Cracks spread little by little as Sawamura Haruno stared blankly at the glass in his hand.
This wasn't the first time he had received a reward from the system, but it was the first time he'd received one that acted directly on his own body. What was more, he hadn't even noticed any change in himself at all. He had simply gripped the glass with what felt like normal strength, yet it nearly shattered under the pressure.
"Ha–Haruno?! Your hand?!"
In the end, Miyazawa Makoto, who was sitting beside him, let out a startled cry. She hurriedly snatched the glass from his hand, her face full of worry as she checked to see if his hand had been cut.
"You're not bleeding, right? Does it hurt?"
"No, I'm fine."
Haruno still hadn't quite come back to his senses.
He carefully tried to feel the surge of power that had appeared in his body earlier, but no matter how he focused, he couldn't sense anything out of the ordinary—almost as if the reward the system had given him had already become a natural part of his body.
That was… honestly terrifying.
Haruno's emotions grew complicated.
It seemed his earlier judgment had been flawed—he really couldn't afford to underestimate this system. The plan to continue investigating the "truth" would have to be reworked, with its priority moved up significantly.
After all, the body was far more important than money or anything like that.
Just as he was lost in thought, the waiter arrived with their dishes. Seeing the situation, Makoto pointed at the nearly shattered glass and complained in irritation.
The waiter, of course, looked confused, but after examining the glass, he still apologized to them both, albeit hesitantly, and even offered to give them a discount on the meal.
Haruno felt a little guilty about it—after all, this was related to his own failure to control his strength—but Makoto sat beside him, holding his hand the whole time, silently telling him not to say anything. In the end, he could only accept it helplessly.
"Seriously," Makoto muttered after the waiter had apologized several times and left, still sounding annoyed. "How can such a high-end restaurant use such poor-quality glasses? You almost hurt a customer."
"I really am fine," Haruno said again, even more resigned this time.
He glanced at the dishes that had been served and gently tried to change the subject.
"Let's eat first. I'm getting a bit hungry too."
As he spoke, his gaze fell on his right hand—the one Makoto had been holding.
Noticing his look, Makoto's expression instantly turned a little awkward. Her voice no longer carried the same complaining tone from before, instead sounding oddly uncertain.
"…Okay."
She let go of his hand, but instead of returning to her original seat, she simply stayed beside him and began eating.
Perhaps it was because, in her moment of panic earlier, she had accidentally revealed too much of her "true feelings," or perhaps she was thinking about how to explain things to her parents and her younger sister, Makoto grew noticeably quiet after that. Even while eating, she seemed distracted.
Haruno didn't press the issue either.
He stared hesitantly at the knife and fork in front of him, wondering if he might accidentally bend them the moment he picked them up.
…Let's try being extra careful.
Holding his breath, he picked up the cutlery with movements far gentler than usual. Thankfully, there was no repeat of the "glass incident." It seemed he just needed to be cautious with his suddenly increased strength.
Still, he had no idea how strong he actually was now. Before this, while he wasn't completely untrained, he was nowhere near the level of some muscular powerhouse. The urge to go get a physical checkup was growing stronger by the second.
Carefully, Haruno brought a small piece of steak to his mouth, chewing as he thought about the system.
The next reward was a boost to "skills," but it didn't specify which skills. For all he knew, the system intended to enhance him across the board. If that was really the case, then this task was one he absolutely had to complete.
Solving the urgent issue came first, though.
"I say, Makoto," Haruno began after swallowing the bite of steak, choosing his words carefully. "Has everyone at home calmed down yet?"
"Huh?"
Caught off guard by the sudden question, Makoto paused. Her expression was hard to read.
"…Not yet."
She let out a soft sigh.
"These past few days, Mom's still been giving me the cold shoulder. Dad doesn't really want to get involved in us kids' affairs, so…"
"Wouldn't it be better to let Maki go home for a bit first?" Haruno suggested quietly. "No matter what, she's already been away for two nights. If she doesn't go back at all, your mom would probably start worrying too, right?"
"Worrying… maybe not," Makoto said with a strained smile. "I don't think we can let Maki go back just yet. Especially since they haven't been separated for that long—if they say the wrong things while emotions are still high, it might just make things worse. More importantly…"
She hesitated, her tone turning troubled.
"More importantly, it's because of me. I don't even know how I should face Maki right now. I feel like if I showed up in front of her, she'd just get even angrier."
…She wasn't wrong.
Haruno thought that her reasoning was exactly the same as what Mine Shiori had said.
Giving them some space, letting emotions cool down, then sitting down to talk things through properly—that was the right call.
And from his perspective, it really wasn't appropriate to send Makoto back to her original home environment right now.
Unless he stepped in and found a way to mediate, making sure Makoto's "problem" was resolved as soon as possible.
"In that case," Haruno finally said, "why don't you stay at my place for a while, if you're okay with it?"
He spoke gently.
"No matter what, we can't just leave her out there alone. If something bad happened, it'd be too late to regret it."
Mm. Aside from that most important factor, there was also the system's mission—anything he could complete from now on, he had to complete.
He'd already been thinking of helping her deal with this mess anyway, and now that such generous rewards were involved, there was even less reason to back out.
Of course, saying it outright wouldn't be appropriate. He couldn't make it look like he was helping without conditions or limits.
Makoto and Maki had already spent quite a bit of his money these past couple of days. He might as well take this chance to let Makoto contribute a little "living expense" for her sister.
"Wouldn't that be too much trouble for you?" Makoto asked, looking a little embarrassed when she heard him say it.
"It's not that bad," Haruno replied. "The only one who's really troublesome is Maki. But—"
He deliberately dragged out his tone, a playful smile appearing on his face.
"Taking care of Maki takes quite a bit of effort. So… Makoto, what kind of compensation are you planning to give me?"
"…Compensation?"
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