On the third night after the magazine was published with Seiji’s story.
Seiji had acc.u.mulated 133 points and five [Random Draw Shards] as a reward from his novel. He combined these five [shards] into a [Random Draw Card], wanting to try his luck.
He wanted to shout out a line from some popular game... but decided against it.
He would entertain himself like this if he were alone, but s.h.i.+ka-chan was in the room adjacent to his, so she would definitely hear him if he shouted anything.
Seiji didn’t want his adopted sister to look at him strangely, so he could only choose to [use] the card.
He really wanted a card that would let him learn a spell! Although he didn’t feel like it was likely, he felt that life was all about hoping.
The [Random Draw Card], a card with a golden question mark depicted on one side, transformed into white light and rearranged itself into a new card—[Stat Rea.s.signment Card]!
Wasn’t this the card that he had wanted before to rea.s.sign some stats to his [art] stat, but didn’t exchange for because he felt it would be a waste of his points?
Seiji’s cheek twitched slightly. At the time, he had been wanting to raise his [art] stat, but the incident with s.h.i.+ka happened right after, so he had decided against it.
Right now, he wanted to focus on writing his story as well as learning spells, so he didn’t have time to improve his [art] stat.
He had actually received such a prize... It wasn’t bad, though, and he felt as if the imaginary system fairy was getting some payback.
To be honest, he did consider loading and drawing again, to see if he could draw something different and more desirable.
However, Seiji didn’t want to abuse his save and load ability like this.
Where did the save and load ability originate from? His dating sim system. What about the [Random Draw] reward card? Also his dating sim system.
Would such a strong system—one that could even turn back time—have such a design flaw which would allow him to repeatedly try drawing for different rewards? Impossible.
At least, Seiji felt it was impossible. And he had a faint premonition that if he tried to toy with his system like this, something bad would happen.
So he decided to just accept whatever it was that he drew. Seiji closed his system and was about to continue practising [Astral Vision] when he heard his cell phone ring.
The caller was Yukari Asamiya.
"Hey, good evening, Harano-san." When he picked up, she greeted him politely.
"Good evening, Asamiya-san."
This week, Seiji occasionally saw Yukari in the hallways at school, but they only greeted each other and didn’t have any conversation.
"Have you already finished reading the light novels we were discussing previously at the bookstore?" she asked.
"I have."
Although he was busy with writing his story and learning spells, he still spent some time on relaxing as well.
During his recreation time, Seiji had finished reading Reincarnated Golden Eagle, Record of the Demon Sword, and I Can’t Sleep When I’m Sleeping Together with My Younger Sister.
The first two were fine, but... s.h.i.+ka was also reading the third!
He felt rather awkward about borrowing a light novel with such a name from his adopted younger sister.
"What did you think of them?" Yukari asked.
"They’re all pretty good. All three have very different styles, but they’re all excellent stories with their own selling points." Seiji gave his review.
"I know!" Yukari exclaimed in a obviously excited voice. "I’ve been following these three for quite a while now, and I can’t stop reading them at all."
"I agree. Especially Demon Sword; the story is just too thrilling. I actually wanted to finish reading all the volumes in one go, but I barely managed to restrain myself."
"Yeah, I’m the same as well! I think that the story of Demon Sword is just amazing, and I ended up reading all the volumes when I first started. I even pulled an all-nighter to finish them."
She pulled an all-nighter reading light novels... Seiji found it difficult to imagine the purple-haired girl doing that, but he could tell that the pa.s.sion in her voice was genuine.
She truly loved to read light novels. Seiji realized this and now had a better impression of Yukari.
The two of them chatted pa.s.sionately for a while.
"Harano-san, do you have time tomorrow? I’d like to meet you and chat in person!" Yukari brought this up naturally.
‘Is this... an invitation for a date?’ Seiji saw it for what it was.
But he also had a feeling that if he refused, she would take some other action instead of giving up.
Besides, he really did have a lot of fun chatting with her.
She was definitely a true lover of light novels who had read many books and was familiar with all the tropes. She wasn’t a reader in name only.
He really did want to have a nice chat with such a beautiful girl that shared his interests... so why would he refuse?
After thinking about it, Seiji replied: "I’m free."
On the other side of the call.
Upon hearing this answer, Yukari temporarily covered her cell phone, clenched her fist, and shouted "Yeah!" in order to vent her sheer excitement.
She was actually quite nervous in addition to being excited, and her face had turned red.
"That’s great! Let’s set a time and place, then. What time and place will be good for you?" Yukari was looking at a chart in front of her as she said this.
All the time blocks for Sat.u.r.day and Sunday were drawn on it, and various good places for dates were written for each time block.
She had done plenty of homework.
"When would it be convenient for you, Asamiya-san?"
"I’m fine with tomorrow morning and afternoon."
Actually, she was free during the evening as well. But she felt it was better to not have a first date at night.
Boys with other intentions would probably want to have a date at night time, but Harano-san wasn’t that type of person, so she felt having a date with him during the evening would have the opposite effect of what she wanted.
"Then... let’s go with tomorrow morning. As for the place... I don’t have any idea," Seiji confessed. "Asamiya-san, do you have any places where you’d like to meet?"
Yukari instantly told him the first place listed in her chart for that time block.
"Let’s meet there, then. As for the specific time... how about 9:30 A.M.?"
"Okay, it’s settled then, Harano-san." Yukari placed her hand over her chest in an attempt to suppress her own excitement. "Don’t be late~"
"Of course I won’t," Seiji said with laughter in his voice. "See you tomorrow, Asamiya-san... have a good night."
"Have a good night, Harano-san," Yukari replied in a soft voice, before hanging up the call.
She then tossed her cell phone away, leaped onto her bed with a loud thump, and hugged a large stuffed golden lion. She rolled around and around on her bed, burying her face in the lion doll and shouting.
‘He agreed! I succeeded on my first attempt at inviting him to a date! I’m so happy, so delighted, so excited...’
The purple-haired beauty didn’t care about her current appearance at all; she kept rolling around for several minutes before finally stopping.
"Harano-san’s reaction... was almost exactly the same as how I thought he’d react," Yukari muttered to herself.
This meant that he was exactly the type of person she thought he was. She hadn’t expected to be able to meet her perfect match in real life.
He was handsome and possessed a good figure and an open and direct personality. Despite this, he had otaku-ish hobbies... heavens, this was an absolutely perfect match for her.
She felt as if the G.o.ds themselves had personally crafted him for her as her partner!
The first time she saw him, she was attracted to him, and then she investigated a little about him and was even more attracted. When she finally regained her senses, she was already in love with him.
The more she learned about him, the more she liked him. Yukari felt that she was really lucky. She was determined to get this boy in her grasp.
She really wanted to develop things more quickly, but she knew that she shouldn’t rush, that she should be patient, and that she needed to make progress one step at a time.
Yukari revealed a sweet smile as she imagined her future together with him.