Rain was sitting lazily at an outdoor café table together with Clytie and Shion, one leg crossed over the other while his chin rested against one hand. With the cool breeze slightly moving his hair and the cola glass in his other hand, he somehow looked annoyingly cool without even trying.
"Ice cola really hits different…" Rain muttered lazily while taking another sip, his eyes barely half-open like he was moments away from sleeping right there.
Meanwhile, Clytie suddenly leaned slightly closer from across the table.
"You should try this," she said softly while holding out a small blueberry tart toward him. The fresh blueberries on top glistened beautifully under the sunlight, making it look surprisingly appetizing.
"No thanks, I'm still drinking my drink," Rain said lazily with a deadpan face while taking another sip from his ice cola.
Still—
'…But that actually looks pretty delicious.'
His eyes unconsciously drifted toward the blueberry tart for a brief second. Of course he wanted to try it, but unfortunately he was already full for now.
As Rain continued casually sipping his cola, his gaze slowly shifted toward the floating screen only visible to him.
[2/4 Friends]
[Time — 5 Days Remaining]
'Progress is going unexpectedly smooth…' Rain thought while leaning deeper into his chair comfortably. Honestly, compared to all the nonsense and suffering he originally expected from this mission, things were somehow moving far easier than planned.
"Okay then, next time for sure!" Clytie said brightly before happily eating the blueberry tart herself.
Rain lazily waved one hand without even properly listening anymore.
"Yeah, yeah… whatever you say."
Meanwhile across the table, Shion silently watched the interaction with a complicated expression on his face.
'…Why does this somehow feel like I'm third-wheeling?'
"And why do I feel like those two suddenly got closer…?" Shion suspiciously murmured while narrowing his eyes slightly at Rain and Clytie.
Then he quickly shook his head afterward.
'No no… I'm definitely overthinking this. Yeah. Just my imagination.'
[Hubby, I wanna drink some too!] With a puffed pouty face.
Rain blinked slightly.
"Can you even drink or eat?" he murmured quietly with doubt on his face. After all, she was basically just a floating system screen only visible to him.
[Of course I can! Just imagine teleporting the drink into the screen while holding it!] she replied confidently while proudly puffing out her chest.
"Hm… let me try then," Rain muttered curiously.
As instructed, Rain lightly held the cola glass before focusing his thoughts on teleporting it toward the floating screen.
And then—
FWIP!
The cola instantly vanished from his hand completely.
At the same time, a tiny icon version of the drink suddenly appeared inside the floating screen.
Her eyes sparkled instantly.
[SLURP SLURP!]
[WAAAH! Cold! Sweet! Fizzy! So good!] she shouted excitedly while happily drinking the cola inside the screen with sparkling eyes.
Rain stared blankly at the now-empty air in his hand.
"…What the hell."
For some reason, watching a system girl casually drink his cola through a floating screen felt way more bizarre than fighting monsters earlier.
[...W-Wait… isn't this technically… an indirect kiss…?]
[EH!?] She suddenly froze mid-drink as her entire face turned bright red from embarrassment after finally realizing what she had just done. She immediately hugged the cola cup tightly while panicking internally.
Meanwhile, Rain also realized it a second later.
A sudden wave of regret hit him instantly.
'…I should've just bought another drink for her. Hahaha…'
An awkward smile slowly formed on his face while silently questioning how things somehow became weird this fast.
He let out a slow breath.
'I can think about that later…'
Pushing the awkward thoughts aside for now, his eyes once again drifted toward the floating screen.
[2/4 Friends]
"Two more to go…" he murmured quietly as a slow grin gradually appeared across his face.
'So… who should I target next?'
---
Knock! Knock!
Rain stood in front of the room beside his own while lightly knocking on the door. A few seconds later, the door slowly opened revealing Neona wearing an oversized T-shirt and short pants clearly meant for sleeping. Her giant breasts barely stayed contained beneath the thin fabric, with part of their shape still showing openly. Without a bra, her nipples poked visibly through the shirt. Her messy hair, sleepy eyes, and lazily twitching cat ears gave her the perfect just-woke-up look.
