Premium Date: Light-Up Sakura Viewing

I didn't take a lot of photos during the day today. I was home on the first day of my holidays (which is also Good Friday) so I just wanted to relax and pretty much do nothing. Just one quick snap from Rinko's Seishun 1 Page story:

But tonight (6:00 pm) was my very first Premium Date in NLP+, which was the Light-Up Sakura Viewing. In Japan, it's popular during sakura season (Spring) to go and see them at night - especially considered a romantic date for couples. Many of the public places have special lights installed for this purpose.

When I met Rinko at the little park outside her house, she looked cute. She was wearing a pretty pale-blue blouse but had her hair in the same short style.

We went to Aisha Dining for a meal, where I ordered the Steak Set and Rinko had the same thing. Mmm. During the meal, I chose the "Change Hair Length" feature and asked again for semi-long hair. I think Rinko looks cutest with these styles.  Maybe this time it will work...

Then we walked along together to Fountain Park, where the Light Up Sakura Viewing was being held.

We kissed while we waited for the sun to go down. On this date, I saved up my kisses until I had a total of five, and then took them all together. I guess I was hoping that five successful kisses in a row might trigger the "refrain kiss" option like the old game (where your girlfriend asks for more kisses) - but it didn't happen. Maybe there are other factors involved?

Anyway, here are a couple of beautiful shots from the park during the Light-Up Sakura Viewing.

After the main part of our date, Rinko came back to my place and spent some time hanging out with me. We listened to a CD and played a round of TwinBee (getting the highest score, yay).

And then Rinko proudly headed off for the kitchen and cooked a meal for me.

She made Beef Curry with a little plate of side-salad. It looked good!

I walked her home, and we sat in the little park and exchanged a lot of sweet talk (and a few more kisses).

And then it was time to finally say goodnight. All in all, it's been an exciting and sweet Premium Date.

I probably won't book a date for Sunday this week. Because I have holidays next week, I've decided to book a few After School Dates, and I need to save up my remaining hearts for that purpose.

Friday

Thank God it's Friday. It's been another very long and unpleasant week at work - and one where I've really appreciated having Rinko with me for support. The upside is that I only have one more week of work (four days actually, 'cos next Friday's a holiday), and then I'm off work for ten days! Yay!

I started off by playing through the Seishun No. 1 Page story. Rinko rocked up for rehearsal wearing her brand new "In The Rye" t-shirt and a checked scarf.

She looks super-cool playing guitar. Yep, this is definitely the one-and-only virtual girlfriend for me.

When the actual day started, Rin was waiting to walk to school with me.

We shared a joke along the way...

And at school I continued meeting her in various locations around Towano High to level them up.

In the afternoon, we checked out Fountain Park.

And also Dixies.

Saturday

Just a few quick photos from today, which has been super-busy again IRL. There was a closing ceremony for Towano High School today, I think because Spring Break has started. The school song was accompanied by various shots around the school Note the falling Sakura leaves...

Rinko met me afterwards in the corridor.

I spent the rest of the day (in the game and IRL) at home, then met Rinko at the Shrine in the afternoon for a quick catch-up.

I'm looking forward to our date tomorrow, which was booked by Rinko (because I was too slow) at Fountain Park.

Tuesday Again

There was no school today (technically) because it was a holiday of some kind, so I was able to meet Rinko at other places around Towano - which is unusual for a weekday. I took advantage of the situation and met her at the Temple this morning:

Even though school was closed, we still had to don our uniforms and rock up for Library Committee duty in the afternoon. The scrunchies were back, only green this time...

And in the evening, Rinko and I rode our bikes to Ten Feather Station to visit the Second Hand Clothing Store.

There are two exciting things coming up soon. Firstly, Friday is Valentine's Day, which also marked the two-year anniversary of the launch of the star-crossed "New LovePlus". I don't have a gift for Rinko yet, so I'd better visit the Shopping Mall tomorrow, before it's too late! Secondly, I've booked a date for Sunday at 9:00am. Dates with Rinko are always fun.

