Mika Uehara felt like there must be something wrong with her head.
Even though the incident just now was somewhat frightening, and she wanted someone to comfort her, why did she… how could she invite that fatty to her home?
Even though he seemed to have changed himself, and he did indeed help her, in the end, he was still a fat otaku…
Her heart was filled with apprehension and agitation.
Fortunately, her worries were unfounded.
After Seiji Haruta was invited inside by her, he acted proper and without a hint of vulgarity—it could even be said that he was calm and reserved.
She poured him some tea, before going to wash her face and change her clothes. When she returned, she saw that he hadn’t moved and was sipping tea silently.
‘It seems like… he’s a good person.’ She thought about how he saved her in the nick of time and felt embarrassed at her earlier suspicions.
"Your face… is swollen." Seiji looked at her before asking, "Is there a first aid kit? I can tend to your wound."
Mika handed over her first aid kit, and Seiji took a look inside. He then used the cotton swabs and disinfectant inside to gently wipe her face, before applying medicine and band-aids.
Neither of them spoke during the entire process.
The comforting silence finally calmed Mika’s heart.
"It’s not very serious; it should be fine after a good night’s sleep." Seiji gently informed her as he shut the first aid kit.
"Thank you…"
The room fell silent once more.
"That guy really was your classmate?" Seiji broke the silence.
Mika’s face darkened as she inclined her head in agreement.
The blondie was her classmate, and he was also the son of some major company’s CEO who had donated a lot of money to their school, which meant that no teacher dared to contradict him—he was truly a school bully.
Actually, she was tempted to call the police in the earlier incident, but remembering that guy’s background, which she and her mother were powerless against, caused her will to waver.
"Haruta-kun, I… what should I do?" Mika Uehara was just an ordinary high school girl, and she didn’t know how to deal with this type of situation.
Seiji didn’t have any good ideas either; after all, school bullies weren’t that easy to deal with.
"There are three methods." After contemplating in silence, he finally spoke up.
"First, give him a harsh lesson he won’t ever forget, so that he’s terrified of you. Second, find someone in school that’s even stronger than him, and request their protection. Third, transfer schools."
Mika Uehara remained silent for quite a while.
"Are these really the only methods?"
"Judging by his character, I don’t think he’s going to give up on you, and if something serious happens, it’ll be too late for you to call the police, so these are the only three methods." Recalling the blondie’s expression, Seiji felt that he was truly human scum.
Mika Uehara remained silent.
She didn’t realize how serious the situation had gotten until Seiji had calmly pointed it out to her. Now she had come to the startling realization that she had been forced to the brink.
The first option wasn’t something she was able to condone. The third one would place an undue burden on her mother. The second one was the only possible solution for her…
"I know that in school, he seems fearful of the student council president… but, I’ve never even spoken to the president before."
"If your student council president is trustworthy, then request aid from him. You should tell him the difficult situation you’re facing, and plead for his assistance." Seiji advised her seriously: "Lowering your head to others is much better than having something unfortunate happen to you."
Everyone had their own pride and wanted to live without relying on others, but in reality, that was almost impossible—everyone would have a time when they need to request aid from others.
Mika Uehara was silent again for a significant amount of time, before she finally nodded in agreement.
"Fine, I’ll go and talk to the president tomorrow."
So, she had finally decided on a plan of action.
"Thank you, Haruta-kun. If it wasn’t for you, I might have…" Mika Uehara thanked him sincerely.
She discovered that this fatty, whom she had previously despised before, had suddenly become cute in this moment.
The fat youth had a simple and honest smile as he scratched his cheek somewhat awkwardly.
"It’s no big deal; I was just passing by."
He sat and talked for a while longer, but eventually, he rose and bade farewell.
After he left, he glanced at his system and found out that Mika Uehara’s favorability rating towards him had shot up by an entire 50 points! It was almost enough to pass the level of "normal friends," meaning that she was almost a "good friend" with him already.
As expected, saving the damsel in distress is the classical method of grinding favorability rating points.
When he returned to his room, Seiji turned on the computer out of habit.
The original Seiji spent the bulk of his living expenses on a high-spec computer, so this computer was capable of many functions. This week, in addition to playing games on it, Seiji was also doing some research on the internet.
And the result was just as he expected: things from his previous world, such as stories, manga, anime, and movies were absent from this world.
Since he had been transported to another world, he should bring some of his old world’s culture with him!
Although that’s what he thought at first, he quickly realized that without a cheat-like photographic memory, there was no way for him to reproduce the classics.
Seiji sighed. Why was he only a normal fan, instead of an obsessed expert…
Since he didn’t have the ability to reproduce them, Seiji decided to give up and enjoy the products of this world.
Currently, he was watching the most popular 3-D video in Sakura Island, the place he lived in.
