[Summary: Yosuke plays DRAMAtical Murder.]

[Author's note: Minor spoilers for DRAMAtical Murder, I guess? OTL]

Day 7 - Video Games

Souji came home from class to find Yosuke sitting at the computer desk, clicking away at something. Souji set his backpack on the couch and opened it to pull out his textbooks. "Please don't tell me you're ruining my Sims game even further," he said lightly.

"Nah," Yosuke replied. He glanced at Souji and waved him over. "Actually, come check this out. Rise sent me a game to play."

By the layout of the dialogue box at the lower end of the screen and the 2D anime-style character portrait in the center, Souji easily guessed the genre. "Oh, is this a visual novel?"

"Yeah, it's called Dramatical Murder and it's pretty cool so far."

Wait, what? Souji blinked several times. Wasn't that a... boy's love game?

Yosuke was still talking. "Despite the name, no one's died yet. I keep expecting something dramatic to happen, you know?" He laughed. "There was this virtual reality game thing that the main character got sucked into a few minutes ago. It kind of made me think of the TV World."

"Uh, neat," Souji said, his words tinged with worry. Yosuke didn't know what he was getting into with this game. Should... should he warn him?

"I still don't know what this gas mask guy's deal is," Yosuke said, turning his full attention back to the game.

Souji narrowed his eyes and then just shrugged. Yosuke would figure it out sooner or later. The absence of any important female characters should've clued him in anyway. Maybe... Souji smiled to himself at the sudden thought. Maybe he'd work on his classwork in here so he could witness Yosuke's reaction firsthand.

It was maybe twenty minutes later when Yosuke shouted "Dude!" in a voice loud enough to be heard by the neighbors. Realizing his volume, he glanced around the room. "This guy just kissed me! Well not me-me, you know, but... and it was out of nowhere!"

"And then what happened?" Souji asked.

"Well..." Yosuke turned back to the computer and clicked through the next few lines of dialogue. "Aoba's reacting about the same way I would. Seriously, what the heck man. I mean, he doesn't even know this guy."

Souji opened his mouth to quip, 'So it would've been okay if he did know him?' but Yosuke's attention was already back to the screen. Souji couldn't help but grin. It looked like he was hooked into the game despite that.

Regretfully, Souji had to leave for another class. Yosuke was lucky to have the day off, but he'd planned his college schedule that way. It meant tomorrow he wouldn't have any time to play games.

Which was why, when Souji returned, he was not surprised at all to find Yosuke hadn't moved in the intervening hours. The water bottle on the desk was untouched, and Souji doubted it was because he'd refilled it. Probably he was ignoring it so he wouldn't need to stop playing to use the bathroom.

"How's it going?" Souji asked.

Yosuke didn't even look at him, and it took a long moment for him to finally answer. "You missed a lot. There was a kidnapping, and some fighting, and now we're about to go infiltrate the big jail thing."

Souji decided to get right to the point. "No more kissing?"

"Nope, but... I guess my partner for this mission is the kissy dude. Aoba can only bring one person with him."

Ah, Souji thought. He was on a particular character's path, then. That meant... soon.

Souji grinned to himself and settled down on the couch, angling himself so that he'd have a prime view of Yosuke on the computer. He read a book, glancing up at Yosuke whenever he made the slightest movement. His neck started to get sore because he was glancing up too often so he just gave up and flat out watched his friend play the game.

Then finally, it happened.

"Wh-whoa," said Yosuke. "What the heck..." He leaned back in the chair. "U-umm, uhh..."

"What happened?"

Yosuke glanced at him long enough for him to see his rosy cheeks, but then focused determinedly away. "K-kissing again..."

"Oh," said Souji in a disappointed tone. "Only kissing?"

"No," Yosuke admitted. "They're... more than kissing."

His eyes couldn't seem to focus on any one point as he tried to look anywhere but the computer screen. Souji wished he was sitting closer. It had to be depicting something spicy.

"Do you need me to leave the room?" Souji asked. "You aren't getting past this scene."

"W-well, I don't want to just click through it!"

"Then read it," Souji said. "I won't judge you. There's probably important character development happening."

"Development that's happening below the belt," Yosuke muttered, but after a few more moments of hesitation he quieted down and turned his attention back to the game.

The blush on Yosuke's face had a more otherworldly appearance when lit by the screen. Eventually, though, it disappeared as he got past that scene.

"Man," Yosuke said a little while later. "I should've known Rise was way too eager for me to play this game. Now I know why."

"Boy's Love does seem to be her genre," Souji agreed. "I guess you can stop playing now."

"Huh?" Yosuke turned a frown on him. "But if I stop now, I'll never find out why Aoba knows how to play Rhyme. Or why he forgot that he used to play it, or whatever. I'm invested now, I have to know. And I want to know why this guy felt he had to kiss him. Or more than kiss. Or whatever."

"But it's only going to get, uhh..." Souji paused to choose his words carefully, "more explicit."

"Well," Yosuke said, crossing his arms. "I don't have to like it."

By the blush on his face, though, he might. As it turned out, the important character development was happening to Yosuke himself.