[ Countdown: 1d 5h 00m 03s ]

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A yellow dust cloud followed the sled. It was packed with large tree trunks ready to be used as traps.

Before this sled was Tanuki, two vine ropes tied around his shoulders, groaning painfully with every step as he pulled the weighty load of trees. He finally experienced for the first time in his life what a horse must feel when pulling a carriage. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t fun.

“I have to… huff… save Maduka… huff…”

Immediately after arriving home, Tanuki began to set up traps. His adventure and fight against large boulders have inspired him to use a whole new type of trap: the moving, area of effect kind.

The hill proved to be useful in this regard, being the perfect basis for falling and rolling traps. Because of this, Tanuki repeated the same silent thank you to the Professor, who even though wasn’t there at that moment, has left his definite mark on this world.

At the bottom of the hill sat a bunch of other resources. Stones, twigs, and many more, which Tanuki gathered there. He knew an uphill battle with a hefty cargo wouldn’t be possible, so he gathered things there, planning to bring them to the top one by one.

Of course, this too was excruciating work. Every grid placed via the [Expansion] planner at the Gaia Core was the size of a large football ground in both directions. Taking things to the tallest point of the hill was like running to the middle point of a football ground, then back.

This wouldn’t have been a problem, were it not for the amount of stuff he had to bring along and the many times he had to make this same trip again, again and again.

This was one of Tanuki’s greatest weaknesses: he wasn’t strong. As much as he liked to imagine himself as some kind of hero, who could easily take on three guys all at once, those were all power fantasies tailored by his imagination.

After just three rides going up and down, when Tanuki pulled the sled for the fourth time uphill, his body suddenly went numb, the world around him turned upside down and he collapsed onto the dirt road.

Sweat and saliva dripped down the side of his mouth. The sun above him shone with the same light as before, but it felt much stronger to the boy. And as he lay there, barely clinging onto consciousness, his mind began to waver. Memories of the past flashed before his eyes, and it felt like he was back in the first year of high school once again.

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“I swear! He chugged down both beers all at once!”

“No way, dude! You’re totally lying!”

“Yeah, I don’t believe it. Do you have any pics?”

Conversations. The classroom was always full of those, especially after the winter break. Everyone was telling their stories of expensive gifts and large parties.

Tanuki was never part of these conversations. He always arrived early, captured the last table next to the windows, tucked himself into the corner, and read.

Though most of the time he wasn’t really reading. The lights back there were pretty bad and he had plenty of time binging books at home.

The real reason was that those books were his shield, defending him from the harsh reality.

During the first semester of his high school years, he found himself exactly zero friends. Was that because of his awkward personality or introverted nature, he never really knew. But the sight of people enjoying themselves, having fun, and hitting up loud conversations has always bothered him. Not because they were annoying, but because he was jealous, and they reminded him of how alone he truly was.

That was until one day…

“Hello! Would you be interested in joining my club? We love to paint, draw and drink orange juice!”

Her name was Mei. She started an art club after arriving back from the winter break with a large set of painter tools.

Truth be told, she was never interested in any of the traditional arts. She just asked her parents to get her some make-up tools for Christmas, but the overly excited parents, ready to give their love all she wants, had a bit misunderstood her wish and brought a bunch of greasepaints.

The only true reason she started this whole club was so she could use the school budget to buy herself more orange juice.

“Hello? Hey, nerd! I’m talking to you! You want to join or what?”

Their relationship started out pretty awkwardly. Tanuki was an introvert who never talked to any girls before, while Mei was an extrovert ready to achieve much without doing any work.

They were the only two members of the art club. Teachers argued a lot about whether they deserved to use a dedicated room and the school budget, but after some begging and crocodile tears, Mei got the keys for the janitor’s closet, which she promptly renamed ‘The Artz Club :)’.

“You want some orange juice? Oy, Tanuki! Are you deaf or what?”

Tanuki put the brushes aside and adjusted his glasses.

“Sorry, I… uh…”

Suddenly, he turned the canvas towards Mei, awkwardly covering his eyes.

“How does this look?”

A flash of lightning left the girl awestruck.

It was a beautiful painting, depicting the two of them fighting a large red dragon with paintbrushes in hand. The lines were carefully drawn and every figure was shaded with extra attention paid to the dragon’s fire.

“T-Tanuki? When did you learn to paint so well?”

“Oh… I’m… uh…”

“Wait, don’t tell me… Are you a natural?!”

Tanuki’s entire body cringed from how embarrassed he felt. He wasn’t used to getting compliments, especially not from a girl who was so many leagues above him.

Mei saw how embarrassed the boy was left by her compliment and, surprisingly, she found it cute. A smile grew on her face as she saw Tanuki in a new light.

“You’re pretty cool, you know…”