I drop off the tree and make a guts pose as I land. Then I return to Kyte, who decided to watch the entire thing.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Does that make you an eco-terrorist now?"

"Does it?"

I stop and think.

I never did manage to tell Kyte about the system. However, if I told him about it now, I could pass it off as my first assignment from it. Yeah, that way, it doesn't sound suspicious at all!

Well, ok. It still sounds extremely suspicious, But this is the best chance I'll get at explaining myself!

"Well, I don't think its actually an eco-terrorist system, but I did get intent from a system."

"Really?"

I nod, "Yes. The reward was just 1 Mp, but a reward's a reward, right? And there's nothing wrong with the task itself, right?"

He nods, and I continue, desperate to get this off my chest.

"But, the subsystem has a pretty offputting name. So It's sort of bothering me."

However, Kyte picks up more information than I had hoped he would, and asks further about the system.

"It sounds like this system appeared to you before. Is this your first task from it?"

My brain freezes. I could either answer this with a 'yes' and end it there, or a 'no' and explain the whole thing. I weigh the two options.

I suppose I might not have been behaving 'normal', this week. If he caught on to me acting strange, and I answer 'no', he might suspect something even though I haven't done anything yet! Except jaywalk! If I say 'yes' though, I obviously can't then pretend this is my first time interacting with this subsystem, which was the point of me talking about it in the first place!

I stare at Kyte's face, then I realise he expects an answer.

Ah, forget it. I've spend long enough thinking about it. It's not like it's going to be believable if I said 'no' now, is it?

I slowly open my mouth, and answer.

"Actually, this is the second."

"Oh. Congratulations! Out of curiousity, what was the first?" Kyte says with some enthusiasm.

"C-Commit a crime."

"Oh. Congratulations!" Kyte's facial expression turns from happy to blank as his brain calculates what I just said. After processing the information, his expression turns into astonishment. "Wait, repeat that again?"

I flail my hands while desperately trying to appeal for Kyte to listen.

"Wait! It's not what you think! I did it accidentally, but the subsystem counted it anyway! No harm was done to anyone! Really! I just crossed a road to talk to Collin and his friends!"

"And just how, exactly, is that committing a crime?"

"I jaywalked!"

Kyte stares blankly for a second, then I remember he doesn't know what Jaywalking is.

"Its, errr, crossing a road outside an official crossing point, or something."

"You mean, you crossed a road?"

"Yeah."

"And that's illegal?"

"Apparently?"

"And that fufilled the requirements of a task from some subsystem?"

"Yes!"

Kyte rubbed his forehead with his hand, looking as if he was about to throw up.

"So, what was the reward for... crossing a road?"

I hold up three fingers to Kyte.

"Actually, it was really good! Three smalls!"

"Hang on, Let's stop walking for a second."

Upon hearing what I said, Kyte grabbed my shoulder, still rubbing his forehead with his other hand.

"So you crossed a road, and a subsystem you suspect is evil in nature gave you three smalls. Afterwards, that same subsystem told you to rescue a cat stuck up a tree?"

I nod.

'Three smalls' refers to amount of increase of a body's attributes. For example, a small increase in tenacity, and a miniscule increase in speed would be refered to as 'one small and a mini'. meanwhile, 1 mP was the equivalent of one 'miniscule increase' of your choice. Hence, I could trade 1 mP in with the System for something like 'a miniscule increase in strength'. This means the real value of mP is it's versitility, since you can choose what to exchange it for.

Kyte finally stops rubbing his forehead and speaks.

"I think I get it."

I brighten at Kyte's words. He's smart, so I think he can give me good advice on this.

"Really? So, could you help me? I'm worried about it."

"Could it be something like a pranking system? I don't know if they exist, but I don't think it would be too far fetched to suggest there might be a subsystem with a purpose to confuse people. "

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're pretty much the definition of a goody-two-shoes."

"Thank you!"

"It wasn- Nevermind. Anyway, you're also somewhat gullible, no offense. I think the subsystem is just trying to pull your leg a bit. Make you worried about stuff when it has no serious intent to harm anything."

I knew it! Kyte's a genius!

"Subsystems have a name, right?" Kyte asks.

"Mine does, yes."

"What's its name? Maybe we can figure out something from that?"

"The Super Villainy System."

"Oh. Hmmm. I got it. See? It's just as I said. What sort of villainous subsystem would give itself a such a cringeworthy name such as that? It's obviously just acting like one to fool you."

Kyte's explaination opens my eyes. Thats it! Wouldn't an actual system choose a more specific name than "super villainy"? Maybe something like "The Pyromanic System" would be the name of a subsystem, but not "The Super Villainy System". That also explains the whole "world will be destroyed" thing. It's just a trick!

