The Game of Life

by Nil00

After discovering my trusted friend is going off on his own with the party of the hottest girls in school on summer break, I was grieving in despair until Titles and Levels flying above people head the next morning I woke up, as if it was a game. It wasn't long before I found out that my life has been turned into a game. My name is Motohama and I'm the Gamer.

1. Continue

"It's boring…" I mumbled staring at the computer in front of me which is playing the new eroge that just came out yesterday.

It was supposed to be the long-awaited-release of the game, one of the most popular eroge series that most otaku would dream of having. And I suppose I'm not an exception from that, or at least that was what I thought when all common sense was thrown out of the window yesterday.

It supposed to be a long break with just the three of us either going to the pool or beach to see the girls in their swimsuits, staring at their curvy figures, calculating their bust and butt sizes and – if possible – getting a girlfriend for three of us. When I said the three of us, I momentarily gritted my teeth at the thought of my other friend, Hyoudou Issei.

"It's boring…" I said once again just to emphasize what I'm feeling right now with no one in this room.

I exited the game and turned off the computer, sighing while doing so and looking out at the sun shining through my curtain. Scratching the back of my head, I went away from my room to the downstairs and my eyes attracted to the woman in the kitchen.

"Mom," I called out to her from the stairs. "I'm going out."

She gives me a slight stare of observation "Just make sure you came home before night," She finished saying and continued to do her work on the kitchen. "And we don't want anything bad happen to you, am I correct on that young man?" She made sure that the knife she was holding was facing my direction.

"Err, yes, I will just… going out to check something." I sheepishly said while scratching my cheek.

"Good." She smiled at me and humming a song that I won't even bother to guess while chopping the vegetables with the knife that I found myself being pointed with before. I stared at her back for a moment as if mesmerizing in her smile before finally focusing on the box that's flying atop of my mother head.

Housewife of Arashi Household

LV: 10

Arashi Yuuki

I didn't pondering over this as long as yesterday and before I can make my way toward the door that will lead me to outside world, mom called me out from the kitchen.

"Can you buy the groceries for tomorrow?" She asked me with hidden kindness laced in her voice. "You can take the change of course."

"I…"

A quest has been created!

I groaned in frustration. Please don't make my life harder.

Mother Problem!

Your mom trusted you to carry out the simple task of buying food for tomorrow and to come back before the sun will set. Time Limit: Must be completed before seven.

There's a time limit!? I was surprised at the newest addition of the quest but nonetheless I mentally made a note to not be surprised at what my power will do, it also didn't help that most of the times I was keeping my poker face ever since I got this power.

I saw the completion reward and grinned upon seeing that. With the amount of experience from this quest, I would level up just by doing this twice but I could feel my breath hitched when I see the second reward from the quest.

Increased closeness with your mother.

…

"I… would gladly do it for you mom." I answered with formality that even me from before this happened would be surprised.

Mom was surprised by my sudden use of formal response but she smiled and ruffled my hair like how she used to be before… all of this. The sensation of her hand moving between my hairs wasn't unfamiliar by any means but it also put me in fear because of how long it has been since the last mom has done this.

"Here," She handed me the money and the paper listed which to buy. "Don't lose the money and don't ogle any female you came across in the street okay? You can check whatever you want to do before but careful on your way."

"I will, don't worry about it mom," I replied and walked up to the door. Just before turning the doorknob, I sneak a glance behind me to see mom was smiling and waving at me. "Err, mom?" I stared at her face for the longest time I know and when I see mom tilted her head, I feel a pang of pain.

I run.

I quickly left my house and running away from my house, not taking another look behind to even check whether mom chasing me or not. I can't, I just can't do it, even though I've gotten this power, I'm still helpless in relationship.

"Haah," I rested on my knees after my house was finally out of sight, I allowed my body to rest for a bit before sighed while covering my eyes from the sun. "Never would've thought that I will go out on my second day of Summer Break." All because of my curiosity was stuck in my tongue.

"Status," I stated clearly, without tone of nervousness unlike the first time I do it.

Name: Arashi Motohama

Class: The Gamer

Level: 1

HP: 100/100

MP: 50/50

STR: 10

VIT: 10

DEX: 10

INT: 12

WIS: 8

LUK: 10

POINTS: 0

MONEY: 500 Yen

The blue window screen popped out before me, not too close from my face, at the command of my voice. I was staring at the screen in front of me that I didn't realize one of my neighbor is looking at me weirdly, before he continued walking with his dog on leash. So that proved one thing, that apparently this screen can't be seen by anyone other than me, I'm not even surprised at that.

The thing that I found grating my nerves was how my status was completely AVERAGE. I admit that some was not equally distributed like WIS and INT but I can relate to that, I'm not a wise person, far from that I was a pervert and I was proud of it. The reason why my INT is higher than the rest is probably because despite my low reputation, I was still studying like a normal student.

Either this was a gift from god or just my delusional view of the world that has caused something like this, though probably the latter isn't that too far off from how I am right now. I switched the tab status to the inventory and whistled at the sight of my personal belonging being nothing more than an image of what-left of that item.

