Kazuichi finds Chiaki (again) and some more triggers.

Kazuichi’s face broke out in a filed-tooth grin of relief when he saw Chiaki in the final room of the arcade. There were no cabinets in this one, which seemed to be something like a reservation-ready party room with a TV and game consoles. Chiaki was ignoring all of those, perched on the couch with her handheld gaming system and a passive, resting frown. Her legs were tucked up, and Kazuichi found himself staring at her exposed thighs in spite of himself.

“Chiaki!” Kazuichi shouted, first in relief, then growing concern. “Chiaki? Chiaki! I want… I want…” he began to trail off. “Wait a minute. What the heck was I lookin’ in here for, again?” He paused, feeling dueling senses of deja vu and missing something important. He stared at Chiaki, who still hadn't noticed him due to the earbuds she was wearing.

The gears in his head turned fruitlessly. “Okay, so I found Chiaki... Why was I looking for Chiaki? Oh yeah!" A bit of a previous conversation popped into his head, so he tried to extrapolate from there. "I was trying to get out of the simulation, but I realized... on the way over here... that this Chiaki's a fake. So, I gotta find another way out, and the way I got out last time was when I had that business with Mikan. So I guess I came here cause I was gonna use the dummy Chiaki this time... Well! That's probably for the best, anyway."

He'd said it was "for the best" because he was doing some mental moral calculus: it was better because he'd avoid messing with any of the other simulated personalities here, his friends in the real world, whereas even the real "Chiaki" was just an artificial intelligence inside this simulation.

The real Chiaki... The one in the real world, she was...

Kazuichi started to feel uncomfortable. Then, he started to feel light-headed. He forgot the uncomfortable idea as his focus moved to the new light-headedness. "Oh crap... Yeah, I've been in this place too long. How long, actually? Ain't Hiyoko supposed to be watching me and waking me up in the time limit? I'm gonna have to get myself outta here, pronto. Gonna have to do it the only way I know how."

Now that he'd made up his mind, he gulped, staring at the **** young woman curled up on the couch. She still hadn't noticed him at all. It wasn't strange for Chiaki to get deep in the zone and ignore the outside world, from what he could remember. However, he was standing only a couple of feet from her, and her eyes were still glued exclusively on that screen in front of her.

He tried giving her a light tap on the shoulder. Eventually, her eyelids rose, awareness dawning on her. She turned her head to face him. "Kazuichi, what's up?" she spoke in a sleepy voice, not looking fully awake as she pulled out her earbuds.

Even when he took a moment to respond, she continued looking at him with blank eyes. Finally, when he took a few seconds and couldn't find words, her face changed, reflecting the surprise he'd expected. As she stared at him, her eyes widened even further, making an expression he thought he had seen before, just once, a long time ago. It was a bit more than surprise or shock. It was from a time he didn't want to think about. She began to speak in an uncharacteristically shaky voice, quiet and full of emotion. "I'm... still here?" she muttered. "I'm still here..."

"Huh? Yeah, I guess," The mechanic replied, taking a seat next to her on the couch and pulling out his Usami Tablet without so much as hiding the screen. "Ain't too strange to find you hanging around an arcade, though, is it?"

"Not that. I'm talking about this place..." she trailed off. Her eyes fell on the device Kazuichi held in his hands. The two of them looked at it together, but while Kazuichi's eyes casually scanned his trigger list, Chiaki's brow furrowed in a rare look of distress. "I'm still here... but I can't read what's on your screen. She found me hiding in her dummy, but... she didn't get rid of me? She has to be planning something..."

Kazuichi was finding it surprisingly easy to tune out what the fake Chiaki was saying, focusing on the trigger information on the screen.

Chiaki Nanami:

• When she sees a video game's active screen and can play it, Chiaki will focus completely on the video game unless eye contact with the game is broken or she is touched by you. When she breaks out of the trance, she'll ask you "what's up." If you respond with a sentence starting with "Chiaki, you were-," she will take the sentence as a truthful recollection of intentions she, herself, had. Whatever she was thinking of when she started playing her video game will be forgotten and become difficult for her to think about, permanently. Previously done: None. Previously forgotten: None.
• If she hears you say the word "SAVE," then hears you say the word "LOAD" within five minutes...

Now, it was Kazuichi who was staring distracted at a screen while Chiaki tried to get his attention. "Kazuichi. Kazuichi, please, listen to me. Alter Ego-"

Before she could continue, Kazuichi set his tablet in his lap, grabbed the console from her lap, then tapped its screen, not paying any regard to where. Even though she was urgently trying to speak, her eyes couldn't help but drift to the game system. As soon as they landed on the screen, she forgot about Kazuichi entirely and blankly returned to the game, grabbing it from him as though he'd offered it.

