Chapter 167: Vents~
During the Thursday evening when I thought I would have time to chill, instead I was sent out on a mission by the system, coming here was easy, but now I was fully questioning the system's intention when the second choice came upon me.
"Is it trying to train me into a freaking soldier?" I asked out loud, frustrated because it sure felt like it, with the two alternatives I was given.
I chose to oversee my stats to make my final decision on that matter.
Intelligence: 86
Luck: 85
Endurance: 83
Agility: 84
Strength: 87
And then I proceeded to read the missions again, making sure whatever I have seen was indeed the case.
'Would you rather train parkour for the next 30 minutes or climb inside vents in an abounded building? I sighed, still feeling conflicted.
"Do I risk an injury, that would be caused by my bad balance and still miss out on a stat or climb inside some dusty vents that may give me an allergic reaction at best, and claustrophobia at worst? Or I return home like this never took place and face the consequences?" Reminding myself what happened to the future Michi, with the wish to stay in this world, I found myself standing in front of a building that Venus guided me to when I requested assistance.
"This better be worth my time," I grumbled and opened up a vent by putting enough force into my kick. But no matter how deep I ventured inside nothing seemed to have happened.
"And now it wants me to climb up?" I sighed feeling like a local spiderman, not for good reasons. And currently, Venus appeared before me in its fairy robotic form as if she was guiding me someplace.
Later she even asked me to keep quiet, which I obliged since I was worried this trip would have been for nothing otherwise, the system had the higher ground and all.
However later on I realized I wasn't the only person that thought abounded buildings were the trend nowadays, I heard two people in the distance having a whole ass conversation. And in no time they were in my hearing vicinity, considering how quiet it was here, the sound was traveling much further. I halted my exploration, wanting to know who I was dealing with, but I sure didn't expect to hear this.
"Kisaki, I'm not sure I can trust your words any longer, whenever I see the two of you spending time together so lovingly, I can't imagine you ever wanting to part with Michi, yet you promised me you would, so which one is the truth?" Wait what kind of shit show did I descend upon? I unknowingly clenched my knuckles expecting a good answer to come from my hubby, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.
"She's just a stepping stone to my future goals..." I heard him say with no hesitation at all. My stomach was already feeling sick, but I stayed put, trying to find any possible assurance this was the trick he was pulling on Hanma to keep him away from me.
"So I will paint you as a saint in her eyes when the time is due, so just stay put and stop questioning me." So what could his plan possibly be? Dumping me so viciously that once Hanma comes and tries to comfort me, this giraffe will be seen as a better candidate thru my eyes? What was even going on?
"So all this for just one girl that already has a boyfriend? You're as vicious as ever." There was a pause followed by Kisaki saying.
"You wouldn't understand." But there was still one thing I couldn't comprehend, what kind of goal did he have in mind this time around? Was he planning on using my connections in some shape or form? Or he could spot my potential of me getting ahead of everyone in terms of strength?
I felt an overwhelming flow of emotions and experienced anger and sadness, but as quickly I just felt the emptiness inside.
But I couldn't recollect my thoughts for long because I abruptly heard a startling sound, without any warning the air vent I was inside caved in, which was strange since the building didn't look too old from the outside. I fell to the ground with a big thud, some rumble, and dust surrounding me. I could swear I broke at least one bone in this endeavor. I coughed and looked up, seeing Kisaki and Hanma glancing at me from the distance.
"Were you spying on me?" Was the first accusation I heard. I rolled my eyes.
"Like I have nothing better to do in my life than spying on people... I came up with a new game, called scaring unsuspecting people from jumping out of the air vents! Convincing people I'm an alien impostor... but I never thought I would stumble my way on something like this. Talk about a ruined evening."
"Wait Michi I..." I interrupted my now ex-boyfriend.
"Spare me the nonsense, I heard it all. I guess no one in your eyes could ever compare to Hinata..." There was no screaming, no crying just me phrasing everything in the calmest voice.
"But you're hurt," Tetta mentioned in a trembling voice, I looked at my arm and yes my suspicions turned out to be true, I couldn't move it, it was indeed broken, I guess despite all this I unconsciously was keeping it in place to focus one thing at a time.
