Chapter 12

Kaoru settled into the space between in his own body, Patch at his side with his collar and the chrysanthemum charm intact. The top of the pod opened up and Kaoru sat up, swinging his legs over the side. Patch jumped down.

The large screen on the other side of the room lit up, showing updated pictures of Taiki and Eri Kuroda. Between the pictures the words Total Score: A appeared in reddish brown. 

More words appeared in black next to Taiki’s picture. 

Rank Promotion: Main Antagonist �' Protagonist’s Mentor (-8 Skill Points, -7 Attribute Points)

Earned Titles: Proficient Pediatrician, Loveable Big Brother(type)

Leveled Skills: Social Lv 10, Social (Flattery) Lv 2, Medicine Lv 34, Flirting Lv 12, Flirting, (Seduction) Lv 2, Flirting (Intercourse) Lv 1, Language Lv 20, Language (Japanese) Lv 25, Language (English) Lv 2, Art lv 4, Art (Pencil) Lv 3

Some appeared next to Eri’s as well.

Child Promotion: Sympathetic Cannon Fodder �' Secondary Love Interest �' Protagonist’s Rival �' Protagonist’s Best Friend.

“What’s all this?” Kaoru asked. 

Patch sat and began wagging its tail, letting it thump against the ground. “You were assigned to the ‘villain’ archetype, so whatever word you enter, you’ll always be some sort of villain,” Patch explained. “Hence the rank title. Through your own actions, you were promoted to the Protagonist’s Mentor.  There are a total of 18 levels you or your charge can be promoted or demoted to! 

“Starting at the lowest; Mob, Villainous Mob, Unnamed Cannon Fodder, Antagonistic Cannon Fodder, Villain’s Henchman, Minor Antagonist, Major Antagonist, Sympathetic (Hero’s Side) Cannon Fodder, Secondary (and all others) Love Interest, Primary Love Interest, Main Antagonist, Protagonist’s Rival, Minor Protagonist, Protagonist’s Mentor, Protagonist’s Party, Major Protagonist, Protagonist’s Best Friend, and Main Protagonist!”

Patch grinned in that puppy sort of way, tail hitting the floor with loud smacks. 

“That’s a promotion of three levels, congratulations Master!” Patch cheered.

Kaoru frowned, putting a hand on his chin while staring at the allocated points by the promotion. “…Why are there negative skill and attribute points, then?”

A ding sounded off from Patch. “This is also because you were a villain promoted into hero territory! Since you used the points given to you in your world, you were given a total of ten upon completion! For every promotion into Hero rank, you will be subtracted five points in total, however demotions will subtract you ten points! You did not reach S Rank or SS Rank, so your points were not doubled. Which means you have a total of 2 Skill Points and 3 Attribute Points to allocate!”

Kaoru’s frown deepened. “So I’m being punished for trying to be a good person?”

“Pretty much!”

“But you said I jumped three ranks.”

“Yes, but it was just one promotion! You didn’t ever hold the rank of Protagonist’s Rival or Minor Protagonist!”

Kaoru sighed as he pinched his nose, almost regretting his decision to accept Patch’s offer now. It felt like it was going to be a lot harder to raise children into good, respectable adults if he was forced to act like a villain. Not to mention, he tended to be adverse to most conflicts. It wasn’t that he couldn’t handle himself, it was just that he didn’t like it. 

If he’d truly gone down the route Taiki had in the original story, that would have gone against all of Kaoru’s morals. 

Kaoru closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again. “It isn’t too bad to not get as many skill points…” he mused.

“Not necessarily,” Patch said. “Missions will get harder as time goes on, so having high skills in a variety of fields is ideal! Too many demotions or promotions into hero categories will result in F scores, and garnering too many of those will have you disqualified from the program! Which means you won’t be able to return back to your original world, and since your soul was taken out of the reincarnation cycle, it’ll disappear entirely.”

“Well, s**t.” That wasn’t… ideal. It didn’t look like he had much of a choice, did he?

Patch whimpered, softly nudging Kaoru’s hand. “Is Master upset?”

Kaoru hummed instead of answering. He needed to remember that Patch was also just… ‘employed’ by a greater force. It was difficult to be angry at Patch when it sounded like a child, but just as difficult to not direct his anger at the system due to Patch being his only link to whatever the ‘greater force’ was. 

“Is there anything else I should know?” Kaoru asked. 

Patch yipped, jumping to its feet. “Please swipe away your score screen!” 

Kaoru did so, reaching out and swiping it away. It flew off into a small folder on the other side of the room, still digital, however. On the main screen, a chart popped up, split into two. Kaoru tilted his head as he began reading.

“These are you Attribute and Skill levels!” Patch explained. “To your right, the Attributes.” Kaoru read down the list.

Attributes: Charisma Lv 42, Patience Lv 61, Strength (Physical) Lv 19, Strength (Mental) Lv 49, Knowledge Lv 31, Memory Lv 10, Instinct Lv 15, Charm Lv 33, Aura Lv 2

“Each of these will have practical applications no matter what kind of world you enter,” Patch continued on. “They effect the personality rather than abilities. They don’t have any secondaries and don’t affect skill growth, though. But look to the left and you’ll see your Skills.”