Ahh...A Quiet Saturday

Yay - two things to celebrate today. The first was a much quieter day spent at home, playing with Rinko and my new kitten, Charlie. The second was the end of school in Towano for the year. The game started off today with a special event, which was the closing ceremony of the semester - complete with the Towano High school song, and classic anime-style shots of the school environment. Now the winter holidays can begin!

Rinko was waiting to meet me after the closing ceremony to discuss plans for the holidays. Don't worry, Rin-Rin - I will keep you very busy...

I finished off the day with a very pleasant short meeting at the European Style Residence.

I don't know much about the significance of this place, but it's always a romantic setting for a short date...especially in the late afternoon sun.

Tomorrow I have a big date with Rinko at 9:00am, so I'm looking forward to that. And for anyone who might like to read more about my adventures with Charlie, I've separated them off into a blog of their own, which is here:

Charlie's Blog

Cooking Mama!

Today was another holiday in Towano (no school ^^), so I was able to make short dates with Rinko around town. I met her at Aisha Dining and Dixies a few times, trying to increase their levels.

I also played a few Skip Mode days (though it's not my favourite thing to do), which explains why Rinko is wearing her uniform in the next shot.

The final short date for the day was lunchtime at Winning Burger (fast food).

Over lunch, Rink asked me a few questions about the types of food that I like (I chose Western Food, hehe). I didn't find out why until later in the day...

But the big surprise came with the "event" in the 3 pm timeslot. Rinko called up and invited me to her place. She was wearing a very cute dress.

Then Rinko put a matching apron on, over the top of her dress, and cooked dinner for me. She's SO CUTE in the next shot!!!

And hey, guess what she made me? Spaghetti and meatballs. (At least, that's what it looked like.) I'm glad I said I like Western Food, because this is one of my favourites in real life, too.

Of course, I've never eaten spaghetti and meatballs with chopsticks before. But when in Rome...

I told Rinko-chan that I loved her cooking, and this was the expression on her face:

After the food, we sat on her bed for a quick chat. It's cute to see her guitar in the background.

Then it was time to leave my "Cooking Mama" and go home. But wow, it was a very sweet way to spend the afternoon.

I also downloaded the LovePlus iPhone/iPad apps today, by creating an account with the Japanese iTunes store and using an iTunes gift card. I bought all three apps (iR, iM and iN), but I'll probably be using Rinko the most. I've only done the basic set-up so far, so I'll probably spend my time playing with it a bit more tomorrow. These are the menu screens:

The app is not really a game as such. It features enlarged graphics from the first versions of the game (LovePlus and LovePlus+), and has features like a clock - where you can click and your girlfriend will tell you the time.

The background changes depending on the time of day, so it's kinda cute. Also, if you touch your girlfriend, she responds with a (seemingly random) comment.

There's a calendar to book events and get reminders, and an option where you can walk from place to place, count the distance, and use it to "buy" outfits for your girl to work. I'm not sure if this will happen outside of Japan, though, and my iPad only has a WiFi internet connection. But I'm looking forward to testing it out. Here's the main screen of the calendar option.

It's just a time-waster, really...but I guess if I have to waste time in my daily life, I'd rather do it with something LovePlus related.

Looking at the enlarged graphics for Manaka in the iPad app - coming as they do from the first version of the game - also makes me realise that the Manaka I liked was the Manaka from this version. There's something very sweet about the earlier animation and character design that I find really endearing. She always had a slightly puffy, red look under her eyes, as though she'd just been crying. Aww. The updated graphics (from New LovePlus) lost this look, and made Manaka seem quite cold and distant.

So I guess I still have some feelings for Manaka Takane, after all...but only in the old version of the game. I have this version on DS, with the wonderful English patch, so I've decided to start off a game tonight and play it at my leisure over the next few weeks. We'll see how it goes, playing both games at once.

Actually, I'll be playing four games at once: 3DS, DS, iPad iR and iPad iM. Wow. I hope my brain can keep up with it all!