The sun peeked through Yuuto's curtains, painting the room with faint orange streaks that slipped across his desk and onto the floorboards. The warmth was comforting, but it did little to soothe the heaviness in his body. Every muscle ached, a dull, persistent reminder of yesterday's session. Even sitting up felt like lifting weights.
For a fleeting moment, Yuuto wondered if it had all been a hallucination rehab, the pain, the strange glowing panel that had appeared when his knee felt like it was splitting in two. He closed his eyes and pressed his palms to his face.
Then, with a soft, electronic chime, the translucent system panel blinked into existence above him, hovering in the early morning light.
[Daily Quest Generated]
Complete 15 minutes of stretching
Walk 30 steps (with crutches)
Perform 10 seated knee lifts
Focus Drill: Hold a basketball for 5 minutes, practice grip and balance
Rewards: +1 Stamina, +1 Recovery, +1 Basketball (Layups)
Yuuto blinked, staring at the words as though they might vanish if he didn't focus. His pulse kicked up in his chest.
"…It's real. It wasn't a dream," he whispered, voice hoarse.
Just as he swung his legs over the side of the bed, a soft knock rapped against the door.
"Yuuto?" his mom's voice floated in. Warm, gentle, grounding. "You should get ready for rehab. We need to leave in half an hour."
He glanced at the glowing quest, then back toward the door. "Yeah… I'll be ready!" he called, forcing himself into action.
When the door closed behind her, Yuuto took a deep, steadying breath. Fifteen minutes of stretching. At home. He hadn't needed the therapist for this part yet. The system was syncing perfectly with the real-world rehab. It wasn't replacing the hard work it was amplifying it.
By the time he wheeled himself into the clinic, beads of sweat dotted his forehead. The stretches and knee lifts at home had left his thighs trembling. Each step with the crutches felt like hauling a weight up a slope, but the faint "ding" in his mind every time he completed a task kept him moving.
"Morning, Yuuto," Mizuki Sato greeted, adjusting the balance bars at the far end of the room. Her ponytail bounced slightly as she stepped closer. "You're looking sharper already. Let's see how you're moving today."
Yuuto gripped the bars tightly, palms slick with sweat. His right leg still felt stiff, but the stretches earlier had loosened it slightly. One deliberate step forward with the crutch, then another. He breathed steadily. The knee didn't scream like yesterday it pressed, it reminded, it insisted but it wasn't unbearable.
The therapist's eyes softened with approval. "Good. You're healing fast, just like the doctor said."
Yuuto nodded faintly, but his attention drifted. The blue panel hovered just outside his peripheral vision, pulsing softly. He tapped his temple instinctively.
System, status update.
[Progress: 3/4 Daily Tasks Complete]
Stretching
30 Steps with Crutches
Seated Knee Lifts
Focus Drill (fail)
Reward: Pending.
Yuuto frowned. "Focus drill…" he murmured. His gaze swept across the room. The basketball he'd insisted on bringing along sat snugly in his bag. He grabbed it, rubbing his fingers over the grooves, feeling the familiar texture beneath his fingertips.
His therapist arched a brow. "Still carrying that thing around, huh?"
Yuuto nodded, a small smirk tugging at his lips. "Can't… rehab without it."
He sat down carefully, keeping his crutches tucked under his arms. Holding the ball, he let his fingers roll across the pebbled surface, feeling the weight and the balance, just as the system instructed. Five minutes. That was all. Five minutes of focus, and nothing else.
At first, it felt odd, almost absurd. He wasn't running drills. He wasn't dribbling past defenders. He wasn't shooting at a hoop. But slowly, the muscles in his hands relaxed, his core engaged, his posture sharpened. The familiar smell of rubber, the heft of the ball it brought him back to a court that existed only in memory, but felt entirely real in this moment.
Ding!
[Daily Quest Completed]
Rewards Earned: +1 Stamina, +1 Recovery, +1 Basketball (Layups)
A warmth spread through his knee. Faint. Subtle. But unmistakably real. It was as if the joint itself recognized the accomplishment and began stitching itself, reinforcing muscles and ligaments from the inside out.
The therapist clapped softly. "Good work today, Yuuto. Same time tomorrow."
He leaned back in the wheelchair, clutching the basketball to his chest. Every muscle screamed in protest, his knee throbbed, but his eyes burned with something that hadn't been there in weeks. Something fierce. Something alive.
Hope.
Yuuto let out a shaky breath, feeling the air fill his lungs, feeling the tension of yesterday's session slowly melt. "This system…" he whispered, voice trembling but steady, "maybe this is how I get back on the court."
Mizuki crouched slightly to meet his gaze. "Yuuto, don't forget this—every rep, every stretch, every moment of focus, it counts. Progress isn't always obvious in the moment, but I can see it. You're stronger already."
Yuuto's fingers tightened around the ball. "I… I feel it too. It's like… like my body remembers. Like I'm finally listening again."
She nodded, a small smile tugging at her lips. "That's the key. The mind and body they're connected. And right now, yours is awake. Don't waste that."
He let out a breath that felt heavier than the physical work he'd done. "I won't. I… I can't waste this chance."
The clinic around him hummed with activity. Other patients shuffled along mats, pushed through balance exercises, lifted light weights. The therapists moved between them like conductors, guiding, correcting, encouraging. And in the middle of it all, Yuuto felt a strange kinship. This was his battlefield. Every ache, every small victory, every "ding" of the system it was his game now.
He glanced down at the basketball, feeling the grooves again, imagining it in his hands on a court, imagining a defender in front of him, imagining the swish of the net as the ball fell through. He closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, letting the memory flow through his muscles.
The system's subtle hum echoed in his mind. Consistency. Determination. Focus. Rewards are earned by effort.
Yuuto opened his eyes, chest rising and falling rapidly. He felt alive. Not just alive but like a player on the edge of a comeback, a second chance at everything he thought he'd lost.
The therapist gave him a nod of approval. "Remember, Yuuto, it's not just the knee. Your entire body has to retrain itself. Patience. Consistency. But you've got the mindset to do it. And that mindset… is everything."
He nodded, gripping the ball tightly. "I've got it. This time… I'm not losing again."
For the first time in weeks, he allowed himself a small smile, letting the exhaustion and the pain mingle with pride and hope. The clinic, the system, the work it all felt like a new beginning.
And in the quiet hum of the morning, Yuuto Kai, seventeen years old, injured but unbroken, had taken the first real step toward reclaiming the game he loved.
The grind had begun.