“So” She starts breaking the tension slightly.

“So” I let out. Not really knowing how to start this conversation…

“Um right you were going to show me something?” she looks around nervously. Picking up some equipment and poking around. It feels a little embarrassing when she sniffs the sweat rag I left out there and makes a gagging face.

“Well… um I have powers…” She gives me a flat look. Like I’m an idiot.

“No no wait let me explain. Since I was a kid, I’ve had these things they are called skills. I have 7 slots, one of them helps me learn stuff! It lets me memorize things more easily, I also have throwing, martial arts and I just picked up a couple more for this mission.” This surprises her but she still looks skeptical.

“Look just… watch this…” I pick up a bouncy ball and throw it against the wall. Since its reached the lvl 75 milestone I have a feeling like a line for the trajectory it will move in if thrown. I can plan to throw it until the line follows what I want it to I can more perfectly control the throw. It bounces around the room narrowly going through different obstacles I have set up in the room. Before landing perfectly in my hand.

“Okay I admit that’s kind of impressive in a weird hobby sort of way. I wouldn’t exactly call it a power though.” She looks at the ball and the obstacles around poking at some and looking through hoops.

“No see it’s my skill. I can aim my throws and change the spin. That’s why I’m so good at baseball.” This was much easier with Saeko and the others. Probably because there were zombies and I could suddenly run Olympic runner speeds.

“Okay… that just sounds like a lot of practice rather than a power?” Shes giving me a look now. I can’t exactly tell what its supposed to mean. Pity maybe? Or annoyed with me because THIS was the excuse I was using.

“It’s not just that though… the other skills I have improve my comprehension and thought speed. Hmm Martial arts just improves my learning speed and makes my body harder…” She looks a bit embarrassed at that. Deciding to not look at me.

“Not that kind of harder pervert.” She keeps looking away but snickers a bit at it.

“Hmm OH! I can show you that. Look over here!” She looks hesitant at first then looks at my bracelet.

“I earned it from completing a quest. It’s a storage device.” With the flick of my mind the medical bag pops into my hand. “See this?” she falls back onto her butt.

“H-how? Wait! Show me again!” She reaches over and looks at the bracelet.

“You called it storage? How does it work?” I put the medical bag back inside and take off the band.

“Here put it on and try it out.” I take off the bangle and put it around her wrist. She blushes a bit after she realizes that we are so close.

“Um how do I um Oh!” The bag full of food pops into her hand. The sudden weight pulling her forward and nearly falling over into me if I hadn’t backed away. She falls and just glares at me.

“What I said I wouldn’t touch you first? I didn’t want to grab you and annoy you. I don’t need mom coming in here and smacking me around.” She smiles a bit at that remark but keeps staring at the storage bracelet.

“So… so you werent messing with me? You mentioned quests what sort of quests? Like have you been fighting monsters in secret or something?! Are you secretly like a vigilante or something and that’s why you’re going to go rescue her?!” She seems to get super excited at the idea. Standing back up and trying to put the food away. Shes become a bit muscular since we started working out so shes able to lift the large bag of food one handed. Putting it away with a satisfied smile.

“Haha no not yet but maybe someday. No, my quests have just been to do well in school and to save your friend.” I lie a bit because I don’t want her to think our relationship has been built just because of some quest and not because I wanted it to… it feels a bit wrong but sometimes little lies are best.

“Woah no wonder you need to do it. It’s like a mission from god!” her eyes shine while looking at me.

“I mean I don’t know about god…”

“But then what other reason could it be? You get these missions to improve yourself and save others!” she comes up to me and holds me.

“I doubt that its god though” I look embarrassed now because shes getting a lot touchier now.

“But who but god would give these powers! Unless magic is real… there might be others like you out there! Like a whole underground magician group of skill users! Can you give me skills now that I know about them?” her eyes go round then she realizes that shes holding me and backs away quickly.

She makes some good points though. I wonder if other people have skills here? “Ah, um no I don’t think I can give you skills. I also havnt met anyone else with skills before but its not like I’m going around telling everyone.” She looks a little sad at the realization she won’t get special abilities.

“Ahem anyways I see now why your helping…” She looks a little awkward slowly releasing me as she backs away embarrassed.

