When Xuān returned to the mansion, he was again assaulted by the view of that ugly clone who pretended to be his sister. It didn't even act like her. No bickering. No rants.

  He missed her talking about the game. Oh what he would do to listen to her rambling about the game instead of being in it.

  He avoided the clone as best as he could and made a beeline towards his room.

  After changing into more comfortable clothes, he sat down on the bed.

  "Host, you did a great job today. You didn't mess up! If you keep this up, everything will be perfect."

  "I get it. Don't repeat it again and again." Xuān replied with an exasperated sigh.

  ?

  ?

  ?

  It was already night when Xuān had decided to go out for some fresh air. The system obviously followed him.

  "Can't you leave me alone? I am not a kid."

  "Host is still just 17 years old. That's still considered a minor."

  "Oh isn't that right?" He replied dryly.

  "And how old are you?" The system's existence did intrigue Xuān, because, how did it exist? Why did it exist? Just for this?

  "Syntar is 2 years old. It was born on...1st of January. Yes. 1st of January is Syntar's birthday!" The floating bunny exclaimed cheerfully. It was weird how the system was more cheerful than Xuān.

  The streets were completely empty, no signs of anyone else.

  After walking for quite a while, he realised he had walked too far from home. As he glanced around, he noticed a quiet, small park. It looked old, with broken swings and slides.

  He sat down on one of the old and rusty benches. Even if the park looked old and abandoned, the bench was quite clean.

  "What is host doing?"

  "Are you blind? I am resting my legs for a bit." He replied dryly.

  "Host gets tired quickly. Tsk tsk, how lazy."

  Xuān sighed.

  "Just shut up."

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  "But I didn't say anything."

  He got up from the bench, startled at the unexpected voice and looked at the side to see Saeko.

  "Who are you talking to?" The pink haired girl tilted her head in confusion, still smiling slightly.

  "No one." Xuān replied coldly. What was this girl even doing here?

  "Hmm~ I see."

  She smiled and walked closer.

  "What is the rich young master doing around here?"

  "What?"

  "Why would you come here at this old park at night? It's so late too. Are you here to meet your girlfriend?" She giggled slightly as she rummaged through a plastic bag in her hand.

  "No."

  "Then, did you come out for fresh air and ended up walking this far from home? You are definitely not from around this area."

  "Then, what about you?"

  Saeko grinned, and suddenly, there was an icecream in front of his face.

  "Here! I got an extra. Take it!" She waved the ice cream temptingly in front of him.

  Xuān was taken aback by the offer. Wasn't she a bit too friendly? But her character was meant to be like that.

  Syntar only made a small remark about how he should just go back home quickly and didn't try to stop him when he accepted the ice cream.

  He sat back down and Saeko followed, taking a seat next to him.

  "I used to play here often. So I came here on my way back home. I came to meet a friend. Kaito, he is in your class, right?"

  "Yes."

  "Are you in a club?" The shorter girl asked enthusiastically.

  "No."

  "You should join my club! It's fun and-"

  "No. I don't intend to join any club. Besides, I can't sing." He dismissed her offer as soon as it left her mouth. Why would he even join her club? Why would she even ask...

  "Oh come on! You could always try. Or maybe an instrument...?"

  "No."

  Saeko lowered her head in defeat. With an exaggerated gasp, she dramatically moved her hand to rest on her chest, as if deeply hurt by his rejection.

  "You are so mean."

  "You are dramatic."

  "Aren't you so boring?"

  Xuān sighed.

  "I am going to go." He got up from the bench.

  "I just gave you an icecream! No 'thank you's?"

  "Sure."

  He could hear the girl giggle as he left the park, leaving the girl alone

  ———

  On his way back home, Syntar was back to scolding him.

  "Host shouldn't talk to the female leads very much. Only when required!" The lavender furred bunny reminded him with a high pitched electron voice.

  "I was craving ice cream. Besides, she had the chocolate one. It's my favourite."

  The system just gave him an annoyed glance.

  "Host never listens."

  Once Xuān was back to his house, he entered his room and shut the door.

  He quickly turned off the lamps and slid under the covers.

  Everything still seemed so unreal. But he had accepted it already. Dreams aren't that long anyway. If this was a dream, it should have ended already.

  He really wanted to go back. Was there really no way to escape? Even if there was, he probably didn't survive that car accident. So he really was stuck here.

  He shut his eyes close and soon, fell asleep.

  ————

  He sat down in his seat, keeping his bag down. It was all boring. Just like his life in the real world. School to home, and home to school. But that didn't matter. There were far more important things than boredom.

  He rolled his pen idly in this hand, looking at a literature textbook splayed across his desk. But it was boring. He wasn't a fan of literature anyway.

  When he looked up, he saw Kaito entering the classroom alongside...huh, he hadn't seen that girl yet.

  She had short blonde hair and peach-pink eyes. She was quite short, barely reaching 160 cm.

  "That's another female lead! Suzumi. You remember her, right, host?"

  The system sat down on his desk, atop his textbook. Xuān merely let out a non-committal hum.

  "Sure."

  The girl was clearly and obviously a living example of 'tsundere' with the way she held herself, glaring at Kaito with a pout that he didn't understand why others thought was cute.

  He found it annoying and had to stifle the urge to scowl and roll his eyes. That would be a waste of energy for his face muscles.

  He really did hope the girl would grow some height, she looked like a kid standing next to the taller protagonist. Well, maybe that was an exaggeration but not too far from the truth.

  He sighed and leaned back in his chair, swatting the system away.

  "So mean, host! This system has only been helpful and look at you!"

  "Helpful. Right."

  He tapped his fingers against the desk.

  The girl looked so flustered that Xuān wondered how the protagonist didn't even notice it.

  He rested his head on the desk, closing his eyes for a bit.

  He didn't realise when he fell asleep.