Nina is on the way to her work after a long and grueling day at university. But with every second she drives closer on her scooter, she becomes more and more nervous.
'Please let it be a real person. Please let it be a real person. I have enough problems with my mind as it is. Hopefully, he's a guy with good morals, as it reads in the diary. Otherwise, with the copy in my mind, I can at least know what the guy stalking me is up to.'
She parks her scooter in the parking lot next to the one with the company logo that she uses for delivery. Nina takes off her helmet and pats her chest to calm her fast-beating heart.
Opening the door, she smiles at her colleagues and then stands stunned as she spots a handsome man cleaning a table. He is around 1.85 m tall, with lightly Asian features, and an undercut hairstyle that enhances his masculine charm. She can also see his chest and forearm muscles moving under his shirt. Although she appreciates the visuals, this is not what stuns her. Instead, the diary in her mind lights up and flicks back to the first page.
At the same time, all the women with copies receive the same message.
[First contact between a Copy Holder and the Host of the "Plot"-Diary System. Character status page enabled for all Copy Holders.]
This sends a wave of excitement through the ladies as they hastily check their status, confirming that, in addition to themselves, Nina Fortner must also possess one of the copies.
Name: Nina Fortner
Age: 19
Strength: 0.6
Dexterity: 0.7
Constitution: 0.6
Intelligence: 0.8
Charisma: 0.8
Skills:
Language: German (Advanced) Lv. 3
English (Proficient) Lv. 2
Knowledge: High School (General) (Master) Lv. 4
German criminal law (Proficient) Lv. 2
Driving: Scooter (Proficient) Lv. 2
Car (Basic) Lv. 1
Bicycle (Basic) Lv. 1
Martial Arts: Aikido (Master) Lv. 4
Giuseppe sees Nina standing in the doorway, staring at their new hire. With a twinkle in his eyes, he walks over to her and whispers, "That is the new guy Ryu Seiya, pretty good looking, huh? But girl, if you keep staring at him like that, it is way too obvious. Come, I'll introduce you to him."
Seeing Nina blush in response to his words, he winks at her and leads her over to Ryu.
"No Giuseppe, that's not what it is!"
"Sure, girl, sure I believe you."
Frustrated by his response, she can only helplessly follow behind Giuseppe.
"Ryu, this girl here is also a part-time worker here. She is responsible for home delivery, so you won't see each other too much during the job, but it's still good to get to know all your colleagues."
The young man cleans his hands on a towel he carries for his work and reaches out for a handshake, while his warm brown eyes meet her cool, light blue eyes.
"Hello Fräulein, my name is Ryu Seiya. I am only a cleaner here, so please just call me Ryu if you ever need something from me."
Staring into his eyes, trying to find any signs of ill will towards her, she shakes his hand.
"Hello Ryu, we are all colleagues here and have a friendly atmosphere, so you can also just call me Nina."
"Okay, Nina, nice to meet you. But I have to keep going or we won't be ready for the opening."
With this, he turns around and continues his cleaning duties, as if this is just a normal first meeting between coworkers.
But as soon as Nina turns around, her face heats up in anger after seeing the new diary entry that appeared on the pages in her mind.
Giuseppe once again sees her face turning red as she walks to her resting place between deliveries.
He comes over to her and whispers, "Blushing again just after shaking hands? Nina, you are too cute. Do you like that boy?"
"No, that is really not what's going on, please believe me!"
Looking at the frustrated girl puffing up her cheeks at this question, Giuseppe laughs, winks at her, and walks into the kitchen.
'He just won't believe me! But how can someone not be angry when reading this? Who fell in love at first sight, damn it! I want to confront him right now, but this guy is acting all nonchalant while his thoughts are going wild. I can't make a scene at my workplace for no obvious reason. This diary rule not to let Ryu notice anything about the copy is really hard to adhere to.'
[As the door to the restaurant opened, I was busy wiping the tables. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her, Nina Fortner. Funnily enough, she just stood there and stared at me. Well, sorry Peter, your classmate seems to have fallen in love with me at first sight. As I always say, I am really handsome, but finally, this assessment was proven right. Even one of the most beautiful women in this world was left in a daze just seeing me for the first time.
Just look at her starting to blush now, how cute! Although this is not what I am here for. First, establish a connection and build trust over time; nothing else is required. After Giuseppe led her over, I naturally nailed the detached demeanor of someone who is just here to do his job, totally not doing this to get close to her. Luckily, I had a dry towel with me, so I could wipe my hands that were sweaty because I was so damn nervous inside. Otherwise, that would have been one awkward first handshake. I then introduced myself briefly and returned to work before she could notice how extremely nervous I was.
No wonder Nina has countless admirers at the university; her appearance does not lose out compared to mine. Clear blue eyes, cascading blond hair, and that blush on top of it is just too much. Nearly fell into a daze myself, luckily the work will keep me pretty busy until I get my routine for it down.]
Lotte: "This guy is so full of himself! Most likely, she was staring at the new status page and then got ashamed of staring vacantly in his direction. If Ryu knew that I could read this, he would be ashamed of himself."
Elsa: "One of the most beautiful women in this world, huh? A strong competitor appeared! Hopefully, the diary copy indicates he will also come to see me. I just hope it happens before this guy gets snatched away!"
Ryu spends the rest of the evening cleaning while cringing inside.
