Please...
...marry me!
I must decline.
No way...
Why?
I've made up my mind never to fall in love again.
Sorry, but that's the way it is.
I understand.
Then...
...let's get married!
Huh?
Did you even hear what I said?
I heard you, and I dare to ask.
You don't know what "dare" means.
It is an absolute certainty that marring me would be more fun.
Yeah, I don't know where you're getting that confidence from,
but still, the answer is no!
Why nooooot?
Here they come!
Schwein!
Got it!
Small fry.
Rusian!
I won't let my Rusian die!
Y-You idiot!
That's too much healing!
Huh?
Ako!
Rusian!
You stay back and heal!
Uh... Um...
Master, how long yet?!
Sorry to keep you waiting.
Behold!
Witness the firepower of my buffed-up staff!
Amazing, Master!
That mob was as good as garbage.
You OHKO'ed the whole area?
How much did you put into that staff, anyway?
I have this consumable magic booster, as well.
If you buy ten, they thrown in a bonus one.
Don't use it. That's a waste.
Then again...
...if I had been a little bit quicker, we wouldn't have had any unnecessary casualties.
Ah! I'm sorry, Rusian!
I'll bring you back at once!
Revive!
I'm sorry!
Well, what's done is done, so it's okay.
Thank you very much, Rusian.
I love you.
Y-Yeah.
Night
Good night
News flash!
I have found a wife!
It changes every three months, doesn't it?
I bet you're just talking about a "my waifu," aren't you?
No, I don't mean it like that.
Say, Nishimura, got any anime recommendations for this season?
Oh, I do, I do!
This season, it's gotta be "The Dogra Magra Chronicles."
You really are hardcore, huh?
There's no hiding it.
One might even say you're an "open otaku."
Yeah, so what?
I still enjoy it.
Leave me alone.
Gross.
Huh?
Otaku appeal is positively disgusting.
How mean!
Now, now, Akane.
B-But Segawa, there are wine otakus, and flower otakus, and lots of other great otakus throughout the world—
Still, Nishimura, you're disgusting.
Hey, lay off of him!
Stop telling the truth!
We think so, too, but still...
You guys are even more mean!
How can you say that about me?!
You could at least sugar-coat it a bit!
Geez, Akane...
I don't believe you! I'll never believe any of you anymore!
Okay, everyone, there's an all-school assembly today.
Let's head to the gym.
Did you hear?
Maeda in Class 3 declared his love.
A hero, huh?
And?
Crashed and burned.
Well, that's what happens.
Yeah, well you seem to go for girls like Segawa, right?
She's short, and wears twin tails.
Hmm...
If she were tsundere, that would be fine, but all she is is tsun—
I will seriously send you flying.
She sound serious...
Sorry!
Are you okay?
Oh... no.
She didn't have to do that...
Good morning, everyone.
I'm President Goshouin.
We will now begin the school assembly.
I'm home!
The game that we play is an online RPG, called "Legendary Age," or "LA" for short.
In other words, a net game.
Parts of it do cost money, but the gameplay is free.
Multiple people access it at the same time,
and we can all have adventures in the same world.
Now!
So anyway, I declared, my love to him on a pier over a romantic lake.
For him to make the girl say it, he must be a pretty big wuss.
Hmm, imagine, you having to be the one to say it, Ako...
Rusian gave me this ring, which increases all resistances.
Hey, guys!
I've got mobs on me!
Stop your chatting!
Are you okay, Rusian?
I'm... not okay.
Mostly because of you, Ako.
You miss your targets, and heal the mobs.
You get caught up in chatting, and wind up getting lost.
Do you know how many times I've died because of your mistakes?
I'm so sorry.
Well, my experience level is barely on the plus side, so it's okay.
Rusian, you're so nice!
H-Hey!
Tanking is the armor knight's job, right?
Though, even when you do die, it doesn't affect my bad self.
If only our attacker was a little more skillful, it wouldn't matter.
Listen to you.
Feel free to leave the annihilating to me.
As...
...long as I have all of these pricy, real-money buffing items!
This lousy premium player...
It's been almost a year since the four of us formed this guild.
We've been through a lot together.
We get along well together, and being together is fun.
And Ako here is...
...my wife.
Although, our marriage is only within the game.
In short, I couldn't bring myself to turn her down the last time she proposed.
Yes. As unlucky with girls as I am in real life...
...in this world, I have a wife.
"I am now speaking directly to your heart."
This is no time to be chatting with the other guild members.
You should pay attention to your wife...
To your wife... To your wife... To your wife...
Ako? Hey, Ako!
Man, she always does things her way.
You two are stuck together like glue today, huh?
That's just because Ako won't leave me alone.
Ha, just like a couple of normalfags.
It's not in real life!
In the game! The game!
Hmm, well, okay.
