The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

Alice’s hand shot out from the side and firmly gripped my fingers.

If the situation had been romantic, I might’ve enjoyed the feeling of a beautiful girl’s hand wrapping around mine.

But Alice was holding my hand to stop me from moving and using the controller. The reason was obvious. She clearly didn’t want to miss the moment where “Leo” talked to “Sylvia” in the game.

“Alice, calm down and let go of my hand. I haven’t done anything yet.”

“Really? Because I saw your finger heading for the ‘O’ button. It’s a circle, sure, but that’s the same button you’ve been pressing to proceed every time.”

...Wait, how did she know?

Ah, of course—if you play games long enough, even if you don’t understand the language, you get a feel for how the controls work. Which buttons move the screen forward, which ones launch attacks... Back when I was a kid and didn’t understand English or Japanese, I still managed to enjoy games on my cousin’s console, even if it was a bit inconvenient.

Still, picking up the controls through trial and error is one thing. But to understand them just by watching from the side—that takes some sharp eyes.

Well, Alice was top of her class at the academy even without time-rewinding powers. Her swordsmanship was among the best, even compared to trained knights.

“......”

And honestly, I didn’t think I could beat Alice in a fair fight.

Even now, I couldn’t shake off her hand as she held my fingers in place.

“Your fingers are trembling. So you were embarrassed about choosing yourself, weren’t you? Unnie, we want to see Leo talk to you.”

“...Weren’t you strongly opposed to me ending up with Leo?”

“Well, that’s when the real you ends up with him. In this case, it’s just the version of you in the story.”

Why do they assume I’m going to end up with him?

Relationship events may be marked with hearts, but they can be triggered with male characters too. The game put effort into their stories as well. Even though it doesn’t outright pair them with the player like it does with female characters, there were events that would allow “people with very vivid imaginations” to believe they ended up together.

Of course, male characters barely appear in this game. In the noble class, there’s only Jake—everyone else is from the commoner class.

...Not that I even had proper conversations with most of them. There weren’t many, and they didn’t have much weight in the main storyline.

Now that I think about it, every female character could be romanced to the ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) end if you completed all their events.

“...Fine. I get it. Let go of my hand.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

[So this isn’t cosplay, it’s really a ‘they’re the real characters’ concept, huh]

[Is this an ad? Did Millennium sponsor this?]

[Hidden ad?]

“This is not an advertisement.”

[A free ad would be even funnier LOL]

[How much of a hardcore otaku are you LOL]

I didn’t mind being teased for being an otaku. I am one, after all.

And with a face like this, there was no need to be defensive. The world’s unfair that way—if you’re hot, you can love cute anime girls and wear anime shirts and barely get criticized.

If anyone were trash-talking a cosplayer, they were just the kind of twisted person who finds fault with everything.

...Well, now that I think about it, there were tons of people posting creepy comments under cosplay photos online.

Alright, let’s not check any internet forums while I’m here.

[No! Sylvia is going to marry me!]

“Thanks for the donation, but I have no intention of being your wife. Take ten minutes to calm down before coming back.”

I muted that donor’s chat for ten minutes.

Lucky, I guess. Normally, crazy people always pop up in online streams. But maybe because the game we were playing was relatively niche, and the streamers looked like foreigners by this world’s standards, we hadn’t attracted any true lunatics—yet.

Once the audience gets bigger, who knows?

When that time comes, I’ll probably need to hire a mod or something.

“Alright. Seems the viewers want it too, so I’ll go ahead and talk to me—Sylvia.”

“Unnie, do you really have to read it aloud?”

“Claire, do you want to hear your sister whispering sweet nothings with someone else?”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

“Not exactly. I want to tease her with it.”

“......”

“It’s honestly really fun.”

Alice chimed in from the side.

[Unnie getting roasted by both her little sisters LOL]

[Is she really the oldest? LOL]

“Wait. What do you mean I’m the oldest?”

“Huh?”

Alice blinked at my reaction to the chat.

“Did I say I was the oldest?”

[Hmm hmm]

[HMMM HMMM]

[Spoiler ban]

[It’s a trap!]

“Wait, hold on. Sylvia is the oldest? What are you talking about? I’m the older one!”

[LOLOLOLOLOLOL]

[LOL]

[LOLOLOL]

The chat exploded with laughter.

Last time, Alice and Sylvia had asked me to explain some casual phrases, so she probably understood what it meant.

“Alright, tell me what I need to do to be called ‘Unnie.’”

[Trap?]

“It’s not a trap. Should I hit the backseat bell?”

[Just keep going with what you were about to do]

[Yeah yeah]

[Romance Sylvia with Leo]

Oh-ho.

So that’s how it is.

“Sylvia, come to think of it, there’s no need to romance you. How about romancing Alice instead?”

Alice immediately frowned and said—

“Well, you get three chances anyway, so I’ll romance you too, Alice.”

“Wait, hey!”

The ending wasn’t coming up yet, so there wouldn’t be a kiss scene just yet.

So my plan was simple—follow Sylvia’s route right up to the end, then pick someone else as the final promise at the end of the first year.

“Alice can be my little sister too?”

“...I’m not sure about that.”

Claire asked from the side, and I almost laughed.

Then, I moved Leo toward Sylvia in the game.

Even though it was nighttime, Sylvia was sitting alone on a park bench.

*

Leo approached Sylvia cautiously.

Normally, Sylvia would have noticed right away,

“Your Highness?”

“......”

At Leo’s call, Sylvia turned her head to look at him.

“What is it?”

“Ah... no, I was just passing by, and I saw you, so...”

“...I see.”

And then, a long, awkward silence.

In the game, the two characters stared at each other for about five seconds with no dialogue box appearing.

“There’s no need to be so tense. It’s not as if there’s a rule that says you can’t speak to me.”

Only after Sylvia said that did a small-font “Phew.” appear, signifying Leo exhaling.

“So... you didn’t have a particular reason for speaking to me?”

“That’s correct. If I’ve disturbed you—”

“As I just said, there’s nothing wrong with you speaking to me. We’re both students at the academy, after all.”

Sylvia stared intently at Leo.

Thanks to the improved graphics from the previous game, even with her expressionless face, Sylvia was rendered quite beautifully.

“I was simply thinking about Her Highness.”

“...Pardon?”

The sudden mention of a princess seemed to catch Leo off guard.

“By Her Highness... do you mean Princess Alice?”

“That’s right.”

Sylvia nodded, then quietly looked back up at the sky.

“I made a serious mistake, and it seems Her Highness is very upset. I was thinking about how I might make it up to her.”

...For some reason, it felt like this world’s Sylvia had already experienced rewinding time.

Well, I had also rewound time multiple times by this point, so that made sense.

Still, it didn’t feel right for her to be sharing something so personal with someone she was essentially speaking to for the first time.

It felt like she had already lived through everything, like she’d already become friends or acquaintances with Leo once before.

“...I see?”

“Aren’t you going to ask what the mistake was?”

“...Is it something I’m allowed to ask about?”

“...Who knows. I was wondering if you might get angry too if I told you.”

“...Excuse me?”

“Never mind. That was a joke.”

Sylvia said that with a blank expression and rose from the bench.

“It’s late. Perhaps you should return to your dormitory now.”

“Ah—yes. Yes...”

Sylvia stood and walked away without hesitation, leaving Leo standing there, stunned.