Walking down the quiet residential street, Naoki glanced at his phone. The screen showed 8:24 AM. In his left hand, he carried a paper bag containing fast food—a hamburger and french fries—that he bought for breakfast because he was too lazy to cook at home.
"It's already too late to go to school now." He muttered listlessly. "The quickest solution is to use teleportation through «Ame-no-Mitori». But the risk is too great. Exposing my secret just for one day of absence really isn't worth it."
After considering for a moment, he decided not to go to school today. Besides, he also wasn't sure if there was someone at Kaminoge High School with a perception or surveillance-type Peach Blessing who could monitor the entire school area.
If Naoki suddenly appeared in a bathroom or empty corner after the bell rang, it would instead raise suspicion.
"Anyway, for third-year students, not attending school in the period leading up to graduation like this shouldn't be a problem."
"My attendance so far has already met the minimum threshold for graduation. Besides, after national exams or university entrance exams are over, many high schools in Japan implement a free absence policy for third-year students."
That was indeed a common policy: giving time for students to prepare for moving, handle university administration, or simply rest after the heavy exam period. His mind was at ease with this decision.
"..."
Naoki could already see his house in the distance.
Standing firmly in a quiet corner of Setagaya residential area, the Kamikawa family house looked inconspicuous compared to the surrounding houses. It was a two-story house in typical Japanese residential style, with a simple wood and cement facade, slightly weathered by time but well-maintained.
*CLICK!*
He turned the key, pushed the door, and stepped inside. The usual ritual: removing shoes, arranging them on the wooden rack, then walking barefoot toward the central room.
The living room he entered was floored with tatami, surrounded by floor cushions (zabuton), with a flat-screen TV in the corner of the room and a low table in the middle. The quiet atmosphere indicated that this house was inhabited by only one person.
Sitting on the small sofa near the window, Naoki turned on the TV, changing the channel to morning news. While watching the screen showing weather and traffic reports, he began opening his hamburger wrapper, taking the first bite.
His eyes then focused on a sheet of paper lying on the low table.
Future Plans Questionnaire.
"Future Plans Questionnaire, huh..." he muttered while chewing. "If I hadn't experienced the Mato Disaster that took me to that dimension, if I hadn't fallen into that hole, found a Peach and eaten it, finally awakening the Peach Blessing «Pandemonium»... maybe I would have just followed the future plan written on this paper."
He picked up the questionnaire. In the "Plans After Graduation" and "University Choice" columns, his own handwriting was neatly written: Kokushikan University.
Naoki was self-aware. His academic grades weren't outstanding. After all, his soul came from an Indonesian citizen in his previous life—a country that according to international data had a national average IQ of around 78, higher than chimpanzees but below many countries.
Of course, as a former State Intelligence Agency personnel, Naoki's IQ was definitely far above that national average.
However, still, the standards and educational curriculum in Japan—a developed country with a highly competitive system—were very high. His adaptation wasn't easy.
Clearly, the difference in quality and academic pressure between a developing country like Indonesia and a developed country like Japan was very large.
Realizing the limitations of his academic grades, Naoki never dreamed of applying to elite universities like the University of Tokyo. For Japanese students with mediocre grades or who didn't want to study too hard, there was a category often called F-Rank University—universities with low exam score thresholds and not tight competition.
Kokushikan University was one that often made that list. It was a realistic, safe, and not overly ambitious choice for his "ordinary" self.
But now...
Naoki looked at the questionnaire once more, then a small smile appeared on his lips.
"College... is no longer needed."
With a firm gesture, he crumpled that paper into a small ball in his hand, crushing all plans, all societal expectations, all the "normal" paths that had been set for him.
Then, with an accurate throwing motion, that paper ball landed perfectly inside the trash basket in the corner of the room.
Naoki looked at his own hand, the hand that yesterday could tear through space and erase monsters from existence.
"In the face of power, the ridiculous hierarchy built on money and status is as fragile as thin paper."
He finished his hamburger, eyes still fixed on the TV but his mind had already drifted far—to Mato, to the ten still-empty Qliphoth slots, to a future now full of unlimited and dangerous possibilities.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
Naoki climbed the wooden stairs to the second floor. Each of his steps was sometimes accompanied by light creaking from the old boards, a familiar sound that had become part of this house's silence.
In the upstairs hallway, he passed his parents' bedroom door—a door that hadn't been fully opened for over a dozen years, a room that was now just a storage space for memories and dust. He didn't glance at it; his steps went directly to the room at the end of the hallway.
He opened the door and entered.
The room reflected its owner's hobbies.
A single bed with plain sheets was located in the corner. Near the window, there was a study desk with a closed laptop. A fairly large bookshelf was filled to overflowing with light novels and manga from various genres, neatly arranged by series.
On the other side, there was a simple wardrobe and a glass cabinet with several shelves. Inside that glass cabinet, carefully arranged were various anime and game character action figures—some still in boxes, some displayed in dynamic poses.
At a glance, anyone would immediately know the owner of this room was an otaku. The only thing missing was anime posters on the plain walls, probably because Naoki preferred a minimalist impression.
"Well, let's choose candidates for Peach Blessings to be copied." Naoki said while sitting in the study desk chair.
He opened his laptop, waiting for the system to boot patiently.
As soon as the desktop appeared, he reached into his pants pocket and took out a small black flash drive. Carefully, he plugged it into the USB port.
This flash drive was given to him by Tenka before they parted in the morning. Its contents were very valuable and sensitive: a database of information about Peach Blessings owned by Anti-Demon Corps members, as well as data from women in Japan and other countries known and recorded by intelligence agencies.
This was a collection of highly guarded classified data.
Leaking this information to outsiders could be considered treason against the Anti-Demon Corps and Japanese national interests. However, for Tenka, that rule felt bland compared to the support she wanted to give to her lover.
She was confident Naoki wouldn't spread it to third parties. Moreover, the mechanism of Naoki's «Pandemonium» wasn't harmful. Even if he targeted someone to copy their Peach Blessing, it wouldn't steal or reduce their original ability in the slightest.
"..."
After opening the encrypted file with the password Tenka provided, Naoki opened the main spreadsheet.
"Wow..." Naoki exclaimed in awe. "There are more than a hundred thousand people recorded as having eaten Peaches and awakened abilities! An extraordinary number... though this might be global data collected over many years."
This would be very time-consuming work. But Naoki didn't feel burdened at all. On the contrary, passion burned in his eyes.
"For the sake of becoming stronger, reading this data is a trivial matter."
So, his selection process began. With focus, he began reading each entry one by one. Each row contained a name (or identity code), affiliation (country/unit), Peach Blessing name, and a brief description of the ability and estimated power ranking.
Every time Naoki found an ability that interested him, he would pause for a moment. Then, with a pen and notebook, he would neatly note: the Peach Blessing name, user, and reason why the ability was interesting. He also gave star marks for priority.
The quiet room was only filled by the occasional sound of keyboard typing, the sound of notebook pages being turned, and Naoki's calm breathing who was completely immersed in focus.
Outside the window, the sun continued to rise, but inside that room, time seemed to move differently. Naoki was planning his future, one Peach Blessing at a time.
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