"Don't go… Don't go!!!"

Raphne panicked.

"Ugh, please don't go! Are you still angry with me? Is that why you're doing this? I, I'm sorry. It was my fault! I'll apologize. I'll do anything!"

She begged, holding onto my clothes.

Her weary eyes had darkened even more after losing hope, and tears flowed endlessly.

The girl who had been saved once was afraid of falling into despair again.

She didn't want to fall into that loneliness again.

"Ah, no, Raphne! I'll definitely come tomorrow! I told you I'd eat breakfast with you, remember!"

I still didn't fully understand that loneliness.

So I tried to convince her like that.

But she didn't believe me.

“You're going to abandon me too. You, you're going to abandon me here and turn away from me too! Please don't do that! K- if Ken abandons me here too, I might really die! Are you going to let me die? Are you trying to kill me too? Please. Please don't abandon me…"

She knelt down and hugged my waist as if she would never let go.

She didn't care at all about how close our bodies were.

"Wait a minute, if a girl touches an area like that!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! You're really mad at me, aren't you? Was I too shameless after doing that to you? I'm sorry, I'll apologize! I'll do anything! If you tell me to get on my knees, I'll get on my knees, if you tell me to dance, I'll dance! If you tell me to take my clothes off, I'll take them all off!"

Her dark eyes staring at me seemed to be trying to devour me.

Her smiling face no longer showed joy.

A smile made up of despair and frustration.

With that smile, Raphne shed tears.

"T-that's right! Is there anything else you want to eat? I can prepare anything! I'll prepare whatever you want for lunch, dinner, and breakfast! I'll be ready for anything you say!"

She clings.

She clings to the thread of hope (me), never wanting to let go.

"Oh, or should I do something funny? Are you really mad at me? If you can forgive me, I'll do anything! You can hit me until you feel better! Or you can do dirty things to me! Ken is a guy too, right? I'm attractive, right? You can do anything to me! Just don't leave me.”

She kept begging and begging without even knowing what she was saying.

Looking at her, I thought,

'She's not in her right mind.'

Raphne Bel Martinez, was more broken than I had expected.

In the end, I had no choice but to stay in the tower until Raphne calmed down.

'I missed first period already.’

Raphne, who had calmed down a little, was hugging my arm.

The feeling of being wrapped by something large and soft was quite exciting, but this wasn't the kind of skinship like a lover's.

It was shackles.

She just held onto me so I couldn't run away.

"I, I'm sorry. I'm sorry because of me… I'm sorry for making you skip class."

After calming down, she realized her mistake and buried her face in my shoulder, apologizing repeatedly.

However, she never let go of my arm while apologizing.

Raphne's reason still couldn't overcome her instincts.

I felt her entire body shaking.

I sighed and checked the status window, seeing that the situation wasn't getting any better.

'System, open Raphne Bel Martinez's status window.'

What came to mind were Raphne's statuses.

[Name: Raphne Bel Martinez.

Unique Skill: Neural Acceleration

Unique Ability: Curse of Fear - Causes extreme stress and fear to any living creature moving within a 50M radius.

Possessed Traits: Despair - Current value 121%, Dependency LV. 5]

Raphne's information was summarized and displayed on the screen, focusing on her unique characteristics.

'Level 5'

The brief status information was something I had never seen before in Raphne, aside from her unique skills.

I could easily recall her status in the games I played before entering this world.

This information didn't exist in my memory.

Raphne's possessed traits were always anger or excitement.

However, the traits currently appearing are despair and dependency.

This trait usually appears in the protagonist Emily when she has a negative favorability rating with all capture targets near the start of the game.

However, there was a big difference in the numbers.

In the case of the protagonist Emily, the maximum despair level was always 100%, and the level of dependence never went above 3.

I wondered if it was a difference in the character's personality, but it didn't matter at the moment.

The problem was that her condition, which had calmed down a little while ago, was still serious.

If I just push her away like this, there's no turning back.

Of course, after the protagonist Emily displayed that trait, it was pretty much always a bad ending.

Usually with a silhouette of Emily hanging herself in the dormitory room.