I took out a random book from the inventory and once again, I've to hold back screaming in excitement just by having my personal hyperspace. I lost myself while checking the inventory before i realized that I've been doing this in a place where people can see me.

I played with my inventory a bit after I've done searching for a hiding place by putting a lot of stones in the inventory and taking it out, stupid I know but hey, if this is a dream then might as well enjoy it while it lasted. It was unreal for sure and the first thing that most sane people would do is probably panicked but my basic skill prevented that kind of things.

Gamer's Body (Passive) LV Max

Grants a body that allows the user to live the real world like a Game. Pain from damage does not last after a few seconds. Sleeping restores HP, MP and heals all temporary status effects.

Gamer's Mind (Passive) LV Max

Allow the user to calmly and logically think things through. Allow peaceful state of mind. Grant immunities to psychological and mental status effects.

I didn't know how I can get these skills in the first place but I decided to assume that this is one of the basic skills that you got when choosing your first class.

I mean, look at my class! It clearly stated that I'm The Gamer.

-0-

Summer Break.

Suddenly the thought of such a word induced a small amount of despair inside me despite the fact that it was something that most students would wait for. All was because Issei, it was even him who said that he will spent the whole break with the two of us but he just have to rub it on my face that he will spend the rest of his summer break with the ORC.

Supposedly they were going to some kind of trip to the villa that Rias Gremory-senpai's family owned and it was her who personally invites all the members of the club. If I was going to blame someone then I should blame Gremory-senpai, but I guess I will settle for praying that something will goes wrong with Issei on there.

Matsuda, whose left of what our little group has, is decided to do something that would make girls swoon over him by getting some new looks and change. He went to his family dojo to relearn his family's martial arts and that left me alone in this town with no one else to call a friend except… Aika Kiryuu, can I even call her friend?

Murayama and Katase are also the choices but considering that I don't really have a good relationship with both of them, it was left unsaid that I will just be annoyance to them or they will beat me up again.

Aika, Murayama, and Katase. Normally I would be delighted with the prospect thought of spending times with female – and probably striking up a relationship with them – but now I can't help but staring long at the HP and MP bar flying on the upper-left of my vision. I grumbled and once again cursed at Hyoudou Issei while staring at my own Status bar.

There's Inventory, Skill, Status, Quest, and the Lottery which is grayed out for now. I tried to touch the Lottery system but clearly enough, there's some kind of sound that a typical stereotype RPG would make when one tried to use unavailable things. I decided to let the Lottery system off my mind for now, because even without looking at my luck stats, I know that my luck is abysmal to get a good item.

I slowly walked to the market direction finish the quest – or grocery – and nothing eventful happened on the way except probably a few weird stare when I was playing with the screen on the air or when I was trying to swipe the HP bar out of my sight.

I finished the grocery pretty quickly and when I got out of the market, I encountered a pair of girls that I least wanted to meet right now. The unmistakably brown hair that somehow reminded me of Issei and the rare pink hairs the other girl has are also ascertains their definite identity.

A skill has been created through a special action! By fully observing an object to gather proper information, the skill [Observe] has been created.

Observe (Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 5

Description: Information is power. With the right information, you can turn any adverse situation in your favor. A skill to observe object and being that allow the user to quickly gather information. The higher the level, the greater the data obtained. The greater the amount of knowledge and insight the user has, the more information displayed.

Although it scared me a little by how I created a skill out of nothing – and gathering information by using sight alone – I definitely won't deny any skill that's given to me.

"Observe," I muttered, still keeping my eyes opened at the form of the pair of girl.

Takagi Murayama – LV: 6

Ace of Kuoh Academy Kendo Club

Murayama is a second-year student at Kuoh Academy and the ace of the Kendo Club at her school. The most prominent activity that she does in the school is beating the Perverted Trio regularly at Kuoh Academy.

HP 800/800

MP 200/200

Mioda Katase – LV: 6

Kendo Club Member

Katase is a second-year student at Kuoh Academy and a member of Kendo Club at her school. Although not as skilled as her friend, Murayama, she still yearned for the position of leader for the next year and had a friendly rivalry with Takagi Murayama.

HP: 800/800

MP: 200/200

Hee, so the description of the person is also shown when I used [Observe]. While it may not seems much at first, just like what the skill said, information is power, and this was my first active skill for now so I may use this skill a lot. If what the skill said is true then I'm willing to assume that the information is going to be longer and if push comes down to shove, I can [Observe] an enemy to search for a possible weakness.

And I can also troll Issei with this skill when he comes back by revealing his secret.

With baseless newfound confidence I moved my feet to where the pair of Kendo girls was. "Hey, you two also goes shopping?" I have to suppress my grin because of my new power but because of [Gamer's Mind] I guess it has been taken care of.

Instead of looking surprised and amazed – though I really doubt the latter – they were disgusted at my sight and avoiding me. "Please don't talk to us." Murayama said.

