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Chapter 4: Is this a bug?

HISSSS

A warning hiss.

MROWW!

A cat's loud yowl, loud in a shrieking intensity of pain.

In his dream, Cale opens his eyes. He's standing on red-stained grass. There's so much red. Red everywhere, on the ground, on his shoes, on his uniform, on his hands. He's choking. His chest hurts.

An unbearable urge to cough rises.

"Urk...!"

Cale's eyes fling open. He sees a white ceiling. Sitting up, he checks his surroundings— it's his own dorm room. What the hell was that dream? Dreaming of blood feels ominous. He's not a particularly superstitious man by any means, but yesterday's dream came true in the strongest sense of deja vu he's ever experienced in his life. What if today's dream comes true too? Should he just stay in bed...? No, his attendance rating is already too low.

Cale ruffles his messy hair with a sigh. He's too awake to go back to sleep, so he prepares for the day and sits at his desk, opening his diary. He met more characters yesterday and has more questions to solve, especially with the affection ratings.

Eric Wheelsman.

His abilities are a solid B rank. While not typically considered handsome, he has a friendly and welcoming face that grows on you the more you look at it. Equipped with round, gold-rimmed glasses and fluffy hair, he leans more to the cute side.

Eric Wheelsman has a small but dedicated fanbase. He's the older brother next door kind of type, constantly a worrywart but always there for you. He's the type of guy who makes sure you're not cold in the movie theatre by draping his coat over your shoulders. The type of guy who will bend down to tie your loosened shoelaces for you while chastising you gently about how dangerous it is to not tie them properly. While it might not be an exciting sort of route, there's an undeniable charm in ordinary happiness.

In the bad end, he dies protecting Mary in a futile attempt to save her, since she dies right after him to the same sword. The CGI ends with them lying on the ground side by side as the pools of their blood join together. It's a sad cannon fodder sort of ending, yet there were fans who hyped it up saying it's romantic.

What's so romantic about being dead? Cale doesn't get it.

The biggest issue is the unexplained affection rating of 40%. Even Beacrox had 1%.

Beacrox...

Isn't he too scary as a character? Back when he was playing the game, Cale thought Beacrox looked pretty menacing, like someone belonging to the underworld. Seeing him in the flesh was much scarier, what with his imposing and threatening aura. And what kind of cafeteria chef threw a knife at students?

Even though Beacrox was a side character, he had a very devout and fanatic female fanbase, so much so that it led him to have his own route in an upcoming update. Since Cale never managed to play it, he has no idea what Beacrox's good and bad routes are, making Beacrox dangerous and unpredictable.

He should avoid him.

Cale circles the affection numbers with a red pen, frowning. Is Mary actually here already? Does she visit the academy before transferring?

Maybe he should check the student directory. With that goal in mind, Cale opens the door of his dorm room, tossing an apple up and down in his free hand.

Thump!

"Hm?" When Cale checks for the source of the sound, he finds a bag hanging from his doorknob. It contains the items he asked Hans for. A container of small white vitamins, unlabelled. Then, the small baggies of red fluid...