26: Midsummer's Fruit 4
The familiar interface appeared before Yvonne.
-Dear host, please select your villainous task for today:
-Current villainous value: 2
[Option 1: Take Elsa to the highest point of the designated location [Mermaid Cliff] and push her into the rising tide (+10)]
[Option 2: Steal Elsa’s umbrella and use its sharp end to pierce any part of her body (+5)]
[Option 3: Steal Elsa’s umbrella and let her get soaked in the rain (+0)]
Seeing today’s high-scoring options, Yvonne felt her eyebrows twitching.
…This trash system is really getting more and more outrageous.
To actually make her push Elsa off a cliff… if she really did that, it would basically be no different from murder.
The villainous system awards points that fluctuate based on the task’s difficulty and the damage caused to the protagonist,
And as a reward, one can obtain points of evil.
Consuming ‘villainous points’ starting from 1 unit can yield a fixed proportion of large amounts of money or equivalent items,
When the host accumulates 100 points, they can directly enter the villainous victory ending, and also gain an extra chance to make a wish.
Really treating me like some kind of all-powerful anal explosion machine, this trash system—
Yvonne cursed in her heart.
Even if she really had a wish she wanted fulfilled, she didn’t want to achieve it by hurting Elsa.
Looking at the 2 points on the screen, she felt a twinge of conscience.
Absolutely— absolutely cannot let these points increase anymore.
Although the villainess in the game truly wanted to kill the protagonist because her man was stolen, Yvonne, with her previous life’s memories and personality, had no such thoughts at all.
She and that prince were engaged in name only, but Yvonne didn’t like that self-centered, narcissistic prince who thought everyone liked him and couldn’t do without him,
Moreover…
Yvonne glanced at Elsa beside her.
Today, she should have had a scene of walking home under an umbrella with the male protagonist,
However, due to her own appearance, the plot’s trajectory had deviated,
So… if the protagonist ultimately couldn’t find happiness, she would be responsible too.
She had to take responsibility for her.
“…Dorothy.”
“Mm? What is it?”
She turned her head, wearing her usual smile, making Yvonne feel at ease while also feeling guilty for having to continue ‘bullying’ her.
“Did you bring an umbrella?”
“Of course~”
Elsa waved the long umbrella in her hand, then whoosh— she opened the black umbrella surface,
This is a seaport, where clouds move quickly and it often rains, so umbrellas are basically a necessity for every student,
However, the craftsmanship in this world still can’t produce those folding umbrellas with thin frames and light material. The umbrella Elsa was holding with its steel frame was very heavy, and the sharp metal umbrella tip was particularly chilling. Combined with the ‘piercing’ requirement in one of the task options, it made Yvonne inevitably think of that poor bespectacled class representative in “Another”.
“Does Evie want to share an umbrella with me?”
“…No, I’ll pass on that.”
Seeing the complicated expression on her face, the corners of Elsa’s mouth curled into a knowing smile.
This look… is she going to bully me? She’s going to bully me, right!
Just thinking about being bullied by her soon, her body reflexively became excited.
“Your umbrella belongs to me now!”
Saying this Gian-like line, Yvonne reached out her hand towards her.
Elsa blinked in confusion.
Eh eh, just this?
“…This is ‘bullying’.”
Seeing her expression as if she hadn’t quite understood, Yvonne had to add a supplementary sentence.
“Please use it carefully.”
For some reason, she looked a bit disappointed, but still very cooperatively handed the umbrella over to her.
Then it was time to let her get rained on,
Yvonne fell into deep thought,
The system didn’t specify a concrete time, which meant there was some room for maneuver.
Getting rained on for an hour is getting rained on, getting rained on for one second is also getting rained on,
I wonder if pulling her outside and immediately pulling her back in would work…
However, while Yvonne was agonizing over how to minimize the degree of bullying, her bullying target Elsa had already taken big steps forward, walking into the pouring rain.
“Wait… hey, what are you doing!”
Since the umbrella was taken away, she probably wanted her to get a bit wet—
Just like how students who have done countless exam papers can occasionally guess what the question will be, Elsa quickly understood the content of this bullying and voluntarily walked into the rain.
Then, as if dancing some kind of dance, she took a few light jumps, and when her heels landed, they splashed up quite a bit of water,
“So cool—”
She stood on tiptoe and turned around, brushing her wet hair back, showing a smile to her in the rain,
“It feels so good~ I’ve wanted to try this for a long time!”
“You idiot— your clothes are soaked through!!”
“It’s fine~ It’s the uniform, isn’t it the last time we’ll wear it before school starts anyway~”
Seeing the [Task Completed] prompt pop up, Yvonne hesitated whether she should go stop this reckless girl.
The rain quickly soaked through her uniform shirt and made it transparent, and her pleated skirt also clung tightly to her legs due to absorbing water,
Fortunately, everyone from school had left, otherwise there would definitely be strange rumors spreading again.
Looking at the scene of water droplets constantly falling from her soft face, as if possessing some kind of magic, firmly attracting her gaze.
The sky was still gloomy, but for some reason, Yvonne felt that she was extremely radiant like this.
“…Really crazy.”
Murmuring this, she put down the umbrella and stepped out with a wry smile,
Perhaps… things weren’t as complicated as she had imagined.
The gloom in her heart was swept away by this cheerful smile. Yvonne took a deep breath and walked into her world.
“Hey~ Does Evie want to play with water too?”
The water elements were very abundant and active on rainy days. Elsa extended her index finger, easily condensing a small water ball with magic, playfully bouncing in front of her,
“Play my foot! Are you a three-year-old? Hurry up and come home with me!”
As expected, she was sternly reprimanded by Mama Yvonne. Elsa could only pretend to be innocent and stick out her tongue,
However…
Looking at her equally soaked outer garment, a small burst of secret joy bubbled up in her heart.
She didn’t have to specially come out to meet me…
Thinking of this, her mood became elated again.
Their wet hands clasped together,
Was it because of the extra adhesion from the water?
Somehow, this time, she felt she was holding on especially tightly.