*Groan* I didnt do nearly enough research for this. I watched Your Lie In April once and read like 20 fanfictions like 6 months ago and thought I could write a story that requires so much work and research. Oh well, enough racking my brain and on with it! Side note, I fixed up the first chapter on my own!
Kousei P.O.V
I really think Akiba likes to mess with me. You might be wondering why I say that. Well, the third skill I had to create myself was called-
{Quick Change}[LV:1][PROG 1/10]
Due to you being in a rush, you have made a skill that will allow you to change so quickly that you could put Professional models to shame!
With this skill, when you are changing you go 3 times faster than normal, and with each level, you can pick outfits you can instantly change into!
Is he messing with me? I don't recall seeing this in any of the fanfictions I read.
I didn't acknowledge Akiba as I left but I muttered a quick apology for leaving him alone for the day.
As I ran a new pop-up appeared in my line of vision.
[Skill created!]
{Running}[LV:1][PROG:1/10]
Due to you being an antisocial shut-in that hardly went outside, you just now discovered the joy(and Pain) of running!
For now, the formula is AGI+STR/8 equals your maximum running time in minutes.
Then a strange thing happened. A new box that reminded me of an inbox thing popped up and a small one formed by the top of it.
Suddenly it opened, forming a new box in front of me that reminded me of a group chat.
Akiba Gengyo: Lol, damn noob learned how to run
I blinked a few times as I kept running.
"What the-"
Akiba Gengyo: Oh, this is like a secure group chat that only members of your party can use. No delay, no chance of spying, and you can even use your freaking mind to type.
I blinked a few times...that sounded cool.
I stopped, my body suddenly flaring with pain all around me. I guess it's been 8 minutes.
Akiba Gengyo: Oh before I forget, once you complete this quest, your Hp and Mp are gonna change drastically
Why? And how do I use this chat?
Akiba Gengyo: *Slapping face emoji* Damn forgot, uh to do it mentally just think something along the lines of 'Begin chat message'
Begin Chat message, I thought, and suddenly the bottom rose a bit and a keyboard formed in front of me as if I was looking at a phone. Uh...why will they change?
Me: Uh...why will they change?
Akiba Gengyo: *Suprised fish picture* Damn that was quick. Anyway, after you level up, that's when the system will use your stats for calculating those aspects of you, rather than your body's base stats.
Me: Noted. So...just curious, how exactly would I bring some of my friends into this?
A few moments passed before I got a reply.
Akiba Gengyo: You arent...please don't tell me you are going to drag your friends into this
Me: They might be able to help!
I noticed my breathing had leveled, which was interesting, Gamers body made recovery quick I guess.
I began to run again, I will make it on time, judging by the distance and my time running.
Akiba Gengyo: You are insane. The Majority of your friends are just as much of a shut-in as you, if not more.
Me: That's not true, my two best friends are very athletic!
Akiba Gengyo: With you being the comparison, a block of cheese would be god
I pushed myself to run faster and run straight into my school and soon found myself sitting in my seat.
"Hey Kousei," A female voice said from behind me. Tsubaki, my best friend since we were little. "You were nearly late, where were you?"
I turned and gave an awkward chuckle. "I ended up waking up a little early and found some interesting things to read, and before I knew it, I was nearly late for school"
"Ya know man, we won't judge you if you were still thinking of...her" My other best friend, male this time, Watari, said as he walked up from behind us.
"I- I did a little so I went online to take my mind off it" I admitted, only telling half the truth. Maybe Akiba was right, I should maybe avoid bringing these guys into this whole thing.
[Quest completed!]
[You have spent too much time before school acting like a newbie!
Quest requirements: get to school on time!
Reward: That should be enough but you will get 50 EXP
Bonus adjective: Get to class in ten minutes rather than the fifteen you have!
Possible bonus reward: A secret item and 50 EXP
Bonus Reward: Uncommon Ruby Bo staff]
I half expected a large staff made of a red stone to suddenly materialize in a glowing light and land on my lap, but I heard a ping instead.
[Due to{Akiba Gengyo} changing the setting, all rewards and loot shall be put into your inventory automatically!]
[Congratualtions! You have reached Level 2!]
"Well, it's not unreasonable," Watari said with a sigh. "It has only been a few days, I've had some trouble sleeping myself"
"Yeah, same...crazy that she was so full of life but she had the shortest time left out of all of us, "Tsubaki said with a sad nod.
