The final bell of the day rang, and the familiar cacophony of students spilling out of classrooms filled the school. Ren, however, found himself walking home alone. Chisaki had been pulled away by her friends for an impromptu karaoke session, and just as Ichika was about to join him on his walk, her siblings appeared like a synchronized attack squad, pulling her into their car with a determined look on their faces.
As he walked, his mind drifted. He had just turned a corner when a transparent window, visible only to him, flickered into existence in his field of vision. It was the system, and it had a report for him.
"System Report: The higher beings supervising your story are getting bored," the message read, its cold, robotic voice echoing in his mind. "Your story's rating is predominantly one-star, with only one four-star rating. Maximum rating is five."
Ren, who was in the middle of a relaxed stroll, simply sighed. "Why are you reporting this to me?" he asked the system.
"It is an automatic protocol," the system replied. "All significant feedback is to be relayed to the subject of the story."
"Well, tell them I don't care," Ren thought, the cynical edge in his voice as sharp as ever. "My mission, as you told me on day one, is to find my own satisfying ending, not to entertain some 'higher beings' with their petty desires. I'm not changing my life for them."
A new thought occurred to him. "Have they been documenting everything I've done?" he asked.
"Negative," the system replied. "The higher beings only document the most important or entertaining events in your life. There have been many time skips in your documented life."
"So they don't know the exact number of reality tickets I have, or how many times I've been with Nonko-san?" he asked, a hint of mischievous amusement in his voice.
"Correct," the system confirmed. "The time skips have left significant gaps in the documentation, leading to a lack of precise details for the readers."
Ren simply smirked. It was for the best. He didn't need or want an audience for every moment of his life.
He arrived at Yuragi-sou just as dusk was settling. He walked through the familiar entryway, the comforting scent of the inn washing over him. He was no longer in the same room he had been in for the first three months. Yuuna, thanks to the substitute body he had created for her using his 'Real Illusion,' could now be considered a living being. It had cost him a significant chunk of his spiritual power to create the body, a perfect, ethereal replica of her old self. But maintaining it only required one percent of his spiritual power as long as she was within a certain proximity to him.
He went to his room, easily finishing his homework with a quick glance. He had so many 'Tickets of Intelligence' that he could easily become the smartest person in the world, but he had chosen not to. He saw no reason to use them now. Knowing too much might take away from the thrill of discovery. He would save them for a time when he was faced with a question or a problem that his current knowledge couldn't solve.
He was just about to head to the bath when a soft knock on his door interrupted him. "Come in," he called out, and the door slid open to reveal Yuuna.
"Is everything okay?" he asked, sitting on his futon.
"Ren-kun, may I... may I come in for a moment?" she asked, her voice soft and hesitant.
He gave her a gentle smile. "Of course."
Yuuna stepped inside and sat on the other side of the room, her hands clasped in her lap. She was trembling slightly, a nervous energy radiating from her. Her face held a mix of hesitation and a burgeoning determination. She took a deep breath, and then her eyes, so full of genuine emotion, met his.
"I... I remember when you first arrived at this inn, Ren-kun," she began, her voice a whisper. "I remember my first impression of you. You were so kind. You treated me like a person, not a ghost. You were the first one to truly see me." She paused, her eyes welling up with tears. "And even now, after all this time, after everything that has happened... my first impression hasn't changed. It has only gotten stronger."
She took another shaky breath, the determination in her eyes shining through the tears.
"Ren-kun," she said, her voice now clear and unwavering. "I love you."