Shiritsu Megumi Garden Academy.
One of the foremost private schools for Ability Users in Tokyo and even the entire world.
Inside the girls' dormitory.
[Beep--]
[You have a new message. Please check it.]
[Beep--]
[You have a new message. Please check it.]
"..."
The sweet voice of an intelligent machine that disturbed her dreams was so grating it seemed capable of piercing straight into her heart.
"I'm so sick of this--" A pale, lotus-root-like arm slowly stretched out from under the covers. The bleary-eyed girl grabbed the phone beside her pillow and stared blankly at the screen.
"E-Excuse me..." A soft girl's voice came from the phone.
"Senior Su."
"I'm Saotome Yukina, a first-year student in the Healing Type department at Shiritsu Megumi Garden Academy."
"May I ask..."
Before the girl on the other end could finish speaking,
the moment she heard the other party's name, the girl sat straight up in bed and interrupted Saotome Yukina with a rapid-fire three-part refusal.
"I'm busy."
"I'm not going."
"Impossible."
"Beep beep beep--" On the other end, the girl who had been holding the phone cautiously in both hands wore a bewildered expression, as though she had no idea what had happened.
"Saotome..."
"Yukina." The sharp chill of the early-morning wind swept away the last trace of sleepiness in the girl's heart.
The name Saotome Yukina was the final piece of the puzzle, confirming the guess in the girl's mind--
She, Su Youzi, had really transmigrated.
And... she had transmigrated into the world of an adult game.
"This really isn't good news."
"Especially..."
The girl turned off her phone screen and looked at the delicate little face reflected in its black surface.
"When there's a chance I might become the 'protagonist'... or one of the 'protagonists.'"
Seventeen years ago.
Su Youzi, who had been criticizing adult games, had gotten up to collect her food delivery. Because her legs had gone weak and the floor was slippery, the back of her head had accidentally made intimate contact with the ground.
Before she completely lost consciousness, Su Youzi's final thought was...
"If gods really exist in this world--"
"Could you help me clear my computer history and study materials?"
"I'll pay any price."
"Even... transmigrating into the world of an adult game."
Clearly--
Her wish had come true.
She had arrived in this world without any cheat ability, a world belonging to Ability Users.
She didn't even have a decent ability. All she had was pathetic telekinesis—Level 0.
In the past, Su Youzi had held on to the lucky thought that perhaps this world was merely based on the worldview of an adult game.
But--
Saotome Yukina's name shattered the last of her wishful thinking.
Because... Saotome Yukina was the game's first heroine.
A sweet, lovable, well-behaved junior.
In addition to her purity and healing presence, the timid softness that shimmered in her watery eyes always made Su Youzi's heart howl like wolves and roar like tigers.
But she was the game's first heroine--
Su Youzi knew the rules of survival in an adult game all too well.
As a thoroughly standard adult game, no matter how expansive its world-building was, getting close to the protagonist would inevitably bring "misfortune."
Su Youzi had no desire to see her name appear on someone else's strategy list.
After all... not everyone played by the rules when pursuing someone.
There were quite a few who preferred brute force.
With only a Level 0 telekinesis ability, the most Su Youzi could accomplish with all her effort was bending an aluminum spoon.
She had no intention of adding such a dramatic stroke to her life.
"No matter what--"
"Stay far away from Saotome Yukina."
Su Youzi warned herself.
"However..."
"Didn't I receive two new messages earlier?"
Just as Su Youzi was thinking this,
[Beep--]
[You have a new message. Please check it.]
the familiar notification sound rang out, and the upper-right corner of Su Youzi's vision suddenly lit up.
A small beige envelope with a red exclamation mark gently swayed in her vision, announcing its presence to Su Youzi.
"Damn..."
Su Youzi's cheat ability, which had been seventeen years late, seemed... perhaps... finally... to have arrived belatedly.
She shook her head hard.
She took a deep breath.
