"Urgh..." Zayn slowly regained consciousness.
As he woke up, he felt a sharp pain coming from his head. He pressed his hands on his head, trying to cope with it.
While doing that, he noticed a glass of water right next to his mattress. Thirsty as he was, he gulped down the entire glass of water. He then started looking around the room.
The room was pretty small. There wasn't a real bed in the room, only a mattress lying on the floor.
He continued to look around and noticed many used books in there. The were numerous piles of books just lying there, some open, some with notices and some just torn apart.
The room seemed really old and worn-out. Many cracks were scattered around the walls of this small room. There was also, what seemed like a tiny kitchen, a sink, a small fridge, and a kettle.
The only luxurious item, in the whole room, was a computer. It looked to be high-end, a gaming pc. It was a whole setup. Ready to be used. This setup was all placed on a cheap, worn-out table. There was also a chair, which didn't look expensive at all. It resembled more a kitchen chair than a gaming chair.
The room also had two doors. One of them led apparently to the toilet of this small apartment, and the other one was the entrance door.
This whole room didn't shock Zayn at all. After he woke up and gulped down the glass of water, he scanned the room just for a few breaths. Following that he immediately grabbed a smartphone, next to the mattress.
'10 Am... I woke up early today...'
He stood up, poured water into the kettle and turned it on. After that, he grabbed a pack of instant noodles and waited for the water to get hot.
*KNOCK* *KNOCK*
The sound of knocking caught him off-guard. But he just brushed it off and ignored it.
*KNOCK* *KNOCK*
"Zayn! Open up! I know you're in there!"
A familiar voice screamed at Zayn.
Zayn, after recognizing the voice, walked up to the door and opened it up.
"What do you want? Shouldn't you be in school?" Zayn yelled annoyed at the boy in front of him.
"I should be in school? What about you?!? You promised you would come! What happened to that???" The boy reacted angerly to Zayn's comment.
"Ah... Well... I overslept..." Zayn remembered about the promise he made and why he woke up earlier than usual. But he still woke up too late.
"You overslept??? Do you realize that it's the fucking last year of school? What the hell were you doing last night? Were you reading the whole day again?"
"No... I also played a few games..."
"Oh! So, you did use the computer. I knew you would like it!"
"Yeah. Thanks again! You sure, you don't need it?"
"No, I already told you, I got a new one. I would've just thrown the old one out."
Both of them entered Zayn's apartment again and sat down there. The boy just sprung up on Zayn's mattress.
"Wait! You distracted me from my point! When the hell are you coming back to school? You can't continue to shut yourself here in. I know school is easy for you, but you still need to attend it."
"I know! I already told you, I overslept... I promised that I would come and I intend to keep the promise."
"So, tomorrow?"
"Yes, this time for sure!"
"All right! Then I'll sleep over here. Just to make sure you'll wake up early enough."
"...Urgh..."
"What the hell did you say?"
Both of them started to laugh. They continued to converse about many different things. Zayn prepared two bowls of instant noodles, and they also ate there.
"Wait... Why the hell aren't you in school then? Couldn't you've just come after school?"
"... Ehm... I was too concerned about you? Who the hell are you to judge? Just forget about it... Let's just play some games!"
The boy shot up from the mattress and turned the computer on. They both started playing different kinds of games and conversed while doing that.
A while passed, when Zayn seemed to be in deep thought.
"Hey... Harry... I'm thinking about doing something different..."
"Something different? What do you mean?"
"I don't know... really..."
"I think I understand a bit... My father has already laid out my entire life plan. He wants me to go to a top university. And after that work in his company. In the end inherit his company. But... I don't know. It's not my path. I don't really want it..."
Both of them quitened down. They seemed to think about a lot. It was already their final year in high school, and they needed to figure out what they really wanted to do in their life.
"Hey, how about we go out. We can go eat something and do various other things. Maybe it will help us."
"I don't know..."
"Don't worry, it's my idea, so I'm paying for it. Well, my father is paying for it." Harry started to laugh at his own joke.
"You sure? We could also hang out here."
"Nah, come on!" Harry started to pull Zayn.
Both of them then left the apartment.
.
.
.
"...Urgh..." Zayn slowly regained consciousness.
"Kid! You're awake. Finally!"
Immediately after waking up Infinite Star's voice rang out.
"What? What happened?"
"You lost consciousness, after your victory. What puzzles me is the reason behind that. Nothing seemed wrong with you!"
Zayn started to think about the fight and remembered his victory. After that everything turned dark...
'Right! Harry! What was that? I can't recall what happened after we left my apartment... Right, Daisy might know about it!'
"Daisy! What the hell was that? A scattered dream? A far-off memory? It feels like a memory, but I don't remember anything else from earth."
"The host was experiencing a memory, from the days before all this." The metallic and monotone voice again rang inside Zayn's head.
"Wait... Don't tell me it was my reward for the quest?!?"
"No. The host isn't able to remember all of his previous life's memory, because of the new body he received. The new body needs time to fit in with your soul. The host will eventually receive all his previous memories, but it takes time to do that."
"Right... Daisy! I somehow can't shake the feeling of that I was specially chosen to be here. Did the system choose me? Am I like a chosen-one?"
"No!... And yes... The Daily System can't further elaborate."
"..." Zayn was obviously disappointed by the Daily System's answer. The answer wasn't explaining anything at all.
"Well... What was my reward then?" Zayn couldn't brush off the unpleasing feeling of not remembering his previous life at all. But he knew that there was nothing he could do.
"The host unlocked one of Infinite Star's abilities. Infinite Star's Spirit Sense were unlocked. But, it's still gravely restricted. The range of it is aligned with the host's Spirit Sense."
"..." Zayn didn't understand anything at all.