Inventory, Magic Space. Storage.

Item Box.

The supernatural phenomenon capable of storing things into a space with inter-dimensional properties goes by many names.

A necessary tool for the hero’s journey. After all, he can’t be seen holding tons of weapons looted from his enemies, or keep an entourage around for everything.

While convenient, it must be stressed that its importance had been severely watered down in many stories one had read. To think that he’d not even reached the end of the list, Kuuya leans his head against a wall and rests as he glances at his smartphone display. He’d been in this place for about an hour.

Retrieve〖School Bag〗from inventory.

His hands caught hold of a backpack and opened it up.

Inside was a plastic bag containing a piece of boneless chicken from tonight’s dinner.

Feeling the warmth on his hand as if it’d just been cooked, Kuuya smiles knowingly.

He chows down on the food after removing it from the bag, and returns the bag into the Item Box. The name of the item began to change slowly.

〖School Bag〗

〖Bag〗

〖Backpack〗

〖Empty Bag〗

Next, he stares at the holy sword nesting on his lap. A scabbard of equal majesty in appearance had manifested as if out of thin air, so he wasn’t afraid of getting cut by its edge. To be honest, Excalibur looked too much of a ceremonial sword than a practical one. Yet it was the same weapon that could create air currents with a single wave.

This was the strongest-looking weapon Serval had. A named weapon.

〖Excalibur〗

〖Excalibur〗

〖Excalibur〗

“The description doesn’t change.”

This little thought experiment gave him a sense of how much his own perception could alter the words displayed on the interface.

Player System. It was as if the System was an organic entity, and molded itself to best suit its user’s comprehension. However, the items that were ‘named’, were more inflexible. As expected of things from the other world, perhaps the human mind accustomed to Earth’s common sense was unable to break down and understand things like Excalibur.

“Heh. If humans did, we would have climbed to the highest floors a long time ago.”

 

Kuuya closes his eyes, and mulls over his inheritance.

What would this change for him?

What would he use these for?

Money, well… certainly many of these things could sell for a fortune. Like the Potions he’d taken out to inspect earlier. They were of Green-rank meaning it was near the bottom of item rarity, yet its effects were far from ordinary. 

“Lesser Stamina Potion. Recovers one’s current stamina by 5.”

As a test, he ran a few laps around the court. Once he’d drained enough of his energy, Kuuya pops the cork open and hesitantly drinks the contents like a sports drink. The solution was tasteless, yet he could immediately feel its effects. 

Lesser Stamina Potion was a doping drink with no side effects. He could even feel energy springing around his lower half. Recovering 5 stamina points made him feel like he’d been wearing weights his entire life. Did he just come out of a massage parlor? Kuuya’s muscles felt more relaxed and his expression became more loose.

All of this, just from 5 stamina points. What about the Elixirs he’d seen in his inventory? Kuuya did remember seeing a few that gave permanent increases to stamina.

Easy to drink, and shows instant effects? The demand for these consumables would be really high… even if it was just used as viagra. Should he really sell these?

Incidentally, Kuuya didn’t feel like it was a waste to use one of them. There were over 1,000 of these. Apparently, the item count of 878 did not account for the quantity of each unique item. And among all of the items, the consumables were stacked in similar numbers like the Lesser Stamina Potion.

 

“Money huh.”

It wasn’t as if the Fukusei family was in desperate need of money. They were about middle to high income due to the mother’s circumstances; the household was fine for a good while.

Not to mention the amount of money he’d earned with his clones while they were around. It wasn’t enough to buy a house, but he certainly could live by himself for an entire year if he did so frugally.

“But it’s never a bad thing to have more money, right?” Kuuya held the idea of selling in his mind. He begins to pack up and leave, shutting off the lights behind him for the last time.

Besides money, there wasn’t much he really wanted. 

 

Kuuya hops out of the decrepit building, and catches a deep breath of fresh air while he wipes his forehead filled with sweat from the exercise.

Girlfriend, maybe. Maybe he could impress one using the many things he had now. Not that he really needed to. Objectively speaking, Kuuya had a face that didn’t give him any issues with finding one if he really put his mind into it.

There was nothing else he could use these things for then.

Nothing else…

His eyes turn to the distance.

“...”

Stat points alone that would shoot him up to the category of a superhuman.

Keen insight that allows him to perceive enemy information and locations.

Weapons that seemed more than capable of blowing up those goblins.

A whole pharmacy to treat his wounds in battle.

“...Yeah there’s no way.” The boy laughs.

“The world is ordinary. There is no need to change that.”

As Kuuya waited for a return bus with a carton of milk and a few packs of ice-cream in a bag, he continued looking around the Item Box as if browsing a candy store.

 

It was then that he noticed the map function showing something strange.

While he’d taken the bus to this place, Kuuya had more or less understood how『Map』had functioned. It would paint out uncharted territory, and from there the places he perceived as significant would be pinned on the map as a landmark. The people passing by would also appear as moving dots as if it were a game.

If he didn’t get it wrong, white means neutral, passers-by who had never conversed with him.  Blue means acquaintance, like the clerk from the convenience store asking for payment by card or cash. Green means closed ones, like family.

 

 

 

 

 

…What about red…?

Without turning his head around, he could see a red dot just behind his current location.

“...C-Can I help you?”

Kuuya turns his body, and sees a girl dressed in a black babydoll. She seems to be a little younger than him, about a head shorter. Her pink short hair was unkempt, face was pale and unblemished, and her pastel-colored eyes seemed a little unfocused as she gave him a stare. It was one with almost no emotions, yet Kuuya could somehow feel a sense of confusion emanating from her lightly furrowed eyebrows.

“Uh… are you lost by any chance?”

The girl did not give him a reply, yet her gaze never left his face.

“... …” Kuuya’s heart was slightly shaken, because he’d not even noticed that someone was this close to him. Somehow, this girl gave him the creeps. But he kept it hidden and gave the girl a smile. Maybe she was a foreigner?

“...Uhh… could it be that you can’t speak Japanese?”

“...”

“...” Kuuya could feel his strained smile losing its form. How could he continue this conversation? The other party wasn’t giving in at all, yet she looked as if she knew him. 

As if hearing the inner cries of his heart, the sounds of an approaching vehicle drew near.

“Ahh… that’s the bus. Uhm… miss? Are you boarding too?”

A dead stare, as if she was wronged. Eh? Was that the grinding of teeth he heard?

“...I-I guess not? Well, I’ll be going then. It’s been nice knowing you? Even if you stay around this area, don’t stay up too late alright? Walk home safely, got it?” Kuuya speaks as if patronizing a child, yet the girl did not give him a reaction at all.

Something’s wrong with this girl, he concludes as he boards the bus as calmly as he could.

〔Doors are closing. Doors are closing.〕

The bus was rather empty since it was late at night, so he quickly found a seat at the back. As Kuuya looked out of the window where the girl had been, he noticed that she was still there looking at him.

The boy looked away at his smartphone as if he’d glanced at her in passing.

Without event, the bus drove off.

Kuuya looks at the map as the red dot distances itself from his position slowly.

It turned orange. 

Finding the encounter strange, Kuuya closed his eyes as he enjoyed the air-conditioning cooling down his sweat-filled clothes. 

There are all sorts of people in this world after all.