Chapter 3: Chapter 3: The dangers (and perks) of living with anime girls.

Metaphorical hat in hand, I stepped through into the flats shared living area, knocking on the doorframe to announce my presence. Sophie, who was fitfully prodding at a bowl of cereal with her spoon at our little table, squeaked, looking up at me with mild surprise.

Her stunning green eyes met mine briefly before her expression shifted to one of soft embarrassment. She coughed awkwardly and looked away, a rosy blush suffusing her cheeks.

“Listen, I just wanted to….”

“About this morning, I…”

Both of us cut our babbled apologies short, neither of us wanting to talk over the other. The silence stretched on for a moment as each of us waited for the other to speak. As a small, sheepish smile grew on my lips, I waved for her to go first. She returned my smile with a shy smile of her own, then spoke up.

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry for barging in on you like that and for seeing… what I saw. It was wrong of me to enter your room without your permission. Please forgive me?” Her slightly wobbly voice and entirely earnest expression practically melted my heart. Nibbling on her lower lip, she awaited my response.

“If anything, I should be the one to apologise for not locking my doors and for not calling out in time. In my mind, you didn’t do anything wrong. Shall we instead agree that neither of us is to blame?” I said, giving her a bright smile.

She giggled in response, nodding. “Fair enough! We’ll chalk it up to lessons learned and leave it at that.” Sophie said, a bright smile on her face as she returned to her breakfast. Fishing a bowl of cereal of my own out of the cupboard, I then sat across from her, taking a moment to study her whist she was distracted by her renewed enthusiasm for what appeared to be coco pops.

Her shoulder length auburn hair was, for the most part, gathered in a ponytail and secured by a black ribbon tied in a bow. She idly played with her fringe as she ate, the strands of hair swept to the side still long enough to cover one of her deep green eyes.

From what I saw earlier and what I could see with her sat in front of me, she was very much in good shape, with an athletic figure that couldn’t help but draw my eye. Eyes flicking briefly downwards, I took a moment to appreciate the clothes she wore, or, more accurately, how her white shirt perfectly enhancing her modest bust, the buttons under the slightest bit of strain.

Deciding to cut my losses and look away before I made things even more awkward by getting caught starting at her tits, I grabbed my phone to check the day’s schedule.

‘Wait, hold up. Early September? Not late February!?’ A small frown on my face, I used the tried-and-true method for troubleshooting tech, switching the damned thing off and on again. Sure enough, when the phone had rebooted, I was met with the exact same date. It was early September in this new world, the Monday morning after freshman week.

My initial reaction to the time reversal was intense irritation. Whilst, if things went the same way as they had before, this first month would be easy street, things such as assignments and lecturer expectations would really pick up in difficulty in the months following. Having to redo multiple assignments from scratch would be an experience that could best be described as both time-consuming and deeply frustrating. It was something I most certainly wasn’t looking forward to.

However, the longer I considered it, the more the idea grew on me. My previous habit of long nights spent studying had been something I’d carried over to uni life, meaning I was already highly familiar with the topics we’d be covering over the next few months.

Adding to that, the other useful intel I’d picked up about my classmates and teachers in my first run, and I was starting to consider what I’d originally thought of as a major setback as more of a boon. Hell, I could even fix a few of my mistakes, both big and small.

Making a mental note to add some of the pertinent dates I could recall to the calendar app when I got a moment, I put the phone away and looked back up, only to find that Sophie had been watching me for some time, a small smirk on her face.

“See something that you like?” I said, raising an eyebrow at her and smirking right back. She huffed, rolling her eyes, but couldn’t keep the small smile off her face.

“You wish! I’ve already seen quite enough for today, thank you very much! No, I simply wondered what you were thinking about that had you staring at your timetable that intensely. I know Miss Wittersham’s lectures can be a little on the dry side, but I don’t think they required that much consternation, even if they are scheduled for 9am Monday mornings.”

I held my head in my hands, letting out a heartfelt groan at the injustice of early mornings and internally cursing at whichever sadistic admin set that particular gem on the schedule up, drawing another giggle from Sophie for my antics. Looking up into her expectant eyes, I quickly came up with a plausible excuse that didn’t make me sound like a loon, shamelessly using a little nugget of foreknowledge to my advantage.

“Games soc have another social on tonight, but I don’t think I’m going to go. They seemed nice enough during their freshmen meet, but I can’t help but feel that there was more than a little unspoken tension between the old members. It’s just a feeling, but I kinda felt like they were on their best behaviour for the newbies, you know?”

‘You won’t get my precious baby this time, you bastards!’

Satisfied that my shitty little scooter would no longer fall victim to the prank war that rapidly escalated into blatant attacks of vandalism, I let out a happy sigh.

“Well, if you’re free, you could always tag along with me to my volleyball social…” Sophie said, the timid tone of her voice and the slight flush of her cheers more than enough to distract me from any further musings on the topic.

“You know,” I said, a warm smile spreading across my face, “that sounds like a wonderful idea.”

---

Nodding at the driver, I fumbled with my bus pass, slipping at into my pocket so I could drop it into my inventory without anyone seeing.

