After that day, Sei didn't open the door of his apartment for Touya. Still, Touya kept coming every day to deliver his notes by putting them outside Sei's door. Touya didn't know if Sei used it or not since they would be in the exact position the next day. The sticky notes he put inside were also untouched. Unfortunately, he could only hear, not see.

Sei lied on his bed, looking at [Heartthrob Disaster] poster on his phone, particularly at Touya's character. It would be a lie if he said he wasn't upset by what Touya did that day. But it was mostly shock that he acted that early.

Touya's character has a tendency to control. There were 2 options on how to handle him in the game. Resist or submit.

Of course, the first choice he picked was to resist when he first played it, but it ended with his character being caged and locked up by Touya. Literally.

He picked the other method on his second run and understood once he unlocked Touya's backstory. It was a cliché trope of having strict parents. But the main trigger would be when his father cheated on his mother. That was why he didn't like it if someone lied or hid secrets from him especially when it was something that involved him in it.

After his father left to be with his new lover, his mother turned stricter. It didn't reach an abusive level, but Touya was taught to not let anything go out of his palm of control.

But Sei knew Touya's family was still very much functional and healthy. The real Touya wasn't half as scary as his character. It was just a part of the real Touya's personality and Sei would make it stay that way.

The more he resisted, the more Touya's urge to control would flare. On the contrary, if he surrendered, Touya would notice and learn that he was doing something wrong by how depressed and sad the player was. The fictional Touya realized it after 5 days.

In other words, in less than an hour, the real Touya's climax event started and ended. This made Sei realize that reality is indeed different than the game. Shohei was right.

He could change how this ends.

The next day, Sei went to school by taxi. He was already used to walking with crutches since he used them in his apartment but walking to school was still too burdensome.

He didn't want to attract too much attention, so he arrived earlier than usual. When he reached his classroom, nobody was there yet.

Sei sat down and put aside his crutches. He hung his bag at the side of his desk before taking out his phone. Turning on the flashlight, he checked his desk. Instantly, he saw sharp transparent glass shards taped under the desk's surface. They jutted out by a thin length from the edge that was easy to miss but still could easily slice a layer of his skin enough to cause him to bleed.

Not only that, there were also some in his desk drawer and under his chair. If he didn't pull his chair out by its backrest, he would already get a cut by now.

He took out a tin box from his bag and put it on his desk to open it. Inside, there was a pack of plastic zipper-lock of different sizes and a tweezer. He pulled out a pair of leather gloves from his blazer's inner pocket and started collecting them.

His classmates came one after another. When they saw Sei, they awkwardly asked how was his foot and wished him a rapid recovery. They were probably feeling guilty about their previous accusations. Sei only nodded and thanked them in reply.

Touya arrived not long after with Reita. It was the earliest Reita has come to school. Reita immediately went to his desk after putting down his bag. Touya on the other hand seemed to hesitate.

"Sei, did you actually walk to school??"

"No, I took a taxi. I don't think I can walk that far using crutches yet." Sei explained.

"Then, should we just eat here at lunch later? You can't move too much, right?"

"You guys can eat in the cafeteria if you want."

"No, we'll accompany you."

"Sei," Touya decided to approach them, "…Do you still need any notes?"

"…" Sei looked at him briefly and shook his head.

Touya's face stiffened and lowered his gaze from Sei's figure. Was he still mad?

But then Sei opened his mouth, "I already copied everything."

Touya's eyes looked up in surprise. After a few seconds, his tense shoulders finally relaxed, "That's…great."

Sei heard the classroom door open and turned his head. Coincidentally, he met eyes with Fuyukawa who has just entered the classroom. It seems like her matter has also been taken care of, seeing that none of their classmates were bullying her.

"Kurosaki-kun, how is your foot? It looks pretty bad." Fuyukawa walked towards them.

Sei faintly shifted on his chair, subconsciously wanting to stay away from her. But strangely, the protection charm didn't give him any danger alarm. He then recalled that the protection charm also didn't react at Fukuoka even though Fuyukawa was right behind him. It only warned him of the kidnapper that was following him which he didn't know at that time.

"It's nothing serious," Sei maintained his calm, "I know it's too late, but I'm sorry for causing you to fall into the fountain, Fuyukawa-san."

Fuyukawa giggled cutely, "It's alright, Kurosaki-kun. I know it was an accident. Now I have a new funny episode to talk about with my friends. I also got an excuse to buy new clothes there without getting nagged at by my parents."

"And your pictures…"

"Don't sweat it. Now the girls are asking for advice on diet methods and skincare routines to me. We also found who spread it first and Haruno-chan beat him up for me."

The 'Haruno' Fuyukawa mentioned is the best friend character in the game. She was their classmate in reality and was also the first one to become close with Fuyukawa. She was a member of the Kendo club both in-game and in real life.

"By the way, Kurosaki-kun," Fuyukawa lowered her voice and sheepishly asked, "Who was the person that helped me that day? Is he a friend of yours? I tried looking for him, but he's not a student here."

Sei was stunned, "Fuyukawa-san, are you…"

Fuyukawa hurriedly shook her hands in a fluster, "No, I-I didn't mean anything. I mean, I was thinking of thanking him for helping me that day. B-b-but if he lives in Fukuoka, I guess that's impossible, right? Ahaha…"

She ran away to her own desk in embarrassment.

Sei, "…"

This was most definitely unexpected.

First, he became the target of an unknown villain in which the target was supposed to be Fuyukawa, and he was supposed to be the villain. Now, Fuyukawa got attracted to a character from a different game that has completed his storyline.

Something like this was possible?

Thinking about it, there was actually nothing strange about it if he thought of them as normal, living, real-life people. Anybody could be attracted to anyone. The same goes for negative feelings. The game-world boundary only existed in his head.

Fuyukawa might only be…Fuyukawa. Nothing more nothing less.

Still, even if that is true, he couldn't shake off the feeling that the curse is real. Even Shohei believed so and was still trying to find a way to break it.

At P.E period, Sei stayed in his class by himself. He was excused from P.E until his foot healed. The sports festival was coming in a few weeks, and he was inwardly glad he didn't need to participate.

"Sei, I knew you're here."

Sei turned to see Daichi coming into his class, "What about class?"

"It's self-study period. The teacher is giving birth in a few days and took maternity leave starting this week. There's no replacement teacher yet." Daichi sat down across him.

"How's your practice? The tournament is this Saturday, right?"

Daichi nodded, "Can you come and watch?"

"I can. Touya and Reita are coming too. Touya's brother will drive us there."

"Then, if I win first place, can you give me a reward?" Daichi grinned, "The captain declared he will make me his successor if I get first place and I don't want that. I'm thinking of purposely losing, but if you promise me a reward…"

"Aren't you just threatening me?" Sei sighed, "Alright, but I'm the one to decide what the reward is."

"No way. It must be something worth it, so the receiver is the one to decide," Daichi immediately rejected it, "Touya and Reita already agreed to it."

"Is it something so expensive? For your gaming?"

"No, it's priceless."

"If it's priceless, you should save it for the nationals."

"Come on, just agree to it." He grabbed Sei's hands on the table.

"…Fine, what is it?"

He smirked triumphantly and raised Sei's hands to kiss them, "You."