Skills: Social Lv 10, Social (Flattery) Lv 2, Medicine Lv 34, Flirting Lv 12, Flirting, (Seduction) Lv 2, Flirting (Intercourse) Lv 1, Language Lv 20, Language (Japanese) Lv 25, Language (English) Lv 2, Art Lv 4, Art (Pencil) Lv 3

“Skills have specific, secondary subsets,” Patch said as Kaoru read the list. “Leveling Primary Skills will allow you to level Secondary Skills, but leveling Secondary Skills doesn’t effect the leveling of Primary Skills. Primary Skills level slowly, but can reach up to level 100. Secondary Skills will level a lot faster, but can only reach level 50. While you can use points to level them without putting in any work, you will learn and develop skills naturally while in each world. Your character’s proficiency in any matter will affect your starting level as well, which is why your artistic talent is the level it’s at despite you not developing it! Getting to higher levels in each sill will also give you different titles. Getting to level 30 of medicine through your hard work gave you the title Proficient Pediatrician. But Lovable Big Brother is the role you made for yourself in the world and was not affected by your skills.”

“Right…” Kaoru said, humming in thought. “Any advice on actual point distribution?”

Patch barked. “Sure!” it said. “In each world, you’ll be given some points to use inside in case you need a quick upgrade in a skill. However, holding off on using them will get you 20 points upon mission completion. Earning an S rank and not using your points will give you 40, and an SS rank will give you 60. Pretty nice, right?” Kaoru hummed and motioned for Patch to go on. “You can also choose new skills here you didn’t have access to in other worlds if you prefer not to level up the ones you have. In the end, it’s all on you about where you want to put points, but I’m sure Master will make the right choices!”

Kaoru sighed heavily, trying to pick apart Patch’s lengthy explanation. He only had five points to work with, so it wasn’t like he had many choices to begin with.

He pressed a few buttons on the screen, allocating the points to his physical strength and his language skills. Nothing changed, all the numbers remaining the same.

“All done?” Patch asked, and Kaoru nodded. “Good! There’s one more thing I wanna show ya!” Without even being asked, Kaoru minimized the skill screen and another popped up.

It was a large wheel with twenty blue, green, and silver colored spaces on it, each of them with strange titles Kaoru didn’t understand.

“Promoting your charge results in boons!” Patch said, wagging its tail wildly. “Each promotion allows for another boon, so you have the chance to win three prizes from this wheel! Don’t worry�"the Villain/Hero bit doesn’t apply here, and demotions won’t negatively affect you as long as the child survives.”

Kaoru wasn’t exactly sure how they were boons, but if Patch said so… “So I just push the button?” he asked. 

“Yup!”

Kaoru shrugged, and tapped the button in the middle of the circle. It spun and spun and spun for a moment before coming to a stop. The arrow pointing at the space titled Perfect Service (Internet).

A box popped up with the title at the top, a short explanation appearing under it. Kaoru will always have flawless cell and internet service unless otherwise demanded by plot.

Kaoru’s eyes widened and he grinned. “Well, that’s convenient,” he said. Maybe it was going to be useful after all.

The next to pull was Luck of the Devil. Kaoru will generally have good luck, but either at a price or with someone else's misfortune.

Kaoru deflated at that one and Patch sighed heavily. “Well, you are a villain after all…” Patch said, shaking its head.

The last of Kaoru’s special boons was Monologue Generator. Activating this skill will allow Kaoru to automatically know just the right words for a villainous monologue.

Kaoru cringed slightly. Well, it would make his job easier, wouldn’t it?

Who knew, really.

“Would you like to rest before moving on to the next world?” Patch asked as the screen dimmed from inactivity. “You are allowed some time before we have to move on.”

Kaoru opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it again. He nodded. 

It was slowly sinking in that the world he’d been in wasn’t somewhere he was going to be able to return to. He wasn’t going to see Hachirou, Akimitsu, Megumi, or Yuzuki anymore. He wasn’t going to spend anymore nights in Takuya’s arms, wasn’t going to be able to tease Makoto or encourage Eri anymore, or talk to his parents�" well, they weren’t his parents, they were Taiki’s. He’d spent eighteen years in that world, but it felt like it was gone in the blink of an eye.

It suddenly hurt a whole lot more to be alone with only Patch. 

“You should upload your memories to the Memory Lock before you forget,” Patch said as a lounge area formed on the other side of the room, rising up from the black and pushing things until it all fit comfortably.

Kaoru nodded and approached the Memory Lock, pushing his memories of his time as Taiki into it. 

His hand hesitated on the orb for a while, watching as Taiki’s life passed him by. “…It might take me a while to get over him.”

Patch sat by his feet and tilted his head. “There is no shame in missing someone and mourning their loss. It is a human emotion.”

Kaoru chuckled. “Yeah… you’re right.”

He pulled away from the Memory Lock and went over to the newly formed couch, sitting down. Patched jumped up beside him and Kaoru petted him. 

Patch dinged, and a white book formed on the table in front of Kaoru. “Ah, it’s ready,” Patch said. “The copy of the story that happened because of you. Its focus will be on the lead instead of you, so you might even learn something new.”

Kaoru picked up the book that read Wild Chrysanthemum. “Just like your collar,” he said, grinning a bit. The book, a manga in format, had a teenaged Makoto and Eri on the front cover. He cracked it open, recognizing the first moment depicted. Eri’s first official day of school.

He knew, as he read though the manga, it might take a while, but he’d get there. Eventually the ache would become less, he’d stop missing Takuya and all the rest, and he’d finally be ready to move on into the next world.

Author's Note

The end of Arc 1, with loooots of technical things I don't know if I explained well.