The dining hall itself was easy to find. It was a large, modern-looking white building curved in a kind of thick horseshoe shape. Within the bend were nestled over a dozen round metal tables sheltered by red metal umbrellas. The outdoor tables were still visible from within the building, thanks to a generous number of full-length glass windows that replaced the walls. A large sign hung above the entrance at one end of the building identified the place as the “Cappy’s Cafe”.

According to Kaitlyn’s research, the school’s mascot was a capybara appropriately named Cappy. That explained the cartoon rodent sporting a tiny baseball cap on the sign. Cute.

Entering the building, a wave of sensations rolled over her. The salty, greasy scent of fast food combined with the too-familiar scents of bleach and cleaning solutions. Speakers embedded in the ceiling pumped out a low, steady din of pop music. A collection of buffet-style serving counters spread out before her, each sporting standard college fare - pizzas, burgers, pasta, salads, and other odds and ends she’d have to explore. She was here an hour or so before noon, so it was fairly empty for now. Perfect. That’ll give me some time to myself.

Picking out a few items from the assorted counters, Kaitlyn turned towards the cashiers ahead and froze. Wait. How am I supposed to pay for this? She didn’t have a wallet. She hadn’t noticed one in her dorm either. Which meant she didn’t have any money. Worse, she didn’t even know how money worked in this world. She patted her pockets, confirming that nothing had magically appeared when she wasn’t looking. No luck.

She bit her lip. Maybe she was missing something? She didn’t want to ask for handouts from anyone on her first day - unless that someone was a particular prince charming that wanted to help out a damsel in distress, of course. Deciding to play it safe, she lingered by the salad counter and observed for a while. When a group of students checked out, she noticed that they didn’t pull out wallets either. Instead, they flashed their phones at a scanner for the cashier before heading on their way.

Huh. If money’s linked to my phone, then that’s super useful. She thumbed through a few pages of apps to find likely suspects. Sure enough, a small red and gold capybara icon was right there. Inside were a whole slew of seemingly useful things - a class list, school calendars, event listings, and - most importantly - a “Dining Funds” tab. She resolved to check out the rest later as she purchased her food.

With one crisis averted, Kaitlyn found a booth near a wall of the building and took a bite of the cheesy pasta dish she had picked up. It was time to really plan. 

Between her web searches this morning and the school app on her phone, she managed to put together a lot of key information. She knew some basic information about the school, where to find a map, and the schedule of when class started and ended. More importantly though, she had information on herself. 

Her full name seemed to have carried over with her, thankfully. Most other things had not. A list of her new classes had been helpfully hung on the corkboard by her dorm window. The app helped her to confirm her new major - Biology, apparently. Now she also knew the funds at her disposal. Well, the school related funds at least. She would have to look through her phone more to see if she could find some sort of bank account too.

Ok. So my immediate stuff is taken care of. I have money to survive, I know where I need to go for class and when, I have a basic framework of what to do on a daily basis, and since everyone’s new here I shouldn’t have to worry about fitting in any more than usual. The world seems like a pretty standard western college setting too, so that’s easy. She rested her chin in one hand. Then the next question is, what do I do about these guys?

I only know what they look like, and that there are five of them. I didn’t get further than the intro to the game, so I don’t even know their personalities, names, interests, archetypes… Nothing for certain. I don’t even know what kind of encounters to expect, or when. She frowned. That means that my first priority should probably be tracking them down. At least then I can have something to go off of, see which ones I want to be friends with. Then I can decide if any of them are boyfriend material.

Kaitlyn sighed, setting aside her emptied plate. The cheesy pasta had been surprisingly good, though it could have used a dash of spice for contrast. Aren’t I supposed to have some sort of knowledge advantage here? Isn’t that what usually happens in isekai stories? Couldn’t I have gotten one playthrough at least?

After about an hour and a half of sitting, it was time to move on. The tables were positively packed, and Kaitlyn wanted to start exploring more of campus while she still had time. She slipped her phone in her pocket, grabbing her tray and getting ready to stand.

The door to the dining hall opened, and Kaitlyn caught a flash of chestnut hair. A shy looking student in a mint hoodie stepped through and returned his hands to his pockets. His posture was closed, but not hunched. Rather, it was only his head and gaze that tilted downward, rather than the perpetual rounded-shoulder look that Kaitlyn herself sported. As she watched, his blue-eyed gaze flicked around the cafeteria with idle curiosity, presumably looking for something to eat.

