Global Sign-in: 10x Multiplier with the Strongest System!-Chapter 76: The Weeping Ghost [4]
Roy watched as the faceless devil reached out of the reflection to grab Pierre into the pool, but something stopped it, and the hypnosis on Pierre was instantly broken.
Regaining his mind, he climbed out of the pool and attended to Reina.
"Reina-san, how are you feeling?"
She lay down with her eyes closed. Only when Pierre held her face did she open her eyes and smile in that gentle manner.
"My hero," she said weakly. No one had even known she was gone.
Pierre looked away bashfully and stammered, "I-I didn’t really do much. And I also promised to protect you, so..."
"...so?" Her face, hair, and uniform were wet. Strands of her now black hair clung to her cheeks.
"Uh, this might come off too suddenly, Reina-san, but... d-do you want to be my girlfriend?"
Reina’s cheeks flushed, considering the position she was currently in and the question he just asked. Her head was resting on his chest while her upper body was propped up with his hand. He was so handsome and strong.
She looked away and nodded fiercely.
"Th-Thank goodness." Pierre let out a deep sigh.
"Tch." Roy looked at the handsome brat with disdain. "This still counts as you cheating on Jane, you bastard."
Despite returning the real Reina to her body, things were still far from being over. Both the Main Story and Hidden Story objectives were still active, and with a thought, the objectives appeared before him in the pink panel.
+
[Main Story #8: The Devil Wears Glasses]
Objectives:
1. Join the occult club (Complete).
2. Make her your girlfriend (Complete).
3. Share a genuine kiss with her.
~
[Hidden Story #1: The Weeping Ghost]
Objectives:
1. Take her out on a date (Complete).
2. Make her fall in love with you (Complete).
3. Find out her final wish.
4. Set her free.
+
’I still have to find out her final wish and also set her free. But she’s alright now, why will she still have a final wish? And the devil is gone; isn’t she free?’ Pierre wondered.
Hence, he asked, "But, Reina-san, how did this all happen?"
Reina quickly explained that she was investigating an urban legend of ’The Mujina’, a shapeshifter. The legend said that at twelve midnight, if one wore a full red dress and stared at their reflection in a wide body of water under the full moon, the ghost would possess their reflection, and the facial features of their reflection would disappear.
What she didn’t know was that looking at the face for too long made the possessed reflection more alive, up until it came out and dragged her into the pool, strangling her and then stealing her body.
"I know. I am... so stupid," she muttered and sat up without Pierre’s help, having regained enough stamina.
"No. Reina-san is anything but," Pierre vocalised, like the perfect boyfriend he was.
Reina gently placed her hand on Pierre’s face.
Tired from having almost drowned, she was still stunning. Pierre stared into her brown eyes and smiled.
He leaned towards her, and she prepared herself to receive the kiss when a glitch broke open and obscured her face.
» ĐØĐǤ€. «
Pierre’s mind raced, and he immediately pushed Reina away.
Just then, her teeth were bared, and in the split second after pushed her away, she had bitten down on where his neck was.
Pierre escaped, but he held his neck in utter shock, checking if there was any damage. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
"P-Pierre-kun, I’m sorry!" Reina said in her normal voice, however a different, darker voice overlapped it, mimicking her speech mannerisms imperfectly.
"How...?" he wondered, stumbling backwards to create some distance between them.
Reina’s left eye was red and black, while the other was normal, and still on the left half of her face, black veins bulged on her face.
She struggled to raise her hand to point to her eye and said, "The eyes are the perfect mirrors."
Pierre knew instinctively that it was the devil who spoke.
Now it was in this state, Pierre was utterly broken. He had no clue how to move forward and save Reina. She struggled with the devil, but for how long?
"Aaah!" Reina screamed and fell to the ground.
"Grandmaster!" he screamed. "What should I do?!"
The five seconds that passed felt like eternity. Reina groaned in pain as the faceless devil contorted her limbs in wicked ways just to make her spirit give up and leave her body for it.
