Chapter 12: Miss Gotoh's Mental State is Concerning
Gotoh Hitori had heard many rumors about Minami Shouji.
Born in the countryside, he made his way from a small, unremarkable junior high school in Akita, a region with scarce educational resources, all the way to Shuka High School in Bunkyo District.
Then, in just one year of his first year in high school, with an absolutely unshakable gap, he kicked the previous year's top student off the throne and firmly took the number one spot, a position that no one could challenge even now.
There was a saying circulating within the school.
Minami Shouji's perfect score wasn't because he could only score perfect, but because the exam was only graded out of a perfect score.
If his academic achievements were good, that would still be acceptable, but the key was that Minami Shouji was also extremely good-looking.
With all these factors combined, he became the true center of the campus.
And this was exactly the state that Gotohhh Hitori had always dreamed of.
Even sitting there in silence, there was a sense of mystery in others' eyes.
Just standing up to go to the bathroom, there were people willing to approach her first.
How wonderful would it be if one day, she could be this popular...?
Gotohhh Hitori had imagined herself as Minami Shouji more than once at night—
"Ah, so you want to be friends with me?"
"Since you've already knelt down to beg me...anything is possible."
"Hehehe... I'm Gotohh Hitori... I'm the top student in my grade, the most beautiful woman, I'm a guitar hero... everyone's favorite..."
Gotohh Hitori let out a silly "ho ho ho" laugh from her throat.
Minami Shouji, who was sitting next to her, had been staring at her for a long time but couldn't help but pat her face: "Hey, Ms. Guitar Hero, snap out of it."
"Eh... slurp... Mi-, Minami-senpai?"
Gotohh Hitori wiped her saliva with the sleeve of her sweatshirt, raised her face with her eyes hidden by her bangs, and blankly looked at Minami: "Didn't you kneel in front of me and beg me to be your friend..."
Minami Shouji didn't say anything, just smiled at her. The image recorded by the phone reflected a light full of malice.
She involuntarily shivered, shrinking her head back into the collar of her pink tracksuit, completely detaching herself from her earlier delusion of 'Human National Treasure Gotohh Hitori.'
"Now, can we have a proper conversation?"
"Please, please don't worry."
Gotohh Hitori's stuttering voice came through: "I, I understand."
Oh?
Minami Shouji was a little surprised.
This was the first time he saw Gotohh Hitori understand what he meant so quickly.
Then—
Gotohh Hitori's overly white hands suddenly held up her wallet and handed it to Minami's face, followed by her voice trembling with a crying tone.
"I'll give you money every day, but please be merciful with the recording."
"Uh..."
Minami Shouji looked at the wallet handed to him: "Did you misunderstand something?"
He did love money and worked hard to make a lot of it in the future, but extorting money from a socially anxious girl would make him feel guilty.
This time he reached out to the other party only because a new prompt from the love simulator made him want to connect with her.
He had no intention of bullying or taking advantage of her.
"Misunderstanding...?"
Gotohh Hitori, with her timid eyes hidden beneath her bangs, fearfully raised her head to look at Minami Shouji.
She quickly understood what Minami Shouji meant, and in a voice on the verge of tears, said: "I'm sorry, Minami-senpai, this is all I brought today."
"Please, please accept this."
She also took off the guitar from her back.
Are you really someone who doesn't listen to others at all?
Gotohh Hitori's self-deprecating actions reminded Minami Shouji of bad memories from the second-round simulation.
This woman, not only was she self-deprecating to the point of being annoying in the simulation, but in real life, she was exactly the same!
Because of her fear of crowds, she hid her emotions.
Because of her inferiority complex, she kept abusing herself.
If you always accommodate others, you'll only end up hurting yourself.
What a troublesome woman!
Minami Shouji's face was full of disgust.
But after all, he had the simulated experience of his wife in the second round, so he sighed and was still concerned about her living situation.
It seems like correcting her fear of others will be a long process.
It probably won't work today.
So Minami Shouji decisively took Gotohh Hitori's guitar, raised a finger, and said, "Tomorrow, at this time, if you want your guitar back, come here."
The guitar was like a hostage, used to facilitate communication with Gotohh Hitori.
"Ah... okay."
Gotohh Hitori nodded vigorously, already thinking that even if she couldn't get her guitar back, she wouldn't come tomorrow.
"Don't think about not coming tomorrow just because you can't get your guitar back."
Minami Shouji couldn't help but speak.
How do you know what I'm thinking? Do you have mind reading abilities?
Gotohh Hitori's expression became even more frightened. She certainly didn't know that the version of her in the simulation had already married Minami Shouji, and that Minami knew her very well, even knowing exactly which part of her body felt most comfortable—of course, it was the Minami in the simulation.
"Ugh— I understand..."
A mournful cry squeezed out from her throat. Gotohh Hitori wanted to refuse, but in the end, she succumbed to her inner fear.
Minami worried that someone like him, an amateur, might damage Hitori's guitar, so he continued to hold it with both hands. He shook his head helplessly after watching the distraught pink-haired girl disappear completely from the courtyard.
He originally just wanted to have a good conversation with her, delete the black history video in front of her, and get closer to her.
He originally just wanted to have a good conversation, delete her black history video in front of her, and get closer to her.
But he didn't expect Gotoh Hitori to be so self-deprecating and fearful of interacting with others to this extent.
Correcting her attitude and personality would probably be a long war.
With this thought, he turned his attention to the floating system panel in the air.
[Current simulation attempts: 2, simulation attempts recover over time, or can be restored by obtaining the 'heartthrob value' of the simulation subject.]
[Every 300 heartthrob points restore one simulation attempt.]
He had two attempts left, and if he wanted to recover simulation attempts, aside from waiting for time, another way was to gain heartthrob value from the simulation subject.
He thought that since they had encountered each other in the courtyard, and no one was watching, he might have a chance to have a brief conversation with Gotoh Hitori, gain some of her heartthrob value, and also help her work on her awkward personality.
However, her overly defensive social anxiety forced Minami Shouji to take a different approach.
But from the conversation earlier, he could tell that not only had he failed to gather any heartthrob value from Gotoh Hitori, but the already fragile goodwill he had with her might have decreased as well.
With this in mind, Minami Shouji, carrying Gotoh Hitori's guitar on his back and planning to return it to her tomorrow, casually opened the heartthrob value page.
[Ding, you gained 20 heartthrob points from Gotoh Hitori.]
[Ding, you gained 20 heartthrob points from Gotoh Hitori.]
[Ding, you gained 20 heartthrob points from Gotoh Hitori...]
Minami Shouji fell silent, his fingers hovering in the air.
Gotoh Hitori's mental state was really concerning.