At night, before going to sleep, Matsuzaka Satou was writing in her diary.
She had always had the habit of occasionally writing diary entries.
She had just been too tired yesterday and had fallen asleep too early.
[April 23rd, Saturday, sunny.]
[Today, I bought a lot of clothes with my nephew.]
[In the morning, I tried on a light-purple skirt at Biancoro.
The shop assistant said it suited me very well.]
[My nephew helped me choose matching white socks and leather shoes.]
He said I looked like “a princess from a fairy tale.”]
[I don’t really understand what it feels like to be a princess, but when he praised me, my heartbeat seemed to speed up a little.]
[Then, while we were in the store, we ran into my niece Shijou Maki and her classmate.]
[Maki is my nephew’s fiancée, but my nephew said before that he doesn’t like Maki.
He likes me.]
[And when I asked Maki whether she liked my nephew, although she hesitated a little, she actually said she didn’t like him either…]
After recalling the way Shijou Maki said she did not like him that morning, Matsuzaka Satou picked up her pen and wrote.
[It seems an arranged marriage really is only an arranged marriage.]
[You can’t get love from an arranged marriage.]
[The manga was not lying.]
[The manga also said that if two people without love were together, even kissing would only be two pieces of dead flesh touching each other.]
[But when my nephew held me, my whole body felt warm.]
[Although hugs are supposed to make people feel warm anyway.]
[But when my aunt hugged me before, it always felt cold.]
[And she smelled awful.]
[So, since I’ve confirmed that Maki doesn’t like my nephew, what would kissing my nephew feel like?]
Satou suddenly stopped, bit her pen, and then started writing again.
[My nephew says he likes me.]
[But honestly, I still don’t really understand what it feels like to like someone.]
[I only know that when I’m with him, I experience many first times every moment.]
[Every moment feels unfamiliar inside my heart.]
[That feeling isn’t bad.]
[Because my nephew treats me very well.]
[Although he seemed a little inhuman at first, that was only a misunderstanding.]
[He is actually very good to me.]
[He specially took me out to eat and buy clothes.]
[He teaches me and takes care of my emotions.]
[Today, when he told me I had become family, I felt the urge to laugh and jump in place.]
[I once saw Shouko get so excited that she jumped up after grabbing limited-edition celebrity merchandise, so I know that feeling is happiness.]
[That’s why I want to experience more happiness.]
[That’s why I want to experience liking someone and love too.]
[That’s also why I want my nephew to obtain love.]
[After all, family should support each other from behind.]
[We should straighten our backs together and look forward.]
[Ayanokouji Satou.]
[I really like this name.]
[So I want my nephew to obtain love too.]
[Not in my aunt’s way, but in my own way.]
Satou stopped writing, lay back down on the bed, then suddenly returned.
[Oh, right.]
[Also, yesterday I discovered that my nephew has a very nice body.]
[His abs are really impressive.]
[I should record that.]
…
After Satou finished the final stroke, she placed the notebook inside a locked drawer.
She did not dare let Ren see it.
If he saw it, he would definitely cross out every “nephew.”
After all, her nephew’s desire for control really was strong.
She lay back down on the bed again.
Then she got up once more and unlocked the door, leaving it slightly open.
Now that she was finished, naturally, there was no need to keep it locked.
“Will he secretly come in and hold me while I sleep?”
Satou murmured softly.
Hugs were addictive.
And when she had taken a bath earlier, Ren had not come.
…
In the room next door, Ren hung up after his long phone call with Kashiwagi Nagisa.
His mind could not help replaying the conversation they had just had.
Nagisa’s voice had gone on endlessly over the phone.
“You have to remember, Maki likes fish the most.
Her favorite color is purple, and the food she hates most is celery.
She frowns as soon as she smells it.”
“She likes adding two slices of lemon to her black tea, but absolutely no sugar.”
“Oh, right!
She likes mystery novels.
Recently, she’s been obsessed with Edogawa’s new book, so you can buy it and read it too.
That way, you’ll have something to talk about later…”
Then she sent him a pile of beautiful photos of Shijou Maki.
However, since Maki rarely took selfies, most of the pictures had both of them in them.
Because of that, there were also quite a few good photos of Nagisa herself.
There were even several solo shots of her!
Ren, rarely, could not help commenting.
