Countryside Visit~

Upon awakening from my slumber I started to pack all the necessities for the trip to our grandparent's house, we were supposed to eat breakfast before leaving for our expedition. I put on some clothes and realized a message popping up.

"Right I reached 30 on all stats." I carefully clicked the proceed button, I didn't want to begin my day with another nose blood, but what transpired was just a congratulatory message popping out, if you could call it this way.

"Congratulation on surviving thus far!" Was this system mocking me? Besides that it informed me of how my stats were now working, as usual, there were no new features added.

I whipped out the cat crate but Cupid seemed to disagree.

"What do you mean you won't be sitting in this, you know that we will travel for 3 hours." but Cupid shook his head while meowing at me.

"You plan to sit in my lap the whole way there?" The response made me realize that he wouldn't change his mind.

"At some point at least use Keisuke's lap or Kazutora's, don't make me feel all the furry heat." Cupid just stared at me, which made me realize what it was thinking in this little head of his.

"No, I won't be holding onto Keisuke's hand, just so you can change the seats." I walked downstairs to fill my stomach with some food, and that's when Keisuke arrived. He didn't give me the vibes of a morning person, but I guess every activity involving this family made him rise and shine in the early mornings. This also made me wonder how he got his mother's permission.

"Morning," I said taking a seat, I must have not looked like my usual cheery self since mom asked.

"Michi, is something bothering you? You seemed really angry yesterday." I guess she thought giving me space would make me cool my head down, but no I was still overthinking the events from yesterday. I just couldn't let it go. I kept on wondering what I could have done differently to not end in such unfavorable predictions. But solely thinking about it made me even angrier, so in the heat of the moment, I said.

"Excuse my language, but some idiot decided to be a prick, so I been considering chopping his balls off at the earliest of convenience." The two delinquents roared in laughter, but both of my parents seemed concerned.

"Is there something we can help you out with Michi?" I guess they must have realized something happened because of the existence of my missions.

"No, it's alright." But then I received a call from the perpetrator.

"Excuse me, I will go and have a screaming match." I went to the porch not wanting to drag the mood down.

"What?" I asked with the most annoyed voice I could master, however it wasn't the big mean bully behind the lure but Koko.

"Please, don't sue anyone, let's come to an agreement, I can pay you however much you want." Wait this guy was already aware of what took place yesterday? Did the muscular giant boast about kissing me? I was at a lack of words. A few moments later I heard Taiju scream.

"The hell are you giving our money away for?" Kokonoi to my surprise yelled back at his boss.

"I warned you to not mess with this girl, unlike you I can recognize someone that is capable of sucking my account dry! She probably filmed everything and is now planning to sue you for sexual harassment! And Michi won't be easily scared by your brutality! She will probably fall down the stairs, just to add additional charge! I can recognize crazy chicks when I see them!" Wow, that was so spot on, because I was thinking about doing it before I went to bed yesterday. But it wasn't like I was planning on acting on this thought.

"I told you if you want to mess with girls just go to the red light district!" Wow, I never thought I would hear Kokonoi suggest that to anyone, what was even happening at this point. I could barely hear Taiju's response, but what I clued out as he thought it was unethical because of his religious ass? He sure knew where to pull the lines but only for his own benefit. Despite I was touched by Kokonoi that was looking out for me because he was yelling that unless Taiju was planning to be in a serious relationship I was off-limits. The delivery was bad, but it was the thought that counted.

"Listen, Koko Crunch, I don't need your money or anything, just make Taiju write an apology letter and deliver it with some boba and we can forget this ever transpired. I will give him three business days since I will be leaving Tokyo for now." Koko was delighted that the only expense would be one bubble tea, and some of his sanity to force Taiju into writing something decent. I disconnected the call and returned back inside with a smile on my face.

When we finished eating, we went for the last bathroom breaks before loading everything into the car. We didn't have much luggage because we would only stay over there for 2 nights.

"Why I am in the middle?" I asked the guys as we were all seated in the backseat.

"You're smaller than the two of us, so it's only fair." Fair for who?

"I see you volunteer to be my personal pillow, so generous of you Kazutora," I said and walked inside the car, taking a seat beside Keisuke. Then Cupid ran inside and sat on my lap. Lastly, Kazutora stepped in and closed the door behind himself.

"Let's go!" I yelled getting up the spirits in the car. There was only one thing I was worried about. Car sickness, I already took the pills to prevent it, but I had two nice shoulders to lean on if anything went astray. Perfect.

The whole ride took 3 hours, we were listening to music, singing, and enjoying the scenery outside, the windows were open at all times thanks to the somehow unbearable heat. At some point, I felt my neck being uncomfortable, so when Cupid decided to jump over to Keisuke's lap for some window views a mission popped up.

