When he was playing [You are mine], there were choices the player could do that changed the game by a significant amount, staying hidden until some event or cut-scene was reached. Only then the player would see the true value of them.

It would be even something as small each person they could talk to or even something as big as to which heroine you would spend most of your time with, but one of the most useful choices the player could do was what their character would do as an activity, or how the fan base started to call, training.

In some dating sims, there could be a screen in the menu displaying the character’s status, such as strength, charm, intelligence, etc., showing the player how ready they were if they wanted to conquer a heroine.

[You are mine] had a system similar like that, but it was never shown or even mentioned to the player, with their only warning being the one after completing the prologue/tutorial, which said:

From this point forward, any choice you make will affect the way the game is played. Choose carefully and think thoroughly before selecting an option.

Some who played wouldn’t even take a glance at this warning, thinking it was just for the new-comers of visual novels to not screw things up, however, this game wasn’t like the others of its genre.

All of the heroines had psychological problems and would do anything they needed to do in order to get what they wanted, with the protagonist being their top priority in most of the cases. On top of that, each of their stories wasn’t only about an ordinary life, so even the enemies the player would face were as dangerous as the girls, if not less.

And the only way the player was able to facilitate his future struggles were to train his character.

How to do it was simple: all one had to do was to spend time doing a certain activity in the game and they would progress in some aspect. There were specific areas in the game that were designed for the player to do this.

It was a bit tricky to manage the time the character would train while also having to interact with the heroines, but the payoff was so good for them to neglect it.

Let’s say for example someone would be running after the character, a reoccurring situation through the game. If the player spent time training their character to be faster, then those situations would be a breeze most of the time, allowing them to outrun their pursuers.

Why would the character need to run from them? One could say there were some results that didn’t end well for them and also one of the major reasons why the global version of the game was censored quite harshly.

But that was just one of the advantages of being able to run faster. Sometimes the player would be able to rescue the heroine or stop her from doing anything illegal, while in some occasions it would also allow them to visit two places with the same time they would take to visit one.

Because the players would often be there in most of the story, the school was the selected place where all those training could be done, using the different clubs spread through the campus as areas for them.

Before the player could have control over the character, there was one monologue he said regarding the clubs:

Since I don’t know much about the clubs here, I better try some of them before choosing one that I could regret later. Until then, I’m free to do what I want!

It was nothing more than some excuse to let the player control how they would spend their time. Not bounding them to some places resulted in a great feedback from fans who wanted to experience a game where they could honestly feel they were the main character.

And with that, they were allowed to roam free to the different clubs and train to what they thought it would be their best chances to get out alive of many situations.

If they decided to spend time in the track-and-run fields, the character would be faster.

Spending time on the pool resulted in them having more stamina.

Doing sports such as baseball would make them stronger, while volley would allow them to jump higher.

These were but few of the traits the player could have for his advantages. The number of options and choices on the game also helped with its popularity with many fans.

And, of course, that was not all those areas had to offer.

-Seriously…is it still not enough?

Many bookshelves, tall enough to look like walls and without having any room to put anything else in them, surrounded the boy that complained. He bore a tired expression on his face, showing he was doing something for a long period of time.

On his hands, two books, thick as bars, were taken out of their respective places. He would normally be cautious to handle them since his sweat could damage the old cover, but that thought never appear in his mind since he had started it.

-Great…

He placed the books back where he got them, marking the end of his search on this shelve, however, all it took was one glance at his side for him to realize there were still many more to come. That lone sight was the answer since Chris knew it couldn’t be avoided.

It was now Thursday. After he discovered the connections between the real world and the game, Chris wanted to resume his searches right away, but the school yesterday was almost over, leaving him with no choice but to go back home.

However, it was not a lost time. Rather than using his notebook to do homework, he had spent the last night only writing about what he could remember of the game, trying to see which areas they could go and what changed compared to before, just like the pool.

It was pass-midnight when he had dropped his pencil. On his front lied the compilation of all the relevant information they could use for their search that could bring results almost immediately.

