Chapter 2: Dating Sim Game System
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24
Lin... No wait, now he was known as Seiji Haruta.
Seiji knew that he had hit the jackpot.
After reincarnating into this body, he had been experimenting with this system that he inexplicably received.
Since the functions of this system were similar to most dating-sim game systems, he just called it the ‘DS system’ for short.
What were the functions of this DS system?
Well, any gamer that’s played a dating-sim game before should know the basics. Although each dating-sim game had its individual quirks, there were some common characteristics found in most of them.
One was conversation options.
When talking to one of the primary characters—for instance, a beautiful girl, three conversation options would appear at various points, and one would definitely improve her feelings towards you, while one would decrease them, and the other one was neutral and had no effect.
Then, there was the conversation memo.
Whether it was the main character’s conversations with everyone else or the game text, everything could be viewed again on the dating sim’s memo. This meant Seiji was able to look at the record of his conversations with everyone!
Next was the ability to inspect his own stats and check someone’s current level of friendship or affection towards him.
After Seiji reincarnated, whenever he talked to a girl whose appearance was above average, he could see their current opinion of him, and he was also able to check his own stats.
[Academics: 5 – Rubbish—with this level you’d be the worst even in elementary school!]
[Physical ability: 5 - Rubbish—even a loli elementary schooler could defeat you with a single kick!]
[Art: 9 - Low level—it barely counts as having some minor ability to appreciate beauty, hmph!]
[Music: 10 - Low level—can understand some popular music, but you’re still basically an idiot.]
[Communication: 2 - Garbage—trying to communicate with others is like insulting them!]
[Charisma: 0 - Even a pile of dog poop on the roadside is more attractive.]
...
The descriptions next to his statistics were painful to look at, but that wasn’t important—because Seiji still retained memories from his new body, he could only lament that the original Seiji truly deserved the outcome of choking to death on instant noodles in a tiny apartment.
All his classmates looked down on him, the school bullies picked on him, the prettiest girl in school insulted him, his childhood friend kicked him away, his younger sister slapped him, his older sister forced him to leave home, and his adoptive mother treated him coldly... Okay, these memories were far too painful. Seiji didn’t want to go through them anymore; just remembering them once was distressing enough.
Along with stats came the ability to level them up. For example, academics could be raised with options like [go to cram school], [study at home], [hire a tutor], et cetera, while physical ability had options like [exercise at home], [jog in the morning], [workout at the gym], et cetera.
Other than that, there were also CGs and video playbacks, which could replay some scenes of him interacting with girls; almost like a type of album.
But all of the above wasn’t really that special.
The last function was the one that Seiji found the most astounding and the most gamebreaking—even if he didn’t have any of the above abilities, he could subvert the entire world with just this ability!
It was no joke!
Because the final ability of the dating sim system was…
Saving and loading!!!
This game function was the most ordinary of all; after all, every game came with this function.
But, for this ability to appear in real life, heavens... This cheat was truly broken!
After reincarnating, Seiji spent the majority of his time experimenting with this final ability; at first he was astounded, then he was overjoyed, but now he was starting to feel slightly scared.
As long as he saved a file beforehand, it didn’t matter what he did afterwards; all he had to do was load the saved file, and he could start all over again with a clean slate!
He could already imagine it: he could do anything wicked that he wanted, and after the police caught him, he could just load the file, and it would be like nothing ever happened.
This was akin to a gift from the Devil!
Although Seiji didn’t think that he was a hero, he definitely wasn’t an evil person either, so those wicked ideas only flashed through his mind briefly before he sealed them away and decided to set some rules for himself that he definitely would never violate.
After opening this Pandora’s Box, he closed it immediately, using all of his self-control to prevent himself from opening it again, and he had finally managed to calm himself down with great effort.
‘Well, let’s just go with that,’ Seiji thought.
At this moment, he silently opened up the load menu, before choosing the first save file and returning to that time.
His entire world turned dark momentarily, before becoming light once more.
He was still in the same room, but it was now early morning instead of late night.
This was his first save file, and it was also the one immediately after his reincarnation.
Let’s just start from here now—a new life after reincarnation.
First, he needed to clean up the instant noodles that choked this body to death...
His room was 30 square meters, furnished with a shower and bathroom, and the rent was 5000 sakuras every month.
That’s right—sakuras, not Japanese yen.
After Seiji reincarnated, at first he thought that he was in Japan, but later he discovered that this was actually a parallel world; the entire world map was significantly different from Earth’s, and history had changed significantly.
The European pioneers had fought a series of wars which lasted for several hundred years against the Native Americans, so both Europe and America’s development had stagnated, while the Asian Huaxia Empire became the world’s only superpower.
But seventy years ago, a large continent arose from the depths of the Pacific Ocean, and the ancient civilization which dwelled on it had attempted to conquer the entire world. Eventually, the war ended up in a stalemate as they were pitted against the allied armies of the entire world. Ultimately, they signed a peace treaty, thus becoming the world’s second superpower.
What the hell was all of this!?
Seiji’s face could only distort when he learned the fantasy-like history of this world.
