Drama...
~ Unknown Pov, the next day~
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The day was just, dragging.
I could barely listen as the professor continued his lecture, I tapped my pen idly against the edge of my notebook... It's the only thing that cures my boredom...
It wasn't that I didn't care—if anything, I probably knew more about the subject than most of the class. But school was... predictable. Routine like too. Nothing ever changed.
Except for today.
My gaze flickered toward the transfer student.
Ayano Keiji.
He sat a few rows behind me, stiff as a board, gripping his pen like it was the only thing keeping him from drowning. His expression shifted between confusion, frustration, and—occasionally—mild panic.
He was completely lost. Wasn't he...
It wasn't unusual for transfers to struggle a little, but this was different. Most people at least pretended to follow along. But Ayano? He was trying, and failing, to keep up with even the basics.
Like he had never learned any of this before. That alone was already a little strange...
But then— I saw him flinching...
Not from a noise. Not because someone even spoke to him either. It's, weird...
His body just tensed up, fingers tightening around his pen, his gaze flicking toward nothing but an empty space. At least, that's what it looked like. That's the look of someone that knew they were looking at something.
My tapping stopped.
'What was that?'
It only lasted a second before he shook his head, frowned and went back to his notes.
But I saw it. And now, I couldn't unsee it...
I wasn't sure what his deal even was... Maybe he was just that weird. Maybe he was hiding something... Either way, one thing was clear.
Ayano Keiji didn't exactly seem, normal. And for the first time in a while…
I was actually a little curious.
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DIIINGGG~ DOOONGGG~
The bell finally rang, and I stretched my arms above my head, letting out a small sigh. Finally.
Morning classes were over, and my brain could take a break.
I snapped my notebook shut, stuffing it into my bag. Just as I stood up—
"Sekaiii~! Let's go before the lunch line turns into a battlefield!"
I turned to see Youhei Kurosawa, my ever-so-dramatic childhood friend, waving me over. His messy brown hair looked even more disheveled than usual, probably because he spent the entire lecture dozing off. Again.
Minami Ikuno, ever the responsible one, was already packing up neatly beside him. "If you actually woke up during class, you wouldn't be so hungry," she said, adjusting her glasses with a sigh.
Youhei clutched his chest like she'd stabbed him. "Minami, please—my heart's fragile."
"Yeah? So is your grade in this class."
I snorted. "She's got a point."
He groaned. "You're supposed to be on my side, Sekai!"
I flashed him a cheeky grin as I slung my bag over my shoulder. "Hey, I can't support lost causes."
As we walked out of the classroom, the usual lunchtime chaos had already begun. Students poured into the hallways, chatting, laughing, racing to the cafeteria like their lives depended on it.
And then—
"Oi! Did you guys hear?"
A familiar voice cut through the crowd as Taisuke practically skidded into step with us, looking like he had the hottest gossip of the century.
We all turned to him in sync.
"…Hear what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
Taisuke grinned. "We got a transfer student today."
Minami adjusted her glasses... "That's not surprising. It's a big school."
"No, no, but apparently—he's kinda weird."
My steps almost faltered.
Youhei blinked. "Huh? Weird how?"
Taisuke leaned in dramatically. "I don't know yet. That's why I'm gathering intel."
I rolled my eyes. "You mean gossip."
"Same thing."
Minami sighed. "And you're spreading rumors before you even meet the guy?"
Taisuke grinned, unbothered. "Come on, you're not even a little curious?"
Youhei turned to me. "Wait, he's in your class, right, Sekai? What's he like?"
I clicked my tongue. Welp. Here we go.
"I... dunno. He's…" I trailed off, searching for the right words.
Clueless? Lost? Like he had no idea what the hell he was doing?
"…Kind of awkward, I guess," I said instead. "He was struggling to keep up, but not in the usual 'I didn't study' way. More like… he didn't even know the basics."
Minami tilted her head at me. "Maybe he had a different curriculum before transferring?"
"Maybe..." I muttered, but even I wasn't convinced.
Taisuke grinned. "Oho~? Sekai's actually paying attention to a guy?"
I kicked him in the shin.
"Ow!!! What the heck was that for?!"
"It's for talking."
I could see Youhei smirking. "You do sound kind of interested, Sekai~"
I rolled my eyes. "I'm more so interested in the fact that he might be weird. That's it."
Minami sighed. "Well... I don't see what's so fascinating about em. If he's awkward, he's awkward. That's normal for most transfer student."
I hummed. "Yeah… Maybe."
But something told me Ayano Keiji wasn't normal. And for better or worse—I had a strange feeling that I'd be finding out why.
We weaved through the crowded hallways, dodging students desperately rushing to the cafeteria like it was some kind of war zone.
I was already regretting not leaving class sooner.
"So," Taisuke started, grinning like he was up to no good. "Forget the new guy for a sec—what about Makoto?"
I almost tripped.
Minami, ever the traitor, adjusted her glasses and hummed. "Oh? That's a good question."
Youhei immediately perked up. "Wait. Makoto Itou?" He turned to me with an expression of pure evil. "I knew it. You totally like him, don't you?"
My face heated up instantly. "Wha—!N-No! Shut up!"
Taisuke howled. "Ohhh my god, she's blushing! This is huge."
"I am not blushing!" I snapped, definitely blushing.
