24 24. Snowfall
"Come in!"
A deep voice greets him.
Akio opens the door and enters the room.
He notices three people, one middle-aged and two young men seated around the table.
'This middle-aged man must be the clan leader of Hyuga!'
Akio politely bows as a greeting and takes out the scroll with the Hyuga label.
"Here is the monthly supply of weapons, Hyuga-sama!"
Mm…
The middle-aged man nods and gestures to the youngest man to pick up the scroll.
The young man has long black hair and featureless white eyes. There is a green x mark with a horizontal line slitting through it is brandished on his forehead.
'So, that's the cursed seal of Hyuga!'
Akio makes a mental note.
The man picks up the scroll and summons its content.
Shiing…
He activates his Byakugan and scans its contents with his eyes.
"…"
Akio speechlessly stares at them.
'Is this how Uchiha and Hyuga flex on other clans? They have to just glance to count everything.'
Mm…
A moment later,
The young man with the cursed seal walks out of another room with a scroll in his hand.
[7650 system points have been credited to your account.]
Akio nods his head and silently walks out of the Hyuga compound.
His interaction with the Hyugas wasn't that fruitful, but his rewards sure are bountiful.
"Hehe… Time to do business with the rest of the clans."
---------------
Caw… Caw…
Later in the evening,
Akio slowly walks towards his house as the crooning of the crow rings in his ears.
"I am beat up! Even with the stamina of a peak civilian, it's hard to make a trip around the inner periphery of the village."
Akio enters his house through the side door.
"Mom! I am home."
Mm…
"Wash yourself and we will eat dinner. Later, I will deliver food to your uncle."
"Ok!"
Akio enters the bath and slowly washes as he checks his total earnings.
"From today's sale, I made a total of 47,420 system points. Subtracting the 5000 points for the Dragon blade, I am still left with 42,420 system points."
He opens the system shop and searches for the Ring of Contracts (II).
Akio spends 20,000 system points and purchases the ring.
"With this, I will have another strong summon by my side. Also, now the summon will transfer 10% of its stats as well as the damage to me. That should be a significant boost."
He nods his head in satisfaction.
"I will save the rest of the points for rainy days."
While relaxing in the bath, he continues to scroll through the shop until.
"What the fuck?"
He suddenly jumps as he notices a strange round vial in the shop. The round vial looks like a potion from the RPG games.
[Essence of Nature (Consumable): - A very rare liquid condensed from the essence of nature. Grants immense power to its consumer.
Recommended consuming in an area with a decent amount of nature energy for maximum efficiency. (Adds +5 attributes in the stats of the user's choice.)
Cost: 100 system points. (With each purchase of this item, the cost of subsequent flask will be increased tenfold.)]
Gulp…
Akio gulps his saliva as he reads the description.
"System, this is such a godly item. You should have informed me earlier."
[System reminded the host, but the host was too busy playing with his new weapon.]
"Well!"
Akio has a sheepish smile as he purchases the potion. He purchases a total of 3 potions and spends 11,100 points.
"Now I am left with 11,320 system points. I will save them no matter how tempting the offer is!"
He steels his resolve and jumps out of the bath.
As for the essence of nature, he decided to consume it later in the forbidden training grounds.
The Nature energy is very dense there and he can consume the potion without alerting anyone.
"Here! I made your favorite dish for your hard work."
A hotpot with shiitake, enokitake, shungiku, Negi, tofu, thin-sliced beef, konnyaku is shimmering in a shallow iron pot with a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, and mirin. The stove is placed in the middle of the dining table.
Akio grabs the thinly sliced beef, dips it in soy sauce, and takes a bite of it to savor the taste.
"So delicious!"
He closes his eyes to experience the flavor of the dish.
"Don't just eat meat. Eat some vegetables too!"
Kaori places shiitake, Negi, and shungiku on his plate.
Sigh…
Akio sighs and silently eats the vegetables.
The mother-son duo silently stares out of the window as it snows outside.
