Yuutenji Nyamu woke up to an unfamiliar city morning glow.
Sunlight slanted through the gap in the not-quite-closed curtains, cutting across the unfamiliar ceiling, and the air carried a scent not found in her rural hometown.
She blinked her somewhat dry eyes, her consciousness slowly surfacing like a sunken ship.
Her first morning in Tokyo.
It was also her first morning starting from scratch, after her scoundrel second brother had absconded with all her savings.
Nyamu's body was nestled in the pink-haired girl's fragrant, soft bed, like sinking into a gentle cloud.
But this brief comfort only made the vast emptiness in her heart more pronounced.
Sadness and anger had been soothed by that angelic girl, settling deep in her heart but not disappearing. A feeling of being adrift, rootless and nowhere to belong, coiled around her heart like cold vines.
She was clearly a sturdy rice seedling from the fields of Kumamoto, able to stand tall against wind and rain!
Diving into Tokyo for that glittering dream of stardom was already a huge gamble, and her damned second brother had pushed this gamble straight into hell mode—starting with nothing!
She rubbed her eyes; the places where she had secretly cried last night were still slightly swollen and sore. The space beside her was empty; the little pink sun was already gone.
"Oh, right, today is Friday..." Nyamu's voice was hoarse with sleep.
"Anon… she went to school."
She looked around the tidy little room, belonging to a stranger yet having taken her in, and a mix of gratitude and intense unease welled up.
"To let someone you just met yesterday stay in your room like this… she's so trusting…"
She muttered softly, less complaining about Anon than feeling helpless about her own situation.
"Ugh…"
She buried her face abruptly into the duvet, which smelled of sunshine and perfume, letting out a suppressed, animal-like whimper. The accumulated grievances and bewilderment seemed about to burst from her throat.
But only a few seconds later, the covers were suddenly thrown back, and the girl sat up straight like a spring, her purple short hair a little disheveled.
She sniffled hard, the hint of vulnerability in her eyes replaced by an almost defiant stubbornness.
"Just like Mom always said!" she declared loudly to the empty room, as if cheering herself on, "Nyamu is young wheat! Being trampled only makes me root deeper and grow stronger!"
"Isn't it just starting Tokyo life from scratch?"
"Isn't it just rent and tuition?"
"Watch me earn it all through hard work!"
At this moment, Working Warrior Nyamu was filled with burning determination!
This determination was so fervent that when she suddenly stood up, her vision went black, and the world spun!
In that moment of dizziness, a translucent, ethereal panel, shimmering with a faint purple glow, like a game interface, abruptly floated directly in front of her vision.
[Name: Yuutenji Nyamu]
[Title: None]
[Wealth: 4205 yen (1200 yen is streamer income, temporarily unable to withdraw)]
[Stamina: 70]
[Satiety: 30]
[Spirit: 60]
[Inventory: Chihaya Anon's pajamas, Chihaya Anon's pajama pants, Yuutenji Nyamu's panties.]
[Quest: 'Working Warrior, Working Soul!' (Not accepted)]
[Ad space for rent.]
"???"
Nyamu rubbed her eyes hard, then opened them again.
The space in front of her was empty. Only the morning sun cast the shadow of the window frame on the wall.
"Ha…" She let out a long breath, rubbing her loudly protesting stomach, "I must be hallucinating from hunger…"
Yesterday, from the hospital to the Chihaya family, the immense blow had made her eat almost nothing, finally only managing to force down a few bites of bread at Anon's insistent urging.
The double exhaustion of body and spirit was clearly beginning to protest.
Since things have come to this, let's eat first!
Only with a full stomach can one fight!
...After gratefully enjoying the nutritious and delicious breakfast meticulously prepared by Mrs. Chihaya, Yuutenji Nyamu, under her warm yet worried gaze, slung a sturdy, durable dark blue backpack over her shoulders. Like a warrior about to go to battle, she stepped out of the Chihaya family's front door.
The spring morning air was cool and fresh, yet carried the characteristic hustle and bustle of a big city.
'Today's objective: Earn at least three days' living expenses! Plus tonight's dinner!'
The girl clenched an invisible fist in her heart.
The Chihaya family's kindness enveloped her like a warm current, but also gently pricked her self-esteem like tender thorns.
