"[Wet Girl 2] starts with the front seat being the divine seat, so I bought it to try first. Shizuku's face is one of them, but at the beginning Shizuku is completely unhappy, super cold — it's seriously blood-pressure-raising levels of aloofness, but…"
"Later there are more and more scenes of [So she can make this kind of expression too]."
Kitagawa Marin recalled in her mind Shizuku's rich variety of expressions — happy, sad, blushing, drooling, eyes rolling upward…
(Those kinds of scenes don't seem very decent.)
"By the time I snapped out of it, I realized I had already fallen in love with Shizuku. Everyone who's played this game has the exact same feeling."
(I think they really did fall in love with her.)
"And the kind of love you can't pull yourself out of. From the bottom of my heart, I feel like I want to become Shizuku."
In Kitagawa Marin's mind flashed an image of Shizuku with half her clothes stripped off, hands and feet bound, a ball gag in her mouth, tied up from behind.
"You understand, right, Saiki-kun?"
(I don't understand at all! That image just now was absolutely, positively not decent.)
Kitagawa Marin spoke these touching words from the bottom of her heart, leaving Saiki stunned.
(Truly the power of words. If this weren't an eroge, I might actually be moved.)
"Saiki-kun, why aren't you saying anything?"
(Because I don't know what to even say to you, ugh.)
Saiki opened the laptop, clicked into the game description, scrolled a bit, then glanced sideways at Kitagawa Marin.
[Hey!]
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
Kitagawa Marin tilted her head with a smile, ready to answer any question for Saiki at any time.
Saiki turned the laptop toward her, pointed at the screen, and said,
[This… it has an age restriction, 18+, right!]
"..."
Kitagawa Marin paused for a moment, then turned her eyes in another direction. Saiki's question seemed to go in one ear and out the other. "OK, looks like there's no issue."
(Hey, don't just dodge the question!)
[In short, this isn't something kids should be playing.]
Saiki handed the laptop back to Kitagawa Marin and scooted himself one butt-distance away.
"Ehh! Saiki-kun, you're not one of those people who looks down on other people's hobbies, are you? I know you might think it's a little weird, but liking something has nothing to do with gender!"
Kitagawa Marin scooted closer on the sofa, leaning toward Saiki with a sincere smile. "So let's play together!"
Saiki froze for a second before replying calmly,
[I was talking about age, wasn't I?]
"Uh, no, actually this game isn't that extreme. The sensitive parts aren't that many — it's really just a little skin showing."
Kitagawa Marin pressed even closer to Saiki. [And I don't believe Saiki-kun doesn't have any H books or games at home. Boys your age usually have at least a few — I know.]
(Don't just make assumptions. And why do I have to play it anyway?)
Every time Saiki shifted back on the sofa, Kitagawa Marin closed the gap again, until Saiki hit the edge and couldn't retreat any farther.
"Saiki-kun, I get it. Then let's play the all-ages version. This game has that option. And I really want you to play it, because there's a character in it who's a lot like you."
[If there's an all-ages version, say that earlier! A character who's a lot like me… is it in the all-ages version?]
"Wait a sec."
Kitagawa Marin leaned against Saiki and quickly opened the game on the laptop. Saiki casually glanced over.
Sure enough, the interface showed an 18+ version, an all-ages version, and a "previous game" option.
Kitagawa Marin — whether from being too quick or whatever — accidentally clicked "continue previous game."
The game jumped straight to the last save point Kitagawa Marin had played, and the audio started blasting out.
"Ah~ Mm… *"
A long string of shameful sounds instantly slammed into both Saiki and Kitagawa Marin.
Fortunately, Kitagawa Marin's reflexes were fast. She decisively exited, selected the all-ages version, adjusted the settings, and calmly handed the laptop back to Saiki.
As if absolutely nothing had just happened.
"Here you go, Saiki-kun."
(Hey, what was that just now? How can you just pretend it didn't happen?!)
Actually, although Kitagawa Marin usually acted pretty bold, she was really just forcing herself to keep up appearances. Her ears had already turned completely red.
Kitagawa Marin [W-what was I doing just now? It's all this hand's fault for being too fast. Ugh… Whatever. I've already lost all face in front of Saiki-kun anyway. Embarrassing myself isn't exactly a first or second time. It's fine, it's fine, no need to mind it.]
(I think you should mind it a lot more from now on!)
Saiki gave Kitagawa Marin a sideways glance before taking the laptop and scrolling through the character selection.
But character selection was just picking the protagonist anyway, nothing special. There were several options: Sakurai Tetsu, Aoki Ryota, Suzuki Tatsuya, Akazawa Ei.
Saiki scrolled casually. They were all the typical faceless male protagonists — hair covering their eyes.
But…
There was one exception: Akazawa Ei. When Saiki clicked on him, he was the only one whose eyes weren't hidden — a pink-haired, pink-eyed male lead.
He also had two different accessories on his head. His expression showed no emotion and bore a slight resemblance to Saiki.
The character bio read: Akazawa Ei. Sensitive and attentive, but usually doesn't show his feelings. Due to family circumstances, he developed severe affection deprivation and became expressionless. He's the type who acts decisively when the time comes, never hesitating to make a move.
"Ah~ Ei-sama…"
After glancing through a few, Saiki turned to look at Kitagawa Marin, who now had a bit of a creepy otaku look on her face.
( (ꐦ°᷄д°᷅) Damn it, Kitagawa, you jerk — I thought last time I was imagining things, but you actually see me as the protagonist of an eroge.)
Noticing Saiki's gaze, Kitagawa Marin looked up and asked, "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
(Yeah, I feel really unwell right now!)
...
Afternoon.
Kitagawa Marin saw Saiki off at her front door.
"Saiki-kun, today was so much fun. Let's play together again next time."
(Yeah, that's not happening.)
Watching Saiki's departing back.
Kitagawa Marin suddenly blushed as something occurred to her. [W-wait a second!! Today I was way too bold. I let a classmate I've only known for a short time come into my house, into my room, and even play games together…]
Saiki: ...
(So you can get embarrassed too!)
(You're only realizing this now… By the way, do normal high school girls play eroge with guys?)
…
Saiki walked home along the road.
[Yare yare, what a hassle. Such a hassle. Seriously such a hassle. And I feel completely mentally and physically exhausted. It's all that Kitagawa's fault.]
Of course Saiki still didn't play the game himself, but Kitagawa Marin had insisted on playing it in front of him — saying she had to show him at least one playthrough. Even though it was the all-ages version, Saiki still felt like he had done something wrong.