That evening, Reinhard was sorting through the things scattered around the apartment when he found a folded newspaper tucked beneath a couch cushion. He had barely opened it when Lily rushed into the room. "Where did you find that?!"
Reinhard blinked. "Under the couch. I’m guessing it’s yours?"
Lily snatched it out of his hands. "Seriously? I thought you’d stopped stealing my stuff when you were drunk."
"I stole things?" He thought about it. "What else did I take?"
"My slippers. Twice."
"Well, that explains why you keep a spare."
She glared at him, but her expression softened as she glanced toward the hallway. "Did Emily see this?"
"No."
Lily visibly relaxed. "Good. Don’t let her."
Reinhard looked at the newspaper. "She doesn’t like remembering?"
Lily lowered her head. "She wanted all of it gone, the trophies, the newspapers, and the medals. We barely convinced her to keep a few photographs."
Reinhard was quiet for a moment. "What was she like before?"
Lily sat down beside him. "She took care of everyone. Maki would come home exhausted, and Sis would already have dinner waiting. She’d wait by the door for us too, no matter how busy she was." Her smile faded. "She made sure everyone else felt cared for." Tears slipped down her cheeks. "...I miss her."
Reinhard didn’t try to give her some grand speech. He simply stayed beside her until she was ready to get up.
...
Later, Reinhard found Emily by the window, watching the city below. Children ran along the sidewalk, cars moved through the streets, and farther down the block, a group of Awakeners practiced simple spells in an empty lot. Emily watched them in silence.
Reinhard walked over without interrupting and stopped beside her. "Do you like the new chair?"
She nodded. "Yes."
"Good." His eyes dropped to her hands. "Your hands aren’t tense anymore."
Emily looked down at them. "Yeah..." She smiled faintly. "I can’t believe it."
"Want to go outside tomorrow?"
Her fingers tightened around the wheels. "No."
Reinhard didn’t push. "All right." He turned toward the kitchen.
"Reinhard."
He stopped. Emily was still staring out the window, and after a long silence, she spoke quietly. "Can we?"
He smiled. "Of course."
"I’d like to see the park again."
Reinhard paused. It was the same park he had practically dragged her to before. Back then, he had been the one convincing her to leave the apartment, and this time, she was asking him.
"Then the park it is."
...
The next morning, Reinhard pushed Emily’s wheelchair down the familiar street toward the park, the new wheels gliding along without a whisper of resistance. The morning air was cool and bright, and this time there was no hesitation in either of them, and no argument about whether she wanted to go.
"You know," he said, glancing down at her, "you’re the one who asked this time."
She looked away, her cheeks warming. "Don’t make it sound strange."
"I’m not." Then, softer, "I’m proud of you."
Her ears went faintly red. "Don’t say things like that."
"Why?"
"Because it’s embarrassing."
"Then I’ll say it quietly." He leaned toward her ear. "I’m proud of you."
"That’s worse!"
Reinhard laughed.
The park opened up ahead of them, the same paths and benches around the same pond, and yet somehow it felt different this time. She hadn’t been brought here because someone else wanted her out of the apartment. She had chosen to come back, and as she rolled along the paths, she was actually looking at everything: the flower beds, the pond, the people, and the children playing.
"You’re back!" a familiar voice called out.
Emily froze as the little girl from their last visit came running toward them. She hesitated, then raised her hand. "Yes."
The girl stopped in front of her and stared at the wheelchair. "Your chair is pretty!"
Emily looked down at it. "It is."
"I picked it," Reinhard said.
The girl looked up at him. "Is he your boyfriend?"
Emily paused. "...He’s my husband."
"He’s really pretty too."
"Thank you," Reinhard said. "I work very hard at it."
"He doesn’t," Emily said.
The girl nodded seriously. "Are you going to stay longer this time?"
Emily looked across the park, then at Reinhard. He wasn’t pushing her forward or telling her what to do. He was simply waiting. She looked back at the girl. "...Yes."
The girl smiled and ran back toward the swings, and a blue window appeared in front of Reinhard.
[Investment Opportunity Available.]
[Target: Emily Ashcroft.]
[Objective: Help Emily enjoy a full day without allowing her past to overwhelm her.]
[Difficulty Grade: C.]
[Success Probability: 65%.]
Reinhard glanced at Emily, who was still watching the girl, and he accepted without hesitation.
"That sounded like a promise," he said.
Emily shook her head. "She’s just a child."
"Children take promises very seriously."
She gave him a sideways look. "You’re strange."
"You’ve said that before."
"Because it’s still true."
He laughed.
Eventually, they settled beside the pond, and for a while, Emily seemed completely at ease. Then a couple walking past glanced at her, and her shoulders tightened as her fingers curled around the wheels. Another person passed, and she stayed tense until she realized no one had stopped.
Reinhard leaned back. "See? They’re not staring."
She looked around, and he was right. People glanced at her and kept walking.
"Most people are too busy thinking about themselves," Reinhard said.
Emily gave him another sideways look. "You say that like you’re an expert."
"I am."
"At what?"
"Being ignored." He paused. "It’s very difficult for me. People can’t usually stop looking."
A small laugh almost escaped her, and Reinhard counted that as a victory.
A little later, a group of young Awakeners gathered on the field. One conjured a small flame, and another raised a shimmering shield as children crowded around them, cheering.
Emily went still. Her eyes followed the magic, and her fingers tightened around the wheels. Reinhard watched her carefully. There was no fear or bitterness in her face, only longing.