That's when our teacher walked in.
"Hello class, Nice to see you again. Please take your seats" He said as he scanned over us. "I know it is rather late in the year, but we do have a transfer student coming in today. As the year is coming to a close, I do hope you will be nice to him"
My blood froze when I saw Akiba walk in, looking a little uncomfortable in our uniform. "H-hello. I'm Akiba Gengyo"
"Mr. Gengyo, you may go sit next to Kousei Arima as we are short on some extra space," The teacher said as Akiba jerked his head up and down in a nod.
A few eyes drifted after him as he jerkily made his way to me, soon sitting at a free desk right next to me.
"What are you doing here?" I whispered.
"What do you think smart ass?" Akiba hissed back. "Clearly this is a cover so I can watch over you"
"Why do you need to watch over me?" I inquired as the teacher started his lesson.
"You may accidentally kill yourself! As your Companion Guide, until you are stronger than me, it is within my programing to protect you" He answered in a whisper.
"Your programming?" I asked. "Wait...your bio when you were being generated mentioned you weren't just human, but at the same time you weren't anything else...what does that mean?"
"I have a human body and mind, but in reality, I'm just some stupid AI" Akiba muttered, throwing his gaze away from me. "Everything about me was handcrafted by someone else...I'm not real in your sense of the word"
Before I could protest that he is just as human as I was, the teacher had managed to hear us speaking.
"Ah, Mr. Gengyo, since you have time to chat with your classmates, you must have the answer to the equation on the board"
He stood up and without missing a beat, answered both the problems on the board.
One of them was what we were getting ready to learn, the second however was a problem the world's best mathematicians had yet to figure out to solve, and Akiba just gave an answer that cracked it wide open to everyone in the world.
"I-" The teacher said befuddled as he stared at the problem on the board. He quickly began to solve it, but Akiba stepped up to the board and corrected some of the teacher's results. He broke the teacher, who excused us until the next period.
Now I sat in the room where I spent a lot of time with Kaori. The music room.
"That new kid is a freak of nature, am I right?" Watari joked as he sat between me and Tsubaki, who smacked him over the head.
"Be nice" She chided. "For all you know he could be right behind that door, thinking that Kousei could be a good friend for talking to him during class"
Before I could speak up, the door slid open and we all jumped a good 3 inches in the air when we heard the voice that followed the door's sudden opening.
"Nah, It's alright. I don't get in my feelings anymore over what people say about me, be it behind my back or in front of me" Akiba said with a shrug. "Second, Kousei and I have already had the pleasure of meeting already"
Tsubaki raised an eyebrow. "Well, hello Akiba. I'm Tsubaki, Kousei's best friend"
Watari was sweating lightly, I guess he was intimidated. "I'm Watari, Kousei's best friend that isn't a girl"
"A-anyway, I met Akiba here this morning!" I said, coming up with a cover story. "While my dad is at work overseas, one of his co-workers wanted to send their son, Akiba, to come to this side of Japan after some people began to give him a hard time. So my dad offered to let Akiba stay with me for the time being while both of them are at work"
"Yeah, I just popped in today. We bumped into each other while I was scrambling around like I had been summoned from the pits of nowhere" Akiba said, giving me a knowing look. Summoned- oh. I get it. Funny.
"Well, it's nice to see Kousei having a few more friends," Tsubaki said with a small smile, offering a hand to Akiba. "Any friend of Kousei is a friend of mine"
He shook her hand slowly, before looking them both up and down. "You both...play sports?"
They nodded.
"I could tell, not in a creepy way or anything. Back where I came from, I've always been good at telling how someone's 'stats' would look like" Akiba said with a shrug.
"Stats? Like a video game?" Watari asked. He held a hand up to his face and whispered in our direction. "He is kinda weird, is it too late to abandon ship?"
"We are not going to do that!" I hissed at him. "Reminder, I live with him"
"Kousei, I've changed my mind, your friends might be handy after all," Akiba said looking them up and down. "Use Observe on them"
I obeyed, as he has yet to lead me wrong.
I started with Tsubaki. Observe.
Name: Tsubaki Sawabe[Star Softball Player]
[LV: 5]
[HP: 100/100]
[MP: 10/10]
I blinked a few times. With my Observe only telling me level, HP, and MP, I don't have much to work on. But judging how Tsubaki was good at softball, she would have a decent STR stat, good AGI, DEX, and likely STA.
