On the way home from school, the setting sun bathed the streets.
Nohara Yi was about to go home, but his gaze swept over the supermarket window, where he saw a red and black potato-headed kid gesturing to a store clerk.
"What do you need?"
"Hmm..." Shin-chan said loudly, hands on his hips, "My mom is entertaining guests! Please buy me the cheapest and most delicious vegetables!"
"Little one, didn't your mom tell you specifically what to buy?" The clerk was a young lady, still with some patience for children, trying to guide him.
"Hehe!" Shin-chan grinned, "My mom is a 29-year-old old hag who was unchaste at 19 and had my brother with my useless dad! I forgot all her warnings!"
The clerk's jaw dropped, and her mouth twitched: "War… Warnings? You mean advice, right? And the information in the introduction was too much, wasn't it?!"
Nohara Yi helplessly covered his face and walked into the supermarket.
"Yo! It's Xiao Yi!" Shin-chan pounced over.
He ignored Shin-chan's antics, directly fumbled in his pocket, and pulled out a crumpled shopping list.
Nohara Yi skillfully unfolded and smoothed it, showing the handwriting to the clerk: "Please look at this, thank you."
The clerk felt as if she had received a great pardon, and seeing the clear shopping list on the paper, she was moved to tears.
Looking at the ten-year-old elementary school student who acted so calmly, she couldn't help but have stars in her eyes.
"Ah! You're so reliable! Little brother!" The clerk praised sincerely, "It's much easier with specific requests! I'll get them for you right away!"
She quickly picked and packed the items according to the list, thinking: *This is how a normal elementary school student should behave!*
*As for the one next to him who only says 'Pretty big sister, do you like green peppers?' and 'Old hag mom's warning,' where did that extraterrestrial creature come from!*
Seeing the clerk occasionally stealing glances at him with an auntie smile and slowing down, Nohara Yi frowned slightly, maintaining politeness and saying, "Um, could you please hurry up? My mom still needs to prepare to entertain guests tonight."
"Yes! It'll be ready right away!" The clerk immediately became twice as efficient.
Soon, the shopping was done.
The two brothers carried the bags home.
"Hey, hey, Xiao Yi," Shin-chan leaned in and poked his hair, "Why are you wearing a little flower in your hair today? It's not manly at all!"
Nohara Yi calmly glanced at him: "I'm in a special adjustment period. To reduce the risk of being harassed by girls in my class, it's necessary to 'reduce' my masculine aura, or 'guts,' or whatever you call it."
Shin-chan blinked, half-understanding.
Nohara Yi suddenly remembered something, stopped in his tracks, and glanced at Shin-chan's pants pocket: "Wait, Shin-chan, is the change from buying groceries still in your pocket?"
"Hoo hoo~~~" Shin-chan immediately covered his pants pocket.
"Is this 'guarding against outsiders day and night, but the internal thief is hard to guard against'? Have you evolved into an internal thief, Big Brother? Like Oda Nobunaga being assassinated by Akechi Mitsuhide."
"..." A vein throbbed on Nohara Yi's forehead, "Shin-chan! Didn't I warn you not to peek at the websites I browse on Dad's computer?"
He ignored the other's reaction, fished out the remaining money from his crotch: "Anyway, you go home first, Big Brother still has something to do."
"Waaah! Is Xiao Yi going to use this 'huge fortune' to get rid of me and go carousing by himself?" Shin-chan stood rooted to the spot, hugging the bag.
"Have you fallen, Nohara Yi!"
"You're too arrogant, Shin-chan. From the beginning, no one stood in heaven..."
Nohara Yi unconsciously replied, then realized he couldn't waste any more time and pulled out his trump card: "Next time we go to the convenience store, I'll buy you three boxes of chocolate cookies with filling!"
"Wow! It's a deal!" Shin-chan's face lit up, and he hummed the Elephant Song as he ran home.
Watching his brother disappear, Nohara Yi let out a long sigh.
He counted the grocery money and his secret stash together: "Enough!"
"Comrade Octopus Pi, I have a difficult mission for you!" He communicated telepathically, his tone serious and excited.
This was his hometown, Begonia Leaf, the second year after the Capital Olympics.
As a transmigrator, he knew this was a golden period for capital accumulation.
Originally, due to his second life, many of his memories had faded over time, and he had forgotten a lot of key information.
But after becoming one with Octopus Pi, his mental power seemed to have been strengthened.
During school that afternoon, he found that not only had his academic ability improved, but his physical fitness also seemed to be getting stronger, and even many lost memories were slowly returning.
If he was originally a C-growth type, the current Nohara Yi was an A-growth type, the kind where anything was possible.
His goal was clear: to bet on the upcoming Emperor's Cup J-League final (Gamba Osaka vs. Nagoya Grampus Eight).
However, Neon's regulations on minors buying such things were extremely strict. The excuse Nohara Yi used to use in Begonia Leaf, 'buying a lottery ticket for an adult,' wouldn't work.
