[Name: Minamoto Senya]
[Strength: 7.8][Agility: 7.5][Constitution: 8.2](Average for an eight-year-old human: 5.3)
[Charm: 14.9][Unallocated Points: 2]
[Skills: Japanese LV5, Chinese LV5, English LV4, Cooking LV3, Drawing LV1, Piano LV1, Aikidō LV1…]
The reward Minamoto Senya received for completing the quest involving Sawamura Eriri left him very satisfied.
It might look like just a few attribute points, nothing special at a glance.But the truth was, his stats normally only grew at a natural rate of about 0.1 per month.
Which meant a single attribute point was roughly equivalent to an entire year's worth of natural growth.
Two points? Almost two years' worth of improvement in one go.The value of such a reward was undeniable.
Without hesitation, Senya placed his two points into Strength and Agility.
His usual goal was to balance all his stats evenly—striving for that perfect, well-rounded "square warrior" build.
But every single quest reward always seemed to force an increase in Charm.
Sometimes it was a full point, other times just 0.1 or 0.2 here and there.
Senya had every reason to suspect that his system was deliberately trying to mold him into some kind of walking incubus, though he had no evidence to prove it.
"Something wrong? You've been staring at the sky and sighing."To his left, Yukinoshita Yukino spoke, her tone casual, not particularly worried.
Senya shook his head and replied lightly, "It's nothing. Just a little tired."
On his right, Sawamura Eriri fidgeted with concern. Her large, expressive eyes fixed on him, full of hesitation.
Finally, mustering her courage, she held out the bottle of spring water she had just bought.
"Um… if you're thirsty after running, you can have this."
Senya wasn't thirsty. But the look in Eriri's eyes—hopeful yet afraid of rejection—was enough to make him accept it with a nod of thanks.
This was during P.E. class, one week after the school festival.
Class 1 and Class 4 were holding joint lessons.
The activity today was long-distance running, which had most students groaning in despair.
Eriri and Yukino, both frail girls with Constitution scores of 3.4 and 3.5, had caught the flu a few days ago—whether one infected the other, nobody knew.
Though they had recovered, their bodies were still weak and shaky, so they were excused from running today.
Senya, meanwhile, had stamina to spare. Even without going all out, he finished the course first.
And as he sat down at the sidelines to rest, the two girls came over to sit beside him.
Senya couldn't help but feel that his absurdly high Charm stat was working on Yukino.
After all, even when he didn't make the first move, she seemed to gravitate toward his side naturally now.
As for Eriri—well, she was even more obvious.
After the festival, she had come to see both him and Yukino as her friends, since they had been supporting her all this time. She stuck with them constantly and often shared snacks with them for no reason at all.
"Oh, right, Yukino," Eriri suddenly chirped. "I told my parents, and starting this afternoon, I'll be joining the same cram school you're going to!"
"Oh?" Yukino perked up slightly. "Which subject? Math? English?"
"Drawing!"
With that bright, confident answer, Senya nodded knowingly.
So the flow of history hadn't strayed from the original path.
Back during the school festival, the drama club's promotional poster had been designed and drawn by her.
Her art skills, while not at the level of a professional, were outstanding for her age group—top of the pyramid among elementary students.
"Eriri's drawings are already amazing. With proper lessons, you'll get even better!"
Go for it, Number Two Honor Student.
Now that Eriri had become one of his bindable characters, Senya sincerely wished for her to shine even brighter.
His encouragement made her cheeks flush pink, and she silently vowed to herself that she would improve her art so as not to disappoint him.
Time slipped by uneventfully.
As per the promise he had made with Yukinoshita Haruno earlier, Senya was expected to visit the Yukinoshita household on Christmas Eve.
He had no idea why Haruno insisted on such a condition as repayment for her help, but it didn't really matter.
It was just showing up at their home—it wouldn't take too much effort.
Senya's father, Minamoto Sanada, was a bartender, which meant he worked in the service industry.
And as everyone knew, service jobs tended to run opposite to normal life.
When others were off work and wanted to spend money, that's when he was busiest. When holidays came, that's when he worked the hardest.
On Christmas Day, Sanada had already left early for work by noon.
Senya had told him nothing more than that he'd be visiting a nearby friend's house and would be back in a couple of minutes. He didn't want his father to worry.
In truth, however, the Yukinoshita residence was a good half-hour drive away.
Senya couldn't afford a taxi and had planned to take the train.
But before Yukino could even comment, Eriri had already jumped in with an alternative solution.
And so, at around six in the evening, a car pulled up in front of Senya's home.
Eriri stepped out from the back seat, beaming, and eagerly invited him in.
At the wheel was her father; her mother sat in the passenger seat.
They were both warm and friendly, clearly already fond of him.
Most likely, Eriri had told them how much Senya had helped her at school.
They went out of their way to insist that he was always welcome to visit Eriri at their home during holidays, and if transportation was an issue, they'd gladly pick him up like today. Staying over for a few nights would be fine, too.
The half-hour drive passed quickly.
After watching the two children walk up to the Yukinoshita house, the Sawamuras waved goodbye, promising to pick them up later.
Yukino herself was already waiting at the door to greet them.
At home, she was different from how she seemed at school.
That icy, dignified aura of hers had softened a little, replaced with something more gentle.
"Sorry for intruding."
Senya held out a gift box.
It was a holiday treat from his father's bar—an employee perk—which worked perfectly as a present for the occasion.
Yukino hadn't expected him to show up so formally prepared, but she accepted it gracefully with a quiet word of thanks.
"Ah, this one's not…"
Senya quickly pulled back the other bag in his hand.
With the rest of the Yukinoshita family present, now wasn't the time to explain. For now, he simply greeted them all politely.
The family welcomed both visitors warmly, and then Yukino led Senya and Eriri up to her room.
Once it was just the three of them, Senya opened the bag and revealed two bright red apples, each wrapped neatly with ribbons and placed in small boxes.
One for each girl.
After all, on Christmas Eve, one was supposed to eat "peace apples."
Senya personally didn't care much for such traditions.
But seeing Eriri's delighted smile and the soft, rare smile on Yukino's lips, he figured… maybe following customs once in a while wasn't such a bad thing.
…