Tanaka's face turned red.
Aoba's soccer team really was terrible.
But as a member, he stubbornly argued, "That's why we need to change things! Aoba will turn over a new page with us!"
To Tanaka, they had already hit rock bottom. The only way left to go was up.
It was like scoring the lowest in an exam—no matter what, the next one couldn't possibly be worse.
"Alright, I'm not interested in soccer or baseball right now."
Seeing that they were about to argue further, Takashi took out a book from his bag and slammed it onto the desk.
He was joining the kendo club because he had unlocked [Swordsmanship Mastery] and wanted to test it out.
It wasn't that he had any real interest in kendo.
Of course, if he wanted to gauge his current level of swordsmanship, he didn't necessarily have to join the kendo club. He could just challenge someone to a duel.
But since they all attended the same school and saw each other every day, outright offending the senior members of the club wouldn't be a good look for anyone.
Takashi wasn't afraid of conflict, but he also didn't want to make unnecessary enemies.
"Alright."
Tanaka Kouta and Otani Shouta had no choice but to give up.
Before leaving, they made sure to remind Takashi, "If you change your mind, make sure to come find us."
"Got it."
Takashi agreed readily, but in reality, unless he acquired some skills related to baseball or soccer, he had no plans to join either club.
Why join a club if you didn't have the skills for it?
Just to embarrass yourself?
'Speaking of which, the system shop should have refreshed today.'
Thinking about skills reminded Takashi that he hadn't checked the newly refreshed system shop yet.
He opened the system shop.
After reviewing his personal stats, he tapped on [Shop].
[Money: 100 yen / 1 point]
[Intelligence: 1 point / 100,000 points]
[Charm: 1 point / 100,000 points]
[Stamina: 1 point / 100,000 points]
Skills: [Beginner Tea Arts – 100 points]
[Proficient Bartending – 1,000 points]
[Master Ball Handling – 10,000 points]
[Grandmaster Evasion – 100,000 points]
[Divine: God's Vision – 1,000,000 points]
[Divine Card: Lin Dan – 1,000,000 points]
(Next refresh in: 716 hours 46 minutes 53 seconds)
Tea arts? Useless.
Takashi was a simple man—he couldn't appreciate the nuances of tea.
Bartending? Unless he planned to become a bartender in the future, that skill probably wouldn't be very useful.
At most, he could use it to show off in front of girls.
Master Ball Handling… hopefully, the system meant basketball.
And not what he was thinking.
Unfortunately, he had no dreams of joining the NBA.
And even if he did, just being good at dribbling wouldn't mean much in the NBA.
He couldn't dunk, his three-pointers were unreliable, and his defense was nonexistent.
Next,
Grandmaster Evasion?
Now, that was a tempting skill.
Grandmaster Evasion + Swordsmanship Mastery = OP as hell!
Divine: God's Vision?
Wasn't this straight-up cheating?
No matter what anyone said, a cheat was a cheat!
With this skill, it would be like he had eyes in the back of his head—no need to worry about anyone sneak-attacking him from behind anymore.
Lastly, Divine Card: Lin Dan.
This was the first time Takashi had seen an item-related ability in the shop.
There was no need to explain who Lin Dan was.
A legendary, dominant force in the badminton world.
Every sport had debates over who was the greatest—except for badminton.
Lin Dan was simply the undisputed best.
His strength was so overwhelming that people divided badminton into "before Lin Dan" and "after Lin Dan"—and he was still the best in both eras.
To put it into perspective:
Imagine you were a badminton prodigy, maxed out in talent, trained rigorously from childhood, winning every match along the way.
Your hard work paid off, and your talent shine even brighter as you climbed the ranks to world-class tournaments.
You reached the quarterfinals, then the semifinals, then the finals—only to lose to Lin Dan and become another highlight in his career montage.
The only thing that could stop Lin Dan was a closed curtain.
'If only it cost fewer points…'
Takashi really wanted that card.
But the price was just too high.
The cost-performance ratio was terrible.
Especially since he had no plans to play badminton.
After some thought, he decided to exchange for Grandmaster Evasion.
Even in daily life, this skill would be extremely useful, making it the best value purchase.
[Ding! Congratulations, host has acquired Grandmaster Evasion.]
After redeeming the skill, Takashi remembered the random attribute boost he had received last night but hadn't used yet.
He hoped it would go to intelligence.
[Ding! Congratulations, host has gained +1 Charm.]
Charm, huh?
Takashi felt a little disappointed.
His charm was already high enough.
He still preferred increasing intelligence—he wanted to be smarter.
[Charm: 9 → 10]
[Ding! Congratulations, host's charm has reached the max level. Passive skill acquired: Freyja's Allure.]
Freyja?
As in the Norse goddess Freyja?
Just as Takashi was pondering this, a note appeared on his system panel:
[Freyja's Allure: As the goddess of love and beauty, she governs fertility and romance. Her charm transcends gender. (Special Reminder: Boys should take care to protect themselves out there~)]
Takashi: "..."
Wait a second, what the hell was that last reminder supposed to mean?
Explain yourself, system!
Before Takashi could process it, the school bell rang.
A balding math teacher entered the classroom and began distributing test papers.
Takashi took his from the student in front of him and had no choice but to set aside his thoughts for now and focus on the test.
—
Lunchtime, Private Toyosaki Academy.
Utaha rested her chin on her hands, absentmindedly staring at the sky filled with various cloud shapes.
"Senpai? Utaha-senpai!"
The persistent voice ringing in her ears made Utaha instinctively want to snap at the person to shut up.
But she held back.
Because the person wasn't Takashi—it was Aki Tomoya.
"What is it, Aki?"
"Senpai, what's wrong? You seem really out of it today, like you have no energy."
Aki Tomoya handed her a bread roll he had fought hard to get from the school store.
"My dog ran away."
Utaha took the pineapple bun, took a small bite, and spoke with a tone full of resentment.
"...Dog?"
Aki Tomoya was stunned.
"Senpai, since when did you have a dog?"
He prided himself on knowing Utaha very well, yet he had no idea she had a pet.
"A dog that shamelessly wandered into my life, then disappeared for an entire day after I ignored it."
Utaha seemed to not hear Aki Tomoya's question. Her wine-red eyes burned with quiet fury.
A whole day.
Yesterday, she had waited for Takashi the entire day.
That man had vanished like he had been lured away by some other woman.
The most infuriating part was that Utaha realized—aside from contacting him via phone, she had no other way to reach him.
It was as if the man didn't truly exist, like he was just a figment of her imagination.
If not for the text messages on her phone and the gifts he had given her still sitting in her room, she might have actually doubted his existence.
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