Since there were many places in the game that were either too hard to access or have a clue as to where to find in real life, Chris filtered them to what would be their top priority. For now, the one place they could fully be without raising suspicions and didn’t mangle with their lives was the school.

For his luck, it was also the place where had many places and secrets to find. Since he didn’t know the entire school layout, there may be one thing or two in the game that was similar to the real life, so their current objective was to figure out what was out of norm first before trying to get the details.

But…since this was the seventh bookshelf Chris was taking and placing back books from, it wasn’t going well for them.

(C’mon, how hard it’s to find a secret passage?)

The library. A place to study or grab an interesting book to read. At his school, there was an entire building dedicated to it, transforming it to a point where many students would go when they wanted to be in a quiet place. The books inside were from many genres, going from fiction to study books and even have a small self for comics in a lounge for somebody who just wanted to spend their time there. Even he together with his friends went to have lunch there sometimes.

The reason for the library to have its own building was on the chairman’s family collection. From what Chris had heard about it, from many generations, his teacher’s lineage was found of books and started to accumulate them inside the house, but in one point, it became impossible to live there, so they decided to create a place to guard them. Since then, this library was made.

It was a rather big building. Two-store high, with bookshelves forming a maze-like structure one could be lost if they didn’t have indications to what section they were in. Since the first time Chris had set his foot on it, he was surprised by how big it was and wondered if that was okay for a school to have such a large collection of their own.

However, that was what the library he knew in real life.

In the game, this place was a typical school library. It was all inside only one room, with a couple of bookshelves on it and some tables spread around. Nothing redeemable the first time you entered it, appearing to be a normal place, but it was all a lie.

First, this was the area where the player could train his character to know more wisdom, changing or adding some dialogues from the usual ones he would have to choose from, helping him through the game.

When Chris found out about this, he really thought he had shit bricks. It was when he was going through a certain heroine route. She was so smart that didn’t display one sight of interest on his character no matter what option he chose.

He reset his save file and started from the beginning. Before he made the first contact with her, the boy pondered for a while to how he could talk with that heroine, only then reminded that he could read a book in the library. Since she was smart and reading a book was a sign of being smart, Chris thought it would work.

To his surprise, not only he managed to start the heroine interest on him, but even the other dialogues changed to be more precise and intellectual! Had he knew about this, his life would be so easier with the other three.

But the reason he came here today wasn’t to read a book. Inside that ordinary-bland-unattractive library, laid a special place he would never found if not being shown by one of the heroines first.

It was no other than a secret passage, leading to a secluded area with only a huge monitor made from other screens and plugged by heavy-cables on the ground with some storage lockers around. There the player could see that someone was watching the whole school with cameras spread to many areas.

Maybe it was made to look like just a joke, but the method for entering was as cliché as it could get: take a book out of the shelf to reveal the passage. And that was the reason Chris was now searching on his eighth bookshelf. It was a really improbable place to even exist, but with a pool pooping out of nowhere, he didn’t doubt at all of its existence…when he started it, that was.

The boy barely could lift his arms anymore. He was doing it for almost four periods right now. Luckily, even the librarian was affected by the phenomenon, so even though they were in for so long, she wasn’t checking on them or tried to find them.

-No…more…

Now, placing the books back in their places, the boy sat on the ground. His arms were soaring, as if telling him complains about how he had treated them. Not to mention the times he had taken out the books since some of them were in highest areas of the shelves, he had to climb up the rolling stair, do the take-place, go down and move the stair to another place he had not searched for. To top it all, there was no break since he was too excited about finding a secret passage.

(I wonder if she was getting something on her side…)

When they start it, Chris and Midna decided to separate and each became responsible for one the library sides. Compared to him that couldn’t move anymore, the girl must be doing it with ease.

(Probably she already finished.)

For him to go through a whole bookshelf, it took about twenty minutes when he wasn’t tired. He had an impression she would only need ‘bout three.

(Welp, I’m beaten. I wonder if she found something.)

Getting up from the ground, he made his way towards the other side of the library. Since she hadn’t come to him, maybe she was too ashamed to appear empty-handed and was still looking for it.

(Let’s look in the bright side. Even if she hadn’t found anything, at least we will know there isn’t anything on that side.)

