Tokyo: Oreimo

However, Ryosuke thought it was normal. A beauty like Hououin Saori, who would shine even if she stood on the street, would attract his attention.

How does it feel to be watched?

Saori nestled beside him and whispered something.

"Not bad." Ryosuke smiled.

"Hehe, in that case, you probably won't run into any tactless girls, so I'm relieved."

Phoenix Inu Saori winked at him.

"Oh."

Is it to ward off unwanted suitors? Ryosuke is quite happy to receive this treatment, which shows that Saori cares about him a lot.

"So, you really plan to join that club?"

Saori's melon soda was almost empty. She bit the straw and tilted her head to examine Ryosuke's profile.

"It depends." Ryosuke took out the club application form from his pocket, unfolded it, glanced at it, then folded it up and put it back in his pocket. "After school on Wednesdays and Fridays, the time doesn't conflict."

"You're not your average college student. These kinds of club activities are more of a burden for you, aren't they?"

Saori threw the empty can into a roadside trash can, then rested her head on Ryosuke's shoulder.

This action drew whispers from several girls passing by.

Ryosuke didn't push her away; he simply adjusted his position slightly to make her more comfortable.

"I want to confirm some things."

"what's up?"

"How do ordinary gamers, or rather, ordinary otaku, view those works?"

Ryosuke's voice wasn't loud, just loud enough for Saori to hear. "Creation itself is an output process, but if you don't understand what the recipient is thinking, it will eventually become just self-entertainment."

He was actually quite worried.

The number of works in one's memory is finite, and most of the works he can remember are animations.

Recently, while creating "SAO" and adapting it into a game script, he encountered many parts that he was unsure about, which was one of the reasons that led him to decide to go to university.

He needs to learn and improve, and to connect with younger generations.

"So you're planning to join that club just to do market research?"

Saori chuckled.

"I guess so." Ryosuke tilted his head slightly, his nose brushing against Saori's hair. "And I'll make a few friends along the way."

The words "make friends" came out of Takagi Ryosuke's mouth, causing Hououin Saori to look up and give him a serious look.

Her gaze held a hint of surprise, which quickly turned into a smile.

"That's a good reason. I thought you only limited your interpersonal relationships to your work."

“Maybe it was before,” Ryosuke admitted. “But now, someone from a club told me to my face that they had been moved to tears by my writing. Getting to know these people is a kind of motivation for me.”

Saori did not respond immediately.

She leaned quietly on Ryosuke's shoulder as they walked slowly down the slope outside the Literature Department building.

"That's nice," Saori suddenly said, her voice a little softer than before.

“You are completely different now than when I first met you, but that makes me feel more at ease.”

Ryosuke turned his head to look at her.

"What do you mean?"

Has it changed that much?

He believes that there shouldn't have been much change in him over the past two or three years.

"It refers to when we met online, when you gave me the impression that you could disappear from this world at any moment..."

Ryosuke remained silent for a moment.

Saori is as perceptive as ever.

He knew what the other person was talking about; in the first few years after his memories were added to his mind, there was indeed a rather chaotic period.

The overlapping memories of two lifetimes made it difficult for him to distinguish who he was for a long time.

He even had thoughts of ending everything himself.

Fortunately, I gradually made a distinction and stopped getting caught up in those questions that I couldn't answer myself.

In a sense, Saori's feeling at that time was correct.

"Are you relieved now?" he asked.

"Yes, because you've started to actively connect with people."

Saori reached out and poked his chest with her finger. "Because someone like you, if you have more bonds in this world that belong only to you, you won't disappear so easily."

"Bonds, you know." He finally spoke, his voice low, as if talking to himself, "I probably have quite a few already, everyone in the company, Ling Nai, and you."

“And the people in that club, if I actually join,” he added.

Saori smiled, her eyes crinkling with satisfaction.

"That's more like it."

The two walked to the end of the main road, and the school's main gate was now in sight.

Saori stopped and released her grip on his arm.

"Okay, that's enough dropping your girlfriend off here."

Ryosuke looked at her.

"I thought you were planning to come back with me."

"That's taken too long. There are still a lot of things waiting for me to handle at the company."

Saori winked at him, "After all, since the club president is going to university, I have to make the decision myself."

She tiptoed and gently kissed Ryosuke's cheek before quickly taking two steps back.

"This is a reward for spending time with me today."

She turned and walked towards the school gate. "Remember to come to the company this weekend, otherwise I'll miss you."

"it is good."

.....

Ryosuke watched her figure disappear around the corner of the main entrance before turning around and walking back towards the Literature Department building.

He really needs to go back.

During the orientation ceremony, the academic affairs office included a course selection guide and a schedule of basic courses for the first semester in the new students' information bags, but he hadn't had a chance to look at them carefully yet.

Furthermore, there will be an information session for required courses for freshmen in the Faculty of Letters tomorrow, so it's best to confirm the classroom location in advance.

As he walked through the still bustling club recruitment area, he deliberately avoided the anime club's booth.

It's not that he doesn't want to join, but if Tian Zhongxue and the others see him now, he'll probably be pulled aside for a half-hour chat. Today, he wants to finish what he needs to do first.

The large classroom in Building 1 of the Faculty of Literature was almost empty. Only a few freshmen were sitting in the back row looking through the materials they had just received, and two people who looked like upperclassmen were organizing some documents in the front row.

Ryosuke found a seat by the window and took out the course selection guide from his bag.

The curriculum of Waseda University's Faculty of Letters was more flexible than he had expected.

In addition to the required courses in Introduction to Literature and History of Japanese Literature, the elective courses cover a wide range of topics, from classical literature to modern and contemporary literary criticism.

To his surprise, there was also the history of 'Tokyo University', though he wasn't sure if it was accurate, but he checked it anyway to see.

He even saw a course called "Visual Culture and Narrative Structure," which described it as involving the analysis of cross-media narrative forms such as video, animation, and games.

Ryosuke circled the phrase "visual culture and narrative structure".

This course will probably be helpful for what he's doing.

He checked off several courses on the course selection form, then folded the form and clipped it into his notebook.

Ryosuke leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and let his mind go blank for a few minutes.

Today, from the entrance ceremony to being dragged to the club recruitment event, and then Saori's sudden appearance, the amount of information wasn't huge, but it certainly didn't give him any breathing room.

It's been a long time since I've experienced the daily life of an "ordinary college student".

My phone vibrated in my pocket.

Ryosuke opened his eyes, took out his phone, and saw that it was a text message from Ryouno.

What time will you be back today?

He glanced at the time; it was a little past three in the afternoon.

"I'll be home around six o'clock," he replied.

The reply came less than ten seconds after the message was sent.

"Humph."

Just one word.

Ryosuke stared at the arrogant "Hmph" on the screen and couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth into a smile.

He could even picture Ling Nai's expression as she typed on the other end of the phone.

They must have seen the reply first, then deliberately acted indifferent, and finally only sent one word to indicate that they were just asking casually.

Ryosuke hovered his fingers above the keyboard, paused for a moment, and then typed a few words with a smile.

He replied, "Missing me?"

This time, there was no immediate reply to the message. Nearly two minutes passed before his phone vibrated again with surprising force.

"Who misses you?! Narcissist! Pervert! Idiot!!!"

Ryosuke looked at the string of exclamation marks on the screen and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

A freshman in the back row who was looking at materials looked up at him with a curious gaze, then looked down again.