Reinhard leaned back on the sofa, tapping his fingers against the armrest as he thought about the System’s objective. What gift would his wife actually accept?
Flowers came to mind first, but he dismissed the idea almost immediately. They wouldn’t really make her happy with things the way they were between them, and jewelry would be even worse. He needed to give her something she actually needed.
He was still thinking when a soft whimper came from Emily’s room, and Reinhard went completely still. "Is she crying?"
He was on his feet before he had finished the thought. When he eased her door open, he found Emily curled on her side, shaking, her hands clutching the front of her shirt. He hurried across the room, and then he stopped, his eyes landing on the pill bottle on her bedside table.
Nightmare and Pain Reliever.
The door opened behind him, and Maki stepped inside in a black nightgown. "Reinhard? What are you doing in here?"
"I heard something. What’s wrong with her?"
Maki studied him for a moment. "This is the pain she gets at night."
"Because of the broken Gnosis?"
"Yes."
She went to the bedside table, poured water into the glass, and gave Emily a pill, and slowly, the tension drained from Emily’s face.
Reinhard looked at the bottle. "Was that the last one?"
"Yes."
"When can we get more?"
"Next week, once I get paid."
"So she has to go through this for six more nights."
Maki didn’t answer. She didn’t need to. She brushed a hand across Emily’s forehead. "Let her sleep. And if you’ve got nothing better to do, stay out of everyone’s way."
Reinhard reached down and gently smoothed Emily’s hair, and Maki immediately glared at him.
"Thank you, Maki," he said. "For taking care of her."
Her expression tightened. "Do you even understand what you’re saying? Or is that just the first thing that popped into your head?"
"Of course I understand," he said with a smile. "You’re her sister. You’ve been taking care of her all this time, and I appreciate it."
Maki looked away. "I’ll believe it when I see it."
Reinhard’s smile faded. "I won’t let her suffer through the next six nights."
Maki looked back at him. "You? What’s a drunk like you supposed to do about it?"
Reinhard smiled and lightly tapped her forehead. "Your brother will figure something out."
"You’re ridiculous."
"Probably," he said, turning toward the door. "But I’ll prove it." He paused in the doorway. "Get some sleep, Maki. You’ve done enough for tonight."
...
The next morning, Reinhard sat with his phone, looking up the price of the medicine Maki had used. The Blue Brand cost three hundred dollars for ninety pills, but the Gold Brand, where a single pill lasted an entire night, cost two thousand.
He stared at the price.
It was absurd.
He remembered Emily shaking in her bed, her hands clutching her shirt while she tried to sleep through the pain.
"Still..." He looked around the apartment. "Where am I supposed to find that kind of money?"
His eyes landed on the television, then the game console, and then a row of watches he hadn’t touched in years, and an idea began to form. He found a secondhand shop willing to buy up to three thousand dollars’ worth of goods and started filling a bag.
Maki passed him first, took one look at the watches, and frowned. Yuna saw him next and immediately looked suspicious. It was Lily who finally stopped him, grabbing him by both shoulders. "What are you doing?! Are you going to gamble?!"
Reinhard laughed. "I’m not gambling. I’m making money."
"Really?"
"Really." His smile softened. "Though it’s nice to see you so worried about me."
Her face turned red. "Who cares about you?! I just don’t want you hurting my sister again!"
"And me too?"
She looked away. "If you’re not gambling, why didn’t you tell Maki and Yuna?"
Reinhard blinked. "They walked past?"
"You waved at them."
"I wave at a lot of things."
Lily sighed. "Why don’t you just ask one of us for money?"
"I know we don’t have much," he said, dropping another watch into the bag. "That’s why I’m selling these."
Lily’s eyes went wide when he picked up a bottle of beer. "Even your beer?! You always said you spent a fortune on that stuff!"
Reinhard examined the label, looking genuinely offended. "A fortune? On this?"
"That’s what you said!"
"Then he was robbed." He dropped the bottle into the bag. "Twice, since he also drank it."
Lily stared at him.
"Those things have caused enough trouble in this house," Reinhard said. "It’s time they did something useful."
Something softened in Lily’s expression. "...That’s good."
"You can come with me," he said with a smile. "Make sure I’m really not gambling."
She hesitated, then grabbed another bag. "Only because I can’t trust you otherwise."
"I’m truly blessed to have such a caring little sister."
"Shut up and walk, you annoying idiot."
They were almost out the door when Emily rolled into the hallway. "Where are you two going?"
