3rd April, Wednesday
Despite being transmigrated, my eyes automatically opened up at 6am, which used to be my natural time for waking up.
Before I could even think about anything, a blue screen popped up in front of me.
[Daily Mission:
1. Run 5 kilometres. (0/5)
2. Complete 20 push-ups. (0/20)
3. Choose and learn any technique for 15 minutes. (0/15)
4. Study Mathematics for 30 minutes. (0/30)
5. Meditate for 10 minutes continuously. (0/10)
6. Read any non-academic book for 30 minutes. (0/30)
Rewards:
+6 available points
Up to +5 points in each stat, depending on exceeding tasks.
Penalty:
-1 point in each stat with an incomplete task.
Time left: 18:01:28]
"Who the fuck starts a day like that? I just woke up!" I exclaimed, looking at the tasks and penalties. "And here I was, thinking I would finally get a free morning without any part-time job."
Wait, just +6 points? I surely hadn't read all the novels related to systems, but out of all I knew, none was this stingy! More to that, 100 points were merely the average over here, which reduced the worth of each point too.
After freshening up and thinking a bit, I chose to complete the physical tasks and meditation for now. I decided to start with the easiest one and sat down to meditate.
It was not easy. Not easy at all. In my previous life, I had always ignored meditation because I thought it was a waste of time to just sit around.
Every time I tried to focus on my breathing, my mind started wandering, and the most embarrassing memories, both mine and Yamauchi's, repeatedly played.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, my mobile rang, marking the end of 10 minutes. Strangely satisfied, I mentally commanded the system to open the screen.
———
With my lungs burning, nearly lifeless legs, I sat down on the nearest bench after I saw the screen reading (5/5). After completing meditation, I went for push ups since I could break them apart and just do a few at a time. Or so I thought. It didn't work, resetting every time I stopped.
Then I had started with the current run, which had just ended.
Now, it was time for the most confusing task, choose and learn any technique for 15 minutes. Like, what did I have to choose from? Where would I learn from? I had close to zero knowledge in this.
As if answering my thoughts, a new screen popped up in front of me, with numerous options to choose from.
Still panting from my previous run, I checked out the options.
After catching my breath, I walked back to my dorms and decided to choose the technique I had heard of the most– Judo. For the next 15 minutes, I was pretending to throw an invisible opponent while trying to maintain my position and balance, at least to others, if they would be looking at me.
Turns out that Judo isn't very effective when training solo, so the system decided to give me a holographic mentor. I would be lying if I said I wasn't embarrassed, but I had learnt enough not to care much about it.
Now, all that was left for today was... Maths and some random novel.
After reaching the dorms, I took a bath and decided to make a dish of oats, since it was one of the only few healthy things I knew how to make.
The clock still only read 7am, and I had nothing new to do now. Since my academics was somehow really bad, I decided to spend the next half of an hour improving my fundamentals of mathematics.
It was difficult to focus even in this small period, likely because of my [ADHD], but I managed to counter it with small breaks.
With nothing else to do, I decided to finally let myself be free and look at other facilities the school offered.
The Keyaki Mall was beautifully managed, with only one giant shop for each type of product, which had almost all products of all major companies.
Even the most useless and weird things were kept in stocks, and if by some chance there was a product a student needed but didn't exist here, there was a special shop which was dedicated to bring them in without any extra cost.
I had always wanted to buy a high-end laptop, although it wouldn't be very useful here, it was still easily affordable for me, costing only 90k points. So I should be able to buy it next month.
There was also a gigantic gym here, even with all kinds of equipment, the membership cost was only 2k/month or 20k/year if bought together. I was tempted to sign up, but I had already spent a lot, so chose to hold back.
'Maybe after I buy the laptop…'
Time passed quickly, and soon I found myself back in the classroom.
That was when things went south.
Unlike yesterday, the teachers suddenly increased the pace, due to which most students below average, which was the majority of the class, including myself, felt everything going over their heads.
The fact that the teachers didn't care one bit didn't help either. So almost everyone who didn't understand anything simply took out their phone, novels, or started sleeping like a certain someone beside me.
I tried to ask a few questions to make them realise but was cut down with vague answers which I didn't understand. In the end, I gave up and took out my maths book.
Thankfully, at least the book was detailed even about the previous years' topics. After what felt like an eternity, the bell finally rang, marking the start of the lunch break era.
