Dinner at the family restaurant passed quite peacefully. No acquaintances suddenly popped up to complicate the situation, nor did any supernatural emergencies arise requiring Asakura to save the day.

Aside from Hiratsuka wanting to drink beer, only to be firmly rejected by Asakura—who had the server take it all away—nothing special happened.

After dinner, Asakura followed Hiratsuka back to her home once again.

Now that the Resurrection Stone had been destroyed by his own hand, the wanted criminal in the detention center could no longer stir up any trouble; it was even debatable whether the man was still alive. In any case, barring any accidents, the alert from the police station should be lifted by tomorrow at the latest. At that point, Hiratsuka would likely stop being so overprotective, and he could finally go home.

"The water heater is fixed. Asakura, do you want to take your bath first or second?"

"First..." Asakura said without a second thought.

"Don’t you have even a shred of modesty or the desire to be polite when you’re at someone else’s house?"

"Nope." Asakura shook his head. "I am com-plete-ly uninterested in bathwater someone else has already soaked in."

Though, he had soaked in Kita Kita’s bathwater before. But could a fragrant, soft high school girl and an aging, unmarried female teacher be the same thing? (Speaking emphatically).

"What a coincidence; I feel the same way..." Hiratsuka said, crossing her arms. The movement unconsciously emphasized her chest while giving off a particularly oppressive aura.

"So what should we do? Rock-paper-scissors?"

"No, forget that method—it’s eighty percent luck. Let’s settle this with a game I’m good at."

"Being able to say you’ll use a game you’re good at without any shame... that’s very much your style, Hiratsuka-sensei."

"Just say if you’re in or not."

"A game you’re good at? An RPG?" Asakura asked, intrigued.

"Not a lukewarm genre like that. It’s fighting games! Fighting!"

"..."

"What’s with that expression?"

"I’m thinking of my victory speech."

"Sometimes I really think, Asakura, that your talent for getting under people’s skin is top-tier."

"Thank you."

"I wasn’t praising you... fine, whatever. In a little while, you’ll be apologizing to me while crying ’ho-oh-oh-oh’."

"That crying sound doesn’t sound very wholesome."

Battle!

On the screen, the characters engaged in an incredibly fierce clash. Light punches, heavy punches, and low kicks immediately transitioned into counters. Special move effects—executed through movements that looked like they might break the controllers—exploded like falling stars. Sparks and shockwaves swept across the screen, the outcome decided in a lightning-fast instant.

—That was the battle Hiratsuka imagined.

In reality:

"Why can’t I hit you?! What was that insane guard frame just now? My Takahashi Meijin-style sixteen-taps-per-second combo was completely blocked?! How did you do that?!"

Before long, Hiratsuka’s wail, sounding like a defeated dog, echoed through her apartment.

"It’s just basic operation." Asakura, who had three-second "Future Sight" active and a permanent reaction speed seven times that of a normal person, put down his controller and spoke with the flat tone of the strong: "It’s just that you’re too weak, Sensei."

The strong must humiliate the weak!

"Dammit! I even specifically chose a rare game with a super low circulation on a discontinued console for this match..." Hiratsuka pounded the floor in frustration. "Why did I still lose so miserably?!"

"Because it took me about ten minutes to completely understand this game. To be honest, aside from specific mechanics and character performance, fighting games are all pretty much the same."

Asakura stood up, slung the towel he used yesterday over his shoulder, and said triumphantly, "Then I’ll gladly take the privilege of being the first to bathe."

Leaving the still-grumbling Hiratsuka behind, Asakura walked into the bathroom alone.

The bathtub was already filled with hot water. Asakura had worried that the gaming session might take too long and let the water get cold, but his "one-shot kill" cheats were too strong; Hiratsuka was no match at all. Consequently, the water in the tub was still slightly scalding.

After scrubbing himself down outside, Asakura soaked his entire body in the tub.

It’s worth mentioning that in Japan, likely due to the limited space, many bathrooms are very cramped, leading to bathtubs having a narrow feel. Even Asakura’s house had that kind of tub, to the point where every time he bathed, the thought ’Once I have money, I’m definitely switching to a big bathtub’ would pop into his head.

However, at the start, just supporting himself was a challenge, let alone changing a tub; not dragging the tub out to sell it was his final act of defiance. Later, after acquiring the property rights to the Rabbit House, he discovered a decent tub on the second floor, so his plan to replace his own tub remained shelved.

Yet, Hiratsuka’s bathtub was one of those rare, luxury oversized tubs where one could submerge their entire body. Truthfully, her apartment was a high-end one, but compared to this clearly custom-made tub, the rest of the place almost looked plain. It gave Asakura the impression that his Japanese teacher cared more about the comfort of her bath than her general living conditions. Looking at the buttons by the tub, it seemed to have vibration massage functions and the like, though Asakura, being a traditionalist, didn’t try any of the fancy features.

After soaking in the warm, slightly hot water for a while, Asakura felt his somewhat exhausted body and spirit relax and rejuvenate. Only then did he feel in the mood to check the newly issued system mission.

[Mission: Obtain the Miraculous Fruit]

"..."

Asakura, having grown accustomed to the system’s various abstract missions, had zero desire to complain. If anything, compared to extremely abstract missions like "Grow Larger..." the goal this time was relatively clear.

It was probably something like a Devil Fruit...

Although he had no clue where to start, experience told him that if he just went about his life, he would soon discover clues or encounter the corresponding event directly.

"Hmm? Thinking about it, the most likely place to trigger this mission would be the supernatural trip during summer break?"

Originally, Asakura had planned to drag Hitori along for the trip, but if he was really going to run into a main-story-level supernatural event, it might be more convenient to go alone.

However, he felt that if he, as her boyfriend, didn’t ask her out, that silly girl might just stay holed up in her closet for the entire summer break...