"It seems you're all getting along well."
Returning to the Service Club, Hiratsuka Shizuka saw the harmonious (?) scene before her and a satisfied smile appeared on her face.
Hikigaya felt he had been degraded to a level not far above an insect. In what universe was this "getting along well"?
Mori Shinra tossed his empty paper cup into the trash can. Upon hearing Hiratsuka's words, he blinked.
It wasn't that he was surprised by her spouting nonsense with a straight face, but rather that he noticed the blue request was already completed?
No, not completed.
Looking at the prompt from his system, Shinra saw that Hiratsuka's request wasn't finished, but could be converted into another form.
It was probably like the daily quests set up in gacha games to maintain daily active users. The request entrusted to him by Hiratsuka, 'correct Hikigaya's twisted personality,' had been converted into a similar format.
However, the frequency wasn't as high as a daily quest. Instead, as long as Hikigaya participated in normal club activities and the changes he produced were satisfactory to Hiratsuka, it would generate one Wish Point.
Simply put, a one-time quest had been turned into a long-term, repeatable one.
Such a change was undoubtedly beneficial for Mori Shinra. While completing the blue request might have given a large number of Wish Points at once, it would at most not exceed 5 points. But after being converted into a long-term quest, the upper limit of the rewards was definitely more than 5 points.
For the current Shinra, he had time and energy, but was lacking in Wish Requests. A long-term request like this was perfectly aligned with his best interests.
So, without much hesitation, Shinra directly chose to convert it.
There were no special effects, just an added "Requests" tab on his system interface, which recorded the detailed information about the quest.
Shinra gave it a quick scan and discovered something interesting. The information recorded was indeed very detailed, perhaps even too detailed. It actually included some of Hikigaya's dark history from the past.
For example, being treated normally by a girl but mistaking it for affection, leading to a confession and a swift rejection; being rejected by his assigned partner for a handshake at a bonfire and subsequently dancing with the air; mistakenly thinking a girl was talking to him and striking up a conversation, causing the atmosphere to become awkward...
All of the above was just the tip of the iceberg of a certain boy named Hikigaya Hachiman's middle school life. After seeing all this, Shinra finally understood how this guy had developed his current personality.
Just reading those words made Shinra feel a bout of second-hand embarrassment coming on. To have experienced it personally...
Hikigaya, you are truly strong!
Besides marveling at Hikigaya's tenacious life force and resilient character, Shinra also realized the wonderful use of the "Requests" tab. This was another powerful ability, almost on par with, or even surpassing, Emotion Perception.
What is most important in modern society? Money? Power? In Shinra's view, in this era of rapid information development, the future belongs to the integrators of information.
The information provided by the "Requests" tab might not seem like much now—just a high school student's dark history. But as Shinra grows and comes into contact with more and more people, the request information obtained from them alone would be enough for him to navigate the world with ease.
Now, one really couldn't underestimate Mori Shinra's intelligence network.
And compared to Hikigaya Hachiman's information, Shinra was more interested in knowing Yukinoshita Yukino's. After all, how could a dead-fish-eyed boy compare to a beautiful girl, especially when this beautiful girl was also a rich young lady.
On a side note, after converting the quest, Shinra gained another 1 Wish Point.
"Getting along well in what way?" Hikigaya Hachiman, still unaware that his entire past had been laid bare for Shinra to see, directed a soul-questioning gaze at Hiratsuka.
"They didn't kick you out. Isn't that getting along well enough? It's already a record-breaking achievement," Hiratsuka said as if it were a matter of course.
"That's true... is it?" Hikigaya Hachiman was having a hard time processing this. Not getting kicked out already counts as getting along well?
So just how much of a social outcast was he in Hiratsuka's eyes?
Hiratsuka sneered. Don't you have any idea how much of an outcast you are? Since his first year, she had never seen him chat with anyone else. Even in P.E. class, he would always team up with the other person who was left over. If someone was on sick leave that day, he would even have to practice by himself during class.
He was practically the lone star of heavenly doom on campus. Being accepted by the Service Club was already a historic step forward.
Of course, Hiratsuka also knew that Hikigaya was actually a good kid. The reason he had become this way was more due to his personality. As long as the right medicine was prescribed, this guy still had a promising future.
"Please continue to take good care of this guy from now on. Of course, if he causes you any trouble, feel free to come find me."
And just like that, Hikigaya joined the Service Club.
When club activities ended, Hikigaya was the first to flee the room, as if something indescribable was chasing him from behind.
Shinra also put his phone in his pocket, picked up his school bag which he hadn't even opened, and was about to leave when Yukinoshita called out to him.
"Wait."
Shinra stopped and turned to look at Yukinoshita, a little puzzled. Although the golden request on her was very tempting, he had something more important to do right now—make a Wish.
According to his habits from playing gacha games in the past, he would usually save up his pulls until he had enough for the pity rate. If he didn't, and he didn't get the character he wanted, he would likely resort to using a save editor, which was a huge waste of time and effort.
But the Wish system was different. It was a case of 'the sooner you pull, the sooner you enjoy.' Even if he didn't get an ability, the spirit and constitution points he received would still be an improvement. Therefore, there was absolutely no reason to save up.
However, even though he had no intention of saving, he wasn't about to do the pull in the Service Club activity room, in front of so many people.
What if the constitution or spirit points he pulled had some kind of "clothes-exploding" side effect during the stat increase? He would probably have to transfer schools.
"Can we walk home together later?" Yukinoshita asked.
Hearing her words, Shinra showed a surprised expression. He clearly hadn't expected her to suddenly invite him to walk home together.
In fact, although they lived very close, even as upstairs and downstairs neighbors, after the Service Club activities ended, Shinra and Yukinoshita would still go their separate ways. To avoid any misunderstandings, Shinra would even deliberately walk slower, which was convenient as his leg hadn't fully healed yet.
For her to suddenly invite him to walk together now, it obviously wasn't one of the three great delusions of life, 'she likes me.' It was more likely that she had something she wanted to talk to him about.
Since it wouldn't delay him from going home to do his pull, Shinra naturally had no reason to refuse. As a bonus, he could also try to see if he could trigger Yukinoshita's Wish Request.
Thinking of this, Shinra smiled and gave his answer.
"Sure."