Lily froze, and Reinhard smiled. "I’m happy my wife is curious."
Emily’s eyes widened.
"I’m selling some of my things," Reinhard said. "I need money for something that’s been on my mind."
"Why didn’t you..."
"Because I want to buy it with my own money."
She was quiet for a moment. "It’s that important to you?"
"Yes," he said with a smile. "It’s a wish of mine."
Emily’s hands trembled slightly. "A wish..." She nodded and started rolling toward the living room.
Reinhard set down his bag. "Let me."
"W-Wait, aren’t you leaving?"
"How could I leave without helping my wife?" He reached for her chair. "You want to go to your spot by the window, right?"
"I can do it," she said, pushing the wheels herself and rolling ahead of him.
Reinhard watched her go. "A little pushback today."
"That’s just how she is," Lily said. "Consider the last two days rare."
Reinhard chuckled. "Let’s go."
...
The secondhand shop was cramped and smelled faintly of dust, and the owner looked through their bags. "Twenty-four hundred for the lot."
"Three thousand," Reinhard said.
"Twenty-five."
Reinhard picked up one of the watches. "This is a limited release. You’ll sell it for seven hundred on its own, and you know it."
The man’s eyes flickered. "...Twenty-seven."
"Three thousand, and I’ll throw in the beer."
"I don’t want the beer."
"Nobody wants the beer. That’s why it’s free."
The man stared at him, then opened the register. "Three thousand. Not one dollar more. And take the beer with you."
Lily stared at Reinhard as he counted the money. "How did you..."
"I’m very persuasive."
"You were a drunk."
"A persuasive one." He handed her the bag of beer. "Carry this."
...
From there, Reinhard led her to Angel Family Pharmacy, walked straight to the Gold Brand medicine, and paid the full two thousand dollars.
Lily stared at the bag. "Don’t tell me that’s for..."
"I did say it was important."
"You sold all that just for medicine?"
"My wife sleeping soundly is important to me."
Lily’s expression softened. "Who said you were allowed to..." She stopped, and Reinhard smiled.
Afterward, he steered her into a restaurant and spent part of the leftover money on takeout for the family.
"This is bribery," Lily said.
"Is it working?"
She was quiet for a moment. "...Yes."
...
Dinner that night was louder than usual. Lily argued with Yuna over the last dumpling, Maki kept glancing at Reinhard as if waiting for a trap, and Emily ate more than she usually did.
Once dinner was finished, Reinhard knelt beside Emily’s chair, took her hand, and placed the medicine bottle in her lap.
Emily’s eyes widened. "W-What is this?"
"The thing I wanted," he said with a smile. "My wife deserves peaceful dreams."
"You don’t have to do this. Return it and use the money on yourself."
Reinhard laughed softly. "This is for myself." Emily stared at him. "I hate watching you in pain. If you can’t sleep, I worry, and if I worry, I can’t sleep either."
She looked down at the bottle. "This big wish of yours was making sure I could sleep?"
"Because you deserve it."
Emily was silent. Her pain had become something the whole family had learned to live around. They arranged their schedules around it, the doctors prescribed what they could, and Emily endured the rest. No one had ever looked at something as small as a bottle of medicine and treated it like it mattered, until Reinhard.
"You really sold everything," she said.
"Everything I sold can be bought again." His smile softened. "My wife can’t."
Her grip tightened around the bottle. "You fool."
"I’ve been called worse."
Neither of them spoke for a moment.
"No one asked you to do this," Emily said.
"But I wanted to."
She looked up. "Why?"
"You can keep asking," he said, gently closing his hand over hers. "I’ll keep giving you the same answer until you finally believe it." His voice softened. "You’re my wife."
Emily looked down at the bottle, then back at him. "...Thank you." Her fingers tightened around the medicine. "I love this gift."
The room went silent. Lily’s lips parted, and Maki’s hand tightened on the back of her chair.
Reinhard simply smiled. "You’re welcome."
A translucent screen appeared in front of him.
[Investment Objective Completed.]
[C-Grade Investment Successful.]
[Target: Emily Ashcroft.]
[Target Value Increased.]
[Emily Ashcroft: E → E+]
Reinhard glanced at Emily. She was still holding the medicine against her chest, her expression softer than he had ever seen it. The investment had worked.
Then another line appeared.
[Calculating Returns...]
Reinhard’s smile slowly widened. He had just invested two thousand dollars in his wife, and now he was about to find out what the System thought that was worth.