Chapter 4

Chapter 4

To say I was shocked would be an understatement. Alice, the maid I had known for weeks, suddenly had eyes! And not just regular eyes, beautiful shining purple eyes. Had I really not noticed them before? No, that’s impossible. Up until a few minutes ago I KNEW she didn’t have any eyes whatsoever. As I kept staring at her, zoning out, I could sense a bit of confusion from her. Realizing I was still holding her hands, I let go. “Ah! Sorry. I was just um... Caught up in the moment.” Alice merely giggled and smiled at me warmly. “No worries master Cedric. I’m looking forward to our time together.”

Another awkward silence passed before Malory coughed into her hand, grabbing our attention. “I am quite happy for you both, however, Alice will have to learn certain things that her new job entails. Come with me Alice. We have many things to discuss.” Alice nodded quickly ‘Y-yes Miss Malory of course!” She responded awkwardly as she turned to me and bowed. “I shall return as soon as I can Master Cedric.” I merely smiled congenially and waved her off. The event over, my father had wandered off as well, leaving me, for the moment alone.

I took a deep breath and leaned up against a nearby tree. “Well that certainly was something. At least now I won’t have to worry about Julie. That’s a relief in itself.”

Suddenly, I started hearing a low beep coming from somewhere around me. Not just any beep, but a mechanical one. That’s odd. I hadn’t heard a beep like that since I died. It kind of sounded like a...computer of some kind. I glanced around, pushing myself off the tree trying to find the source of the beeping. To my surprise, it seemed to be coming from my wrist. I immediately looked at it and my eyes opened wide in shock. There was a flashing blue square resting on the back of my wrist about the size of a sticky note. My other hand slowly, tentatively moved towards it. With a nervous shake, I poked the square on my wrist.

In an instant, a large computer-like display popped up in front of me at eye level. The display itself seemed to be about two feet by two feet and a translucent blue. The words “Maid A: 1 Point” in white font sat there in front of me. I don’t know how long I stood there with a stupefied expression on my face. Finally, i shook myself out of it, as I looked at the strange display and put my finger to my chin. “Maid A? Who’s Maid A? and what does one point mean?”

As I spoke this aloud, an image of Alice appeared on the screen, next to the words ‘Maid A’ as if in response to me. “Huh?” I asked to seemingly myself, as the computer screen didn’t answer me. “But..that’s not Maid A...that’s Alice.”

The moment I said that, the computer shifted, as if glitching, and the words ‘Maid A’ were instantly replaced with the word “Alice.” “W-what?” I asked to no one in particular. Reaching up, I placed a finger on the blue square. As I did, another prompt popped up. “You have unlocked your first point. Would you like to visit the main menu?”

Confused beyond all reason, I clicked the ‘Yes’ option. As I did, the screen once again changed. This time, a menu popped up with several options. ‘Current point value’, ‘Current status’, and ‘Goal’.

Deciding to go down the list, I clicked on ‘Current Point Value’. As I did, a small collection of words popped up. ‘Current total points overall, 1 point.’ Okay, that didn’t help at all. I have absolutely no idea what a “point” is for. Maybe the rest of the options would help. I clicked back out and clicked on ‘Current Status’. As I did, several folders small folders popped up. They were labeled “Main characters” “Side characters’ “Mob”.

I crossed my arms and looked at these folders for a moment, looking behind the screen to make sure no one was approaching. At the moment I seemed to be in the clear. That being said, I poked “Main characters.” As I did, images of the four additional love interests from “Royal Blush”, not counting me, appeared in front of me. Each with a symbol of “0/200 points”, Okay, so I guess I would get some kind of points by doing....something with the other guys who were interested in Eloise. Speaking of which, I glanced over to the end of the computer screen where it showed a big picture of Eloise, and below it, to my horror it stated, “Romantic relationship: 0/1000, Friendship 0/200”. What the? ONE THOUSAND POINTS? For getting together with her? I had no idea what points were for, but i’ll stick with my one point forever thank you very much.

I immediately closed that folder and went to ‘side characters’. There I saw people like Julie, Malory, and other assorted people I vaguely remembered from the game such as the dean of the school and other characters that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. All of which had 0/30. There were a good chunk of them too. While the main characters only had five options, the sub-characters had a good twenty.

I exited out of that one and went to the final folder. Mob. As I clicked it open, My eyes grew wide as the screen made a large whirring motion. The display barely seeming to keep up as hundreds and hundreds of boxes came up, all with names like “Classmate C” “Fruit Seller B” and the list went on and on.

