Soccer System: All the Skills, One Player!

Lucas had never been on a double date in his entire life. So this time with Raphael, Lucy, and her friend was the first time, and he was a little nervous.

"Eh? Are you Japanese? Like, really?" The girl asked as she walked alongside Lucas.

Her name was Samantha. She had short brown hair, a close bow in the front strands of her hair, and an easy smile.

Lucas put a hand on the back of his head and smiled nervously. "Y-yes. I've only been here in England for two days."

"Wow, but you don't have that accent typical of when Japanese people speak English in anime..." she continued.

"That's because I practiced and studied pronunciations and so on a lot." Lucas said and then thought: 'I just can't tell her that I studied pronunciation so much because I wanted the overseas people at my marketing agency to consider me for a position abroad so I could get rid of that damn boss of mine.'

"Hey, look, look!" Lucy suddenly said and trotted over to a shop window.

The window in question was a games store and had several action figures of characters from famous video game franchises below a large television showing a professional game-play of a fighting game.

"They've finally put in an action figure of Joel from The Last Hope," Lucy continued, leaning on the display with both hands and looking impressed as the glasses slipped down to the tip of her nose.

"Do you like that?" Lucas asked, approaching the display case too.

"Do I like it? It's my favorite single-player campaign!" She turned and said. In fact, her eyes were twinkling as she said it, which made it clear that she was quite serious.

"Really? And what did you think of..." Lucas was about to say when he suddenly stopped. 'Damn... I was about to talk about Joel's death at the beginning of the second game, but it's 2017 and the second game wasn't released until 2020. Sometimes I forget that...'

"Death of...?" She leaned closer to Lucas and asked.

"The death of that rabbit at the end of the game. I saw some streamers playing, and some even cried at that scene."

Lucy put a hand to her chin and nodded repeatedly. "I can understand why they cried. That scene of Ellie killing the rabbit shows the reality of the cruel world of The Last Hope. What's more, the scene is shown after a tragic scene, so the players are already very sensitive. It's simply something worthy of a movie brought into the world of games."

At that moment, Raphael and Samantha, who were standing a little way back waiting for their friends, looked at each other and laughed, seeing that Lucy and Lucas were a much better match than they looked.

Samantha then grabbed onto one of Raphael's arms, which surprised him and made his face immediately turn red. Normally, he would have questioned what she was doing, but, contrary to what people might think because of his blond hair and slightly tall build, he had no way with girls.

"You said your name was Raphael, right?" Samantha asked as she pressed her soft things into his arm.

Raphael nodded, and a smile appeared on Samantha's face.

"What do you say we leave him talking for a while and go for a walk?" she asked in a velvety voice as she looked at Raphael with a lowered eyebrow.

Raphael swallowed. So it was only when Lucy and Lucas turned to go back to their friends that they noticed that their friends had disappeared. They weren't idiots, so they could easily deduce what their missing friends had been hiding from them.

"Looks like it's just the two of us now..." Lucas commented, a little awkwardly.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Yeah... Maybe they went to buy something to drink. Let's walk around and look for them."

"Sure, why not?"

Lucy and Lucas began to walk in silence through the corridors of the mall, their eyes scanning everything that wasn't each other to avoid embarrassment. They knew their friends hadn't gone to buy drinks, because they had met exactly while waiting for milkshakes and so it was impossible for them to be thirsty already.

The four-story mall was indeed packed, with people walking up and down the escalators with bags, children and lovers. There was the cacophony of hundreds of shoes, voices and different music playing in each of the stores.

At one point, Lucy and Lucas stepped aside to avoid a group of people. When Lucy looked the other way, she couldn't find Lucas, so she looked forward and then back, but no one. To make matters worse, there was another large group of adults coming up ahead, from the exit of the cinema, and all she could do was stand still as the horde of people passed by, but suddenly she felt a hand grab her right wrist and pull her out of the crowd.

The moment she was pulled, she had no idea who it was, but she thanked him immediately. "Thank you so much, I..."

Her words were lost when she saw that the one who had saved her was Lucas and, surprisingly, he looked more handsome than usual at that moment when they were so close. His blue eyes shone like two sapphires, while his skin looked clearer and his slightly messy hair gave him a touch of rebellion.

"Are you all right?" Lucas asked with one hand on her waist and the other still holding her right wrist.

"Yeah..." She murmured, averting her eyes from his as she blushed.

"This floor is very crowded because of the movies. They certainly didn't come here. Let's go here..." Lucas released her wrist and intertwined the fingers of his left hand with those of her right. "Please, let's stay like this until we're somewhere emptier."

Lucy, her left hand clutching a gold necklace around her neck, just nodded and started walking alongside Lucas to get out of the place.

'That's it! I managed to hold a girl's hand.'

[Objective 2 of the "Double Date" Mission completed!]

[Final Objective Unlocked.]

[Mission Name: Double Date

Description: Raphael is a surprisingly shy boy and has never been on a date with a girl, just like you. As you're trying to change your life, it would be nice to help out a colleague.

Objective 1: Turn this casual stroll between friends into a double date with Lucy Griffin and her friend.

Objective 2: Walk while holding the hand of one of the girls.

Objective 3: Get the personal number of one of the girls.

Rewards:

+ 2 Mystery Cards].

In this way, Lucas and Lucy walked away from the most crowded part of the mall and somehow ended up in the quietest part, where there were more refined restaurants and even one of those infinity fountains where the water fell down the sides. Tired, they sat down on a bench and caught their breath.

"That was... scary." Lucy said.

Lucas frowned. "Forgive me for asking, but you're afraid of crowds, aren't you?"

Surprised by the deduction, Lucy looked at him with slightly raised eyebrows. She saw that he had a serious expression, and to her, Lucas didn't seem like the kind of girl who would scoff at something like that. So she gave him a closed smile, looked down and nodded in agreement.

"Yes... How did you notice?"

"It was when I saw you lost while you were looking for me, and I was less than a meter away from you."

"I'm sorry about that. I can't explain it, but it seems that my vision gets a bit tunneled when there are too many people around. I can't make out faces properly, and I end up panicking." She played with her fingers near her thighs.

In college, Lucas read an article about selective vision. Most people can't focus on everything around them, so the brain automatically selects what to focus on and what to leave out. In his own designs, Lucas tried to create artwork that could be noticed by as many people as possible, so he understood a little about this.

"Excuse me if I'm being rude, but are you afraid of crowds?" Lucas asked.

Lucy looked at him. "How do you know that?"

"It was just a deduction on my part."

"And you think I'm strange because of that?" She looked down again.

"N-no, of course not. I think it's a bit natural for young, famous people like you."

"So you knew all along." Lucy's countenance closed, as if a shadow rested on her face, and then she stood up.

Lucas immediately grabbed the edge of her shirt to stop her from starting to walk. "Wait."

"What? Did you think that pretending you didn't know me would stand a chance?" Lucy looked at him angrily as she turned around. She had tears in the corners of her eyes.

"I didn't know. Raphael told me when we were in the queue at MKing."

The expression on Lucy's face became a little lighter. "Really?"

"Yes, of course I did. I don't even know you, really. Remember, I'm from Japan?"

"That's right... I'm sorry, Lucas, I didn't mean for you to..." She sat down next to Lucas again.

"It's all right. There's no need to apologize."

For a few seconds, there was silence as they sat on that bench. Then Lucas decided to break the silence.

"But gee... you're scary when you're angry."

"I am, aren't I?" Lucy laughed sweetly.