I glanced at Watari.
Name: Watari Ryota[Star Soccer Player]
[LV: 6]
[HP: 100/100]
[MP: 10/10]
If I had one more person or item worth using it on, I might have a bit more information to work with.
"Kousei...why are you looking at us like that, and what is going on?" Tsubaki asked, sounding greatly worried.
"Yeah man, you're scaring me a bit" Watari admitted.
"Kousei, it's 100% up to you if you want them to join us," Akiba said firmly, voice devoid of emotion. "However, there is a slight chance if you do tell them and they don't join, I might have to kill them in the late future."
I swallowed my fear, they were my friends...we had stuck together through thick and thin. They wouldn't leave me for this.
"Y-you see," I began to explain. "In a nutshell, I was granted powers by some strange being. He basically turned my life into a video game and with this power, I could pretty much do anything if I get strong enough."
They blinked a few times.
"Very funny Kousei, but this isn't a very good prank-" Watari was saying before a blue box popped up in front of both of my friends.
"K-kousei...I- you're serious about this?" Tsubaki stammered.
Before they could hit the yes button I grabbed their hands. "Just so you know, you could die if you say yes to this. You don't have to join me in this crazy thing. I only said yes because...they offered a chance to bring Kaori back to life"
I was much louder when I started, but as I continued and especially around the part about Kaori, I dropped my volume drastically.
They gave me shocked looks as Akiba smacked his forehead. "You didn't have to say all of that, you idiot"
Watari smiled at me. "Well, it sounds like we got even more of a reason to do this."
"Y-yeah, Kaori felt like part of the gang, we'd be crazy to miss out on a chance to bring her back." Tsubaki smiled. "She filled gaps we never knew we had, so we should do our best for her and not let you do this alone."
Akiba shook his head. "You guys are idiots. It sucks I'm stuck with you guys because of my programming."
They paused before clicking the button again. "Wait...programming?"
Said Programming chuckled awkwardly. "You see, I'm not a real person-"
"You are a real person!" I interrupted him. "You said it yourself, you have a human mind, it's only a matter of time where your commands stop and you have free will."
Akiba let out a long sigh, full of suffering. "As I was saying, I am a special class of entity in this world. I was once part of the Game's controls until this guy asked for a companion guide."
My two friends exchanged a look before clicking the buttons.
[Players Watari Ryota and Tsubaki Sawabe have joined the party]
"By the way noob of destiny, now that you are in the same party, you can see a regular stat page for them," Akiba said with a shrug. "I didn't bother telling you this until now because it didn't seem right."
Once again, I looked at my girl best friend.
[Name: Tsubaki Sawabe
Class: N/A
Title: Star Softball Player(Boosts DEX, STR, and AGI stat by 5% when doing something related to sports)
Level: 5
EXP to Level Up: 0/100
HP: 100/100
MP: 10/10
STR: 15(+5%)
STA: 20
DEX: 10(+5%)
AGI: 14(+5%)
INT: 14
WIS: 8
LUK: 15
Bonuses: Athletic, determined.
Perks: School Star
Description: Tsubaki Sawabe is a girl that met and supported her friend Kousei Arima when they were young. While Kousei lacks the physical requirements to be much, Tsubaki has always been athletic and constantly took care of him while they were little. More recently she has learned some things about herself as she pushed herself to pass tests to stay near her friend who might be heading to a distant country for school.
Attribute points: 0
Perk Points: 0]
I quickly ignored the description, as I don't want to invade her privacy. I know for a fact mine got pretty personal, but I was surprised so many of her stats were so close to mine.
I nodded at Watari and a new box opened up before me.
[Name: Watari Ryota
Class: N/A
Title: Star Soccer Player(Boosts STR, and AGI stat by 10% when doing something related to sports)
Level: 6
EXP to Level Up: 0/100
HP: 100/100
MP: 10/10
STR: 20(+10%)
STA: 25
DEX: 15
AGI: 20(+10%)
INT: 14
WIS: 8
LUK: 15
Bonuses: Athletic, Lady Killer.
