Parameter Supremacy: The Man Who Seizes a Harem Through Sheer Effort. - Chapter 43.

Episode 43: Double Date.

Led by Minato, we arrived at the food court.

Even though peak hours had passed, the Saturday afternoon food court was still bustling. The murmur of crowds mingled with the slightly unpleasant scent of frying oil, wrapping the entire space in a hurried, restless atmosphere.

Ryuuji and I began searching for an empty table together. No matter where we looked, every seat was taken—only the counter spots remained free. Fine for one person, but with four of us today, splitting up defeated the whole point.

I gave up on the counters and scanned the area again. Still nothing. While we stood there debating, a light tap landed on my shoulder from behind.

“Minato-kun found us seats. Let’s go.”

My gaze darted to the far end of the food court. Sure enough, Minato and Moe had secured a five-person sofa booth.

“Nice one. Good work, Minato.”

When I said that to Shiina, she gave a wicked little “Nishishi” grin.

“Looks like Ryuuji-kun loses the seat-hunting contest~”

She teased me mercilessly. I tilted my head, genuinely confused.

“Wait… there was a contest?”

“Yup. I just decided it on the spot.”

Shiina flashed an innocent smile, then leaned in close, her voice turning sweetly coaxing as she whispered right against my ear.

“But honestly… four people is fun and all, but I kinda wanted to talk more with just you, Ryuuji-kun~”

“Then next time, let’s come alone.”

The moment I answered, her face lit up with genuine delight. “Un,” she murmured, smiling softly.

***

We reached the booth Minato had claimed.

Once seated, Minato asked what everyone wanted to eat. After a moment’s thought, I shrugged.

“Why don’t we each just get whatever we feel like?”

Shiina and Moe agreed immediately, so we decided to order individually.

Leaving Shiina’s hand towel to reserve our spots, the four of us split up toward the counters.

I scanned the menus and settled on Chinese. The moment I spotted it—crispy noodles smothered in piping-hot thick sauce, ankake yakisoba—I couldn’t help muttering, “That looks insanely good.”

Shiina, standing beside me, overheard and laughed. “Then I’m going Chinese too~” She promptly ordered the yurinchi set from the same stall.

It was a hefty portion. I started wondering whether she could really finish it all—when, as if reading my mind, she turned and met my eyes.

“It’s a little too much, so… help me out, Ryuuji-kun?”

For me, getting to eat some yurinchi too was pure bonus. “Sure,” I answered easily.

Minato and Moe had apparently finished ordering at a different stall. Glancing at their shop’s sign—hamburger patties, fried egg… ah, loco moco. Looked like they’d both gone for the loco moco set.

After receiving our pagers, I poured four cups of self-service water and returned to the table.

A short while later Minato and Moe came back. Moe was carrying four cups of water too—apparently I’d made her feel obligated to help. The startled-cute look on her face when she realized water was already on the table made me smile despite myself. In the end, we each ended up with two cups.

Soon the pagers started beeping. Ours—mine and Shiina’s—were ready. We stood and went to collect the trays.

Carrying the steaming ankake yakisoba back, we sat down again. Minato and Moe were already on their way to pick up theirs, so we waited.

While we did, Shiina casually placed a piece of yurinchi beside my plate. “Here.”

When I glanced at her, mouth full of noodles, she opened wide with an expectant “A~hn.” I picked up a bite with my chopsticks and fed it to her.

Minato and Moe returned shortly after—close call. Finally all four of us were together, and lunch properly began.

Minato ate in steady, quiet bites. Moe nibbled at her loco moco like a tiny animal, small mouth working busily.

Shiina and I chatted casually—“This is delicious,” “What should we do after this?”—enjoying both the food and each other’s company. But the other two were unusually silent. …Was this normal for them?

Noticing that I kept glancing their way, Shiina turned to Moe.

“So, what are you two doing after this, Moe?”

“Eh? Nothing decided yet~”

“And you, Minato-kun?”

“I’m heading to the arcade.”

At those words, both Shiina and Moe gave tiny, visible twitches. I was too focused on my yakisoba to notice.

“Ohhh, the arcade, huh…”

Moe’s tone carried a subtle undercurrent.

“You’re going too, right, Moe?”

“Uh—y-yeah.”

Unable to refuse outright, Moe quickly agreed, then shot Shiina a pleading glance. Shiina immediately turned to me. “Should we go too, Ryuuji-kun?”

I rarely visited arcades. Never really played many games. But something as simple as a crane game? Even I could manage that. If Shiina wanted to go, of course I’d join.

“Yeah, arcade sounds good.”

And just like that, our after-lunch plans were set. Still… I couldn’t quite shake the faintly anxious look on Moe’s face.

***

Lunch finished, the four of us stepped inside the game center. Minato immediately dove into a zombie-shooting game without hesitation.

I hadn’t raised any parameters related to gaming. Hell, I wasn’t even sure if this world had gaming parameters. Bottom line: I was terrible.

I scanned the floor for something even I might handle.

“Oh—that one looks doable. Hey, Shiina, wanna try that?”

I’d spotted a simple basketball-toss game—just throw balls into the hoop to rack up points. I invited her over. …Wait. Moe was trailing right behind Shiina.

I briefly wondered about Minato, but—nah, not my place to interfere. Shrugging it off, the three of us lined up at the machine.

“Shiina, mind if I go first?”

“Nope, go ahead.”

I fed coins in.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

The game started. Balls flew toward the hoop. With my steadily improved physical parameters, sinking shots from this distance was child’s play. Perfects came effortlessly. Spat-spat-spat—shots kept landing. Even when the hoop started moving unpredictably, I stayed calm.

“Amazing—!”

