[Emergency Mission: At 9:12 p.m. on May 10th—during Future Game Time—an unknown girl will flee into an alley while being cornered by three men. (Tap to begin navigation)][Mission Objective: Rescue the unknown girl][Mission Deadline: Before 10:00 p.m. on May 10th][Mission Restriction: The player must rely solely on himself. No calling the police, no calling friends, and no adding manpower of any kind. (Tap for details)][Mission Rewards: Eidetic Memory / 100,000 Points; Eidetic Memory 90% Discount Coupon / Free]
So after spending money to "get a girlfriend," the story now moves straight into "hero saves beauty," huh?
Watanabe Tetsu began organizing his thoughts.
First, Supplementary Rule 253: Emergency Mission rewards always match the difficulty.
"Eidetic Memory" worth 100,000 pointsPlus a free 90% discount couponEven though Watanabe had only done one emergency mission before and had little experience, he doubted this one would be easy.
The main reason?Unlike his previous mission — "deceive Seino Rin once" — this one included mission restrictions.
From that alone, he could infer:
If calling the police were allowed, this mission would be effortless.
Conclusion:It would be difficult relying on his own strength, but not impossible.
Next: personal danger.
The "deceive Seino Rin" mission had only involved verbal combat.Worst-case scenario? She would hate him, say something like "Your body odor is suffocating me."That kind of psychological damage was nothing.
But this time, he couldn't guarantee he wouldn't be physically hurt.
However…
Watanabe glanced at the system shop's Healing Pills, priced at 1,000 points each.
This was, after all, just some thugs harassing a girl.Surely he wouldn't be beaten to death on the spot, right?
He hated being hit.But earning an ability that would massively boost his "Tokyo Hunk Evolution Route"?That was a fair trade.
And besides—If he hadn't known about it, fine.But now that he knew… how could he possibly let a girl get assaulted?
Watanabe Tetsu decided to accept the mission.
Next step: preparing so he wouldn't get beaten senseless.
He exchanged 1,000 points for 100,000 yen, then wrote in his notebook with a 0.5 mm mechanical pencil:
Stun gun
Pepper spray
Personal alarm
Voice recorder
Multi-tool folding knife
Metal baseball bat (crossed out)
Alloy-steel telescoping baton
A baseball bat was too conspicuous, hard to wield properly, and risked being grabbed away.Japanese men were far more familiar with baseball than he was.And as for strength… Watanabe had absolute confidence that he was weaker than them.
Finally, since the mission would occur at night, he added:
High-powered flashlight
He'd never bought gear like this before and wasn't sure whether 100,000 yen would be enough.
Logging into Amazon on his phone, he placed each item in his cart.Since everything he chose was budget-friendly, he still had money left over afterward.
Shipping wouldn't be a problem either.Order today — receive everything tomorrow.
That was Tokyo for you.
After finishing his preparations, Watanabe continued reading The Great Gatsby.
It was painfully slow going.Vocabulary wasn't an issue—he knew most of the words, and the occasional rare term could be handled with a dictionary.The problem was the rhythm, nuance, and cultural context of the original English prose.
If he only wanted bragging rights—"I've read The Great Gatsby in English"—he could skim it.But he intended to learn from it.He opened the book with the mindset of self-improvement, so letting his eyes merely pass over the text wasn't acceptable.
Slow reading didn't frustrate him.In fact, it made him happy.
The slower he read, the more it revealed his own shortcomings.And once he eventually read smoothly, that would mean he had improved since the moment he began this book.
If he maintained this mindset and kept working hard… even if he failed this mission, even without the game system, he could still become a Tokyo Hunk.
However, not using a system you have would be stupid.Even Seino Rin's family mental hospital would call him an idiot.
They had nice scenery and small animals, too.
The next day after school, Watanabe headed to the Human Observation Club.
He greeted Seino Rin briefly, sat down on the metal chair, and read his hardcover book while waiting for Tamamo Emi.
Distant instruments from the ensemble club, the crisp crack of baseball bats on the sports field, and the rustle of turning pages—everything was crystal clear.The clubroom was peaceful.
The third person to enter was Kawabe Enta.
He stood near the door like a piglet pushed into a tiger's cage.
"Add up."
"Uh—t-total."
"Upset."
