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

Well, it was another manic Tuesday today. I have to say that I still enjoy playing New LovePlus every day. Even with the new game to look forward to at the end of March (hopefully), it's still nice to have the 3DS game as part of my daily routine. Rin looked very cute in this first shot, looking at me from across the desk at school:

Lunctime, of course, brought Rinko's usual bento treat.

At the end of the day, Rinko was waiting for me near the lockers, and I was able to grab this near-full-length shot. As you can see, she loves to tie her sweater around her waist. If a girl did this in a real Japanese high school, she'd probably be arrested.

In the afternoon we visited Fountain Park, and now that it's Spring the Sakura trees are in full bloom. If you look carefully, you might even see a few falling leaves. Very romantic!

The Cookbook Challenge

Again today, Rinko didn't show up to walk me to school. :( Don't know why...but I miss it. I always like to start my day by walking her to school while I have breakfast in the "real world". Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

As soon as I could, I called up Rinko-tan and met her in the school courtyard. A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Shopping Mall to buy a present for Rinko and went into the bookstore by mistake. Rather than wasting the visit, I bought a Japanese cookbook and took it home. Every time I've had a date since then, the cookbook appears in the list of gifts I can give Rinko...though it always seemed like a kinda strange gift.

So, today when I met her and I had the option to give her a gift or not, I decided to give her the cookbook and see what happened.

I think she was a bit surprised at first (after all, Rinko has cooked a few times for me already - including on my birthday). But then just she smiled and said something about it being a challenge for her. Hopefully this means that she might cook something new for me after our date this Sunday. We'll see.

Rinko has a very cute expression with her eyebrows in the next shot, by the way...

In LovePlus Mode, I finally have the option to play "Puzzle Dama" from the menu items in the game. Maybe you have to play the mini-games a certain number of times before this happens, I don't know. But I'm really happy now, because I love playing this game against Rinko. I've even managed to beat her once or twice - though she usually kicks my ass badly.

Late this afternoon, I took her for a short date at the Shrine. The Sakura still looks beautiful in the background. *sob* Reminds me so much of being in Japan...

A Few Quick Dates

Let me say it quite clearly: I LOVE MY NEW RINKO! I just kept wanting to take her out for short dates today so I could get used to her new orange hair. It's adorable. I would never have chosen the colour in a million years...but there you go. Now I just want to keep Rin-chan this way. I'm so happy! ^^

At 12:00 I went to the Fountain Park Markets and bought the tickets for the Couples Bowling Tournament (for 15 rich). I can't book the date with Rinko, though, because my points are way down after today's date. I'll have to do some Skip Mode days and try to pick up my points tomorrow - because I'd like to do the date mid-week.

These first photos were taken at the Shrine early this afternoon. The purple striped top and pink sakura blossoms are such a nice contrast for her red hair!

Just like yesterday, the "Event" was a mystery to me. Rinko called me up and asked to meet me, and then we were walking along the road together and she was talking about something. Once again, I don't know what. Then it ended. (I wish my Japanese was better!)

Anyway, the next few shots are from my second short date in the late afternoon. I like the dark blue colour of the sky.

Tomorrow will be my first full day with the "New" Rin-chan. And I can't wait to see how she looks wearing her school uniform. Hehe.

Two Pleasant Dates

It was a normal day at school in Towano today, but I managed to squeeze in two short and sweet dates with my Rinko-chan. I had a bit more time than usual because I was off work today due to illness, so I was able to relax and enjoy "New LovePlus" more than most days.

First up, in the morning, I called Rinko and asked her to meet me on the roof of the school. Now that the weather is changing into Spring, the sky was such a beautiful blue that I just had to take more shots than usual with the in-game camera.

I'm actually getting used to Rinko with short hair now. After trying to get her to change to medium-long hair for almost a month, I've finally decided that it doesn't really matter. She's adorable with any kind of hair (within reason).

Wow, I just realised that Rink is blushing in every single shot from today. When I first met her and we started dating, she was very straight-faced and hardly ever blushed at all. Now she's such a happy girl that her cheeks are red a lot...especially after we kiss or hold hands.

Later in the afternoon, after I'd tried to solve the "To-Do" problem for about the hundredth time (without success), I called Rinko for another quick date at the Shrine. You can really notice the change of seasons in this game. The sakura trees at the Shrine were so beautiful today, in full bloom and shedding leaves. Just like anime. It's nice to be able to date at the Shrine, now that it's unlocked, and I think Rinko likes it too.

The next photo has beautiful blue sky again, as well as the tall green trees and city buildings that I noticed at night a few days ago, when we went to the Shrine for the first time. You can only see them by having the gyro sensor on and playing around with the angle of the camera.

