Ryuu gasped like a man surfacing after drowning.
Air hit his lungs like fire. His heart pounded like a cracked speaker.
He blinked up at a ceiling—not white void anymore. A very normal, very cracked ceiling with a water stain that looked suspiciously like Pikachu.
"…Home?" he croaked.
His room. Posters. Half-eaten cup noodles. A dusty anime figure shrine. It was all here. His cocoon of loserhood.
But something felt…off.
He looked down at himself.
"Wait—am I buffer?"
He flexed.
Holy shonen glow-up. He wasn't ripped, but the soft otaku belly? Gone. Like Truck-kun had hit him into a gym montage.
And then it happened.
BEEP.
A holographic screen flickered into view above his left hand, like AR tech from a sci-fi anime.
[ReLife System Activated.]
[Daily Mission: Talk to a girl (0/1)]
[Timer: 23:59:42]
[Penalty for Failure: 7-Day Coma + Social Stat -10]
Ryuu groaned. "So it wasn't a dream…"
GLiTCH, his virtual waifu assistant, materialized again—this time, as a tiny floating chibi version of herself with sunglasses.
"Welcome back, Player. You're alive, kinda hot, and on the clock."
He shot up. "Wait! What if I don't talk to a girl?! What if I mess up?!"
"Then you're back in sleep mode, Romeo."
He paled.
"But I don't even know any girls."
"Not my fault you speedran social avoidance. Time to re-roll your stats."
She zapped a small hologram into his palm—a *Karma Orb*, glowing like a heartbeat.
"This tracks your actions. Good karma = rewards. Bad karma = punishments. And romance? That's how you *cultivate* in this world."
"…Romance is cultivation?"
"Yep. Your growth is tied to connection. Every real interaction fuels your energy path. Emotional XP, baby."
Ryuu sank into his chair.
"Of course. My new power system runs on feelings."
"Try not to simp too hard. Now get dressed. You've got 24 hours to not die socially."
Cue mission music.
He sighed.
This was either the best game ever made… or karmic punishment for skipping leg day.
Ryuu stood in front of the door like it was the final boss of a dungeon.
Sweat dripped down his neck. His freshly gained muscles trembled—not from excitement, but sheer dread.
[Time Remaining: 20:03:12]
[Mission: Talk to a girl (0/1)]
GLiTCH hovered beside him, sipping a virtual soda.
"You know you can't stay inside forever, right?"
"I mean, I can. Technically."
"Yeah, but then you get coma'd and lose -10 social stats. Want to be less talkable than you already are?"
He grunted. "Point taken."
He stepped out. The sunlight nearly blinded him—it had been days. Maybe weeks. Who kept track?
Every sound was too loud. Cars honking. Kids yelling. Dogs barking like they owed someone money. His hoodie felt too heavy, like it could smother him in public awkwardness at any moment.
[Nervousness Detected. Activating Passive Skill: Fake Confidence Lv.1]
His posture shifted. Chin up. Shoulders back. His walk looked like someone pretending they knew where they were going.
The universe responded instantly.
A girl stepped out of a convenience store up ahead, carrying a juice box and two shopping bags.
Brown hair in twin buns. Headphones around her neck.
Ryuu locked eyes for 0.2 seconds—enough to trigger a crisis.
GLiTCH pinged:
[Potential NPC Detected: Girl – Code Name: Tutorial-Chan]
[Engage Y/N?]
"Nope. Abort." Ryuu spun on his heel, ready to fake a phone call.
Too late.
A bag slipped from her hand. The juice box tumbled, hit the ground, and rolled toward him.
The simulation stared at him like it dared him to do something human.
Ryuu bent down, picked up the juice box, and handed it back.
"Uh… this yours?"
She blinked. Then smiled. "Yeah. Thanks."
[MISSION SUCCESSFUL.]
[Affection Level: +1]
[Reward: Beginner Cultivation Technique – "Mind Focus Lv.1"]
The world froze.
A soft pulse echoed in his chest. His brain felt... sharper. Calmer.
He'd leveled up.
GLiTCH smirked.
"Congrats. You talked to a girl without combusting. That's called growth."
Ryuu stared at the girl walking away, then at the juice box.
Maybe this life wasn't going to be so bad.
Then his phone rang.
[New Quest: Enter a School Club by Tomorrow. Reward: Spiritual Root Awakening]
Ryuu groaned. "A school club?! I haven't been to school in years!"
"You better start reliving, Player. You've got XP to grind."
Cue outro music.
Ryuu trudged home, mission technically complete, heart still racing. His hand tingled—whether from the juice box or the touch of genuine human interaction, he couldn't tell.
The ReLife Systemhummed quietly in the back of his mind.
New screens floated beside his vision—stats, quests, and… a blinking heart-shaped icon.
[Hinami: Affection Level – 1]
[System Message: Emotional imprint registered. Possible route initiated.]
"Route?" Ryuu muttered.
GLiTCH spun lazily above him.
"Bro, it's like a dating sim mixed with a roguelike and a cultivation grinder. You're the protagonist now. Get used to it."
He sighed. "I barely survived saying hi."
"And you'll barely survive what's coming next."
Ryuu paused on his doorstep. He looked up at the digital sky—still his city, but subtly brighter, more vivid. Like the code underneath it had been rewritten.
He stepped inside, door creaking behind him.
[Main Quest Unlocked: Begin Cultivation – Spiritual Root Awakening]
[Location: School Rooftop – Tomorrow, 3:33 PM]
Ryuu collapsed onto his bed.
