Chapter 155: Heartthrob Contribution Rankings—Who’s the True No.1? 

The hearts of the girls stirred with emotion—

Their thoughts swirled, their feelings rose to the surface,

As they passionately discussed, schemed, and strategized—

Each of them determined to become the one who would stand at the peak of love.

And yet—

The man who was occupying all of their hearts and minds,

Shouji Minami—

Was simply going about his life as usual.

"Done."

After finishing his meal,

And following his usual routine of studying for an hour,

Shouji Minami let out a small breath and set his pen down.

[Your "Study" skill has slightly improved. Current Level: LV4.]

"Miss Simulator is as consistent as ever, huh?"

Shouji Minami took a sip of water, feeling satisfied as he glanced at his skill progression.

He had been stuck at LV4 in studying for quite some time now,

And honestly, he had no idea when he'd finally break through to LV5.

Of course—

That was just wishful thinking.

LV5 skills required reaching the peak of human capabilities.

And for someone like him—who only studied one hour per day—

Hitting LV5 was nothing more than a pipe dream.

That said—

Progress was still progress.

And overthinking things wouldn't get him anywhere.

With that thought, Shouji Minami set down his water cup.

His gaze shifted—

And he casually checked his current "Heartthrob Points."

[Current Heartthrob Points Remaining: 1190.]

(TN: Formerly, Heart points)

"Huh? It's already at 1190 points?"

Minami raised an eyebrow, a little surprised.

If he remembered correctly, the last time he ran a simulation with Shinjo Akane was four or five days ago.

At that time, when he cleared her happy ending, his remaining Heartthrob Points were 990.

But in just a few days, his points had increased by 200 without him even realizing it?

"What's going on?"

Shouji Minami frowned slightly.

For the past few days, he had been busy with his own tasks, keeping a careful distance from the girls.

He had hardly done anything to deliberately farm Heartthrob Points.

If he had been actively interacting with the simulation targets, gaining 200 points wouldn't have been that surprising.

But for this much growth without him even making an effort?

That was pretty ridiculous.

Shouji Minami thought for a moment, then opened the simulator's menu and navigated to a special page—

The "Heartthrob Contribution Rankings."

It functioned just like the donation leaderboards from certain streaming platforms in his past life.

In the simulator's backend, he could actually see how much Heartthrob Points he had received from each of his simulation targets.

He had noticed this feature a long time ago and even checked it a few times.

But with his simulations, studying, and other responsibilities,

He hadn't opened this leaderboard in a long time.

And honestly—

Something about it just felt weird.

Just having this thing sitting there in the simulator,

Every time he glanced at it, it gave him this bizarre feeling, like—

"Oh wow, my top two donors came through again today!"

It made Minami feel strangely uneasy.

This damn simulator was too grounded in reality in the worst ways.

But setting aside his discomfort,

This ranking system actually had some practical uses.

First, unlike the in-app shop's "Data Detector,"

It didn't require spending Heartthrob Points—

It was completely free.

Second, it let him see the total contributions of each simulation target

As well as how often they had triggered Heartthrob gains.

That was incredibly useful.

Just those two features alone made this a gold mine of free information.

"Maybe I should check this leaderboard more often…"

Muttering to himself, Shouji Minami clicked it open.

The last time he checked,

Gotoh Hitori was the undisputed No.1 on the leaderboard.

Now—

Would she still hold her top spot?

Or had someone dethroned her?

As the blue ranking screen loaded—

Shouji Minami scanned the list.

The names were displayed as follows—

[Heartthrob Contribution Rank #1: Gotoh Hitori. Total Points Contributed: 1240.]

[Heartthrob Contribution Rank #1: Shinjo Akane. Total Points Contributed: 1240.]

[Heartthrob Contribution Rank #2: Nishikigi Chisato. Total Points Contributed: 1030.]

[Heartthrob Contribution Rank #3: Yamada Ryo. Total Points Contributed: 0.]

[Remaining Heartthrob Contributors: None.]

"This ranking…"

Shouji Minami barely resisted the urge to roast it.

If there was some "Claim Your Free Heartthrob Points" button in the bottom corner—

He wouldn't even know what to say anymore.

Shaking his head, he pushed aside the urge to make fun of it and focused on the rankings.

And then—

He was genuinely surprised.

"Oh?"

Under his watchful gaze—

Gotoh Hitori was still ranked No.1.

But tied with her—

Was Shinjo Akane, who had somehow caught up.

And just barely behind them, at No.2—

Nishikigi Chisato, trailing by only 210 points.

"This is probably because I've been spending more time with Shinjo these past few days."

Shouji Minami stroked his chin thoughtfully.

Yes.

Because he was responsible for narrating The Monster in the Human Heart,

He had been sticking around the event classroom, helping with festival prep.

And since Shinjo Akane was leading the play,

They had naturally spent more time together.

After rehearsals,

He would go straight to "STARRY" to tutor Yamada Ryo and Gotoh Hitori.

With this schedule,

It made sense that Shinjo Akane's Heartthrob Points had skyrocketed.

But then—

"…Yamada-san, what is up with you?"

Looking at the girls' point totals, most of them in the thousands—

And then seeing Yamada Ryo's sad, pathetic little 0—

Shouji Minami rubbed his temples.

This woman…

From every possible perspective,

She was truly a one-of-a-kind weirdo.

Even her Heartthrob Contribution sat pathetically at 0.

But then—

"Well, to be fair, Yamada-san wasn't even a simulation target to begin with."

Shouji Minami sighed lightly.

Yes.

Yamada Ryo wasn't originally a selectable target in the simulator.

It was only after he used the "Love of Three Lifetimes, Forever Unattainable" Yamada Ryo IF Route Card

That she was forcefully added in.

