"W-What?" Eiden asked, desperation flickering in his eyes. Ding! "As I said, I was just getting your hopes up." System-chan's smug voice echoed in his mind like a slap to the face.
Eiden stood there silently, expression unreadable. Without saying a word, he grabbed his bag and left the house, heading for college. The walk felt heavy, his mind too cluttered to acknowledge anything around him. A hollow silence wrapped around him as he tried to piece everything together. Where the hell is the damn pendrive...?
He squinted, recalling that day clearly—the day Linda rejected him, the day his mood was in shambles.
I had the pendrive in my bag then… I didn't take it out afterward. So how the hell is it gone? Then a sudden flash of memory. Wait a minute… That was also the day I climbed that stupid tree for the cat!