‘I’ve got access to an interdimensional space that defies modern science, a place only I can access where I can store any item I wish within given limits. And how am I using this epic power? To hold my wallet, phone, and a single small knife that I borrowed from the flat kitchen.’

I’d decided before leaving the flat this morning that heading out and about unarmed with everything that had happened was just asking for trouble. ‘Video game stats probably mean video game enemies, and I am nowhere near ready to beat up some starter monster with my bare fists, at least not yet.’

Chuckling to myself, I shifted the straps of my backpack into a more comfortable position as I waited for Sophie to finish up with the driver, trying not to feel slightly disappointed that I couldn’t stow the semi-heavy bag too, as it would definitely raise suspicion if I started pulling books out of thin air.

As I should’ve realised when she’d mentioned our morning class over breakfast, Sophie studied on the same course as I did, because of course she did. After breakfast, we’d split up to gather the rest of our things before heading out together, an arrangement I found I didn’t mind in the least. The plan was to meet up with our third flatmate (now a girl by the name of Annie), who’d had apparently gone in early this morning to make use of the university’s library.

Finished with the driver, Sophie turned and walked deeper into the to catch up to where I stood in the aisle, a warm smile on her face as she saw me waiting on her.

“Your seat, Madame.” I said with a grin, guesting towards an empty row of seats.

“Why thank you, good sir!” she said with a giggle, green eyes sparking and her smile turning impish as she gave me a little curtsy, the short skirt of her uniform revealing a rather generous portion of thigh above her knee-high socks.

“Get a room!”

The shout, which came from one of the rows around the back of the bus, caused Sophie to blanch, a familiar blush rising to her cheeks as she ducked into the proffered seat, ducking out of view before any further comments could be forthcoming.

Shooting a miffed look in that general direction, I took the aisle seat next to her, internally sighing when a glance showed Sophie sat with a stiff posture, staring out the window and decidedly not looking in my direction.

Shrugging, I decided to take the time to study my new status information to see what I could learn.

“Hey, I’m going to rest my eyes a little. Could you nudge me when we get there?”

Looking surprised at my request, Sophie nevertheless nodded, some of her tension leaking away as she relaxed a little, gracing me with a shy smile.

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Closing my eyes, I mentally brought up my notifications.

Achievement unlocked: Rookie Casanova.

You flirted with a girl (on purpose) and she didn’t run away screaming. We didn’t know you had it in you.

You gain the following:

• + 10 Exp.

• + 10 Waifu Exp.

• + £10.00.

• + 1 Charisma.

Tuning out the system snark, I read over what I’d gained. Whilst I still wasn’t sure what exactly Waifu Exp was for, I knew that the single point of charisma I’d just earned was enough to bump me over the first attribute threshold.

Achievement unlocked: baby socialite.

You increased your charisma to at least 10, passing the first attribute threshold. Your mouth no longer acts as a permanent storage solution for your foot! You may find that people will now be slightly more receptive to your words, and that people will stop giving you quite so many funny looks.

• +25 Exp.

• +£25.00.

• The things you say out loud will no longer be humorously edited from what you intended to say without your knowledge.

‘SON OF A…!’ As was quickly becoming my go to move when thrown a curveball by the system, I slipped into the serenity of meditation, wrestling with my irritation until I felt I was calm enough to continue.

‘The worst thing about it is that I will never know what I said and to whom! How many arguments with my parents, friends, and ex-girlfriends were caused by my brain saying the right thing but my mouth saying the wrong thing?! New priority. I need to fix everything under 10, pronto. Who knows how bad the universe has been shitting on me until now?’

Sighing, I closed the notification and opened the next one, my mood instantly bouncing back as I read its contents.

Level up!

You have reached Lvl2.

Your HP and mana have been completely restored.

You have earned 200 Universal credits.

You now have 5 free attribute points to spend.

Cheering internally, I set about enacting my plan of action from moments ago, assigning two of the points to wisdom and three to endurance, bringing them both to 10.

Achievement unlocked: fortune cookie sage.

You increased your wisdom to at least 10, passing the first attribute threshold. That little voice in your head telling you to do dangerous stuff is full of shit! Potentially self-destructive ideas will no longer seem quite so appealing to you.

• +25 Exp.

• +£25.00.

• The chance that following your gut instincts leads to a favourable outcome has drastically improved.

• Each point of wisdom gained now adds 0.05/min to your mana regen rate rather than 0.025/min.

Achievement unlocked: made of strong(ish) stuff

You increased your endurance to at least 10, passing the first attribute threshold. You will no longer fold like a cheap suit after taking any form of damage. Congrats, being sneezed on by an enemy is no longer a death sentence! Your overall level of fitness has also been improved. Aren’t we generous?

• +25 Exp.

• +£25.00.

• Your body is now slightly more sturdy. Attacks that land will cause less damage overall.

• Each point of endurance gained now adds 2 to your total HP, rather than 1.

The final window closed, marking the end of my notifications. Happy despite the bucket loads of system snark, I opened my status screen to study my gains.

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