“Isn’t this best friend a little too enthusiastic?
Does she not know how to keep proper distance?”
No wonder people in his previous life often said to beware fire, thieves, and best friends.
But in truth, this also suited Ren’s intentions perfectly.
He opened the system.
On the pure white screen, his harvest so far was displayed.
[Matsuzaka Satou: Joy, Desire, Sorrow.]
[Shijou Maki: Sorrow.]
[Kashiwagi Nagisa: Joy, Anger.]
Ren nodded.
Although it was not as fast as the Yanami Anna he was most obsessed with, this speed was still pretty good.
Besides, he could often stay together with them in the future.
He also did not have to worry about being unable to find them.
Even after the fifty-meter range restriction was removed, being able to find the person remained extremely important.
After all, aside from upgrading a skill from LV1 to LV2, which could use other people’s emotions, every other upgrade required collecting the original owner’s emotions again.
Especially for upgrading to Level 3, he even needed that original owner’s rare emotions.
This meant that the person had to be close to him.
Only people nearby would generate emotions.
People too far away could not produce [Love] for him to collect.
And boys could not provide [Love] either.
Even if they did, he had no desire to take it.
“In other words, all my targets are girls who are very close to me.
Doesn’t that mean only my classmates?”
Ren murmured to himself.
That was not good.
Just casually imagining himself turning into a playboy and flirting around with girls in his class was enough for Ren to foresee a very bad future.
In fact, today had already been very bad.
His fiancée and the girl he had just confessed to had run into each other.
Anyone would think that was a terrible situation.
If not for Matsuzaka Satou’s special identity, Kashiwagi Nagisa would have already turned the place upside down.
So flirting around inside the class was definitely not possible.
They were too close.
If he made the slightest move, the entire class would definitely know.
However, other classes were possible.
The classes of upperclassmen were possible too.
And the middle school division was right nearby as well.
Unlike the high school life from his previous life, because of the social atmosphere here, unless students joined the same club, students from different classes in Japan did not interact much with one another. This story is hosted at g.com.
There were many people who had gone several semesters without ever visiting another class even once.
In short, the flower-like innocent young girls were doomed.
Ren closed the system and walked to the balcony, looking outside.
His room was on the second floor, and the moon hung high in the sky.
“Actually, the best method would be collecting all my own emotions.”
Ren muttered to himself.
After all, what could be closer to him than himself?
So he tried it.
Ren raised his head and looked at the moon of another world, hoping to feel something like looking up at the bright moon and lowering his head in homesick sorrow.
He tried for a quarter of an hour.
“Ah, no.
In my previous life, I was driven like a beast of burden over there.
I truly can’t miss it at all.”
Ren rolled his eyes.
He took out his phone.
With one simple message, tomorrow’s restaurant was booked out again.
So it was still better to be a capitalist.
This place was too enjoyable.
No longing for previous life at all.
[Ayanokouji Ren, Joy +1.]
“Oh?
That works too?”
Ren was amused.
“Then I love capitalists.”
The system gave no notification.
It seemed saying things with his mouth was useless.
He still had to take action.
So Ren flipped over and jumped down from the balcony.
Then he instantly teleported back.
“Looks like jumping off a building doesn’t scare me anymore either.
But it should still work on girls.
Next time, I’ll take Satou bungee jumping.”
Ren said.
His phone suddenly vibrated.
It was an email from Kashiwagi Nagisa.
“Maki is free all day tomorrow.
If you have any plans, you can absolutely invite her!”
Ren nodded.
“That’s right.
There’s still Maki-chan too.
I can’t forget my fiancée.”
He sent a message back.
“Okay, I understand.
But would it be alright if I invited you too, Master?”
Nagisa sent back an “OK.”
He could not forget his fiancée’s best friend either.
But there really were no plans for tomorrow.
And it was already so late, so inviting someone now did not seem very appropriate.
Ren put away his phone and decided to sneak into Satou’s room.
Perhaps that would startle her.
He took out a key and came to the door of Satou’s room across the hall.
But when he saw the slightly open door, he suddenly froze.
After what had happened during the bath this morning, Satou still had not locked her door?
What did she mean by that?
Had she simply forgotten?
Did she not care?
Or was it an invitation?
A girl’s thoughts really were hard to guess.