So what kind of conclusion did I arrive at this precise moment? Despite Kisaki's future goal pursuit, he still did in fact care about me, but whenever he was aware of it himself I had no clue.
"Seems to be the case, maybe you should have sorted out your feelings before it came to this?" So considering my Intelligence stat was above Kisaki's, the system must have wanted to use this shortest route for me to find out the truth, which I assumed my future self must have turned down, because of the sheer ridiculousness of this situation. It seemed like the truth was always bound to make its way up to the surface.
Kisaki looked conflicted, like he wanted to showcase his goodwill, but knew he had no claims to do so. I just sighed while announcing.
"We're over... but I guess you caught that..." But soon I found out that what bothered me the most was not Kisaki's reaction in fact, but Hanma's he just stood there like he was observing a really good show as if this didn't involve him in the slightest. Like he didn't dip his own toes in this slimy situation just even for a second.
"Hope this worth it for ya." I just went wherever my legs took me, considering the pain I wanted to drink a health potion and call it a day, feeling all those conflicting emotions was way too exhausting. But then I recalled the wound on my cheek, it was bound to heal once I consumed the potion, would the stitches pose a problem? Would the thread remain there if my skin grew over it? My impatience in this situation guided my legs to a nearby craft shop and then to a public toilet, with scissors in hand I stared at the reflection in the mirror, examining the old wound before I cut the thread and ripped it away with sheer force.
I knew it was a stupid thing to do, but at that point, I hardly cared. Some blood got splattered onto the sink from my newly opened wound, I stared at it with a certain hint of indifference, until a woman shook me back to reality, by shrieking at the sight of blood.
"Teenagers are freaking scary!" Was the only thing I heard her shout before she ran off as if her life depended on it. This gave me a certain chuckle before I headed inside the stall to consume the red liquid. For a while I just stared at the ceiling, I wasn't too sure how much time went by during that time, ten minutes maybe half an hour, but one thing was certain, it sure made me hungry, but I didn't feel like eating, that was the problem.
"Is this how people usually feel during heartbreak?" I asked myself before I decided to finally walk out, at this point my face was completely healed, any scratches from the fall have long disappeared, and the only remaining thing was the arm which still wasn't in the best of shape.
"I guess I need to eat something to continue the healing process." As if my body agreed with me I heard a loud rumble coming from my stomach.
"Yeah, I'm on my way." I took the trouble to get myself to the convenience store and buy myself a meal that probably made me look like a hungover person. But once I bit into one of the sandwiches that I thought would be an easy meal to consume, I saw Venus emerging itself from thin air in its fairy form. An emoji was displayed on its head screen, a broken heart. Right on cue, a stream of warm tears fell from my face like a river. Thankfully the people around me didn't pay me any attention so I headed back home, devouring the now soggy piece of bread that I was holding onto with my functioning arm.
"Mom!" was the first thing I heard myself yell when I stumbled my way inside the house half an hour later. At this point no tears were coming out, I was just merely exhausted.
"I'm in the living room!" Once I headed there I noticed how Kazutora was hugging mom while sitting on the couch, was he also having a bad day? Or was this your usual cuddle Thursday or whatever?
"I need cuddles!" Jumped onto the sofa with the two of them.
"What happened, you look like you've been crying a lot?" Kazutora was quick to point out.
"Well for starters I fell and broke my arm..."
"Valid reason." He nodded his head.
"And then I dumped my boyfriend..." I added while Kazutora slipped on that peculiar part.
"Wait what? Finally?" I just launched my kick, hitting the target.
"Want me to give Keisuke a call to comfort you?"
"I will use you as a goddamn tissue!" I stood up and started to run around the house trying to wipe my nose on his clothes.
"What are you so scared of Kazutora? How about becoming an exemplary big brother and comforting your sister yourself instead of dumping it on others huh?"
"No! You're trying to wipe your nose on me, that's gross." I made a pouting face.
"Alright, I got this!" And so he put me into a hug while adding.
"Don't worry you will find someone better." Totally not helping the situation at hand.
"But my dumpling..."
"Dumpling... you want to eat dumplings right now?" He asked confused.
"We can buy some." I started crying again.
"You want them that bad? Shit, wait I will send Keisuke on a mission."
Weekly Power Status
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