As I watched Sakura sleeping, I purchased the new upgrade for my Body Swap skill.
"By the way, do I have to choose my classmates as targets?" I muttered as I looked at the list. It turned out that wasn't the case. Yuuno and Noelle were there as well. It seems like my skill got upgraded.
"Does that mean friends? No, that can't be it. Nijima is there, and I absolutely hate her."
"Ah… somehow, the list has expanded. I can now body swap with males as well." I muttered as I saw the options increase. It listed almost everyone I knew now.
"Males?" I quickly shook my head. I am not leaning into that kind of kink.
Noelle has huge breasts. Moreover, she is kind of demure and shy. Exactly how I like it. A shy girl is cute. However, her brother is scary. I googled her guild, and her brother really is the leader and founder, the name Seraphine and the picture matched.
"This guy is Rank S. One of the twenty Rank S adventurers in all of Japan," I muttered as I scrolled through his wiki. He was popular enough to have a wiki page created for him.
His guild was rather small, but since he was Rank S, no one dared to mess with it. Even the government took precautions when dealing with Rank S adventurers.
"Nah. I better play it safe. I still value my life," I muttered.
The next candidates are Yuuno and Nijima. Truthfully, I don't have much feeling for those two. Their faces are fine, but their personalities ruin them. They look like leeches.
"Well… it's not like I have to choose now. I still need to focus on Sakura."
I closed the window and patted Sakura's head. Then, as I went to the kitchen, I boiled two packs of instant noodles—one for myself and one for Sakura if she woke up.
Sakura woke up moments later, right after the noodles were done.
"Want to eat?"
"You really can't cook anything but instant noodles, huh?" Sakura sighed as she took a bowl. "I'll cook for you starting tomorrow. I might not be a five-star chef, but at least I can cook better than this."
"I didn't know you could cook."
"Well, you can always follow a recipe from the internet," Sakura turned away. She then swept her gaze across my kitchen. "You do have the tools."
"… You don't have to do that…" I muttered.
I felt conflicted. On one hand, I felt happy that Sakura seemed to care about me. But on the other hand, I felt irked. A sudden sense of discomfort surged as she seemed to be inserting herself into my life.
"… Can I cook here?" Sakura asked.
"Well, nobody is using the kitchen, so go ahead." I turned my head away.
"Okay! I'll start tomorrow! Can I stay here?" Sakura was pumped. I don't know what was so good about a home-cooked meal. It seemed like it was such a pain to make. People were too dramatizing it.
"You aren't going home?"
"Well, it's rather late. Tomorrow is Saturday anyway. I can, right?"
"… Alright."
"Thanks! I'll take a bath first. Don't wash the dishes. I'll wash the dishes from now on," Sakura said as she left her empty bowl on the table.
I left Sakura's bowl untouched but washed my own.
What does she mean, from now on? Does that mean she will officially take over some housekeeping duties?
Well, now that she is officially part of my harem, it shouldn't be strange if she starts doing chores or even lives with me, but I have mixed feelings about it. I wonder whether it is really okay to let Sakura into my life like this. Maybe I was still traumatized by my mother.
"Hah…" I sighed.
This isn't a porn movie. Those usually stop after the act. They don't tell you what happens after the harem or after the sex. It doesn't end after just one night, after all. One day, I will have to take responsibility.
"As long as I can keep her under control, it should be fine," I muttered.
If I can get a stable income from adventuring jobs and make sure Sakura doesn't overspend, we could technically live happily ever after. I was more fortunate than the others. At least I don't have to pay rent. Food and other necessities, which would amount to somewhere between 400 to 500 dollars for both of us. My adventuring job earned me much more than that. Yes. I can make this work.
Sakura finished her bath, and I went in next. She gave a slight frown when she noticed only her bowl was left unwashed, but she didn't comment on it.
After I finished my bath, Sakura cuddled beside me on the couch in her pajamas. She acted as if she were my girlfriend, even though she was merely a sex slave.
Well, not really. She wasn't a slave. But we weren't really in a relationship either. We were just sex friends.
She dozed off on the couch. I carried her to my room and put a blanket over her.
"Guess I'm sleeping on the couch tonight. I have to go dungeon diving tomorrow too," I sighed as I lay down.
I entered my Dreamscape. Let's see what she thinks about me in her dream. If she were just using me…
Inside the dream world, Sakura hopped beside me and pulled me onto the bed. We didn't do much. She lay with her head on my chest while scrolling through her phone.
"Makoto…" She snuggled closer. "I signed the papers. I took the loan. Will you pray for my success?"
"The loan? Ah? The one so you can study and become a doctor? Yeah. Sure. I'll pray for your success, Sakura," I answered.
