Better Late Than Never

My enemy, Touma, has been busy lately so I haven’t been able to progress with my mission as much as I wanted to. He is probably busy with real-life things, like being with Saya, so we usually only play together for about two hours at night. Regardless, it seems he tries his best to make time for me each day as we usually talk till deep in the night.

I’ve gathered plenty of intel while talking with him, he lives in a city a bit north of where I am. He has many IRL friends and doesn't have much time for video games anymore. He is kinda a nerd like me but keeps it out of his personal life, we like similar kinds of anime and video games too. I’ve even asked him if he currently has a girlfriend… and he said no.

“If you don't mind, want to chill and talk for a bit?”

“Sure, I like talking with you Touma!”

Recently I’ve felt as if I’m on autopilot and not taking any action on moving things forward. I've already gathered a bunch of information about him so there isn't much to find out now.

We talk about the game we played earlier and he rambles on about some dumb leveling stuff I don't understand. He seems to enjoy it so I just listen to him talk.

It's a bit boring so I open my phone and open InStarGram to see what Saya is up to. There isn’t much to find out because she hasn’t posted recently. The last thing posted is a slice of a chocolate cake with strawberries on whipped cream on top. Mmm it looks good… I bet that she went there with him…

I’m procrastinating with my plans… I can’t be wasting all this time while they get closer to each other. One of the steps in Yuri’s plan was to become his girlfriend in real life. I have a feeling that he already likes me a little bit, maybe as a friend or something. I just need to move our online interactions into real life, I can't sit around any longer…

I think I know the perfect way to get this creep to meet me in person.

“Ahh...” I let out a cute attention seeking sigh as bait.

“Something wrong?”

“Ah, just looking at food on InStarGram. There are so many good places to go but I’m too scared to go out to restaurants alone UwU”

“I love going out to eat! I usually go with my friends after school to hang out.”

Friends? I wonder if he means with Saya?

“That sounds fun! There is this café with really delicious looking cakes that I really want to try...”

“Oh really, what is it called? I love eating cake.”

“Harbz, there is one near me in Osaka…”

“Actually I went to that exact one recently! It was so good!”

I know you went there with Saya you dummy, that's why I brought it up.

“Luckyyy, I wish I had friends to go there with~” I try to sound sad when I say it. There isn’t much pretending that I need to do to sound convincing. I could really go for some cake right now.

He hesitates to say something and there is a weird moment of silence.

“Hey, are you free this weekend?”

He caught the bait, I think I’m in!

“Usually, I just stay home and play video games hehe~”

“Maybe we can go to the café that you wanted to try! You mentioned you live near Osaka right? We should hang out for a bit in person!”

This is exactly what I wanted him to say.

“This is kinda sudden, I haven't been outside with friends in forever…”

I play a little hard to get, I can't just give in immediately when I get him where I want. I like to play with my prey before going for the kill.

“Just like in this game, I will protect you from anything and anybody! You will have nothing to worry about!”

“UwU” I let out a little sad sigh.

“It’s fine, I won’t force you into something you are not comfortable with. When you're ready, I’m sure you will let me know.”

“... Let’s do it, you’re a really nice guy so… I’ll go if it’s you Touma...”

And just like that our plans were set. I'll give myself another S+ for execution.

“Y-yea, Thank you… I will make it my mission that you enjoy your time.”

"Thank you too for being so kind to me always~"

"So 12pm this Saturday let's meet up at Umeda Station! You know what I look like so just come up to me!"

"Yea hopefully I won't get lost or anything hehe..." I let out a nervous laugh as I haven't been there in a long time and truly might get lost.

What have I gotten myself into? I’m going to meet a stranger from the internet in person... Have I gone mad? Well… he’s not a complete stranger as Saya knows him personally… but still this is a bit odd. I wonder what’s going through his mind, he is meeting a stranger on the internet after all. Maybe he likes to take advantage of girls who are inexperienced, that's why he forced himself on Saya even though she wasn't ready! That thought alone makes the fire in my soul burn stronger. This creep, I will make sure this is the last person he does this with. I want to ruin him.

"Here is my phone number, just message me if anything happens!" He types out his phone number and sends it to me.

Speaking of messages, I should message Yuri and let her know that I'm ready for whatever she has planned. She has been annoying me every day about what she wants to do next. I kept ignoring her advances during school but damn she is relentless. I open my phone and enter Touma's phone number in my contacts.

When I open my messages I see a bunch of unread messages from Yuri.

Yuuuuri: ARE YOU READY FOR THE NEXT MISSION???

Yuuuuri: ARE YOU READY FOR THE NEXT MISSION???

Yuuuuri: ARE YOU READY FOR THE NEXT MISSION???

Me: Yuri, please just be normal for once here.

Yuuuuri: ARE YOU READY FOR THE NEXT MISSION???

How the hell does she reply this fast, it has barely been 30 seconds since I sent the message.

Me: Please stop doing this...

Yuuuuri: ACCEPT OR DECLINE???

Me: Accept

Yuuuuri: (ㆁωㆁ)

Me: ???

There was no reply after that. Why do I keep doing this to myself? I guess I will find out tomorrow at school.

After we sort out or plans for Saturday we go back to playing games for the rest of the night...

***

I enter the classroom and I usually expect Yuri to question me if I'm ready for the next mission. Every day for the past week she has been hounding me for an answer.

"Nakahara-Chan~"

"Shhh" I hold my finger to my mouth. "You can't be calling me that in school you freak!"

"Are you ready for the next mission, Nakahara-Kun?!" She loudly whispers to me.

"I changed my mind…"

"But in the message-"

"If you shut up about it during school then I'll accept your mission." I say sternly to get the point across. When she gets excited, she's too much to handle.

