Seduce X Conquest: A Dating Sim LitRPG

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been in love with Ringo-chan.

When I was 10 years old, I finally mustered up all my courage and asked her to be my girlfriend; then she said to me:

“What are you talking about? We’re friends.”

That was the first time I confessed my feelings to someone, and it ended in complete failure.

But I never gave up. I couldn’t imagine my life with anyone but Ringo-chan. So, from that day on, I started studying seduction and courtship strategies. I bought books and paid for online courses, all in the hope of making Ringo-chan my girlfriend.

None of that worked.

One time we ate together at lunchtime; I sat next to her, never across from her. I spoke while looking her in the eye. I researched the topics she was interested in beforehand so I could talk about them, and I even trained my facial expressions to appear confident at all times. In the end, we finished eating and barely exchanged a few words. Where was the kiss? Or the invitation to her house? We didn’t even hold hands.

I had given up on my attempts at seducing her, and I was about to give up on love, too, when I decided to make one last effort. It was when I turned 14; we were on summer vacation and about to start high school. Ringo-chan was my neighbor, so it was common for us to visit each other during summer vacation.

I was in her house and asked her, “Hey, Ringo-chan, do you want to go on a date with me?”

“Okay,” she replied.

“Okay…? Did you just say okay?”

“Yeah?”

Ringo-chan was eating ice cream. She didn’t seem to care about what she had just said.

“Do you have any idea what a date is? Do you know? Like, a romantic date, going to a movie or eating out at a restaurant—that's the kind of date I'm talking about.”

“Well, yeah, I don’t see a problem.”

Was I hallucinating? No, I wasn’t. Ringo-chan had agreed to go on a date with me. It was a dream come true.

Now I had to focus on not messing it up.

“Well, if you want it that much,” I said in a nonchalant tone, “I guess I can fit it into my busy schedule and spend some time with you.”

That was a textbook example of how to make women fall head over heels for you, which I learned in my seduction courses.

“We don’t have to go out if you don’t want to…”

“No, no… let’s go out, let’s go out.”

Those darn courses were useless!

We agreed to go out on the weekend, right before classes started.

That day, I prepared like never before. I put on a formal uniform that was destined to turn heads no matter who saw it. It cost a fortune. I had to spend all the money I’d saved just on this suit… But it’s worth it; this uniform will be the key to winning her over.

I left my house somewhat stealthily; I didn’t want my parents or my sister to see me leaving in that suit. I would have been too embarrassed. I had told them the day before that I was going to a friend’s house, so it would be a surprise if they saw me all dressed up just to meet a friend.

So I left the house and walked to Ringo-chan’s place. No one saw me leave.

Once there, I rang the doorbell. We had agreed that I would pick her up at her house, and together we would go to a restaurant for lunch, and then we would go see a movie of my choice. Of course, I chose a romantic movie.

Once we watch that movie together, she’s going to be so moved by it that she’ll want to kiss me right there and then.

Oh, no, Ringo-chan. Having my first kiss in public. How embarrassing…

I was imagining everything that would happen after the date when the door opened. It was Ringo-chan’s mother who was there. I didn’t expect her to open the door. Her face was very pale; she looked like she was sick. Her eyes looked like they were just crying, and her makeup was smeared all over her face.

What happened to her? Why does she look so disheveled?

I decided to ignore that and go on with my date plans.

“Excuse me, ma’am. I was wondering if Ringo-chan is home. We had agreed to meet today.”

She stared at me with a terrifying look; it seemed that what I told her hurt her deeply. Then, she opened her mouth, and what she said was something I never expected to hear, never in my life, much less at that moment:

“Ringo… Ringo is dead…”

I never thought I’d attend my first funeral at the age of 14. I don’t remember much of what happened that day. I saw many of Ringo-chan’s relatives, all offering their condolences to her mother, who was crying inconsolably.

I couldn’t believe she was really dead. It was only when I saw her body in the coffin that I realized it was real. Her body was pale, her eyes were closed, and her lips were curved into a smile. I wonder why she died looking so happy.

When they lowered the coffin into the ground, I couldn’t help but cry. I cried a lot, like never before in my life. My love, for as long as I could remember, the girl I’ve loved for years. I was always waiting for the day I could go out with her, and she died on the day we were going to have our first date.

The next day was the first day of school. I woke up like any other day, but everything felt empty. Something was clearly missing from the world. If I had to describe it with a color, I felt like everything was gray. Eating breakfast, taking a shower, watching TV—it all felt so empty, like I was a machine carrying out the actions I had been programmed to do.

I left my house early in the morning to go to school, but I stopped by Ringo-chan’s house.

I knocked on the door. Then Ringo-chan’s mother came out. She looked much better than the day before. She was all dressed up and wearing a pretty dress; it looked like she was going to a party.

“What can I do for you?” she said quite brusquely.

“I wanted to offer my condolences about Ringo-chan again.”

The way she looked at me made me think I said something weird.

“Ringo-chan? Who’s that?”

And what she was saying didn’t make any sense at all.

“What do you mean? Ringo-chan is your daughter. She just died.”

“What? Are you crazy or something? I’ve never had a daughter.”

After saying that, she slammed the door in my face.

What’s going on? Did she lose her mind because she lost her daughter?

I couldn’t stand the uncertainty. I hurried home and asked my parents if they remembered Ringo-chan, the girl I had always played with since I was a kid, the neighbor girl.

“Ringo-chan? I don’t remember her,” my mother said.

