The hallway was quiet, but Takeshi's heart was playing a drum solo.
He slipped back into his apartment and locked the door. The contrast was brutal. Outside, the air had smelled of Sae Kirigaya's expensive vanilla perfume. Inside, it smelled of bachelor despair and three-day-old garbage.
But for the first time in his life, Takeshi didn't feel like garbage.
He sat on his futon, ignoring the springs poking his back. He waved his hand in the empty air.
"System. Shop."
WHOOSH.
The golden interface expanded, filling his vision. It wasn't a flat menu. It was a 3D showroom, shelves floating in a void of digital stars.
[ WELCOME TO THE CHARM SHOP (LVL 1) ][ CURRENT CP: 100 ]
Takeshi's eyes scanned the top shelf. His jaw dropped.
[ ITEM: "Pheromone of the Emperor" ]Description: Targets within 10 meters feel an instinctive urge to obey. Cost: 50,000 CP
[ ITEM: "Stock Market Oracle" ]Description: Predicts one major stock fluctuation 24 hours in advance. Cost: 10,000 CP
[ ITEM: "Voice of the Siren" ]Description: +50 to Singing, +20 to Persuasion. Cost: 5,000 CP
"Fifty thousand?" Takeshi choked. "I got 100 points for saving a goddess from a stuck lock. I'd have to save the entire planet to buy that."
He scrolled down. The items got cheaper, but more depressing.
[ ITEM: "Instant Breath Mint" ] - Cost: 5 CP [ ITEM: "Clean Socks (Pair)" ] - Cost: 10 CP
"Great. I can be the Emperor of Fresh Breath."
He stopped at the item the System had recommended earlier. It was glowing with a faint white light, indicating it was a "consumable."
[ ITEM: "Basic Hygiene Reconstruction Kit (Rank F)" ]Description: Removes deep-seated impurities. Corrects minor posture issues. Clears skin. Eliminates "Loser Stench." Cost: 50 CP
Takeshi touched his face. Grease. Acne scars from high school. His hair was a bird's nest of split ends. Even when he showered, he felt dirty. It was like the grime was in his soul.
"Loser Stench," he muttered. "Subtle."
He looked at the price. 50 CP. Half his fortune.
If he bought this, he'd have 50 left. That wasn't enough to buy a skill. But if he went to college tomorrow looking like... this... after what happened in the cafeteria?
He'd rather die.
"Buy it."
[ CONFIRM PURCHASE: 50 CP? ]
"Yes."
[ TRANSACTION COMPLETE. ]
A small, white cardboard box materialized in his hand. It looked like medicine from a pharmacy, plain and unassuming.
Takeshi opened it. Inside was a single pill. It was jet black, smelling faintly of charcoal and mint.
"Here goes nothing."
He swallowed it dry.
For ten seconds, nothing happened.
"I just spent my life savings on a magical breath mint," Takeshi sighed, flopping back onto the pillow. "I really am an idi—"
Pain.
It hit him like a truck. Not sharp pain, but a deep, burning heat in his gut. It spread through his veins like liquid fire.
"Gah!"
Takeshi curled into a ball. His skin felt like it was bubbling. He could feel his spine cracking, shifting, aligning itself. The pop-pop-pop of his vertebrae sounded like fireworks.
Sweat poured off him. But it wasn't normal sweat. It was thick, grey, and oily. It oozed from his pores, staining his cheap t-shirt.
He scrambled to the bathroom, tearing his clothes off, and jumped into the shower.
He scrubbed. He scrubbed until his skin was raw. The water running down the drain was black. It was as if twenty-two years of bad food, bad sleep, and bad luck were physically leaving his body.
The heat in his veins subsided, replaced by a cool, vibrating buzz.
Takeshi turned off the water. He stood there dripping, afraid to look up.
"System," he whispered. "Status."
[ NAME: TAKESHI YAMADA ][ CHARM: 3 -> 12 (Slightly Below Average) ][ SKIN CONDITION: CLEAR ][ POSTURE: CORRECTED ]
Twelve? It went up nine points?
He slowly wiped the steam from the bathroom mirror.
The man staring back wasn't a K-Pop idol. He wasn't a movie star.
But he wasn't a goblin anymore.
The angry red acne was gone, replaced by pale, clean skin. His eyes, usually half-closed and dull, looked wider. The whites were clearer. His shoulders, usually hunched near his ears, sat lower and broader.
He looked... normal.
For Takeshi Yamada, "normal" was a miracle.
"I have a face," he said, touching his cheek. "I actually have a face."
[ SYSTEM NOTICE ][ First Appearance Upgrade Complete. ][ Hidden Stat Unlocked: CONFIDENCE ][ Current Confidence: 5/100 ]
Takeshi laughed. It was a shaky sound. "Five out of a hundred. Still trash. But better than zero."
He went back to his room. The clock on his phone read 2:00 AM.
He needed to sleep. Tomorrow was Monday. He had to walk back into that cafeteria. He had to face Yuki. He had to face the soccer team.
