In reality, what is a true childhood friendship like?
The truth is, there isn't any passionate romance; what exists is merely a friendship like that of close friends.
The oblivious don't notice, and the clever don't feel it.
Or perhaps it's that kind of silent understanding, feeding each other lollipops, yet never piercing through the veil of their relationship.
The identity is still that of playmates, but in each other's eyes, it's already destined, just lacking an opportunity.
The night is slightly cool, especially so in the chilly late March.
Uesugi Sakura's figure was elongated and shrunk under the dim streetlights, walking home alone.
21:15:21
The parents were still working overtime. Skillfully turning on the lights at home, looking at the empty living room. Even though Uesugi Sakura was used to this every night, there was still a touch of loneliness in his heart.
So, he started to tend to a few flowers and potted plants in the small courtyard outside the living room.
At first, there were only two pots of succulents and some climbing roses, but later it gradually increased.
Silver Emperor, Silver Queen, Sun God... Apart from these evergreen plants, there were also a few elegant flowers brought back from the Ota Market.
After watering them one by one, Uesugi Sakura returned to his room.
According to the usual schedule, it should be study time now, continuing until 11:00 before going to bed.
However, with that sinister system now, he needs to thoroughly research this skill experience issue.
Opening [Character], he found his skills section.
[Reading lv5 (5/10), Cooking lv0 (-10/0), Accuracy lv1 (0/5)]
There are only three skills now.
As a typical high school student in Tokyo, only having the skills of reading and cooking at first is certainly not accurate.
The school also has art classes, though these aren't Uesugi Sakura's strengths, he barely reaches a passing level. Logically, it should be marked.
Yet, it isn't.
Or, is it that the 'drawing' skill needs to be unlocked like 'accuracy,' through a draw?
But right now, there are no tasks or items to draw from the card pool, so Uesugi Sakura has no way to verify this hypothesis.
Thus, what Uesugi Sakura plans to study now is whether the progress of the skill will increase with personal training.
Begin the trial.
It's simple to find something with the 'accuracy' attribute in the house.
That's throwing bottles.
Uesugi Sakura moved the trash can beside the desk to the doorway, then sat by the head of the bed, his back against the wall, holding an empty bottle to throw it into the distant trash can.
Whoosh~~
Missed.
The bottle hit the edge of the trash can and bounced away.
The skill progress showed no change, and Uesugi Sakura didn't say much. He got out of bed, picked up the empty bottle, and tried again.
Whoosh~~
Still missed.
Uesugi Sakura got up again and tried again, repeating this process.
23:05:12
That is, about two hours later.
[You have a new message]
Holding the bottle, Uesugi Sakura clicked on it.
[Accuracy lv1 (1/5)]
"Improved."
In roughly these two hours, Uesugi Sakura threw 215 times in total, hit 24 times, and missed 191 times.
In other words, the hit rate for the Accuracy lv1 skill attribute hovered around 10%, with slight fluctuations but not significant differences.
That's still just from his casual throws.
The skill description's so-called understanding of a target followed by probability correction, was the premise to understand how this thing moves?
Uesugi Sakura found out that attribute points can also be directly added to skills.
He directly allocated his 4 attribute points to accuracy.
[Your skill has changed]
[Accuracy lv1 (1/5)→Accuracy lv2 (0/6)]
After the attribute change, Uesugi Sakura then threw the bottle ten times.
Hit: 4 times
Missed: 6 times
The probability reached 40%, but this is just an inaccurate result due to too few samples collected.
However, Uesugi Sakura didn't try much more because he could feel that his accuracy in throwing bottles had indeed improved considerably.
Knowing this is enough.
"I'm home."
Hearing this voice, Uesugi Sakura went downstairs, speaking toward Uesugi Nobuko, who was changing shoes at the entrance:
"Welcome home."
Seeing that it was only his mother who returned, Uesugi Sakura continued to ask:
"Where's Dad? Working overtime again?"
"Yeah," Uesugi Nobuko handed her shoulder bag to Uesugi Sakura, "Your dad said their boss wasn't satisfied with their product, bowing and asked them to modify it overnight. I don't really understand these things; either way, he won't be back tonight."
Nobuko put the shoes into the shoe cabinet and looked up at Uesugi Sakura, asking:
"By the way, have you had dinner? You didn't make it yourself again, right? I bought you a bento, it's in the bag."
"I ate, at Hanamaru's house."
"Hanamaru's house?" Nobuko looked at Uesugi Sakura and suddenly laughed, "Went to Hanabi's house to mooch for food again? But it's good to visit more, it can help strengthen your relationship."
"..."
Uesugi Sakura understood what his mother was implying, after all, she and Aunt Meiko next door shared the same thought.
"I'm still thinking of applying to the University of Tokyo."
"Go ahead," Nobuko smiled indifferently, "Dating that child Hanabi won't take up much of your time. I think that's more important.
"Besides, what you want to study is liberal arts. Actually, Waseda University nearby is quite good; there's no need to particularly aim for the University of Tokyo."
"Both schools are about equally difficult, but I want to aim for the University of Tokyo more."
Once a goal is set, how can one lightly change it without serious effort?
He would love to be that kind of public servant who lives off the people's taxes.
Nobuko smiled and said, "Do as you wish; after all, you've always planned things yourself since you were little. We, as your parents, can only offer some suggestions. As long as you make no mistakes, your father and I will support you fully."
Nobuko took the shoulder bag from Uesugi Sakura's hand and patted his shoulder.
"Alright, it's already late. I'll take a bath; remember to sleep early."
Uesugi Sakura watched his mother's figure as she walked inside. Through the brief conversation, he could sense his mother's concern.
Both mother and father are very gentle people; although they often work overtime and leave him home alone, which feels quite lonely.
But as parents, they've done their utmost to do their best. Uesugi Sakura understood this very well over the years.
His parents are not natives of Tokyo; they are from the previous generation who came from the countryside to strive diligently in the metropolis. After exerting their utmost effort, they managed to exchange this corner of Tokyo for their place, still having years of loans to pay off.
They met coincidentally and got acquainted in a similar fashion.
Even after having Uesugi Sakura, they maintained their hardworking efforts.
Now, they're already in their 30s, approaching 40, still laboring into the late night every day for the family.
Perhaps this is the sadness of living in the city.
...
The next day,
The morning sun shone into the room through the window, and the March breeze blew, bringing a slight chill.
Uesugi Sakura opened his bleary eyes and checked his phone.
March 25th
8:43
The quilt wrapped tightly around him like an egg roll.
Uesugi Sakura really didn't want to leave the warmth of his bed. With a swipe of his right hand on his phone, he checked for any new messages or interesting news.
After dawdling for half an hour, the extremely bored Uesugi Sakura finally got up.
Going down to the living room, he saw the note his mother left on the table, so he heated up the milk, bread, and eggs in the microwave.
Uesugi Sakura sat at the table, eating breakfast, while scrolling through his phone.
Thus, began an ordinary day during vacation.