"Okay. So this one ain't tricky to figure out. I can practice it here. If I say 'SAVE!'" he shouted, assuming it had to be loud because of how it'd been written in all caps on the screen. "And then I say 'LOAD!' ... Aaand, nothing. Right, I guess she can't really hear anything in this state. Uh, I guess I'll test how the wake up thing works. Maybe I should see how crazy it can get." He snagged the game thoughtlessly from the girl sitting next to him, taking a moment to put his own tablet aside on the table.

Chiaki sat there for a moment with her fingers pinching nothing in the air, her distant eyes following the stolen handheld before settling back on the man who'd taken it. "What's up, Kazuichi?"

"Chiaki, you were... uh, you were doing a handstand while telling me about the game you'd just been playing."

"Oh..." She frowned, then sprung up off the couch. "I was playing Mega Man X, the first one... are you sure this is what we were talking about? I feel like there was..." her eyes widened. "Oh, yeah. It was that, probably. Much more important. Listen, Kazuichi, I've got to talk about this quick because there's something much, much more important."

With an expression of concentration, Chiaki tried to press her hands to the carpet in the middle of the room. Then, her feet left the ground, and her stocking-clad legs kicked in the air for just a second before she tumbled forward onto her back. "Ow..." She sat up, rubbing her back and wincing while shooting Kazuichi an impatient frown. "So, Mega Man X is the first game in the successor series to Mega Man, first appearing on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System..." She looked around the room uncertainly as she rose to her feet.

"How about you use the couch?" Kazuichi interrupted.

"Oh. Oh yeah. Thanks," she nodded, walking over to the arm of the couch. Carefully, she pressed her hands to the floor next to it, then flipped her legs into the air, trying to prop herself up against the furniture to make the gymnastic maneuver easier. "So Mega Man X is a Maverick Hunter whose job is to take out Mavericks, robots who have betrayed humanity... D-don't look, please," she interrupted herself, suddenly urgent.

Of course, there was no way for her to enforce that, or even to see if he was honoring the request or not. As such, he didn't bother to hide it as he watched her short, pleated skirt succumb to gravity, revealing the point where the flesh of her weakly-kicking thighs squished into the pink pixel-patterned panties she couldn't defend. "SAVE!" he shouted, eager to keep experimenting.

"Mega Man X fights... eight Mavericks... led by Sigma... the former captain of the Maverick Hunters..." Chiaki tried to keep her description going, struggling to hold the position. She may be pretty and curvy, but she wasn't athletic. Even with the help of the couch, she was struggling. "Is that enough yet? The-the other thing... I need to talk about-"

"LOAD!" Kazuichi shouted, not feeling especially concerned about Chiaki's struggle.

There was a concerning blip, but it lasted less than a second. Kazuichi wasn't sure there'd been any effect until he saw Chiaki's legs kicking in an eerily familiar pattern. "Mega Man X fights... eight Mavericks... led by Sigma... the former captain of the Maverick Hunters..." she grunted again. "Is that enough-"

"LOAD!" Kazuichi tried once more.

"Mega Man X fights... eight Mavericks... led by-"

"LOAD!"

"Mega Man X fights... eight Mavericks..."

"Load."

"Mega Man X fights... eight Mavericks..."

"Hehe. Looks like it doesn't need to be so loud, after all. Okay, let's try something a little different... Sorry about this, Chiaki!" Not looking especially sorry, the young man licked his lips, then reached over to grab one of Chiaki's plump, caterwauling legs. His grip landed not on the stocking, but on the bare flesh of her thigh.

He felt her muscle go tight in recognition of what he'd done. "K-Kazuichi! Please, you have to stop... I was talking about the eight Mavericks... led by Sigma..."

Kazuichi let his touch travel down Chiaki's pale skin until he was touching the side of her hip. Now, his hand was under the strap of her panties, touching soft, pliant flesh. Without really meaning to, he'd gotten it in deep, grabbing a handful not of the side of her hips but of the actual ass cheek.

He got one of Chiaki's signature Mary Janes in the face for his troubles. It seemed Chiaki was able to retaliate without breaking her handstand or her information dump. "Gaah! That still hurts! Load, load!"

The pain in his face disappeared, along with his grip on Chiaki. They were both reset back to the saved positions, the young man seated and the young woman trying her best at a handstand, just losing the fight with gravity. Kazuichi rubbed his chin in spite of the lack of any bruise, still listening to Chiaki go over now well-chewed definition of what a Maverick was. There was no sign that her panties had been displaced, and all of her distress at his touch was gone. "Wowee... These triggers are nuts, especially when it's just two of us. It's almost too easy. I barely have to think about it!"

"Triggers... Triggers!" Chiaki suddenly shouted with urgency. "That's right, triggers... K-Kazuichi, the first boss players will typically face is Chill Penguin, as his stage and boss fight can often be cleared without the use of other weapons..."