…Which only lasted for merely 40 minutes.
Anyways, watching the screen that just popped up in front of me, I took a deep breath, relieved and sort of proud at the same time.
[4. Study Mathematics for 30 minutes. (213/30)]
The main reason I had put so much focus on academics was that I usually relied on cramming a few days before the exams to get a decent score. But with the limitations set by the system and Yamauchi's goldfish-like memory, I couldn't rely on that anymore. I knew I could be confident in passing via cramming only once my stats were above average. But that was so not the case right now.
Knowing that my next lectures were going to be as good as free time for me, I quickly finished my lunch and went to the library. I still had a task left to complete, after all.
I asked the rest of my group to tag along, but apart from Ayanokoji, everyone declined without having to think twice.
…And Ayanokoji declined too, but after thinking twice.
Just like everything else in the school, not one expense had been spared on the library. Unsurprisingly, it was mostly empty, except for a few seniors.
Since I was supposed to be reading to improve my critical thinking, what option would be better than detective novels? I went to the librarian, a beautiful young lady, likely in her late twenties.
When I asked about the detective novels section, she seemed quite surprised, but also welcoming. With her guidance, I went to that section and found a silver-haired short girl, silently checking out a lot of books and hoarding even more of them.
[Name: Hiyori Shiina
Class: 1-C
Physical stats:
Stamina - 43
Strength - 44
Combat technique - 50
Average physical stats - 45.67
Mental stats:
Academic ability - ??
Memorisation power - ??
Critical thinking - ??
Average mental stats - ??]
My first thought was that she was the long-lost evil twin of Sudou. And except for the fact that Sudou was evil and she might be an angel, I seemed correct. She was also currently the only one I knew from class C to surpass me in Critical Thinking.
"Hey, uh, need any help?" I asked without thinking as the bunch she was carrying seemed quite heavy even for me to lift— not that I was that better than her in that regard. But she just felt like a fragile statue that had to be protected at all costs.
She looked at me, a bit embarrassed and confused. It was quite obvious that she needed help, but she seemed not to want to bother me. "Uhh, it's alright, I got this. I wouldn't want to bother you."
"Don't worry about it, here let me take half of it. You can give me some suggestions for reading in return, if possible."
A small, yet confident smile formed on her face as she nodded, giving me half of the books. "Thank you, uh…"
"Oh, right. Yamauchi Haruki, class 1-D. And you?" I asked even though I already knew, while putting the books on the table occupied with her bag.
"Hiyori Shiina, class 1-C. It is nice to meet you, Yamauchi-kun," she quickly replied with a smile.
"Likewise, Hiyori-san. Now, if you don't mind it, can you suggest some detective genre books to me?"
She seemed much more interested in talking about books than I had thought. If I had to explain her whole personality in one word, it'd be bookworm.
'Yep, she's definitely the evil twin of that demon!'
She suggested to me a few books, mostly of Agatha Christie's works like 'Murder on the Orient Express' and 'And Then There Were None'. I decided to go with the latter one since it was already present in the bunch of books I brought here, and the synopsis seemed good enough.
Thanking her, I went back to the librarian and then spent the rest of my time reading through the novel in the classroom.
While I had just read a few chapters, a new screen appeared in front of me.
[Daily Mission complete!
Rewards: +6 Available points]
[Note: Additional points for exceeding tasks will be given after midnight.]
'Huh… that's neat. Add them all to Academic ability.'
[Academic ability - 48 (+6)
Average mental stats - 68.67 (+2)
Available points: 0]
Satisfied, I let out a creepy smile while looking at the screen, partially zoned out. However, as the screen quickly disappeared, I realised that I was staring in the direction of Kushida, who had somehow noticed it.
Flustered, I quickly went back to my novel, pretending that nothing happened.
The rest of the time was uneventful. Many teachers came and went, but most students didn't even care or notice. Soon, the bell rang and a screen popped up in front of me.
[6. Read any non-academic book for 30 minutes. (222/30)]
At the end of class, Ike suddenly came to me and asked with a serious expression, "Who are you, and what did you do to Yamauchi?"
As I stared at him with a confused, dumbfounded look, he burst out in laughter.
"But seriously, you were like a completely different person on the first day, what happened suddenly? Post-nut clarity?"
I stared at him with a deadpan expression and said, "Yeah… something like that. Anyways, I have to go to my club now. See ya later!"
'I need to stay away from this guy…'