Dead Days

"Of all days to be bestowed with bad luck, why today?" Ace groaned in pain as his stomach churned and twisted aggressively.

His hand instinctively groped his belly as he hoped it would help lessen the pain that was eating up his abdomen.

"Lady luck probably despised me so much that she scurried far away from me today." He continued as thick sweat trickled down from his face, soaking his bed.

Despite all this turmoil, the system interface did not halt its synchronization.

[...]

[Preparing dashboard for system updates]

[System merging at 12%]

~

[System merging at 79%]

~

[Host Attributes]- [Completed]

[Skills and Abilities]- [Completed]

[Quests]- [Completed]

[Shop]- [Completed]

[Serializing!]

[System merging completed]

[Congratulations, you have attained the ░░░ interface!]

"A system interface, really?"

—HOST STATUS WINDOW—

Host: Ace Kiryū

Age: 17

Race: ░░░░░░

Class: Unidentified

Level: Nill

STATS

-Strength: 45

-Agility: 25

-Intelligence: 68

-Endurance: 15

-Mana: •••

TALENT

-[Countdown till unlock: 9:59:59]

SKILL

-[Countdown till unlock: 9:59:59]

SHOP/QUEST SHOP 

-[Countdown till unlock: 9:59:59]

"Argh, c'mon!" He wailed groggily, his consciousness slowly seeping away as he felt two colossal giants stomping hard and fighting a war within him.

He knew they were something just more to the dried bread and expired milk he had just consumed.

Something more deadly, but for now, his vision blurred, the edges darkening as his consciousness escaped into an endless abyss. 

[—TWELVE HOURS LATER—]

Standing like a shallow being in front of the ramen restaurant door, a clap of contempt escaped Ace's lips as he read the description letter pasted on the door.

—Out of limit for Ace—

He clenched his fists tight by his side, almost ruining the nature of the token card he had tagged along between his fingers.

Kaito was right about getting fired the next day, but also, he is the main cause of this. Perhaps, he had approached him with devious context to get him fired from his sole source of living and getting a fee in order to join his guild in the end.

A sigh of frustration escaped his lips again as he shook his head in utter disappointment. As his head hung low with the buzzing of the world behind him that seemed to not care about whoever he was, his phone suddenly buzzed from his pocket, distracting his mind a little.

Dipping his hand inside his pocket to withdraw his phone, someone bumped into him, causing his withdrawn phone to fly out of his hold. The clattering and flushing of the phone down the pavement towards an open manhole made his heart tighten hard against his rib cage as he watched his precious rushing towards a deep.

Just in time, someone's feet landed on the phone, putting a stop to its disastrous journey in barely a second.

"Watch where you're going, fat stupid kid!" The man who had bumped into him initially shouted in anger as he bent over to pick up the documents that had floated out of his briefcase. 

Ace ignored this and headed towards his phone. He picked his precious beneath the feet of the social worker who had saved its life and after a brief appreciation, he was ready to leave, but was stopped immediately as the man sprung up to his feet, grabbing Ace by the collar and slamming him into the street lamp stand.

"ARGHHH!"

"Leaving without apologizing? Did your mother not teach you proper manners, brat?" He raged, each word he said accompanied with a spree of spit which washed over Ace disgustingly.

It was then Ace had a good look at the man. A little older than what his age might actually be, looking forcefully kept with old clothing. A black handmade eye patch was latched over his left eye while his hair came in shabby strands, but there was more behind his patched eye.

But Ace could see it.

He scoffed, the tender emotions in his eyes suddenly crawling towards something more deadly.

"If I were you, I would be more careful not to mess around with anyone and get my last balls scratched."

"What?!" The man exclaimed, his hands suddenly growing weak as he heard those words crawl out of the lips of a teenage kid he could father, but it seems to him there was more to just his words as they weren't just empty words, but words filled with a soul.

Something seemingly deadly.

He finally released his grip around Ace's collar while it tightened his fists together, his jaws clenching hard to hide his seething teeth as his breathing came out forced. He glared intensely at him, but Ace returned an indifferent look, turning away.

Ace's phone buzzed again, calling his attention to it at once and with one final turn, he began to walk away from the man and the ramen shop.

"...the bills are skyrocketing day by day, Mr Kiryū. I'm sorry, but the basic daily treatments your grandmother needs might be cut short if you don't clear the outstanding bill on your tab soon."

Taking in a deep breath, Ace soothed his forehead calmly before speaking a word into the phone which its screen had cracked a lot more than it used to due to the fall it had suffered a minute ago.

"I will clear my tab today, I promise."

He had expected the nurse to say another word, but she remained silent and he understood she didn't believe the words he had just said as they were based on a promise; just like he had always said in the past.

"Five minutes is enough, right?" 

"Of course, Mr Kiryū!" She exclaimed with joy which almost flooded to the other end of the line. "Your grandmother says she misses you and—"

Cutting her short mid sentence as he knew it was a reminder of Anya, Ace forced a smile, trying to hide the sudden cruelty that had been dealt into his being.

"I will come visit soon, tell her this."

And with that, the line went dead.

With his mind filled with a plan tailored according to Kaito's offer, he gave himself a little nod of encouragement.

"I will bring Anya back to you, grandma. And as well pay back some debts to those who took her away from us!" He vowed, his fists hurling harder.