Outside the building, the air felt lighter, fresher, as if shaking off the last of the suffocating silence.
Not far from the school gates, a small playground sat tucked beside the school yard.
The colorful slide, swings, and climbing frame gleamed under the afternoon sun.
Tamao's eyes lit up immediately. "Hey, hey! Let's stop there for a bit!"
Nagisa giggled, tugging lightly at Haruya's sleeve. "Come on, let's go. It'll be fun."
Hazuki, though more reserved, gave a small smile. "I suppose a short break wouldn't hurt."
Sudo shrugged in his usual calm manner. "Fine. But don't expect me to climb anything."
And as usual, Nishimiya, cheerful but quiet, ran along, being tugged by the other girls.
And so, the group sat by the playground.
Forgetting the previous situation quickly, for a while, laughter and cheerful voices filled the air.
Hazuki and Tamao tested the swings, laughing as they competed over who could go higher.
Nagisa accompanied Nishimiya, sitting together on a seesaw, as it rocked back and forth.
Haruya and Sudo leaned against a nearby tree, having their own conversation.
Nishimiya, a bit hesitant at first, allowed herself to be pulled along by Tamao to try the slide.
Her awkward yet genuine laughter when she landed at the bottom made the others laugh softly.
'She really does look happy,' Haruya thought, watching her carefully.
The peaceful moment was interrupted when a shadow fell across them.
"Shouko."
The voice was sharp, firm.
Everyone turned. Standing at the edge of the playground was a tall woman who looked similar to Shouko Nishimiya, watching them with a stern expression.
Her presence alone was enough to silence the group's chatter.
"Mom…" Shouko gibberishly mouthed and signed (sign language) quickly, her smile faltering just a little.
The group realized this was Shouko's mother.
Yaeko's sharp eyes scanned the group of children, narrowing suspiciously. "What are you doing here? With them?" Her tone carried a clear edge, as though ready to scold them for something unseen.
Haruya instinctively stepped forward, standing slightly ahead of the others. "We were just playing together, Nishimiya-san," he said respectfully.
Yaeko's eyes lingered on him, scrutinizing, searching for a hint of mockery or cruelty. But when she looked back at her daughter, she froze.
When she turned, all she saw was Shouko's smile.
Bright, innocent, and genuine.
It was one she hadn't seen in a long while.
For a moment, Yaeko's stern expression softened. Only slightly.
Nagisa stepped forward with her usual warmth. "I'm Nagisa Kubo. It's nice to meet you."
"Hazuki Kudou," Hazuki added with a polite bow.
"I'm Taira Tamao!" Tamao chirped, waving energetically.
"Yuma Sudo," Yuma introduced himself simply.
Finally, Haruya spoke again. "My name is Haruya Sumeragi."
Yaeko studied them all one by one, then gave the faintest nod.
"Yaeko Nishimiya. I'm Shouko's mother."
Her voice carried its usual coldness, but the suspicion in her eyes had dimmed.
Shouko clutched her notebook, scribbling quickly before showing it to her mom.
"They're my friends."
Yaeko's eyes flickered as she read the words. Her lips pressed together, conflicted, but she finally exhaled softly. "…I see."
She placed a hand on Shouko's shoulder. "Time to go home."
Shouko looked back at the group, her smile returning. She waved with both hands.
"See you tomorrow, Nishimiya-san!" Tamao called out brightly, waving back.
"Bye, Nishimiya-chan!" Nagisa added.
Hazuki offered a small wave, while Yuma simply gave a nod.
Haruya lifted his hand in farewell, his lips forming into a faint smile.
Shouko's eyes shone as she waved again before finally leaving with her mother.
As the two disappeared down the street, the group stood in silence for a moment.
"She looked happy," Nagisa said softly.
"Yeah," Haruya agreed, his eyes lingering on the path Shouko had taken. "Let's make sure she keeps smiling like that."
The others nodded quietly, the weight of his words settling among them.
"Let's all head home then." Haruya turned back to his group.
"Okay!"
...
"Ahh, today was just exhausting."
Haruya had just finished washing up and preparing to go to bed.
He stretched his arms and complained.