"Do you miss it?" he asked.
Emily didn’t answer right away. "Sometimes."
He let the silence stay for a while before he asked, "What did you do?"
"I was an Awakener."
He already knew, but this time he wanted to hear it from her. "Did you enjoy it?"
After a long pause, she answered. "Very much."
"Were you strong?"
Emily finally looked at him, and something faintly amused appeared in her eyes. "I was good."
Reinhard smiled. She hadn’t said she used to be good. She had simply said she was good.
"Then you should do it again," he said.
Her expression immediately fell. "You really don’t understand."
"Probably not," he said, taking her hand. "That’s why I’m asking." Emily looked at him uncertainly, and he squeezed her hand gently. "You don’t have to become the woman you were before. If that life is gone, we’ll build a different one. You don’t have to go back." He smiled. "You can move forward."
Emily didn’t answer, but she didn’t pull her hand away either.
"Why are you doing all this?" she asked quietly.
"Because you’re my wife."
She looked away, and this time, she didn’t argue.
...
By the time they got home, Emily was tired, but it was the good kind of tired, the kind that came from actually living.
Maki noticed immediately. "You stayed out that long?"
Emily nodded. "It was nice."
Maki froze. It had been a long time since Emily had called being outside nice.
A blue window appeared in front of Reinhard.
[Investment Objective Completed.]
[C-Grade Investment Successful.]
[Target Value Increased.]
[Emily Ashcroft: D → D+.]
[Calculating Returns...]
Reinhard’s eyes narrowed as the calculation finished.
[Reward Calculation Complete.]
[Returns Granted.]
[Moonlit Mushroom Soup Ingredients ×5.]
His eyebrows lifted. According to the description, Moonlit Mushrooms strengthened whoever ate them, so they weren’t ordinary ingredients. But of all the rewards the System could have chosen, it had given him mushroom soup ingredients. The System had definitely heard about the last one.
[Additional Reward Granted.]
[Mana-Nourishing Cooking Knowledge.]
Reinhard stared at the notification. The System really wanted him to cook. Still, the knowledge wasn’t only about making food taste better. It taught him how to strengthen a weakened body through cooking, and that could help Emily.
[Additional Reward Granted.]
[60 Days Compressed Mana.]
Mana flooded his Gnosis, and he shivered as the container expanded and filled. Two months of mana at once.
Not bad.
[Additional Reward Granted.]
[Five Years of Martial Arts and Battlefield Combat Experience.]
Reinhard’s body relaxed as years of combat knowledge settled into his mind. Different martial arts, close-quarters combat, weapon handling, battlefield awareness, and the experience needed to survive against opponents trying to kill him.
He hadn’t suddenly become an expert through practice, but his mind now understood techniques that would have taken years to learn.
[Additional Reward Granted.]
[Mana Control Enhancement.]
Reinhard immediately focused on his mana. Before, fully reinforcing his fist would have taken roughly ten seconds. Now, the same amount of mana moved through his body in about six.
And then another notification appeared.
[Additional Reward Granted.]
[Enhanced Cognitive Processing.]
Reinhard blinked.
The world suddenly felt slightly easier to understand.
His thoughts moved faster. Information connected more naturally, allowing him to analyze and dissect situations with greater speed. Even numbers that had once required deliberate calculation became easier to process, with patterns and relationships standing out almost immediately.
So the System upgraded my brain too.
Then the window changed.
[Legendary Reward Obtained.]
[Investment Memory: Unlocked.]
"Investment Memory?"
Before he could think about it, the world blurred, and when his vision cleared, Reinhard was standing in a massive arena packed with thousands of spectators.
Awakeners fought on the field below as mana flashed through the air and the crowd roared.
His eyes found Emily immediately. She sat among the spectators, following every spell and every movement with intense focus, and then Reinhard felt it.
Longing. She wanted to be down there. She wanted to fight.
The scene changed, and now Emily stood at the center of the arena. Overwhelming mana erupted from her body, her silver hair whipped behind her, and her eyes burned with excitement.
Then she grinned.
It wasn’t the gentle smile Reinhard knew. It was the grin of someone who had finally found something worth fighting.
Reinhard stared. "My wife was apparently a monster." Somehow, he found himself grinning too.
The scene changed one last time. The arena disappeared, and the park returned, with Emily sitting beside him on the bench, their shoulders touching as they watched people pass. There was no pity in the moment, and no pressure or expectation. She simply felt safe.
The memory faded, and Reinhard stood in the entryway for several seconds. The woman who had grinned in that arena and the woman who had smiled beside him in the park were both Emily, and he wanted to meet both of them.
Lily wandered into the room. "You actually enjoyed yourself?"
Emily gave her a small glare. "Don’t sound so surprised."
"I’m allowed to be surprised!" Lily grinned. "Last month, you glared at the window for opening."
"The window didn’t open itself."
"You made it sound like it did!"
Reinhard watched them argue and didn’t interrupt. The apartment felt lighter that evening, and for the first time in a long time, it felt like a home again.
...
Later that night, Reinhard sat alone at his computer, and Emily’s words kept coming back to him.
I was an Awakener.
He opened the medical databases and searched for Gnosis restoration, then Gnosis regeneration, then shattered Gnosis recovery.
Most of the results were useless, and the few promising ones mentioned experimental treatments, rare materials, or unproven theories.
He kept searching.
The System had already shown him that recovery was possible. Now he needed to find out how.
Reinhard leaned back with a faint smile. "Let’s see what I can find."