Time passed… Shouko's gentle yet steadfast rendition of Haru no Kage faded
until it vanished into silence.
On an autumn night with few insects singing,
only the occasional cold gust reminded that the year was nearing its end.
Lowering her gaze, she looked at Soyo, exhausted into sleep after the outburst.
That afternoon—grief over CRYCHIC Band's breakup.
That evening—coming here searching for answers, heart in turmoil.
Moments ago—the eruption of Wrath Aura and the clash between them.
Finally, drained and lost, she had relaxed to the sound of Haru no Kage and slipped into slumber.
"You fall asleep and leave me to carry you home."
"I picked this deserted spot so we wouldn't disturb anyone."
"Fine—call it a workout; I did overeat tonight because dinner was so good."
She rose and scooped Soyo up in a princess carry.
A body strengthened by training let Shouko lift the lightweight girl with ease and start toward home.
Her gaze shifted from the sleeping girl to the system interface.
"Fifteen-thousand anger points in one go—my total's now twenty-six thousand."
"A Wrath Aura that costs a thousand points but doubles its effect? Not bad."
"Thanks, Soyo. You really gave it your all."
A glance at the peacefully sleeping Soyo… the cool night wind and the earlier mental-physical duel
made her curl up like a frightened rabbit—adorable.
"Right, this three-day Mind Perception buff was pretty handy."
"Can I buy it permanently?"
Curious, Shouko opened the system store and ran an AI search.
A pink heart-shaped icon appeared.
"Mind Perception…"
"Ten anger points per minute."
"One hundred anger points per hour."
"One thousand anger points per day."
"One day's the limit, huh—the longer the cheaper."
"However..."
"Although the shorter the duration, the more anger value it costs."
"In reality, the Mind Perception ability isn't needed most of the time."
"If I strictly control the activation time, it might not necessarily cost more than the one-day tier."
"This is also something to be used as needed..."
"Keeping it active for a long time is a bit too wasteful."
"This system store really has everything—songs, story collections, novels, you name it."
"Holy crap, it even has future technology..."
"Though it's expensive; a single technology starts at a million anger value."
"Forget it, I don't need anything for now. I'll save these twenty thousand plus points of anger value."
"In the evening, because of that windfall, I splurged ten thousand to draw ten Wrath Auras. That should be enough for a while."
"Next, I should study the system store more to see if there's a most cost-effective way to use it."
"Additionally, I need to further test the methods of collecting anger value points."
"It's already certain that there are two ways to collect anger value..."
"One is in reality, where anger triggered by myself yields a lot of points."
"The second is in reality, where anger not triggered by me yields fewer points per instance, but in massive quantities."
"So..."
"Can anger value from the online network also be absorbed?"
"On the train home, I scrolled through a few celebrity scandals, but they didn't provide a single point of anger value."
"I wonder if the anger fermented by online events involving myself can be absorbed by me."
"Coincidentally, to earn some extra cash earlier, I submitted a light novel called sword art online to a novelist platform, and its popularity is quite good."
"Then..."
"I'll just write a chapter announcing a hiatus."
"Right now, sword art online has reached its climax. It's the part where the 75th-floor raid group finished the big boss, and the protagonist Kirito is in conflict with the mastermind boss Heathcliff."
"Perfect..."
"Worst case scenario, I'll just say it was a friend's prank."
"Besides, I have another account writing mushoku tensei. A slight drop in income for a short time is no big deal."
After making up her mind, Shouko nodded expectantly.
Buzz, buzz... Feeling the phone vibrate in her pocket, she wondered who had sent a message.
Glancing at her pocket, Shouko held Soyo in her arms and picked up her pace home... Not long after... in the living room, her mother was teaching her younger sister, Yuzuru, with her homework.
Hearing the sound from outside the door, the mother and daughter couldn't help but look toward the entrance.
Only the thumping sound of footsteps on the floor could be heard as Shouko walked in carrying Soyo.
"Shouko, what happened to your friend?"
"It's nothing. She's just too tired from juggling classes and instrument practice. She'll be fine after some rest. Mom, you keep helping Yuzuru; I'll take her upstairs."
Seeing Ryoko stand up, Shouko shook her head with a smile and turned to head straight upstairs.
Ryoko, however, chased her to the foot of the stairs in concern. "Is she really okay? Is she sick? Should I get some medicine for you?"
"She's not sick. Don't worry, Mom, it's fine..."
After giving Ryoko a bright smile, Shouko turned and entered her room.
"Mom, is this what growing up is like?"
"Hmm? Aren't you happy that your sister found a close friend?"
Ryoko smiled and rubbed Yuzuru's head.
But Yuzuru said with a bit of worry, "But, I feel like Sister is a bit... subtle today."
Ryoko laughed. "It's just normal emotional fluctuations. Don't I have a few 'subtle' days every month too?"
Although Yuzuru hadn't reached that age yet, after Ryoko discovered her daughter Shouko had been secretly playing with her own body...
After giving Shouko proper guidance, she had also explained the details of a girl's puberty to Yuzuru.
So, Yuzuru naturally understood what Ryoko meant.
As a child, Yuzuru's concerns were essentially just simple thoughts.
Under Ryoko's guidance, she didn't think too much more about it and just nodded to show she understood.
Seeing this... Ryoko also nodded, a bright smile appearing on her face.
Her husband was gone, and Shouko, with her congenital hearing loss, had always been a great source of worry for her.
But facts proved that both of her daughters were actually very excellent.
Today, seeing her able to bring a friend home like this...
Even if the relationship between them seemed subtle... the fact was that Shouko really had a friend, and it wasn't just a lie about forming a band to deceive her.
Therefore, tonight, Ryoko was truly happy from the bottom of her heart.