Not only that, the military equipment in this world made his eyes sparkle; apart from conventional weapons, such as guns, tanks, and cruisers, there were also robot warriors, single-pilot mechs, flying castles, and biologically engineered living giants—technology that he had only seen in sci-fi manga before.
Even though there was no apparent magic or superpowers to be seen, Seiji believed there may be something under the surface—it’s just that ordinary people were incognizant of the true situation.
Okay, so this was a new world that seemed as if it had come out of a 2-D manga.
And the most obvious part about this being similar to a 2-D world was that compared to Earth, the average boys and girls were much better-looking, with well-proportioned bodies and a multitude of different hair and eye colors!
For example, the landlord’s… daughter that was currently standing in front of Seiji.
She had large amber eyes, a small and exquisite nose, cherry lips, and her silky black hair was braided into pigtails. Her hairclips were dark red, and she was wearing a beautiful sailor-style school uniform. She had an ample chest, and she was wearing white stockings on her fair thighs, which seemed especially tender. The distance between her miniskirt and the white stockings created a mesmerizing territory filled with the attractiveness of youth.
If this had been Earth, 100% of guys would stare at her as she walked down the street, and she’d be able to do cosplay or be a fashion model without makeup—a top-class beauty! But in this world, it seemed that she was only above average.
"You fat pig! You’re already behind on rent by half a month—when are you going to pay up!?"
When the pigtailed beauty opened her mouth, insults spewed out instantly, and her expression was filled with contempt and impatience.
Seiji could only smile wryly inside; after all, whose fault was it that his body’s previous owner attempted to ****** her in their first meeting? It was only natural that she would have such a negative impression of him.
Seiji sighed helplessly. There’s nothing wrong with being an otaku, but if you act as disgusting as the previous owner of the body, even without being an obese otaku, it was only natural that all his friends and family would abandon him.
"I’m so sorry, Miss Uehara. Please give me two more days; I’ll come up with enough money for you."
Seiji kneeled on the floor and lowered his head in a formal apology.
Even though all of this was the previous Seiji’s fault, since he had obtained this body now, he couldn’t complain; he might as well attempt to fix things.
The girl whose name was Mika Uehara was stunned for an instant; this was the first time she had ever seen him being so confident and sincere. Before, it always sounded like he was mumbling every word, and every sentence was sexually harassing, which made her feel disgusted.
She hated having to talk to this fat pig, but she was worried about her kind and gentle mother having to collect rent from him. Unfortunately, her father died young, so she needed to become strong on behalf of her mother and to protect their family!
And seeing this fat pig acting so sincere for the first time, she was slightly moved.
"We’ve already given you such a long period..."
"I know, it’s my fault, but I really don’t have any money right now. Give me two days’ time; I’ll sell some of the things in this room and give you the rent." Seiji raised his head and gazed directly into her eyes.
Just looking at that chubby face made Mika Uehara feel disgusted again, but that sincere look was something she’d never seen before, which piqued her curiosity.
She took a look around the room; just two months after moving in, this guy had made it into a pigsty: CDs, games, fast food trash, drink bottles, and a huge amount of dirty tissues were everywhere...
Just by observing her glancing around and her expression, Seiji knew what she was thinking, and it was also expressed by the three conversation options that suddenly appeared in front of him.
[A: You’ll get your money anyways, so get the hell out!]
[B: I know that my previous actions made it difficult for you to trust me, but please give me one last chance!]
[C: I really don’t have any money, I’m begging you!]
The correct answer was obviously B.
"I know, I was very rude to you before, and it may be difficult for you to trust me. However, I’ve self-reflected on my previous actions, and I’ve decided to start living a new life; please give me one last chance!"
Seiji bowed his head once again in a sincere request.
*Ding!* After making his choice, he heard a sound in his mind.
This was the game system telling him that he had successfully raised her friendship level!
"O... Okay, one last chance." Mika Uehara pouted with her lips. "I... I’ll come back in a week."
He requested two days, but this girl gave him a week.
"Thank you so much!" Seiji thanked her in a clear, deep voice.
"You’re welcome..." Hearing such sincere gratitude, Mika Uehara felt for an instant that this fat pig didn’t seem as disgusting as before.
Her departure meant that he wouldn’t be evicted, so the corners of Seiji’s mouth curled upwards in a small smile.
Then, he immediately went to the bathroom to wash himself.
He washed his face, took a shower, cut his messy hair, shaved all his facial hair, and put on the cleanest clothes he could find.
*Ding ding ding!* A brand new fat pig has now arrived!
Even though he was still obese, he was now a relatively normal-looking chubby person instead of a fat otaku that everybody hated; his charisma stat had even increased by five points as proof of this.
Just taking a shower improved charisma from 0 to 5—just how uncaring was the previous person about his appearance?
Well, Seiji didn’t wish to dwell on the previous person’s self-serving lifestyle, so after cleaning himself up, his next task was cleaning the room.
He threw away all the trash, organized all the things that were still useful, and made a pile of what he could sell.
Let’s do the important stuff first before finishing the final organizing and cleaning later.
Seiji ate some snacks that he found in the room for breakfast, before gathering up a huge bundle of CDs and games to sell and walking out of the room with them.
Outside, the sun shone brightly.