(っ－＿－)っAM N. NOT.
Because of the heavy atmosphere, the earlier fun slowly began to fade.
Tsunade needed to return to her clan to finish and settle her business, and Nemuri had to attend U.A. tomorrow. Their schedules were tight—very tight—as they both had more important things to deal with. But for now, they allowed themselves a short moment of calm.
Nemuri and Tsunade were tidying the place. Maki, who was always good with chores, had already finished cleaning the rest of the mess in the living room where they had earlier enjoyed some fun. His dirty clothes had, of course, already been placed into the washing machine.
After the cleaning was done, Nemuri went to take a bath.
Tsunade remained in the kitchen. After washing her face clean, she sat quietly, not wanting the lingering sensation from earlier to disappear. The scent around her still clung faintly—something that reminded her of Maki. It smelled like a rainforest after rain.
She sat at the kitchen table, waiting for Maki to serve the tea she had asked for earlier.
Her eyes never left him.
Even though she tried not to dwell on the bizarre things that kept happening around him, she couldn't simply ignore them.
Still, a smirk formed on her lips.
The discoveries. The mysteries surrounding this man.
That was what made him interesting.
Maki finished preparing the tea and placed it in front of her.
"Here, Tsuna," he said.
Maki used the name Tsuna for Tsunade because that was how Nemuri addressed her, so he simply copied it.
"Oh, thank you," Tsunade replied.
Her fingers curled around the mug's handle as she lifted it and took a sip.
"Really delicious as ever," she said.
Maki simply nodded as he watched her drink the tea.
Nemuri soon returned after finishing her bath. She had changed into plain white shorts and a red panty that covered her lower half. Walking toward the dining table, she looked at them and asked,
"What about me?"
"Here," Maki said, handing her the same tea he had prepared.
"Thank you," Nemuri replied.
The three of them relaxed quietly, their bodies recovering from the earlier session.
They were simply waiting for Shizune to arrive and pick Tsunade up.
Maki watched Nemuri and Tsunade talk about the lesson plans they had prepared.
He wasn't invested in the conversation.
He would rather watch a performance of schooling fish than listen to their discussion, which only made his mind go blank.
Meanwhile, Tsunade and Nemuri occasionally glanced at Maki while they spoke. It was obvious he wasn't interested in the topic at all. In fact, they could clearly see that the discussion was making him mentally drift away.
At one point, they even saw him covering his ears, trying not to listen.
That reaction made both women chuckle.
While covering his ears, Maki quietly checked his system.
The system interface still looked the same—an updated version where a dragon coiled around the interface itself. Maki was still mesmerized by it, though not in the same way as the first time he saw it. Back then he had only noticed the dragon and the overall design.
Now his attention shifted elsewhere.
His eyes landed on his points.
They had been greatly affected by his intervention in the Void Crack earlier.
He saw the number.
15,034 points.
All earned in just one afternoon.
Maki stared at the number, noticing a blinking red exclamation mark beside it.
The sudden surge of points came from solving the Anomaly incident.
If the original plot had not changed, half of 23rd Street would have been destroyed. Only 142 people would have survived the catastrophic event. The Tukeraq Aanaa, after screaming for freedom, would have massacred everything in its path. Its claws would have sliced through buildings and people alike while its hooves crushed civilians like ants.
Eventually, All Might would have rushed to the scene and defeated the Anomalies.
Maki's intervention hadn't completely rewritten the event.
But it had changed things.
He had saved many lives and minimized the destruction of the area. Those who were supposed to die had avoided their fate because of him.
Sometimes that led to good outcomes.
Sometimes… not.
Another factor also contributed to the points.
Princess Tsunade.
From the moment she first saw him, she had been generating a measurable number of points. The longer she stayed near him—talking to him, learning about him, doing things with him—the more the points increased at an unbelievable rate.
If Maki had never appeared, Tsunade's plot would have unfolded very differently.
Perhaps she would have become nothing more than a breeding cow.
Perhaps her mother would have intervened and gone berserk.
Perhaps she would have been saved by a blond man who desperately wanted to see her.
Who knew?
But now she had met Maki.
Without realizing it, he had changed something.
Someone.
Maki didn't care about any of that.
Right now, his attention was focused entirely on the blinking red exclamation mark beside the points.
He mentally pressed it.
A notification tab appeared.
[ WARNING: POINTS HAVE REACHED MAXIMUM CAPACITY. PLEASE USE THE POINTS OR THE DONATION WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE IMPLEMENTED.
TIME REMAINING: 3 HOURS 4 MINUTES AND 23 SECONDS. ]
AM N. NOT.(っ－＿－)っ