Sitting on his bed, Yuu opened the system panel.
He quickly noticed two new statuses and skills, closing his eyes to sense them carefully.
The system had no description field or customer service to answer questions. Before using them, he could only rely on this vague feeling to figure out "roughly what this thing does and how to use it."
Soon, he had a general idea.
Acceleration could speed up someone's movements in specific actions, like running, punching, or licking a cherry with a "rerorero" sound, until the body couldn't handle it anymore. The speed boost could be adjusted at will.
As for whether Acceleration could apply to consciousness, creating a state like Time Alter or entering an accelerated world, Yuu didn't know and couldn't test it.
Since single-use statuses disappeared after use, combining them into a permanent one was the most cost-effective approach.
However, given its broader application compared to "No Awkwardness" or "Waterproof," Yuu decided to hold off, avoiding risks for now.
The next few days were a Spicy Food Adventure with Haruno. If nothing went wrong, he'd likely gain plenty of skills and statuses. In that case, he could later pick some less important ones to combine, keeping an ace up his sleeve for unexpected situations, rather than being so conservative as to guard a gold mine without cashing it in.
Then there was Vocal Skill, which he could test repeatedly.
Starting with proficient beatboxing, Yuu then mimicked the sound of a motorcycle engine, a steam train, gunshots, footsteps, and more—all so realistic that even watching his mouth, it was hard to believe the sounds came from him.
"Meow~ Woof~ Rawr~ Quack~ Pika~ Peko~ Roar~"
Yes, animal sounds were spot-on too.
Yuu tried human voices, starting with the one he knew best—Sora's.
"Yuu Onii-chan, potato chips, tablet."
Recording and playing it back, he frowned—though it was a female voice, it lacked Sora's "essence." One listen, and you'd know it was fake.
He also tried Haruno's and Chizuru's voices. Being less familiar, the difference was even clearer.
Yuu couldn't help but shake his head: "So Advanced Level has its limits."
But for voice acting, it was perfect.
It covered most vocal ranges and gave him the techniques needed for voice acting—breathing, vocal methods, and emotion simulation. For a lead role, it might fall short, but for supporting roles, it was easily achievable.
Of course, this was just a guess.
Yuu's knowledge of voice acting was amateur at best; he wasn't going to become a seiyuu and didn't know audition standards.
The skill's greatest use might be prank-calling Kouichirou, pretending to be a girl to trick him.
Though he thought about it, Yuu wouldn't actually do that.
Besides those, Haruno also gave him another skill today—Massage (Advanced Level).
Yuu wondered if collecting seven identical skills could summon a Dragon Ball… No, if three identical skills could combine into a master level.
Who knows? The broken system never answered, leaving him to figure it out himself.
"Wait, if Perfect Acting and Vocal Skill were combined…"
Thinking of a certain possibility, his heart raced, and he unconsciously swallowed.
He slowly raised his phone, activating recording mode.
Perfect Acting could fully infuse emotions into the voice—sadness making listeners cry, joy making them smile, anger making them clench their fists, evil making them shudder.
And Vocal Skill, with its ability to express those emotions clearly through different tones.
So, picking a random scenario, Yuu opened his mouth, channeling all of his Perfect Acting into a deep, magnetic baritone, speaking passionately to the phone:
"No matter how the world changes… I love you, always have."
Then he played it back.
"…"
Silently, Yuu set down the phone, rubbed his ears, and took several deep breaths.
His heart pounded, his cheeks warmed, his whole body tingled as if electrified, making him want to roll around on the bed.
His current feeling, summed up in one sentence:
"Damn, I almost fell for myself!"
Advanced Vocal Skill still had flaws. But if paired with Perfect Vocal Skill, complementing Perfect Acting—
Making ears "pregnant" might actually be possible.
"Better not carelessly combine perfect-level skills… It feels like it'd reach some insane limit."
Suppressing the odd ticklish feeling, Yuu stood, deciding to take a cold shower to calm down.
