Tooru, a third year honor student hardcore gamer. With Shouichi, a second year, known for playing daily in class.
The story starts with Shouichi playing Deer Love with his friends Ikuo and Araki, when Tooru overhears them, she asks to trade items together.
Throughout the story they quickly realize that she's a hardcore gamer for her high level skill and deer, and a bit of an otaku when she sings an anime song in karaoke.
They quickly decide to play together the upcoming MiliBun game together, and later on in an arcade stumble across GusGal, which she used to play competitively with Hikari in middle school, which we later learn, including her gaming prowess, her educational attributes alienated her of her classmates. Even though she's somewhat reluctant at first, she has fun playing GusGal with Shouichi again after a long time and decides to be co-op partners.
After beating a little kid and his friend in GusGal, Takeshi, who's the son of Hikari's chef, days later, Takeshi comes back to face them with Hikari, who promised her he'd get her a raise if they won. After they lose, Hikari warns Shouichi of her, which he disregards and invites Tooru to a restaurant, until the day after when he asks Hikari, who reveals to him why she said that.
Worried of her skipping, he calls her telling her that the disciplinary committee banned students from the arcade, which leads her to invite him to play at her house instead, where we learn of her brother Souta, her childhood brother complex through gaming and Tomoe being her only normal female friend since long ago.
In a puzzling reaction, after feeling guilty for being the cause of the arcade being banned due to her popularity of attracting students, she abruptly wants him to leave and calls Hikari to duel her to cope with it- until Hikari states to Tooru that she's graduated from gaming, and that Shouichi is a better partner for her.
During that time, Shouichi made her realize that she wants to become a mascot craftsman after knowing Takeshi liked her strap that Shouichi gave to him that she made.
Finally, even though she's usually unconcerned of close contact, she's embarrassed when she invites him to help her sell her merch in ComiMa with her friend, where she cosplays as her bunny character in MiliBun. After finishing their day in comima, they coincidentally go to Hikari's restaurant, and when they leave, as Hikari is glaring at him thinking he might denounce her off her job, he indirectly compliments her when he says to stop glaring or else it'll ruin her apron, which turns Tooru jealous.
As it's the day before her entrance exams and his last chance, he reveals his feelings to her and later on, hug, kiss and 10 years later have a baby as a teacher and the school bus driver.
... While, her mild confusing misunderstood rejection in saying she's not good with this stuff is what caused that awkward adam's apple suck, claiming it his weak spot in gamer terms --but then later clarifying that she wants to take her time in dating. His hug and their kiss after she asks to keep coming after her like no one ever has was sweet.
His unconditioned jealousy is common of immature teenage boys, but his demanding promise that she only asks for bites over his food was fucking weird in the restaurant.
As kind as he is in his own care for others is, along with his flustered reactions over her beauty is cute, but he's pretty dull with his redundant forced blushing perverted ideas. As cute as she was, her affection of love for him felt a little weak ... or rather, the problem was the awkward conflict point of Hikari in the story, where she seems to hate Tooru but later care and worry for her.
The concept of two gamers falling in love is uncommon but was poorly developed in how dull it was with dumb conflicts to progress to the romance.
As cute as they were to an extent, overall, dull characters with weak plots.
It's not better than Hikari's route as conflicting as it was, except for the better after-story, even though the development of the couple was quite bland. 5/10 for Tooru's route. |