Now that I think about it,
I might be the one who's the normalfag.
I recently...
...had someone declare their love for me in real life.
For real?!
Schew must really be a hottie.
I always had that hunch...
I'm so jealous. Or rather, envious!
Wow, Schew-chan...
Good-looking guys can just—
Just die, would you?
Huh?
Ako?
Really, normalfags can just die already.
People who get confessed to ought to get out of the game.
Just being close to them makes me feel like sorrow is coming.
Ah, I wish those people would die out.
They're a plague on the world.
I said no! I said no!
My bad self isn't interested in romance!
Ako, take it easy! Take it easy!
Hey, come back to us!
I share your hatred of normalfags, but don't take it out on your friends.
Please excuse me.
Well, I agree with what you're trying to say.
I understand it quite well, too.
This guild is too distorted.
Mm-hmm.
Even so, here we are, hanging out together like this.
About that!
Please listen to this!
Rusian rejected my love-filled confessions again and again!
The stress was shortening my life at Mach speed!
It all worked out okay, though, right?
It's not the destination, it's the journey!
I proposed ten times, and you turned me down each time!
Is that how badly you didn't want to marry me?!
Hmm?
Okay, I get it.
How about we reset, and start again from our first discussion?
I was kidding! I'm sorry!
Anything but a divorce!
I'm begging you!
Please don't abandon meeee!
So, why didn't you agree at first?
I'm soooorryyyy!
In-game marriages were something that turned me off.
Forgive meeeee!
It's a game, right? A game!
It's not reality, after all!
Ha, it's not like you could get married IRL anyway.
Might as well go through it in here.
Think about where you draw the line!
But, Rusian...
...I heard you once petitioned for marriage here in LA.
He what?
Ako! How could you say that?! How could you let that out?!
Why don't you tell us more?
I-I'm begging you, please...
Please...
...marry me!
I must decline meow.
I truly am in love with you!
Sorry.
I'm a guy in real life.
Huh?
Or better say a geezer!
I just got caught up in it, and wanted to try a little online cross-playing.
Eh?
I mean, girls in real life don't say "meow."
You should figure that out, already.
Damn it! Damn it!
I will never! Ever! Trust another girl in an online game!
You guys are enjoying that too much!
That past is so beyond dark!
That's a memory for adolescence!
Those guys...
Then again, Nekohime-san, who I declared my love to,
was cute, had good taste in equipment, was nice to everyone, played the game well, and was the ideal girl—
Heeey! Heeey!
Rusian-kuuuun!
No... I mean, girl character.
The shock I received from that was devastating,
so much so that I left the guild I was with,
and stuck with solo play for nearly a year afterward.
Then, I arrived at a certain truth.
Which was...
Who cares, as long as they're cute?
Even if they are guys in real life, who cares, as long as they're cute?
Ultimately, it was the cuteness inside the game that I enjoyed.
Yes, I had found the truth.
Rusian, are you angry?
Huh?
Maybe I shouldn't have told everyone.
It happens all the time on the net, right? Don't worry about it.
Thank you very much.
I love you.
C-Calm down...
Calm down, me.
You know from experience that if you take it too seriously,
you'll regret it.
I see.
So that's why you were reluctant to agree.
So it has nothing to do with real life, in the game, Ako is Ako.
Just so you know, I am a girl.
If you say so, then sure you are.
At least, to you, you are.
No, no, in real life, I'm a nerdy, book-girl type.
Whoa, hold on.
Admitting that online in open chat is...
...the greatest net taboo there is.
Is that right?
Hmph, taboos are so ridiculous.
Take me - I'm a normal high school girl in real life.
A high school girl?
You, Master?
With all that premium gear?
No way.
Not possible.
Seriously, no.
Here I am, transgressing a taboo, and this is how I get treated?
Actually, it feels kind of nice.
What if we did this—!
Guild Alley Cats First Ever Offline Get-Together to be held
Alley Cats...
...First Ever Offline Get-Together...
...to be held?
Eh?!
They aren't here yet, huh?
Who knew we were all close by?
We've been together for nearly a year.
What a coincidence.
I just arrived. Contact me.
I'm by the big tree in front of the station.
I just arrived. Contact me. I'm by the big tree in front of the station
I'm wearing...
Excuse me, Rusian?
Y-Yes. I am Rusian...
Um... I-I am... Ako.
H-Hello.
A-Ako?
The real?
Y-Yes.
You really are... a real-life... girl.
Um, Rusian...?
Y-Yes?
Wow!
Rusian! Rusian!
It's the real Rusian!
Whoa!
Stop calling me by that name!
What if someone I know sees us?
The real Rusian!
R-Rusian?
Nishimura, is that you?
S-Segawa?!
You're already acquainted?
Huh? Oh, um...
I wouldn't say we're acquaintances...
