Preparing for the Harvest

"Sorry, we don't usually have guests over, so there's no tea or soft drinks, only water."

Shin placed a glass of water on Megumi Kato's table, explaining apologetically.

He hadn't expected that Megumi, upon his casual invitation, would come over so trustingly and follow him home without hesitation.

"No one else usually visits?"

Perhaps it was his imagination, but Shin felt that Megumi's expression brightened slightly upon hearing that he lived alone.

"It's fine. Water is enough; I don't really like soft drinks, anyway."

Shin couldn't tell if this was Megumi's actual preference or just a considerate gesture to avoid making him feel bad.

"There's not much to do around here, and I don't have family or siblings."

Shin sat across the table, watching as Megumi sipped her water slowly.

"But you should be more cautious, Megumi. A girl your age shouldn't be so quick to accept an invitation from a guy."

"It's fine; I'd only agree if it were you, Shin-chan."

Megumi gently shook her head and looked at him calmly, saying something that could easily be misunderstood.

Had Shin's mental age not been more mature, he'd likely be blushing from her words right now.

After all, hearing something like that at his age wasn't typical.

"Ahem... You know, words like that are easy to misinterpret."

Shin cleared his throat, trying to dispel his slight embarrassment.

"But isn't this out of your way? Coming here might take a while; wouldn't your family worry?"

"They won't," she said, waving her phone at Shin, showing him the chat window on her screen. "My family trusts me, and no one usually notices me anyway, so there's no worry about any danger."

Shin remembered seeing Megumi on her phone when they came in; it looked like she'd informed her family just then.

He wasn't sure if she'd told them she was going to a guy's house, but if they were still comfortable with it, then her family was indeed quite trusting.

"Shin-chan, do you always live alone?"

Setting down her glass, Megumi looked at him with curiosity.

Although they'd been talking a lot recently and gotten to know each other somewhat, they hadn't delved into personal details like family matters.

"Yeah, I've been alone as far back as I can remember."

Shin answered plainly, with no trace of sadness—he'd arrived in this world alone, with money and a place already waiting.

"I see. Sorry."

Megumi apologized immediately, as politely as anyone from Japan typically would after finding out someone was an orphan.

"It's nothing to feel sad about; living alone has its perks."

Shin shook his head. "One day, you'll probably live separately from your family too. I've just gotten there a bit earlier."

"Maybe a little early," she teased, relieved by his unconcerned response.

"But I do sometimes think about it—having a space of my own."

Although she had her own room at home, it was still under her parents' oversight. Like most young people, Megumi had moments when she wished for more freedom.

"Now that I think of it, does Shin-chan's place have any spare rooms?"

Shin raised an eyebrow at her question, as it seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Well, yes. This apartment was designed for multiple occupants, so there's a guest room and a second bedroom."

He took a sip of water and nodded. "They haven't been used in a long time, though, so they're probably quite dusty."

"I see..."

Megumi nodded, smiling faintly as if something had crossed her mind.

Half an hour later, Shin watched as Megumi left his place.

Despite her accepting his invitation so easily, Shin hadn't expected much beyond that.

They'd only known each other a few days, and he figured that if he wanted to develop things further with Megumi, there was plenty of time.

Rushing things and scaring her off would do more harm than good.

Although Shin had a lot of power, he preferred to unleash it in the mission worlds rather than in real life.

If he let his desires loose in both realms, he'd just be a beast driven by his impulses.

In reality, his powers mostly just made life more comfortable—they weren't for becoming some ruthless monster.

In the mission world, though, he could let go a bit more.

Enjoying both battle and the day-to-day was the only way to live a balanced life.

Tonight's mission world was likely the JoJo world. If everything went according to plan, he'd complete the main storyline there.

With the Void Miasma ability he'd acquired, DIO was no longer a threat to Shin.

Covering himself in Ki, Shin could endure a full nine seconds of DIO's attacks without taking damage.

And Shin could use his punches or spatial rifts with Void Miasma to deal actual harm to DIO.

In fact, the threat of Void Miasma was even greater than DIO's, and Shin had already taken care of that last night.

A mini-boss like Vanilla Ice accounted for 20% of the main storyline progress toward defeating DIO, which showed how much the system acknowledged his threat level.

"As DIO's die-hard fan, taking up 20% of the mission progress for his defeat... Vanilla Ice, you can be proud of that, can't you?"

To be continued…

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