“Big brother, what are you spacing out at that book for?”
Ruri’s voice finally pulled Natsume Chikei back to reality.
He forced down the excitement bubbling in his chest and asked curiously, “Ruri, what do you think of this book?”
Natsume Ruri tilted her head slightly, looking confused.
“What do you mean, what do I think?
Is there something special about it?”
“No, it’s nothing…”
As expected!
Natsume Chikei thought to himself that since this strangely glowing book had been sitting right at the entrance of the second-hand bookstore and no one else had noticed it, it probably meant only he could see its extraordinary nature.
Before this, he had still been wondering where to find the equipment shown on the panel.
Now it looked like this might be exactly the kind of special equipment the panel had mentioned.
It was just sitting here in the second-hand bookstore, though.
Who knew when someone else might buy it?
Since he had finally come across one, he should probably buy it first and worry about the rest later.
Chikei was very curious about the panel’s claim that collecting three pieces of equipment would grant him one attribute point.
He was also curious whether gaining attribute points would actually raise his stats.
If he kept collecting special equipment, did that mean he could keep improving his attributes indefinitely?
With enough attribute points, maybe he really could surpass ordinary people.
And what about the special effects of these pieces of equipment—could he actually use them?
If he really could, maybe he could even use them to make money…
Several money-making ideas were already flashing through Chikei’s mind.
But before any of that, he needed to buy this special equipment first.
Natsume Chikei checked the price, then picked up the autobiography novel titled The Boy’s Sorrowful Diary and went to line up at the counter.
At that moment, the female cashier was listlessly ringing up the previous male customer.
Even after the man left, she didn’t say a word.
But the moment she saw the next person in line, her eyes lit up.
She couldn’t help but run her fingers through her hair.
Natsume Chikei pulled 800 yen from his nearly empty wallet and handed it over.
“Please wrap this up for me.”
“Of course.”
The cashier scanned the book’s barcode, neatly packaged the novel, and handed it to him with a radiant smile.
“Thank you.”
“Please take care, and come again soon!”
“Mm.” Natsume Chikei replied politely, then turned to his sister.
“Ruri, let’s go.”
Natsume Ruri’s cheeks puffed out slightly.
She glanced at the cashier who was still sneaking looks at her brother and thought to herself that next time, she definitely wouldn’t bring him down this road.
Inside the supermarket.
Natsume Ruri squeezed out of the crowd and happily held up two bento boxes toward Chikei.
“Big brother, look!
I managed to grab two discounted bentos!”
“And get this—you’re not gonna believe it, but both of them together only cost 560 yen.
It’s such a steal!”
Natsume Chikei fell silent for a long moment.
Having lived two lives, he wasn’t particularly bothered by living in poverty.
But watching his sister—who had once been a rich young lady—get this excited over discounted bentos made his heart ache.
“You actually managed to grab them in that crowd?
My little sister’s pretty amazing.”
Chikei reached out and gently rubbed Ruri’s head.
Natsume Ruri looked very pleased and leaned into the touch.
Before long, Ruri was pulling him along, happily wandering through every floor of the supermarket.
Since they rarely got to go out like this, he let her lead, following behind at an unhurried pace.
But when they reached the clothing section, Ruri looked at all the pretty women’s clothes on display.
Even though she knew there was no money at home for new outfits, it wouldn’t hurt to just try them on and see, right…?
Thinking that, she couldn’t resist holding the new clothes up against herself in front of the mirror, imagining what they would look like on her.
After noticing his sister’s actions, Natsume Chikei took out his wallet and checked inside.
There wasn’t much money left, but if Ruri wanted new clothes, he didn’t mind buying her one or two pieces.
Supermarket clothes weren’t expensive anyway.
Even ordinary people could afford them.
While he was waiting, something in his peripheral vision caught his attention.
He froze.
On the small accessories counter sat a brand-new, fully packaged bracelet glowing with a strange light.
[The One-in-a-Thousand Bracelet]
[Quality: White] (White < Blue < Green < Purple < Gold)
[Effect: Head-turn rate +15%]
[Description: Sister said purple has a lot of charm.]
Natsume Chikei was confused—what was this description even talking about?
Complaining aside, he still couldn’t help wanting to buy it.
After all, the panel had said he only needed to collect three special pieces of equipment to get one attribute point.
He had already been in this world for almost half a month.
Now that he had finally found another one, he had to get it no matter what!
From behind him came Ruri’s voice.
“Big brother, where did you go?”
Natsume Chikei stiffened on the spot and thought, Shit.
But he reacted quickly.
He calmly hid the bracelet and turned around with a smile.
“I was just thinking you were busy picking out clothes, so I figured I’d go downstairs and see if there was anything else we needed.”
Ruri pointed at the bracelet behind him and tilted her head with a smile.
“If you wanted to go buy something, I wouldn’t have minded.”
“But this bracelet… don’t tell me you were planning to buy it for some other girl?”
“Who is she?”
“Is it that Fujiwara Aoi from earlier?”
“So Fujiwara Aoi really is your girlfriend, isn’t she?”
Natsume Chikei coughed.
“Of course not…”
“If she’s not, then why are you buying it?” Ruri tilted her head again, still smiling.
But she quickly thought of something and her expression turned a little strange.
“Or… do you have some other use for it?”
Chikei’s brain spun at high speed.
He quickly came up with an excuse and laughed it off.
“Actually, I was thinking of buying it for you, Ruri…”
“Look, school starts again in two days, right?”
“I just wanted to get you something new for the new semester.
I was planning to secretly buy you a new bracelet as a gift for the first day of school, but I guess that plan’s ruined now…”
Ruri’s eyes lit up with excitement.
“So that’s what it was!”
“You should’ve just said so earlier!
Why go through all that roundabout trouble for a little romance?
You could’ve just given it to me directly and I would’ve been fine with it!”
As she spoke, she happily took the bracelet.
Unfortunately, it was still in its packaging and couldn’t be opened before purchase, so she could only walk back to where she had been earlier and try on the sample version.
To her surprise, it looked really nice on her wrist.
She immediately felt that her brother’s taste was excellent—he had somehow guessed she liked purple!
Natsume Chikei watched his sister holding the bracelet and thought that this was going to be a bit troublesome.
Still, at least the special equipment was with Ruri now.
With a little scheming, he would have a chance to get it back later.