I really don't want to have a girlfriend.

The cold, indifferent mutterings disappeared into the increasingly cold sunset.

Not long after, the black-haired girl also walked out of the classroom. After locking the door, she left quickly with a blank expression and an aura of unease.

But at the other corner, diagonally in front of the classroom, no one noticed.

"I just wanted to avoid those people, but I ended up stumbling upon something quite interesting!"

With her silver-blue hair fluttering, the girl rose from the wall she was leaning against.

The next moment, she suddenly spread her left hand in front of her face and placed her right hand behind her back as if preparing to take over, crossed her two thighs tightly, twisted her waist and leaned forward, powerfully posing in a strange yet charming pose.

"That's right, the attraction between people is like 'gravity'! Meeting for the sake of meeting, this is the choice of fate!"

After making a nonsensical remark, she hummed a song and walked briskly toward the stairwell.

"The fate of the blood~"

△

Because of the Service Club, Yubi Tenkuji arrived at the Angel Cafe, where she works, half an hour late.

Bathed in the golden light of the setting sun, he pushed open the door and went inside.

"Welcome, Hikaru... Ah, it's Tenkuji-kun, you've finally arrived."

"Sorry, my teacher talked to me about something, so I'm a little late." Yuu Tenkuji smiled at the store manager behind the counter and headed towards the staff lounge.

The shop manager smiled gently, stroking his mustache. "It's alright, it's alright. Not many people are coming in today, I can manage... What do you think of the shop's decor? I had it specially redesigned."

"Isn't it fine?"

After glancing at it a few times and giving a brief comment, Yuu Tenkuji went to the lounge to change his clothes.

"Huh? That's it? I was quite pleased with myself..."

Feeling disheartened by his perfunctory response, the shop manager couldn't help but wipe his eyes with emotion when he came out after changing and saw the well-fitting and handsome shop uniform on him again: "Ah, the days I missed are back... Tenkuji-kun, thank goodness you're still here, otherwise my last motivation to open the shop would have disappeared."

"Manager, isn't it a bit much?" she replied with amusement. Finding no customers, Tenkuji Yu picked up a rag and started wiping the table.

As the shop manager brewed coffee, he remarked with a sigh, "That's the truth. If you can't come back either, I guess I'll just close the shop and travel to different countries to find the ultimate secrets of coffee."

"What is that? A variant of café au lait?"

While grumbling like this, Tenkuji Yu thought for a moment and tentatively said, "What if I said I wanted to resign now..."

"No, no! Tenkuji-kun, you promised me!"

The store manager panicked immediately. Despite being a middle-aged man, he acted like a child, completely at a loss: "Everything is ready. If you leave now, I'll be in a lot of trouble!"

Tenkuji Yu laughed heartily, hiding his regret: "I know, I know, I was just kidding."

"Phew, that's good..." The store manager patted his chest in relief.

Before long, the rich aroma of coffee filled the air, and wisps of white smoke rose into the air.

The shop manager placed the coffee on the counter and beckoned him over: "Tenkuji-kun, there's no rush with work. Have some coffee and relax first."

"Thank you, store manager."

After wiping the table as quickly as possible, Yuu tossed the rag into the sink, washed her hands, and sat down at the counter.

"Come on, try my proud blended coffee!" The shop manager smiled confidently. "While you were on summer vacation, I was also honing my coffee-making skills!"

“Then I shall gladly accept.” Picking up her coffee cup, Tenkuji Yu took a few sips, savoring the taste for a few seconds. “...Compared to before, the richness and purity of the aroma have indeed improved. The sourness, bitterness, and fragrance blend harmoniously in the mouth, like the natives of Guatemala, Mexico, Brazil, and Gilimanjaro dancing together joyfully. It’s already at the intermediate level of an expert.”

"Expert level?" Although he was full of doubts, the shop manager could still tell that he was being praised, so he didn't bother to think about it anymore and stroked his beard with satisfaction.

"Mmm, I'm so glad it suits your taste~"

"But speaking of which, Tenkuji-kun is getting more and more amazing. He couldn't make such an accurate evaluation before, but now he can even tell what region's coffee beans I used... In that case, if I ever want to retire, I might as well pass this shop on to you!"

Although it was just a casual joke, the store manager suddenly realized halfway through that it didn't seem like a bad idea.

In response, Yuu Tenkuji could only shrug and smile helplessly.

"Manager, I only know how to eat and drink, I don't know how to make coffee at all."

Unfortunately, his "cooking" skills include desserts, but not cocktails, tea, or coffee; he really can't do those.

But perhaps because chefs need to have an excellent sense of taste to taste food, his tongue is indeed more sensitive than before, and he can distinguish the quality and type of ingredients. I wonder if he will have talents like "God's Tongue" or "Super Smell" after reaching the Perfect level.

Even if he could, he wouldn't become a barista and open a coffee shop himself—just look at the manager; running a shop is more tiring than you can imagine.

"Well, let's talk about the future later!" Ignoring his polite refusal, the shop manager bent down and took a job application from the counter, placing it next to the coffee cup.

"I've already interviewed this child, and she'll officially start work next week. I'll need you, as her senior, to properly train her on store operations!"

"You can rest assured that I'll handle things."

While sipping his coffee, Yuu Tenkuji picked up the resume and calmly scanned it, from the photo to the name.

"Isn't this child adorable? And he's a student at your school."

Leaning against the bar, the manager chuckled at him: "That way, whether in the coffee shop or at school, she'll have to call you 'senpai' (senior). Don't you young people all like being called 'senpai' by cute girls?"