The anxiety returned, tightening his chest. But then he caught the scent of vanilla drifting through the thin walls. Sae Kirigaya was sleeping just a few feet away.
She had smiled at him.
He closed his eyes. For the first time in years, he didn't dream of falling.
Monday Morning. 8:30 AM.
The University of Tokyo gate loomed like the entrance to a dungeon.
Students streamed in. Laughing, chatting, holding hands. The winners of the genetic lottery.
Takeshi stood by a vending machine, gripping the strap of his backpack. He was wearing his best clothes—a black button-down shirt and jeans. They were old, but he had ironed them for forty minutes this morning.
He caught his reflection in the glass of the vending machine. With his hair washed and his posture straight, he didn't look like the "creepy otaku" anymore. He just looked like a quiet student.
I can do this, he thought. Just keep your head down. Go to class. Go home.
DING!
The blue screen appeared, blocking his view of the campus.
[ DAILY MISSION TRIGGERED ]
[ MISSION: THE WALK OF SHAME ]Objective: Enter the cafeteria at peak breakfast hour (Now). Buy a coffee. Do not run away. Reward: 50 CP + Skill Book (Random). Failure Penalty: -5 Charm (You will revert to Goblin Mode).
Takeshi stared at the floating text.
"You're kidding," he hissed. "You want me to go back there? Less than 24 hours later?"
[ SYSTEM TIP: A man who hides from his failures will never be a Protagonist. ]
Takeshi looked at the gate. Then he looked at the Penalty. -5 Charm. If he lost 5 points now, he'd drop to a 7. He'd be ugly again. The grey slime would come back.
He clenched his fists. The nails dug into his palms.
"Fine," he gritted out. "You want a show? I'll give you a show."
He stepped away from the vending machine.
He didn't slouch. He didn't look at his shoes. He fixed his eyes on the main building and started walking.
As he passed a group of girls from his literature class, he braced himself for the giggles. He waited for the pointing.
"Hey, is that Yamada?" one whispered. "No way. Yamada is... smaller. Dirtier." "It looks like him. Did he get a haircut?"
They weren't laughing. They were confused.
Takeshi felt a surge of adrenaline. It was addictive. The "Hygiene Kit" hadn't just cleaned his skin; it had erased his "Kick Me" sign.
He reached the cafeteria doors. The noise inside was a roar of voices and clattering trays. This was the boss room.
Takeshi took a deep breath. He pushed the double doors open.
The noise didn't stop, but the heads near the entrance turned. They were expecting the hunched-over victim from yesterday.
Instead, they saw a man walking with a straight back, his eyes sharp, moving directly toward the coffee counter.
Takeshi felt the gaze of two hundred people. It felt heavy, like physical pressure. But he kept walking.
Left foot. Right foot. Don't blink.
He reached the counter. The barista, a girl he had a crush on last semester who never looked at him, blinked.
"Can I help you?" she asked. Not 'What do you want?' but 'Can I help you?'
"Black coffee," Takeshi said. His voice was steady. "Large."
As he waited, he felt a burning sensation on the back of his neck. A gaze far more intense than the others.
He turned slowly.
Sitting at the center table—the "Throne Room"—was Yuki. She was surrounded by her court of soccer players. She was holding a melon bread halfway to her mouth, staring at him.
Her eyes were wide. She looked at his clean hair. His clear skin. The way his shirt actually fit his shoulders.
Above her head, a pink heart appeared.
[ TARGET: YUKI ][ AFFECTION: 15 (Pity) -> ERROR... RECALCULATING ]
The number flickered.
Takeshi grabbed his coffee. He didn't smile at her. He didn't wave. He didn't run.
He looked her dead in the eye, took a sip of the bitter coffee, and turned his back on her.
DING!
[ MISSION ACCOMPLISHED ][ REWARD: 50 CP ][ REWARD: SKILL BOOK - "EYE OF THE PLAYER (LVL 1)" ]
Takeshi walked out of the cafeteria, his heart hammering like a machine gun, the hot coffee burning his hand.
He felt like he had just slain a dragon.
"Recalculating," he whispered to himself, a savage grin forming on his lips. "Keep calculating, Yuki. I'm just getting started."
He stepped out into the sunlight.
[ NEW ALERT ][ SYSTEM WARNING: Hostile Intent Detected. ]
Takeshi stopped.
Blocking his path stood three guys in varsity jackets. The soccer team. The ones who had laughed the loudest yesterday.
The leader, a guy named Kenta with bleach-blonde hair and a smirk that needed punching, cracked his knuckles.
"Yo, Yamada," Kenta sneered, stepping closer. "Nice shirt. Did you steal it from a corpse?"
Takeshi looked at the floating text above Kenta's head.
[ ENEMY DETECTED: KENTA SATO ][ THREAT LEVEL: HIGH ][ OPTION A: Apologize (Dignity -10) ][ OPTION B: Run (Stamina Check) ][ OPTION C: Use "Eye of the Player" (Cost: 10 CP) ]
Takeshi looked at the coffee in his hand. Then he looked at Kenta's expensive white sneakers.
"Option C," Takeshi thought.
The world slowed down.