly greeting him and then turning to my book. Hearing a quiet grunt in reply.
Getting that reply at all. Being tolerated around him, contrary to almost any other student.

I was in a daze. Yeah, that kinda sounded worth it. Since I had a system, I should use it to the fullest, ehehe~
I’m not cheating or anything~

After all, who could resist the temptation of being close to their… admittedly, crush?

A monotone voice announced the name of our station. I twitched out of my daze when Taizou moved to stand up, and hurried to pack away my phone and gather up my bag and jacket.

For a moment I considered just falling into a walk next to him - we had the same way after all - but I quickly scolded myself to discard the thought.
I had just gotten a point for not trying to strike a conversation with him. If I forced the situation, it’d surely go right back down. I slowed my actions, bending down to tie my shoelaces and fumbling with my jacket to spend some time.

I only stood up after stretching, giving the train enough time to halt and open the doors. If I’d walk a bit slower than normal, there’d be a natural distance between me and Taizou, far enough to not be awkward.

Yep, that was a good way to do it.

In Taizou’s entry, the bar jumped up another point.

---

In my classroom, I lazed with my friends until the start of the lesson.

“If you suddenly had a dating system in real life, what would you do?”, I asked, sipping on my soda. Thoughtful humming came from the lounging guys around the table.

“Find the most beautiful girl and get her”, Tarou declared immediately. “Or start a harem.”
Kaoru spread himself across the table. “Idiot, that’d be uncovered immediately, since they’re not NPCs. I’d just use the system to become popular with everyone and then act like a good friend to all the beauties.”
“Wow, that’s some planning.” Yuji rolled his eyes at them. "Because all beauties are idiots who wouldn't notice that."

I laughed at their answers. All four of us belonged to the lower caste of the school: Not good at sports, below to average grades and normal looks.
We weren’t full-fledged perverts or had overly weird habits, but we were still caught in our own world of games and stories.
Okay to have around but if not, no one would care.
We would often complain about it but didn’t want to invest the energy to change anything about us. That was why my natural beautiful and talented siblings were an annoyance sometimes.

“I hope my game system finds me soon. It’d make life so much more interesting”, Kaoru complained in a wistful voice.
My grin twitched slightly. Yes yes, the system was nice. It definitely made things more interesting. I’m all happy~

“On the point of interesting, I was suddenly sitting next to Taizou Mizuki on the train. Nearly got a heart attack.”
Their gazes moved over to me, eyes wide. Yeah, that would have been my reaction, too. That guy would be surrounded most of the time or, when he was pissed, completely left alone. To sit next to him was quite the surprise since there would be more than enough people willing to give up their seat for him.
So that they could stare, of course.

“If you had snapped a photo of him, you could have sold it”, Yuji blatantly stated. True.

“He left you alive?”, Tarou whispered in surprise. Our voices had lowered the moment I started the topic, we didn’t want the girls in class to massacre me for experiencing that privilege.
“Yeah, I managed to get through it without annoying him. But I can tell why people like him.”

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Not a weird comment, thankfully. He really was an attractive guy and that cold demeanor of his made people want to be the exception to it. Everyone wants to feel special, and being close to him was a special thing.

...Some may beg to differ, but the life of a student isn’t really that interesting.

Kaoru clicked his tongue. “That guy could have nearly every girl he wanted, and he isn’t even flirting yet. I bet if he tried to actively seduce one, she’d drop like a fly.”
“That’s the privilege of the handsome and beautiful”, Tarou mumbled with his face planted against the table. All four of us sighed together.

We engaged in some more meaningless chatter until the teacher came in and started the lesson. It was boring and I was uninterested, so I opened up my menu again to give it a closer look.

There was a greyed out tab up above, next to the open one that displayed the character entries. Staring at it gave me a simple [Not yet available] pop-up.

I read more thoroughly through the entries instead. Most of them were actually quite interesting, though the amount of information was rather creepy. As for my Love Interests…

I had enough time to hesitate during the endless lesson, and I did. That section was just terrible awkward, even if no one else knew about it.
With a long, exhaled breath I finally looked. Taizou was on top, three small stars next to his name. I looked lower. There were three more entries, all with one star. I could sort through my feelings for a simple answer: It was just my level of interest.

Guy number 2 was a friend who had moved recently. We had been childhood friends, quite close, and his happy-go-lucky attitude had attracted me. The feeling had always been rather soft, though; he was often stuck on the edge of my vision and I liked having him for myself, but that had never truly developed any further. I could imagine I’d fall for him if we spent more time together again and I cut myself loose of the ‘childhood friend’ encasing.

Guy number 3 was a bit older than me, a sunny young man working in a nearby cafe. No need to say more, he was plain comfortable to be around, but it was a mild interest as the stars stated.

Guy number 4 was my little sister’s tutor, one year older than me. Kind and gentle, easygoing. I met him often at home and he was nice to me, but little Risa was incredibly docile and sweet whenever he was around. Their age difference was only 3 years and while that was still a lot, for now, it wouldn’t be a problem someday. I tried to avoid him.

Taizou was in stark contrast to the other three, not only because of his character. I’m not talking about the possibility of going out with him, though. That was a plain zero percent for all four of them. The greatest difference was reflected in those little stars.
The other three I was attracted to because they were comfortable.
That guy, on the other hand, was someone I genuinely wanted to be close with in any way, just because he was himself.

Have I mentioned he’s cold and snarky and avoids social interactions like the plague? Completely true.
But he’s also someone who is honest, whether that is in admitting his mistakes or giving his opinions, he’s a hard worker that never leaves anything unfinished, he keeps his word at any cost-

Ehh.
That’s just general knowledge, I’m sure. It wasn’t like I noticed those things because my whole focus was on him as soon as he’s around.
Nu-uh. Totally not.

Life would be a wee bit easier if he was a girl and I straight. At least I wouldn’t have to feel like a weirdo every time my thoughts derailed liked that.

And now I had a dating system that wanted me to go for a guy? Was it trying to destroy my social life or anything?
Ah, but, I can still use it to just manage some friendly relationships~

I amused myself with the system for as long as I could, before I had to start taking notes. The class was boring if you weren’t trying to get good at the subject and were fine with passing. I wasted my time away until the afternoon freed us.

“Let’s do the dungeon tonight?”, Yuji suggested as we all walked outside. We agreed. “Alright, cool. Same time as usual?”
“Yeah.” “Yep, let’s meet as usual. See you later!”

We parted and I stopped to stare up at the sky. Late-ish spring, nice weather. I had a feeling I should enjoy my time as long as possible… These were my last months at school.
I turned away from the direction of the train station, strolling around for a while. A sudden pop-up startled me.

[You have a weird feeling while passing the alley…]

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