[15 — A Sword?]

The birds chirping outside announced the arrival of a new day.

"Uaaah! What a nice sleep!"

Going to bed early wasn't something I was used to, but I had to admit it had its perks.

If you slept early, chances were high you'd wake up early too, and consequently, the day turned out more productive.

If I wanted to cook something complicated, I'd have more than enough time. If I wanted to go out or run around the block, I could do it without worrying about wasting my entire day on a single activity.

However... well, most of the time, waking up early just meant I had more time to stay indoors.

Not that I considered that a bad thing (quite the opposite), but unfortunately, convincing my parents of my point was a tough battle; one I usually gave up on before even trying.

"HA!"

With the thought of productivity fresh in my head, I jumped out of bed, excited. After all, it wasn't every day you'd catch Murakami Katou awake this early in the morning.

I straightened the bedsheets and folded every piece of cloth I could find symmetrically. Not out of personal taste, but because I was determined to be a new version of myself.

I slipped on my shoes and went to the balcony to feel the morning breeze brush against my face.

"Ah..." I breathed deeply.

The sky was clear.

Through the window, I could see people passing along the streets, customers chatting with shopkeepers, and the faint buzz of the city drifting through the air

From afar, the day looked far more beautiful than the last.

Even if the city was practically monochromatic, there were several points where the smiles of its people cracked the somber mood. And while I couldn't assume anything with certainty, I was already getting a good sense of civil behavior.

I saw elderly women slicing fruit, girls selling flowers, kids delivering milk, and old men fixing shoes. Everyone was moving; there wasn't a single person who was idle.

For a moment, I felt truly blessed to witness this kind of scenery in person.

"What a beautiful day," I whispered.

The scent carried by the wind was a little artificial, but I couldn't call it unpleasant. It was like a mix of flowers strongly dissolved in alcohol, and it was perfect to give that fantastic day a distinct morning aroma.

Fwoosh~

Clap!—

The wind blew, and I instantly shut the window.

"Alright, I think I've had enough for today."

I hopped back onto the bed and buried my face in the pillow.

Seriously... nothing in the world would get me out of the room in that cold.

"Sigh..."

But unfortunately, that didn't mean I could go back to sleep.

Like it or not, there were too many things I needed to figure out, and I couldn't afford to waste another second. It was way past time to start thinking.

"Let's see..."

The first thing I did was test all the typical game commands I could remember: open shop, open map, open menu, skills, magic, mail, and other essentials.

As expected, nothing happened.

I know I'm crazy about playing at max difficulty, but I never thought that would be enough to completely shut down every HUD in the system.

Maybe the stress of having no information at all was part of the player's experience too.

"Crap!"

Since I wasn't getting anywhere with basic commands, I decided to look deeper into the stuff I knew actually worked.

"Open Status," I said, upside down on the bed.

The window appeared:

[NAME: KATOU DESTROYER 9000
LEVEL: 02 (?)
CLASS: NONE
RACE: HUMAN
SKILLS: (Do I really need to list your own skills?)
DIFFICULTY: New Game Plus +++++++
STATUS: Suspicious]

"Ha, suspicious. This system thinks it's funny."

Well, it's not wrong, but it's still ridiculous.

My class remained empty, and the difficulty hadn't changed. The skills window was still hidden thanks to this damn system.

"Hm? I leveled up?" 

I sat up in bed to get a better look.

"What the hell? I really leveled up. But why wasn't there any popup telling me?"

No... actually, that's not surprising.

"Wait. If I leveled up, then where the hell is my reward? Where are my stat points, treasure chests, and skills?!!!"

I threw my pillow at the system window. It passed right through and hit a flower pot on the stone.

CRACK!

"Shit!"

"KEEP IT DOWN, DAMN IT!!!" a man's voice barked from the next room.

"S-sorry..."

[hahaha lol]

"Huh?"

T-this bastard... can it hear me?

"Hey, system! Why the hell didn't I get any reward after leveling up? Are you trying to sabotage me?"

[...]

"Don't you dare hit me with a '...!' I know damn well you can hear me! I demand my reward right now!"

You've got to be kidding me... so this whole time the system was messing with me on purpose?

[I'm not sure you deserve it.]

"W-what? What do you mean deserve it?! Since I got here, I've almost died a hundred times! What kind of useless system are you?!"

[Don't exaggerate. It's not my fault you can't do anything on your own.]

...So that's how you want to play it? Fine.

"Ah," I sighed. "What else could I expect from some rustic medieval system, huh? I bet it's so poorly made that aside from messages, you don't even have any other functions. And here I am, asking for things when you're just as impotent as I am."

"..."

Did I go too far?

[Ahem, check your inventory.]

Heh, too easy.

"Inventory," I said, not really expecting anything.

The window opened:

[INVENTORY
ITEMS IN POSSESSION: 02 (expand)]

"Oh? Expand!"

Another window popped up:

[ITEMS:
Checkpoint Coin x1 — Item bound to KATOU DESTROYER 9000 (non-transferable)
Sword x1 (expand)]

"No way. You actually gave me a sword? Expand sword!"

A third window appeared over the others:

[Item: Sword]

"..."

"Why is there an expand button if it doesn't change a damn thing from the previous window, you bastard?!"

[:P]

"...Unbelievable. Still, at least it's something. Summon sword!"

A small light effect appeared on the system window, and a sword materialized, floating in front of me.

I grabbed it.

"Hm, it's lighter than I expected."

No, correction: it was way, way lighter than I expected.

The sword looked like it was made of plastic, and the blade was so smooth I could barely see any ridges. The only thing giving the weapon some weight was the wooden handle, which—by the way—was extremely rustic.

"No matter how I look at it, this thing looks like some amateur blacksmith's reject, doesn't it?—"

Knock, knock.

I heard a knock at the door.

"Who could it be at this hour?"

I got up and opened it.

There, standing with her hands behind her back, was a little red-haired girl with violet eyes. She kept glancing around, looking a bit shy.

She was dressed just like the other kids in town: a light dress, open shoes, and a few ribbons tied behind her head.

For a moment, I seriously wondered if she was about to offer me cookies to buy.

"Oh?" I crouched down in front of her. "What is it, little one? Do you need anything?"

"..." Her face went red.

"Haha... so cute." I pinched her cheeks. "No need to be shy, you can show me the cookies. But I'm warning you now, if they're too expensive, I won't be able to pa—Argh!"

She slapped me across the face.

"W-who the hell is selling cookies, you idiot?! Ruru asked me to call you for breakfast before you became one with the bed! Do you even know what time it is?!"

"S-Sera?"

...Apparently, it wasn't as early as I thought.