This is not the date I wanted.

“It’s incredible that I came back alive!”

"It's just a joke."

"Is this a joke?!!!!"

Looking at Shidao's frightened expression as if he had just finished a roller coaster ride, Mengyue couldn't help but chuckle.

"Well, actually, after we came back and finished our meal, we had nothing to do, so we went to the living room of the Elf Apartment to play cards and other games. Look, the light next door is still on."

Shidou saw the brightly lit room of the Elf Apartment, and heard the whine of someone who accidentally drew a joker card. Shidou drooped his shoulders in exhaustion.

"Please Mengyue, don't make such a scary joke. I'm scared to death."

"Well, I'm sorry."

Meng Yue clasped his hands together and apologized to Shidao.

"Speaking of which, where's Maria? Didn't she come back with you?"

"Well, she said she wanted to experience how it would feel to be apart after a date, so we went our separate ways. She probably hasn't come back yet."

"Juya is really serious about the feeling when parting on a date..."

After taking a bite of a potato chip, Meng Yue shook her head and sighed.

"Well, that's where she's changing."

Shidou replied with a wry smile. Although she was very clumsy, Ormori Maria was full of curiosity about everything and was very serious about everything she did. Seeing this, Shidou couldn't help but want to support and help her.

"After we return to the real world, let's come to this world often to play with Maria."

"Well... only Maria can't be considered a happy ending..."

"Hmm? Mengyue, what did you say?"

"Nothing. By the way, Shidou, can you grant me a request?"

Shaking her head gently, as if to change the subject, Mengyue turned off the TV, stood up and walked into the kitchen, took out two insulated lunch boxes and handed them to Shidao.

"This is?"

"Well, one is for a little black cat that's not very honest right now in the park. The other is for you as errand money."

"A black cat? Could it be that Mengyue, you've raised a stray cat from the park or something? Wouldn't it be better to prepare cat food there?"

"If you really do that, not to mention her, I will be furious." Hearing Shidao's question, Meng Yue's mouth twitched slightly, patted Shidao's shoulder, and persuaded, "Anyway, the park is not far from here, just walk around a few times and come back if you can't find it."

Shidou scratched his hair, feeling confused about Mengyue's request.

"Well... I'll give it a try then."

Then, Shidou, who had just returned, put on his shoes and went out again.

————————————————————————————I came to the dividing line of the park————————————————————————————————————————

"Black Cat?"

Walking on the sidewalk at night, Shidou looked around the park with the help of the street lamps, but unfortunately, he did not see the cat that Mengyue mentioned.

"Could it have run off to some other place at this time? Or because it wasn't Meng Yue who came, has it become alert and hidden? And a black cat is hard to see in the dark."

Shidao sighed and began to look for some inconspicuous bushes. Although he did see one or two cats, they were all calico cats with mixed fur.

"Come to think of it, there isn't anyone in this park...?"

Shidou looked around in a strange way. It was just getting dark, and this park wasn't a remote place. If it were in the real world, he should be able to see a few uncles drinking and chatting, or a couple on a night date. However, he couldn't sense any human presence at all...

"I say... you've been wandering around here since a while ago. What are you doing, Gokawa Shido?"

...Okay, just pretend I didn’t say that.

He looked up in the direction of the voice. On the trunk of a big tree, a black girl with the same face as Maria, but with completely opposite clothes and hair color, was sitting there, swinging her slender legs leisurely. Shidou couldn't help but think of the fairies playing in the forest.

Shidou has seen this girl before. She is another manager of this world, the black one or Shou.

"Why... here?"

"I have been staying here the whole time. Rather, this should be my problem, Gokawa Shidao."

Jumping to the ground as light as a feather, Junai stared into Shidou's eyes and said.

"Ah, actually Meng Yue asked me to bring a lunch box to a black cat who was not honest. Did you see it... Or Shou?"

For some reason, when Shidou was halfway through his words, Junai clenched her teeth with an angry look on her face.

A bead of sweat appeared on Shidou's forehead.

Could it be that black cat does not refer to a small animal but is a description of a person... Please, Mengyue, please make this clear in advance.

"Could it be that... this is for you?"

Shidou asked tentatively while holding the lunch box in his hand.

"Humph! It doesn't matter whose it is! It's definitely not mine anyway!"

Junai turned his head and said angrily.

The dishonest black cat... Shidou gave a wry smile and handed a bento to Juna.

"They said it's not mine anymore."

"Don't say that. I'm hungry now too. Mengyue can't find the cat she's looking for anyway. How about you come and eat with us?"

"I won't eat food that's meant for cats."

"The food prepared by our Meng Yue is absolutely praised as cat food."

As Shidao spoke, he opened the lunch box, and a wave of hot air slowly rose up. Inside was freshly cooked rice, covered with seasoned seaweed, and the side dishes were crispy bamboo rolls, cod, and kinpei burdock, and there was also a layer of hot miso soup. Just by asking about the aroma, Shidao felt his appetite was aroused. (Author: Seaweed bento, maybe you want to complain about something. But please put it in your stomach quietly~)

When he opened Juna's portion and saw the exact same configuration, Shidou's guess instantly turned into certainty. How could anyone prepare this kind of thing for a cat as dinner?

stare--

Shidou turned around and looked at Juna who suddenly raised her head and pretended to look up at the starry sky.

