Fall in Love, MY☆LITTLE☆SHIDO
This was a dating sim originally developed and published by Ratatoskr. Its primary purpose was to train Shido's communication skills with women, laying a solid foundation for his future efforts to conquer Spirits.
To be honest, Shido had suffered immensely because of this game back in the day. Every single time he made a wrong choice, the game would expose one of his dark, cringe-inducing middle school histories. That painful feeling... was a past he never wanted to look back on.
"What's going on?! Is this game actually being sold on the public market now?!!"
If that were true, as someone who shared the exact same name as the game's protagonist, Shido would seriously have to consider changing his first and last name.
[How is that possible?! That game has always been securely stored in the Fraxinus mainframe... Oh, I see what happened.]
Kotori initially retorted defensively through the earpiece, but halfway through her sentence, she seemed to figure it out, a look of sudden realization dawning on her.
"What is it? Did you figure something out?"
[No... Never mind that. Right now, focus on proceeding with the conquest.]
"Even if you say that, what am I supposed to do?"
Shido looked helplessly at the Spirit in front of him. Just as Nakatsugawa had pointed out, she was completely absorbed in the world of the game, utterly oblivious to Shido's presence.
The Spirit had already reloaded her save file and was back at the "little sister" scene, staring at the options with an expression of intense agony over which one to pick.
Kotori scolded him with a tone of utter disappointment:
[Are you an idiot, Shido? Has it only been a few months, and you've already completely forgotten the entire week of training you went through? Since the Spirit is currently playing a Galgame, just help her conquer it!]
Is that seriously what my training was meant for?
Despite roasting her in his mind, Shido obediently let out a light cough. Mentally recalling his tearful past experiences with the game, he slowly spoke up, "Um... Actually, for this specific scene, you aren't supposed to choose any of those options."
"Eh? Really?" The Spirit looked at Shido with an expression of sheer disbelief.
"Haha... When I first played it, I thought it was ridiculous too." Seeing that she had finally noticed his presence, Shido secretly breathed a sigh of relief. With a bitter smile, he pointed at the timer in the bottom right corner. "If you just wait for this countdown to finish, the scene will naturally progress on its own."
Just as Shido finished his explanation, the in-game timer hit zero. New text appeared on the screen:
[Mmm... let me sleep for ten more minutes.] [No! You have to wake up properly!]
After a completely ordinary exchange of dialogue, the affection meter remained completely unchanged, and the story progressed to the next scene.
"What the..." The Spirit stared blankly at the computer screen. Once she fully registered what had just happened, crackling arcs of electricity began to dance around her body. Without another word, she hoisted the computer monitor into the air and viciously smashed it into the ground, roaring: "What kind of absolute bullshit game is this?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"It seems this Spirit has quite a temper."
Up in the airborne battleship, Kotori frowned in slight displeasure. After all, during the game's development, a significant portion of it was based on her direct input.
"No! I think this Spirit is completely normal!" In stark contrast to Kotori, Shido—the actual protagonist of the game—felt a massive surge of resonance with the Spirit's actions. With an incredibly moved expression, he said, "She just did exactly what I've wanted to do for so long!"
[...]
The corner of Kotori's mouth twitched slightly. On her commander's console, a private reading showed that her older brother's affection level toward this Spirit had just skyrocketed by a very respectable amount.
-------perspective shift divider line--------
"Phew... That feels so much better." After smashing the computer to pieces, Yumetsuki finally regained a bit of her composure.
She had finally managed to manifest in Tengu City, only to discover that it was already nighttime. Furthermore, because of the spacequake alarm, everyone had already evacuated.
While waiting for the AST to show up and give her something to do, Yumetsuki suddenly remembered that when she had hacked Ratatoskr to steal Phantom's data, she had also conveniently copied a game she found in their files.
Fall in Love, MY☆LITTLE☆SHIDO
Honestly, Yumetsuki had absolutely no idea why a dating sim would be stored in a relatively hidden directory on the Fraxinus. Was it some weird, special hobby of the battleship's commander?
(Kotori: "Achoo!")
However, that didn't stop Yumetsuki's curiosity from taking over. She was itching to play the game immediately.
The AST's Realizers were standard outdoor combat models. To enter a building, they needed high level assault authorization. Yumetsuki was well aware of this protocol. That was why she deliberately ran into a large department store. Not only did it give her free time to play the game, but playing it on a desktop computer felt much more satisfying than using a tablet.
And then, as you just saw, Yumetsuki was completely enraged by the game's rigged mechanics.
Eh? It wasn't until this exact moment that Yumetsuki finally realized there was a completely ordinary-looking high school boy standing right next to her.
This was one of Yumetsuki's bad habits. Whether she was happy or angry, whenever she focused too intensely on a single task, her awareness of her surroundings plummeted. Even if she reacted to something, it was usually just an unconscious reflex.
"A human?" Yumetsuki frowned slightly, looking at Shido. "What are you doing here?"
-----perspective shift divider line------
"I'm..."
Just as Shido was about to answer Yumetsuki's question, Kotori's voice rang in his earpiece.
[Hold on! Shido, the options are out.]
The Fraxinus computer provided three choices:
① I'm just an ordinary citizen who didn't have time to evacuate.
② I don't know. I am merely a traveler lost on the path of life.
③ My name is Itsuka Shido, and I am the one who has come to save you.
"All personnel, choose!"
The result: Option ② took the majority.
"Well... this option is indeed the most appropriate. Given the current mood, the other two choices aren't great. Plus, Hacker's actual aggression toward humans is incredibly low. Using humor to close the distance and build rapport is a solid choice."
Murasame Reine, who had finished the Yamai sisters' physical exams at some point, had arrived at the bridge and provided her analysis of the options.
Kotori agreed with this conclusion. She pressed the comms button and said, "Shido, go with Option ②."
But for some reason, she didn't hear Shido execute the order.
"Shido? Did you hear me? Choose Option ②."
Kotori repeated herself, feeling slightly confused.
Just as a sense of unease began to creep in, the main screen—which had been displaying the live feed of Shido—suddenly went completely black.
"What happened?!" Kotori demanded, quickly standing up.
"Commander, our communication with Shido was just jammed by an incredibly powerful electromagnetic wave!" Shiizaki, the "Nail Knocker" of the lower bridge crew, frantically reported.
"Restore communications immediately!"
"We can't! The jamming signal they're emitting is stronger than anything we've ever encountered. We can't establish a connection with Shido's wireless earpiece at all!"
Watching her crew scramble to fix the issue, Kotori gritted her teeth in regret.
"Dammit! I knew Hacker was an S-Rank Spirit, yet I still let my guard down!"
"It's not your fault. It just means Hacker's abilities are an overwhelming hard counter to human technology," Reine said, patting Kotori's shoulder to comfort her in a steady voice.
Kotori's mood stabilized slightly. Looking at the pitch-black screen, she sighed helplessly.
"It looks like this is all we can do for now. Fortunately, Hacker's intent to attack humans is extremely weak. Shido shouldn't be in any serious danger, even if he's alone."
...
"Hey, what's going on? Kotori, hurry up and tell me which option to pick!"
At that very moment, Shido was desperately whispering into his earpiece, his voice cracking slightly.
[Bzzzt— Krkshhh—!]
The only response he received was a burst of irregular, chaotic static.
"What... What am I supposed to do now?!"
Looking at Ryougi Yumetsuki standing in front of him—with electricity arcing wildly around her body, her hair fluttering in the air, and a dark blue longbow firmly gripped in her hand—Itsuka Shido felt cold sweat soak through his entire body.