Perks: School Star
Description: Watari Ryota is another friend in the main friend group, who had also been around since the beginning. Although he may be a hotshot around his school, in the musical industry several girls are throwing themselves at his friend, Kousei Arima, and he is happy for his friend. However since a certain girl pretended to like him to get closer to Kousei, his ego is a bit frayed.
Attribute points: 0
Perk Points: 0]
I...am so weak compared to these two...I glanced at Akiba.
[Name: Akiba Gengyo
Class: N/A
Title: Companion Guide(If the summoner that summoned this companion becomes in danger, they enter a killer mode, where they are indestructible and their damage is quadrupled for 30 seconds to save their summoner)
Level: 10
EXP to Level Up: 0/100
HP: 100/100
MP: 1000/1000
STR:?
STA:?
DEX:?
AGI:?
INT:?
WIS:?
LUK:?
Bonuses: N/A
Perks: N/A
Description: Akiba Gengyo is a protective party member summoned by Kousei Arima. He is set to do his duty and believes that he lacks any free will to make his own decisions, so he acts the way he does as a way of defiance to his programming. Though he has yet to realize he truly is alive the second he was formed, he lacks any choice in his job until his summoner cant be protected by him.
Attribute points: 0
Perk Points: 0]
I blinked a few times. That is...interesting. Why are all of his stats question marks?
"Wait...are you one of those strange situational NCPs?" Watari asked before Tsubaki elbowed him.
"He's not an NPC!" She snapped.
"Wait, situational?" I asked as I gave him a confused look.
"Long story short, once enter the dungeon, my stats will be determined by your stats" He muttered. "I'll get a copy of your attribute points and perk points but unused"
I nodded.
"Status"
[Name: Kousei Arima
Class: The Gamer
Title: The Human Metronome(Boosts all Music related things by 50%)
Level: 1
EXP to Level Up: 0/100
HP: 64/64
MP: 220/220
STR: 8
STA: 8
DEX: 15
AGI: 10
INT: 20
WIS: 11
LUK: 8
Bonuses: Prodigy, Talent For Music
Perks: Musical Talent
Description: Kousei Arima was forced to learn the piano by his mother from a young age, and he did so happily because when he won prizes his mother was happy. However, she wanted him to complete her failed dream as she was sick. When she succumbed to her sickness Kousei was unable to hear the music he made anymore and became more drawn in, and stopped playing the piano as much. However, Kaori Miyazono fixed that, also dying after Kousei began to play his music once more.
Attribute points: 10
Perk Points: 1]
I blinked a few times. "Why did my HP and MP increase so much if my stats are the same?"
"Because now it takes your mental stats and multiplies them to reach your total MP, while your HP is your STR and STA stats" Akiba explained.
"You are weak" Watari muttered. He quickly backed up before Tsubaki could hurt him again. "No offense man, but your stats are awful"
"Yeah, I'd say you have the worst beginning stats I've ever seen" Akiba muttered. "I've seen babies with better stats. Nearly everything about you is laughable. You have some magical potential but you can only really dodge and hit fast. You aren't even a glass cannon, your just glass."
I shrunk back a little.
"But, I did hear that you got a staff," Akiba said, looking a little eager. "I love Bo Staffs, and I know exactly how to get all of you weapons"
I nodded and materialized the staff, which took up half of my inventory, this thing is 40 pounds!
It was a beautiful long stick of ruby, glistening in a dangerous but amazing way, it had a golden handle around the middle with little wisps of gold here and there all over it. As it stood, I won't be able to use it.
Akiba took it, looking absolutely in love. "Oh hell yeah, we are talking now...If I get to keep this staff, I'll gladly fight to the death to get you to ya girl my man."
I handed it over wordlessly. "You're going to be guarding me for the time being, so I think it's only fair."
He instantly struggled with it. Before slipping it into his inventory. "I don't have an STR stat...so I rely on this body's odd natural strengths"
Watari's eyes suddenly glittered. "Wait! I recall something from some RPGs! Do you know where dungeons are?!"
Akiba grinned. "Well the ones we find are quite difficult, so to be more our speed, there is something that is quite popular among fanfiction"
I nodded, realizing what he meant.
"ID create" I called as the world began to wrap around us.
"Kousei! We didn't have time to get ready!" Tsubaki called as we began to feel like we were falling.
"As awesome as this is going to be fuck you Kousei!" Watari yelled as things began to go dark.
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was the sound of leaves rustling.