"Nya… who is it…?" she muttered sleepily while rubbing one eye softly.
Rain instantly coughed awkwardly before quickly looking the other way with a slightly red face.
"Cough— It's me."
His eyes kept deliberately avoiding looking directly at her.
'Why the hell am I the embarrassed one here? This is clearly her fault…'
Meanwhile Neona tilted her head in confusion while her tail slowly swayed behind her lazily, completely unaware why Rain suddenly started acting weird out of nowhere.
"What's your deal?" she asked bluntly while staring at Rain suspiciously.
A second later she awkwardly corrected herself with a nervous laugh, "Oops… I mean, do you need something? Haha…" after realizing what she had just said.
Meanwhile Rain silently looked at her confidently inwardly.
'Still trying to pretend huh… Sadly for you, I'm way better at acting than you are.'
A proud expression almost appeared on his face.
"You clothes…" Rain finally said while scratching his cheek awkwardly and still looking slightly away.
"What's wrong with them?" Neona asked in confusion while glancing down at herself.
Realization suddenly hit her.
Her sleepy face instantly froze completely.
"…Ah."
A bright blush rapidly spread across her face as both of her cat ears stood straight upward instantly in embarrassment. Her tail puffed up slightly behind her too.
Without wasting another second, she immediately grabbed the oversized shirt downward desperately while trying to cover herself better.
But it was no use.
It only tightened around her chest instead, her nipples poking more violently against the fabric, clearly visible through the clothing's stretched structure.
"D-Don't look so casually then, idiot!" she shouted with embarrassment while her face turned completely red.
Rain immediately looked away further.
"I WASN'T LOOKING!" he protested instantly.
'…Okay maybe I looked a little.'
As Rain accidentally glanced again for a brief second—
'Damn… huge!'
He immediately looked away again while barely holding back his nosebleed.
[Mine are way bigger and better than hers! Hmph!] she whispered with a small pout and slightly angry face after noticing his reaction.
'…Really?'
For a brief moment, Rain unconsciously imagined it inside his head.
Then he instantly shook his head hard.
'Nope… not thinking about that. Absolutely not.'
Neona quickly rushed back inside for a second before returning while hurriedly wearing a jacket over herself.
Rain blinked slightly seeing how absurdly fast she changed.
'…That was surprisingly quick.'
He was genuinely a little impressed by her speed.
"Come on, say it now~" Neona said cutely while tilting her head slightly, her cat ears twitching playfully.
Rain felt a faint chill run across his body again.
'Her acting seriously gives me goosebumps…'
Though thankfully—
It was still nowhere near the kind of goosebumps Rain feared the most.
Rain revealed a scheming smile as he finally got to the main point.
"Here's the offer," he said while bringing out two bags completely filled with healthy chocolate bars. "I'll give you all of this in return for doing just one thing for me."
The moment Neona's eyes landed on the bags—
Her pupils practically sparkled.
'Chocolate bars…!'
Her cat ears instantly stood upright in excitement while her tail started swaying rapidly behind her unconsciously.
Meanwhile Rain looked at her reaction with satisfaction.
'Kekeke… I knew she'd take the bait.'
Just as Neona immediately tried reaching for the bags greedily, Rain smoothly moved them aside before she could grab them.
Neona instantly froze.
Then slowly narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"…What exactly do I have to do?" she asked cautiously now while staring directly at Rain like he was some suspicious black-market scammer.
"Nothing much," Rain said while making a casual puckered face. "Just say 'yes' to whatever I ask you later."
Neona instantly froze.
'…Wait a second.'
Her expression slowly became more horrified the more she thought about it.
'D-Don't tell me… this guy is trying to do some weird pervy stuff with me!?'
