Tokyo: Oreimo

But never mind, today was still quite interesting.

"Then it's about time to call it a day, isn't it?"

Ling Nai glanced at the time on her phone, her toes already pointing towards the station.

She had achieved her goal in coming to Akihabara today: to confirm that no suspicious "Female Giant 2" had appeared in Ryosuke's club activities.

At present, there are none.

Although the vice president named Horiuchi Ayumi has collaborated with Ryosuke, she seems to be just a simple artist, and the exchange just now was quite pleasant, so she doesn't pose any threat.

Needless to say, Tian Zhongxue is just a simple otaku, and there is absolutely no need to be wary of him.

In that case, you can go home now.

"Yes, it's getting late."

Tian Zhongxue reluctantly touched the zipper of his backpack one last time, making sure the CDs inside were safe and sound, before finally resuming his basic social functions as the president.

"Thank you so much for today! Takashiro-kun, Ayano-san, if it weren't for your help, the doujinshi wouldn't have sold out, and we wouldn't have been able to get the SAO demo... My goodness, you two siblings are practically the saviors of our manga club."

"President, if you keep talking, it'll get dark soon," Ayumi interrupted mercilessly.

"Oh right! Time to go back. Um, thank you so much for today! See you at club activities next week! Ayumi, you worked hard too, see you tomorrow!"

Tian Zhongxue, carrying his backpack, ran a few steps toward the station, then turned back and waved before finally leaving.

Ayumi watched the president's figure disappear into the crowd, then turned to Ryosuke and Ayano and bowed slightly.

"I'll take my leave now, Gao Cheng. The manuscript for the novel should be finished next week, right? The voting is on Thursday, so time is a bit tight."

“No problem.” Ryosuke nodded.

"That's good, Ling Nai. Thank you for looking at my painting today. Please come to our activity room next time if it's convenient for you."

Ayumi smiled at Lingnai, then slung her canvas bag containing her sketchbook over her shoulder and walked in another direction.

Ling watched her leave, and only after that slender figure completely disappeared around the corner of the electronics street did she let out a soft hum.

"He's a nice person."

"Ok?"

“That vice president,” Ling Nai said, crossing her arms as if she were giving a score to a judge, “has decent basics and a serious attitude; he’s not the kind of person who just draws for fun.”

"If Horiuchi knew that he was being praised like that by Ms. Takagi Rumiko, he would probably be so excited that he couldn't sleep."

"Shut up." Ling Nai glared at him fiercely. "Let's go back, I'm hungry."

...

Wednesday, Waseda.

"Takashiro-kun!!!"

The moment Ryosuke opened the sliding door to the activity room, a dark figure pounced on him with lightning speed.

He instinctively dodged to the side, and Tian Zhongxue missed his target, staggering a couple of steps before regaining his balance. But he was not deterred at all; instead, he approached again with even greater momentum.

"Did you see it?! You must have played it too! You played it, you played it, you played it?!!"

"President, you're standing too close."

Ryosuke reached out and pressed down on Tanaka's face, which was contorted with excessive excitement, pushing him back half a body length.

"You must have played the SAO demo! I know you must have! Because you're an S;G platinum player! You've completed all the endings in FSN! You've reached the top of Clannad on your third playthrough! You've conquered all the White 2 games! There's no way you haven't played it!"

Tian Zhongxue spoke so fast it was as if the playback speed had been increased by 1.5 times.

Ryosuke sighed and put his backpack on his seat.

This reaction was pretty much what he expected.

"I've already played it."

Weird.

Since it's the original work and all the endings are already known, there's really no need to play it yourself.

But for Tanaka, the fact that Ryosuke had "played" with him was enough to make him explode.

"I knew it!!" Tanaka grabbed Ryosuke's hand and shook it wildly. "How was it? How was it? How was it? Which part amazed you the most? Was it the dazzling light effect when you logged in, or the 'Link Start' voice command, or...?"

"President, please calm down."

Horiuchi Ayumi's voice drifted coldly from the corner of the activity room.

She was sitting in her seat, holding a pencil in her hand, with a stack of drawings spread out in front of her. Judging from her expression, she had clearly been holding back for a long time.

“Gao Cheng has just walked in; at least let him sit down before we talk.”

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I got too excited!"

Tian Zhongxue then realized that he hadn't let go of Ryosuke's hand, so he quickly released it, but the light on his face didn't diminish at all.

"But you have to talk to me! I haven't been able to find anyone to properly discuss SAO with all week. Ayumi said she hasn't played it yet, and Asakura said she's too scared to touch the new game after being tortured by S;G. I'm going crazy from all this!"

"You didn't go to the forum to discuss it either?" Ryosuke took out his own oolong tea and took a sip.

"I went! Of course I went! I check the SAO section of the Future Dimension Forum eight times a day!"

Tian Zhongxue took out his phone, and the screen showed the forum interface, displaying his newly posted thread, "SAO Demo Version Chapter Location Analysis and Full Version Release Date Prediction," "But you can't talk to people on the forum face-to-face! That sense of shock! That goosebumps!"

