"Hayley", he suddenly asked, "do you ever feel like... you're acting? Like you're not really you, but the version of you that people expect?"
Hayley looked at him, surprised. "At sixteen? All the time. With my parents, at school, with Dylan... sometimes I feel like I have, like, five different Hayleys and none of them are the real one."
It was a deeper answer than he expected. "And which one is the real one?"
"I don't know. Maybe the one who's alone in my room, listening to music, without having to smile or worry about her clothes or what others think." She shrugged. "Sounds sad, doesn't it?"
"No. It sounds honest."
+4,000 points - Authentic conversation with main character
Mission progress: 100%
Mission "Liam's Life" COMPLETED
Total reward: 15,000 points
Total points now: 97,023
But the points no longer tasted so sweet. Because this conversation hadn't been for points. It had been real. And that made it more valuable than any system reward.
That afternoon, Liam did something he hadn't done before: he visited his paternal grandmother's grave (as he discovered in the shoebox papers). He hadn't known her, but he felt he should go.
At the cemetery, he had a surprise: his father was there.
Robert Parker was a man in his forties, with the same brown hair as Liam but with gray at the temples and tired eyes.
"Liam." He seemed as surprised as Liam was. "What are you doing here?"
"Visiting Grandma. And you?"
"The anniversary of her death. I come every year."
They stood awkwardly by the grave. Finally, his father spoke:
"Your mother told me you talked. About my promised visits."
"Yes."
Robert sighed. "I don't have good excuses. I had good intentions, but... life got in the way."
"Is Sharon and the kids 'life'?"
His father closed his eyes. "It's complicated."
"It's always complicated for adults when they do hurtful things, isn't it?"
System Warning! Intense emotional interaction detected
Possibility of permanent relational damage
But Liam wasn't using the system. This was just him, the combined Liam, talking to his father.
"You're right," Robert said finally. "I was a coward. And a bad father. I don't expect you to forgive me."
"What if I want to forgive you?" Liam asked, surprising himself.
"Why?"
"Because holding onto resentment hurts the one who holds it more. And because... I think the real Liam, before... before, would have forgiven you if you had truly apologized."
Robert broke down. Literally, he sat on the grass by the grave and cried. Liam sat beside him, not touching him, just being present.
"I'm sorry, Liam. I'm sorry for every lost weekend, every birthday, every soccer game I didn't see. I'm sorry for not being the father I promised to be."
+10,000 points - Significant emotional resolution (unsought bonus)
Liam felt something release in his chest. Was it the real Liam saying goodbye? Or was it him, Leo, learning to be human again?
"I can't promise I'll be better," Robert said through tears. "But I can promise I'll try. If you give me the chance."
"One weekend a month," said Liam. "No excuses."
"No excuses."
Returning home that night, Liam felt different. More integrated. Less like a tourist in someone else's life. The system showed new statistics:
Soul-Body Integration: 87% (increased from 45%)
Meta-knowledge Stress: Reduced by 60%
Authenticity Points: 5,000 (new metric)
And a new mission, different from all previous ones:
Optional Mission: "The Authentic Path"
Description: Make a decision about your future without consulting the system
Reward: Variable, based on authenticity
Warning: This mission may permanently alter your relationship with the system
Liam closed the system. For the first time since his reincarnation, he voluntarily turned it off. He didn't want points, or missions, or skills. He wanted... to live.
He looked out his bedroom window. Outside, the world continued. People lived their lives, loved, suffered, laughed. And he was one of them now. Not a character in a story, not a player with a system, but a person.
Tomorrow he would make a decision. But he wouldn't consult the system. He would consult himself. Or what he had become: not completely Leo, not completely Liam, but something new. Someone new.
And maybe, just maybe, that was okay.