Childhood Friend

***

The next morning found me standing before the imposing wooden door at the training ground. A shadow of concern hung over me; my classmate Plamen had vanished during the test, leaving everyone bewildered.

As I stood there alone, a crushing realization struck me - if I was the only one left here, it meant that everyone else had breezed through the first exam. How foolish could I be?

Summoning my resolve, I reached for the door handle. In an instant, the world around me transformed, and I found myself transported to another dimension of Love School.

***

Once I awakened, I found myself in the familiar sakura park, the very place where I had first encountered Brana. Yet, something felt amiss.

During my previous visit, there were far more people around me. But now there’s barely anybody.

I blamed it on the exam being a retake. Perhaps, NPCs do not work during weekends either.

As I waited on the same bench as before, I anticipated Brana's arrival, but minutes stretched into an eternity, and she wasn’t coming.

I decided to head to the direction where she came from before.

The beautiful nature has left me amazed, everything was so harmonic. I kind of liked the peace that came with less people surrounding me.

As I was walking and admiring the flowers on the sides of the footpath, I failed to notice a girl that just… crashed into me on a bicycle.

“Ouch!!” We both shouted at the same time while lying on the ground. And as fate would have it, I was right on top of her, our faces unnervingly close.

It was Brana.

She did try to warn me before it happened, but my ears went deaf… or something…

“Kiss! I’m so glad to see you again!” Her infectious energy matched her flushed cheeks, and my face began to warm in response.

“Oh, same here… Brana…”

“So how have you been?” She asked, seemingly unperturbed by our absurd predicament.

“Uh, can we talk once we stand up and are not, like, lying onto each other?”

“You are lying onto me. I am not doing anything!”

I felt like these were the situations better suited for moments with Laska.

“I’m sorry!” I blurted as I attempted to rise, but she stopped me by grabbing onto my t-shirt.

“It’s okay, we can talk like this.”

“No, w-we can’t!”

I immediately scrambled to my feet and noticed her HP bar going down from 100 to 95.

I understood the assignment now. The answer was right in front of me the whole time.

‘Imagine you’re in a relationship and quell the situation.’

I am in a relationship. But not with Brana. And by ‘quelling the situation’, Svet-sensei must have meant I needed to tackle her unrequited love for me and guide her the right way.

Because she was just a childhood friend who couldn’t cope with her feelings.

I realized this thanks to Laska but it cost her her EPs.

By not giving Brana any fake hope or confusing signals, I managed to reduce her HP.

This lesson was all about love. But not my love.

The school aimed to prepare us for various situations life might throw our way, teaching us how to navigate through potential issues.

“Brana… let’s talk about our relationship.” I helped her to her feet as we settled onto a nearby bench, her bicycle parked behind it. “You know that I can’t love you, as long as I love somebody else…”

Her HP dropped by 10.

Being direct was the right approach.

However, I noticed the sadness in her beautiful silver eyes.

“But… you said you would love me forever, that there’s nobody else, just me and you… Did you lie?”

[Damage: -10 HP.]

She was using my own words from our past encounter against me. This retake of the exam was proving to be more challenging than the original.

“I can’t say I didn’t lie… but it wasn’t exactly a lie either. It’s difficult to explain…”

“Tell me, what am I supposed to do with these feelings then?” She started sobbing. “I know it’s wrong to love you but I just can’t help it!”

[Damage: -5 HP.]

Oh no, I have always been weak in the face of crying girls.

I hesitated to pat her back, so I just extended my arm and made an ‘air pat’, two centimeters away from her body.

Her HP went down again and stopped at 75.

“I know, Brana. It must hurt you very much. But I promise you, there’s somebody else in the world who will make you happy one day.”

After some HP was reduced, she stopped sobbing for a moment.

“Is there…?”

“Yeah, I’m sure!”

“Then… how about we go find him?”

Huh?

“You mean… right now?”

“Yeah! There’s a nice café nearby, let’s go!” She took my hand and we leapt from the bench, forgetting about the bicycle.

I let myself be pulled away by her small hand.

We ran and ran and ran. At some point, I started enjoying it. Perhaps I was missing some cardio.

Upon arriving at the café, she led me inside. Brana gestured for me to sit at one of the vacant tables as she headed straight for the counter to order coffee for us.

The café was mostly filled with couples, with a few solitary figures scattered about.

A sudden doubt crept in.

Should I have accepted this invitation when I am supposed to clear the exam?

I suffered no damage, so I guess it’s acceptable.

When Brana returned with our drinks, I detected a flicker of... pain… in her expression.

She placed a cup of aromatic, steaming coffee before me.

“Thank you… is there a problem?”

“No… I mean, yeah… my friend who used to work here went missing a couple of days ago and her colleagues don’t know where she could be.”

“Oh, that’s horrible!”

“But anyways, she’s the adventurous type so I guess she’s just somewhere without a good internet connection!”

“Yeah, that’s probably it…”

It struck me as peculiar. Why was she mentioning this? Was it also a part of the test?

This game had a way of intricately weaving complex narratives even into the lives of the NPCs around us.

It was as if the world of Romancia was in perpetual motion.

“So,” Brana spoke, “which one out of these guys is the one that’s gonna make me happy?”

I swallowed in surprise.

“Uhm… who do you like?”

"Let’s see…" She began scanning the café and pointed to a boy sitting alone in the corner, his back turned to us. "That one!"

“But you don’t even see his face or anything.”

“Hehe, there’s just something special about him, I can feel it! Go talk to him, please!”

“Me???”

“Yeah!”

I had my reservations about whether this was the right approach to clear the test, but I decided to give it a shot.

How do I talk to a random NPC?

“H-hey… how are you?” I started hesitantly.

The guy with purple hair and headphones on his head appeared to be singing along to the music, but he still turned his head around and put aside the headphones from one of his ears.

“Huh??”

We both stared at each other before yelling out loud at the same time.

“You’re the guy from my class!”

“Plamen!” I read the name above his head. “That’s where you’ve been for the past eleven days?!”

“Kiss! You have a funny name, just like those guys who were made for loving you, haha~!”

“Why are you still in this dimension?”

“Well, I failed the test.”

“I failed the test too but I got sent back to the last Checkpoint, how come you got stuck here instead?”

“Let’s say I panicked a little and accidentally closed off the gate for me, hahah… hah…” Plamen laughed nervously, as if sensing it wasn’t really funny.

“Alright, let me clear the test and I’ll get both of us out of here.”

“You will?!”

“Of course, I won’t let a classmate be stuck at a place like this.”

“Heh.” Plamen put on a badass smirk and stood up.

In the meantime, Brana had come closer to us. “K-Kiss, how is it going?”

“This must be the lady you need to defeat in your exam,” Plamen correctly assumed. “Let me assist you so we can get out of here already.”

“Assist me? How?”

“Say something to her you shouldn’t. Maybe something that even damages yourself. And be brutal.”

“What?”

“Trust me!”

“I don’t know what you’re thinking but… let’s try it,” I turned to face Brana and hoped for the best. Plamen looked like he knew what he was doing. “Brana! I don’t want my girlfriend anymore, let’s get married and let’s have three kids! I will love you forever! You won’t have to worry about that idiot girlfriend of mine ever again!”

[Pivotal Hit!]

[Damage: -60 HP.]

“’Alchemy, second stage: Heartflip.’” Plamen intoned calmly.

[Damage transferred to your opponent.]

[Opponent’s HP dropped to zero.]

[‘Childhood Friend’ Exam: Cleared.]

[You are being transported back to the training grounds.]

CHAPTER 8: END