'Would you rather lean on Keisuke Baji's shoulder or lean your head back and hold in place for 5 minutes?' I wasn't gonna act like a weirdo and destroy any comfort for myself, so I clicked on the first option and plopped my head on Keisuke's shoulder, thankfully he didn't mind, but I could see Cupid looking smugly at me. At this point I didn't care, because I felt kind of tired, before I knew I closed my eyes and we ended up already pulling up into some village, with two elderly people waiting for our arrival.

"Feeling alright sleepy head?" I glanced at Kazutora but ignored the strange nickname.

"It feels like my head is splitting in two." Keisuke just handed me over a bottle of water.

"Thanks," I said and drank like half the bottle as if I was dying of thirst.

"Mom, dad." I heard dad say as we walked out of the boiling vehicle and greeted the grandparents.

"Look at you, you grew so much, last time you visited you were this height." They showed something that was half my current size I guess it must have felt awkward to my parents that knew full well that any memories those people possessed were indeed fake.

"This is Kazutora, mom, and Keisuke is their friend that decided to tag along," Dad said while putting his hands on the bro's shoulders.

"Welcome, welcome, the food is already prepared, let's start eating it before it gets cold." We unpacked the car, and we set up Cupid's stuff around the house. Like a bowl in the kitchen and a cat's sandbox in the bathroom, thankfully they didn't mind because they had a cat on their own.

"Cupid, don't dare to start fights with other cats please." His cat response was that he would consider it.

"I'm always amazed how well you can communicate with Cupid," Keisuke said as I explained.

"Sometimes I wonder if this fella is really a cat." but I knew Keisuke wouldn't take me seriously on that matter, probably not until he heard about all the system stuff. We ate the super delicious food prepared by grandma, I guess she used a lot of seasonal and fresh vegetables. Later we got a tour around the neighborhood, which was a small cozy village. Of course, most of the elderly that lived here were focusing way too much on Kazutora's tattoo, but the grandparents were just boasting about how their family visited for a few days causing them to be jealous I guess their own families haven't visited for a while.

"Here are the sunflower fields." They were amazing to look at. Later, we the three amigos were hanging out in the open fields, it was nice to just feel the nature around us. I just plopped on the grass and saw how the clouds were moving, but suddenly heard a loud gasp.

"Michi! What is that?" Did Kazutora see a large bug or what? I sat up, only to see him pointing at my leg, oh no my dress pulled itself up and the bite mark was visible. Keisuke even looked more shocked than Kazutora, but soon I heard.

"You have a boyfriend? Why haven't you said anything, shouldn't you share such details with me at least?" I was astounded by his hurt face but had to stop his wild imagination right there.

"Hold your horses, if you remember the conversation from the morning, I'm sure you can connect the dots." Kazutora thought about it and then said.

"You had a fight with your boyfriend that I know nothing about?" I was ready to smack him.

"There is no boyfriend, just a crappy date." Keisuke on the other hand cracked his knuckles and asked.

"Who's face do I need to smash in?" I just waved my hand.

"Thanks, guys for caring, but I don't plan to see that weirdo ever again." So I say but I kept the necklace instead of throwing it into the garbage can, then again this item didn't do anything and was free of charge. It made me wonder how expensive it was since I could tell it was at least silver but was there crystals inside?

"So if he wasn't a weirdo you would have given him a chance?" Why was Kazutora so invested in my love life?

"The man of my nightmares? I don't think so." Since he came to me in a dream, like a literal nightmare.

"Let's drop this topic. I came here to relax." And I plopped onto the grass and looked up at the clouds, but all I could see in them was Taiju's irritating face, great. I reminded myself of something. Angry man yelling at the clouds, which was what I did right now.

"Keisuke she's scaring me," Kazutora said as he hid behind him.

"Talk to me," I demanded as they both looked quite confused.

"About what?"I gave it some thought.

"How to most efficiently punch someone in the face, causing them endless anguish." Keisuke like on command started to give me endless tips, he looked so happy sharing them, so I couldn't do anything but listen him out till he finished.

"Thanks but I don't think I will remember anything of this." Soon it was time to return and we found out we would be sleeping all three in the same room.

"Michi, you should sleep in the middle." I shook my head.

"And be sandwiched between two guys whose bodies work like literal heaters? No thanks." I plopped on the futon closest to the window.

"No fair! I wanted the window spot." I just reminded Kazutora.

"You can take this spot tomorrow." If he was fast enough that is.

'Would you rather suggest to Keisuke Baji to sleep shirtless or give them both a goodnight kiss?' Right, the first option it was.

"If you guys want you can sleep shirtless..." Kazutora started to wiggle his eyebrows like a maniac.

"I mean we are three people in here, we will most likely wake up in poodles considering how hot it is, well then goodnight." I wasn't expecting those two to take my advice to heart.