"N-nervous."
"How do you spell it?"
"Up… up—"
"Write everything again thirty times when you get home."
"Give me a little more time, please! I really can recite them! I swear I know them!"The little piglet begged desperately for his life.
"Get out."The tiger swatted him dead with one paw.
Using his uniform sleeve to wipe sweat from his forehead, the piglet walked away in a gloomy slump.Watanabe sincerely sympathized with him.
But honestly…After two straight days of copying definitions, forty repetitions total, if he still couldn't remember them, he simply wasn't focused enough.
Of course, it was also possible he was just too nervous and his mind went blank.
Facing a high-and-mighty beauty like Seino Rin, which teenage boy wouldn't get nervous?
But that had nothing to do with Watanabe.
"Hellooo, Tetsu~!"
Not even two minutes after Kawabe left, the door hadn't even fully opened yet when Tamamo Emi's lively voice rang out.
"Did you memorize yesterday's lessons?" he asked.
"Mhm mhm~ Hurry, hurry, hand me today's prediction worksheets!"
Watanabe gave her the papers, and she began working with full concentration.
She was just like those top students who managed to get the exact test scope beforehand—overjoyed, energized, and willing to stay up all night memorizing, without feeling the slightest suffering.
This was exactly like Lu Xun's "Open the Window Theory" at work:
Tamamo Emi didn't want to study seriously.Teachers insisted she memorize everything—she resisted.But when Watanabe told her she only needed to memorize what would appear on the test, she happily accepted.
While she worked, Watanabe and Seino Rin sat in silence, reading.
At five o'clock, Watanabe finished grading her worksheet.
"Why'd you get so many wrong today?" she complained.
Because you studied seriously at the start of the school year, then relaxed afterward. Of course you forgot the later material.He didn't say that aloud.
"I'll teach you a trick," he said instead.
"A trick? What trick?" She tilted her head cutely.
"You write today's key points, problem types, and solution steps on sticky notes. Don't look at them normally. Only pull them out when you're eating dinner with your parents or when they ask you to run errands that you don't feel like doing.
"And I promise you—if you finish all the prediction worksheets I give you, not only will you pass the makeup exam, you'll get a good score. Your parents will think you've been studying diligently all along. They won't scold you for not helping around the house. They might even give you more allowance."
Tamamo Emi's contact-lens-bright eyes sparkled.
"More allowance?!"
Women who love money were truly innocent and simple.
"Of course," Watanabe nodded."But you need a good score. That way your parents will think you were working hard all along. And your classmates will see that you're not bad at studying—you just weren't trying before. If you take it seriously, you can outperform honor students in a week.
"That's easy for you, because you have my—Deviation Value 74—"
He raised the worksheets.
"Prediction worksheets!" she answered excitedly.
"That's right!"
Watanabe began explaining the questions, and Tamamo Emi diligently took notes.
"No need to write so much detail. This is basically the answer key already. Just remember half and you'll pass easily."
"Really? Is that even possible?!"
"Of course," he said again."If a teacher and I took a new test together, I'd still score higher. What do you think?"
"…Isn't memorizing the answers cheating? If people find out, won't they say I cheated?" she asked shyly.
Watanabe forced down a laugh and corrected her:
"This is predicted testing material. How is that cheating?"
"Hehehe, right, right. It's predictions~"
The lesson went smoothly.At first Tamamo Emi wanted to take detailed notes, but Watanabe stopped her—"Perfect scores are suspicious. We should stay low-key"—so she only wrote down what he told her to.
Those were, of course, the things he genuinely believed would appear on the exam.
Time flew by for the cheating-feeling, excited Tamamo Emi.After she left, Watanabe put the hardcover book into his bag and prepared to leave as well.
"Don't you feel guilty about lying?" Seino Rin suddenly asked.
"Sorry to disappoint you," he said, "but not only do I feel no guilt—I don't even consider it lying. In my view, something is only a lie if it causes a negative outcome. What I told Tamamo Emi? I consider it encouragement."
"I see."Seino Rin looked down at the book in her hands and said nothing more.
Watanabe watched her for a moment, confirmed the conversation was over, then turned to leave.
"Watanabe Tetsu, you're beyond saving."
"Seino-san, the one who's sick… is you."
He slid the clubroom door shut.