Taiyou took a different path than the three sisters in order to go to school. Without thinking he instinctually ran away, as he was really, quite a shy/introverted person. Although all he did was look directly into their eyes as he called out their names, nevertheless, for Taiyou whom in the past has had minimal interactions with the opposite sex, it was too much for him to endure.
Furthermore, it was hard to return the girls feelings, when it happened so suddenly. Being liked was a pleasant thing, but, when they unconditionally turn their feelings of love towards him, somewhere in his heart he felt bad for the girls. The complexity of the matters combined with the fact that he was merely a young boy of 16 years, made it even more difficult.
And at the same time, the reason their affection increased, and the reason his mind was plagued by guilt was due to the status point….
Charm: 65535
Several days ago, the three Hayakawa twin sisters were merely his regular classmates, and the main drive and the timing as to why this kind of thing happened was way too coincidental, Taiyou thought that without a doubt it was because of that ability.
If he raised the value of the stat, to its highest level, through his own hard work, then as a person whom is crazy about levelling, he could confidently raise his chest and be proud of his achievements. However, this time it wasn't like that at all, because of a numerical bug called "overflow" the numbers went crazy....... in other words it was a result that was obtained through pure chance/accident/luck and was truly unfair/unjust. Because he did not feel he gained his ability through his own efforts, he could not willingly accept the advantages it provided.
Many years down the track, the person himself will look back at this event and think to himself, with a bitter smile:
"Why did I make such a fuss about such a small matter, if I think carefully I was so childish back then obsessing and being stubborn over things which have little meaning"
「…..Haaa」
Even so, for the Taiyou that was living in the current timeline it was an important matter. Enough for him to let out a frustrated sigh.
「Good morning Natsuno. Eh? You aren't playing a game? 」
「Oh it's you, Nakajima? Yeah, I have a lot going on…..」
As usual on his way to school, the overly buoyant Katsuki was walking side by side with him, and this made him let out another small sigh.
「What's wrong, somehow you don't seem to be well. Is it some sort of personal problem? 」
Nakajima wiggled his pinkie finger, and gave a mischievous/impish/roguish smile. "It was exactly because of that!" Taiyou almost wanted to blurt it out, but, the person known as Katsuki was someone who loved to gossip/tease/banter about love matters, he was a person known for such things and he didn't want the direction of the conversation to go that way. Knowing this fact Taiyou narrowly managed to suppress his outburst.
「No it's not what you are thinking, it's because my smart phone broke」
「By smart phone you mean the newest model phone that you just recently bought? 」
「Yeah」
「For real? Let me see, let me see, did it have a crack on the screen that resembled a spider web? 」
「More than just a cracked screen, its closer to say it was grind to dust. Immediately after dropping it a car ran over it and crushed it to little pieces」
「Wow....my condolence to you. Is that so, that's the reason you weren't playing games today huh」
「...….That's how it is」
Taiyou felt relieved. For someone like Katsuki who loved to gossip about love relationships, if the matter with the three twin sisters were exposed, it would become an immense/disastrous thing, as much as possible, he wanted to hide such secrets, Taiyou thought.
「Aside from that, seeing Natsuno without a game in hand, even I'm starting to feel weird」
「Is it to that extent? 」
「Yeah, it makes me unable to calm down. It's like the feeling of seeing a pigeon in front of the station that was afraid to approach the human beings」
「I kind of understand what you are saying but not really......」
Taiyou had a bittersweet smile.
「But you know, even if you don't have your smart phone, can't you still play some sort of game? In actual fact didn't you used to bring a cell phone and play games on that? 」
「It's because that old thing doesn't have the games that I want to play」
「I see」
Whilst Taiyou was glancing at the consenting Katsuki, he was flipping the 1 yen coin in his hand from heads to tails.
Although he said those things, in truth he really didn't smart phones or cell phones to play games. This is because at this moment in the real world he was levelling up, and the only thing he loved about games was the ability to level.
At least whilst he was still able to make progress in real life, he didn't need to play games, nor did he feel a compulsion to play them either.
Another way to put it is, even though he isn't walking with a game in hand, he feels as if he was playing one right now.
「Good morning Aoba-chan! Today you also look really cute having that ponytail on you! 」
Finishing their superficial talk, Katsuki as per his usual actions, went to find his circle of friends, as he naturally separated from Taiyou and rushed towards his friends. When Taiyou's gaze followed the direction Katsuki was going in, there was a really cute girl with a pony tail that was attached to the top of her head.
It wasn't the casual/easy-going kind of pony tail that was arranged, the pony tail was tied in a cocoon like fashion her bangs also flowed down the nape of her neck elegantly, her few strands of hair that managed to escape the cocoon also added to her amorous look, it was as if she painstakingly arranged her hair in a perfect ponytail.
There are many other people in his class with pony tails, however, there was none that could compare to her beauty, most people had disappointing level of intricacy and most just negligently tied their hair in any old fashion.
「Hm? 」
At first, it was just Taiyou one-sidedly admiring her pony tail, but, she incidentally/suddenly turned her eyes to face him. Although she was just talking about something with Katsuki, for some reason or other she was now intensely staring in his direction.
No, it was more like she was glaring right at him with her eyes!
(Did I, do something bad to her?)