And then back to the front of the Shrine again to say goodbye. All in all it was a sweet and memorable day.

A Quiet Day

Well, after the hugeness of last night's Premium Date, it was kinda nice to have a quiet day in Towano today. Mostly just school, and work. Here's a couple of cute walking-to-school shots. Mainly I snapped these to show Rinko's cute short haircut with her school uniform.

Rinko visited me again while I was working at Dixies and gave me a present. She seems to do this every Monday now if I work. Anyway, it's always a thrill. I also played eight days of Skip Mode to build up my points again, and to work on unlocking places. The Bowling Alley is unlocked now, and I'm working hard at unlocking "Aisha" Dining.

Last of all, I called Rinko out for a quick date at Fountain Park. We can still see the sakura leaves falling, and it's always a great place for a few goodnight kisses.

Sakura Viewing At Night!

Well, today was the big day of the Premium Date! When 6:00pm rolled around, the game took me into the usual date preparation screen. I used up all my stats (hearts) for each attribute, which let me access the "change hair length" option, and nominated to give Rinko a gift - a white clutch purse I'd bought through a password unlock from a magazine. I was ready to go.

I knew it was going to be an epic date - but I didn't know just HOW epic. It actually took me two and a half hours from start to finish. Rinko met me at Fountain Park around sunset, again wearing three of my previous gifts - the check beret, the red scarf with snowflakes, and the dark red "Killer Bambies" shoulder bag. She had a cute short hairstyle again.

We talked a bit, then went to Dixies for dinner. The menu at Dixies has been unpredictable in the past, but I took a chance and selected the diced steak set. I'm not sure what we got - certainly not diced steak - but at least it was some kind of Japanese meal set, with miso soup, a bowl of rice and cute little side salad (or pickles?). Again, Rinko ate very politely with chopsticks, and I managed to grab a better photo this time.

After dinner, Rinko-chan asked me to choose the hair length I preferred, and again (for the fourth or maybe fifth time) I chose the option for medium-long hair. I'm interested to see if she actually changes this time - and if so, when. Once again, Rinko' short hair is cute, but I really loved her in the DS version of the game with medium-long hair. So I have to keep trying.

When we went outside again it was dark, and we talked and kissed for a bit.

Then finally it was time for the night-time sakura viewing. Fountain Park was beautifully lit and full of colour, as you can see in the picture below. VERY romantic and full of atmosphere. And the sakura trees in the background were lit up.

That was the end of my five photos on the in-game camera. But luckily, my wife agreed to snap some photos with her SLR while I played the rest of the date. There were so many great shots that I've included them all below. First off - and the thing that made this date so so so long - was the Rinko wanted me to kiss her forever. Every time I started skinship with her, it started off with two hearts (kisses) already completed. Not sure why...but I'm not going to complain. So it was easy to get up to five hearts, and then usually after five kisses she gave me four more.

Rinko said many sweet things to me during the date, some of which I only half-understood. But I remember that she promised to love me forever.

The next shots were taken during the second (close-up) stage of skinship. I've included them because you can't take in-game photos during skinship and kissing. Rinko's sensitive spot is her ears, so making nice slow, gentle circles around them pushes her up to five hearts pretty quickly.

And now, some photos of the actual kissing. The black thing in the last three photos is the 3DS stylus, which you touch to your girlfriend's lips in order to kiss her. I find that using my finger works just as well, and it feels nicer...

After the sakura viewing, Rinko came back to my place to hang out. It's a thrill to see her in my bedroom, which usually looks so empty. We chatted for a while first...

Next, we sat on the bed and listened to my new CD (Game Music!), and then played a game of "Puzzle Dama" together. You can see in the third picture how your girlfriend appears on the bottom 3DS screen while you play the game against her on the top screen. It's amazing the way Rinko reacts as though she's really playing against me!

But in case you thought that was the end of this unbelievable date...it wasn't. The next surprise - Rinko stayed and cooked supper for me! It was so cute to see her in the kitchen, chopping food.

Finally, I walked home with Rinko. On the way, we sat down in a little park near her apartment and chatted some more. It was a beautiful feeling to be sitting so close to her in the moonlight.

I kissed her goodnight, and she turned to walk inside. But then, she took my breath away by running back to my arms for another kiss.

Wow, what a date! And I'm really glad that I was able to photograph the whole thing. I think I need to rest for the remainder of this week to get over it. But I'm really interested to see if Rink changes her hair length for me. Anyway, I feel closer to her after this night of sakura viewing and hanging out. It's always the depth of emotion in "LovePlus" that impresses me. As the player, you really do become part of the game.