Mm-hmm, it looks like everyone got here safely.
Um...
Madam President?
No, I'm not.
Right now, I'm not the student council president.
I am Guild Alley Cats' Master, Apricot.
Huh?!
You must be Rusian, and the one clinging to you must be Ako.
Y-Yes.
Wait, did you say "everyone"...?
You're... Schwein?!
Ah, you're Schew-chan, are you?
D-Don't call me by that name!
No way...
That's what I was going to say!
Okay, let's begin Guild Alley Cats First Commemorative Offline Party!
Rusian, you really are alive, huh?
You're warm, and everything!
Don't make it sound like it's so unusual that I'm alive.
Rusian... Rusian...
Rusian in the flesh...!
Cut it out.
He's Rusian, all right.
Why are you so happy to be treated so rudely?
Well, let's start by introducing ourselves.
I am Goshouin Kyou.
2nd-year at Maegasaki High School, and student council president.
I'm on my way back from school today...
...so you'll have to excuse the way I'm dressed.
We're already close friends, but we're also meeting for the first time.
What do you say we take this fun, albeit complicated relationship...
...and enjoy it for all it's worth?
All right, next.
Huh? Me?
I'm Segawa Akane.
Maegasaki High School 1st-year.
And... um...
I understand, Schwein.
You must be embarrassed to go by that name in front of others.
Huh?
"Schwein" in German is the word that means "pig."
"My name is Pig. It's a pleasure to meet you."
I doubt there are many young ladies who would want to say that.
No way...
"Pig"...?
"Schwein" is...?
What, you've been using it without knowing so?
O-Of course I have!
Who would ever pick "Pig" for their own name?!
I just used it because it sounds cool!
Schew-chan...
My sympathies.
Whoa, Master, why didn't you say anything sooner?!
I thought that was the joke.
That's right! I am Schwein!
And anyone that calls me "pig"...
...gets stuck like a pig.
That's all.
All right, next. Rusian?
Okay.
I-I'm... R-Rusian.
Whoo, it's so embarrassing introducing myself with my character's name.
Nishimura, your very existence is an embarrassment.
That's mean!
Let's see...
My name is Nishimura Hideki.
I'm also a 1st-year at Master's high school, but in no clubs.
No special talents.
My interests are, well, online games.
Nice to meet you.
Um, I'm Ako.
I'm always a burden to the rest of you in LA, and I apologize.
Oh, I'm also a 1st-year at Maegasaki High School, the same as you.
Huh? We're classmates?
Yes. I was surprised, too.
My name is Tamaki Ako.
Please call me "Ako," just like always.
Huh? That's your real name?
Yes. Is that unusual?
There's such a thing as net literacy—
Well, never mind.
That sounds like you, Ako.
I'm not involved in any clubs.
I don't have any friends at school, either.
Enough so that sometimes, when I go to school...
...it gets the attention of the others.
Th-That's okay.
I'm the student council president, but I don't have any friends, either.
H-Hey, we're all your friends, too.
Yeah, yeah!
Thank you very much.
I really am glad to have friends that I can talk to.
I look forward to continuing being friends.
Oh, yeah.
Segawa?
What?
Didn't you tell us during the game that some boy in Class 3 declared his love for you?
So what about it?
Oh, that's just something else.
You really are popular, huh?
Not really.
Schew-chan is a normalfag... Schew-chan is a normalfag...
Schew-chan is a normalfag... Schew-chan is...
Hey, Ako?!
I see.
So unlike us, Schwein is a venerable normalfag, then.
Maybe I'll call on you for some wall-slugging agent action.
Master, not you, too!
Ah, I told you, I said no!
I don't want to go out with anyone.
Maeda from Class 3 is said to be popular with the girls...
Is he just not your type?
Th-That's...
If I had a boyfriend, it would diminish my time playing net games.
Oh, is that the reason?
You wouldn't ever want that, would you?
Definitely not.
I'd turn it down.
You all sure are genuine, huh?
What, you have a problem with that?
Nope. It's far preferable to who you are at school.
That's definitely not a compliment, is it?
Well, I have an idea to turn that around!
Schew-chan, you could always get married in the game, like Rusian and I did!
H-Hey!
You wouldn't lose any gaming time,
plus you would be with the one you love.
It's two birds with one stone!
I think I'm good. Sounds gross.
Hey, you!
Huh? I think it's a great idea.
Right, Rusian?
Yeah, but I still can't believe it.
Hmm?
Ako, you're so...
Netoge: And You Thought There Is Never a Girl Online?
This girl is my wife...?
Rusian!
I thought we ouldn't play net games at school?
What is the meaning of this?!
Lately, it's been wrong for the heroine to be dere in Episode 1!
Rusian, why are you so tsun-tsun?
I'm not the heroine!