Then she buried her little face in the quilt, which seemed to carry a milky fragrance.
"Stay calm--"
"Youzi..."
"Stay calm--"
That excitement at the thought of becoming the protagonist had long since been worn away by seventeen years of waiting... Yeah, right!
The girl was now only one step away from wrapping herself in the quilt and rolling around on the bed.
She stretched out her hand and gently touched the envelope in the upper-right corner of her vision.
[Beep--]
The familiar intelligent machine female voice rang in her ear.
[Congratulations. You have unlocked the achievement: If Life Could Be Restarted.]
[Congratulations. You have unlocked the achievement: Child Prodigy Who Faded.]
[Congratulations. You have unlocked the achievement: Child Prodigy Who Faded.]
[...]
[Congratulations. You have unlocked the achievement: Survived Seventeen Years Safely.]
[...]
It was just like an adult game that had only just launched its achievement system. In an instant, the successive notification sounds and sweet intelligent machine female voice nearly filled Su Youzi's vision and ears.
The corner of the girl's eye twitched. She felt that, when strung together, these achievements sounded excessively mocking.
Beep beep beep beep--
The notification sounds came one after another.
[The Operative Cultivation Module has been activated. The game is starting--]
The familiar pale-blue interface from Su Youzi's memories appeared in her vision.
Aside from the conspicuous "Operator Compendium," "Operator Cultivation," "Operator Log," "Material Procurement," and many other modules on the right side of her vision, the most prominent feature was undoubtedly the girl's character illustration on the left.
The black-haired girl with shoulder-length hair lazily gazed out from the screen with crimson eyes.
She merely raised her brows, yet an aura of a wicked woman seemed ready to rush toward her.
But... the name in the lower-left corner of the illustration unmistakably proved that the girl was Youzi herself.
[After you successfully sign a contract with your first operative, you may choose to change your assistant.]
As Youzi looked at her own illustration, the sweet yet emotionless voice rang in her ear.
[Furthermore...]
[As your assistant's favorability increases, you may freely choose an illustration or CG from different favorability stages as your assistant's appearance.]
"It's exactly the same as in the game--"
The fear and unease she had felt earlier vanished in an instant.
"So... I'm the protagonist after all."
She took a deep breath--
After slightly calming herself, Youzi opened the "Operator Compendium" on the right side of her vision.
Besides herself, who looked like a wicked woman, a gray outline of a girl also caught Youzi's attention.
[Saotome Yukina]
[Level 2—Water Ability User]
[Talent: Dragon King.]
[Talent: Money User.]
[Young Lady of the Saotome family. Currently enrolled as a first-year student at Shiritsu Megumi Garden Academy.]
[...]
[Initial Favorability: 40 (Favored).]
[Note: Feeding an operative or cultivating an operative can increase favorability.]
[As you increase favorability, you will receive random rewards. Furthermore... as favorability increases, the materials you expend will receive additional returns.]
[Note...]
[Additional returns can only be obtained when favorability is increased.]
[...]
[Sign contract: No.]
"Beep--" The phone in her hand vibrated, and its screen lit up.
"I'm so sorry!!!"
"Senior Su."
"I'm sorry for disturbing your rest."
Su Youzi looked at the messages on her phone.
She's like a rabbit.
No matter what she did, she made people feel as though she possessed an irresistible quality worth teasing. No wonder she was the first heroine.
[Beep--]
[--The game officially begins--]
[--Issuing mission--]
[Part 1: Having successfully survived your "long" seventeen-year life, you are now in urgent need of signing a contract with a new operative.]
[Mission Content: Sign a contract with an operative.]
[Mission Reward: Beginner Combat Record.]
[Finally~~~ welcome to... the New World--]
[Hello--]
[Su Youzi.]
After erasing all the options before her, the girl looked at her phone. The corners of her mouth lifted in an almost wicked smile.
"This is Su Youzi--"
"May I ask... are you Junior Saotome Yukina?"
Before you continue