They all looked completely different. Ages, Genders, even species, all of them different in their own way. Only one thing connected them. None of them had eyes. Just like Alice didn’t up until a few minutes ago.

I was about to say something out loud in confusion when suddenly, while the other profiles were all grayed out, a single box glowed. Alice: 1 point. And a picture of Alice, complete with her purple eyes were smiling back at me.

It was as if a bolt of lightning hit me at that moment. I got it. I understood. The reason no one seemed to know much about Alice. The reason I couldn’t remember her from the game. The reason why she had no eyes. She was a background character. A mob. She wasn’t MEANT to be seen or acknowledged by anyone. I was MEANT to take Julie as my maid. If I would have taken Julie and befriended her, I would have gotten thirty points. But because I went for Alice, who was just a random background character, I only got one.

I put my hand to my mouth at the realization. And because she’s my main maid now, that would make her no longer a background character. THAT’S why she got her eyes back. But, it didn’t seem like anyone else previously noticed she DIDN’T have eyes. In fact, Malory even stated she had purple eyes. So was it just me? I shook my head as I pondered this. Something to think about later. For now, I went back and clicked the very last folder, ‘Goal’.

A large empty bar graph appeared in front of me. Well, almost empty. The score 1/1000 stared me in the face as the barest, TINIEST bit of the graph was filled in, signifying my progress. My eyes followed to the top of the chart where two simple words were posted. “Good Ending.”

I blinked a few times. “Good Ending?” My eyes moved from one side of the image and then back. “So..I suppose I need 1000 points to get a good ending? Whatever that is. “Hm.. Is there like.. A timer on this or something?” The second I said this, another screen popped up. This time, to the left of the large one. A large countdown timer, almost like something you’d see on a bomb in a Hollywood movie was ticking down. 8 years, 23 days, 22 hours, 13 minutes, 23 seconds.

Every moment i watched this, the timer ticked down another second. What...what the hell happens in that exact time? I thought to myself, trying desperately to bring any sort of date to mind. “Let’s see eight years....eight years.i’d be a little over eighteen years old... which is... Wait.. eighteen? That’s... I turn back to the countdown timer. “Isn’t that...my graduation?!” I say out loud to no one as the timer drops another second.

That’s what it was, wasn’t it? I had just about eight years to get nine hundred and ninety nine more points. And if I did, I would receive a ‘Good Ending’. Whatever that was. Wait a minutes. Did that mean that if i DIDN’T get all one thousand points, i’d get a BAD ending? Sweat drops fell down my face as I pondered this.

“Wait a second.” I thought to myself as I flipped back to the ‘Current Point value’ Page and quickly moved to ‘main characters’. There, staring at me again was Eloise’s profile. And next to it, sure enough, was “0/1000 points romance” My eyes went wide and I immediately raised my heads up to scratch my head furiously. “Are you kidding me?! If i romance boring mcboring I get all one thousand points?! You’re telling me that I could do NOTHING else but fight the other four guys and win her over and I win? Just like that?” I found myself grimacing as i clenched my fist and threw my hand to the side. Like HELL i’d do that! I don’t care if that girl gave me a million points, and I got to be KING. I’d NEVER romance that boring loser.

I clenched my tiny fist again as I thought of the horrifying prospect. Then, suddenly, I remembered my one point from Alice. Moving back to the ‘mob’ folder, I took my finger and began scrolling down the list of all the characters I could find. As they were in rows of ten, I quickly gathered there were easily more than a hundred rows. Actually WAY more than that. Looking at these numbers, I realized I could hit one thousand a few times over. Wait... I could hit a thousand a few times over? A wicked grin crossed my face.

That’s it. This world desperately wanted me to either be in a relationship with Eloise, or become friends with her and all of her love interests as all five friendships were worth two hundred points. But... As I saw with Alice, there was another way. If mob characters were worth one point each... All I had to do was make friends with one thousand of them in eight years. The creepy grin widened even further. So Royal Blush, you either want me to get with Eloise or at least be friends with her, god or whoever you are? Well you can just take that idea and shove it.

Clenching my fist again and I looked upwards towards the heaven speaking to no one in particular. “You hear me whoever you are! I’m not your plaything! I will NOT be in a relationship with that boring nobody! I won’t even be friends with her. I’m going to make friends with one thousand mob characters and get your stupid ‘Good ending!’ You hear me!”

I of course received no response, but I didn’t need one. I merely smiled at the sky, my resolve and oath made. I, Cedric Valatross, once Paul Veran would become the king of the mob characters!