Chapter 10

The monthly test was over, and the so-called Golden Week holiday began, lasting from April 29 to May 5.

Takumi Watanabe arrived in Tokyo on a day when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. In the blink of an eye, the cherry blossoms had withered, and the trees were now covered with lush green leaves, marking the passage of a month.

Back home, it should be the time for transplanting rice seedlings.

Every year at this time, his parents in this life would leave home at four in the morning to transplant rice seedlings. They would only return at noon for a brief rest, and then spend the rest of the day in the fields.

When he was young, because he was smart, his parents felt sorry for him. Even when he wanted to help, they would insist he stay home to study or play. As he grew older, the village bought a rice transplanter, and his own physical strength had declined, so he couldn't even help with weeding.

He couldn't bend over for long periods, and the sharp edges of the weeds could easily cut his skin. Leeches greedily sucked his blood, and horseflies buzzed around his head, making him extremely uncomfortable.

"Actually, I can still plant potatoes."

After reflecting on how he seemed to be good for nothing except studying, Takumi Watanabe defended himself.

Planting potatoes only required cutting the potatoes into pieces, digging holes, burying them, and then covering them with dead leaves from the mountains.

Before the holiday, Takumi Watanabe had called home and agreed to stay in Tokyo to work during the Golden Week, planning to return during the summer break.

Dressed in casual clothes, Takumi Watanabe took the train to the Shinjuku district and found the Walgo clothing store where he was to work.

"Are you Takumi Watanabe? Your job is to stand at the crossroads in front and hold up the GG sign. You can take a short break if you get tired, but not for too long, understood?"

"Understood."

The crossroads where the Walgo clothing store was located was the entrance to Shinjuku's bar district. Standing there, he could observe almost all the women entering and leaving.

However, holding up the GG sign for a few hours...

Takumi Watanabe had originally wanted to find a job surveying traffic—sitting there and using a counter to tally pedestrians and vehicles. Unfortunately, such a perfect job didn't exist.

There were traffic survey jobs, but not at this intersection.

If he didn't find a job, a high school student lingering near the red-light district would definitely be questioned by the police.

Moreover, by finding a job and working, he could earn money. He only had a little over 4,000 yen left.

This kind of manual labor paid much more than working in a store.

Although he had enough points to exchange for a significant amount of money, he wanted to save them to boost his intelligence, physical strength, and charm. Additionally, with only two days left until May, there might be skills he wanted to acquire.

Takumi Watanabe held up the GG sign and stood at the bustling intersection. Besides him, there were already people in mascot costumes handing out flyers, doing the same job.

There were many people passing by, but it wasn't practical to use the "Detector" on every woman who walked by.

She couldn't be too old, too unattractive, not single, or not dressed provocatively enough.

"Hey, handsome, want to go to a café together?"

"Whoa~~? Sachie, this cute guy looks like a high school student!"

"As long as he's handsome, he might even be a virgin~~!"

Takumi Watanabe looked at the woman who had approached him. She had her shirt unbuttoned, revealing a bold collarbone, and she was quite attractive.

[Character: Sachie Kuroda]

[Charm: 5]

[Pass]

"Sorry, I'm working. If you need to buy clothes, please visit Walgo."

After saying this, Takumi Watanabe bowed and walked away.

He had been deceived by makeup!

According to his estimate, her charm should have been 6!

Sachie Kuroda tried to follow him but was pulled away by her companion, who shouted, "There's a police officer here!"

A nearby college student dressed as a maid, who had been handing out flyers, laughed and said, "You're quite popular."

"I just want to work quietly," Takumi Watanabe replied with a wry smile.

This college student had been trying to talk to him ever since they first met.

Is it common for older women to date younger men in Tokyo? Or is it just that being handsome is enough?

Growing up in a remote village with only five people in the entire school, ranging from first grade to third year junior high, Takumi Watanabe had never been so popular before.

Since coming to Tokyo, he had received various love letters and approaches.

He suddenly remembered a line from the previous life's Makoto Shinkai movie "Your Name":

"In the next life, please let me be a handsome guy in Tokyo."

Maybe the life of a handsome guy in Tokyo is just like this? Maybe he was overreacting?

He needed to adapt to his new identity.

His legs ached, and his arms were too tired to lift. Takumi Watanabe used the "Detector" three times but found no suitable targets.

He had tried to use it on the most attractive women, but apart from Sachie Kuroda with a charm of 5, the other two had charms of 6 and 7, respectively, and all showed [Pass].

He wasn't sure if he needed a charm of 8 or if there were other hidden conditions that needed to be met.

After returning the GG sign to the store, he received his pay for the day. Usually, it wouldn't be paid out daily, but for temporary workers during the Golden Week, it was possible.

He earned 5,200 yen for four hours of work.

An hourly wage of 1,300 yen was very high, but the job was also very demanding.

Takumi Watanabe felt that if he continued this job, his physical strength would increase to 4 or even 5 points in no time.

However, he was still too naive and underestimated society.

The women in society—especially those who went to Shinjuku bars—were all skilled at makeup, and their attractiveness was generally higher than their natural levels.

With his level of femininity, even without makeup, it was a waste of points and time to look for targets here.

School was better, with a strict no-makeup policy. Even the most beauty-conscious female students only dared to apply light makeup and slightly lighten their hair.

He decided to pass on all women over high school age, knowing that once women graduated from high school, they would undergo a dramatic transformation, like a cocoon turning into a butterfly.

The 1,000 points spent on the "Detector," plus the money he spent on dinner—lunch was provided by the clothing store—resulted in a net loss of over 9,000 yen for the day.

For the next six days of the Golden Week, except for a trip to Akihabara with Shu Kuni and Keisuke Saito, Takumi Watanabe worked and studied, no longer wasting points in Shinjuku's Kabukicho.