To avoid impulsively uploading the recorded audio online to see how many people would feel the same heart-pounding sensation he did.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
After showering, Yuu greeted the gray tabby kitten calmly running and jumping in the living room, then went to the kitchen for fruit.
He found a box of cherries, picked one at random, ate the flesh, spat out the pit, leaving just the stem.
Then, he put the cherry stem in his mouth, puffed his cheeks, and pulled it out.
A perfect single knot was formed.
"…Damn, combined with Kissing Skill, this becomes Tongue Skill."
"When it comes to tongue battles, who could stand above me?"
Yuu shook his head, laughing.
Tossing the knotted stem into the trash, he kept only the fruit flesh this time, mimicking Kakyoin's cherry-licking as he slowly walked upstairs.
Seeing him pass by with "rerorerorerero…" and turn off the living room light, Yukinon blinked her faintly glowing cat eyes in the dark, lost in thought.
"Meow… (So humans train their tongues like this?)"
After a moment's thought, she hopped to her food bowl, licked a piece of kibble, and began mimicking her master's movements.
In the dark, the sound of kibble hitting the floor kept ringing.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
The next few days didn't surprise Yuu—Haruno took him on a "Spicy Food Lovers' Journey" centered in Tokyo.
Whether due to bad luck, despite kissing in the car, beside the car, and exchanging morning and goodbye kisses, Yuu still hadn't gotten a "True Spice Lover" status or skill like last time.
Worse, Haruno, now used to spicy food, ate spicier and spicier dishes, challenging herself more. Yuu couldn't explain why he could handle it last time but not now—especially since, for male pride, he didn't want to show weakness in front of her.
And a promise made was one he'd keep.
So he followed Haruno to tackle spicy dishes that shocked netizens, using his Perfect Acting to finish plates even Haruno couldn't, without changing his expression.
During those days, Sora kept asking:
"Why do you always head to the bathroom when you get home? And why's your walk weird after?"
To avoid awkwardness, Yuu answered:
"Because my life and soul are burning!"
Luckily, before his body burned out, he gained three single-use statuses:
Sharp Vision, Chest Muscle Control, Hair Control.
The first two overlapped with his permanent statuses; the last was completely unclear. So, late at night, after showering and lighting incense, Yuu submitted the three single-use statuses to the system for fusion and summoning—
Food King!
Effect: Immune to food's negative effects. No matter how spicy or toxic, food won't harm the body, while preserving taste and nutrition.
Truly UR-tier, above Fast Digestion, on par with Muscle Control and Sharp Eyes.
Now, even eating the world's spiciest Dragon's Breath chili raw would taste spicy but wouldn't numb his mouth, dizzy his head, or make his stomach groan—just echo alone in the bathroom.
Sadly, after getting this skill, Haruno announced a temporary halt to the "Spicy Food Lovers' Journey."
"I've got stuff to do this weekend, might be busy for a while. We can chat online."
Yuu didn't ask what, and Haruno didn't intend to tell him.
But that day's goodbye kiss left a deep impression.
"Ugh… Haa…"
Haruno kissed Yuu hard and wildly in the car, as if venting, like she wanted to devour his entire body—
As if burning away all discomfort in the warmth of their touching lips.
As usual, Yuu didn't resist, immediately using his Advanced Kissing and Vocal Skills to kiss back fiercely until Haruno, out of breath, begged for mercy before he let go.
In the end, neither said anything, resting in the car before parting quietly.
The system generously gave him 50,000 yen, nothing else, very much like breakup money.
Yet the rental contract remained. Yuu confirmed multiple times; money was deposited into his account (taken by the damn system) daily.
Even now, Haruno was hard to figure out.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Time passed quickly.
August 4, Sunday.
Early in the morning, Yuu got a message from Kouichirou:
Kouichirou: {At a family event at the Yukinoshita house, a bunch of adults are discussing an arranged marriage between our families. Haruno-san's glare is terrifying… Brother, what do I do? Is there still time to flee abroad?}
Soon after, Haruno messaged too:
Haruno: {Woke up thinking of you. Aren't you touched?}
"Tch, liar."
Yuu muttered, but couldn't hold back a smile.