Chapter 74 – Together

Once a year, there would be a release for the new franchise of the famed game, "I was reincarnated after being king; now let's go on an adventure!"

It was an ongoing single player story game that focused on the main character, Artor. Artor was a powerful king that stood atop all of humanity in his past life. Power, wealth, fame, he had it all. However, he was a man who had no purpose in life. Losing everything that had meaning to him, Artor gave up on life.

On his deathbed, Artor prayed for there to be a forgiving afterlife.

Somehow, his prayers were listened to.

Reincarnated into a world of swords and magic, Artor decided to give it his all and become a better man than he was in his past life.

It was an action-packed game that had spanned many sequels and has continued to be released to this day.

That very game is now releasing another installment in the franchise.

In the past few years, Takei camped outside of a game store at midnight in order to be one of the first to be able to get the game.

Due to the high popularity and demand of the game, it often sold out minutes after midnight struck.

This resulted in many people camping outside of game stores for the midnight release.

If the game wasn't bought at the midnight release, it could go out of stock for months.

With prior knowledge of this, Takei packed up some stuff for camping out and headed out to the game store.

Unsurprisingly, he was stopped before he even left his house.

Akari also wanted to go since she wanted to support his endeavors. A small part of it was her selfish wish to want to be with him.

"Takei, I can't leave you by yourself. I'll be scared if something happens to you. What if some woman tries to take you away?!"

"Your true thoughts are leaking out..."

Rubbing the temples on his face, Takei was exasperated to see Akari in such a pitiful state.

At the same time, he felt bad about leaving her.

Not being able to withstand the feeling of guilt any longer, Takei let in to the goddess's desires.

"Fine, but you need to go get permission."

"Yay~"

Almost as if Akari had predicted this development, she pulled out her phone and showed Takei the chat conversation with her mother.

Yuriko had already given her permission beforehand, since Akari knew Takei would've given up if she pouted.

"Luckily, this tent is able to fit two people."

Takei had brought along a tent he had bought years earlier for the annual game campout session.

As if fate had decided it, the tent was just barely big enough for two people to fit.

After grabbing their belongings, Takei and Akari headed out to the store.

It was quite a short walk, since the game store was a popular chain location that was all over the place.

Reaching the game store at approximately seven in the evening, Takei and Akari breathed a sigh of relief.

There were only a few people camping outside at the current moment, so that would all but guarantee Takei's chances of being able to buy the game.

The only thing now was to wait it out.

Takei promptly set up the small tent and invited Akari inside.

It was definitely enough for two people, but just barely.

At any point in time, their bodies were in constant contact with each other.

Takei's head was slowly filling up with inappropriate thoughts, but he quickly removed them from his mind.

In comparison, Akari's cheeks were turning their typical vermillion red. This mostly only happened when she was around Takei for some reason.

Focus... We're here for the new game, not for anything else. Focus...focus...focus...

Repeating the same thing over and over again, Takei steeled his mind against the onslaught of naughty thoughts.

"Hey, Takei?"

As his toughest battle began, an angelic voice interrupted his inner conflict.

"Yeah? What's wrong?"

He tried to keep his voice calm and stable, but Takei knew that there was a high chance Akari would be able to see through him.

In a weak and shy voice, Akari responded to his concerns.

"I'm feeling a bit naughty right now..."

Luckily, the tent was mostly soundproof so no one else could've heard the goddess's sweet whisper.

After saying that, Akari inched closer to Takei and nuzzled her face against his chest.

Having levelled up from his large amount of experience with the goddess, Takei had reached a point where he felt no shame in spoiling Akari anymore.

In fact, he really enjoyed indulging Akari so Takei hoped he could do so more in the future.

Stroking her hair, Takei decided to nibble on her ears as well.

"Nom."

"Eek!"

Apparently, the stimulation was too much for her.

Akari immediately put a hand over her mouth as a scream tried to escape.

She was in shock due to the herbivore Takei finally being proactive for once.

Seeing Akari in a rare expression of surprise, Takei felt bad about his recent action.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me... You must hate me..."

"No! I could never hate you! I was just surprised..."

Due to Takei's self-deprecation, Akari explained her confusion in a flustered manner.

"Just... tell me in advance next time, okay?"

Realizing that Akari was hinting at a next time, Takei's expression immediately brightened up.

He didn't want his treasured person to ever hate him, that's why he had been playing it safe around her for a long time.

However, even herbivores have times where they can't always stick to their normal routines.

Takei wanted to touch her more, not in the inappropriate sense, but in the sense of attraction.

He wanted to be able to show his genuine affection better.

All throughout his life, Takei struggled with showing his emotions to other people. He just found the concept of showing emotions to be too troublesome and energy consuming.

However, he now had a reason to show someone his raw and unbridled feelings.

The catalyst was obviously the person sitting in front of him.

Petting her head one last time, Takei noticed that the time was about to switch to the next day.

"Let's not forget the main purpose for once, shall we?"

Takei extended his hand out to Akari.

"Fufufu, let's go."

Grabbing the outstretched hand back, Akari was lifted to her feet in a hurry.

For once, they were finally able to get their main objective done.

---

Akari's Final Affection Meter: 35 -> 39%

Takei's Mental Limits: ERROR, EXCEEDING CAPACITY

Sugar-san: This is my victory!