Her glare seemed to be filled with a negative feeling that it was enough to make him reflexively think such things.
He tried to search his memory, but there was nothing he could remember that would cause him to be hated by her, this was the conclusion he came to.
Although she kept her glare at Taiyou for a conceivable period of time, before long her gaze returned to a normal one and she soon went back to chit chatting with Katsuki whilst going on her way to school.
「Then, I must be going, excuse me」
Time: Mid-Morning, Break time.
He was nominated by one of the teachers to be in cleaning duty for his previous period, and Taiyou barely managed to finish his task with little time to spare, and all he got was a light "thank you" by one of the teaching staff before he went out of the faculty room.
「hello」
When he was returning to his class room he encountered one of the three twin sisters. It was the tallest one Kotone.
「Kotone..... You are by yourself? 」
As per usual he was awkwardly trying to suppress saying "-san" as he gulped down his words. Taiyou's image of the girls were that they were a single unit that acted together, when he encountered just one of them in specific, to him it felt almost like he encountered a rare character within a game.
「Yes, I was trying to find you. We didn't know where you went, so the three of us split up and searched」
「Oh, you guys separated? 」
「Yes, I will call Suzu-chan and Kaza-chan here alright? 」
「Ahh, ok」
Although he gave her his consent, she just stood in place, she continued to look at Taiyou whilst smiling at him and it seemed that she was happy about something.
「.....」
「....」
「Umm....Weren't you going to call the other two? 」
He wasn't really comfortable with pressing the matter but, even more than that he was a little weirded out by her behaviour that he asked without thinking.
「I already called them」
「Eh? Did you do something? 」
「Yes, I became delighted」
「....Hm? 」
Taiyou tiled his head in confusion. He was trying to imagine/think of situations that he encountered before that would clarify the matter, but he couldn't pin point any certain thing and he inadvertently tilted his neck in confusion.
「Like I said, I became really happy. Because I became really happy, Suzu-chan and Kaza-chan will be able to know that I found you」
「Don't tell me, Is this Telepathy? 」
「It most likely is, Even we don't really know how it works. However, we can kind of convey/transmit to each other what kind of feelings we are individually experiencing.」
「Hee–」 (a way japanese people acknowledge something)
Taiyou spontaneously leaked out a voice of admiration. Although the person in question doesn't really understand how her ability works, but if they are actually able to convey each other's feelings from such a distance then most likely it was a type of telepathy.
The twin triplets that were deeply connected with each other's feelings, that kind of telepathy. For Taiyou this matter was extremely interesting…..In a good kind of way, it sparked his interest in them.
「May I, ask various questions regarding this matter? 」
「Yes, of course」
As he received Kotone's consent, Taiyou wanted to ask her various questions whilst walking, thus he started in the direction of his class room and began to converse with her along the way.
「Is the connection, merely based on feelings? Or can you use words….to converse with each other in your mind? 」
「We used to able to do such things when we were kids」
Kotone said that with an apologetic face.
「However now we can't do such things any longer, please forgive me」
「No it's not really anything you should apologize for. So now its only feelings that get transmitted? Can you clearly send the feelings across? 」
「Yes, if it's just that we can transmit it clearly. In actuality, it is closer to say that we share joint ownership of each other's feelings. We are unable to hide each other's feelings. When we get worked up or excited our feelings get transmitted with each other without permission」
「So it just leaks out? 」
「Yes, the feelings between us that is」
「That's amazing, this ability. As expected of you three twins. Ah, but if that's the case….」
Whilst walking Taiyou held his hand to his jaw, and puckered his eye brows in reflection/deliberation.
「If that's the case, what? 」
「Ahh, I'm not too sure but I believe in your case, your hearts are linked because there is no barrier. I think, because your hearts are always connected, It amplifies... the effects of what you experience on your actual body more than you know it, just like how your minds can share emotions your body seems to also transmit its feelings. However back in the days you used to be able to have a conversation within your minds but now you lost touch with the ability, I think it may be caused by a side effect of you sisters growing apart? If that was the case, I believe it's a bit of a shame.」
「It's a shame/waste? 」
Kotone opened her eyes widely and stared at Taiyou with an astonished expression.
「Yeah, Sorry I spoke out of turn, please forget what I said just now」
Taiyou waves his hands in panic, and he had an apologetic face.
For the sisters who had the power of telepathy. He thought that this was an immensely adventurous/exciting conversational topic. But this is probably only what he thought, it could be that the person in question themselves did not find this topic to be interesting in the slightest.
For twins or triplets in general this was most likely a touchy/sensitive topic to talk about, but instead Taiyou was pestering her and asking her all these sensitive questions.
Suddenly, Kotone spoke aloud and stood still/stopped moving. She had a surprised look on her face and when Taiyou followed her gaze, at the end of the corridor a lone young woman stood in place, and was staring directly at them.
「You are?.... This morning's…..」
It was a figure he remembered seeing before, the person who was talking to Katsuki, the figure of a girl with the perfectly styled pony tail. Just like the time when he encountered her in the morning she was still glaring right at Taiyou.
「Ummm, you are?—」
「Natsuno Taiyou, you, which of the three Hayakawa-san's do you like the most?」
Before he could even complete his words, Taiyou was interrupted by the girl, she then proceeded to make this shocking declaration!