Yuuki Tenkuji muttered, "I actually prefer being called 'older brother'..."

"what?"

The store manager didn't hear clearly, so he coughed twice to brush it off.

"It's nothing, I'll teach her properly."

Chapter Twenty-Five: Lincoln Died Again, Big Head

Until the evening of September 5th, Yuu Tenkuji lived a mundane yet somewhat different daily life than before.

The opening exams went smoothly, and the results won't be available until next week—for the even smarter Yuu Tenkuji, who never wasted her summer vacation studying, the difficulty was probably as easy as a high school student taking an elementary school exam.

I can't guarantee being first in the grade, but I can probably guarantee being in the top five.

Scholarships that I wanted but couldn't get before, and which I can get but don't need now, are now in my grasp.

If his "learning" skills could be improved to the human level, he would be confident of getting into the University of Tokyo even if he skipped a grade to attend university—it would just mean he would have to read even more books.

When you discover that you have a good brain, you will fall in love with learning, learning will make you happy, and eventually you will become so engrossed in learning that you can't extricate yourself. So the reason for not liking learning is also very simple: because you can't reach the point of "love" for learning, sooner or later you will shed tears for it and give up something important.

Besides that, Yui Yuigahama, who had been wailing to her friends after the exam, seemed to be sorting out her feelings these past few days and didn't take the initiative to talk to Yuu Tenkuji.

It felt like we were back in the unfamiliar relationship we had in our first year of high school. Even when our eyes met, we would look away as if nothing had happened.

Was the fact that I've had girlfriends really that shocking to her?

If Yuuto Tenkuji still liked Yukino Yukinoshita, he might have been able to understand her feelings by putting himself in her shoes; unfortunately, he is completely indifferent to love now, so he is only a little concerned and has no intention of delving into it or even taking steps to resolve it.

Let's just leave it there; it's not in the way anyway.

As for the "Service Club," he wanted to wait until the seemingly calm but actually easily agitated Miss Yukinoshita had completely calmed down, so as not to have to argue with her again when they met. Therefore, he did not step into the special building during this period, and luckily, he did not run into her at school.

Hiratsuka Shizuka didn't say anything, only that he must find a third member before the 'Autumn Club Showcase', and then she didn't care about the rest... no, she just had unwavering trust in him.

Although he never met Yukino Yukinoshita, Yuu Tenkuji did brush past that transfer student.

As the initial excitement of arriving faded, Natsukawa Masuzu was no longer surrounded by sycophants. Somehow, she could often be seen strolling around the campus with a carefree and relaxed air. Even though Class J was quite a distance from Class F, Tenkuji Yu had made eye contact with her in the corridors quite a few times, and she would even nod and greet him as if she were in a good mood.

She is, as rumored, a beautiful girl who is warm and friendly.

That's pretty much how it is at school. As for the coffee shop, going there for two or three hours each day to help out and reminisce about my past part-time job isn't too much of a hassle.

Qiong remained a beautiful shut-in at home, spending her days playing computer games and playing with the cat, waiting for him to come home to feed her. Whenever he had free time, she would drag him to her sister's room to play Monster Hunter, gradually becoming addicted to the exhilarating feeling of clinging to his leg.

Time flew by and it was already 7:50 p.m. on September 5th.

After leaving her sister's room, Yuu Tenkuji locked her own door, lay down on the bed, and put on her "NERvGear," which resembled a boxing helmet.

Before leaving, he checked the system and, after confirming that the prompts were unchanged, closed his eyes.

"Lincoln is such a big jerk!"

The moment the sound faded, the world crossed the threshold between reality and virtuality.

▲

Sword World.

<The Floating City of Aincrad: The First Layer> — <The Town of Beginnings>

As the virtual entity gradually takes shape, light and warm background music plays in your ears, and you can smell the aroma emanating from the bakery.

Only when the screen lit up did Yuu Tenkuji clench his fist and look up at the foreign city scenery he hadn't seen for about two weeks.

"Still no other players... I really don't know when 'RECT' will finish the game, even just a multiplayer closed beta would be great."

Don't say that the public beta will start in the second half of the year, but it ends up like Cyberpunk, dragging on until the end of the year, then into next year, or even until 2077 when the DLC is finalized before the public beta begins.

After grumbling for a few moments, Tenkuji Yu sighed softly and walked towards the Central Auditorium.

As night deepened, warm yellow lights illuminated both sides of the street, stretching out into the distance with the precision of clockwork, until the end could not be seen.

The brick and tile houses are partially hidden, sleeping peacefully along with the clouds.

He strolled along the stone-paved road in the darkness as if taking a leisurely walk.

The voices gradually faded away, leaving only the faint background music playing throughout the city.

The Central Auditorium.

Located at the center of the "Town of Beginnings", it is the tallest and most solemn of the completed buildings.

As for what NPCs are inside, or what the purpose of building this place was, Yuu Tenkuji had no interest in knowing.

He came here just to pick up girls... no, he just came to do a 'mission'.

After arriving at the plaza in front of the auditorium, Tenkuji Yu looked around.

Not to mention the chestnut-haired rapier user, we didn't even see half a kitten.

He swung his right hand down in mid-air to bring up his friends list. After confirming that "Asuna" was online, he didn't rush to send her a message.

Bathed in the glow of the night lights, he leisurely enjoyed the scenery of the virtual world.

Soon, the game clock struck 19:59 PM.

The sudden sound of footsteps shattered the tranquility that permeated the area.

"come yet?"