Ryosuke sat down in the chair and watched as Tanaka Middle School paced back and forth in front of him like a large dog that had been locked up for a week and was finally allowed to go out for a walk. The corners of his mouth unconsciously turned up slightly.

It seems that my latest work has also received some kind of recognition.

"Please sit down," he said, pointing to the chair next to him.

Tian Zhongxue obediently sat down, knees together, hands on his knees, like a kindergarten child waiting for the teacher to give him candy.

Where did you get to play?

"I've played through it all! I've completed the entire demo!" Tian Zhongxue's eyes lit up as he gestured with his hands. "It took about three hours!"

"He got the disc on Wednesday night, and fell asleep during the first class on Thursday morning," Horiuchi Ayumi added without looking up.

"That's not important!"

Tanaka waved his hand, then suddenly leaned close to Ryosuke and lowered his voice, "The important thing is the ending, Takashiro-kun, you've reached the ending of the demo version, right!"

"Yeah, I got to play." Ryosuke nodded.

Tian Zhongxue began to ramble on and on.

"That red-robed giant who descended from the sky! That face without features! That words, 'I am Kayaba Akihiko, and I now announce to all players!'"

"The absence of a logout button is not a bug, but rather the way SAO is supposed to be."

To be honest, when Tian Zhongxue played this scene, he was completely stunned. He never expected the plot to develop in this direction.

All players are trapped in the game and cannot be forced out. Even if the helmet power is forcibly cut off, it will trigger the device to release high-energy microwaves, which will directly destroy the players' brains.

Furthermore, when the player's health bar in the game reaches zero, the player in real life will also die.

The only way to survive is to completely conquer the game.

"This kind of development is absolutely amazing!"

But then, he showed a pained expression as if he had suddenly fallen ill.

"But, but!"

"It just so happens to stop in a place like this!"

"This is outrageous! As expected of Gen Urobuchi!"

Horiuchi Ayumi glanced at him and retorted, "You're not new to Aniplex games, this kind of habit is normal, right? That's why I didn't continue playing after confirming the game's style."

"Also, if you want to give away any spoilers, please leave the event room."

"Yes Yes Yes."

Tianzhong raised his hands in surrender, but the next second he immediately turned to Ryosuke, lowering his voice but unable to suppress the urge to confide.

"But Takashiro-kun, you know what I mean, right? In that scene, after Kayaba Akihiko said 'Good luck, players,' the screen went black, and then the SAO title appeared..."

"President, this is the second spoiler warning." Ayumi's pencil paused on the paper.

"This isn't a spoiler! This is known information!" Tian Zhongxue argued vehemently. "How can the content of the demo version be considered a spoiler!"

"For you, this is the whole story; for me, it's the part I haven't even played yet." Ayumi's tone was as cold as oolong tea just taken out of the refrigerator. "Or do you want me to put on my headphones now, and then you two go to the hallway to talk?"

"Hmm." Tian Zhongxue's imposing manner instantly diminished by three points, and he looked at Ryosuke with a pitiful expression.

Ryosuke took a sip of oolong tea and decided to save the chairman's life.

“Actually, Ayumi is right. The SAO experience relies heavily on the first impression, so spoilers are definitely not good.” He put the tea bottle on the table and leaned back in his chair. “But the ending you mentioned, President, was really amazing.”

"Right, right!!"

Tian Zhongxue's tail instantly perked up again, but this time he learned his lesson and didn't provoke Horiuchi Ayumi again, instead changing the subject.

"Seriously, Takashiro-kun, Aniplex is a really scary company."

"Terrible?" Ryosuke tilted his head.

"It's that kind of..."

Tian Zhongxue twisted his fingers tightly, trying to find the right word, "It's that feeling where every work makes you think, 'This must be the pinnacle of this company,' and then the next work raises the ceiling even higher."

He started counting on his fingers.

"Look, after finishing the first FSN game and all three routes, I lay in bed for three days, my mind filled with the final scene of the King. I thought no game would surpass its place in my heart anytime soon."

"Then Clannad came out. After playing the After Story, I cried like a dog in my room. After crying, I felt a warm feeling, like I was being hugged by something. Then White Album 2, that depressing feeling after the prologue..."

When Tian Zhongxue got to this point, his expression was very complicated, probably recalling the time when he was tormented by Bai 2.

"Then Steins;Gate was released at the end of last year. To be honest, I was a little skeptical when the trailer for S;G came out because the sci-fi theme was so different from Aniplex's previous style, and the protagonist was so chuunibyou right from the start. I even posted a thread asking, 'Did Gen Urobuchi develop psychological trauma from writing Clannad and decide to let loose?'"

"And then?" Ryosuke asked calmly.

"Later I got through." Tian Zhongxue placed his hands flat on his knees and said in an almost solemn tone, "Then I deleted that post and reposted it."

"What did they send?"

"'Gen Urobuchi-sensei, I'm sorry.'"