“I understand, son,” my father said. “You’re so lonely that you’ve made up a childhood friend you’ve been playing with since you were a kid. That’s understandable; I’ve been through the same thing. But I can’t let you get so far removed from reality. You never had a childhood friend; I don’t even know if you’ve ever talked to a woman in your life other than your mother.”

I ran to my sister’s room. Fortunately, she hadn’t gone to school yet.

“Mieko-chan!” I shouted as I opened the door to her room.

“Onii-chan! How many times have I told you? Don’t open my door without knocking!”

My sister had just woken up; she was wearing pink pajamas with teddy bear prints, and her hair was all messed up. She looked mad, but I didn’t pay attention to that and asked her if she knew Ringo-chan.

“Did you finally lose your head, idiot onii-chan? You’re a total virgin. You’ve never talked to a woman in your life. Are you sure you’re not confusing your life with a video game or something like that?”

I ran out of my sister’s room and headed to my own. I was certain I had notes and drawings of her there. At school, I was always writing down plans to try to seduce her, and when I was bored, I would draw portraits of her from memory.

But I looked through my notebooks and papers scattered around my room, and there was no sign of Ringo-chan in any of them.

What was going on? Had I just dreamed her? Was Ringo-chan just a figment of my imagination? She never existed?

But I had vivid memories of her. Just yesterday I was at her funeral; there was no way I could forget her lifeless body in that casket. I’ll never forget that.

Was all of that really an illusion?

Taking me by surprise, a black portal appeared in my room. The inside looked like a stream of black water, constantly swirling. A woman emerged from the inside of the portal. She had short, white hair, fangs protruding from her upper lip, and black wings with some red in them. She wore very little clothing—essentially a black bikini like those worn by American women, the kind that reveals everything except the most crucial parts.

She was floating in the middle of my room.

I was speechless, completely frozen in place. I didn’t know whether to run and scream for help or simply pass out. If I hadn’t gone to the bathroom a little while ago, I would have wet my pants right there.

“You’re Keita Sato, aren’t you?”

Why did that woman know my name? Why did she have wings? Why could she fly? And why was she so sexy? I had so many questions my mind was spiraling out of control.

“W-w-who are you?” I managed to say, my voice trembling with fear.

“My name is EX. Just call me like that: EX, no need for honorifics. And don’t be afraid. I’m here to help you see Ringo again.”

“You know Ringo-chan?

The girl looked away, pouting.

“I can’t say.”

What did that mean? Why couldn’t she say it? Did it have anything to do with the reason all people forgot about her?

But that didn’t matter now. This confirmed that Ringo-chan was real! But if I told anyone that a flying girl who appeared through a portal in my room confirmed it, I’d end up in a psychiatric hospital.

Then I realized that she just said something absurd. Help me see Ringo-chan again? I couldn’t see her again. She was dead. Dead. She was never going to wake up.

I couldn’t ever see her again.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” I said, feeling a little angry. “You know Ringo-chan's dead, right? And also, why did everyone forget about her? What’s going on? Did you do that?”

“Don’t worry,” she said in a calm tone. “There’s an explanation for everything that’s happening. And the solution is easy. If you can cast a spell that brings Ringo back to life, then everyone will remember her again.”

“A spell?!” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Do I look like a magician to you? I’m just a regular high school student. Today’s my first day in high school. How do you expect me to cast a spell?”

“That’s what I’m here to explain to you.” EX made finger guns in both hands, aimed at me with them, and said, “Pew, pew, pew!”

Lights shot from the tips of her fingers and struck my body. I didn’t feel any pain, but I could see light all over me. I had to close my eyes because the light's intensity was too much. For a few seconds, I glowed brightly, and then I returned to normal.

When I opened my eyes, there were some letters in front of me. It was like a window you open on a computer. Several words and numbers were written on it.

“What’s that?” I asked EX.

“Your stats,” she said like it was the most normal thing in the world.

“What’s all this? What do these numbers mean?”

EX, while floating in my room, explained. “You probably don’t know this, but all humans can do magic, but you need Love Points to do it. By spending Love Points, you can perform any magic possible. So, if you get enough Love Points, you can perform a magic spell that can bring Ringo back to life.”

“Are you serious? And how do I get Love Points?”

“There’s only one way to get Love Points. It’s by engaging in romantic acts with potential romantic interests. For example, if you hold a woman’s hand, you’ll get one point, while a kiss would be about five.”

“So, I have to seduce women if I want Ringo-chan to come back to life?”

“Bingo!”

“And what good does knowing these stats do for that? Wouldn’t it have been better to have a power that made me handsome or something like that?

“You don’t get it at all, Keita. With this ability, good looks or seduction techniques won’t matter anymore when it comes to winning women over. Now you can seduce women by getting points. Some girls want someone with a high Charisma stat, while others want someone with high Strength. Maybe some of them want someone with a lot of Money and Fashion. Each one is different. You will talk to them and win Interest Points, getting a bunch of them will make anyone fall in love with you. But take in consideration that no matter how handsome or charming you are, if you don’t meet some minimum stats needed for each girl, they’ll simply ignore you.”

What she said was too good to be true, and I still wasn’t sure this power could help me seduce women.

“Even if I can see my points, how will I know what point requirements are needed for every girl?”

“You’ll see...”

That response didn't help me much.

“So, what you’re telling me to do is improve my stats and conquer women to earn Love Points.”

“That’s right! Ding, ding, ding. You got it! Once you have enough Love Points, you can cast a spell to bring Ringo back to life and into everyone’s memory again.”

That’s how I got the ability to see my stats. The thought of engaging in romantic acts with women other than Ringo-chan made me feel kinda conflicted, but if doing so would bring her back to life, then I had to do it no matter what.