So, he had Octopus Pi, who could use the 'Transformation Palette,' transform into an adult to do it for him.
Although adult identification would still be needed when claiming the prize, having a fait accompli to persuade his own adult was much easier than talking out of thin air.
This was a typical results-oriented strategy... "I'm home." Holding the lottery ticket, Nohara Yi's voice was tired due to the many things that had happened today.
"Not right~" Shin-chan's deliberately drawn-out childish voice came from the entrance.
"You should shout 'You're home!' That's the cool Nohara Family man's homecoming declaration!"
He stood with his hands on his hips, wanting to reshape his brother's saying into his own form.
Nohara Yi had no energy to deal with him anymore.
After taking off his shoes and entering the house, Nohara Yi was surprised to find that his father, Nohara Hiroshi, had returned early, sitting cross-legged at the living room table watching a golf match broadcast, with a black briefcase at his feet.
"Huh? Dad, why are you home so early? Didn't Shin-chan say there were important guests tonight?"
"They had an urgent call and couldn't make it, so we can enjoy the big meal ourselves."
Hiroshi said, pulling open a can of beer; foam surged to the rim of the can, he poured it into a glass, and the aroma of barley permeated the air.
Then he began to attack the snacks Misae had prepared, looking like a hedonist.
Seeing that the other party was in a good mood, Nohara Yi pulled out the lottery ticket from the inner layer of his backpack—proof that Octopus Pi had transformed into Hiroshi and placed the bet—and handed it to him.
"What's this?"
Hiroshi took a sip of beer and carelessly accepted it: "Huh? Emperor's Cup Final? Gamba Osaka vs. Nagoya Grampus Eight? Xiao Yi, you still believe in this? And where did you get so much money?"
Nohara Yi calmly explained, "It's money I saved for a long time. The clerk at that store was a bit careless; I said 'I'm running an errand for Dad to buy it,' and he believed me. Please keep it safe, and remember to claim the prize when the results come out."
Hiroshi looked at his son's serious expression, finding it both amusing and perplexing: "Huh? You saved it? This is more than a month's allowance for you!"
He was very surprised to see his son show such great courage.
"Mm." Nohara Yi nodded solemnly, looking directly into his father's eyes, "I want to make a promise with Dad. If this lottery ticket really wins a prize,"
He paused deliberately, his gaze carrying a rare sharpness for a boy: "I hope the prize money will be at my disposal. Is that okay?"
In Nohara Yi's first life, he was an orphan. Although he hadn't experienced it, he had heard countless classmates complain that parents' casual promises eventually vanished into thin air.
Adults always held the mentality of "He's just a child, a blank check will appease him" or "He'll forget in a few days," easily trampling on the expectations of young children.
Because they knew that breaking such promises would cost them almost nothing.
Although not all adults were like this, it concerned the first pot of gold for his second life, so he had to be cautious.
Hiroshi's casual smile faltered slightly when he saw the persistence in his son's eyes. He put down his beer glass and, for the first time, seriously looked at his eldest son, who was more mature than his peers.
"You little rascal..." He finally conceded, "Alright, alright! If it really wins, you can have the prize money! Your old man keeps his word!"
"Wow—!" Shin-chan jumped out from the side, hands on his hips, imitating a gangster boss's alliance pose, "Is this the legendary man's promise?! So cool!!"
He tried to make a fierce expression, but it only looked comical.
"Shin-chan! Stop making a fuss!"
Misae poked her head out from the kitchen, holding a carrot, and worriedly said, "Hiroshi! If it really wins a big prize, that's no small sum! Xiao Yi is still young, how can he..."
"Hahaha!" Hiroshi laughed loudly, not taking the win seriously, "Misae, you're overthinking it! It'd be great if we could win a few thousand yen to buy a few boxes of takoyaki! If Xiao Yi wants to play, let him play, consider it a life lesson!"
Nohara Yi nodded and added, "Don't worry, Mom, if it wins, I'll take out a portion and treat the whole family to a nice meal at a fancy restaurant." His tone was firm.
"Xiao Yi, why do you study money? Does it make you happy?" Octopus Pi's planet had no concept of 'economy' or 'market,' so he was a bit puzzled.
"It makes me very happy now, but it didn't necessarily before." Nohara Yi thought, when he was a child, he seemed to enjoy playing with peers and toys during festivals more than direct money.
"When was that, approximately?"
"Probably when I used to have the Ultraman spirit, fantasized about becoming a tokusatsu hero, and longed to save the world."
"Eh, such a grand dream was abandoned! That's not right!"
Nohara Yi didn't rush to refute.
To him, decisively refuting Octopus Pi, this simple, childlike alien creature, was tantamount to denying his past self.
So, after thinking, he replied telepathically: "Perhaps history will prove you right, but the current you cannot prove it."