Sakura has her own dream. There is no way we could continue this BDSM play forever. I sighed, thinking that I would have to let her go at some point.
"Hm…" Sakura nodded.
"Who is this guy you took the loan from? Be careful. I heard there are scammers out there," I said, patting her head.
"Well, the loan works like this. I borrowed 100,000 dollars. After five years, I have to start paying it back with 10% interest every year."
"I see. This friend of yours must be really rich to lend that kind of money so easily," I muttered. That sounds really generous. The interest was standard, and with the five-year grace period. That sounded really generous.
"Yeah," Sakura replied.
The contract sounded reasonable. Well, the worst she could lose is her house. If that were to happen, I could just move her into my apartment.
I then exited the dreamworld and went to sleep.
The sound of my alarm woke me from the couch. I groaned at the unfamiliar stiffness. I rarely slept there.
I looked around. It was 6 AM, and I was still on the couch.
After checking my status, I found that Sakura was still sleeping in my bed. I sighed and grabbed my new longsword. I then headed to the bus station.
It wasn't just adventurers who wore medieval-style weapons. Some commoners and teenagers even carried replicas, as if telling the world they were adventurers.
Being an adventurer was a dream job, and we don't know when we might get a blessing. Most of them earned more than the minimum wage. I had even made more than a hundred dollars yesterday despite having only done this for a few weeks.
Some people even tried to look like adventurers by dressing like them despite not having a blessing, although this was rare.
Before meeting up with Yuuno and Noelle, I stopped by a clothing store to buy a hooded robe.
"Yo! Ready for another dive?" Yuuno said, hands on her hips with a confident smile. I wonder what happened.
"You seem awfully happy today. Did you level up?" I waved back.
"Ah? You can tell? Finally! With you guys around, I can finally progress! I just got a new skill yesterday. It's called Shield Pulse! Now I can use my shield to knock back enemies! We can even try the fourth floor today! Yuuno has leveled up!" she said excitedly.
"Well, we can certainly try. Noelle, here. A robe for you." I handed her the newly bought robe.
"Eh? For me? Um…"
"This will make things easier. You're shy, right? People will stare less if you wear this," I muttered.
"Ah! Um… Thank you." Noelle took the robe. After putting it on, she buttoned the upper half.
Despite the thick, plain fabric, I could still see her ample chest outlined beneath it. But at least it softened the impact. Her shirt before had been straining at the buttons, and it was distracting inside the dungeon.
"No worries. Let's go." I adjusted my longsword on my shoulder.
As we ventured deeper into the dungeon, my mind wandered—not to Noelle, but to Sakura.
Her loan.
I couldn't prove anything. But I had a bad feeling about it.
It was just a gut feeling. If this guy were Sakura's friend, why would he need collateral? He could have simply offered a normal loan. Moreover, the way Sakura spoke made it sound like the purpose of the loan was the house itself—not her education.
Sakura never mentioned anything about how supportive this new guy was. I don't believe such altruistic people exist. Lending 100,000 dollars to a stranger without ulterior motives? Impossible. i wouldn't even do that to my best friend or even family members.
"Alright! That's a wrap. So, should we explore some more, or try our hand at the fourth floor?" Yuuno said. "Makoto, what happened? You seem distracted. We're in a dungeon, you know."
"Ah. Sorry. I just have this weird feeling. I'm asking for a friend. She took out a loan for her future education, but I somehow feel like there's something wrong with it."
"…What are the terms?" Yuuno asked. Her face was pale as if she was seeing a ghost.
"So, she borrowed 100,000 and put her house up as collateral. The loan seems kind of generous, I think? The interest doesn't start until after five years," I muttered.
Yeah. On paper, it looked generous. Five years without interest. The interest rate was a bit high, but not unreasonable. It sounded like a blessing. At 10% interest, she would save over 50,000 dollars during those five years compared to a standard accumulating loan.
I couldn't find anything obviously wrong with it. It was just a nagging feeling.
"NO!!!" Yuuno shouted.
"Huh?!"
"Don't take a loan! Don't even go near it!" Yuuno yelled.
I was taken aback by her exaggerated reaction.
"It's not me taking it. It's my friend. Hypothetically speaking," I said.
"Ah… sorry. That brought back some trauma for me."
"What happened? Did you have a bad experience with loan sharks?"
Now that I think about it, Yuuno couldn't progress as an adventurer because she had debt, right? I suddenly grew wary. This could be very bad.
"Um… yeah."
"Could you tell me about it? I promise I won't tell anyone."
I stepped closer, my heart racing as Yuuno prepared to tell her story.