Excitement bubbles inside as I ask Kyte for more help. I should of told Kyte sooner about this. Of course it wouldn't be serious.

"So if thats the case, can you help me figure out the other two tasks it's given me?"

"You have more tasks? Sure, tell me."

"One to shoplift, and another to design a villain costume."

"Ah."

"..."

Huh? Kyte has an answer to this, right? What he said makes so much sense! It's the same as the previous tasks, just trying to confuse me, right?

After a while of silence, I speak again.

"Any ideas at all?"

"Maybe..."

"Yes?"

"..."

"..."

"Umm. Maybe..."

What? Come on, Kyte, say something!

"...It's an eco-terrorist subsystem, after all?" Kyte finally answers.

"Kyte."

"Sorry. I got nothing. Lets continue walking. I'll think about it on the way."

I sigh.

Does this mean... It's not a prank?

We continue walking towards SIT.

As we approach the train station, Kyte tries to console me.

"Hey. About the subsystem thingumajig. Umm, Cheer up. You haven't done anything intentional, right? Who cares what the system's called? It's what you do with them that matters. I could get a subsystem with a bad name, but that wouldn't change how you would think about me, right?"

Kyte continues speaking.

"something called 'The Super Villainy Subsystem' just doesn't suit you in the slightest. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, it must be some mistake on their part!"

My eyes sparkle at Kyte's words. I've never heard of a subsystem mistakingly reaching the wrong person before, but that doesn't matter to me. What matters is Kyte himself.

He believes me! He knows I'm innocent!

I slap Kyte on the back, and laugh.

"Yeah, haha. I mean, you could get something called the 'Devious and Scheming system', but that wouldn't suit you at all! Haha!"

Kyte seems to grimace at my words, but I'm sure I'm just imagining it.

It'll be fine. Whatever happens, I have someone to help me, after all.

---

We arrive at the train station. Only to realise that the train had already departed five minutes ago.

"Whoops. haha. I guess we took our sweet time walking here today."

The trains from SIT. to the mainland arrive every fifteen minutes. We could swim over, but we need someone to carry our bags for us. So, after some thought, we decide to both wait at the train station.

Fifteen minutes later, we arrive at SIT, and wait in the main hall.

By "wait" I mean, "make a ruckus with all the other heroics trainees who are also here with us".

"Brutus!"

"Arg! Kyte! Watch this!"

Brutus, along with a few others, make a ten-person human pyramid.

I stare at the four-layer pyramid in surprise, then start clapping.

"Impressive-"

"Wait, it's not over!"

Brutus-who's on the second layer- cuts me off. Then the person on the top layer of the Pyramid stands up.

After he stands up, the two people supporting him from below also stand up.

I-it can't be!

Then the next layer stands up, and finally, the four people on the bottom layer also rise. Slowly, very slowly, from kneeling on all fours, to being on one knee, to a squatting position.

"When did you learn this!"

They held the position for... two seconds, then collapsed.

Underneath several bodies, Brutus' face emerges.

"With you two here, we can make a five-layer pyramid!"

So kyte and I join in practicing. Because we were new to the formation, we joined on the bottom layer, since it was the easiest. Of course, the real problem with the pyramid was the balance, not the weight, since everyone here already had strength far beyond what their muscle mass suggested.

A few minutes pass, and everyone becomes familiar with their new positions on the pyramid.

I feel like I'm forgetting something, here.

The person on the top of the pyramid stands up. Brutus, who is now on the third layer, relays orders.

"Ok. Second row. stand up."

The second row successfully stands.

"And third row."

The training continues until an instructor walks in. He stops to admire the five-layer pyramid, then after looking around, asks.

"This is impressive. What type of training is this?"

"Balance training, Sir." Brutus responds.

"Who thought if it?"

"Me, Sir."

"Oh. I see. Where are the rest of the heroics trainees? There aren't that many of you in the hall."

Brutus pauses for a moment.

"I'm not sure where they went, Sir."

"Not sure? Did they the day off?"

"No, but they all left after no instructor picked us up."

"Oh. So this isn't part of a training lesson?"

"No."

"Oh. I see."

He walks away, then returns a few minutes later.

"May I ask that you all study quietly in lecture hall #3? Someone will be there shortly to supervise."

Oh yea. I was forgetting that we were in SIT. We're meant to be studying. Whoops.

We disassociate from the pyramid, and silently walk towards the lecture hall.

It feels like nothing has even happened this morning, yet I feel so exausted already.