"It's a seaweed bento."

"Don't treat me like a fool, of course I know!"

"Let's eat together. I can't finish the portion for two people."

"Well, well - since you've come this far, I might as well accompany you for a while."

Junai took the lunch box reluctantly. The two sat on a public chair and started to enjoy the food.

"So warm..."

After taking a sip of the soup, a hint of surprise appeared on Junai's face.

"Well, the park is very cold at night. That's why Meng Yue uses an insulated lunch box. She still cares about others in secret as always."

After taking a bite of the fried bamboo roll, Shidao found it so delicious that he couldn't help but think of asking Mengyue for advice on how to make it in a few days.

"How is it? It's delicious, isn't it, Junai?"

"It's not you who did it, why are you so proud..." Junai ate his lunch box with an unconvinced look on his face, and then he seemed to suddenly think of something and looked at Shidao in surprise, "Why do you know my name?"

You know, although Maruna had met Gokawa Shido several times, she never told him her name.

Could it be that Meng Yue revealed her existence to others...

Junai's face instantly turned as cold as ice.

"Hmm?" Shidou tilted his head and pointed at the bento in Junai's hand, "Isn't it written on it?"

Junai looked at the lunch box in her hand, and saw her name written on it, as if to mark the owner. If you look closely at Shidao's lunch box, you can also see the katakana of "しどう（士道）".

"..."

During a period of silence that felt a little depressing, Shidou began to try to find a new topic.

"It turns out that you and Mengyue know each other."

"Well... it's just bad fate. Now I regret why I went over to warn them."

Looking at the thermos box in his hand, Junai laughed and said "Tsk!"

"You're still thinking about something like this... You're so naive that it's annoying."

I don't know why, but Shidou felt a little sad. He was laughing at others, but the expression on his face seemed to be laughing at himself.

"Meng Yue... maybe she wants to treat you as her own family."

"Family... Itsuka Shidou, can you treat a guy like me with unknown origins as a partner?"

Shidou exhaled slowly, looked Maria in the eyes, and answered seriously.

"Although your origins are indeed unknown, I don't think you are a bad person. If Mengyue thinks so, I will choose to believe Mengyue and convince everyone to accept you."

"Not a bad person... Really, you and Liang Yi Meng Yue are both like this. This kind of naivety will cost you your lives in the future."

After making a cold threat, Junai turned around and prepared to leave.

Then, he suddenly turned back with a red face.

"Let me make it clear first. Although I didn't know my name would be written on the box, the so-called dishonest little black cat or something - it's definitely not me!"

After giving such a harsh warning, Junai really disappeared from Shidao's sight this time.

Mengyue, I seem to understand your intention of calling me here to meet Junai.

Looking at the other bento box that had disappeared to who knows where, Shidou couldn't help but smile and shook his head.

09 or defend the line 4th day

==============================

Today is the fourth day that Liangyi Mengyue has come to this game world.

No, in fact, after many reload cycles, such counting is no longer meaningful.

Today's date is for Maria, Origami, Kotori, Yui, Yoshino, and Shidou to go to the amusement park together.

Because both Yoshino and Yui are relatively quiet types, Yoshino's personality is also suitable for livening up the atmosphere, and Kotori with a white hairband is just a simple brother-loving sister, and without Tohka, Origami should not cause too much commotion. Basically, there is nothing that will make Mengyue feel worried.

Well, although in a haunted house or a Ferris wheel, where it is easy for two people to be together, Origami will probably do something strange to Shidou, but there is no need to worry about such a small matter. (Shidou: "Hey!")

"Well, we're ready to go out."

“Have a nice trip~”

On the balcony of her own house, Mengyue leaned against the fence and waved goodbye to Shidao, Maria and others who were about to leave.

"So...what should I do next?"

There would be no new games published in the game space, and the games on hand were basically played out during the reincarnation period. So Mengyue decided to go out and have a look.

He stretched slowly, changed his clothes, and went out alone.

……

Orumi Maruna was currently walking in this computer world, in this city of Tengu.

Although it was a walk, it was not walking on the streets in the common sense. The walls of the buildings, the lake surface of the park, and even the air without any footsteps, like a ghost. Ignoring the basic laws of physics, Junai strolled in every corner of Tiangong City.

If this happened in the real world, Maruna would have probably attracted the attention of the world as a UMA (Note: Unconfirmed Life Form). However, Maruna, who set the "recognition shield" setting on himself, did not attract anyone's attention.

Such an inexplicable action was purely a whim of Junai.

Once upon a time, Shoujuya came to a conclusion - the same thing will be understood differently at different times and in different places.

At first, Junai scoffed at this. In her opinion, the so-called different understandings of things are just because humans cannot receive complete information about things, and they draw conclusions based on the partial information they receive and through subjective thinking that can be called arbitrary.

Streets made of data, storefronts made of data, trees made of data, cities made of data.

Not to mention the grass and trees in this city, all the information in this world is under the control of "Huo Shou". In this world, there is nothing that Junai does not know.

Originally... that's what Junai thought.

“Is this city… like this?”

Walking through the alley, Junai touched the wall whose paint had already peeled off, and the palm of his hand felt the roughness of the uneven mud bricks and the coldness of the inorganic material.

Honestly, it's not a comfortable feeling.

But there is indeed a "truth" in this that I have never experienced before.