Shiina let out an impressed cry.

“Wow, wow!”

Moe clapped her hands excitedly, clearly delighted.

“Perfect!”

I shot Shiina a smug look. She responded with a grinning “Uzaaa~” and that trademark Nishishi laugh.

Afterward Shiina and Moe took turns. Shiina did decently, but surprisingly, Moe scored higher.

“Moe, you’re seriously good!”

“Ehehe~”

She smiled bashfully, pleased.

***

Next, Shiina wanted to try the fishing game.

A tank-like screen swam with countless fish; players used rod-shaped controllers to hook them. Looked kind of fun.

When Shiina started, she reeled in fish after fish that swam into view. After a while, a sea turtle appeared.

“Wait… a sea turtle?”

I stared in disbelief as she casually caught it. Then came a whale shark. …This game really had no limits, huh. While I was thinking that, a massive whale suddenly appeared—and she couldn’t hook it. Game over.

“Ahhh~”

She looked genuinely frustrated.

Moe went next. She steadily caught the whale shark too. Then came the whale that had stopped Shiina. …Could she do it? I watched—and with one light tug, she pulled it in effortlessly.

“Eh?! Moe-san?!”

She even hooked a mosasaur to finish. Me? My line snapped on the sea turtle. …Of course it did. Who catches a damn turtle.

Still, Moe looked like she was having the time of her life. Seeing her joy, Shiina naturally broke into a soft, happy smile too.

After playing a few more games, we checked on Minato. Even when spoken to, he only gave short, distracted replies. Completely absorbed.

Finally, we reached the crane-game corner.

Even I figured something this straightforward had to be doable. Spotting an adorable character plush, I fed coins in with confidence.

I pressed my face to the glass, carefully aligning the claw. Apparently the sight was hilarious—behind me, Shiina and Moe were giggling.

Whatever. I hit the button.

Whirr. The claw descended—and caught the plush perfectly.

“See that?!”

Whirr. It rose to the top… then, at the peak, the plush slipped and fell with a plop.

“…What?”

Moe timidly asked, “Can I try…?” I laughed it off. “If you can grab it, be my guest!”

She angled the claw subtly toward the back of the plush. Lifted it all the way up—plop. It rolled perfectly into the chute.

I was speechless.

Moe proudly retrieved her prize and showed it off with a cheerful “Ta-da~!” All I could do was grit my teeth in defeat.

After that I tried several more machines. Every last coin vanished for nothing.

Shiina was decently skilled too—she’d keep trying until she forced a win through sheer persistence. I usually gave up after one try, so the result was obvious.

But Moe was on another level. Poke, poke—button presses so precise the claw landed exactly where it needed to, dropping prize after prize. I copied her technique. Zero success.

“Moe, you’re seriously a crane-game monster.”

“Ehehe, unexpected talent, right~?”

She answered shyly while Shiina kept exclaiming “So cool!” over and over. By now Moe’s hands were weighed down with a bulging bag of plushies.

It was getting late. Time to decide on one last game. Moe was struggling—unusually for her. She was aiming for a tiny black cat keychain, the familiar of a witch from an anime movie released about thirty years ago.

On her third try she failed again. She rattled her coin purse, sighed, and smiled ruefully.

“No more coins… guess that’s it.”

Seeing her expression, I silently took out my last 100-yen coin and dropped it into the machine she’d been using.

Whirr. I lowered the claw—it hooked neatly through the keychain’s ring.

Whirr. Up it went… clack. The keychain dropped straight into the chute.

““Eh?!””

Shiina’s and Moe’s simultaneous gasps of shock. The three of us stared tensely as I retrieved it—a small black cat keychain resting in my palm.

“Yesssssss!!”

The rush of finally winning something made me whoop like an idiot. Shiina and Moe joined in, jumping and cheering.

“Here.”

I held the keychain out to Moe.

“Eh?”

Her eyes went wide.

“You wanted it, right?”

She glanced hesitantly at Shiina. Shiina gave a gentle, smiling nod. Moe carefully cradled the keychain against her chest like treasure.

“Think of it as a lucky charm. Keep it.”

At my words, Moe’s face bloomed with happiness.

“Thank you… I’m really happy.”

Even if it was pure coincidence, being able to give her something she wanted felt good. I felt a little guilty toward Shiina, but promised myself I’d make it up to her properly next time.

***

The three of us searched the arcade for Minato. We found him completely lost in a versus fighting game. Hours had passed since we split up. The guy really loved games. In this world, effort translated directly into growth. Maybe one day Minato would blossom into a genuine gaming prodigy. The thought crossed my mind faintly.

“Minato, it’s getting late. Let’s head back.”

“Hm? Already…? Okay.”

After fully enjoying the arcade, the four of us started for home.

We got off the train; the rest was just walking.

Looking back on the day—movie, chance encounter with Minato and Moe, then an impromptu double date. A lot happened, but in the end it was a genuinely fun time. With thoughts like that drifting through our heads, the four of us walked on until we reached the familiar crossroads.

“Then… see you the day after tomorrow.”

“See ya~”

Shiina and I said goodbye to Minato and Moe.

“Yeah, later.”

“Bye-bye. Today was really fun~”

They returned the farewell. The two couples parted ways, heading down separate paths.

***

Satou Minato’s POV.

“Hey, Moe~”

“What is it, Minato-kun?”

“There’s a show I really wanna watch, but the timing’s super tight.”

“Let’s take a shortcut home?”

“Eh?! Shortcut?”

“Yeah. Just the two of us—it’s fine, right?”

“U-um… yeah.”

And so, on nothing more than a whim, we chose the dark shortcut path—the very one all our childhood friends had avoided since we were little.