After dinner and slipping into bed, Ryo lay awake, staring at the ceiling. Ryo opened The System to check his progress.
{Quest Complete!}
[Situational Quest – Dribble Past Your Brother Once And Impress Him With Your Skill.]
[Reward: +3 Stat Points, +1 Ball Control]
{Player Stat Increase!}
[Defensive Positioning 20 —>21]
[Dribbling: 15 —> 17]
[Feinting: 13 —> 15]
[Tackling 20 —> 21]
[Trapping: 11 —> 12]
{New Total!}
[Ball Control 13 —> 14]
[Defense 17 —> 18]
[Unused Stat Points 0 —> 3]
Wow… my stats went up a lot. Thanks to the quest reward, both Dribbling and Feinting had increased by two. What surprised him, though, was seeing his defensive stats rise as well. If he could progress this much in just one day, how much could he improve in a year, before even starting school? The System had warned him that it would be harder to increase his stats as he got better. For now, I'll invest one stat point into each part of Ball Control.
{Stat Points Allocated}
[Dribbling: 17 —> 18]
[Feinting: 15 —> 16]
[Trapping: 12 —> 13]
{New Total!}
[Ball Control 14 —> 15]
[Unused Stat Points 3 —> 0]
Having upgraded his stats, Ryo felt a rush of excitement. The System didn't just tell him he was improving, but showed his growth using numbers. Each time a number ticked up, he felt as if he was getting closer to fulfilling his promise with Ren. So, with a small, satisfied smile, he drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, Ryo woke up aching from head to toe. So this is what happens when your body tries to keep up with boosted stats… He stretched carefully, every muscle unbelievably sore. If this was the price for improvement, he could live with it.
As he sat up, a familiar glow flared in front of his eyes. The translucent screen rippled into existence, characters forming in that same calm authority.
Ryo groaned. Seriously… will there never be a day when this thing leaves me alone?
{New Quest!}
(Daily Quest – Prepare For The School Team)
[Complete 50 Passes]
[Dribble Past A Player 10 Times]
[Shoot 50 Times On Goal]
[Tackle A Player 10 Times]
(Time Limit – Midnight)
[This Daily Quest Will Repeat Until The Player Goes To School.]
[Rewards: +1 Stat Point Every Completed Week]
[Penalty: None]
One point every week? Ryo's eyes widened as he started crunching the numbers. School starts in April after I turn six… that gives me about a year and five months. If I finish the quest every single day, I'll rack up around seventy stat points before then.
The more he thought about it, the clearer it became. The daily quest rewards were absurd. Although each day yielded "minimal rewards," by the time he reached the end, his growth would be unbelievable.
The only catch was that Ryo couldn't complete the quest alone, so he needed Ren. That meant convincing his brother to practice with him every single day. Thankfully, he loved football enough that it might not even be a problem. But would it be possible to get it all done? After all, it isn't easy to dribble past Ren.
Ryo resolved himself, I'll just have to push harder. No matter what, I'll make it work.
—————————————————————————————————
After waking up the next day, Ryo noticed Ren was already changing into his football jersey, glowing with excitement. It's been so long since I've seen him this happy. In his previous life, after the injury, Ren had never been able to play the same. He smiled much less, and it was like a part of his life had been stolen away. Seeing him so eager for his first real game now was refreshing; I hope his excitement for the game never goes away.
"Ren-nii, can I come watch your game today?" Ryo asked. There was no reason to sit at home when he couldn't even practice.
"Of course!" Ren said, standing proudly. "You'll see me score ten goals. I'll ask Mom and Dad if they can come too."
Ren's team was the away side, so they had to play on their opponent's field. But since the school was too small to have its own pitch, today's match was at the local field just a short walk from their house. Ryo made a mental note: if he wanted to practice shooting for his quests, that was where he'd need to go.
Half an hour later, everyone was ready to leave. Their mom couldn't come; she had already gone to the city for work. Both of Ryo's parents ran a small restaurant downtown, which meant long hours and late nights. Business wasn't always steady, and after Ryo had gone blind, the endless hospital visits had drained their finances even more. To keep up, his parents worked harder than ever, often leaving Ren to look after him.
It had been like that for as long as Ryo could remember: he and Ren spending their days side by side. When they were still young, they spent their days in the restaurant while their parents worked. But as they got older, they went to school together, came home together, and sometimes ate dinner alone when their parents couldn't make it back in time. It wasn't easy, but Ryo never once doubted how much his parents loved them.
Since business was slow during the day, only one of their parents needed to be at the restaurant that week. That meant Ryo got to stay home instead of tagging along, though by the time Ren came back from school, their parents were usually gone again for the busier dinner shift.
"Ryo, do you like Football?" their dad asked on the way to the field. "I was surprised when Ren said you wanted to come watch."
"Yeah, it's fun," Ryo said with a small smile.
"You should've seen him yesterday, Dad!" Ren said, grinning widely. "He even dribbled past me once!"
"Oh? Is that so?" His dad chuckled. "We might have a future star on our hands."
By then, they'd arrived at the field. It was busier than Ryo expected, with multiple games, from many different schools, already underway. But he noticed a few unused goals off to the side. Perfect. I can practice here later.
"Ryo, want to help me warm up?" Ren asked, shifting restlessly with the ball at his feet. "None of my teammates are here yet, and I can't just stand around."
Since Ren had insisted they leave the house early, unable to wait for his game, the pitch for his match was still in use by another game, and his team hadn't shown up yet.
"Sure, let's go," Ryo answered.