I woke up to the soft glow of sunlight creeping through the slits in my curtains. My room, still a mess from last night's late-night system grinding, smelled faintly of instant noodles and old notebooks. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and grabbed my phone — not to check messages (because, let's be honest, who would even text me?) — but to see if the system had anything new for me today.
"Good morning, Chiku," the system chimed in its usual robotic-but-weirdly-cheerful tone. "New Quest: Assist a classmate in need."
I blinked. "Help… someone else?" That was new. Usually, I was the one who needed saving — emotionally, socially, academically... you name it.
After a quick shower and half-burnt toast, I made my way to school. The streets were still damp from the early morning drizzle, and the sky hung heavy with clouds that hadn't made up their minds yet. I arrived at class right before the bell, same as usual, and took my seat near the back — prime invisibility.
That's when I noticed her — Aiko. She was crouched near her locker, trying to hold her textbooks with one hand while wrestling with a broken strap on her bag. Most students walked right past her. I would've too — not out of rudeness, just... habit. But something about the quest tugged at me.
"Hey... need a hand?" I asked, my voice cracking a little from disuse.
She looked up, eyes wide. Honestly, I don't think she'd ever heard me speak directly to her before. After a moment, she smiled — small, but real. "Thanks, Chiku."
That one smile felt like a crit hit to my heart.
We walked to class together. She didn't say much at first, just small nods and quiet thank-yous, but then out of nowhere, she sighed and said, "I'm really stressed about midterms… especially math. I just don't get it."
And there it was — the opening. "I've been grinding on math too. We could, uh, study together? If you want."
"Really?" she asked, tilting her head. "You'd do that?"
I shrugged, trying not to look too proud of myself. "Sure. I owe the system some good karma anyway."
That evening, we met at the library. I picked a quiet corner near the window where we could see the sky slowly turning purple as the sun dipped behind the school building. The air smelled of old pages and pencil shavings. She pulled out her notes — neat, color-coded — and I suddenly felt self-conscious about my own chicken-scratch scribbles.
But as we went over equations and formulas, something weird happened: I was actually explaining things well. She was listening, nodding, even laughing at my lame analogies. For once, I wasn't the joke — I was helpful.
"Quest complete," the system dinged in my head. "Reward: +2 Confidence. New connection unlocked."
I didn't care much about the numbers, though. That smile she gave me at the end of our session? That was worth more than any XP.
Maybe the system was changing my life. Or maybe, just maybe, I was changing it myself.