Near Ikebukuro Station in Nerima Ward, inside a newly renovated bookstore—
"Thank you very much for everything."
With a polite 30-degree bow, Luo Shu bid farewell to the store manager and officially resigned from his part-time job at the bookstore.
Once he stepped out onto the street, he tugged at his collar and exhaled deeply. "Phew… good thing the manager was understanding. If she'd been short-tempered, I'd have definitely gotten an earful for quitting on such short notice."
In Japan, quitting a job wasn't something you did lightly. You were supposed to give formal notice, usually a week in advance, because schedules were planned accordingly. If you bailed without notice, it meant someone else had to take on your shift last minute. And Luo Shu, who was due to start working at Lyco in just two days, definitely didn't have time to give advance warning. Which was why he was so grateful to the manager—after all, she would be the one covering his remaining shifts.
She didn't complain, didn't scold him harshly, and now Luo Shu felt genuinely guilty for the trouble.
"These past few days really have been a rollercoaster. Nothing has gone according to plan... but whatever, I should focus on more immediate things. Like dinner. It's already almost 8:30."
Shaking his head, Luo Shu looked around and walked into a ramen shop he frequented. At the ordering machine, he quickly inserted a 1000 yen bill, ordered a large bowl of tonkotsu ramen for 950 yen, collected his change and the meal ticket, and took a seat at the counter.
He handed his ticket to the ramen chef, accepted a towel to wipe his hands, and sat quietly to wait for his food.
Since the bookstore where he worked was nearby, this ramen shop had become a regular stop. The chef here used fresh ingredients from his own family's shop, and Luo Shu had even seen the owner boiling pork bones out back when he was standing duty at the bookstore. It was the kind of place you could eat with peace of mind.
Of course, if he recalled correctly, the previous Luo Shu also liked this place for another reason: the massively popular idol, Ai Hoshino, was rumored to disguise herself and visit with her manager from time to time. The chance of a celebrity encounter had certainly helped explain the past Luo Shu's frequent visits.
But for this Luo Shu, the ramen shop had become more of a "soundproof chamber"—a place to reset his mood and think seriously.
While the two Luo Shus only differed by the awakening of past-life memories, those memories brought with them different attitudes, a natural consequence of different "experience."
"The bookstore's public-use bike is still at Utaha Kasumigaoka's place. I'll have to pick it up before school tomorrow."
"And although the manager said she'd still pay me for the last few days of work, I feel kind of bad about it since she had to cover all my shifts. When I get the money, I should probably buy her something nice and stop by to say thanks properly."
Thanks to Mika having deposited 500,000 yen into his account as an advance, Luo Shu wasn't particularly worried about finances. He could definitely afford to buy a decent gift.
"Speaking of which, the apartment Mika mentioned... My 'parents' had left a deposit with the rental agency that's valid for another year. If I cancel the lease early, those smiling real estate sharks are not going to let me off easy."
"Should I ask Mika to help with some backdoor channels? …Forget it. Even if I'm only a half-baked deity, I still have some pride. Besides, there's a part of me that can't bring myself to just abandon that apartment."
After thinking it through, Luo Shu decided not to move out this year. The place he was renting now was high-end and carried emotional significance—it was the first "home" his late parents had rented after coming to Japan. Sentimental value aside, it felt like the last tangible connection to them.
Even though, to the system, this reincarnation technically meant a total reboot—DNA and all—those two had still raised him. To sever that last connection felt wrong.
"Maybe I should just buy the place someday. Even if I don't stay there forever, it'd be nice to have something left to remember them by."
As for whether the landlord would actually sell, or if he'd even have the funds to buy a 120-square-meter luxury apartment near Ikebukuro within the next year… Luo Shu had a rough idea.
What was the price again? 52 million yen, around 3.12 million in Chinese yuan. If he didn't spend a single cent, he could afford it in… seven and a half years.
Wait, seven and a half years?! Guess he'd need to extend the lease until he could buy it—or pull off one big payday to fast-track the whole thing.