"..." Yuri just smiles back at me. She pulls out her phone and starts to type something.

A second later I feel my phone vibrate.

Yuuuuri: MEET AT STATION NAKAHARA-CHAN ಥ‿ಥ

I look over at Yuri and she is looking at me directly with the same face as the emoji she sent me.

“Stop looking at me like that!”

I don't want to have this weird girl staring at me like this all day. People in class will notice something is up.

My phone buzzes in my hands.

Yuuuuri: ಥ‿ಥ

Me: Stoppp

Yuuuuri: I'll stop if you let me call you Nakahara-Chan anytime I want

Me: Never Yuu-Chan

Yuuuuri: Nakahara-Chan ಥ‿ಥ

Me: Yuu-Chan

Yuuuuri: Nakahara-Chan ಥ‿ಥ

Yuuuuri: Nakahara-Chan ಥ‿ಥ

I proceeded to receive that message periodically throughout the day...

***

I’m back in this god forsaken room again. Why does it feel like more things have been added to the walls since the last time.

"So, you have decided you are finally ready for my next mission?!" Yuri is filled with energy after holding back it all during school.

"Is this just a game for you? I haven't even told you why I need to advance or anything!"

"Currently I do enjoy doing this but… why did you choose to advance with the next mission?"

“I need your help, I’m going to meet with the guy who is getting too close to Saya this Saturday”

“Tomorrow? We need to execute our plans quickly… alright get changed Nakahara-Kun, we gonna go get you an outfit for your first date!”

"D-d-date? We are only going to a cafe together!" I can feel the blood rushing to my cheeks. She's making it sound weirder than it has to be!

"Nakahara-Kun this is perfect! You should think of it as a first date? Your plan was to get him to fall for you right?"

"I guess… this would be my first date ever, I don't know what I should do."

"Don't worry Nakahara-Chan just be yourself! As a girl it's not your job to impress him, he will try to impress you."

"A-alright..."

"We will discuss it more another time, right now you need to strip!" She wiggles her fingers making a grabbing motion and walks towards me.

“WAIT, I didn’t bring the clothes you gave me last time!”

“Oh, I must have forgotten to tell you to bring it…” She giggles.

“Hmm, I guess you will have no choice but to wear a school uniform!" She rummages through her closet.

What does she mean by no choice? She pulls out another set of our school’s uniform from her closet. She throws me a white long-sleeved dress shirt and a grey plaid skirt.

"I've been waiting all week to do this hehe." She is almost drooling from her mouth.

"Please give me some privacy this time and leave!"

"Okay."

Yuri robotically closes the closet and walks out of the room, closing the door behind her.

I know she is waiting to bust in at any moment so I quickly take everything off and throw on the uniform sloppily.

The door should burst open any second now…

"Are you done!" She almost broke down the door with how fast she opened it.

"Oh…" Her excitement quickly turns to disappointment.

“Oh? Expecting something different.” I know she barged in on purpose last time.

"Nothing in particular…"

Yuri walks over to me and fixes my sloppily tucked shirt and collar.

“Oh, you are missing the tie.” Yuri walks over to a drawer and pulls out two different blue ties.

“What do you like, a necktie or a ribbon?”

“Necktie maybe?” I don't really put much thought into it.

Yuri puts back the other tie in the drawer and starts to put the necktie on me.

“I can do this myself you know…” I know she just wants to fondle me any chance she gets.

“I know but you have to wear it a certain way...”

Yuri unbuttons the first two buttons on my shirt and ties the necktie loosely around my neck.

“There you go...” She pats my tie against my chest trying to straighten it out.

“By the way Nakahara-Chan, I can see everything through your shirt. Girls our age need to be wearing bras by now.”

I look down and realize that I don't have an undershirt on and everything is revealed if you look closely.

“W-w-why didn't you tell me quicker!” I try to cover my chest by folding my arms.

“I can’t give you one of mine so this is why we need to go shopping, Nakahara-Chan!”

“Also if you're shy you can wear this cardigan if you feel too exposed.”

I stand in front of the mirror to look at myself while putting on the cardigan It's is a bit big so it let it hang down my shoulders, kind of like how Saya-

“Nakahara-Chan, do I need to help you put on everything?” She talks to me in a motherly tone

She fixes the cardigan pulling it up and starts to fix my hair. When she finishes with my hair, we stand beside each other and look in the mirror together.

"Mmmm, very very good… we look cute together..." She says in a low voice.

"You're right we are cute…"

She isn't lying, it's strange how one's perception can change just by a different set of clothes. I don't know what it is but I only see two girls in the reflection.

Yuri suddenly steps back and gives a stern look.

"N-now listen here Nakahara-Chan! Full girl mode from here on out! In the real world we can't have you slipping up and getting caught!"

"Yes ma'am…" I mumble

"Voice! Nakahara-Chan!"

"Yes, Yuu-Chan~!" I say it in my bubbly online girl voice.

I see her twitch, trying her best to ignore me calling her Yuu-Chan.

"Calling me Yuu-Chan aside, it's perfect! Now let's head out before it starts getting late."

We make our way down the stairs and this time there isn't anyone here in our way. I wonder what Yuri's brother's reaction would have been like if he saw me in this outfit.

“These would look better than the shoes you have. Might as well complete the schoolgirl look you have going.”

Yuri gives me a pair of black loafers similar to what other school girls often wear. I throw my shoes in my school bag and attempt to squeeze into the loafers that Yuri gave me. They are about a size too small for me but I can bear the tightness for now. I start to feel a bit awkward as I'm in a completely different level of femininity than what I wore last time.

Yuri looks at me and gives me a reassuring smile.

"Hehehe, let's go Nakahara-Chan~" Yuri grabs my hand and we leave to start my next mission...