“I mean I’d have helped regardless of getting a quest, my skills have grown stagnant lately. Martial arts is stuck at lvl 55 and throwing is stuck at 80 my other skills are too new to really have gained any levels.” She nods to that but then gets a questioning look.

“Hmm how can I help? And why are you telling me all of this?” she looks a lot more interested now.

“Well do you want to help me train my new skills? The new ones I got are Search and stealth. I was thinking with your help we can make it a bit of a game. You can hide things in an area, and I can sneak around trying to find them without you seeing me. I felt like I could use some help with leveling them up…” She nods to that.

“Sure, I’ll help! This is so exciting! It’s like you’re a hero or something! OH, were you summoned here from another world? Reincarnated? Are we all video game characters and you’re secretly the players? No wait that would mean I’d be a self-aware NPC… Are you secretly a demon?” She just kept firing off question after question. Her usual quit and angry demeaner completely forgotten.

I think I made a mistake I didn’t realize she was religious at all, I also underestimated how into fantasy stuff she was…

I’m snapped out of it by her next question. “Are you an angel?!” She stares at me with wide eyes.

“No! I’m just skilled at things! Now shush I havnt even told my parents about this…” I pat her head she looks conflicted at this like she both enjoys it and feels uncomfortable.

“So, so you mentioned 7 skills but only named 5 whats your last skills?” She looks at me.

“Disease resistance, its why I never get sick.” She nods at that one. It’s just never come up. “The last one is Nothing, I haven’t chosen it yet.” She just stares at me for a bit.

“Why?” Damn she doesn’t know about the fusion so that makes sense.

“Well, I don’t know what I’ll run into with your friend so if theres some threat I need that little bit of an edge against I’ll pick something up to better fight them.” She nods understanding.

“But don’t your skills grow through using them? Wont it be too low level to make a difference?”

“Well, that depends on the threat. If it’s just a hazardous area I might just pick metabolism, so I don’t need as much food. If it’s a fight like an arena, then I’ll pick up a skill relevant to how I’ll fight. If theres some acid bog or if we are on a volcano or something heck if I’m underwater, I can pick up swimming or hold breath!” She nods but also looks confused.

“You expect to go to a poison bog or underwater?” looking a lot more concerned all of a sudden.

“I don’t know what to expect. That’s exactly why I need to leave the skill open. I’ve saved most of them all my life because I wasn’t sure what I would face. When I was very young my only quests become the best at a sport and school. That quest will probably complete at the end of this school year. I got another one that says I need to save a Himiko on some sort of island by collecting something called chips.”

“RIGHT! Himiko is her nickname…

“So, you didn’t know what kind of life you’d have? Ah that’s why you picked throwing! It can be used for a lot of things!”

“Well… no that was an inborn skill. I just chose baseball because I already had the skill.” I scratch my cheek a bit.

“Oh well it suits you! I uh I guess.” She sort of awkwardly plays with a ball in the corner. We spend a bit of time in some awkward silence.

“Oh kiiiiiiids dinners ready~ Stop your make out session~ I’m coming insiiiiide~” Mom starts rapidly knocking on the door

“WE ARNT DOING THAT!” we both yell jumping up and quickly run towards the door to show we arnt doing anything but in the process we both reach for the handle at the same time grabbing each other’s hands. We both look at each other in shock as my mom finishes opening the door.

“Oh my, and here I thought you werent doing anything~ It’s so cute holding hands already? I wonder what you two were doing before I opened the door~” shes laying it on a little thick there.

Looking up into Tomiyo’s face its slowly turning brighter and brighter red I feel a little squeeze on my hand as her face slowly turns redder. Probably remembering holding my hand before when she told me about her friend.

“I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!” she wraps her arms behind herself trying to hide them like they were caught. Like admitting that she was able to hold hands would mean losing something.

“Mom it was just a mistake we weren’t doing anything” Even I’m blushing just a little bit from a misunderstanding.

“hoho alright son, daughter in law come along now! Dinner will get cold. Unless you two just want to continue what, you were doing~” She wanders out. Leaving us behind.

She immediately snaps at me. “YOU IDIOT WHY DID YOU GRAB MY HAND?”

