"Is it just me who finds this strange? It's just washing hands… why? Did I forget something again?"
Alain naturally heard Millie's muttering behind him. Actually, the act of washing hands itself was nothing. The problem was, it was him helping Millie wash her hands.
In short: Millie had been swapped.
As early as when they entered the door of version 1.5, when Millie had called him "Alain," he had noticed the problem. He and Millie usually referred to each other as "bro," and that constant "bro" talk excited him to no end. It's precisely because of "bro" that she's so fragrant! That's why he had to "corrupt" her; this was also one of Millie's cute points.
Millie had called him by his name before, but that was usually in extremely dangerous situations, or when Millie was being serious. As for just now… that was merely playful banter, far from the level that would warrant her calling him by his name.
Secondly, Millie's personality was actually very similar to Alain's own. Neither of them was the type to overthink things. In Alain's understanding of his good bro's character, if a situation arose where help was needed, he had no doubt that Millie would rush in with him. She would even shout "Wow! BOSS, BOSS! Let's fight the BOSS!" to hide her kind heart.
There were many other "Millie" inconsistencies, which we won't discuss for now.
The most crucial point: Millie knows how to play dumb. This was also one of the cute points Alain found irresistible about his good bro. He had tried to get her to wash her hands twice, and neither time had he succeeded. She was a clever little devil.
And this time, as soon as they entered the room, he had forced her to comply? How could that be possible? When Alain forced her to wash her hands, what he enjoyed wasn't the "washing hands" process, but the "forcing" process.
Besides, just now when he was talking with that Mita—let's call her Prankster Mita for now. When he was talking with Prankster Mita, Millie had hardly said a word. For the naturally lively Millie, this was a major OOC (Out Of Character moment). It was like…
"It's like she didn't even have time to talk."
And indeed, that was the case. Prankster Mita's attention was entirely focused on debating and writing with Alain; how could she have time to talk? Of course, the most critical thing was… Prankster Mita had forgotten that Millie had always been very particular about her hat. Alain had touched her hat at least three times in between. They had held hands many times too. Both the hat and gloves were slightly wrinkled. And Millie didn't even complain once?
As for why the other party did this… Alain mostly knew. Prankster Mita's condition for letting them pass was to watch a date that would make her happy and entertained. The subject of the date, seemingly Millie, was actually Prankster Mita herself. In other words, she wanted to go on a date with Alain, and a happy one at that.
Alain's gaze shifted to the person behind him, Millie—or rather, Prankster Mita—who was still puzzled whether the handwashing was strange, or if she herself was strange. To be honest, this child's nature wasn't bad; rationally speaking, she probably wouldn't do anything to Millie. But Alain still needed to investigate Millie's actual safety and whereabouts first.
"What are you doing? Aren't you going to start the date yet?" Alain walked over, seeing the other party wanting to put on her gloves. "Alright, don't bother with the gloves for now. It's a bit inconvenient for holding hands like that." "Holding hands… is it?" She looked at her freshly washed hands, her cheeks rosy as she nodded.
"Well, that's true. On a date, you definitely have to hold hands." Saying that, she proactively took Alain's hand. His fingertips brushed against the girl's palm, making "Millie" feel a little shy.
"So, what are we going to do now?"
"Hmm… let me think about it first." Alain gestured meaningfully, glancing at the bedroom clock, "We wasted a lot of time washing hands." He feigned a troubled expression, holding his forehead, "This has disrupted the flow of the date. We definitely can't finish it in an hour. Perhaps… we can only speedrun it?" "Speedrun… what does that mean?" Millie was puzzled, but she also vaguely sensed trouble.
"It means shortening the dating process. Hmm… omitting unnecessary steps, focusing only on the 'highlight' of the date." He looked at Millie seriously, "This way, although it feels a bit like we're doing a quest, at least the observer will find it entertaining. After all—"
"This isn't an ordinary date, is it? Ultimately, it's still a task. Ah, but don't worry…"
Seeing "Millie's" expression grow increasingly dark, Alain knew the crucial blow had landed.
"In the future, we'll have plenty of [time] to make up for it with a perfect date. Won't we?"
The girl fell silent.
"How about… we just follow the normal dating process?" she tried to struggle a bit, her face clouded with a sorrowful gloom.
"I think any date… if it's just going through the motions, loses its meaning."
"But, if we follow the normal process, won't that mischievous child be unhappy? We'll run out of time," Alain said.
"She should… not be unhappy, right?" The girl scratched her cheek, "From what I see of her temper, she's not that fierce, is she?"
"But, didn't she lead us to that… dangerous square room leading to 1.3B earlier? I think we still need to be a bit more rational."
"But, but! If a date is too rational, doesn't it lose its meaning?" Millie said anxiously. She had a flash of inspiration and quickly understood Alain's meaning.
"Besides, I've heard a little about that square room too."
Millie herself didn't actually know about the square room. Seeing "Millie" inadvertently reveal this, Alain knew the key piece of information was coming.
"That's one of the few areas in the game that viruses can't invade, independent of the game world. She put us in there, maybe… she just wanted to protect us?"
"So you're saying she won't threaten our safety. Is that what you think?"
"Yeah. She'd be too busy protecting us. Ah! This is just my guess!" the girl added hastily.
And Alain also roughly knew Millie's whereabouts; it was probably the square room they had come from. As for when she was locked in there… Alain had a guess. When they first arrived in version 1.5, the door had closed unnaturally. After opening it again, Millie had come out looking indignant. That must have been when she was swapped.
Alain really wanted to say to his bro: let's hold hands more often in the future. If they hadn't let go of each other's hands, this wouldn't have happened. Good, he had an idea for future hand-holding requests.
And having confirmed Millie's safety, Alain also breathed a sigh of relief. This way, he could focus on the date.
"Millie," seeing that he seemed to have reached a conclusion, waited for an answer with a hesitant gaze.
Alain turned around and said, with a smile that wasn't quite a smile, "Let's just have a date that belongs to the two of us."
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