Chapter Seven #3
It was a fresh start, so that meant I got to make my personality however I wanted, right? But changing my personality to act differently from what I was used to was difficult.
Maybe smug, teasing, manic pixie dream Reapers were in? No, that sounded ridiculous.
But it sounded kind of fun at the same time.
“Do I embrace the path of the smug brat?” I whispered to myself.
That did sound fun.
Really fun.
Plus, back on Earth, those types of girls were pretty popular for male audiences, and the reverse would be true here. Those types of boys were definitely popular among the girls here.
Getting to tease a bunch of girls, in ways that I knew I would enjoy getting teased, sounded really fun.
…
I decided to walk down a pretty weird path, didn’t I?
“I—I’m back,” Rosie said, sitting down across from me while looking almost as embarrassed as she was before she left.
I couldn’t resist smugly smiling as soon as she was back. “Welcome back, Rosie.”
“How—you… you sure are a cheeky flirt for someone with that kind of backstory. Did you flirt with all your nurses or something?”
“Those women? I never flirted with them even once. But you—I flirted with you every single day in our past life together. I guess I’m just so comfortable being around you that I can be like this. Doesn’t that make you happy?”
“It… it does.”
Hearing her honest answer served as a powerful counterattack that caused me to lean back and blush a bit myself. I wasn’t even sure what to say in response.
“O-oh?” And Rosie noticed. “Heh. What’s that? You’re all attack and no defense, huh?”
“I… wouldn’t say that. More importantly, I wonder why you ran away so—”
“You know, you look really handsome today, too.” Rosie leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands as her elbows rested against the table. “And you looked really cute in that apron with your hair tied back last night.”
I was forced into retreat as I covered my face up with my hand and looked away. “I—I get it. I’ll tone down teasing you.”
Rosie went quiet after that, and I noticed it was because she was totally blushing again.
She had no defense either, so she decided to take me down with her.
All I got was a chocolate chip muffin. It tasted good, but it was hard to focus on it when I was still thinking about the compliments Rosie gave me.
As for Rosie, as soon as her order was put in front of her, every last ounce of embarrassment left her body as her mind was consumed by food.
That wasn’t all I noticed.
Given that I was the only guy in there, every girl who entered the shop looked at me, and a bunch of them also shot pretty jealous expressions toward Rosie.
They were the kinds of expressions that looked like they were thinking, “What’s that guy doing with a girl like her?
” Like none of them could believe I was with her.
At first, I thought that she was so busy eating her food that she had no idea what kinds of looks we were getting.
I hoped she didn’t hear when a girl leaving the shop whispered to her friend a bit too loudly, “She must have something on him. He’s way too hot for her.”
The friend whispered back, “Right? A plain fatty like her couldn’t get a guy if we can’t.”
Elementary level insults.
But I knew that was the kind of world Seth created.
Even a girl who, by Earth’s standards, could be considered extremely cute with an absolute dream-like body, was considered “plain” in this world.
Having thick thighs, big tits, or even just a nice ass was enough to get a girl labeled as fat no matter how petite the rest of her body was.
It was never officially confirmed, but the reason was obvious. It was so that girls were easier to romance. The fantasy allowed for players to go after girls who had the confidence of “ugly” girls while being objectively attractive.
Something like that didn’t really bother me back when it was just a game. Even now, I knew I would benefit from it, but it felt wrong.
And I noticed that Rosie paused in taking a bite of her food when I heard those girls whisper. It was only for a quick moment, but I noticed it. She heard them.
“I—I think I’m full,” Rosie said, forcing herself to stop before finishing her pancakes.
“You shouldn’t waste your food,” I told her.
“… I’m… really not hungry. B-besides, I should put more effort into watching my weight if I’m going dungeon diving!” She poked at her breasts. “I don’t need slowed down by all this useless fat…. Then again… maybe—maybe you should find a girl who…”
“Who is what, Rosie?”
“You—you know. Not so… fat. And… plain. It’ll hurt your reputation if you hang around a girl like me, so…”
“Is it because of what those girls whispered?”
Rosie looked down and away. “I’m sorry. I knew that I was being selfish by hanging around you, but… it was fun being around you. I’ve never had a guy give me attention before, but… I know it’s unrealistic to stay together. I—mmpfh?!”
I shut her up by taking her fork and shoving a bite of pancake into her mouth.
