Tuesday, 4:30 p.m., Shibuya, Tokyo.
After thanking the coworker who came to take over his shift, Aoki Kai pushed open the door and stepped out of the convenience store where he worked part-time.
It was only early summer, so even at midday the temperature outside the store was still tolerable.
Running the numbers on this month's wages and the rent he'd paid yesterday, Kai couldn't help wearing a faintly irritable expression the moment he left the store.
Barring any surprises, he was going to be living off cheap boxed meals again this month.
Aside from what he needed for food, his wallet held nothing. Most of his pay went straight to rent, and as a student it was nearly impossible to find a part-time job with decent hourly pay…
Seventeen years since crossing over to Tokyo, and this was what he'd come to—pretty pathetic.
He earned his tuition and rent at the convenience store; whatever was left just barely kept his basic vitals going. His phone was a clunker bought two years ago. He'd even been fretting over the utilities bill not long ago…
Not much different from a corporate drone—in fact, worse off than most.
That said, the truth was that getting this far had already been tough enough for Aoki Kai—
In his previous life he was just an ordinary university student in Huaxia. One day, a quota-chasing truck inexplicably sent him to Tottori Prefecture, Japan. He started over from age zero, began in an orphanage, no "golden finger," nobody who cared, nobody to adopt him.
Even having crossed into another world gave Kai no informational advantage to exploit. Other than a few place names and buildings being similar, everything else was entirely different from his previous life.
He had also given up on the idea of making money by "porting" songs or literature from before—the memories were too fuzzy.
A transmigrator, yet with no edge whatsoever—except perhaps being a little more level-headed than peers his age.
At seven, he was placed in a Tottori public elementary school with abysmal teaching resources; at thirteen, he was sent to a Tottori public middle school where the teachers weren't even as capable as he was.
In Japan, a country stratified by rigid hierarchies, you could pretty much see the rest of your life at a glance.
Unwilling to resign himself to mediocrity, Kai told the orphanage director upon graduating middle school that he intended to go to Tokyo and attend a private high school.
Cram schools and private academies in Tokyo had far better resources than that backwater within a backwater called Tottori. Only there could he hope to change his life through study.
The orphanage director, of course, had no objections. He also, of course, offered no financial help.
So at sixteen, Kai began his days in Tokyo: part-time jobs to make money, and studying.
—(stray line in the source: "Shop bestsellers")—
Unlike most high-schoolers who celebrated youth and enjoyed their carefree days, Kai had a very clear life goal.
Study seriously, change his future!
His dream university was the University of Tokyo in Bunkyō, the so-called cradle of rotten politicians. His first-choice career was to become one of those politicians who suck the nation's blood.
He'd clung to that determination for years—to get into Todai he rose early and slept late, worked three jobs a week, never complained about his environment, and kept his words and deeds aligned for more than a decade, until just a moment ago…
For the first time since arriving in Japan and holding fast to that goal for over ten years, Aoki Kai wavered—
Following his mental map toward the apartment he rented, he stopped short as he passed a park.
He walked by this park every day on his commute. The playground equipment was barely adequate, and around kindergarten pick-up time lots of parents brought their kids to play here.
He wasn't stopping because he felt like swinging. He'd noticed a girl who looked… vaguely familiar.
Not exactly someone he could place, but not a complete stranger either.
She had pale golden hair, tied in a side ponytail. She wore a school uniform from who-knew-where and had striking features.
Kai was certain he'd never seen this girl in all his seventeen years in Japan. The reason she felt familiar was…
Blonde hair, side ponytail, red eyes, and an effervescent energy that bubbled out of her just by standing there—based on the countless anime he'd devoured in his previous life, it would have been hard not to find her familiar—
Ijichi Nijika, one of the heroines in the famous band manga Bocchi the Rock!
Of course, simply bumping into a girl who should only exist in his previous life's anime would make him pause, maybe be surprised to discover he was in an anime world—but that alone wouldn't shake a life goal he'd held to for years.
What did shake it was the pale blue screen that flashed before his eyes the moment he focused on the energetic girl in the park.
[You've run into the heroine, Ijichi Nijika, who's looking for a temporary guitarist in the park. Your choices are…]
Option 1: The middle way—ignore the heroine, take your cheap bento back to your cheap rental, and keep repeating your air-conditioner-less, 40-degree summer grind. (Reward: 500 points. Ending unlocked: "Life on Repeat.")
Option 2: The strong need no rehearsals! Confess to Ijichi Nijika right here in the park and shout: "Ijichi Nijika, you could be like a mother to me!" (Reward: 500 points. Achievement unlocked: "Beginning Equals Ending.")
Option 3: Go up and talk to the heroine. Ask whether her band needs a temporary guitarist. Once she says yes, tell her you can do it. (Reward: 500 points, ¥100,000 in cash.)
A golden finger?
Kai blinked—then reacted fast.
Ah… so this was the "system" that arrived seventeen years late, finally showing up after he'd set his life plan and slogged away at it for ages.
His eyes skimmed the options. After a quick read, he drew a deep breath.
—(stray line in the source: "Shop bestsellers")—
He ignored Option 2, which was bizarre no matter how he looked at it.
He very much wanted to keep cursing the golden finger for being late and to stick to his "the fewer hassles the better" philosophy and pick Option 1—or just refuse to choose at all. But Option 3's bait was simply too shiny.
Leaving aside the points whose use he didn't yet know, that glaring promise of ¥100,000 hooked him cleanly.
Even converted to RMB, that was close to five thousand. Even if it didn't change his life, just holding it would calm someone who'd been poor for seventeen years.
A gentleman doesn't bend for half a peck of rice. Unfortunately, ¥100,000 isn't rice—so bending for it doesn't count.
There was, however, a small problem with Option 3.
Kai couldn't play guitar. If he picked Option 3 and offered to help, he'd probably just embarrass himself in front of Nijika—and might even delay something important for her.
Eyes lingering on the big, dazzling "¥100,000" on the panel, Kai hesitated a moment.
Half a second later, he chose decisively.
Things have a way of working out. Worst case, he'd help Nijika find Bocchi afterward—close enough to "not causing trouble"…
Sorry, walking ¥100,000!
Decision made, Kai headed into the park.
He wasn't far when he called out to the blonde girl, who was looking down at her phone.
"Ahem… excuse me. I heard you were looking for a guitarist. I, uh… can play a little. Need help?"
Nijika-mama~
-------
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