Nighttime Prank
After saying goodbye to Chisa, Lu Guan returned to the academy.
The intense fight so late at night, on top of the time spent riding the research motorcycle there and back, had left Lu Guan, who had already been somewhat sleepy, utterly exhausted.
Back at his dorm, Lu Guan washed up briefly, climbed into bed, and fell into a deep sleep.
But in the shadows he had failed to notice, a pink-and-blue figure stepped out with a light tread.
She walked to Lu Guan's bedside and, to avoid making unnecessary noise and waking him, had to take off her little leather shoes. She stepped onto the ladder with her bare, delicate feet and studied his sleeping face.
"Sniff, sniff~"
"I smell another woman. Is it that shrine maiden?"
"What a flirt. You were telling me you liked me at noon, and tonight you went out alone with another woman..." Dania murmured to herself, removing her glove and reaching out to stroke Lu Guan's face.
Perhaps Lu Guan wasn't sleeping soundly, or perhaps Dania had been a little rough. In his sleep, Lu Guan felt as though a mosquito were crawling on his face and wrinkled his nose in irritation.
"Hehe~ It's pretty fun teasing you like this." Seeing his reaction, Dania grew playful. With a little devilish smile, she gently tapped his nose again.
This time, Lu Guan rubbed his nose with his hand, grumbled about there being so many mosquitoes, and rolled over to continue sleeping soundly, showing no sign that his sleep had been disturbed.
"Mosquitoes?" Dania thought of an even more amusing way to play. She climbed up another rung, leaned over, and blew gently into Lu Guan's ear.
"Buzz, buzz~ Buzz, buzz, buzz~"
It wasn't a convincing imitation. Rather than the sound of a mosquito's wings vibrating in flight, it sounded more like the strange noise a little toy made when used.
Even so, it accomplished what Dania's prank had set out to do. Lu Guan's brow furrowed tightly, and he tossed and turned, looking ready to wake up.
"Heehee, time to go~"
Just as Dania was about to make her escape, an arm wrapped around her and pulled her into a tight embrace.
"Mmm~ What are you doing?"
But the only response she received was Lu Guan's soft snoring.
As everyone knew, if someone slept restlessly, the most effective remedy was to give them a body pillow. That way, they wouldn't disturb their own sleep by moving around.
Clearly, Lu Guan had unconsciously taken Dania, who had come to prank him, for a human body pillow.
Now Dania was the one in a bind. If she struggled immediately, she would probably wake Lu Guan, and things would be difficult to resolve then.
But if she didn't struggle... heaven knew how long he would hold her!
"Mmm~ He can't hold me all night, can he?" Dania blushed, feeling somewhat anxious. I just have to put up with it... Once he's sleeping more soundly, I'll find a chance to slip away.
But as time passed, the scent coming from Lu Guan's body actually made Dania a little sleepy.
She tried shifting her body, only to feel a strange sensation against her bottom.
"Huh???" Dania was instantly wide awake, her whole body trembling as if she'd been electrocuted. "Th-this... could this be..."
Seeing that Lu Guan showed no reaction, Dania slowly bent down and found a chance to slip out of his arms.
She seized the opportunity to climb down from the bed. Seeing Lu Guan sleeping so soundly, Dania felt a surge of irritation. After putting on her little leather shoes, she poured a cup of water and set it next to Lu Guan's pillow, in front of him.
"You can't even sleep peacefully!" Dania grumbled under her breath. "Just wait until you wake up tomorrow morning and find your pillow soaked!"
With that, she quietly left, closing the door behind her.
Early the next morning.
"Ah..."
Lu Guan woke up and had just started to stretch when he heard a cup fall to the floor beneath the bed, startling him.
"Holy shit? What was that?"
Lu Guan hurriedly climbed down to check, only to find that a cup of water had spilled.
"Strange... Why would a cup fall on the floor for no reason?"
"And I don't think I have a habit of drinking water left out overnight. Why was it full?"
Thoroughly puzzled, Lu Guan patted his head, trying to wake himself up a little.
In the end, he couldn't figure it out. He could only put it down to having been too tired when he returned the night before, pouring a cup of water but forgetting to drink it and setting it beside his pillow.
Since he couldn't figure it out, he decided not to think about it. Lu Guan climbed back onto the bed to fold his blanket, but after he finished, he found a small strand of pale pink hair beside his pillow...
"This strand of hair... why does it look so much like Dania's?"
With questions piling up, Lu Guan felt the whole affair growing more and more mysterious. Something unknown must have happened in his dorm after he fell asleep last night.
[Beep! Dania's affection level breakthrough mission completed]
"Huh???" Lu Guan was baffled. He had still been worrying yesterday about how to complete that mission, and now he'd woken up to a system notification saying it was complete?
[Evaluating mission progress...] [Mission objective: stroke Dania's Tacet Mark for ten minutes.] [Completion status: exceeded requirements.] [Mission time limit: three days.] [Actual time taken: 15 hours, 24 minutes] [Overall evaluation: S] [Distributing rewards...]
"Wait... hold on!" Lu Guan asked, "Is there a bug? I don't remember completing this mission."
If a program looked like it was full of bugs at first glance but still ran properly, then one shouldn't mess with it lightly.
But... that was a programmer's way of thinking.
Lu Guan didn't want any strange bugs in his system. Even if this one benefited him now, who knew whether it might turn into some harmful flaw later?
[Analyzing host's question...] [Beep! Analysis result: this system has no bugs. Host may use it without concern...] [Rewards distributed...] [Beep! Dania's affection cap increased to 80] [Beep! Dania's affection +10] [Current character affection: 50] [Please keep up the effort, host.] [Beep! Mission evaluation requirement met. Dania's special CG, "The Consequences of a Failed Prank," has been unlocked. The Recollection Room is now open.] [Beep! Significant fluctuations detected in Dania's affection during the mission. Adjusting target character's affection...]
Then Lu Guan watched the affection bar beneath Dania's portrait on the system interface start bouncing wildly.
One moment it was over 70, and the next it dropped to around 30, extending and retracting back and forth like a fully charged throwing toy.
Finally, it stopped at 65.
[Beep! Dania, a romanceable character, has reached an affection milestone. Claim reward?]
"Not yet." Lu Guan shook his head. He still hadn't figured out how he'd completed the mission for no apparent reason.
"What... happened?" Lu Guan looked bewildered. Then he noticed something called the "Recollection Room" among the system's functions and clicked on it.
At once, Lu Guan found his consciousness in a white space. In front of him were portraits of all the romanceable characters currently registered.
There was a white orb beneath Dania's portrait, evidently indicating that the special CG had been unlocked.
Looking at the entry for the special CG titled "The Consequences of a Failed Prank," Lu Guan fell into thought. He seemed to have spotted the key to the matter.
"Interesting. Maybe this can answer my questions."
He reached out and touched the orb, and his consciousness entered the scene from last night after he'd fallen asleep, watching it from a third-person perspective.
A pink-haired girl tiptoed onto Lu Guan's bed to play a prank, only to be accidentally caught in his unconscious embrace. Since she didn't want to wake him, she had no choice but to sleep in his arms for three hours...
Lu Guan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Who would have thought he'd complete that difficult mission in a way that was almost a farce?
After watching the special CG, all his doubts about what had happened were completely dispelled.
"I knew it. Why would there be mosquitoes in Lahai-Roi...?"