This was the first time Luocheng had ever truly spoken with Manhattan Cafe.
Despite her maxed Affection, the game world had never allowed anything resembling a real conversation.
Now, finally given the opportunity, Luocheng talked endlessly.
Cafe listened with a soft smile and responded naturally.
“Next time, Trainer, you should visit my room.
I’ll make you some of that coffee I like.”
“You always smell a little like coffee, Cafe.
It’s different from everyone else.”
“Do you like the smell of coffee?”
“Yeah.
Though I think I only started liking it after I started liking you.
Especially chocolate milk coffee.”
“T-Trainer…”
Cafe covered her cheeks.
Her face reddened as her golden eyes flickered.
While they talked, Luocheng remembered another strange inconsistency.
According to academy rules, Trainers were forbidden from entering the student dormitories.
So how had he wandered into countless student rooms in the game world without restriction?
Back there, Luocheng had treated the dorms like an RPG player treated NPC houses—wandering inside, exploring, inspecting whatever happened to be lying around simply because he had nothing else to do.
The dorm supervisors had never reacted to him.
If his actions in the game world somehow corresponded to this reality, then why?
After walking with Cafe for a while, Luocheng suggested testing it.
“Can Trainers actually enter?”
“I don’t think so,” Cafe replied.
“I remember Dorm Supervisor Amazon saying outsiders aren’t allowed.”
“Let’s ask.”
When they arrived, Luocheng was immediately stopped.
Standing before him was Hishi Amazon, supervisor of the Miho Dormitory.
Deep blue hair.
Healthy bronze skin.
Sharp red eyes.
A powerful, reliable older-sister aura.
“No way.”
Amazon folded her arms.
“What Trainer comes wandering into a student dormitory this late at night?
Are you planning something suspicious, Trainer Luocheng?”
“Yes.”
“You actually admitted it?!
Still no!”
“Amazon, I feel like I’ve been inside before.”
“What are you talking about?
During the day, if no one’s around, I might let you into the common area for food, but at night?
Absolutely not.
Everyone’s here.”
“Have I ever entered before?”
“No…”
Amazon stopped.
Her expression changed.
Something in her memory seemed to misalign.
Logically, no.
Yet she distinctly remembered Luocheng having been inside.
How was that possible?
Watching her reaction, Luocheng formed another hypothesis.
Maybe the game world didn’t merely influence Affection.
Maybe it could interfere with reality itself.
He silently filed that away.
Eventually he said goodbye.
“I’ll sneak in when nobody’s around.”
“Don’t say ‘sneak.’ If I invite you in, then you’re invited.”
Amazon corrected him sternly.
“Now go.
Don’t disturb the students.
If you’re coming during the day, tell me first.”
So the sacred ground was closed tonight.
Before leaving, Cafe took Luocheng’s hand.
“Trainer, let’s walk together again tomorrow.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Luocheng felt something strange beside him.
A breath against his ear.
Then a faint, bell-like laugh.
He shivered and looked around.
Nothing.
After saying goodbye to Cafe, Luocheng returned toward the Trainers’ dormitory.
Several Trainers greeted him along the way.
Only then did Luocheng realize something embarrassing.
He had been living at Tracen for months and didn’t know any of their names.
“Yo, Luocheng.
Just getting back?”
A curly-haired middle-aged man waved.
Luocheng smiled awkwardly.
The man lived next door.
Luocheng had no idea who he was.
In the game world, “friends” had never really existed for him.
He had always been alone.
After bluffing his way through the conversation, Luocheng returned to his room.
Everything was exactly as he remembered it.
The same clothes hanging on the wall.
The same shoes in the cabinet.
Even half an apple he had left inside the refrigerator.
Every detail corresponded to the game world.
Luocheng felt as though he were standing in the seam between two realities.
Game and reality overlapped so perfectly that he could no longer tell where one ended and the other began.
Tomorrow, he would try signing Seiun Sky.
Then he would see whether anything changed.
After lying down, Luocheng stared at the empty bed.
It felt strangely unfamiliar.
Maybe he should buy a proper body pillow.
The next morning, birds chirped outside.
Luocheng slowly opened his eyes.
Someone was standing beside his bed.
A white dress.
A blue-violet jacket draped over narrow shoulders.
Long orange hair reaching the waist.
Clear violet-blue eyes.
Tracen Academy’s Chairwoman.
Yayoi Akikawa.
“Good morning, Trainer Luocheng!”
She snapped her fan open with a volume entirely disproportionate to her size.
“I couldn’t find you in the office, so I came to check the dormitory!
And instead—”
She pointed her fan straight at him.
“You’re still asleep!
The morning determines the entire day!
Get up!
I already prepared breakfast!”
Thank you so much for reading until the end.
[ END 401 Chapter ]
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