'What could be more humiliating than this. I don't know why Nina was in a daze, but surely it wasn't because she had fallen in love. Most likely because she confirmed that the content in the diary is indeed written by a real person. Still, I had to act this way, to show I don't know about their copies. This is so embarrassing! I want to sink into the ground and vanish. Luckily, no one else in the staff knows about it, thus I can still keep working normally.'
Nina also works normally and acts like nothing happened. But when it is time for her to go home, she glares discontentedly at the young man at the kitchen sink, before wishing everyone a good night and leaving.
Giuseppe pats Ryu on the back while laughing.
"Ryu, I think our Nina likes you. Just look at her staring at you before going home, like she wants to brand your image into her mind."
"You really think so? I think you are just overthinking it. Just a lowly cleaning part-timer, there is no way a girl of her caliber would be interested in someone like that. But maybe you could arrange our shifts to be at the same time so I can confirm?"
Ryu humbly answered, receiving a thumbs-up from Giuseppe.
"Young man, you really know how to play!"
[Even Giuseppe thinks that Nina is into me. To help her budding feelings along, he arranged for our future shifts to be on the same days. What a capable wingman.]
Outside on the street, Nina almost falls off her scooter as she reads this.
"Who has feelings?!"
The few pedestrians who are still around look weirdly at the girl shouting while driving her scooter, causing her to blush in shame once again.
'I really could use some good old Aikido practice right now.'
Nearly exploding with anger, she makes a firm resolution. Never pay attention to the diary while driving; it's way too dangerous!
After the short drive, she arrives home and sits beside her mother, Christiane Fortner. This startles her mother, as usually the first thing she would do when coming home is yell "I'm so hungry" and dig into the food she has heated up for her.
"What's wrong, honey? Aren't you hungry after such a long day?"
"Mom, I am so upset! At work, a new guy is working as a dishwasher and cleaner. Just because I looked at him for a while longer, and this guy is a bit handsome, my manager thought I had fallen in love at first sight. I was so angry that my face heated up. Giuseppe thought I was blushing, which only made the misunderstanding worse! With his gossip nature, the next time I go to work, everyone will think like this. What should I do, Mom?"
"Well, my child, first of all, eat something and calm down. You normally never react so intensely. Peter chased after you for so long, and you did not even flinch. Maybe there is some truth to it after all?"
Exasperated and feeling betrayed, Nina looks up at her mother.
"Mooom, how can you say this? Just because he is a bit handsome, I won't suddenly fall in love with someone!"
Chuckling to herself, Christiane shoots a look at her husband Erich, who tries to minimize his presence behind the newspaper he is holding in front of his face.
"Sorry, Nina, I just wanted to tease you a bit, don't be angry with your old mother. You are already nearing 20 and have never shown interest in any boy, so this was the first time I could elicit such a cute reaction from you. Just go to work normally, and everything will work out. If you don't like him, just talk to the others about it."
Rolling her eyes, Nina eats, wishes both of them a good night, and makes her way to her room.
[My first day at work, illegally and legally, was a success. I managed to secure short-term finances through construction work and established my first contact with Nina Fortner. Also, thanks to the kind owner, I got to take some leftover pasta back home with me for a late meal. It tastes good, but I should not make a habit out of it. Learning to cook and adhering to a healthy diet, combined with regular workouts, will help me maintain a healthy lifestyle and lead to a long and healthy life. Additionally, there is the saying, "Healthy body, healthy mind." Only when the body is in good condition can my mind function at its optimal level.
By the way, over the past few days, I've figured out that an intelligence score of 0.4 does not mean I'm dumb. There is a profound difference between intelligence score and wisdom, which isn't a part of the status page. Intelligence seemingly measures the speed, volume, and detail of information that can be processed in your brain at once. This also affects learning speed and memory retention. So there is still hope for me in this world!
Thanks to Giuseppe, I was able to arrange my work schedule with Nina's, which means I have some free evenings over the week. These should be spent learning to cook, especially Asian food. After all, there is a small girl out there who needs some connection to her birth culture. However, this will have to wait until after I resolve the Fortner situation. Preparing a plan on how to help Eva Heinemann overcome her struggles will also take time.
I need to get in contact with Heinrich Lunge of the BKA. One of the few in the police force I can be certain is not in some way corrupt or on the side of the main culprit. In this world, you can't even trust the police with the simplest things; it really is infuriating. Perhaps I can fish him out with some clues to cases that are normally only revealed later in the plot. I am terrified that if I meddle too much early on, my information advantage from knowing future developments will disappear if the changes become too big.
For now, time to go to sleep. It was an exhausting day full of manual labor, I'm sore all over.]
Rung: "Hmm, a small girl detached from her culture and in need of help? I hope Ryu can help her soon. However, the situation surrounding Nina seems more pressing for now. And he knows even more future events. Maybe he can help me secure better medical opportunities for underprivileged and discriminated people."
Lotte: "Is the police force here really this corrupt? And this Heinrich Lunge, working as a BKA agent, is the only one he can trust? Is this guy famous? Another topic to research! This diary is a gift for fulfilling my curiosity."
Eva: "My situation is so bad that there has to be an elaborate plan for it? Well, I'm looking forward to meeting this boy from another world. Hopefully, he also writes a bit more about me. It would certainly be interesting to see how Ryu views me."
Elsa: "Another new woman is mentioned, but not me. However, it is only a little girl and should pose no threat. I really want to go to Heidelberg right now, see what this handsome guy is all about, and find out why he won't mention me. Is it because I come from such a boring place like Ruhenheim?"