On the morning of May 1st, the game store refreshed its inventory.

[Item: Detector (1/1000), Healing Potion (1/1000)]

[Money: 100 yen/1 point]

[Intelligence: 1 point/100,000 points]

[Charm: 1 point/10,000 points]

[Physical Strength: 1 point/5,000 points]

[Skill: Beginner—Flower Arrangement (100), Intermediate—Cooking (1,000), Advanced—Driving (10,000), Master—Free Fighting (100,000)]

Takumi Watanabe carefully studied the new item, the "Healing Potion." As its name suggested, it could only heal injuries, not cure diseases.

However, it was still useful. As long as it wasn't immediately fatal, and he had points, he could survive.

The [Addendum] clause, "The game bears no responsibility for the player's death and has no obligation to revive," always gave him the feeling that this wasn't a simple dating game.

Better to be prepared.

Next were the five skills for the month. Apart from "Cooking," which was a repeat, the other four were all new.

Takumi Watanabe was particularly interested in the Master-level "Free Fighting."

Isn't there a man who isn't interested?

Even if he didn't actively seek out fights, being good at fighting was better than being bad. As the saying goes, a gentleman keeps his tools at hand, and one must have the confidence to stand up for oneself.

The Intermediate-level "Cooking" was also appealing. According to the [Addendum], it was enough to cook a good meal, and he could say goodbye to convenience store bentos.

Leftovers could be brought to school for lunch, saving him money.

Wait a minute!

He should save his points instead of money! What if there were better skills next time? Like "Free Fighting" and "Free Fighting."

Takumi Watanabe really wanted the Master-level "Free Fighting"!

He had enough reason to suspect that the game was tempting him to be a scumbag and work hard to earn points!

On the evening of May 3rd.

[Sign-in Days: Tamamo Komami · One Week]

[Player Receives Sign-in Bonus]

[Money: 100,000 yen]

[50% Discount Coupon for Charm (Player's charm must be below 10 points, and only one point can be exchanged)]

Exchanging one point of charm cost 10,000 points, and even with a 50% discount, it would still cost 5,000 points. He only had 4,000 points left, and he still needed to exchange for the "Detector."

He could exchange one point and continue down the path of being a "handsome guy in Tokyo."

On May 6th, the first day back at school.

During the morning classes, both teachers and students seemed restless, still not fully back from their holiday.

At noon, the monthly test rankings were posted on the school bulletin board.

"Want to go check?" Keisuke Saito asked the other two.

"What's the point of looking at that!" Shu Kuni said dismissively.

From their conversation, it was clear that Keisuke Saito could compete for a spot in the top twenty of the school, the number of students from Kamikawa High who usually entered top universities, while Shu Kuni's name would be found at the bottom of the list.

Takumi Watanabe thought for a moment. "Let's wait twenty minutes. It's too crowded now, and we won't be able to get close."

After twenty minutes, during the latter half of the lunch break, the crowds in the cafeteria, bakery, and bulletin board would disperse.

"Okay." Keisuke Saito nodded in agreement and then took out his phone to share a game with the two of them.

Shu Kuni looked at it and said, "This game? I've been playing it, and I advise you not to get into it!"

Keisuke Saito asked curiously, "Why?"

"I suspect it's false advertising! The SSRs aren't even in the gacha pool!"

"That's just your bad luck." Takumi Watanabe laughed.

"Nonsense! How could I have bad luck!" Shu Kuni firmly believed it was the game company's fault.

"By the way." Takumi Watanabe remembered something from home economics class. "Shu, how's it going with Naomi Yamaguchi?"

Shu Kuni smiled proudly and shyly. "Hehe, we've been chatting on LINE every day recently."

"You scoundrel! Remember to treat us!" Keisuke Saito punched him playfully.

"What treat?"

"Trying to weasel out of it? Didn't we agree that whoever gets a girlfriend first would treat us?"

"No problem, no problem!"

Takumi Watanabe remained quiet. His relationship with Tamamo Komami... didn't count, right?

The three of them chatted for a while and then went to the bulletin board on the first floor, where a few students were still gathered.

Takumi Watanabe started from the top of the list.

"Rank: 1; Name: Ryou Shimano"

Alright.

"Rank: 2; Name: Miki Kujou"

"..."

"Rank: 3; Name: Takumi Watanabe"

Not bad, not bad. He had maintained his original ranking.

If he had dropped, despite all his hard work, he would have packed his bags and returned home to kneel before his hardworking parents.

Keisuke Saito admired, "Wow, Takumi! If you can stay in the top five, you can get a direct recommendation to Tokyo University in your third year!"

"Maintaining this level, I don't need a recommendation." Takumi Watanabe said nonchalantly.

Keisuke Saito nodded. "That's true."

"What about you?"

"I thought I did well, but I ended up at 31. I plan to discuss it with my parents and consider enrolling in a cram school."

"Starting a cram school in your first year?"

"One step behind, and you're always behind. As Mr. Koizumi said, 'The beginning is very important.'"

Takumi Watanabe nodded and looked at Shu Kuni, who had been silent. "Shu, how did you do?"

Shu Kuni looked dejected. "121st."

There were four classes in the first year, each with forty students, so 121st was quite low.

Takumi Watanabe patted his shoulder. "Don't give up. We all did poorly this time. Let's work together and try to improve next time."

"You did poorly?!" Shu Kuni looked at Takumi Watanabe angrily, and his loud voice attracted the attention of passersby.

"Shu, during the Golden Week, I learned a lesson."

"Are you giving up on being human?"

Takumi Watanabe shook his head and said seriously, "As a handsome guy in Tokyo, even if I can't be number one, I need to keep improving. That's what makes me charming."

"Get lost!"