"Oookay, welp, this makes how I get out of here simple. The faster I get out of here, the faster I can save the real Chiaki. I think." Kazuichi grabbed Chiaki's game console, helpfully turning it upside down and setting it in front of her face for her. As he expected, she collapsed onto her side, abruptly cutting off her explanation, then scrambled to put her fingers on the grips of the handheld and resume gaming. He looked at his trigger list again, eager to take as many shortcuts as possible.

Chiaki Nanami:

• When she sees a video game's active screen and can play it, Chiaki will focus completely on the video game unless eye contact with the game is broken or she is touched by you. When she breaks out of the trance, she'll ask you "what's up." If you respond with a sentence starting with "Chiaki, you were-," she will take the sentence as a truthful recollection of intentions she, herself, had. Whatever she was thinking of when she started playing her video game will become difficult for her to think about, permanently. Previously done: You were doing a handstand, you were explaining the game you were playing. Previously forgotten: Alter Ego, Triggers.
• If she hears you say the word "SAVE," then hears you say the word "LOAD" within five minutes, the world will roll back to just after the moment you said "SAVE." You cannot register a new SAVE point within one minute of the last SAVE point. You can LOAD any number of times from the SAVE point. Current state: SAVE cooldown (10 seconds).
• When the two of you are about to engage in any romantic or sexual activity but before it starts, if you tell her she has a cool gamer shirt...

As he watched the countdown clock on SAVE continue in real time, he noticed an additional Help message. "What's that? Oh! Sweet, I got a free upgrade. Something about a 'glitch apology.' Whatever, works for me! Kyehehe! These other two are so powerful, I can get what I need with just them. Might as well make the one I don't know about spicier." He tapped through, and although the result didn't display yet, he had a good feeling about it.

Good feelings! It was all good feelings now. Finally, the fact that he was dealing with electronic simulation of his friends was becoming easier for him to grasp. The real Chiaki had basically given him her blessing to do whatever he wanted with this fake. She evidently didn't intend to cast any judgment on him for it. Besides, this was the right path forward to get him back, happy and healthy and ready to do more work. Sooner or later, he'd be getting the AI back to Hajime and the others in the real world, returning as a hero.

Besides...

"It's not like I'll be doing something really twisted to her. I mean, I'm not gonna hurt her. Just make it a little exciting for myself." he told himself. Finally, he thought that didn't sound wrong. When he looked down at the Chiaki huddled over a game system on the floor, empty-eyed and with her short skirt not fully straightened from her earlier attempt at a handstand, she looked less like a friend he was manipulating and more like a doll he was playing with. A therapy tool.

"Yeah... this'll just be a little experimentation... and if something does go wrong, if I do something I end up regrettin', I can literally rewind time here! So, no sweat. I can even get a little creative with this! With Save and Load, if that last trigger is a random result, I'll treat it like one of those gacha machines, kyehehe!" Kazuichi laughed to himself, probably not realizing how he'd look to anyone who happened to see him practically drooling over the possibilities. "No sweat..."

Even if he said that, and even if he was smiling, his palms were feeling very sweaty as he reached down and hastily snatched the console from Chiaki once more. "All right, Dummy. Wakey wakey..." He watched her slowly return to awareness, heard her ask the expected question, and grinned down into her face as he spoke in a raspy voice, without hesitation. "Chiaki, you were just about to... give me some sexy service until you make me cum." His dopey grin separated for a moment as a gasp escaped his lips. "Oh right, uh, SAVE!"

Chiaki stared at him blankly, as if her mind was catching up. Her face gradually screwed up. She never had terribly strong changes in expression, but the sleepiness had clearly left her as color rose to her cheeks. "... I was? I don't think that sounds like me."

"... Ah," Kazuichi gulped, thrown for a loop by the unexpected reaction. "You were, though."

"... I see. Wasn't there something more important, though?" she asked, tilting her head quizzically. "Somebody... had done something..."

"No, uh... d-don't think so! You're... gonna do it for me, right? I mean, sorry, not a question. You are gonna do it." He began to consider if he needed to load and try this again.

"... Yeah. I guess I am," she agreed, placing her hands timidly at her chest and blushing even more strongly. "Even though I'm just a therapy program, I guess... I can do that. Since I've got to. But, um... what did you have in mind?"

Kazuichi had another dry gulp. "W-what the hell? Why do I have to tell you? I thought it was supposed to just happen- Ah! I forgot! It's actually a good thing it didn't happen yet! I forgot about the stupid shirt thing." Without being furtive about it, he glanced back at his pad to confirm the trigger one more time, then smiled expectantly. "Before we start, uh... Cool gamer shirt?"

There was a loud, congratulatory beep from his tablet, one only he could hear. Apparently, the timing had been right. Neither of them noticed, however, as Chiaki took a look down at herself to see what had just changed. Of course, she had been wearing a white button-up blouse a moment ago, not what one would traditionally call a "gamer shirt" and an outfit choice which didn't "say" much of anything (except, perhaps, painting her as an innocent student). Now, however...