“T-Tomiya-kun…”

“Sakura-san…”

The teenage lovers gazed into each other’s eyes. Sakura placed a trembling hand on Tomiya’s bare chest. Tomiya moved his hand over hers. The two closed their eyes and shared a moment of indescribable closeness. Finally, Tomiya couldn’t hold back. He moved forward and pushed Sakura down onto his bed.

“Hyaan!”

Her cute cry only served to embolden him. Tomiya lunged into a passionate kiss. Their heated embrace continued to escalate as Tomiya’s hands slid under his lover’s blouse. After countless sloppy kisses, Sakura finally pulled back. She fluttered her eyelids and glanced away. Her face was beet red. When she looked back into Tomiya’s eyes, her desire was laid bare.

“Tomiya, I want to be yours.”

Tomiya stiffened. Those words eroded what little reason he had left.

“I-I’m ready.”

Just before Tomiya could reach home plate, the door opened.

“Hey Belle, I need to borrow your…uh…” Kazama trailed off as he observed the scene.

The lovers froze, or to be more accurate, they were waiting. Waiting for a dialogue input that never occurred. Kazama had about two seconds to view their passionate exchange through a computer screen before Belle slammed Alt-F4. The love scene was instantly replaced with a stock desktop background. All that was left was a pair of siblings and an awkward mood.

“W-Was that a visual novel?” Kazama finally broke the silence.

“No.” Belle replied gruffly. She wouldn’t meet his eyes.

“It’s fine. I just didn’t know you liked those kinds of games.”

“I don’t.” Belle’s eyes darted around as her brain desperately searched for an excuse. “I was…I was just…Um.”

Belle stood up and pointed at her laptop.

“I was just watching hentai!” She announced confidently.

The desperate proclamation brought a different kind of silence to the room. Kazama slowly stepped back as he reached for the door handle. The blue-haired boy muttered a short apology before slinking away.

“Sorry, I’ll, uh, knock next time.”

Belle fell back down into her chair. Her obvious lie had caught him off guard, and that was enough for now. She’d have time to come up with a real explanation later. The pink-haired girl breathed a sigh of relief. Then her eyes shot open as she realized something important.

“Ah. I forgot to save.”

- - -

“Thanks for letting me borrow your game.” Belle expressed her gratitude the next day at lunch.

The pink-haired girl pulled a plastic disc cover out of her backpack. May swiped it out of her friend’s hand and slid it under her lunch tray.

“It’s not really mine…” The brunette replied in a diplomatic tone. “My older brother is obsessed with these kinds of games. He practically forced me to play this one.”

“I can see why.” Belle nodded knowingly. “The artwork, the storyline…everything was high-quality.”

“And you aren’t embarrassed to say that?” May’s voice dropped to a half-whisper. “Games like these have a bad reputation. Especially among high schoolers.”

“Well, I don’t want anyone to find out about this hobby.” A faint smile touched Belle’s lips. “But this is the first time I’ve met someone who played the same game as me. I want to discuss it with you.”

May sighed to cover up an awkward grin. Belle wasn’t the most expressive person, which made it difficult for the trio to tell where they stood with her. Seeing Belle open up like that gave May a strange feeling of satisfaction.

“Plus…” Belle clasped her hands together. “You finished it too, right? Then you can understand why I want to talk about it!”

May nodded fiercely. “That scene at the end where Sakura left Kimura at the altar was so sad!”

“And Tomiya’s confession was amazing! And the time when Haruhi saved her from those thugs!”

“Wait, wait, wait.” May waved her hands. “I don’t remember any of that.”

“Oh, did you only play Kimura’s route?”

“Route?”

“It sounds like you got the bad ending too.”

“There was a good ending!?”

Belle folded her arms. “What did you think those dialogue choices were for?”

“I-I thought they were just to help you role play!”

“It’s fine, I’ll explain how these games work.” Belle‘s sighed. Her excited pitch fell to a comfortable monotone. “Visual novels are, as the name implies, mostly just stories delivered through the mixed-media format of games. However, what you played was also a dating sim. Which means that the story progresses based on how you interact with the dateable characters.”

“Then Sakura could have ended up with guys other than Kimura?”

“Yup. You’ll have ‘fateful encounters’ with a number of different characters. During scenes like that, dialogue choices appear on the screen and you can choose what your character says or does. If you pick the right option, then the other person will start to like you.”

“Ok, that sounds simple enough.” May replied, scratching her head. “But what are fateful encounters?”

“They are chance meetings that usually force two characters to get acquainted. There are a lot of tropes, like a guy saving a girl from some thugs or a pair getting locked in a room together. Of course, the biggest trope is…never mind, with my luck I shouldn’t even mention it. You could say our first meeting was also a kind of fateful encounter.”

May smiled weakly, remembering that cold roofless night and the first time she feared for her life. There were also feelings of exhilaration and curiosity tied to those memories, but May wasn’t ready to admit that yet.

“Incidentally…” Belle lowered her tone.

May looked up at Belle and shivered. The pink-haired girl had an evil gleam in her eye.

“If you convince Kimura to quit street fighting, he’ll show up at graduation with a …”

“Noo! I don’t want to hear it!” May lunged forward and plugged Belle’s mouth with her hands.

The flustered brunette froze as she registered the curious stares of countless onlookers. May sat down with a huff and muttered.