“Talk about hypocrisy,” I said. “You wanted to go after the trash from my past because of what they did to me, but then you’re going to let some random bitches get you feeling down like this?
And aren’t you being unfair to me? What about how I feel, dumbass? ”
Rosie tried saying something, but she couldn’t with the food in her mouth, so she quickly chewed, swallowed, opened her mouth to speak… and then got shut up again since I shoved more pancake into her mouth.
I raised my voice to make sure everyone could hear what I was about to say.
“One, you’re insanely, ridiculously adorable and I could watch you every single second of the day.
Two, you have an incredible body that I can’t get enough of watching every time you move.
Three, I’m a lover of tits who doesn’t believe such weak-willed thinking such as, ‘Those are too big.’ And four—most importantly, you’re the Rosie I’ve fallen in love with again, and again, and again because of how sweet, kind, and genuine you are.
And I’ll tell you this every single day for the rest of our lives if I need to.
” Rosie was covering up her face with her hands at that point. “Do you get it?”
“I—I get it,” she nodded without removing her hands.
“Good. Then eat. We’re not leaving until that plate is spotless.”
Even though she kept her head low, she picked up her fork and continued eating, leaving one hand over her eyes so that I couldn’t see her expression.
Those flapping ears made it obvious how she felt, though.
As for me…
Holy fuck that was embarrassing, I thought to myself.
I figured I got way too dramatic there and everyone was probably cringing at the display. I was terrified to see how people reacted.
Even if I meant every single word that I said, I was still a total amateur when it came to… well, anything and everything outside of dungeon diving, and that especially extended to social interactions that would make me the center of attention.
But… I should have known.
Every girl in the shop was swooning.
Seth, I thought. You really made romance too easy in this world.
Rosie finished her breakfast which meant we got to leave and go do the chores I had in mind. She was red right up until she finished, though, and only stopped being red recently as we walked through the city toward my destination.
“Sorry about… getting all melodramatic back there,” Rosie said, not dropping her pace at my side.
“Don’t call it melodramatic,” I replied. “I won’t have you diminish your feelings like that. Besides, you’d be pissed at me if I did that, wouldn’t you?”
“Heh… you’re just like my dad. You even have the same weird preferences in women as him.”
“If anything, I think your dad has incredible taste in women.”
“… are you going to go after my mom?”
“No. I’m not into married women. Besides… I can’t see her like that now.” I already saw her more like my own mom, but I wasn’t ready to admit that out loud yet. “Anyways, don’t tell a guy you like that he’s like your dad. It’ll make him think you’ve got daddy issues.”
“Oh, oops. Don’t worry, I don’t.”
“I know. By the way, you didn’t deny that you like me.”
“As—as if that isn’t beyond obvious by now…”
“So much progress in less than twenty-four hours. See? Easiest route.”
Rosie gently kicked the back of my leg.
“I deserved that. Hey, show me your hand for a second.”
“What for?” Rosie asked, holding her hand out to me.
I answered by taking her hand and interlocking my fingers with hers. “For this. Wow, congratulations, Rosie. You’re such a smooth girl that you’ve gotten to take my handholding virginity.”
Rosie turned red as soon as I mentioned that. “Wha-wh—what are you saying?!” She tried to pull away, but I didn’t let her.
“You know, this is a pretty rare catch, right? I mean, I’m an older guy who is—I won’t deny it—pretty hot,” since I did design myself that way, after all, “plus I’m still a total virgin. Aren’t you lucky?”
“I don’t know if I should feel more annoyed at your narcissistic confidence or the fact that I do feel unbelievably lucky right now. I figured, at best, I’d end up as a guy’s fifth wife at least…”
“Nope. You’re number one, Rosie.”
“It’s—it’s not like I’m some shallow girl who cares about her guy’s body count!”
“But it still makes you happy to know you’re my first, doesn’t it?”
“I’d… be lying if I said it didn’t…”
“Wow, how shallow. Well, luckily for you, I’m not used goods. You must be elated.”
“You weren’t this bratty yesterday!”
“New day, new me.”
“Go back to being a dungeon fanatic! You were way easier to be around when all you talked about was dungeons!”
“In that case,” I paused and cleared my throat. “Did you know that, originally, there was a bug in the dungeon we went in that caused it so you would fall through the floor if you dodge rolled into any of the walls?”
I started rambling.
“The bug was actually used for some speedrun strats before it got patched.”
And I kept going.
“You could actually glitch into the boss room from the first room if you did it properly.”
And on.