Around noon, Watanabe Tetsu called home to ask about the village. He was worried that Yuuki Miki might send people to kidnap his parents.
"Tetsu, if you're homesick, you can take a break and come home for a while. The potatoes we planted last fall are turning yellow—you can help dig them up. You count as about half a worker."
"…"
"If you don't like digging potatoes, you can tag along with your father to plant corn. You can just scatter the seeds. Very easy."
"…"
"Or do you want to transplant the rice seedlings?"
"Just send me some fresh potatoes. My phone battery is low. I need to study. Hanging up."
His mother, sounding like she'd been woken from a nap, didn't ask much. After the call, Watanabe bought a cold can of cola from the vending machine with a 500-yen coin.
The moment he pulled the tab open with his right hand, cold water droplets had already gathered on his left.
He took small sips, slowly replenishing the sugar he'd burned through while using his brain so intensely that morning.
Inside Class 1-A, Tamamo Harumi was chatting with her friends about the latest summer fashion magazines when she noticed Watanabe walking past in the hallway.
"I'm going to buy a drink."
"Harumi, bring me a mango juice!"
"Okay!"
She walked to the vending machine and held out her hand toward him.
"Give me money. I want a drink."
"Why am I the one paying?"
"You're my friend, aren't you?"
Watanabe glanced around. Students were joking around in the hallway, but no one was paying attention to them.
"I already gave you a hundred and fifty thousand yen, remember? And you KNOW I'm from a rural place where a bus only comes once every two hours. I have to work part-time just to survive here. I don't have spare cash lying around."
A drink didn't cost much, but he still remembered how she mocked him behind his back at the yakiniku restaurant.
"What kind of boyfriend ignores his girlfriend's LINE messages for two days?! This is compensation!"
"Fine, fine—just keep your voice down!"
Watanabe set his cola on the windowsill and opened his wallet. The moment he did, Harumi leaned in, took one quick look, and snatched a 1,000-yen bill with impressive speed.
"I need to get one for my friend too—this is perfect~~"
Humming, she fed the bill into the vending machine.
Watanabe put his wallet away with a sigh.
If it weren't for the pressure from Yuuki Miki, he wouldn't even want her monthly sign-in reward. He'd just break up with Harumi immediately.
He grabbed his cola and headed straight back to the classroom.
Wasting time arguing with girls over trivial nonsense—
That was not something a "Tokyo Hunk" should do.
Studying was the real priority.
Harumi bent down to pick up the two drinks and stuffed the leftover change into the pocket of her pleated skirt.
"Tch!"
She had never been treated like this by a boy.
Watanabe was poor, yet he still gave her 150,000 yen to be his "girlfriend" for a month. He wrote special review sheets for her makeup exam and encouraged her every day, helping her get a double-A. To her, he must have been head-over-heels in love.
And now this disposable, always-available boy didn't reply to her messages?!
She'd assumed he was busy working and studying, so she was ready to forgive him. She even planned to mention that she'd treat him next week.
But then he just walked away without a word?
Forget it. During their "relationship," she wasn't planning to talk to him ever again.
Let him waste that 150,000 yen!
For the entire day, except during class, Watanabe was preoccupied with one thing:
How to use "Photographic Memory" and his remaining points most efficiently.
Spending 100,000 points to raise his Intelligence by 1 and become a shooting prodigy—
Totally impossible within a month.
First, he didn't know where to buy guns or bullets.
Second, the possible—or more likely, definite—followers from Yuuki Miki's side would never let him near weapons.
Third, he didn't know whether he'd be searched the next time he met her.
Also, even with a month of effort, reaching superhuman levels was uncertain. On top of that, there were no safe, empty places to practice shooting in densely populated Tokyo.
He only had 184,000 points left, and the June shop refresh would add new items, plus five random skills. That wasn't counting Tamamo Harumi's monthly rewards or Yuuki Miki's weekly sign-in rewards.
Recklessly using 100,000 points now would be stupid.
Even he had to admit it:
He couldn't yet think of a way to fight a trillion-yen conglomerate.
But doing nothing would be worse.
If he couldn't fight her head-on, then he could start by strengthening his willpower.
