"Bamboo poles~ Selling bamboo poles! Bamboo poles! Selling bamboo poles~"
A sunny path, blue skies, and white clouds. Pedestrians on the street looked cheerful. This place felt like a pristine haven untouched by the world. The calm and peaceful atmosphere was so soothing it could make someone want to scream with joy.
In an abandoned park, a beautiful girl stood blankly beside a slide. No one knew how long she had been there. White pigeons perched on her shoulders, playfully moving about.
Suddenly, a flicker of awareness crossed the girl's vacant eyes. She shook her head slightly, as though regaining consciousness.
Startled, the pigeons flapped their wings and flew away, leaving her alone in the desolate park.
[Hey. I am a good person. The system is binding...]
[System binding successful. Binding host: Asuka Shimizu.]
[Establishing host emotional data... Emotional data established! Attempting to awaken host...]
[First awakening... failed!]
[Attempting to awaken host...]
[Second awakening... failed!]
[Identifying the cause... Host's emotional data incomplete. Deleting incomplete data!]
[Attempting to awaken host...]
[Third awakening... successful! Host awakened. Mission will be issued shortly!]
The girl in the park had fully awakened. Her long, jet-black hair swayed slightly in the breeze, and two lovely strands framed her forehead. These strands, tied into neat loops with delicate bows, revealed a smooth, elegant brow.
She moved her body stiffly, her beautiful eyes filled with confusion.
"Hmm." She gathered her hair, revealing a long, graceful neck that seemed sculpted.
Her face was bright and striking but carried an almost mechanical quality.
That's right—the girl wasn't human in her previous existence. She was a remarkable consciousness from the system world. Most systems are formed from transcendental consciousnesses, capable of granting chosen hosts the tools to dominate various worlds across time and space. They are highly sought after by time travelers, reborn souls, and interdimensional adventurers alike!
A famous Earth author once said, "Conquer the system, and you conquer the world". Although Asuka Shimizu had been an exceptional consciousness, she ultimately failed to become a system due to her shortcomings.
Simply put, Asuka's consciousness was severely incomplete. She lacked the necessary components to develop emotional or systematic understanding. Isolated by sensory constraints and plagued by excessive deliberation, she required significant time to process and respond to hosts' commands.
In human terms, her "brain circuits" were unconventional, leading to slow reactions.
Even more critically, Asuka couldn't tolerate loud explosions; such noises could destabilize her consciousness, forcing her system to reboot.
Because of these flaws, the system headquarters didn't dare let her become a full system. A host unlucky enough to pair with Asuka might find themselves unable to rouse her, even in life-or-death situations.
Imagine a frantic host, battered and breathless after an intense chase, calling out desperately for aid—only to hear: "System crashed due to loud noises. Restarting. Please repeat your request."
How infuriating! Even if the host escaped their enemies, they might die from sheer frustration with Asuka.
That said, her peculiar traits might suit overly cautious hosts...
To salvage her potential, a group of consciousnesses constructed Asuka as a human and equipped her with the high-performance I Am a Good Person system. They hoped she could still fulfill hosts' dreams and elevate the system network's reputation.
Why improve reputation? Greater reputation meant increased authority over managing planes. After all, systems don't unconditionally serve hosts; once hosts achieve dominance, systems often help govern their conquered worlds.
In essence, systems are the true rulers behind the scenes.
"The plane's information has been announced. Please review it," the good person system declared.
Asuka was now fully awake.
The system uploaded the plane's basic information into her mind and promptly shut down, leaving her to process it alone.
Asuka: ...
Whether due to her human reconstruction or the system's adjustments, Asuka found it surprisingly easy to organize the plane's data.
"So much information... This is Kasukabe? And the plane's protagonist is... Shinchan Nohara? That name sounds... kind of dashing."
As she sorted through her thoughts, Asuka stepped out of the abandoned park.
[Attention, host! The first mission has been issued!]
The moment she left the park, the system rebooted at lightning speed, issued a mission, and then shut down just as swiftly.
Asuka: ...
She glanced at the mission panel, framed by vines, displaying a few glowing lines of text:
[Favorability Task: Increase Mitsy Nohara's favorability to 75.]
[Reward: Residency with the Nohara family.]
"Nohara family?" Asuka tilted her head. "The protagonist's name is Shinchan Nohara. Are they related?"
Asuka wandered the streets aimlessly, her delicate, bright face and elegant maid outfit drawing the attention of nearly every man she passed.
However, lacking emotional awareness, she didn't notice the stares and continued on, her expression vacant.
She had no destination in mind, no idea where the Nohara family lived, or even who she herself was.
After walking for some time, an unfamiliar sensation stirred in her stomach. Asuka frowned slightly, placed a hand on her belly, and murmured, "This feels strange... Am I hungry? What a nuisance this human body is."
This was her first experience with hunger, and it felt uncomfortable.
"I need to find food..."
She wandered along the narrow, charming streets. Warm sunlight glinted in her slightly melancholy eyes, deepened by the faint frown brought on by hunger.
By now, the sun was directly overhead, and the tantalizing aroma of food wafted from the small houses lining the road.
"So hungry..."
Just as Asuka considered knocking on a random door to beg for a meal, she noticed a white figure standing beside a telephone pole further down the path...