Damn, I don’t even know how to describe it.
My companion might have been a “pseudo-Root” operative, but she haggled like an absolute beast.
Thanks to her, I still had a solid half…
okay, a third…
of my allocated funds left over.
Even better, I was now the proud owner of a two-room apartment in a significantly safer neighborhood.
At first glance, the apartment was great!
Drawing on my experience with my last dump, I checked all the usual spots where the building quality might be compromised.
I inspected everything, earning a nod of approval and another 2% affection from the girl, and found zero flaws—not even hidden ones!
Immediately after the purchase, she put me through a grueling pop quiz.
She grilled me on everything I had seen and heard during the negotiations, dissecting my assumptions and conclusions.
Were they training me to be a merchant?
Still, I had to admit my Rhetoric skill spiked sharply after a lesson like that.
As did my relationship with this specific individual, who had introduced herself as Tsuru.
Yep, “Tool”—a great name.
The only problem was that it didn’t match the blank nameplate floating over her head.
Hmm.
Should I try a tactic from one of the visual novels I used to translate?
Giving her a personal nickname, one meant just for the two of us…
in theory, that should bring us closer.
And given her bizarre psychological quirks, it might even count as a full-blown event!
“Can I call you Hitomi?” I asked.
It was a name traditionally given to girls with beautiful eyes.
Come on, give me a reaction!
“Why?” she asked, without even breaking her stride.
Minus two percent.
What the hell?!
“It would suit you.
It sounds pretty, and it’s easy to remember,” I said, playing dumb.
“Fine.” And that was it.
Zero emotional reaction.
We walked the rest of the way in silence.
After that came the actual move, followed by a grocery run with both of my babysitters.
There really was no other word for them.
On the bright side, absolutely no one tried to jack up the prices or mess with me during the shopping trip.
It seemed the flak jackets my duo wore left quite an impression on the merchants.
I just hope the impression was strong enough that I’ll get the same fair prices the next time I come here without them.
I really, really hope so.
Yugao’s reaction at the market actually amused me.
Hitomi bargained like a god and was surprisingly good at picking out fresh produce.
(Oh, the way Yugao’s eyes bugged out when she heard me call the Root operative that name—and saw her completely accept it!) I played the part of a diligent student, putting my new mercantile knowledge to use.
I even managed to talk Hitomi into buying some potatoes, which were pretty rare around here.
I planned to surprise them with dinner.
Yugao, on the other hand, was completely lost.
How did she even survive before this?
Did she live entirely on military rations?
Afterward, we somehow managed to haul it all home.
Seriously, somehow.
Just to put it in perspective: raising my STR stat is already pretty difficult, but I gained a full point of STR just from the walk back!
That was the equivalent of half a day of intense physical training!
We stuffed the refrigerator to the brim.
Yeah, a refrigerator.
This world is so bizarre.
On the surface, they fight with swords and kunai, and they’ve either never heard of gunpowder or just don’t care about it the way my old world did.
Yet, they have things like short-wave radios and refrigerators!
It’s an absurd, contradictory world.
I figured that out a long time ago, but sometimes the realization still hits me out of nowhere, like right now.
I kicked the girls out of the kitchen after that, declaring that I was going to cook us something.
The adult women didn’t argue, but they shot me a look—both of them, making me seriously doubt a certain operative’s supposed lack of emotion—that almost made me lose faith in my own culinary skills!
But it was incredibly fun to watch the expressions in their eyes afterward.
Well, Yugao was genuinely surprised.
Hitomi just buffered for a moment upon seeing the table set with food.
And I got another plus two percent out of her!
Then another bump after the first bite, and yet another when I washed the dishes myself.
To be fair, Yugao gave me a single percent point after the meal was over, but I highly doubt I can max anything out just by doing chores.
First of all, this is only novel to them right now.
Eventually, it will become routine, and the points will stop dropping because the mundane no longer triggers an emotional response.
Second, there’s obviously a scaling factor.
I’m almost certain you can grind out the first heart this way, but the subsequent hearts will require entirely different methods.
After dinner, Yugao gave me a lecture on chakra theory.
Honestly, it was sudden.
I still couldn’t fully process the fact that they were actually going to teach me properly.
Once she finished, I was dismissed.
That was it for today.
The first day was just an orientation, but they promised to load me up with a brutal training schedule starting tomorrow.
Happily heading for the door, I fully intended to invite myself over to Kiba’s place again.
I had to explain my itinerary to Hitomi first…
man, she really took this “older relative” role seriously!
Anyway, when I opened the door, I found Saya and her sister waiting quietly outside.
Lord, this is going to be a long day.
What made the moment especially spicy was the fact that I simply couldn’t relax and have fun with them.
I felt like a massive hypocrite, playing and laughing with kids who, in a little over a year, were just going to be wiped out of existence.
It felt incredibly wrong.
Honestly, if I acquire the “Hypocrite” skill by the end of the day, I won’t even be surprised.