In the dreamlike artistic scenery, a beautiful girl with long, straight black hair was wearing a fancy eastern-style dress, dancing vividly and singing melodiously. Her every action and every smile was able to tug at people’s heartstrings, and she had a magical allure to her that could hook onto people’s souls.
Ever since finding this video, Seiji had been repeatedly watching it for several days, and he felt like he was missing something if he didn’t watch it at least three or four times every day! He even felt the desire to put it on endless repeat!
After he had finished watching the video, just as he was about to go cook himself some food to eat, there was a soft knock on his door.
As he opened the door, he was greeted by the graceful figure of a beautiful pig-tailed girl.
"My mother cooked this—it’s a bit too much for me, and I can’t finish it, so… would you like some?" Mika Uehara was holding a lunchbox and seemed slightly bashful as she said this.
Alright, there was still plenty of time to have a heart-to-heart chat with this beautiful girl.
...
The next day, when Seiji got up and finished his morning routine, there was a soft knock on the door again.
After he opened it, Mika Uehara walked into his apartment like she belonged there, carrying a piping-hot breakfast.
After chatting for an entire evening last night, she discovered to her surprise that she actually shared some common interests with the fatty, and she now viewed him as her good friend.
Although she found this somewhat unbelievable, the reality was, whenever her mother wasn’t by her side, she could only feel some semblance of security while being by this fatty’s side.
And Seiji Haruta definitely seemed to have truly changed his ways—it was almost like he was a wholly different person from that disgusting fat otaku that moved in here!
Why was it that he underwent such a huge change? She asked him out of curiosity, but he only smiled enigmatically.
"There was no special reason in particular—you’d laugh if you knew."
Although this type of answer only fueled her desire to find out, if he didn’t want to tell her, she couldn’t force him. However, unbeknownst to her, her interest in this fatty inexplicably increased.
Yesterday morning, she would’ve found the notion of eating breakfast with him inconceivable, but this was something she personally requested last night.
She would make breakfast for him as long as he escorted her to school.
Seiji didn’t feel like he was strong enough to protect anyone, but he had the cheat ability to save and load, so all he had to do was save first, and if something did happen, load another file.
He was a cheat, so he felt utterly fearless!
After eating breakfast, they left together, and seeing Mika hopping and skipping in front of him, Seiji’s eyes became somewhat unfocused.
"What’s the matter?"
"Nothing… I just suddenly remembered back to going to school like this together with my older and younger sister."
Last night, Seiji told Mika some basic information about the original Seiji, such as why he was no longer attending high school, and why he was living alone. Although it wasn’t particularly detailed, it was sufficient enough for Mika to gain a greater understanding about his situation.
"Do you want to go back and visit them?"
"Yes, but not now—I’ve just started changing myself." Seiji smiled wryly, "I want to improve even more, only then… will I have the courage to face them."
Seeing the fatty depressed, Mika smiled slightly.
"You can do it! You’ve already changed so much, haven’t you? As your landlord, I give you my assurance!"
"The landlord should be your mother."
"I’m her representative!"
The fatty and the beauty laughed and chatted as they walked down the street bathed in warm sunshine.
In the end, blondie never appeared, and Seiji successfully brought Mika to school.
As she walked inside, last night’s fear and anxiety began to surface again, and she was scared that she would suddenly see blondie’s vicious face. Unconsciously, she looked back and saw the huge form of Seiji still standing there, smiling gently as he watched her.
"Good luck." She felt like she could hear his encouragement.
Suddenly, she felt a lot braver.
She looked forward, raised her head, and walked swiftly towards the math building.
‘Now, it all depends on how she interacts with the student council president.’ Seiji thought silently as he walked back to the apartment.
If the president was willing to protect her, that would be the best case scenario, but if not, Seiji couldn’t think of any ideas other than having Mika transfer schools.
Seiji was still too weak; even the son of a major company’s CEO was someone he was helpless against. Honestly, although he could thrash that scumbag or even kill him, but what then? When blondie took revenge, or when the police caught him, he had the ability to load any previous save file and start over, as if nothing had ever happened.
But he wanted to see the future, not repeat the past over and over again.
Silently, Seiji checked his own stats.
[Academics: 18 – A bit low—no longer elementary school-level. You have the ability of an average middle school student.]
[Physical ability: 14 – Low level—no longer at the level of being exhausted after running two steps, but still pretty low.]
[Art: 12 – Low level—just enough to appreciate porn on the internet.]
[Music: 11 – Low level—you can understand some popular music, but you’re still barely different from an idiot.]
[Communication: 21 – Medium-low—around the average level of a normal adult, but slightly mature… just slightly!]
[Charisma: 15 – Low level—just a fatty with a shabby appearance.]
...
In this week, his stats had increased significantly, and he could feel himself changing noticeably. Combined with his experiments when he first reincarnated, it seemed that his stats aren’t only physical, they also raise his abilities.
After checking all his available options for raising his stats, Seiji made a decision.
From today onwards, he would work hard to level up his stats!