Chapter 51: Arc 2, Bonus 2: Mama Yuji’s thoughts + In an alternate universe

Mama Yuji's thoughts

You're not supposed to say that about people your age, but having Riku as a friend was a bit like having a child.
It didn't help when they started calling me 'Mama Yuji'.

Riku had always been a bit of an emotionally unstable person, prone to worrying and overthinking.

When I had seen him the first time at school, he had hidden in a corner, too insecure to join anyone's conversation. The two idiots had already started talking with me, so I had stopped them for a second and dragged Riku over.

It took an hour of coaxing until he had warmed up to the point of showing what he was actually like.

Riku was a total happy-go-lucky the moment he wasn't under stress.
When we were playing games, especially, you could hear him babble away on the microphone, joking and laughing while excitedly working his way through quests and storylines.

I liked Riku like that. Not worrying, just freely enjoying his life.

But there was always something troubling him.

When I saw him approach Taizou in the library, I had frozen up.

Riku couldn't fake his emotions very well. Not him. Not in front of me, anyway.

He shook like a freightened deer when Taizou talked to him, but all I saw was that limitless excitement and joy, that giddyness that made him fidget again and again.

Aw fuck me, I had thought. Now what?

I absolutely refused to talk him out of it. It wasn't my position to do so anyway and as a friend, I wanted to support him. 
I was, however, a bit worried about it being Taizou, that complicated person.

Please, God, I begged, just let this work out somehow.

And somehow, it did.

...I spent an evening just blankly staring at the tv until I got my thoughts together.
Okay, unexpected. 
They got along well.
Taizou was starting to act like he was flirting.
Prez was... actually not being bad, but Riku was in a constant panic about him, so that was a bit of a problem.

Anyway, they were bound to get together. That unlikely pair.

"What are you frowning about?", my father asked, joining me in front of the tv. I turned to him.
"My son is going to be married off and I'm not sure whether I should be happy or mad."

Long pause.

"And you're sure you're not planning on marrying one day, after all?"
"Definitely not. But I might adopt."
"You should. You would make a good parent."
"...I'm still kinda mad."
"That's normal."

My mother walked in with a questioning glance.

"Mad about what?"
"My son is going to start his own family."
"...A good parent isn't going to question their children's decision but rather support them. Unless it's a stupid decision."

"You mean like how we're supporting our son acting like he's the father of three almost grown men", my father rumbled.
My mother patted his shoulder. "He's being a good Mum, though. And you have to admit it suits both him and them."

More grumbling.

I took a deep breath, ignoring them.
"Alright. I'm going to do whatever I can to help him and keep him calm."
"That's my son. Good luck."

That was my decision. Whether Riku was gay or not didn't matter, it wasn't like I knew him any different. It was just something I hadn't thought about yet.

If Riku had chosen Taizou, then he must be a good person.

...Since Riku goes running the moment anyone scary approaches him.

---

In an alternate universe...

If Mizuki had the system

[Host, please react to me.]

[Host.]

[Host, ignoring me isn't going to help.]

[...Host, are you really planning on not moving until I undo the selection?]

I certainly was.

At first, I had wondered how it would be possible for my voice not to work anymore, but then I remembered an article about self-suggestion bringing people to the point of causing their own hearts to stop beating.

Just in my case, I had some self-suggestion of being unable to talk until I chose one of the three selections that kept on sticking in my eyes, no matter where I looked.

Ridiculous. There was a good chance that I was under the influence of drugs, considering it wouldn't be the first time someone tried that on me. Some sort of hallucinatory drug, probably.

Although I couldn't tell how my mind conjured such a stupid setup.

Some sort of button in my vision? Pop-ups with text, trying to make me want to open some menu so that it would open? Dialogue choices?

No.
I wasn't going to do any of that.

The pop-up shivered, like someone's eyes trembling with tears.

[Host!!! I'm really just trying to help!!! I just want to find you someone you will love and be with forever!!!]

Self-suggestion.

[Just once, alright? Please just follow the choices once! You will see that it works well, alright?]

Hallucinations.

[I... I will have to take more drastic measures, then!]

The... textbox? at the lower part of my vision rippled, displaying a new textbox and new choices. This time, the text above it said 'Please choose what to do' instead of what to 'say'. 

I scanned the text. All of it was, without an exception... absolutely humiliating.
I frowned.

You are reading story My Real Life Dating-System?! [BL] at novel35.com

I couldn't move my body, but it wasn't like my stop would never come. I had to get off the train sometime.

[I will make it go away if you promise to play along with the choices just once! And I will make sure none of it is something weird!]
...Alright.

The textbox vanished with a sigh and I rolled my shoulders that were finally my own again.

Fascinating but creepy. I should take a stop by the hospital after school. Whatever is in my blood system, I want it out.