“I’ll finish it later, so don’t spoil anything.”

Belle nodded with a satisfied grin.

- - -

Belle shook her head dismissively. “No, I haven’t seen him.”

“That’s odd…” Shelly replied. She placed a hand on her cheek and tilted her head in a gesture dripping with motherly concern. “I haven’t seen Kazama at all this morning. Maybe he’s still in bed?”

“No, he left at the crack of dawn.” Adam said, poking his head into the living room. “Said there was something urgent he needed to take care of.”

Belle briefly wondered if that was just an excuse. Two days had passed since the visual novel incident, but Kazama was still acting strangely around her. Ultimately, she decided that there was no point in guessing. ‘Something urgent’ could be anything from forgotten classwork to an alien invasion.

“By the way, Belle.” Adam stuck his head out of the kitchen again. “Shouldn’t you be leaving for school?”

Belle glanced at the clock, then she opened her phone to confirm the time. After staring at it for a few seconds, the pink-haired girl bolted for the door. For better or worse, the Belle’s morning routine usually revolved around her brother’s.

“Belle, catch!” Adam called out as he flung something across the living room.

Belle caught it in her teeth while putting on her backpack. The pink-haired girl dashed outside, munching on some fresh toast as she ran.

This is harder than it looks on TV. Belle thought as she strained to keep her meal from falling out of her mouth.

Belle cleared six blocks before the inevitable happened. Her toast flopped up into her face and in that split-second of sightlessness, she collided with someone.

“Waah!” The other party groaned as Belle’s momentum dragged them both down.

“So-Sorry!” Belle threw out a hasty apology.

The pink-haired girl sprang up without a scratch and prepared to make a hasty exit.

“Ow…Are you ok, miss?”

Belle froze mid sprint as she got her first look at the victim of her carelessness. He was a boy who looked to be around her age. The boy brushed his golden locks aside to reveal a flawlessly beautiful face. When their eyes met, he showed her a dazzling smile. Belle turned away, but she felt his gaze remain on her person. She turned back, remembering that he had asked her a question.

“I’m fine.” Belle replied quietly. She held a hand over her face as if she was shielding herself from a bright light.

And in some way, she was. This boy’s beauty could not simply be described as attractive. He was a work of art. Tall, but not bulky. Broad-shouldered, but not rugged. A perfectly angled chin sat below slim, almost feminine lips. His nose could inspire sculptors while his piercing blue eyes seemed to tug at a person’s very soul.

“I’m glad to hear that.” A melodious and sincere voice answered her. “It would be terrible if…um, miss?”

Belle was half a block away before the boy could even finish his sentence. Of course, the pink-haired girl wasn’t running away because she felt flustered. At least, that wasn’t the main reason.

You have run into a handsome stranger! What will you say?

1. "I'm so sorry, sir!" 2. "Watch where you're going, punk." 3. "How did that compare to your fall from heaven? My angel~"

When Belle opened her eyes after the collision, the first thing she saw was a blue dialogue box. The floating rectangle followed her as she stood up, and it continued to do so as she ran. Belle swatted at it, but her arm passed through without any resistance. She glanced around but one else seemed to notice the strange blue rectangle.

Ugh, I don’t have time for this. Belle thought, remembering why she was running in the first place. I’ll just have to ignore it.

- - -

“So…” Faust, the history sub, droned as he squinted at the sheet of paper in his hands. “Since I’m teaching your first period class, the teachers asked me to introduce our new transfer student.”

Belle felt a sudden chill.

Faust took another glance around and then sighed. “But he doesn’t seem to be here yet.”

“I’M SORRY!” A familiarly sonorous voice cried out.

The door swung open and standing in the threshold was a blond Adonis. He rushed inside and immediately bowed to the teacher.

“Please forgive me for being late, sir!” He begged with military-like sincerity.

“I-Its fine.” Faust replied hastily. “Class hasn’t even started yet. You must not be used to your new route.”

“Yes, that was a large part of it.” Was the transfer student’s cryptic reply.

“By the way…” Faust started as he looked back to his paper. “How do you pronounce your last name?”

“Senpai.” The new student replied without a hint of sarcasm. “My name is David Senpai.”

“O-Oh, that’s an interesting name. I think it suits you, somehow. Not that other names wouldn’t but, er, um, maybe I’m talking too much.”

Faust seemed to have trouble looking David in the eye.

The history sub wasn’t the only one feeling flustered. Almost everyone in the class was either staring at the transfer student or averting their gaze while blushing. Even the boys found it difficult to pry their eyes away from someone like that. However, there was one exception. While everyone else was moonstruck, Belle slowly and quietly lowered her face into her desk. This strange reaction was noticed by the worst possible person.

“You!” David yelled as he stepped towards the source of his morning’s troubles. “You’re that rude girl who-!”

David’s rant was cut short as his foot caught on a chair leg. The blonde-haired boy closed his eyes, fully expecting to faceplant in front of his new classmates. Seconds passed but he didn’t reach the ground. David opened his eyes and realized that someone had caught him by his shoulders. That person was now looking into his eyes with a playful, yet predatory glare.

“How did that compare to your fall from heaven? My angel~”

The entire class froze in shock as those honeyed words left the speaker’s mouth. The speaker in question was also frozen. Of course, it wasn’t because she was embarrassed. At least, that wasn’t the main reason.

Time has expired! Option three was randomly selected.