After returning home, Chihaya Kaiser let Anon use the bathroom first and went back to his room alone.
He opened his personal status panel, pondering how to use the reward from completing the mission.
[Name: Chihaya Kaiser]
[Constitution: 6.5(+)]
[Strength: 5.6(+)]
[Speed: 6.2(+)]
[Charm: 7.9(+)]
[Skills: Photography Lv. 4, Guitar Lv. 3, Literature Lv. 1]
[Assignable Points: 0.1]
[Missions Completed: 2]
Theoretically, his Strength was a little low. Like Speed and Constitution, there was still room for improvement through training. It felt like Charm was the most useful stat.
In modern society, having a good-looking face was just too much of an advantage.
He stroked his chin. Adding the 0.1 would raise it to exactly eight. He hovered his finger over the plus sign after Charm and gently pressed it.
[Allocation Successful]
[Charm Increased to Eight]
[Passive Talent Unlocked]
[Natural Affinity: Any creature capable of recognizing human features will have a natural fondness for you. The effect is doubled on the opposite sex.]
As the notifications popped up one by one, Chihaya Kaiser was surprised to see a passive talent. The touch of fantasy he had always hoped for had suddenly arrived.
The feeling was rather strange.
He wasn't too fond of this passive talent; it felt like it was forcing him into romance, constantly giving him advantages in that area. But the thought that he could unlock new talents by getting other stats to eight made him happy nonetheless.
Before he could close his status panel, the bathroom door was pushed open. Anon, wrapped in a bathrobe, blinked and looked at her younger brother, then narrowed her eyes for a closer look.
She took a few steps forward, reached out, and pinched Chihaya Kaiser's cheek, cupping the side of his face.
"Hm? Hmm... something's not right."
"What are you doing?"
"Did you get a little handsomer? We're supposed to look pretty similar, right? But I didn't get this feeling when we were eating ice cream."
Puzzled, Anon kneaded his cheek, observing him from several angles.
"Stop messing around." He reached out, trying to stop her.
"It's so weird," the girl said, her eyes full of confusion as she tilted her head and stared at his face.
"There's nothing weird about it. I'm going to take a shower."
He tried to escape, moving so quickly and with a hint of panic that he almost bumped into Anon.
Amidst her gasp of surprise, Chihaya Kaiser ran into the bathroom and turned on the faucet at full blast. It wasn't until the shower spray hit his pink, choppy hair that he remembered he hadn't taken off his clothes.
So, the Charm increase was real.
And it was probably thanks to that passive talent, too.
It seemed he'd become a bit more conspicuous. He wondered what other people would think.
It probably didn't matter. He was just an invisible, well-behaved student at school with average grades.
He took off his clothes and had a quick shower.
Back in their shared living room, Anon had already gone into her room. She probably hadn't paid too much mind to the change, writing it off as her imagination.
That made Chihaya Kaiser sigh in relief.
He returned to his room, getting ready for bed. While scrolling on his phone, he thought about his part-time job tomorrow; he would have to bring his camera and lens to school so he could go straight to work afterward.
Before he knew it, sleepiness crept into the room, filling the air with the dreams of the night.
The next day, at Tsuwabuki High School.
Before he could even gauge his classmates' reactions, Chihaya Kaiser knew that Natural Affinity was truly powerful.
All the cats in the area were circling him, rubbing their heads against his calves. A dozen or so cats formed a ring with him at the center.
To top it off, that tabby cat caught a big, fat mouse and tried to offer it to him as a gift.
Chihaya Kaiser naturally refused, but the strange spectacle attracted the attention of some passersby.
Subsequently, they would find themselves feeling an involuntary fondness for the handsome boy in the middle of the cats.
Before entering the school, he gave every cat a pat on the head, feeling a little embarrassed by what felt like player-like behavior.
Thankfully, the cats didn't follow him into the school. They all sat on the wall, watching him walk away.
The school's student council members were already there. A girl with a name tag that read Tiara Basori was seriously inspecting everyone.
Chihaya Kaiser didn't know her well. To be precise, he wasn't familiar with any of his classmates.
He was absorbed in using his skills to earn money at his part-time job after school. Interacting with classmates was a waste of time and energy.
However, school seemed a little different today. Girls would glance his way from time to time.
If it were his sister, Chihaya Anon, she would probably be thoroughly enjoying this kind of close attention.
But even though they were twins, their personalities were completely different. Chihaya Kaiser didn't want this kind of attention; it felt like he was being watched.
This feeling became even more pronounced when he reached the classroom. While girls would occasionally look over at him on a normal day, it had always felt ordinary.
But these scorching gazes that seemed to raise the air temperature were truly hard to bear.
He went to his seat. The person behind him, Nukumizu Kazuhiko, had already arrived. The two could exchange a few words since they shared a common interest in light novels.
But before he could start talking to Nukumizu Kazuhiko about light novels, someone else stood in front of him, casting a shadow over his line of sight.
"Could I ask you to come outside with me for a moment?" Yanami Anna's gaze swept up and down the boy, sharing the same confusion as her classmates.
It had only been a day, so why did the person before her seem to have gotten so much handsomer? She also felt a strong sense of fondness for him deep down.
In just a few minutes, the girls in the class had glanced at him more times than in the past month combined.
Yet, Chihaya Kaiser had no intention of getting up. Yanami Anna had no choice but to bow her head and say softly.
"Please, come talk with me."
"Fine." He left his seat, following Yanami Anna out of the classroom.
He thought he could hear discussions behind him, but none of that mattered.
The two of them arrived at a courtyard. The sound of the wind rustling the leaves was quite pleasant, and the hem of her skirt danced with the breeze, outlining its shape.
The blue-haired girl stopped, turned around, and put on a pleading expression, clasping her hands together and raising them above her head.
"Please, Chihaya-kun! Give me some more time! I really can't get 3,600 yen all at once. Just give me a little time, or let me pay you back with something else."
"I'll give you one week to raise the money. I don't care how you do it, but I'm not accepting any other form of payment."
The thing Chihaya Kaiser regretted most right now was walking past that shop and getting cornered by Yanami Anna for a loan.
Expressionless, he turned and walked away.
Watching the boy's retreating back, Yanami Anna let out a long sigh.
"What's his deal? Acting all high and mighty."
Still, he did seem a little cooler, she thought, recalling the discussions she'd heard in class earlier.
Someone would probably be giving him a love letter soon.
______
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