The path to the truth: Male Reader X Naoto

Part 71

I worked on the model in the slow time universe, didn't quite finish it.

07/04

After school.

I'll spend some time with Naoki.

We went to the Chinese restaurant together.

"This place is pretty good huh? I usually eat here a lot because it's so close to our place, but for some reason I haven't eaten here recently." He said.

"Tired of the food?" I asked.

"Nah, I've been coming here since I was a kid, but for some reason I've never really gotten tired of it. The liquor store is pretty busy, but I can't do much to help. I mean, it's actually not our business that's busy. Most of the media has stopped coming around, but if there's nothing new to report on, sometimes they'll pop up. Lately the neighbours have been coming one after the other "poor thing", they'll sob. Even the lady from the neighbourhood association came. Funny how they never actually spoke to Sis before. Then they all tell me, "you need to live an admirable life for your sister's sake.". It's suffocating, I mean, what exactly is an "admirable life" anyway?" He asked.

"Making your parents happy?" I suggested.

"So, making my parents happy is living admirably. Hm, I guess I can see that. Oh, I'm sorry, I just seem to talk about odd things when I'm around you." He said.

I think Naoki is slowly opening up to me.

Hanged Man Social Link: Rank 2

"Anyway let's eat. Chinese food isn't good once it gets cold." He said. "Haha, the chef's glaring at us."

I went home after eating with Naoki.

Evening.

I decided to spend the evening finishing the model, it's done! The MF-06S Brahman. I'll show it to the man at the model shop tomorrow.

07/05

He was really happy and actually brought to tears when I showed him the finished model. I completed the request. He offered to sell me more models if I stoped by the shop at night.

Anyways with that out of the way, I should go to soccer practice.

"Alright we've got a game today! So don't hold back!" A player said.

Yu and the others did their best, and Yu showed off the skills he got from all the practice.

"Whoah!" Daisuke said.

"Nice! Get the ball to Yu if he's open!" Another player said.

After the game.

"That was crazy Yu! I didn't know you could hustle like that! With him on the team, we might have a shot at next year's tournament. Man, I'm so glad you came along."

Later at the Chinese Diner.

Daisuke, Kou and Yu invited me to come with, since I did help out quite a bit with Yu's training.

"That's awesome! So the training paid off, huh?" Kou asked.

"You should've seen the looks on their faces. Now he won't get stuck with all the grunt work, he's one of the team!" Daisuke said.

"Nice. So am I free now? It's hard work polishing balls after a full day of b-ball practice." Kou said

"Yeah, thanks for helping out, Kou." Daisuke said.

"It's not like I did it for you! Still, Yu, I'm glad it all worked out!" Kou said.

"I'm just getting started." Yu said.

"Hey, you sound pretty confident. Maybe I should leave the team to you, huh?" Daisuke said.

"Well I say we should celebrate. One extra order of mapo rice, please! Yu, yours is on me." Kou said.

Our bond has grown a little, not sure what I contributed but hey.

Strength Social Link:  Rank 5

"I'll have the pepper steak, hold the green peppers." Daisuke said.

"Hold the peppers? After that all you got is the meat dude. If that's all you want, why don't you order this?" Kou said.

The four of us had a good time talking about food.

Evening.

I'll go see Shu.

We took a break after tutoring.

"Um, thank you very much for what you did last time. My suspension wasn't very long, having everyone staring at me hurt though. It's my own fault, I need to change. Mom bought me a cake, for my birthday. She said "I lose my temper and said terrible things to you, but I didn't mean any of it." "I'll always be proud of you dear." That's what she said. I also told her, why I cheated. About what I was thinking, about the transfer student, about not wanting her to hate me. Then, she said, "let's start over." "Let's start over, as a family." I always thought a family that is something that is already "there", that it's something "finished". But it looks like you can try to start it over again. I wasn't paying attention to mom this whole time. I thought that if I wasn't the best, she'd look down on me. Because of that, I must have thought that I needed to be number one in order to be loved. But that wasn't true, it didn't matter, she loved me this whole time. I have to thank you, and your friends too. Thank you for recognizing "me", I wouldn't have been able to talk to mom if you hadn't." He said.

"I'm proud of you." I said.

"Thank you. About this-" he said as he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. He gave me his test results. "I got this for getting the best score in a mock exam a while ago. I thought that this, was my only bond with mom. But, it wasn't something that I can see. So please, take it away, until I can laugh at how I thought about myself. I cheated on a test, I got suspended, my permanent record must be a wreck. I've gone right off the trails leading into a good college and a good company. But I can see now, that I don't have to be on that straight and narrow path. If I'd stayed on that rail, not thinking, not seeing anything except what was right in front of me, my life would've been empty. I'm going to think about my life and set my own path. I feel like, my life is just beginning. Not because I'm young, because I just realized that."

He laughed embarrassed. Him and I have a tight bond now.

Thou Art I, and I am Thou
Thou hast established a genuine bond

These genuine bonds, shall be your eyes to see the truth

We bestow upon thee, the full power of the Tower Arcana, and. the ability to turn into Shiva, the Ultimate form of the Tower Arcana.

Tower Social Link: Max

I received the Tower Shard of the Arcana Manifesto.

I have forged a bond that cannot be broken.

"I have a favour to ask of you. Starting today, I want to stop, tutoring I mean. I was thinking of joining a club, ummm, th-the baseball team. I've never played baseball before, but I've always wanted to. I don't really know the rules though. I only had my studies, I had to be number one, that's what I thought all this time. But if I think that, then I'll never have anything. So I want to try a bunch of things. I'm sorry, but please let me quit. We can play baseball together sometime, though." He said.

"We can throw a ball around sure, but I won't be doing much running." I said.

I spent my last session as a tutor talking with Shu. I'm glad I took this job. I really don't want to think about what would've happened to this kid if I didn't.