Minami smirked. "You do talk to him a lot."
"That doesn't mean anything, I talk to you guys a lot, but that doesn't mean I like any of you romantically."
Youhei grinned at me. "Suuure~"
I groaned, covering my face with my hands. "WHY are we even talking about this?! Weren't we just making fun of Ayano?"
"Oh, we're still gonna do that," Taisuke assured me, wiping fake tears of joy from his eyes. "But this is way more important."
I let out a dramatic sigh. "I hate you all."
Minami chuckled. "No, you don't."
…I didn't.
But... I was absolutely going to kick Taisuke again.
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~ Later that same day, Ayano's Pov ~
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"35! 36!! 37!!! HAAARGGHH!!!! 38!!!!!!!"
I dropped to the ground like a sack of wet potatoes...
"DAMN IT!!! This is so HARRRDD!!!!"
Ever since I completed that abominable first 'training quest', it popped up, AGAIN! This time, I needed to do 60 for each exercise instead of 50! Meaning everything increased by 10, the only thing that didn't increase was the kilometers I needed to run...
But, with this pathetic ass body, it feels like forever to complete them all... Not to mention the sheer drain I feel when and after I actually do them all.
"Urghh~"
I spread out on the floor, tired from it all. I just did 38 / 60 required pushups, but I finished my squats, and half way completed my crunches with 0.2 Kilometers of running done so far. I thought that it would be better to just finish it up at school during lunch break, or at least get some of them out of the way so I could properly rest my ass off at home...
Speaking of home, when I got there, I actually took the time out to learn as much as I could about what this system thing really was. As well as the reward it gave me...
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====Flashback, yesterday evening====
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"I'm home..." I immediately dropped off my bag at the door. I couldn't bother with all of this. At this point, a part of me was hoping that whatever screwed up situation I'm in, is nothin' more than some kind of horribly bad dream, but as much as I wanted to delude and tell myself that, dreams don't last this long, and they aren't nearly as detailed as this was...
'Maybe I'm in some kind of coma... Yeah, that would make some sort of sense, but I doubt that's the case either.'
Tired from the walk, I looked ahead, seeing the translucent screen in front of my face, asking me to 'claim my reward'.
'If I remember correctly, isn't the reward some sort of bronze key?
Seeing an option in front of me, saying 'accept' I clicked on it.
Fwiinng~
"Wo-Woah!"
A light popped up Infront of my eyes, nearly blinding me... After a few moments, I could see it dimming, revealing a... Well...
'Well, it really was a bronze key.' I studied it a little, seeing and feeling it. Which I surmised to be real...
'Huh... I wonder what it does.'
PING!!
"..."
Damn... This really does sound like an RPG like set-up... But, what do I even increase? Do I want to increase any of it? Why can't I use the key to increase my other stats? I had these questions, and the system didn't answer, I was just left here to figure this out, huh...
'I think I'll just keep it on me for now... When I see how they both work in the future, I can decide on where to use the key.'
Now that's out of the way... I need to figure out how to get rid of this thing from in front of my face, it's starting to annoy the hell out of me. I know how to trigger it to come on, but not off...
"Down?"
"Off?"
"Power down...?" No, that one sounds ridiculous in and of itself...
"Turn off?
"Shut down?
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"Status, off!" As soon as I said that, I saw the screen disappear from in front of my face completely, like it was never there to begin with... If this worked... then-
"Status!" I saw it instantly pop right back up... This time, with my quest being tracked to the side of what looked to be my stats.
Ah, I see what you mean now! If it's 50 squats, pushups, and crunches, plus the 1-kilometer run, then that's a different story.
I groaned inwardly, but there was no getting out of it... 50 of each, plus a run? This wasn't some light workout challenge, at least in regards to my current body. This was a full-on test of endurance. I could feel my muscles already aching just thinking about it...
'Great. Just what I needed. Like I wasn't already stressed out enough...'
I looked around my living room, trying to psych myself up. Squats, pushups, crunches—fine, I could handle that. But 50? That's a lot. And a 1-kilometer run? Hell, I'd be lucky to make it halfway without feeling like I was likely dying.
'Maybe I can just... take a break after the squats, then do some pushups after I recover from the run?'
Yeah, that wasn't going to work. I had to do it all in one go. Just finish it, and then I'd be done with it. I glanced back at the screen, still floating there with its annoying reminders.
'Whatever, let's just get started. If I can somehow pull this off, maybe I'll finally get some answers about all this mess. Plus, I can use the key's reward for something later…'
With a deep breath, I squatted down and got ready. 'Fifty. I can do fifty. Just don't think about it. Just do it man.'
I started, counting every rep, trying to block out the exhaustion that hit me quicker than expected. But no backing out now...
====Flashback end====
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Now today, I'm completely fine... Which shouldn't even be possible with what my current body is like... My stamina was completely recovered by the time I woke up, which isn't normal... If the same thing happens again today... wouldn't that mean the system is actually helping me a bit?
Now that I really think about it, doing so much in a two day time span would straight up be impossible with an untrained body, much less one like this... It HAS to be this system aiding me in recovery, at least to some extent...
'AHH! Forget it... No point in questioning this, nor do I know if it's even a fluke either. It's probably best I test it when I rest up at home after finishing today's exercises.'
I just hope that in the end, it's all worth it.
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END