"Yeah, don't you think it's tiring to beat you up every time you peeked on us!?" Katase sudden outburst surprised me and I took a step back. "Not only were you bothering us in school, you're also going to disturb our summer break?"

I was pained by her words a little but thankfully Murayama stopped her friend word before she can utter any more words of insult to me. "It's not that we don't want to see you but it was just a… surprise for us to see you here." She said while still keeping her distance.

"We thought that perverts like you would spend all days playing an eroge or going to beach to ogle the girls in there," Katase suddenly butted in. "Come to think of it, where's your two perverted friends?"

"Katase, don't be too harsh on him," Murayama placed a hand on her shoulder. "After all, I don't think that he just goes out here to peek on girl bodies," She then switched her gaze to me. "Isn't that right? Motohama?"

Damn right I am, did all of the girls think that pervert like me doesn't have any other activity than playing eroge, ogling girl, peeking on girl, and imagining to touch a naked woman body? I'm still a human duh. It is inevitable that I would run out of things to do if I spend my time as pervert 24/7.

"I'm doing groceries for my mother," I lifted the bag of groceries for them to see. "I don't have any intent to do anything to you two."

Besides I'm bored to death by eroge right now.

"Hmm, so even someone like you would not disobey your mother," Katase cupped her chin as if in thought and nodded. "I guess you're still better than those people that disregard their parents like nothing."

I pushed my glasses up. "Then-"

"But you're still a pervert so my opinion of you is still stay."

"That's a bit harsh don't you think?" Murayama asked.

"No Murayama, it's the least I can do, if not then who know maybe he will trick you into something that you would have no chance to refuse to then…" She blush a little and made a various gesture by her hand that isn't supposed to be used by a girl like her. "And then… and then… he would do ! #$% to your still pure bod-"

"Katase!" Murayama comes to my rescue and put a hand to her friend mouth. "Don't say indecent things in public!"

I found myself blushing at my own imagination after that they've gone to their own conversation that they seemed to have forgotten my existence. "You realize that I'm still here right?" I asked the pair but I get no response. "I guess, I will take my leave now…"

"Wait," Murayama called out before I left. "Where's Issei and Matsuda? I found it a little strange that you're alone without your little group in Summer Break."

"Matsuda is going back to his family dojo and won't come back until the school started, as for Issei…" I bite my lower lip so hard that I'm sure that blood will come out if I continued this a little longer. "He's gone with the ORC to Gremory-senpai villa."

""What!?""

They started their own discussion passionately about what to do with Issei after he come back and left me out of the loop but I don't care about that. Issei, Hyoudou Issei, we've been friend ever since Middle-school and we've spent almost all of our school year to get a girlfriend on our own. Issei's dream is to become a Harem king and the three of us entered Kuoh Academy in order to fulfill our deepest desire to get a girlfriend.

And right now Hyoudou Issei have his own Harem of the hottest girls in the school and left me all alone, even though he already haves Yuuma Amano, a black haired beauty with big breas-!?

Wait.

"Umm, Motohama?" Murayama's voice snapped me out of my thought and I stared at her brown eyes that reminded me of Issei. "Do you have any business with us? If not can you please leave us alone?"

"And why should I do that?" I asked, although the question may seem to come off as arrogant but the monotone making it otherwise.

"It doesn't concern someone like you," Katase answered, crossing her arms. "You don't deserve to know it."

Murayama placed her hand on Katase shoulder and shook her head before looking at me again. "So if you don't have any business please leave us alone," Murayama stated calmly. "And I don't mean it to be offensive to you but your presence just made us a little… unnerving."

"Heh," I shrugged and walked away the opposite direction from her group. After making sure that I can't see them again, I finally sighed. "As I thought, even though this is a game, it's not like my life really started anew huh?"

You've received the title "Three Size Scouter".

And here I thought my reputation wouldn't be recognized with this system.

Three Size Scouter

Obtained by accomplishing various perverted activity that would make every girls disgusted by your very existence. You have been regarded as one of the trash society by the people around you!

Instantly deduce the B-W-H of Female target.

20% increase in DEX.

55% decrease in the relationship with Female.

Suddenly… I'm not really delighted to see this information. At all. I mean, I probably have done some worst thing that people would find it disgusting and maybe condemn me to punishment but… I… I'm not really a best person to make example right? Screw being a Protagonist, just because I got this Game-like power doesn't necessarily mean that I'm really a crucial character in this world.

I can just be killed and no one except mom and probably friends would notice me. Hell, I'm sure that some would probably glad that I'm gone; after all I was someone that always disturbed them with my perverted antic. I was just one person, a normal average perverted high-schooler disdained among their peers, amidst of all the great persons in this world, but still… I don't want to give up or at least, not yet. Not when I finally given a chance to be a great man now, I was given a chance to make things right and… I would not waste it.

By making a wise decision, your WIS has increased by 1.

Ha! It seems like the system decided to give me a pity by giving one point at my Wisdom, still…

I wonder… is not giving up can be counted as a wise decision?

-0-