"Who's Aèos?" Isaac asked.
Tanaka froze.
Nishida and James stared at Tanaka, almost as if he's taken something so dear to them.
'See why I dislike you Aèos? You are simply a living hell, occupying the space in my body. Now I'm screwed.'
Tanaka forced a smile on his face.
"Did I really say Aèos? Because I didn't."
Isaac stared deeply at Tanaka.
"You've been acting strange since you returned. Are you alright?"
Tanaka's heart stopped.
'This guy—'
"Have I? I don't think so. I have a match due for tomorrow so I'll rest a bit." With that, Tanaka walked ahead, faster than the three boys, actually forgetting that they were going into the same room.
Tanaka entered a compartment, very minimalistic that suits the taste of the boys. He stopped to gaze around for a while.
Not that he hadn't been in this room before. But for a fact that he had almost lost it forever.
Tanaka for the first time felt very grateful to the system. It had actually come at the right time, when he had almost thought that all hope was lost — when he had almost killed himself due to the shame and embarrassment.
True gratitude. And suddenly a system notification àppeared in his line of sight.
Ding!
[Congratulations, you have won the God of Wisdom's approval by 1%]
Exclusive benefits:
+2 increment for every reward obtained by performing a task.
Free access to the internet, twice per day. Anymore than that will demand your attribute points.
+1 Virtual Loot Box.
[OPEN]
Tanaka blinked.
He did not know that true gratitude could actually make the system favor him. If he had known, maybe by now Aèos would have been much nicer and calmer. Who knows.
However, his hope was crushed almost instantly.
[I'm the same Aèos you know, I never change. You get one tiny fragment of my approval ànd then, you misbehave? What a jackass]
Tanaka snapped.
"Who talked about misbehaving here? And how dare you call me a jackass???"
But he stopped responding to Aèos the moment James, Isaac and Nishida walked into the room slamming the door behind them.
It was at this moment that Tanaka looked over at his bed and realized that it had been moved out.
The empty spot that was meant for the position of his bed gave Tanaka a slight feeling of depression.
"Share my bed Tanaka. I'm sorry we overreacted and moved your bed. Honestly, we did not think that you'd be back again." Isaac said calmly, staring at Tanaka.
But Tanaka sighed.
"It doesn't matter. I'll just share with Nishida. His bed is just as comfortable as mine was."
Tanaka followed Nishida to the lower bunk and he crashed into the soft mattress, feeling the welcoming breeze of sleep. But right at that moment, Nishida asked a question.
"Have you been in contact with your family?"
Tanaka blinked.
'Seriously, at this time? A question?'
He sighed.
"I haven't. I didn't think it was necessary at this time."
Nishida's brows furrowed. "You didn't think it was necessary? Someone lost their family yesterday to a fire outbreak, and you do not think it is necessary?"
"Someone?"
"Yes. He had to take a permit to leave the balling school yesterday. My point being, check up on your family, it is healthy."
Tanaka forced a smile. "Of course I'll check up on them." Then he muttered under his breath, "gosh, what a cheesy boy."
He collapsed under the mattress and didn't let any other sound in until he dozed off.
The next morning.
Ding!
[Daily Mission: Effort X Reward.
Description: You're not good enough. Try harder.
Daily goal:
0/150 pushups
0/150 abs
0/150 Squats
0/200 KM run
Rewards:
+3 Star Point
+1 Loot Box].
'Ugh Aèos, do I really have to be doing these missions everyday?'
[Yes, missions and daily goals are practically inescapable. When you fail to comply, there's always a penalty for every disobedience.]
Tanaka tsked and jumped off the bed.
He started his daily goals. From pushups…
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6…"
Nishida's eyes cracked open.
"Tànaka, it's too early. Please count softly please."
"19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24…"
Nishida rolled his eyes. Of course everyone knows how Tanaka is, he had a very noisy personality that no one could force him to change from.
He can be annoying, noisy and a bit spiteful.
"Let him be Nishida, that's how he is." Isaac said in a lazy tone, dismissing Tanaka's annoying counting…
But wait, how many pushups is he doing? Even Isaac couldn't reach beat such an amount without falling on his stomach.
"45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50…"
Isaac stood up from his bed and stared at Tanaka, his eyes wide.
Nishida stared at Isaac, his eyes burning with something — passionate. He actually wanted to beat Tanaka's pushup record.
But when Tànaka reached a certain number, Isaac's face paled.
Nishida felt the same. And James happened to wake up at that moment only to freeze.
"Who does pushups and never stop?"
Tanaka kept going.
"99, 100, 101, 102, 103…"
And finally.
…150."
Tanaka jumped to his feet.
His breathing was labored, almost as if he's done a very strenuous job. The thing is… Tanaka would have likely stopped in-between the pushups and not completed it all through, but the moment Isaac and Nishida watched him, it felt so good that he wanted to do 200.
'No, the system might make it 200 tomorrow. And why on earth is the count even increasing by 50 every single day?'
[It improves you physically and, you're welcomed]
[150/150 pushups ✓]
Tànaka sneered.
'And of course I did not thank you, duhh.'
[Typical]
Tanaka ignored him and instantly went for his 20KM run.
He left the dormitory, leaving the boys shocked.
"He did 150?" Isaac stuttered.
"I see it too." Nishida whispered.
James stared at the two. "I did not expect that."
And indeed, no one expected a shabby and frail looking Tanaka to actually do 150 pushups. It was quite exhilarating.