Interlude 2: 【BOG Commentary】It's Valentine's Day

I started the stream and, right out of the gate, threw a question at my viewers.

"Sudden question, everyone, but did you get any chocolate?"

・Why would you say something like that?

・Hey, don't be so disrespectful.

・Did you get any, Potaku-san? (Cross-counter)

・Sorry, I did.

Ah, just as I thought. The comrades on the other side of the screen were fellow soldiers who had tasted the bitterness of Valentine's Day.

After checking the bloodthirsty comments, I got to the main topic.

"Good news for all you poor souls who couldn't get any chocolate! If you play BOG right now, you'll get chocolate!"

・Ooooooooooooooh!

・YEEEEEEEEEEES!

・Ah, what a relief...

・Chocolate saved me.

The limited-time event, "Sweet Kaori and Burning Omoi!"

This event, held around February 14, lets you read stories where the Bluffers you own give you chocolate.

"I've already finished the event story, so today we're going around collecting individual chocolates!"

For now, I launched the game and went to the home screen.

In BOG, the Bluffers you own wait for you on the home screen.

If you tap them, they'll play a cute voice line, so rotating through your favorites is practically a player tradition.

Today's Bluffer was the bridal version of Usobuki Raika.

Dressed in a wedding gown, she looked displeased by default.

Her tiny body and bridal dress were so ridiculously mismatched that it gave her a strange kind of charm.

On top of that, during this period, you could hear special Valentine's voice lines.

I tapped Raika's head.

『What are you looking at? Staring all you want won't get you any chocolate... I said I'm not giving you any!』

"Ahhh, perfect..."

・The old man is tsun-tsun as usual today.

・This is totally one of those "she says that, but..." situations.

I basked in the comfort of her usual self before moving on to the event screen.

For my first chocolate, I chose Kibogaoka Hibari-chan, who had recently been playing a major role in the main story.

"Good morning, Anchor-kun!"

I turned around at the sound of her energetic voice, and my entire field of vision was filled with her beaming smile.

Hibari was always smiling, but today she seemed to be in an especially good mood.

"Anchor-kun! You obviously know what day it is today, right?"

When I answered that it was Valentine's Day, her smile grew even wider.

"Correct! And with that, here's a chocolate present from me! Rejoice!"

I looked at the chocolate she handed me.

It was a fairly standard homemade chocolate.

A heart-shaped piece of chocolate wrapped in clear packaging.

Looking closely, I could see that the outline of the chocolate was slightly uneven.

The unmistakable signs of something handmade made it easy to imagine how much effort she'd put into it, and I couldn't help but smile.

When I sincerely thanked her, her cheeks immediately turned red.

"Ehehe, it's embarrassing when you say it so directly. ...I feel like an idiot for getting all nervous about it."

She muttered that last part with a slightly gloomy expression.

Apparently, beneath that cheerful exterior, she'd been nervous in her own way.

"It's really nice. Thank you."

When I thanked her again, her already flushed cheeks turned an even deeper red.

"...Ah, th-then, tell me what you think of the taste later, okay!? Well then, farewell!"

Apparently, she'd exceeded her maximum capacity for embarrassment.

Hibari turned around as though trying to hide her reddened face, then hurried away with a little whoosh.

・Hibari's Homemade Chocolate

A remarkably well-made chocolate for something homemade. Hibari was already good at things like cooking, and this was the result of her trial and error as she worked to create the perfect chocolate.

For a girl who loved making people happy, Valentine's Day became a day when she put in extra effort.

The classic heart shape was filled with her straightforward feelings.

"Whoa, this is really good! After everything we've been through, seeing Hibari openly acting all sweet is great!"

・Good...

・It's even better after finishing Chapter Two...

"After learning that she's not just cheerful all the time, seeing Hibari-chan simply acting cheerful like this is actually reassuring! It feels like she's finally returned to everyday life, you know? Anyway, I'm just happy that I got to see a happy Hibari-chan safe and sound!"

・I get it.

・There she goes, Potaku's rapid-fire speech.

・Rapid Chanting A.

・Potaku-san was absolutely furious during Hibari's Chapter Two flashback, after all...

"All right, let's keep going! There are still tons of girls waiting to give me chocolate! Ahh, being a popular guy is tough!"

I ignored the stream of comments asking, "Huh?"

"Shut up, I know it's nonsense too!"

I swiped across the screen and started the next story.

"Next up is Raika! Now, is this tsundere or just pure tsun? Let's see if this girl can actually give me some decent chocolate."

As usual, Raika had summoned me behind the school building. She was probably waiting at the usual spot, puffing away on a cigarette.

The school was filled with the restless, excited atmosphere of Valentine's Day, but the area behind the school was deserted and lonely.

"Yo. Quite the ladies' man, weren't you?"

As usual, Raika was smoking as she called out to me.

Her words were teasing.

Apparently, she'd seen me receiving chocolate.

"Being able to get all excited over a single piece of chocolate is a privilege of youth. Enjoy it while you can."

After making that typically adult-sounding remark, she stubbed out her cigarette in an ashtray and threw it away.

The lingering smoke stung my nose.

With both hands now free, Raika took something out of her bag.

"Here. I'll give you this."

She held out a paper bag with a sophisticated design.

It was a little too large for something that only contained chocolate, and I accepted it with both hands.

When I asked what it was, she laughed as she lit another cigarette.

"Open it and see. It's a little thank-you for everything. You've helped me out quite a bit, and I've caused you plenty of trouble too. ...Besides, if I give you something expensive like this, you'll return the favor with something expensive on White Day, right?"

I couldn't tell whether the sly grin on her face was meant to hide her embarrassment.

I looked inside the paper bag.

There was something that looked like chocolate wrapped in expensive-looking packaging.

And the other item appeared to be a bottle of wine.

"It's non-alcoholic wine. Chocolate and wine go pretty well together. Think of it as studying for the future."

When I thanked her, she mumbled something around the cigarette in her mouth.

"Well, teaching you the finer things in life is part of an adult's job too. And, well, once you're old enough to drink the real thing, I'll take you to a nice bar."

With that, she turned her face away from me and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

・Raika's Chocolate and Wine

Inside the stylish paper bag were a bottle of non-alcoholic red wine and some dark chocolate.

The chocolate was a simple, store-bought variety, but it was fairly expensive.

A set that makes you feel just a little more grown-up.

"R-Raika actually got all sweet on us!?"

・Calm down, she was literally just smoking.

・Thank you...

・I love her trying to act all grown-up with this present.

"Wait, didn't she just casually make plans to go drinking together later!? She fully intends to still be hanging out with him once he's an adult..."

・That shameless old man...

・This is basically a confession.

・Hey, are you even going to be allowed into a bar?

"I mean, I think the voice actress deserves the praise here. Raika's reactions are so subtly sweet—or maybe not sweet at all—that they're absolutely perfect! Did you hear how she mumbles a little while keeping the cigarette in her mouth!? You can't even tell whether she's embarrassed or just having trouble talking around the cigarette! That's what I call professional skill. I can only be grateful to the person behind the character for taking time out of their busy schedule to record the Valentine's voice lines... Man, it's perfect!"

・Rapid Chanting (Second Time)

・I love how intense he gets about this.

・A true Potaku, never forgetting to thank the creators.

"Damn it, BOG devs, just you wait! As long as you keep creating attractive heroines, I'll never stop spending money on this game!"

・If they shut down the servers, I will never forgive them...!

・He's officially declaring himself an ATM.

Having gotten thoroughly into the spirit of things, I started playing through the episodes one after another.