Looking at the date, tomorrow was a holiday, and there would be no need to go to class.
"Maybe I should go visit the bakery tomorrow," he thought.
Checking his schedule and making sure he had nothing else to do, he decided to surprise Rina and Hiroki tomorrow, whom he hadn't seen in a while.
Suddenly, from the corner of his eyes, Haruya noticed something.
[Adaptability Lv. 2]
"Huh? How did this thing level up?" Haruya sat back up on his bed and scratched his head.
Trying to remember all the details he did today, besides accompanying his friends and Nishimiya, along with scolding most of his classmates, there was nothing else, really.
Haruya tried hard to remember whether he had done something different and might have noticed when his ability leveled up, but soon gave up.
He didn't even notice it.
Even if he had 10x better memory, there was no way to remember.
"Whatever, it doesn't really matter right now anyway." He shrugged, but still wondered what he could do new.
He decided to test his ability.
Tapping his chin, he muttered. "Alright then. Let's try this out."
He walked over to the small desk in his room and pulled open a drawer, grabbing a textbook. "If it's memory, then…" He flipped to a random page filled with long explanations and diagrams.
Normally, he'd skim a page and forget half of it after a while. But this time, as his eyes darted across the sentences, something clicked.
He shut the book, closed his eyes, and repeated the entire paragraph word for word. Even the page number came to him instantly.
"…Whoa." He blinked, a little shocked. "That's definitely new."
Setting the book aside, he moved on to durability. He headed into the bathroom, turned the faucet to hot, and splashed his face.
The hot water reddened his skin a little, but the sting dulled almost immediately.
He left his hand under the stream, waiting for the usual pain.
Instead, it felt tolerable, almost normal.
"Not bad. Hot water doesn't hit as hard anymore. Most likely cold too."
Still curious, he grabbed a pillow from his bed and pressed it against his stomach, giving himself a careful jab with his fist. It wasn't much, but he didn't want to hurt himself by doing something else crazier.
The impact wasn't pleasant, but the dull ache faded quicker than expected.
"Definitely tougher than before. I think."
Next came reflexes.
Haruya glanced at the ceiling light, then back at the pencil on his desk. He picked it up, tossed it into the air, and tried to catch it.
The first throw was sloppy, but by the third attempt, his hand moved almost on its own, snatching the pencil out of the air with ease.
He grinned, doing it again and again until it felt natural. His eyes even tracked the pencil more sharply, like his focus had sharpened.
Finally, he tested stamina.
Dropping to the floor, he pushed himself into sit-ups, then push-ups.
Normally, after a few sets, his arms would complain, but tonight, his breathing evened out faster than usual. His muscles felt alive, adapting to the motion as if adjusting with each repetition.
After a few minutes, he sat back, sweating but not nearly as exhausted as before.
"Okay… this is crazy." Haruya lay back on the floor, staring at the ceiling with wide eyes. "So I really do get stronger just by… living, huh?"
"I still don't know how I leveled this up, though." He groaned.
Of course, this was just a small stress test.
He was most likely capable of more things than he realized.
After all, just by name, you can already easily tell what it could help improve.
He just had to find out to what limits it could currently reach.
...
A/N: He levels up his ability by changing the FMCs fates.
Fate is subjective, so I'm gonna give it to you straight.
First, he changed Menma's death, altering her fate greatly. Cause, you know, she's still alive now.
Second, because he stood up for Nishimiya in her first case of getting bullied, Ishida and the others won't be picking on her anymore, she won't go completely deaf in one ear because of his actions as a child, and she doesn't spiral into depression and won't try to commit suicide in the end.
I just let you all know this in advance because I have no intentions of letting the MC know how to level up his ability.
One, his ability will be mostly used for daily life.
Two, because he is NOT a transmigrator. He doesn't know the plot. He doesn't even know that their fates were supposed to be something different. So yeah, he will just go with the flow and never truly find out how to level up his ability, just doing so by accident. It's a slice of life anyway and not a power fantasy.
Oh and as for what kinds of fates the other FMCs will need to be changed, I already have an idea as to how to deal with those, so no need to worry.
Thanks for reading.