It was one of the worst endings in the game both for the player behind the screen and the game world itself.

In a way, it was amazing that Raphne was still alive.

Raphne wanted to live that much.

Even in such a desperate situation, she didn't want to die.

The only hope that could be there was me, and if I were to forcefully leave, it would mean her death.

Okay, let's do this.

I then tried to release Raphne's arm that was holding onto mine.

"Ah, no!"

Of course, she immediately hugged my arm even tighter.

It was a desperate struggle to live, to absolutely not let go.

"T-That's not it, Raphne. Trust me. I'm not trying to run away. If I try to run away, you can use your skill to catch me."

With her unique skill [Neural Acceleration], holding onto me would be as easy as stopping a newborn baby with force.

In any case, if I were to run away by force, she would use her skill with no hesitation.

"I see."

With that suggestion, Raphne was able to let go of my arm.

She realized that she could stop me if she wanted to, even if she didn't hold on.

With my arm free, I immediately grabbed Raphne's shoulder.

"Raphne, I've decided."

Then I looked into her dead eyes and said.

"I'll help you lift your curse."

"...Huh, huh?"

Her eyes shook slightly.

It was a bewildered reaction to my unexpected words.

"I have the skill to create items.

I'll use that to create an item to stop your curse.

So don't worry about me leaving.

I'll definitely come visit you every day until I stop Raphne's curse."

This wasn't a plan to run away.

I was seriously thinking about a way to break her curse.

There was an item that appeared in the latter half of the original.

The commander-in-chief of the demon tribe was an opponent who used his unique skill to inflict instant death curses.

What was needed to deal with such a final boss was the Goddess' Pendant.

In the original strategy guide, it was explained as an item that could defend against instant death curses.

But the pendant's ability was not limited to defending against instant death curses.

According to the item's settings, the Goddess' Pendant has the power to purify all types of curses in the world with the Goddess' protection.

It's a bit early, but I'll create it at the present time.

In the original game, creating items requires a blueprint, materials, and an NPC with the skill to create items.

Normally, it would have been impossible to reproduce items obtained from an NPC that appeared in the latter half.

Fortunately, I was a character with the skill to create items.

If it was me, who had the knowledge of the original, it would be possible.

That's why my eyes showed conviction to Raphne.

It was a conviction born of confidence.

A conviction that I could save her.

"Uh, uh, uh, uh… uh, lie… It's a lie aaaaa..."

Raphne burst into tears along with my words.

Crying like a child, she insisted that my words were lies.

Whether she was denying it due to me adding hope to her current life or something else was unknown, but it was likely that it was her lying to herself to keep me here.

Raphne's tears were complicated mixed with various emotions.

She knew that my words were not lies.

That was why she was happy.

Up until now, the Academy, her family, and even her country had abandoned her.

She was happy that I was sincere in wanting to save her.

And she was afraid.

Since my words were true, she had to let me go.

She would be left here alone again.

Raphne was afraid of that.

That was why she lied to herself, saying that my words were lies.

But Raphne knew.

If she held onto me like this, I would hate her and leave her side.

Left alone here again.

With such mixed emotions, she burst into tears.

What, did it work?

I looked at the status window while Raphne was sobbing.

[Possessed trait: Despair - Current value 98%, ...

97%...96% ]

Raphne's despair level was decreasing.

She denied my words, saying it was a lie, but I looked at the status window and realized that she believed me.

"Then, I'll really go."

"Sob, sob."

Raphne couldn't stop me as I left the room.

She just kept crying.

I felt sorry for her.

"Oh, lunch today.

It’s something I don’t like."

"...Sob, uh, yeah?"

"So… Is it okay if I come here for lunch too?"

When I thought about it, I didn't necessarily have to come only for breakfast.

If she felt extremely lonely, shouldn’t I just increase the number of times I come?

It was such a simple thought.

However, it became a saving grace for Raphne.

She looked at me with tearful eyes.

Then she burst into tears again.

"Sob, sniff, sniff, please.You have to come back..."

"Don't worry."

I was worried that if she continued like this, she might end up in danger of dehydration like I had a little while ago.

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