[][][][][]

(…Know what? Never mind everything I thought about her…)

What could be the reason for Chris to be still with a face like he just saw something so letdown that made him question his eyes? It lay on the sight of a crying girl surrounded by opened books while she was sitting on the ground.

-Hey…are you alright?

-*Sniff*…*sniff*…C..h..ris…

She lifted her head, making him saw what could be called waterfalls falling down her eyes. From the looks of it, she was trying to hold her tears but that only made it even stronger.

-Ok, ok, what happened?

-It’s…*sniff*…it’s…this…

With her trembling hands, she shows him the inside of “The Ugly Duckling”, the book she was holding.

-…

(…Seriously?)

She was once called the most dangerous serial killer. Some even called her a demon, someone who couldn’t possibly be a human. The one responsible was single-handled make the police force a curfew…was now crying over a book for children.

-It’s...it’s so sad!

Looking at the page, she couldn’t even pass the first three. She stopped when the ugly duck was alone from the others ducks.

(Not even finishing the book and being like this…)

He knew there were many things that she couldn’t or didn’t experience since she came from the game, but she had at least some knowledge and a degree of maturity. It took Chris by surprise to see Midna like this out of the blue since they were doing something else.

(Oh right, I forgot about it.)

Since he found her in the library, he just kept staring at the girl since he doubted if what he was seeing was real or not.

-Did you find anything about-

-UWAAAAAAAA!

-…

He wanted to ask about her progress but she took a glance at the picture in the book and cried loudly. Had the librarian not be affected as the others in the school, the two of them would definitely be expulsed from the library.

(Yep, it’s what it’s, right?)

Her expression was enough for him to know that she was like this for a long time. Forget about the secret passage. If he doesn’t deal with how she was right now, they wouldn’t leave even if the whole school closed.

-Give it to me. I will read it for you.

Getting the situation in his mind, she wanted to complete the book but couldn’t pass the first pages since it was too much for her. Even if he wanted to continue looking for the passage, she wouldn’t be able to move before finishing what she wanted.

-But…but...*sniff*

-I get it, I get it.

Taking the book from her hands, Chris placed his back against a bookshelf. With his hand, he tapped the ground near him, telling her to come there.

-C’mon, story time.

He waited as Midna dragged her body on the floor until she stopped right at his side. She cuddled really close to him, staring fixedly at the book on his hands with her teary eyes.

-Ok. Once upon a time…

With less distance than he could be comfortable, Chris opened the book and started to read.

[][][][][]

-For the rest of his days, the swan lived happily with his new swan family. The end.

It was about fifteen minutes since he started it and Chris now closed the book. He didn’t read “The Ugly Duckling” since he was a child, so he understood many things that his once childish mind couldn’t.

(No wonder she liked this book.)

As he was reading it, the image of the girl was frequently appearing on his mind, overlapping the image of the soon-to-be swan.

(After all, she can finally be what she wanted to be.)

There were no more bounds and rules to follow. She could be something else and nothing would be there to stop her. And above all, he could finally learn who was the mysterious character that picked his interest.

-What did you thou…ght…

--But that so-called character was now sleeping on his shoulder, noosing off like it was the most comfortable place in the world.

-Hey, the story is over, now let’s go back to the search.

He shook her with his hands to awake her. There was still some time left before lunch and, if they wanted to finish the library today, she would need to help him, otherwise, his limbs would riot.

However, to his dismay, not only she didn’t stop sleeping, his shaking caused her to fall down on his lap, with her head on his thighs. Maybe it was because she liked the soft sensation, but she grabbed his leg like a pillow, not seeming to let it go.

Now there was nothing he could do. Her grip wasn’t strong but he couldn’t move his leg, not allowing him to even stand up. Even if he could, it wouldn’t look any better since he would be literally dragging her with him.

-C’mon now…how it came to this…

His only choice was to wait for her to wake up on her own. The boy wouldn’t do so, definitely not because he was thinking her peaceful sleeping face was cute or how soft her hair was as he caressed her head.

(But honestly…how could you be called “ugly”?)