For her dream of becoming a dazzling superstar, Yuutenji Nyamu had long since made up her mind—even if it meant using everything around her, she would constantly climb upwards!
But this resolve absolutely did not include complacently enjoying others' purely benevolent, unrequited hospitality.
'Using Anon… I can't do it!'
That pink girl, who lit her up like a small sun, she couldn't bring herself to scheme against her.
So now, all she could rely on, all she could "use," were her own two hands, this body, and the resilience ingrained in a country girl!
Working Warrior Nyamu, charge!
For the next two hours, Nyamu transformed into a human job search app. Referring to the various job-seeking software downloaded on her phone, she rapidly browsed information while making calls, tirelessly shuttling through the bustling yet indifferent streets and alleys of Tokyo.
Convenience store: "Sorry, we only hire experienced student part-timers."
Family restaurant: "High school student? Doesn't look like it."
Café: "Work hours… Huh? You haven't even graduated middle school? Then no, no."
Courier sorting center: "Little girl, this job is very heavy, with your small frame…"
Hope burst like popped soap bubbles, one after another.
Two hours passed, and she found nothing!
The biggest obstacle was clearly her middle school student status!
"Can't middle schoolers work?!" Nyamu stood on a busy street corner, looking at another crossed-out job posting on her phone screen, unable to stop herself from wailing softly.
"Haven't you heard of working part-time to pay for school?! Although… although I don't currently have a school to attend…"
The last half of her sentence trailed off, tinged with guilt and unwillingness.
"Sigh…" She let out a heavy sigh, her shoulders slumping, feeling the backpack straps tighten even more.
"Isn't there a more humane, more flexible employer…?"
"It's so tough! (Kurushii ah!)" She couldn't help but exclaim in her Kumamoto dialect, her voice not loud, but filled with the grief and indignation of a Working Warrior's initial defeat.
[Ding—]
An extremely faint electronic sound effect, like a hallucination, echoed deep in her mind. But it was immediately completely drowned out by her own cry of "Kurushii."
Just as she was dejectedly preparing to cross off another unreliable part-time job listing on her screen, a gaudy, extremely obnoxious advertisement, like a stubborn vine, suddenly popped out from the corner of the screen!
[Looking for a job? Come to Teiai Direct Hire! Looking for part-time work? Come to Teiai Direct Hire!]
[Do you want a job? Through sickness and health! Through poverty and wealth!]
[Even if you are a dropout student! An indebted scumbag!]
[Here, we can provide you with the job you desire!]
[Supreme bliss! Overwhelming supreme bliss!]
[The key to future supreme bliss is at Teiai Direct Hire!]
[Tei (Imperial) - Ai (love) — Group ~!]
Exaggerated, highly saturated colors, constantly flashing and jumping fonts, accompanied by an extremely catchy and cheap electronic synthesized background music (even muted, its presence could be felt from the visuals), formed an abstract yet highly impactful advertising image.
Nyamu's thumb hovered over the small "×" close button, but she didn't press it.
It wasn't because she knew the trick of such rogue ads—if you clicked close, it wouldn't disappear; instead, it would instantly jump to the app store, forcibly stuffing her phone with a bunch of junk apps like "Teiai Finance," "Teiai Life," and "Teiai Supreme Bliss Life."
Rather, it was the words in the advertisement that precisely hooked her most urgent needs at that moment:
'Dropout student!'
'Desired job!'
"Let's try it…" The girl licked her somewhat dry lips, a glimmer of do-or-die determination flashing in her eyes.
"I'll trust this ad just once… It's a last resort!" She hardened her heart, her thumb falling not on the close button, but on the constantly replaying, brainwashing ad screen!
The catchy melody and even more frantic, flashing visuals instantly filled the entire screen.
[Ding—]
That faint electronic sound rang out again, once more easily drowned out by the "volume" of the advertisement.
But in Yuutenji Nyamu's perception, or rather, in her intuition which had become exceptionally sharp due to extreme desire, something seemed to have been triggered.
A translucent line of text, shimmering with a faint purple glow, appeared like an imprint in the corner of her retina, eerily overlapping with the noisy advertisement:
[Quest: 'Working Warrior, Working Soul!' (Accepted)]
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