Anna picked up her spoon and began fiercely digging into the giant mango ice cream sundae in front of her.
A large [Joy] and [Love] floated above her head.
“Delicious.”
She pinched the spoon with one hand, a satisfied look appearing on her slightly chubby face.
That strange bit of disgust she had felt earlier because of Ren’s outrageous remarks had already vanished without a trace.
“Anna, slow down.
You’ll get a brain freeze.”
Ren looked at her head and offered a warning.
However, he was not actually interested in her head.
What made him fall into thought was the large [Love] floating above it.
“I see.
So this [Love] doesn’t necessarily have to be directed at me?
Ice cream works too?”
“No, that’s not quite right.
I ordered this ice cream for her, so maybe that’s part of the reason too?
How exactly does this work?”
Ren muttered to himself inwardly.
That was right.
For some reason, Anna had suddenly started advising him to go see a psychiatrist earlier.
She had even mentioned that a psychiatric hospital in downtown Minato had recently introduced electrotherapy.
She kept nagging and nagging, so Ren had no choice but to order a sundae to shut her mouth.
What he did not expect was that ice cream could actually trigger Anna’s [Love].
Did that mean if he knocked over her ice cream, he could collect [Disgust] again?
Ren really wanted to try it.
But somehow, he felt that would make him look like an actual mental patient.
“Hehe, brain freeze is absolutely impossible for me.”
Anna suddenly stopped her spoon and spoke with great certainty.
“I was an ice cream master when I was little, remember, Ren?”
“…Mm.
I remember.”
Ren silently looked away.
As a transmigrator with a mature mind, he did indeed remember Anna bringing that guy named So-something to his house as children to search for the ice cream castle.
At the time, Ren had wanted to ignore the two of them.
But his cheap parents felt that he had no friends his own age, so in order to let him have a wonderful childhood, they forcibly invited those two into the house to play with him.
The reward, naturally, was unlimited ice cream.
As mentioned before, the nickname Ren gave Anna when they were little was “little demon girl.”
That was partly because she had once jumped out from a dark corner and scared him half to death.
But the bigger reason was that Ren felt the way Anna ate…
Was like a starving ghost reincarnated.
“Right?
So I won’t get a brain freeze.
Speaking of which, Ren, what flavor is your ice cream?
Can I try it?”
The “starving ghost” had set her eyes on the ice cream Ren had barely eaten.
“…Mm, you can have all of it.
I can’t really finish it.”
Ren pushed the ice cream forward, and Anna naturally accepted it with excitement.
After all, this was…
Ice cream Ren had eaten but not finished!
Frozen and preserved on it was Ren’s saliva!
Although she felt a little like a pervert, she really could not help herself!
“Then I’ll dig in!
No, I mean, then I won’t hold back!”
Anna’s spoon flew everywhere.
But very soon, she realized her fatal mistake.
Ice cream sundaes were eaten with spoons!
In other words, the most important thing was not the ice cream, but the spoon in Ren’s hand!
How could she get him to give her the spoon without making it too obvious?
Anna’s brain spun wildly.
Suddenly, she came up with a brilliant idea.
With a clang, metal struck the floor.
“Oops, my spoon fell on the floor.”
Anna scratched her head, an embarrassed smile piling onto her face.
But she did not call the waitress, and there were tissues right on the table.
Ren looked at the large [Desire] above Anna’s head.
He subconsciously swallowed.
Although he did not have mind-reading and could not know exactly what she was thinking, he could more or less guess from the emotional keywords appearing above her.
Anna really was the same as before.
She was only one step away from hugging him and licking him.
However…
“Here, Anna.
Use my spoon.”
Ren smiled as he handed his spoon over.
“Eh?
How could I possibly…?”
Anna tried her best to act as reserved as a proper girl should.
“You’re not disgusted because I used it, are you?”
Ren knowingly asked.
“No!
Not at all!
Aren’t we childhood friends?
I used your family’s chopsticks when we were little too, so why would I be disgusted?”
Anna hurriedly stopped Ren from using the tissue on the table to wipe the spoon.
She practically snatched it from his hand.
Two unavoidable blushes flew across her cheeks.
Anna took a deep breath and desperately tried to steady her trembling fingers.
Only one thought was screaming wildly inside her heart.
This is the spoon Ren used!
The real thing!
The one he just had in his mouth!
Then, pretending to be calm, she scooped up a small spoonful of Ren’s ice cream.
Slowly and steadily, she brought that spoonful of ice cream, now fused with her deepest craving, into her mouth.
Her taste buds exploded!
It was better than any ice cream she had ever eaten before!
Anna closed her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling slightly.
The expression on her soft, baby-faced cheeks completely relaxed.
“How’s the strawberry flavor?”
Ren stared at the [Love] and [Joy] above Anna’s head and asked calmly.
“It’s good…
It’s so good!”
Anna praised it vaguely, her spoon barely stopping before she immediately scooped up another large bite.
“Is that so?
Glad to hear it.”
Ren did not comment much.
He simply watched the scene before him in silence.
As expected…
In his heart, he confirmed his guess.
The target of the emotion called “love” was highly flexible.
It could even be transferred onto symbolic objects.
A spoon with his saliva on it was enough to make it reach this level…
A woman’s emotions really were complicated, yet simple enough to be baffling.
Was this what people meant when they said women were emotional creatures?
Ren picked up his water glass and took a sip.
He might as well leave the glass here for her too.
Then he opened the system panel.
Emotions from the same person were grouped together, and the storage period still showed three months.
However, unlike with his cheap parents, Anna’s seven emotions had truly been collected.
On top of that, a new round of [Love], [Joy], and [Desire] had already accumulated beside them.
He only needed four more negative emotions to draw another prize.
What a good girl.
He really wanted to find a basement and lock her inside.
Ren was extremely satisfied with Anna.
[Draw prize?]
He pressed the confirm button.
A burst of colorful light, visible only to Ren, exploded before him.
At the same time, the system notification rang out.
“Congratulations.
You have unlocked LV1 [Teleportation].
The reward has been issued to your brain.
Please check and receive it.”