"Tch… I'll ask Mika the day after tomorrow if there's any high-paying gigs. Being a government agent should come with some juicy side missions, right?"
As he thought this, he remembered something Mika had said earlier—about Chisato Nishikigi enrolling at Toyosaki Academy.
"Hold on, Chisato's transferring to Toyosaki too? I really need to give Utaha and Eriri a heads-up. Wouldn't want to wake up one morning to an Asahi headline reading 'SDS Agent Chisato Nishikigi Exposes Cult Activity at Toyosaki.' Now that would be something."
The image of himself in handcuffs making the evening news flashed through his mind, and Luo Shu couldn't help but laugh bitterly.
He'd thought the school was the perfect front—safe, ordinary, under the radar. And then a couple of agents showed up. Worst part? He was the one who brought them in.
"Goddamn… is this what they mean by 'you're the one who led the enemy in'?"
The irony of his situation made him chuckle to himself. But in all seriousness, back when Mika asked, there hadn't been a solid reason to turn her down—not without blowing the whole operation.
"Anyway, aside from these daily headaches…"
Luo Shu opened his system interface and glanced at the latest notifications.
[Joined Official Organization: SDS. Reward: 3000 points. Monthly Point Income increased to 1000 points.]
"Alright, 3000 points isn't bad. But the monthly bonus jumped by 600. Is that because my personal influence level increased?"
[Answer: Correct. Host's influence has risen due to joining the SDS, resulting in a permanent increase in monthly point income.]
As he read that, the chef passed over a steaming bowl of tonkotsu ramen. Luo Shu accepted it and continued thinking while slurping noodles.
"So basically, it's not just recruiting future heroines that boosts monthly point income. If I get stronger myself or change my status significantly, that also boosts it?"
[Answer: Correct.]
Looking at the system's response, Luo Shu chuckled. "So, you're basically telling me to go stir things up, make some headlines, and farm points off the chaos, huh?"
Still, stirring up trouble was one thing—wrapping it up cleanly and keeping his name out of it was another. He had to think carefully about how to walk that tightrope.
That reckless mindset of abusing the system just to create drama and farm points? He crushed that idea the moment it surfaced. Even something as small as Kirika Tachibana's wallet could end up dragging him into a pit—who knew how many abyssal artifacts in this world could lock onto him?
He had zero interest in waking up one day wearing striped prison clothes because he got too cocky.
"I Became a God Behind Bars" or "My Spiritual Enlightenment in a Modern-Day Jail Cell"? No thanks.
Finishing his meal and wiping his mouth, Luo Shu grabbed his bag and headed toward the subway. His apartment was about a five-to-six-minute walk from work—a luxury building near a major road, usually rented by business executives or elite professionals.
In Japan, it was common knowledge: the ultra-rich lived in villas, the wealthy in luxury apartments, and the rest in standalone homes. Thanks to his parents' former status as high-ranking professionals, Luo Shu got to live in one of the upscale ones.
Truth was, the previous Luo Shu had planned to move out during university—he couldn't afford the rent otherwise. Without his parents' support, he wouldn't have lasted long. The monthly rent alone was 200,000 yen, plus another 50,000 yen in maintenance and management fees.
And that 200,000 yen? It would've eaten up all the money wired from his hometown in a single shot.
But now? With SDS covering 500,000 yen in monthly salary, plus a 90% housing subsidy mentioned in the contract, the numbers looked a lot better.
That meant 200,000 yen in rent dropped to just 20,000, and with the 50,000 yen maintenance fee, the total came to 70,000. Now that was a deal.
Grinning at the sweet taste of government benefits, Luo Shu returned to his apartment and pressed his finger to the biometric glass door.
Beep.
The glass door slid open.
Just as he was about to step inside, someone suddenly grabbed his right hand.
A soft voice whispered in his ear, lowered and cautious—
"…Are you Luo Shu-kun? Please, I need you to not push me away right now."
That voice… it sounded familiar.
Wait, wasn't this his next-door neighbour?
Mira Tsubakihara?