She immediately sat back down. That’s him! The shy looking guy from the game! I’m sure of it! She slowed her breathing. An encounter this soon? She wasn’t ready. She hadn’t planned enough? What would she say? What would he say? 

Her thoughts raced as the brown-haired guy collected his food and checked out. He was walking right towards her. Her mind went blank with panic and excitement. Oh gosh, oh gosh, what do I DO? Act natural, ACT NATURAL!

Hands shaking, Kaitlyn picked up her fork and used it to move around some leftover noodles and crumbs. She avoided eye contact but kept the boy in the corner of her vision. Ok, I’ve seen enough anime to know how this is supposed to go. He’s going to walk up and ask to sit down, and I’ll obviously accept. We’ll start talking, maybe a bit awkwardly at first, but then we’ll really hit it off. Then in the middle of the conversation, one of us will get pulled away - maybe by a call or other plans or something - but oh no! We’ll have forgotten to exchange contact info! That’ll make it all the better when we coincidentally see each other again later. Ok. Good. I got this.

She took a few deep, steadying breaths. As the boy grew nearer, gaze roving around the room, her heart raced. He was right there. Any second now, and her dating sim adventure would begin. Her first encounter, the first step to - 

Their eyes met. For a short moment, Kaitlyn was locked in place by those blue eyes. Then he quickly averted his gaze and kept walking. He didn’t even take a second glance Kaitlyn’s way as he passed the table, carrying his tray towards the back of the dining hall. Her mouth dropped open. What. That’s… That’s it??? Where’s he going?

Sure enough, he kept walking until he reached a table of his own. The brown-haired guy sat down, alone, and started eating.

Kaitlyn felt lightheaded. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. He was supposed to talk to her. At the very least, they should have said hi or something. It was all wrong!

Maybe I can rescue this? She grimaced. I can walk over there – no, I finished eating already. I have no excuse to be there. Maybe I can wait till he leaves and try to catch him then? I mean, not to follow him, that would be creepy, just to get his name at least?

“Excuse me,” Kaitlyn’s thoughts were interrupted by a girl standing near her chair. “Can I join you? Sorry, there’s no other seats.”

Looking around, the dining hall had filled up quickly. There wasn’t a single table open anymore, and Kaitlyn was obviously done eating. “Um. Y-yeah, sorry, I’m done, go ahead.”

The girl thanked her as she woodenly trod over to the dish dropoff. Even her backup plan was no good now. The only thing she could do was leave the building. 

Ok, so. That didn’t go well. Still, that was just one encounter with one guy. Maybe he’s one of the harder ones to talk to or something. Consoling herself, she shifted her thoughts towards the future. She probably wouldn’t make any progress here without looking like a total creep. Still, there were other things that needed doing. Exploring more of the campus for example.

***

The campus was large, but not too large. It only took her an hour of relaxed walking to explore the perimeter fully, and another couple to get a good grasp of the different buildings and areas. The place had an old-style, traditional architecture complete with red bricks and elaborate trims on every building. It wasn’t exactly her aesthetic, but she could appreciate the attention to detail. Still ,with how consistent and well-coordinated the building constructions were, it was pretty obvious that this college didn’t come about organically. It just reinforced her idea that this was a game world.

Still, after all that walking, no hint of another encounter or capture target had made itself known. She hadn’t expected it to, of course - it was her first day, and classes hadn’t even started after all. She made sure to scout out the areas where athletes and more sporty people might hang out though. She didn’t know the hobbies or personalities of the potential guys to date, but she was certain that one of them was an athlete. It was the best lead she had.

Still, she couldn’t get over the missed interaction from earlier. It ran through her head on repeat and she combed through it to figure out what had gone wrong. I guess I should have talked to him first? Like, asked him to sit down? Still, I could have sworn that being in the right place at the right time would be enough… 

Eventually, after making sure she knew where all her classes were, Kaitlyn decided to head back to the dorm. Heather would probably be done moving in by now, and with any luck she’d be out socializing herself. If she wasn’t… Well, maybe she could learn a thing or two about conversation from listening to her.