A visibly worried and dizzy-looking expression appeared on her.
Meanwhile Rain instantly noticed the nonsense going on inside her head.
He looked at her with an annoyed deadpan expression.
"Hold your horses already. I'm literally telling you in advance it's NOT some pervy thing."
The moment those words left his mouth—
Neona instantly switched expressions completely.
"Then it's a deal!" she declared without hesitation while immediately snatching the bags away and giving a proud thumbs up.
Her eyes practically sparkled greedily while staring at the chocolate bars inside. She even licked her lips slightly like a starving beast finally finding treasure.
Rain stared at her blankly.
'…Her standards and trust issues are both seriously weird.'
"We can start now," Rain said with a bright scheming smile on his face.
"Here. Are we friends?"
"…?"
Neona's brain instantly stopped functioning for a moment. Birds practically seemed to fly around inside her empty head.
'…That's it?'
'This many chocolate bars… just for becoming friends!?'
Her cat ears twitched in disbelief while staring at Rain like he was some mysterious species she completely failed to understand.
'Is he rich… or just a total idiot?' she wondered seriously.
In reality neither was the case for Rain. These healthy chocolate bars were basically trash-tier items to him, useless spam rewards he kept obtaining nonstop because of his horrible luck. So for him this was actually the perfect deal — getting rid of junk while advancing his mission at the same time.
One shot. Two targets.
Absolutely efficient.
She said hesitantly, "Y-Yes…"
Rain immediately looked toward the floating screen with expectation.
[2/4 Friends]
'…Still not?'
Then he looked back at Neona seriously again.
"I ask again."
Neona blinked in confusion.
"…Yes?"
Rain instantly looked toward the screen again.
[2/4 Friends]
"Ahem— let's try this one more time."
Rain pointed dramatically at her like some desperate salesman refusing to give up.
"Neona. Are. We. Friends?"
She stared at him blankly for several seconds before answering slowly like she was talking to a mental patient.
"…Yeeees?"
'Whats his deal?'
Rain instantly whipped his head back toward the screen again so fast his neck almost snapped.
[2/4 Friends]
'…YOU LYING PIECE OF—' Rain almost cursed out loud before forcefully calming himself down.
This entire nightmare somehow continued for more than an hour.
Rain kept repeatedly asking the exact same question again and again with terrifying persistence while Neona kept answering with her soul slowly leaving her body little by little.
Rain asked once again like a man who would never give up no matter what happened.
"Neona, are we friends!?" he said full of energy while staring at her intensely.
Neona's face twitched violently. Her cat ears stood upright in pure irritation while both her fists clenched tightly.
"Haha…! Ofcourse… WE are friends…" she answered with an awkward laugh that sounded more painful than cheerful.
'SO PLEASE JUST LEAVE ME ALONE ALREADY!'
At this point she genuinely felt like crying. After repeating the same thing so many times, her throat was already starting to hurt and she barely could speak anymore.
[3/4 Friends]
The moment Rain saw the number finally change, his happiness instantly reached the peak.
"Now THAT is somthing eye-soothing…" he muttered emotionally with relief visible all over his face before instantly turning around and leaving like a man finally freed from eternal suffering.
Neona stood there blankly.
"…?"
A few seconds later her brain finally processed what just happened.
"…WHAT DO YOU MEAN EYE-SOOTHING!?"
Her cat ears instantly stood upright furiously while her tail puffed up in rage.
"Was this guy seriously here just to harass me this entire time!?"
She pointed dramatically toward Rain's disappearing back with trembling fingers.
"I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS, RAIN!"
Then her attention slowly shifted toward the chocolate bags beside her. She quietly unwrapped one chocolate bar before tossing it directly into her mouth.
"Munch munch…"
Her angry puffed cheeks slowly relaxed.
"…Not bad."
Her cat ears twitched happily again while most of her anger disappeared almost instantly.