Tamashi's offer

“Alright, let’s get our story straight.”

Tamashi and Uyumi had just teleported from the small cottage they were at, appearing before a large and modern three-storied house with almost no windows, looking rather out of place in the middle of nothing but plain hills.

“You found me trapped under some rubble and gave me your eye so I could help you fight. You lost an arm before we could teleport and fell unconscious before the spell could fully heal your body.”

Uyumi recited the made-up story she had learned flawlessly, to which Tamashi nodded in approval.

“Good. I will explain everything else to both you and your sister, so I don’t have to say it more than once. Now, let’s just go in. Oh, before that...”

Tamashi started to move his hand in the air; to anyone who didn’t have the context, he would have been a fool who had lost his mind.

A couple of seconds later, a simple black eyepatch with three stripes materialized from blue sparks in his hand, and he put it on; or tried to, at least. It was proving quite difficult with only one hand.

After not succeeding for an embarrassing amount of time, Tamashi stopped, staring ahead with a stoic expression.

“Do you want me to help you?” Uyumi asked shyly, worried over Tamashi’s pride.

To her surprise, however, he accepted.

“I would appreciate that, thank you.”

He handed Uyumi the eyepatch, so she stepped closer, taking it from his hand.

Taking one more step, Uyumi was now less than a meter from Tamashi, outstretching her arms to put the eyepatch on his face.

Their eyes suddenly met. Uyumi immediately lowered her gaze, avoiding Tamashi’s gaze.

Worried he would complain, she quickly regained her composure, lifting her head and gently putting the eyepatch on while trying her hardest not to look him in the eye.

When Uyumi was done, she took a hurried step back.

“Sorry about that... I’m not used to judging distance very well yet...”

Instead of answering, Tamashi handed her yet another eyepatch—this one meant for the opposite eye and in white.

“I don’t want my little sister to look at an empty eye socket, so put it on,” Tamashi explained, waiting for Uyumi to accept it with his hand extended towards her.

“Thank you,” Uyumi bowed slightly, taking the white eyepatch with gratitude.

After putting it on, Uyumi touched it carefully, making sure she was wearing it correctly and that it wasn’t too tight anywhere.

“Come on,” Tamashi urged, so Uyumi stopped checking her new piece of clothing and followed.

Tamashi stepped up to the ordinary-looking front door, then lightly tapped on a small black rectangle on the right. A digital keypad appeared, and Tamashi quickly put in the password.

Then, he crouched down slightly, letting a retina scanner scan his only eye.

It beeped and blinked a green light, indicating he was allowed access.

As the door opened by itself, the small digital screen was cleaned with a tiny wiper, erasing Tamashi’s fingerprints, in case someone tried to use them to guess the code.

Uyumi observed the whole process in astonishment, taken aback by the seemingly high-tech and most likely expensive technology.

Tamashi ignored it and held the door open, inviting her in with a slight movement of his head.

“T-thank you,” she said, quickening her pace, since she felt ashamed that a person with only one hand was holding the door for her.

“Big brother!”

A small and adorable human sprinted to the front door after hearing it open.

However, instead of seeing her beloved sibling, Mika saw an unfamiliar person; a girl with light brown hair and only one azure eye—the same color as hers.

Mika took a step back, anxious about a stranger entering her house, but her worries were quickly proven unnecessary with Tamashi appearing a second later.

However, Mika’s emotions yet again took a one-hundred-and-eighty turn, seeing her older brother also wearing an eyepatch, his right arm missing.

Letting the door close behind him, Tamashi offered a weak and relieved smile.

“I’m home.”

Mika stood there wordlessly, her azure eyes open wide.

Soon, Himawari, Kengo, and Takemi came, all three of them making expressions similar to Mika’s.

“I’m home,” Tamashi repeated.

Then, chaos ensued.

***

The atmosphere in the living room was tense.

Tamashi was leaning on a wooden chair in front of a large flat-screen TV, looking over everyone present.

In front of him, five people were seated on a single large leather couch.

Himawari was on Tamashi’s far left, being the most composed out of everyone—or at least she appeared to be. In truth, countless difficult emotions were surging in her heart; how could they not, when her own son had just come home missing an eye and an arm?

On Himawari’s left, Kengo was nervously shifting in his seat, continuously glancing between Mika—who was right next to him—Takemi, and Uyumi, who was on the far left of the couch.

Takemi was snuggled close to Kengo, while also being far enough away as to not make the situation even more awkward. She was mostly looking over at Uyumi—her younger sister—and Mika. For how little time they had spent together, Takemi and Mika had gotten fairly close. Both were really energetic, as well as eccentric, so they quickly found many things they had in common. Both were also deeply worried over their respective siblings, and now they had each other, as well as Himawari and Kengo, to worry with them.

Unfortunately, almost all that bonding had been thrown out the window the moment Tamashi and Uyumi had shown up at their front step.

The way Mika saw it, Uyumi had been at fault for the entire situation. If she had not sneaked off, she wouldn’t have gotten trapped under the rubble, thus needing to be rescued. Tamashi still would have had both eyes and both arms. The only reason Mika was willing to accept Uyumi into their house was the fact Uyumi had been blind, therefore greatly impaired.

Funnily enough, Uyumi saw it almost the exact same way as Mika; she even blamed herself more for the situation. However, she couldn’t admit that, since that would break her and Tamashi’s promise. Therefore, she only apologized for causing unwanted trouble and promised to repay Tamashi in the future, not admitting any more fault than that.

Tamashi’s stance on the entire situation—at least on the outside—was proclaiming that no one was truly at fault, instead blaming bad luck and unfortunate circumstances.

Sighing, Tamashi finally broke the silence.

“Alright, listen up. Now that I’ve explained the basics, I’ll get to how we’re going to proceed from now on.”

In order for Uyumi—and especially Takemi—to trust him more, Tamashi had shared the fact that he had been a beta tester of the System with them, as well as roughly explaining the events, and their likely cause, that had occurred since the Guide’s first appearance.

“For me and my family, it will stay mostly the same. However...” Tamashi glanced at Takemi, then Uyumi, his gaze lingering a second longer. “As you two are not part of my family, your situation is different. Both of you are allowed to leave and operate on your own anytime you wish, as long as you notify someone first. I don’t want to needlessly search for you if you don’t want to be searched for.”

Lightly clearing his throat, Tamashi continued, his words a bit more serious.

“That said, if you want to stay with us, you need to work for it. That includes mundane tasks like taking turns cleaning and vacuuming and such, but also things like raiding dungeons, conquering divine castles, securing territory in general, and much more. The loot will be distributed amongst everyone equally, including you two. What I should also mention is that every chest, and any randomized pouches, etc. will be given to me first, because my Luck stat is way higher, thus giving me better chances at receiving rarer loot. You will also follow all my commands during battle, unless the situation desperately requires otherwise.”

Tamashi paused briefly, giving time to Uyumi and Takemi to take all the information in.

“I’ll give you some time to think about it. Should you reject this, you can still stay two nights before departing while receiving some clothes, food, and a small amount of coins.”

When he finished, he and the rest of his family got up and left, leaving the two Amane sisters alone in the spacious living room.

Almost instantly after Tamashi closed the door, he caught loud and emotional cries—presumably Takemi’s; they were tears of joy.

Hearing this, a faint smile filled with the tiniest amount of warmth involuntarily formed on Tamashi’s cold lips.