The heat from the Sukiyaki warms them as the duo continues to eat their food.
While eating the food, some memories from his past life flash in his mind as he reminisces about those moments.
'I wonder how mother and father are doing. They must be quite heartbroken after their only remaining son also died under the schemes of others. I only wish for them to live a happy life.'
It continues to snow outside, but the warm food of Kaori slowly warms his heart and melts the ice in it.
Akio closes his eyes as he slowly gets rids of his insecurities.
'Perhaps I should also accept my new life in this world. Up until everything felt like a dream to me. Everything seems so surreal, but after looking at the state of the uncle, I realized that everything that's happening is real. It's not a dream. Mom, dad! You should live for your sake. Because in this world I already have a family which lives for my sake.'
He opens his eyes and turns to his mother.
"Mom! I will grow strong and protect you and uncle in the future."
He turns to Kaori with a resolute expression.
Kaori, who is also reminiscing about her time with her husband is startled by Akio's sudden declaration.
An image of a red-haired man overlaps with Akio as a drop of tear leaks from Kaori's eyes.
Sniff…
She wipes her tear and nods.
"Yes, mother believes in you."
Suddenly, her expression turns stern as she chides him.
"You can't throw the vegetable in the garbage. Eat them or there will be no meat dishes for the next week."
Aww…
Akio begrudgingly eats the vegetables with a sour face.
'Even as a responsible adult from my last life, I just can't accept so many vegetables in my food as a meat-lover.'
Haha…
Kaori chuckles at the ugly expression of Akio.
-------------
The next day in the morning,
Phew…
Akio heaves a sigh as he clears the snow at the entrance of the shop.
The snowfall lasted for the entire night and a huge pile of it gathered in front of the shop.
'Man! If only I had chakra. One fire jutsu and poof, the entire snow will melt in seconds.'
"Here!"
Kaori passes a cup of hot coffee to him as he returns to the shop counter.
He lies down on the counter and takes a sip of the coffee to warm himself.
Kaori sits beside him with a knitting needle and a yarn.
"Mom! What are you knitting?"
Akio curiously asks her.
"A scarf!"
"Oh!"
He loses interest and continues to gaze out of the shop as lines after lines of people slowly pass by.
"Aniki! Aniki!"
The sudden voice startles him.
"Yamato?!"
Whoosh…
Akio quickly jumps out and rushes outside the shop.
"What are you doing here?"
He interrogates Yamato.
"Weren't you supposed to attend the academy?"
"Aniki! I…"
"Listen Yamato! You shouldn't skip the academy like that. The teachers will severely punish you for this and might expel you from the academy."
"But Aniki…"
"Yamato!"
Akio places his hands on Yamato's shoulders and sighs.
"Even if the teachers are shitty and teaching you worthless things, you should still attend the academy. It's a learning experience for you. Also, if you get a chance, you can prank…"
BAM…
Kaori bonks his head and shuts him down.
"Lets him speak too!" She glares at him.
"Of course! I was just joking."
Akio whistles and enters the shop.
A few seconds later,
Slurp…
Yamato sits beside them on a stool while sipping on the hot coffee.
"Because of the heavy snowfall last night, some of the vents in the academy are blocked with ice. The classes are chilly because of this, so the principal called it a day."
Yamato informs them.
"Oh!" Akio loses interest and continues to sip his coffee.
Yamato curiously looks around and notices the large pile of snow in a corner.
He pulls Akio's sleeves to get his attention.
"Aniki! Let's make a snowman. I saw other kids in the orphanage making one. I want to make a bigger snowman than them."
"Well!"
"Aniki, please!"
Yamato attacks him with the legendary puppy eyes.
"Hold it! I will help you."
Akio immediately stops him.
'The puppy eyes of a shouta won't work on me, but the death glare of mother which is piercing my back is enough to convince me.'
"Then's let's make a snowman."
Akio pulls his sleeves and walks out in open with Yamato heeling him closely.
Mm…
Kaori nods in satisfaction.
"This boy is slowly opening up!"