» ŦĦ€ ŘØŞΔŘ¥. «
Pierre’s eyes widened. ’So that was why I wasn’t affected when I saw the faceless reflection...’
He took out the item from underneath his uniform and held it in his hand.
"I know just what to do now."
Pierre stood up, a determined expression on his face. He knelt before her and gently held her face.
Despite being in obvious pain, Reina still forced a smile at his touch.
"Reina-san," Pierre began, "do you love me?"
Reina smiled brightly.
"I love you."
"Je t’aime."
Pierre leaned forward and pressed his lips on hers. The light of his soul, protected by the holy radiance of the rosary, reached out for Reina’s, which was tainted with a dark substance eating away at her soul.
As the protected light of Pierre’s soul arrived, it engulfed and merged with that of Reina’s, replacing the parts eaten away by the darkness and vanquishing it entirely.
Love Resonance.
The black veins on Reina’s face faded away, and she found peace.
Pierre raised his head and smiled, as did Reina.
"Being held by you like this," she blushed, "I always wanted to experience true love’s kiss."
Pierre’s smile broke slightly. "W-Why are you saying it like that? This isn’t goodbye."
"Pierre-kun... I am very lucky you found me," she said. Her voice was growing weaker.
Tears welled up in Pierre’s eyes.
"No. Wait. Please don’t say it that way." He tried to purchase an apple from the Love Shop, but during the dialogue, he had no access.
"System! Open the goddamn Love Shop!" Pierre screamed.
[Host, please wait until dialogue is complete to access the Love Shop.]
"No! Please! It shouldn’t end like this, please..."
"Pierre-kun... are you crying for me?" Tears welled up in Reina’s eyes, too, but she maintained her beautiful smile and wiped his tears.
"I am so lucky... to be your girlfriend."
Pierre’s eyes were red. "Why? Why is this happening? You should be okay. The devil is gone!"
Reina was kind. She explained, "I was a ghost already. My regret, my final wish, is what tied me to this body and kept me wandering. Now it is accomplished, the tether is broken."
"I-I can fix it. Just stop talking, please, okay?" Pierre pleaded, but he could see the life drain from Reina’s face.
She gave one last final smile, but Pierre screamed and begged her to fight, that the story can end in other ways but this.
"I love you..."
Reina’s eyes closed, her hand fell limply, and she breathed her last.
"Nooooooo!"
Right then, his system spoke to him cheerfully, indifferent to life just lost.
[Your love has set her free!]
And with that, all the objectives were completed.
[Hidden Story #1 — Cleared!]
[Rewards: +1.5 Stat Points, +100 Love Points, +1 Secret Item.]
And following that:
[Main Story #8 — Cleared!]
[Rewards: +0.5 Stat Points, +75 Love Points.]
Roy watched Pierre quietly. He held onto Reina tightly, up until his vision faded to black and the countdown for the next stage began.
He sighed and tapped on the Code Injector Module.
"I agreed to tell you my name, didn’t I?"
Before Pierre, the countdown glitched, and a black panel with blue highlights appeared with a simple line.
» Μ¥ ŇΔΜ€ ƗŞ 404. «
Pierre nodded and murmured, "Thank you, 404. For everything, so far."
[3... 2... 1... And it begins!]
"Now stop sulking and pull through," Roy said, encouraging Pierre even though he knew he couldn’t hear him.
Pierre woke up in his bed once again and was greeted with the pink-themed set of information, read by the enthusiastic feminine voice.
But before the story information could appear, he coldly voiced, "End the sign-in session."
"Eh?" Roy couldn’t believe his ears. He stood beside Pierre and complained, "Are you serious right now? We’re already at the finish line! Reina’s story was sad, but we gotta keep moving forward, ya hear?!"
[Are you certain, Host? You haven’t completed your current sign-in cycle. Ending now will forfeit your chance of getting even more rewards.]
"I said end it!" Pierre shouted.
[As you wish, Host...]
The current stage crumbled, and Pierre returned to the classroom that served as the system’s waiting room. A pink panel appeared before him again. And this time, with a long-awaited message.
[Sign-In Complete!]
