The monthly test was over, and Golden Week—the so-called "golden holiday" from April 29 to May 5—had begun.
Watanabe Tetsu had come to Tokyo during the cherry blossom season. Now the blossoms had long since fallen, replaced by lush green leaves. A month had passed.
Back home, it should be rice-planting season.
Every year at this time, Tetsu's parents would leave at four in the morning to plant rice. Except for a brief rest at noon, they would spend the entire day in the fields.
When he was young, his parents felt sorry for him because he was smart. Even if he wanted to help, they would make him stay home to read or play. As he got older, the village bought a rice-planting machine, and his own stamina had declined; he couldn't even help with weeding.
He couldn't bend for long. The weeds cut into his skin, leeches greedily sucked his blood, and horseflies swarmed above his head, driving him insane.
"I guess I could still plant potatoes, though," he muttered defensively, thinking the only thing he could do was study.
Planting potatoes was simple: cut, dig holes, bury them, and cover with fallen leaves from the mountain. That was it.
Before the holidays, Tetsu had called his family and arranged to stay in Tokyo to work. He would return home during summer vacation.
Dressed in casual clothes, he took the train to Shinjuku and found the Warlga Clothing Store where he would work.
"You're Watanabe Tetsu, right? Your job is to stand at the crossroads ahead and hold the advertising sign. You can rest a bit if you get tired, but not for too long. Understand?"
"Understood."
The crossroad in front of Warlga Clothing marked the entrance to Shinjuku's bar street. From here, he could see almost all the women passing by.
Standing there holding a sign for hours…
Tetsu had originally hoped for a traffic survey job—sitting and counting pedestrians and cars—but, of course, nothing in life was that convenient.
There were survey jobs, yes, but not at this street corner.
If he didn't work, a student loitering near the red-light district would surely be questioned by the police.
Plus, working while scouting potential targets meant he could earn money. He had only around 4,000 yen left.
Physical labor like this paid far better than a regular department store job.
Although he had points that could be exchanged for money, he wanted to save them for intelligence, stamina, and charm. With two days until May, he might want to buy a new skill.
Holding the sign, Tetsu stood at the busy intersection. Besides him, there were people in mascot costumes handing out flyers, doing the same job.
So many passersby—using the [Detector] on every woman wasn't realistic.
No older women, no unattractive women, no non-single women, and nothing too modestly dressed would work.
"Hey, handsome, want to go to a café?"
"Eh~~? Yukie, this cutie is clearly a cram school student!"
"Just being handsome is enough. Maybe even a virgin~~!"
Tetsu looked at the woman approaching him. Her shirt was unbuttoned, showing her collarbone in a bold and tempting way. She was reasonably attractive.
Character: Kuroda YukieCharm: 5[Pass]
"Sorry, I'm working right now. If you want to buy clothes, please visit Warlga."
He bowed and walked away.
Damn, makeup tricked him!
By his estimate, her charm should've been six points.
Kuroda Yukie tried to follow, but her companions shouting "There's a cop here!" pulled her away.
A nearby high school girl dressed as a maid, handing out flyers, laughed: "You're popular, huh."
"I just want to work quietly," Tetsu replied with a bitter smile.
This girl had been trying to talk to him since they first met.
Were older-women-younger-men romances popular in Tokyo? Or was it just that being handsome was enough?
Growing up in a remote village with only five students in his entire school, Tetsu had never been this popular.
Now in Tokyo, it was letters, greetings, and flirtations everywhere.
He suddenly remembered a line from a past-life movie by Makoto Shinkai, Your Name:
"Next life, let me be a Tokyo heartthrob."
Maybe this was just what life as a Tokyo heartthrob was like. He just needed to get used to it.
Legs aching, arms tired from holding the sign, Tetsu had used three attempts and hadn't found a single target.
He had tried to scan the most attractive women. Apart from Kuroda Yukie's five-point charm, the other two women were six and seven points—but all showed [Pass].
Perhaps eight charm points were required, or maybe there were hidden conditions besides charm.
Returning the sign to the store, he collected today's wages. Normally pay wasn't daily, but Golden Week temporary workers could get paid right away.
Four hours of work earned him 5,200 yen.
Hourly pay was 1,300 yen—a high rate—but the job was tough.
Tetsu figured that if he kept this up, his stamina could easily reach four, maybe even five points.
But he had been naive—he underestimated society.
Women in Shinjuku, especially those going to bars, were masters of makeup. Their natural attractiveness was higher than expected.
With his inability to detect makeup, searching for targets here was a waste of points and time.
Cram schools were better—makeup was prohibited. Even the prettiest girls could only wear light makeup or dye their hair slightly.
The [Detector] cost 1,000 points. Including money spent on dinner—lunch was provided by the store—he actually lost over 9,000 yen that day.