One thing he couldn't deny was this:
Watanabe Tetsu had already chosen the path toward greatness.
He was determined, he worked hard, and he was unbelievably handsome.
And even with all those traits, he never became arrogant or complacent.
(Even if he learned that attitude from Seino Rin—who he hated—learning others' strengths was one of his own strengths.)
Considering all that, he might really be one of the most exceptional teenage boys in the entire country… if you ignored his upbringing.
But even someone like him had things he hated and things he was terrible at—
Sports.
He could spend 7,000 points to reach human physical limits, but what would that accomplish?
Yuuki Miki had a measly 5 points in physical ability, but she had money, men, and guns. Even if he could beat ten unarmed men—or fifty—it wouldn't matter.
Could he survive against ten people with guns?
Very unlikely.
This wasn't an action movie.
Humans could not outfight firearms.
Until he had enough points to boost his body to bulletproof levels, he wasn't wasting points on physical stats.
He chose exercise for only one reason:
He hated it so much that even being mocked for it couldn't motivate him to change.
And nothing trained willpower better than forcing yourself to do things you detested.
After school, Watanabe didn't go to the Human Observation Club. Instead, he took a five-minute train ride to the main Kinokuniya store in Shinjuku.
He bought:
Weight Loss and Strength Training
Strength Training Programs
Workout Without Equipment
Aerobic & Anaerobic Training
Top 10 Most Attractive Male Celebrities' Workout Routines
Million-Subscriber Fitness YouTuber's Exercise Regimen
…and a calendar planning sheet.
After paying, he went to a family restaurant and ordered the daily special—steak.
While eating, he read and highlighted the important sections. With Photographic Memory, anything he wanted to remember stayed perfectly clear.
He then used the calendar sheet to create a detailed training plan.
"I'm not doing this to get skinny or seduce girls.
I'm doing something I hate and suck at—
because that's how you build real willpower.
Yuuki Miki, you can't even begin to imagine just how much I hate you… and how amazing I'm going to become."
Watanabe chugged the rest of his soda, packed his things, and headed home—buying a pair of dumbbells along the way.
That night, in his tiny apartment, he lifted weights while listening to English radio.
The next day—Tuesday—the weather was warm; mid-May was creeping toward summer. Short sleeves would be fine soon.
At the school gate, Watanabe noticed a black luxury sedan again and froze.
Did Yuuki Miki change her mind?
A woman's mood could turn instantly.
A powerful woman's mood was even scarier.
And Yuuki Miki had both.
Unlike the empty 7:00 a.m. school gate last time, it was now close to 8:00 a.m., and tons of students were whispering about the car. Some boys who understood cars were explaining the specs in excitement.
Then, under everyone's gaze, the car door opened.
A pair of long, elegant legs appeared first, followed by a yawning Yuuki Miki.
Just as her name suggested, she looked like a noble princess—above everyone else. She ignored the stares, and she ignored Watanabe entirely. Surrounded by her attendants, she walked lazily into campus.
Even the usually fierce PE teacher at the gate instinctively bowed to her.
"Yo, Watanabe! Morning!"
Saito Keisuke slapped Watanabe on the shoulder, snapping him back to reality.
"Yeah. Morning. Saito, do you know… never mind, let's just go."
"Don't just stop halfway! I hate people who do that!"
"You can hate me. I don't mind."
"You bastard! Take this—Hell Drop Technique—HEY, DON'T RUN!"
With surprising explosive speed, Watanabe outran him and reached the classroom first. He slumped into his seat, loosening his tie and gasping for air.
He had gotten himself involved with Yuuki Miki—someone who didn't belong to the world of ordinary people—because he'd been stupid enough to participate in that "temporary event."
He didn't want anyone else to get dragged in because of him.
Watanabe also feared death.
He wanted to call the police. He wanted to run away.
He wanted to disappear into the crowd, to hide, to escape.
He didn't want to fight someone like Yuuki Miki.
Of course he was scared.
But he wasn't spineless.
He wouldn't avoid responsibility, and he wouldn't drag others down with him.
A "Tokyo Hunk" didn't just do what he wanted to do.
He did what he needed to do.