"Guess this is my life now…"
A glowing scroll appeared in his hand as he drifted into sleep.
The first cultivation technique.
Ryuu Shinohara jolted awake like someone had poured battery acid down his spine.
His hoodie was still on. So were his gym shoes. But everything else? Different.
The air smelled like mint and clean software. His room—if you could call it that—looked the same but glitched at the edges.
His alarm clock blinked "08:88" in red letters. A floating status window hovered above his head like an annoying RPG tutorial pop-up.
[MISSION 001: Say hi to a girl before midnight.]
[Failure = Social Death Penalty: -10 Confidence, System Shame Event Unlocked.]
Ryuu squinted. "...What the hell is a Social Death Penalty?"
"Basically, you feel like you confessed in front of a crowd while farting," the AI waifu voice replied cheerfully in his head. "Repeatedly."
He groaned, dragging himself up from bed. "I was supposed to be dead. This is worse."
"ReLife means second chances, hoodie boy," the AI chirped. "Your stats are trash, your luck's broken, and your romance score is so low I had to patch it just to display."
Ryuu blinked at the mirror. His face was the same. Mid-length shaggy black hair, dark circles, no spark of main character energy. But something… pulsed in his chest. Like a start button had finally been pressed.
He checked his status:
[Ryuu Shinohara | Lvl 0 Cultivator]
• Karma: -3
• Luck: 2/100
• Romance Score: 0
• Affection Tracker: (No entries)
• Daily Quest: SAY HI TO A GIRL
He felt like vomiting.
"You wanted change," the voice reminded him, softer now. "This is the tutorial. Say hi. That's it."
Ryuu sighed and grabbed his backpack.
He muttered, "Can't believe I got reincarnated just to die of social anxiety."
[School]
The school gates looked taller today. More judgmental, somehow.
Ryuu adjusted his hoodie to maximum shadow-mode, headphones in with no music playing—classic introvert camouflage.
Inside, the hall buzzed like a hive of NPCs. Laughing. Talking. Existing. Ryuu crept through like a side character in a dating sim who wasn't meant to be seen.
"Target-rich environment," the AI cooed. "You've got exactly"—
[Timer: 15 Hours, 42 Minutes]
"—to say hi to a girl. Any girl. Bonus points if she doesn't run away screaming."
"Not helping," he muttered under his breath.
He passed groups of students, all seemingly glowing with confidence. Level 10 Extroverts. Girls with hair physics worthy of anime openings.
Then—like fate teasing him—his eyes locked with her.
Hinami Kazehaya.
Golden-brown hair tied in a ribbon. Quiet. Always reading.
She looked up from her book, just for a second.
His system pinged.
[Affinity Spark: Hinami – Interest Level: 0.1]
[New optional objective: Say more than one sentence. Reward: Stat Boost]
"There's your in," Glitch whispered. "This is a romance game. She's literally giving you a side quest."
He took one step forward. Then stopped.
His palms were sweaty. Knees weak—
"Don't quote Eminem," Glitch groaned.
"I'm not ready," Ryuu whispered. "This is just… dumb."
He spun around—straight into another student. Books spilled everywhere.
"Oh crap, sorry!" he said automatically, helping pick them up.
The girl blinked at him. Short black bob. Glasses. Soft voice. "You… talked to me."
[MISSION UPDATE: GIRL DETECTED. GREETING POSSIBLE.]
Ryuu froze. "Wait. Does that count?"
"Only if you say something real. No auto-pilot NPC lines."
He swallowed hard. Looked her in the eyes.
"Um… cool books. Are you into sci-fi?"
She smiled, surprised. "Yeah. You?"
Ping.
[Quest Complete: +2 Confidence | Romance Score: +1]
[Achievement: You Didn't Die!]
Ryuu's heart thudded.
He didn't faint. He didn't choke.
He… actually said hi.
For the first time, the system voice sounded proud.
"Look at you. Real dialogue. Main character material.
Ryuu walked away in a daze. Not fast—cool casual. Like it was no big deal.
Inside, his brain was doing somersaults and backflips.
"Congrats," the system chimed in. "That was a very un-losery thing to do."
"You've unlocked your first Reward Crate."
A holographic screen popped open mid-air like a loot box opening on stream.
[Quest Rewards Unlocked]
• +2 Confidence
• +1 Charisma
• Bonus: "Minimal Social Anxiety" Passive (Tier 0)
• 100 EXP
"Minimal social anxiety…?" Ryuu muttered. "That's a buff now?"
"Oh, definitely," Glitch smirked. "Your old anxiety was basically boss-tier."
As he walked toward the back stairs—the spot where loners took refuge during lunch—he noticed something strange. The halls felt… softer.
Colors slightly warmer. The air lighter.
And… Hinami? Still sitting by the stairs, but she glanced his way again. This time, she didn't look through him.
He blinked. "Did the world just… respond to that?"
"Bingo," said the AI. "Micro-reality responds to emotional-state and karma flow. You just made a ripple."
"Keep leveling up… and you'll start rewriting your story."
Ryuu stood at the top of the stairwell, looking out the window at the school courtyard.
Just yesterday, this place felt like a prison.
Now? It felt like a side-quest hub.
"Maybe this isn't so stupid after all," he said under his breath.
"It's only stupid if you quit. And don't forget…"
[Next Main Quest Unlocked: Complete 3 Social Interactions in One Day]
[Reward: Mystery Item – Tier 1 Upgrade Potential]
The bell rang.
Ryuu pulled his hoodie up.
Ready for his next mission.