Chapter 7: Treat Me Like a Mommy

Even though Izumi quickly skipped over the daily scenes with Shinoa, she was not vague about raising Shinoa's affection.

As a seasoned love expert who has read countless books, Izumi has mastered the techniques of capturing a character in a game, such as choosing the right options and saying the right words to increase their affection. It has become second nature to her.

After Izumi captured Shinoa's heart, she effortlessly recited lines that made the socially awkward and self-conscious Shinoa extremely happy.

In less than an hour, this socially awkward and self-conscious protagonist was completely immersed in the gentle and warm atmosphere that Izumi brought.

Although Izumi easily captured Shinoa's heart, she started to slow down as she progressed through the game.

The reason for the slowdown was not that the subsequent plot of Shinoa's route had any exciting developments or ups and downs.

Instead, it was because Hiro intentionally increased the game's difficulty in the capture process.

In other words, Hiro was trying to make the process of capturing Shinoa interesting and rewarding for Izumi.

To achieve this, Hiro arranged for Izumi to discover Shinoa's residence through an "accident" on the second day of their meeting.

Shinoa's residence, as set by Hiro, was a small wooden house located outside the library that no one paid attention to.

It was more like a doghouse than a wooden house, with a small room that was drafty.

Upon discovering that Shinoa lived in such a place, Izumi's first reaction was to find him a better place to live.

However, Hiro cleverly rejected this idea, citing reasons such as "I will be punished if I move around too much because I am a staff member of the academy."

Then came the crucial part. Izumi was also very skilled. Starting from the third day, she began to visit Shinoa frequently and brought small gifts for him.

For example, Izumi bought tools for repairing the house and some sweets for Shinoa to supplement his nutrition.

This gift-giving process was also the reason why Izumi became more and more serious about playing the game.

Because of Shinoa's "tragic orphan background" and "living in a drafty shack" settings, Hiro created a strong sense of "raising" for Izumi.

In other words, Izumi developed a desire to "make this poor child live a better life!"

And the reason why this "raising a child" gameplay really made Izumi become more and more addicted was...because Hiro knew how to give feedback to the player when playing Shinoa.

The so-called feedback is to let Izumi realize that every gift she gave to Shinoa was meaningful.

On the fourth day, after Izumi bought a set of house repair tools and some snacks for Shinoa, she found that the broken windows of Shinoa's shack had been repaired.

Although the repair work was shoddy, Izumi could see some signs of injury on Shinoa's fingertips.

However, Shinoa was more concerned about his poor craftsmanship than her injured hands.

After Izumi's visit, Shinoa hid his hands behind his back and asked in a low voice, "Ugh... Did I ruin the things you gave me, Sister Vel?"

Seeing this scene, Izumi really...had the impulse to hug Shinoa and kiss him.

"Everyone has a first time of being unskilled. Now, show me your hands, and I'll bandage the wounds for you."

After this, Izumi had already started to treat Shinoa as her own child.

She had to admit that although the game "Shinoa.exe" was a bit dull in terms of plot, it was still quite fun to play.

From the fourth day of the game, Izumi began to constantly think about what gifts to give Shinoa, and then look forward to Shinoa's reaction after receiving the gifts.

As the game progressed, Izumi also gradually learned about Shinoa's past as a character.

In the eyes of Izumi, who has read countless books, Shinoa's past can be described as a pitiful one with a tragic history.

First of all, Shinoa is a child who was abandoned by his parents. If he had been abandoned as a newborn baby, it would have been better because he would have no memories and would not have any psychological shadows.

However, Shinoa was abandoned at the age of twelve because of a very special and terrifying magical curse that existed on his body.

Under the temptation of a large amount of money, Shinoa was sold by his parents to this magic academy for "research."

Yes, it was "research."

In just two years, the fourteen-year-old Shinoa suffered the betrayal and abandonment of his biological parents, and then was stripped of his human rights and became a magical experiment like a white mouse.

During these two years, he suffered countless tortures until he lost all research value and was thrown away like garbage into a corner of the academy.

Shinoa had long accepted that he was like garbage, slowly rotting away in a deserted corner of life.

Izumi also felt it during her interaction with Shinoa, as she occasionally caught glimpses of the fierce scars hidden under Shinoa's clothes.

There were burns, stab wounds, knife wounds, and various stitching scars, which may have covered the entire body of this fourteen-year-old boy.

In fact, the truly traumatized and still unhealed...was Shinoa's heart.

When Shinoa was recounting these past experiences to Izumi, she saw his increasingly gloomy and painful expression, as if he wanted to end his life at any moment.

Izumi knew that now was the time to conquer Shinoa's heart's last line of defense.

So, Izumi spoke up, not for the utilitarian purpose of capturing Shinoa, but sincerely.

Watching Shinoa muster up the courage to tell her such a painful past, Izumi had been holding back the words she wanted to say.

That is...

"Shinoa, if you still feel pain...then cry loudly in my arms as if I were your mother."

Huh...uh...what?

When Hiro heard this line, his first reaction was...this player lady, you're too good at this, aren't you?

Under Izumi's words, which could be described as a fatal blow plus real damage and a hundredfold explosion, what could Kirihara Hiro do?

Of course, there was only one choice left.

That is...to surrender.

Hiro, playing Shinoa, directly threw himself into the arms of the heroine, Verlaine, controlled by Izumi, and cried out loud.

Izumi then had the heroine gently stroke Shinoa's hair and softly comfort him with words like "good boy, good boy."

If this were an R18 game, these two characters might have already rolled onto the bed and fought for three hundred rounds.

Unfortunately, this game is R16...this kind of embrace was already the limit.

But who says Izumi can't use this R16 game as 'research material'?

Looking at the game heroine holding the crying Shinoa in her arms, she discovered that she had a strange feeling for this fourteen-year-old boy that she shouldn't have?