My Online Love Is Inumaki

Zhou Wanyi is about to move to Japan, so she finds a local gamer online to team up with, hoping to practice her Japanese by talking over voice chat while they play.

But her matched teammate only ever types and never turns on voice chat. The two of them work so well together that each can practically predict the other's next move from a single shift in position.

Recently, Inumaki found a gaming partner who was just his type: skilled, perceptive, and perfectly in sync with him. After they exchanged contact details, he learned that his partner was a foreigner who had originally added him to practice Japanese over voice chat in-game. Inumaki, who could only speak in rice-ball ingredients, prepared himself to lose her.

The girl didn't seem to mind. In fact, she was curious about his "language problem."

"If Inumaki got kissed out of the blue, would he only be able to mumble 'bonito flakes'?"

Startled by the girl's leap in logic, Inumaki replied, "...B-bonito flakes?"

One day, while they were teaming up to climb the ranks, Inumaki pulled off an incredible play with almost no health left. Zhou Wanyi showered him with praise, as usual: "You're amazing, Inumaki! I like you more and more!"

She expected him to stay silent like always, but then the microphone icon lit up.

A clear, bashful young voice came through: "S-salmon roe."

Zhou Wanyi came back to herself. "Huh? Huh?!"

A message popped up on her social app: [I'm really happy you confessed, Wanyi, but let me take care of something like this. Zhou Wanyi, I like you. Will you go out with me?]

On the day they met in person, Zhou Wanyi finally saw her online boyfriend, who seemed aloof but was actually very shy.

His collar was pulled up, and his soft white hair fell neatly over his forehead. His eyes were a beautiful shade of purple, somehow reminding her of purple irises.

He tugged down his collar, revealing a handsome, straight nose and strange black snake-eye markings at the corners of his thin lips. Curious, Zhou Wanyi reached out to poke them. He opened his mouth slightly in surprise.

Zhou Wanyi was stunned. "You have them on your tongue too?!"

Inumaki: "...Salmon."

Zhou Wanyi muttered in Chinese, "I bet kissing you would feel really rough."

She assumed he couldn't understand her, but she watched the young man's face flush red, his ears turning so hot they looked ready to drip blood.

Zhou Wanyi froze. He... understood me?!

After learning that Inumaki was a cursed speech user, Zhou Wanyi exclaimed, "That's amazing! Do your words come true? I want to try it too!"

Used to his girlfriend's unpredictability, Inumaki replied, "...Salmon."

Zhou Wanyi immediately ordered, "Kiss me."

Inumaki gave her a helpless look, but obediently leaned down and covered her lips with his.

When the kiss ended, Zhou Wanyi's eyes shimmered with delight and her voice turned soft and sweet. "That was amazing. Again!"

A sly smile rippled across Inumaki's eyes. "Kiss me."

Huh? Why was she throwing herself at him and kissing him?!

That's cheating! He was supposed to let her try making her words come true! A little bite as punishment!

After many experiments, Zhou Wanyi came to a conclusion: when she kissed Inumaki by force, he wouldn't say "bonito flakes," but he really would mumble, "Kiss me for three more minutes."

A few things to know:

(1) This is a cross-national romance. Inumaki falls for her first, while the heroine loves teasing the seemingly aloof but actually bashful Inumaki.

(2) There are lots of personal changes to canon. Assume everyone survives. The timeline is a mess, and nobody dies (so there may be some OOC moments; the original plot killed everyone off, so just assume they all survived!).

(3) This is a sweet, everyday-life story (more or less), with mutual devotion.

(4) Leave your brain here before reading.

Blurb written on May 30, 2024.

Theme: Always have the courage to face challenges head-on.