But even then—

Her name was still grayed out in the system,

Meaning she couldn't be simulated normally.

Since the simulator didn't recognize her as an official target,

Even if she did have feelings for him,

It wouldn't count.

"If you think about it from the opposite perspective… she's actually No.1 in reverse."

Shouji Minami stared at Yamada Ryo's 0 Heartthrob Points and made a casual remark.

Yes.

At this rate, her permanent 0 points would be impossible to surpass.

No one else even stood a chance at taking her place.

Now, back to the main topic.

Shouji Minami turned back to his 1190 Heartthrob Points.

Based on the rankings,

Most of these new points probably came from his recent time with Shinjo Akane.

But…

"1190… This number is kind of suspicious, isn't it?"

Shouji Minami stood up, placing his water cup in the sink as he thought.

Yes.

1190 Heartthrob Points.

If he just gained 10 more points—

Then he would meet the requirement for something he had always been curious about.

—"Direct Simulation."

His eyes fell upon a menu option he had never dared to click before.

"Direct Simulation"—

Spend 4 simulation chances to project your consciousness into the simulation world.

According to the simulator,

It would provide a 100% authentic experience.

The only reason he had never used it before—

Was because of its ridiculous price.

4 simulation chances.

At 300 points per simulation,

That meant Direct Simulation cost a whopping 1200 Heartthrob Points.

From any angle—

It was an insanely expensive feature.

And before, since there was always a chance of failed endings,

Shouji Minami had been extremely frugal—

Even splitting a single simulation attempt into multiple sessions when possible.

But now—

"It's different."

Shouji Minami sat back down, feeling a surge of excitement.

Yes.

Now, things were completely different.

With 1190 Heartthrob Points in hand—

And no new simulation targets in sight—

That meant—

He could finally afford to experience Direct Simulation.

"Just need 10 more points…"

Glancing at his phone,

The time read 8:50 PM.

While Gotoh Hitori, Shinjo Akane, and Nishikigi Chisato were probably still awake,

Hitting them up this late at night felt a bit too sudden.

"Guess I'll wait until tomorrow."

10 points.

That should be easy enough to earn.

With that thought,

Minami set his phone down—

And moved on to something else.

But then—

Ding-dong.

Just as Shouji Minami put his phone down, a crisp LINE notification sound rang out.

"Hm?"

Shouji Minami raised an eyebrow, a little surprised.

He had already decided that he wouldn't be reaching out to anyone this late at night.

Yet, someone had taken the initiative to message him?

Could it be Shinjo Akane, or maybe Chisato Nishikigi, who often popped into his inbox for a casual chat?

Or perhaps—

Yamada Ryo, who always seemed to send a flood of messages at the most ungodly hours to annoy him?

As for Gotoh Hitori…?

He didn't even consider her.

Ever since he added her to LINE,

The number of times they had actually chatted could be counted on one hand.

And the number of times she had messaged him first?

Three fingers were more than enough to count them.

Inferiority Complex LV3. Social Anxiety LV2.

Terrifying.

Thinking this, Shouji Minami picked up his phone and glanced at the sender's name.

Then—

He let out a soft sound of surprise.

"Huh?"

His guess was completely off.

Because on his LINE friends list,

A small red "1" appeared right next to Gotoh Hitori's icon.

"It's actually… Gotoh-san?"

Shouji Minami blinked in mild disbelief as he tapped on her profile.

This was practically a miracle.

Just what did Gotoh-san want to talk about?

[Dead Inside, Probably: Minami… um… are you there?]

[Tokyo's No.1 Pretty Boy: I'm here. What's up, Hitori?]

[Dead Inside, Probably: V-very s-sorry!! U-um… I d-didn't mean to bother you so late at night… I'm so s-sorry!!]

On the other side of the screen—

Because this was her first time messaging Shouji Minami on her own,

Gotoh Hitori's hands were so shaky that she accidentally mistyped "sorry."

"Ugh! I'm such an idiot!"

She buried her face in her hands.

She had even gathered the courage to call him "Minami"…

And yet, she immediately messed up the next sentence!

But… but still—

[Dead Inside, Probably: The reason I messaged you… there's something I wanted to ask.]

Her fingers trembled.

Her pale cheeks turned a light shade of pink.

Dressed in soft pink pajamas, her entire body was shaking slightly.

But this time—

Gotoh Hitori didn't run away.

She carefully typed out her words, letter by letter—

And then…

She hit send.

[Tokyo's No.1 Pretty Boy: And what would that be?]

[Dead Inside, Probably: Um… during the Shuka Festival… could you maybe… take some time to walk around with me?]

Click! Sent!

Then—

A deep breath.

Everything was executed perfectly.

And as soon as she sent the message,

Gotoh Hitori hid her burning face behind her pillow.

Her round, fair toes curled slightly, trembling nervously.

One part of her was dying of embarrassment just from inviting a guy out.

The other part was terrified of being rejected.

"I… I really tried my best, Kita-san."

"I really, really tried my best."

So…

"Even if I get rejected… it's okay…"

Of course—

That was a complete lie.

If Shouji Minami actually turned her down,

Gotoh Hitori would probably cry on the spot.

So she hid her face in her pillow for a long time,

Until—

She heard the familiar LINE notification sound.

Nervous.

Carefully, she peeked her head out from behind the pillow,

And stared at the glowing screen.

To her, the phone's soft glow looked like a dim sun.

And hidden within that sun—

Was his reply.

[Tokyo's No.1 Pretty Boy: Sure. Let's set a time for it later.]

Sure.

Set a time.

"Hehe…"

"Hehehe…"

"Hehehehehe…"

Clutching her phone tightly, the pink-haired girl collapsed onto her bed,

Her entire body squirming like a worm.

She wiggled—

And wiggled—

And wiggled some more.