“WHY DID YOU GRAB MY HAND? Not that it was uh bad or anything…” I stare at her a little bit and she blushes harder. It looks like steam is almost coming out of her ears.

“I Mean um I uh we need to um.” She starts fumbling over her words as we both try and wait for the other to start opening the door first.

My mom pokes her head back in. “Oh, by the way Miho your mother came by! Shes in the other room~” I watch a bit of Miho die inside. Since she probably heard everything that just happened with the door open.

She looks genuinely hurt from that comment “Sorry it’s my mom’s fault for teasing. Want me to clear things up with your mom?”

“haaaaa fine, as long as you clear things up it will be fine. But don’t get me wrong! You’ll pay for this misunderstanding!” Despite everything she has a little bit of a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

“Come on let’s get this over with.” In the dining room is a businesswoman that looks like an adult version of Miho with the same hair style and everything

I whisper to Miho. “Hey, whats your moms job anyways?”

She looks surprised by the question. “Hmm? shes a Network engineer for some large company she never really went into detail and her twin sister works off in America for the government.” Ah that’s kind of interesting, she has a round face like Miho, glasses and if I didn’t know any better Miho just looks like a mini version of her.

“Oh? Miho from the sounds of things I should be less worried about you and more worried about what you two might be doing behind closed doors.” She smiles at her causing critical damage to Miho. She clinches and looks away embarrassed.

“It’s…It’s not like that. We accidently touched hands then uh held them right as his mother came in. It meant nothing like um that and stuff and I-I’m going to be quiet now.” Miho starts off with the truth but then it starts to slowly dwindle as her mom is giving her a knowing smile.

“And stuff? Honey I’ve had a lot of coworkers that can lie better then you.” She takes a drink of tea smiling at me.

“I’m glad shes in good hands after everything…”

“Ha shes not in my hands at all, if anything I can’t stop her from hitting one me.”

SMACK

She smacks my arm slightly. “See? I can’t get her to stop.” I turn and smile at her.

“SHUT IT! Not helping” she slaps the back of my head this time.

“I’m Shimada Hitomi nice to meet you!” I bow to Miho’s mother acting like I wasn’t just smacked while looking over Smiling at Miho with a side smile.

“You should know that it really was just an accident we were just in such a rush to get here we grabbed each other’s hands. Miho here isnt nearly that forward.” Finally doing my part to defend her honor. But I had to still tease a bit in the end much to Miho annoyance and her moms happiness.

“I’m Tomizawa Tomiyo, it’s nice to meet the boy that stole my little girls’ heart.” She keeps looking at Miho with a surprised look. I look over and see that despite everything shes smiling, more than just a small one or a quick one before a frown an actual genuine nervous smile.

“MOM!” that gets a laugh out of everyone at the table.

“Well let’s eat, shall we?” dinner was quiet but Miho kept looking at me then her mother like she was expecting something bad to happen. We had some small talk here and there about school. Mom kept bragging about me, and her mom also looked a little interested in some of what she said. “If things turn out well in your future, I have a lot of contacts with some important people you just have to make sure to take good care of my Miho.” That sounds interesting. We talked about what I might want to do in the future, but it was all still somewhat up in the air. Then it turned to Miho who also wasn’t sure about her future.

“So, speaking of my daughter, what are your intentions with my Miho anyways? Not to look down on my daughter but from what your mother and Miho have said you’re not exactly lacking in options. Why pay so much attention to her?” Miho gives her mom a glare. But shes looking at me with a serious look.

“SHUT UP MOM OUR RELATIONSHIP ISNT LIKE, well um its uh not like, it’s not…” At first, she was full of gusto and rage but rather then finish it she sort of trailed off. As she waits on my answer as well.

“Well, I’m not that great at socializing, always focusing on my work and getting the next task done… One day I was knocked a bit out of it by a phone call that I misunderstood. When I got back to class, I finally took a look around me. I noticed a girl staring off with a lost look and figured I’d give a try at cheering her up. Little did I know I’d just cause more trouble for her.” Her mom nods at that.

“Yes, I remember her coming home that night yelling about how a ‘stupid white knight -ahem- pardon me, asshole came and made everyone hate her.’ I didn’t really know what that meant at the time.” Geesh so she even complained about me at home.

