Chapter 150: I'll Use It as a Sleep-Aid Drink for Insomnia in the Future
Several weeks had passed since Ryohei Tanaka and Yurine's wonderful night at the hotel. During that time, Ryohei had been desperately hoping to acquire a system ability related to physical strengthening or rapid recovery. Failing that, he would have gladly settled for some Marrow-Cleansing Pills or a few recovery potions.
He needed to knock Yurine down a peg!
Except for that very first night, where he had completely routed her and left her crying for mercy, Ryohei had lost far more battles than he had won in the days that followed. In just over a month, he had already lost several pounds. He was being completely drained! At his young age, he was already living the lifestyle of a middle-aged man, carrying a thermos full of goji berry tea. It was utterly infuriating.
...
July 12th, early morning.
A new week!
"Ring, ring, ring—!"
The alarm clock's shrill ring suddenly pierced the darkness of the curtained room. Ryohei's hand shot out reflexively and slammed the off button. "Ngh..." He blinked his bleary eyes open, yawned, rubbed them, and then, as was his custom, began his weekly ability draw.
Following a flash of special effects, two lines of text appeared on the light screen.
[Congratulations, you have obtained a White-rarity item entry: "Delicious-Tasting Knockout Black Tea!"]
[Entry Effect: After extraction, you will receive a case of delicious-tasting knockout black tea! (Want to do something naughty? Give her a sip!)]
"Eh?"
Ryohei was instantly wide awake. His eyes widened as he stared at the item he had drawn, his expression turning strange. 'Knockout black tea?' he thought. 'You can get stuff like this?'
The text in the parentheses, in particular, made him feel very weird. 'Well, I'll just use it as a sleep-aid drink for insomnia in the future,' he reasoned, ever the pragmatist. 'It's supposed to taste pretty good, right?'
He took one last look at his system panel.
[Infinite Entry System]
[Host]: Ryohei Tanaka
[Ability Entries]: Glowing Cuisine (Gold), Japanese Proficiency (White), Luck (Blue, inactive), [Singer-Songwriter (Green)], [Mount Akina's God of Racing (Green)], [Proficient Photography (White)], [Bricklayer (White)]
[Item Entries]: [Multi-functional Camping Tent (White)], [Reduction Water Gas (White)], [Delicious-Tasting Knockout Black Tea (White)]
His luck had been average lately. He had only drawn one Green-rarity ability, and it wasn't particularly helpful—he already knew how to drive and had no interest in street racing. The rest of the entries were White-rarity and mostly useless, though some were interesting, like the [Reduction Water Gas] he'd gotten last week. It could turn clouds into water, with the outermost layer of the cloud containing the water, allowing it to continue floating in the sky for three hours. It sounded suspiciously like a gadget from Doraemon.
Ryohei planned to find some time to take everyone swimming in the sky. It was currently the height of summer, the hottest time of the year, and playing in the water was always fun. Doing it in the sky, inside a cloud, sounded like something out of a fantasy. The water would be clean, too. He was sure everyone would love it.
...
Five minutes later, at the front door of the house—
Bette, who had grown a size bigger since they first adopted him, seemed to sense something. He lowered his front paws, raised his hindquarters, and barked excitedly at the door, his tail wagging furiously.
Ryohei, dressed in a white cotton tank top, black shorts, and sneakers, emerged from the house. He took Bette's leash from Minos and said with a smile, "Ohayo."
"Ohayo," Minos replied, full of energy.
Then, the man, the demon, and the magical beast began jogging along the sparsely populated street. Since he hadn't been able to draw a physical strengthening or recovery ability, Ryohei had recently started to exercise consciously. If it rained, he and Minos would do indoor exercises. If the weather was clear, they would go for a jog and walk Bette at the same time.
Yurine had joined them for two days but then gave up; the wake-up time was just too early. Ryohei and Minos got up at 5:30 AM, and if Yurine woke up that early, she wouldn't have the energy for her classes during the day.
Lucoa had also joined for two days, but Ryohei had to forbid her from coming along. The... wobbling... when she ran was too extreme. He told her to wear a sports bra, but she refused, saying it was uncomfortable. So, he told her not to come. Otherwise, it just felt weird, and it was far too distracting for him.
...
They ran without stopping until they reached a small park 1.5 kilometers from their house. Minos, who had been leading the way, started jogging in place, her long, shapely legs looking supple and strong beneath her red sports shorts. She turned to Ryohei. "Same as usual today, Tanaka-kun?"
"Yeah," Ryohei panted, holding the leash and slowing to a walk, one hand on his waist. His stamina was no match for Minos's. This was usually his stopping point. After a short rest, he would take Bette home. For Minos, this was just a warm-up.
"Alright, I'm off then~." The cow-girl expertly waved to Ryohei, then turned and took off in a flash, her silver-white tail swaying gently behind her.
"She's so energetic," Ryohei said, looking after her with a hint of envy. He jiggled the leash. "Come on, Bette, I'll take you to the toilet."
"Woof!" Bette whimpered, then wagged his tail and began "pulling" Ryohei toward the public restroom. He was trained to use a squat toilet. Because of this, Ryohei had the construction company build a special toilet just for Bette at the new villa.
Bette's doghouse and toilet were already finished, and the renovations on the villa itself were nearly complete. It would be done in another week or two. Then, he would ask Lucoa to cast a purification spell to get rid of any harmful substances like formaldehyde, and they could move right in.
Ryohei was really looking forward to that day.
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