“Good morning!”
The next morning, I’m greeted by Maki’s bright smile when I open the door to the association. Apparently she was waiting for me by the entrance.
“G-good morning Maki. Were you waiting here for me?”
It all happened so suddenly, that it gave me a startle.
I thought we got closer yesterday, but her way of showing that went beyond what I imagined.
Once we say hello, she walks closer until she’s right in front of me. I could touch her without even extending my arm. I can even feel her breath.
That’s closer than yesterday! The sweet smell is sending my sense of reasoning flying!!
I-I need to stay cool…
“My sister told me you always show up at the same time, so I figured it would be the same as yesterday.”
“I see. I guess I didn’t tell you when I’d be coming. But I’m happy that you waited for me.”
“Yes! Let’s go to the conference room right away! I want to show you something!”
She says as she takes my hand and pulls me along.
I guess she doesn’t notice how nervous I am, and wants to show me whatever it is as soon as possible. She’s walking even faster than usual, with an amused aura to her.
Everyone’s taken aback by how different she’s acting compared to how she usually is, so I’m not getting jeers, tongue clickings, or even looks of jealousy for that matter.
I do hear a yell behind me by the time we get to the floor of the conference room, but oh well. I don’t need to pay attention to that.
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
We enter the conference room like always, and I see a weapon, equipment, and someone that shouldn’t be here.
“Yahou. It’s been three days, Shouta.”
“Eh, Aki!? If you’re here… Are you slacking off?”
“Hold on there, that’s the first thing you have to say? I’m here for work, you know?”
“Then the 777 branch…”
“I left that to a junior. They were happy to sit in for me when I said it was just about sitting there doing nothing and getting paid. That sort of thing is popular too.”
No, I’m pretty sure anyone would like a job like that…
“And so, I’m going to be coming here every now and then.”
“Eh…?”
“D-don’t look so unhappy about that. That hurts. Ah… I get it. You don’t like it because you don’t get alone time with Maki, uh?”
“Hey, Aki…”
She’s making fun of me like she always does. But I can’t just take it in front of Maki, so this time, I fire back.
“That’s right.”
“Eh?”
“Maki said she was going to bring me lunch today, so I was looking forward to it. Ahh, Maki’s homemade meal… So, when are you going back, Aki?”
I say that, and Aki looks on blankly. Then she starts trembling, and tears well up in her eyes.
“…Fuguu…”
“Eh?”
“Uehn! Shouta, you bully!”
She’s really crying.
“!?”
“Now now, I have your favorite cookies here, Aki.”
“Euuh…”
Maki consoles Aki like she’s used to this, and I can’t hide my shock.
What is this creature? What is this small animal that is wearing Aki’s skin?
“Shouta, Aki was very lonely after you left, so please be nice to her.”
…But can this person even feel lonely?
I thought she was almost like a demon pretending to be human… I’ve never seen her cry like this.
But if Maki says so, it must be true… Even if she’s so different from the Aki that I’m used to, that I can’t help but be baffled.
“Uu… Munch munch.”
Aki starts munching on the cookies like a small animal. Hm… Unfortunately, I can’t help but think she’s cute when she looks like this…
Anyway, I’ve learned that I shouldn’t fire back against Aki’s teasing. The attack that comes after that saps away my spirit more than the original attack.
As Aki eats her cookies, it feels like she’s settling down, but it still looks like she’s feeling down. I was the one who made her cry, so I have to change the subject…
And so, I look around the room, and see a crack in the wall close to the ceiling that wasn’t there yesterday. What? Was there an explosion?
“Maki, what’s that?”
“…Ah, I did that.”
“You, Aki?”
Did you start raging? I almost ask that, but hold it back.
“Yesterday, I heard from Maki that the branch manager was listening in on this room. I figured she could very well be doing that, so I searched around the room, and sure enough, she was right. And it was only this room too.
It was well hidden, but I broke the wall along with it. What a worrywart.”
“I’m happy that the branch manager was concerned, but this is going a little overboard. And Shouta noticed it too.”
“Hum…?”
What’s that about? One thing I get at least, that Maki is angry. Aki just looks exasperated.
I look inside the crack again, more closely. There’s a suspicious light, coming from what looks like a half broken device. That shape, the way it reflects light… Is that a lens? Then…
“I see, a camera. I didn’t notice it, I just sort of had a bad feeling.”
“Well, I complained directly to the branch manager. Fufu, your senses have gotten pretty keen lately, Shouta. You can feel danger, when something’s weird, and you’re even noticing small details and sensing if somewhere is dangerous.”
Says Aki.
“Eh, well… I guess so.”
That feeling has saved me in the dungeon many times. And outside the dungeon, I only really felt it from Aki or the branch manager. And also this room, I guess.
Wait, is this room related to the branch manager somehow?
“There was something interesting in the research reports of the main branch. It said ‘the Luck stat is not all about luck’.”
“Not all about luck?”
Is this philosophy or something?
“Yes. It said that when you increase Luck, it increases not only luck, but other, unseen things that are not affected by the other six stats.
For example, if we were to describe what you feel as the report says, it would be ‘intuition’. And I read ‘the power to pick up on subtleties of surroundings’ and ‘ability to deal with things calmly’ are also strengthened.”
Says Aki.
“According to the person who wrote it, there’s a very good chance that Luck affects the six senses and intuition.”
“Well, very few people actually increase their Luck, so it’s all just a theory… Actually, it looks like most people think it’s just random guessing. Does that happen to you, Shouta? Being able to think things calmly when you’d be panicking normally.”
“…”
Now that I think about it, yes.
Like during that fight with the murder rabbit yesterday. I saw death approaching, but I always stayed cool as I took action. I thought my sense of danger was just dull because I didn’t have experience being close to death or badly hurt, but I really was a little too calm.
If anything, I was having fun.
And it was like that with the hobgoblin too. Even if I had the stats and skills and I was confident, the option to put some distance between me and those attacks, that would do more than just break bones if they hit me, didn’t even cross my mind.
I just kept evading while really close to it, and attacking.
But what stands out the most, is when I was dealing with slime.
At first, when a different colored slime would spawn, I’d lose my cool. But I was really calm when the rainbow slime spawned, even though it never happened before.
Sure, I was used to dispatching slime, but I was way too calm in front of such an abnormal thing.
“It’s not helping you notice ‘female subtleties’ yet though!!”
“Geez, Aki…!”
“…”
I really can’t get used to this teasing.
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