“Mooooom that was a while ago. Though some of the other girls are still upset with me about that. Yuki is having a rougher time in her school… we don’t talk much anymore with Arisa either.” Those were the other girls from the incident that happened at the start of the school year before she changed schools to mine.

“Ahem, Well, soon after that I stopped some dumbasses from picking on her and offered to help her learn some martial arts herself to defend herself.”

“Ah that’s what getting those lessons at a Taekwondo dojo were for. She mentioned it was to defend herself. She never mentioned a boy~” She looks at Miho.

“Ummm well mom we werent really friends yet so it just seemed like a small detail.” Her face is red.

“Yeah, then one of the instructors touched her to change her stance. She didn’t feel comfortable, and he kept on doing it so she decided to leave.” Her mom nods likely having heard the story before.

“Since she no longer wanted to go there, we started practicing just the two of us after class.” Her mom looks surprised.

“Miho, you never said you were spending your afterschool time with a boy! You just said you were going to the gym. If I knew you were with another person, I might not have made you call every hour. Hmm or I might have made you bring another friend with you.” Her mom looks off at that thought.

“Mooooom we were just practicing… it was just a um small detail? Besides what other friends?… Yuki is on the other side of Japan and Arisa doesn’t really want to go outside anymore…” She sounds a whole lot less convincing this time.

“Well, then we started playing btooom together online after practice.”

“That’s why you got that game again? I thought you said you never wanted to play it again after Hitom-“

“MOMPLEASESTOPNOTINFRONTOFTHEMPLEASEANDTHANKYOU!” She starts to yell in a long string of words that don’t seem to stop or breath at any point.

“Well at least your brother has been a bit less worried about you lately. Glad to see your having fun with your time instead of moping around a gym all day on your own.” She smiles over at me.

“Though your brother might be worried for a different reason. Running around with a boy all day. Maybe take him along with you to the gym next time?” Mrs. Tomiyo looks between the two of us.

“You have a brother Miho? You’ve never mentioned him before.” Miho squirms a little bit at that. Shes avoided talking about her family a lot.

“Yeeeeaaaaah it’s because I didn’t want to get him involved with anything… he can be a bit protective and an annoying little brat… Especially lately…”

“Yeah, I’d bet he’d be protective of his cute younger? Sister.” I take a shot in the dark for the age.

“Not quite shes my oldest child.” Her mom cuts in. Darn 50-50 chance.

“Well, I’ll be sure to meet him sometime. I think I’ll be a bit busy here pretty soon though, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to meet him for a while.” I look over at Miho. She looks a bit upset and looks down at the table.

“Ah that’s a shame.” She looks between us probably thinking I’m busy with something else related to the two of us.

“Yeah, I’ve got a tournament coming up! Miho is going to help me prep for it though so I should do well!” This gets a smile from everyone at the table except Miho who’s face looks cramped.

“Anyways it’s been a great day so far but it’s getting late.” Miho stands up and starts to get ready to go.

“If you say so dear, I’m glad we could all come together and talk about stuff like this.” Bidding everyone goodbye I clean up the dishes with mom.

“So, Miho is a nice girl… She seems a lot better off now then how you described her before.” Mom smiling teasing just a little with the unasked question.

“Yeah… I’m glad I took your advice. If you hadn’t told me what to do I’d have probably screwed things up by trying to give her a hug or something.”

“Yeah, you aren't really good with girls are you? Good thing you have an amazing mom like me or you’d be doomed to have a bad love life!” Mom strikes a pose probably something she saw on tv once.

“Mooom shes not even here and that’s embarrassing.”

“So… do you liiiiiiiiiike her?” haaa that’s the million doller question isnt it? I have to view this life as different than the others. Each life is a new one. Saeko and Saya are gone… Never even born here. But it still just feels a little wrong. Like I should love them because that’s what Haru did? Theres still some feelings for them but it’s the feelings for a character I’ve watched and grown attatched to rather than love on a personal level.

“Kind of? I don’t know for sure yet. Besides I don’t know if either of us are really ready for that sort of relationship yet.” We have plenty of time after I’m back to discover that.

“hoho I’m sure you’ll figure it out eventually. You're still young you have plenty of time.”

The thing is I feel both young and old. So it just doesn't feel right.