The illusory textbox kept away while I was at school, though the button in the corner still reminded me of the fact that I wasn't back to being normal yet. 
Unhappy, I forced myself through the day, just barely holding back on throwing some bastard who tried to grope me out of the window.

The textbox reappeared during the evening.
To be precise, it was while I was about to take my train, coincidentally spotting another student with the same uniform as I.

He was tall, although he appeared smaller due to the fact that he was bending his back and lowering his shoulders. Flustered, he was searching his bag for something, nervously chewing on his lip.

The selection appeared again, prompting me to go over and say something to him. I read my options, satisfied that none of them were things that I wouldn't say. I was a bit confused as to why one of the options was to ask whether he needed money, but that answered itself as I stepped closer damn him.

"Fuck... Where's my wallet..."

He looked a bit in panic, like a lost puppy. Almost every student carried not only their student ID but also our yearly train tickets to school in their wallet.
So much for that selection.

The moment I decided on what to say, my mouth moved on its own.

"Need me to lend you some money?", I asked calmly, slightly bending down to the squatting him. 

He tilted his head upwards, blinking at me with eyes of not understanding what was going on. Then, when he had registered what I had said and maybe recognized me - I wish it wasn't the case, but pretty much everyone at school knew me -, his face turned white.

He jumped up, getting caught in his own foot and stumbling backwards, then catching himself with waving arms that immediately turned into a motion of panicked rejection.

"O-oh, no-no-no, i-it's fine, I-I can-", he stuttered, looking everywhere but at me.

...Look what you did, hallucination. He's scared of me.
[Not exactly. Host, won't you please try to convince him?]

As that was my plan anyway, now that I knew he was in trouble, I pulled out my wallet and searched for some money that he could use to pay for the train fare home.

He squeaked funnily, then turned all quiet and still. I held the money out to him.

His brown eyes switched between me and the money before, after an eternity, he nervously took it with trembling hands.

Lowering his head, he mumbled a reply.
"Th-thanks... I'll pay you back... I'll, uh... Throw the money into your locker...?"

My opinion of the person I didn't know made a jump upwards. No suggestion of repaying me with stupid things. No suggestion of exchanging phone numbers so he could contact me. No suggestion of meeting somewhere with the excuse of bringing me the money.

Just saying that he would throw it into my locker. (Which wasn't weird, because everyone knew where my locker was. Even the teachers. You can't miss the regular gathering around it at valentines, my birthday and around Christmas.)

I cocked my head to the side, nodding.

His face lit up in a pleasant even if shaky smile. I felt a soft twinge at the sight of it, confusing me.
"Thank you, again", he repeated before storming off to buy a ticket.

Well, that wasn't as bad as I expected.

I walked to my platform, waiting for the train and then getting into the last wagon, throwing myself into a corner and huddling up.

The train filled up fast, I noticed, which meant there was bound to be someone getting the place next to me. Sadly. But I wouldn't block it.

Indeed, just a short while before the train left, someone sat down next to me, wheezing. From my angle, I could watch the rise and fall of our uniform around his chest and, slightly surprised, followed the uniform up to the face.

The same fluffy brown hair from not too long ago. The boy registered me, then widened his eyes in obvious panic (again).

"Eh?", he mouthed, so very obviously surprised to see me that I was sure it hadn't been on purpose.

I blinked and tilted my head at him, quite relaxed.
"Same train", I just commented.

Like a gentle, careful prod, another selection made its way into my view. Like it was worried about being scolded.
I let it appear, looking at the choices. I could always just not talk if I felt they were too stupid, anyway. It had worked for the first day of it appearing.

Seeing him completely frozen and curled into a ball that took only as least space possible, I decisively went with the first option.

"I don't bite", I calmed him. He looked like I was going to tear him apart, which I wasn't unless he did something stupid. And he didn't look like he was going to.

He twitched, then glanced at me, mumbling a few very insecure 'sorry's and trying to relax while still pushing himself as far away as possible.

For some reason, I felt he wasn't doing it out of his own feelings, but because he was trying not to make me feel unwell.

I relaxed in my seat, for once perfectly fine with having someone sit next to me.

Once I was at home, the pop-ups returned.

[See? That wasn't so bad.]
[His name is Riku, Watanabe. He's a darling.]
[I can help you get along with him, how does that sound? He's a good person. You won't be troubled.]
[I... I also won't force you to do anything...?]

I wasn't going to question how my own hallucination had turned from 'searching for a lover' to 'searching for a friend'.
...Ah. I had forgotten to stop by the hospital.

Either way, I would just see how things would turn out. He really didn't seem like a bad person, so if we met more often in the same train, then I wouldn't be against greeting him or sitting together.

As for friends... I really didn't know how that worked, so I wasn't going to worry about that.

[...I'm gonna hook you up.]

I saw that.

Shut up, self-suggestion. I won't turn gay.

...Hm?
Wait, if there are no limits to the things self-suggestion can do, could it even change my sexuality?

...Well, damn.

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