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.

Tuesday

It was raining at the start of today, but Rinko was waiting (as always) with a cheerful face and her polka-dot umbrella to walk to school with me.

Not sure what she was thinking in this next shot, but her expression is kinda funny...

And then at lunch, it was Bento time again. Rinko was waiting very shyly for me outside my classroom...

And her bento today was one I don't think I've seen before, with little sushi rolls and something green inside (maybe cucumber???)...

I finished out the day with a couple of quick meet-ups, firstly at the Ten Feather Temple in the late afternoon sun.

And then at the Shin Towano Coffee Shop. This is one of my favourite places in the game - and certainly a play I would like to hang out with Rinko in real life.

In both games today, Rin-Rin called me up and asked ME out for a date (that is, she got in first before I had the chance to ask her out). So I have a 3DS date at 9:00am on Sunday and a DS date at 6:00pm on Sunday.

My new little kitten, Charlie, continues to be a delight. We took her to the vet for the first time tonight, to get her first vaccination, as well as worm and flea treatments. It was pretty stressful for all concerned. Charlie is very happy to be home, and she's been fast asleep for the past two and a half hours. I'm sure she'll be tearing around the house and getting into mischief before too much longer, though...

Monday's Surprise...

Rin-Rin gave me a very pleasant surprise today by showing up at Dixies while I was working at my part-time job.

It wasn't just a social call, as I could tell she was obviously up to something...

Sure enough, she produced a beautifully wrapped present for me. I used to get this surprise a lot in my first 3DS game with Rinko - mostly on a Monday when I'm at work. I'm never really sure why it happens, and you don't get to see what's inside the gift, either. But it's still sweet, and the thought definitely counts. It's just the thing to cheer me up out of my currently crappy (again) mood.

I met Rinko at the Temple for a short date this afternoon, right on the time when the sun was starting to set and the sky was all yellow. (Oh no, a song again...) ^^

This is a shot from when we were walking home together. I definitely like Rinko with this cute hairstyle.

And lastly I called her to meet me at the Coffee Shop just before bedtime. Rinko's always willing and hardly ever says no. (Not like in the old DS game, where she often has something else to do.)

Goodnight Rinko, and goodnight everyone. Oyasumi nasai.

Very First After School Date

Today was an important day, because I managed to do something I've never done before in 18+ months of playing New LovePlus - I had my very first After School Date with Rinko.

After School Dates are a special kind of date. Normally you can't date your girlfriend on a school day - only on Sundays (except for holidays). In After School Dates, your girlfriend meets you at the end of the school day and goes out with you, wearing her school uniform. Everything else is the same as a regular Sunday date.  Oh, and I worked out what I was doing wrong when I tried to do an After School Date before. If anyone wants to try it, here's how it works:

1. Call your girlfriend early in the morning, just after the 8:00am timeslot starts.

2. You have to call BEFORE you've booked a date for the upcoming Sunday.

3. Book a date (same as usual) but select the afternoon of the same day for the day of the date.

4. You can only go out in a place you can walk to from school - that is, it must be in Shin Towano area (New Towano).

5. The time will default to 3:30pm, but you can change this. I changed my date to 4:00pm without any problems, so any time before the 6:00pm timeslot starts should be fine.

Note that you can only play this type of date in Real Time Mode - so for those of us who work through the day, it's kinda awkward (unless you can take a really long toilet break ^^). Still, I wanted to try it - and it worked!

Rin-chan met me in the corridor at 4:00pm.

We walked out of school together and headed off for our date on the way home.

Then we arrived at the Temple for the main part of our date. The autumn leaves look so nice in the background of this shot.

Interestingly we were able to go into the main courtyard of the Temple, which you never get to see on short dates. It reminds me so much of the beautiful Towa temple we visited in Harajuku.

After the date we had a second option, and I chose to have a meal. Sadly when you have to stay around the school area, there aren't a lot of fancy options for food. I chose Aisha Dining, because Rin usually likes going there.

The lemon kaki-gori (shaved ice) is not exactly perfect for autumn, with the weather turning colder. Rinko looked a little unsure about eating it.

When the date was over, I walked Rinko back home and kissed her goodbye. It's nice to date Rin in her school uniform, which doesn't normally happen, so I think I like After School Dates. Trouble is, you burn up all your hearts before the weekend.

Now that I stopped my 3DS game with Manaka, I thought I might have some fun and start off a game with Rinko on the old DS version of the game (with the English patch). I played a lot through the day, and the green personality Rinko confessed to me after just 63 days. I thought it might be fun to go back to the beginning, where I first started playing the old game with Rinko. And the DS version of LovePlus is much less demanding that the 3DS one - so having a second game going this way actually shouldn't be too bad. But from now on I will only ever date Rinko (unless Konami decides to put Akira Yukino into the new game........then I might have to think twice.

Mixed-up Date

Well, today's date with Rin was pleasant but slightly mixed-up. Let me say, however, that I really love the subtle way the change of season from summer to autumn has been depicted in the game. The falling leaves you can see in the first shot below are obvious, but all the background colours have been changed too, giving the world of Towano a golden autumn glow.

Anyway, Rin looked sweet with her long hair and glasses - and, like I've said before, her new clothes for autumn are great! We started off at the Japanese Sweet Shop.

I'm not sure what food we ordered, but it sure looked interesting:

Our date was SUPPOSED to be for bowling.......but somehow, we ended up at Fountain Park. Not bad, but just not what I expected.

So, with the option of selecting a second date location, I chose bowling once again.......and ended up at the Temple.

I mean, it's okay. But I really hope that Konami fixes this bug with the date locations soon, because it's kinda frustrating. Here's a final shot of Rin saying goodbye. Now that I have 12 shots on my in-game camera, I usually try to grab these full-length shots at the end of each date to show Rin's outfits in a bit more detail.

This final shot is from a very short meet-up with Rin at night.

Coming up this Thursday is my six month anniversary of dating Rinko. Wow, it's hard to believe that this game has been part of my life for half a year now. Even though I'm dating Manaka now in the DS version of "LovePlus", I have to say that my heart still belongs to Rinko. So I'll be planning something really special for the anniversary. Not just a gift in the game for her, but some kind of real-world celebration too. I think I'll make a Facebook album and put my favourite memories from the past six months. Sounds like fun!