So for the next six days of Golden Week, except for a trip to Akihabara with Kunii Osamu and Saito Keisuke, Tetsu focused on work and studying, avoiding wasting points in Shinjuku.
On May 1 at dawn, the game shop refreshed:
Items: Detector (1 / 1,000), Healing Potion (1 / 1,000)
Money: 100 yen / 1 point
Intelligence: 1 / 100,000 points
Charm: 1 / 10,000 points
Stamina: 1 / 5,000 points
Skills: Beginner—Flower Arrangement (100), Competent—Cooking (1,000), Expert—Driving (10,000), Master—Free Fighting (100,000)
Tetsu examined the new [Healing Potion]. As the name implied, it healed injuries but not illnesses.
Still, it was useful: as long as it wasn't instantly fatal and points remained, he could survive.
Rule 1: "Player death has no relation to this game. No resurrection obligation."
It constantly reminded him that this was no ordinary romance game.
Better safe than sorry.
Next were this month's five skills. Apart from "Cooking," the other four were all new.
Tetsu was most interested in the master-level Free Fighting.
No man wouldn't want it. Even without starting fights, being strong in combat gave confidence. A gentleman should keep his abilities hidden: if no one provokes him, he provokes no one. But if provoked, he can respond decisively.
The competent-level Cooking skill was also tempting. According to the rules, it was enough to cook delicious meals, freeing him from relying on convenience store lunch boxes.
He could bring leftovers to school for lunch, saving money.
Wait—saving points was more important than money! What if a better skill appeared next, like Free Fighting? He wanted it badly.
The game seemed to be tempting him to earn points by becoming a "player."
On May 3 at 7 p.m.:
Check-in Days: Tamamo Homami – 1 week
Check-in Rewards: 100,000 yen, 50% Charm Voucher (player charm must be ≤10, can only redeem 1 point)
Redeeming one charm point cost 10,000 points; half off meant 5,000. Tetsu had only 4,000 points and still needed more for [Detector].
He could only redeem one point to continue leveling up as a "Tokyo Heartthrob."
May 6, the first day back at school.
In the morning, both teachers and students were restless, still caught up in the holiday mindset.
At noon, the school bulletin board posted the monthly test rankings.
"Want to see?" Saito asked the others.
"Why bother?" Kunii scoffed.
From their conversation, Tetsu could roughly guess their rankings.
Saito had the ability to rank in the top twenty, following the tradition of students entering top schools from Kamikawa Cram School. Kunii's name would be found much further back.
Tetsu thought: "Let's wait twenty minutes. Too crowded now."
Twenty minutes later, during the second half of lunch break, the crowd had thinned around the cafeteria, bakery, and bulletin board.
"All right," Saito agreed, pulling out his phone to share a game with the others.
Kunii frowned. "I've been playing this game. Don't fall for it!"
"Why not?" Saito asked curiously.
"I suspect false advertising! SSRs aren't even in the pool!"
"That's just bad luck," Tetsu said with a smile.
"Nonsense! I couldn't be unlucky!" Kunii insisted, blaming the company.
"By the way," Tetsu remembered homeroom, "Kunii, how's it going with Yamaguchi Naomi?"
Kunii grinned shyly: "Hehe, we chat on LINE every day."
"You better treat her!" Saito punched him lightly.
"Treat her to what?"
"Don't try to weasel out! Didn't we say? Whoever has a girlfriend, treats the others!"
"No problem, no problem!"
Tetsu stayed quiet. His situation with Tamamo probably didn't count, right?
After chatting a bit, the three went to the bulletin board, where three or four students were already gathered.
Tetsu started from the top:
Rank: 1 – Rin Seino
Okay.
Rank: 2 – Miki Yuuki
"."
Rank: 3 – Watanabe Tetsu
Good. He maintained his previous rank.
If he had dropped despite all his effort, he would have had to return home and kneel before his hardworking parents.
Saito admired him: "Amazing, Tetsu! If you stay in the top five, you could get recommended for Tokyo High School!"
"If I maintain this level, I don't need recommendations," Tetsu said casually.
Saito nodded: "True."
"What about you?"
"I thought I did well… ended up 31st. Planning to consult my parents about a cram school."
"Already?"
"One step behind and you fall further. Koizumi-sensei said, 'The start is important.'"
Tetsu nodded and looked at Kunii, who hadn't said a word: "How'd you do?"
Kunii looked miserable: "121st."
Four classes of forty students each—121st was near the back.
Tetsu patted his shoulder: "Don't give up. None of us did well this time. Let's work together to improve next test."
"You didn't do well?!" Kunii shouted, attracting passing students' attention.
"Kunii, during Golden Week, I learned something."
"You think humans have limits? Planning to quit being human?"
Tetsu shook his head seriously: "As a Tokyo heartthrob, even if I can't be number one, I must keep improving. That's the real charm."
"Get lost!"