'This thing is really real...' The thought was an incredulous echo in his mind.
His dark circles, deep and purple like bruises, contrasted violently with the pallor of his skin.
He looked like someone who had fought an epic battle against the demons of algebra.
Yet his gaze, from behind the lenses of his glasses, wasn't fixed on the teacher or the blackboard, but on an invisible, translucent window that only he could see.
The Perfection System, with its bluish interface and floating text, defied every law of physics and logic he knew.
And with that, the initial wonder was beginning to give way to a deep, rational unease.
'Why me? Out of the billions of people in the world...'
Shinka was an avid consumer of stories: manga, comics, the endless stream of superhero series and anime.
That culture had inoculated him with a question many protagonists seemed to ignore: what was the real price? The ultimate reason? In those narratives, powers sometimes came by chance, a lab accident, or an ancient artifact.
But this... this system clearly wasn't a creation of nature.
He could only think of two origins: the whim of a higher entity, or having won the most absurd cosmic lottery.
'What comes easy goes easy. At least, that's what they say.'
How could he be sure this window to perfection wouldn't slam shut suddenly?
The idea of getting used to that mental clarity, that exponential learning capacity, and then losing it...
It produced an icy void in the pit of his stomach.
'It would be like seeing the world in black and white again after having known color!'
He shuddered in his seat.
'If there really is a limit... I must make the most of every second.' He clenched the pen in his hand tightly, until his knuckles turned white.
He raised his eyes, his expression a mix of steely determination and contained anxiety, and found himself met by two pairs of mocking eyes.
"Wow, you really look terrible, Shinka. You look like a B-movie zombie," said Tomo, with his easygoing smile.
"W-W-WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT FOR?!" Shinka recoiled, startled, as if caught in a secret.
"Hey, seriously, what happened to you?" Tomo insisted, leaning over his desk.
"Hmm... It's not that... you 'played' too much with that last night, is it?" Hiro gestured obscenely with a raised eyebrow towards the lower region of Shinka's pants.
"W-WHAT?!" Shinka's face lit up like a traffic light.
He noticed, out of the corner of his eye, how a female classmate sitting behind them stood up and fled the classroom with red ears.
"HEY HIRO, WATCH WHAT YOU SAY! I'LL KILL YOU!" he shouted, transforming into a caricatured demon of fury, unleashing a flurry of weak but frantic punches on his friend's shoulder. "I was studying!"
An uncomfortable silence took hold of the group for a second.
Then, the explosion.
"BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Hiro doubled over with laughter, hitting the desk. "STUDYING?! Yeah right, buddy! And I lost my virginity yesterday!"
More hurried footsteps, this time from another group of girls, retreated down the hallway.
"Seriously, you should learn to control the volume of your voice," Shinka whispered with a sigh of resignation, sinking into his seat.
"Come on, tell us the truth. No filter," Tomo insisted playfully.
"It is the truth. I was just studying."
"Tsk, spill. We're men, we won't judge you," Hiro regained his breath, a cynical smile on his lips.
Shinka stood up with offended dignity, straightening the collar of his uniform shirt and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose in a gesture meant to convey superiority.
"Having a conversation with you two that surpasses the IQ of an amoeba is impossible," he declared, his face half-hidden by a dramatic shadow cast by his hair.
New silence.
"BWAHAHAHA!" "—'IQ of an amoeba'—" Hiro imitated him with a ridiculous nasal voice. "Come on, who do you think you are?! Light Yagami?"
"If I were Light Yagami, you two would have been my first entry in the notebook," Shinka grumbled.
"Ha. If you dropped a notebook that kills people, L wouldn't need to investigate you," Hiro nodded towards the janitor at the entrance, an older man practicing some strange movements with a broom, perhaps imagining himself as a martial arts master. "That guy would be enough to catch you."
"HEY, YOU IDIOT! ARE YOU CALLING ME STUPID?!" Shinka clenched his jaw. "Besides, of the three of us, the only one who's failed three math exams in a row is you. Your mom's going to set your console on fire when she finds out."
Hiro put his hands behind his head, adopting a carefree pose. "Nah. My family's going on vacation to Okinawa tomorrow. By the time they call home, my mom will be sunbathing on the beach, haha."
"Your whole family is leaving?" Tomo asked, more serious.
"Yeah. I'm staying alone. A week of glory."
"And your sister is going too?" Tomo inquired again.
"Hey, what are you implying?" Hiro frowned.
"Relax. I'm just thinking if your sister isn't there, you're going to starve to death. You don't even know how to fry an egg, you moron."
The statement fell like a bucket of cold water on Hiro.
"I may be a slacker," Shinka interjected, putting a hand on Hiro's shoulder that was understanding but with a hint of sarcasm. "But you're a slacker and useless."
"Come on, buddy. We can't let Hiro starve," Tomo offered with genuine warmth. "You can eat at my house whenever you want. The invitation is for you too, Shinka."
"Don't even think about it," Shinka hurried to say, paling at the memory. "The last time your mom saw me, she served me so much food I thought I'd burst. She's terrifying..."
Tomo shrugged. "It's your fault for looking like a noodle. My mom feels sorry for you."
Shinka looked at his own arms, thin under the shirt fabric. It was true. He had the build of someone who's been starved.
"Let's go get lunch," Hiro took the initiative, recovering. "If we keep talking about this, Shinka might evaporate. To the cafeteria."
As the three of them made their way, shoving and joking amongst the crowd of students, one last thought crossed Shinka's mind, now clearer and faster than ever thanks to the system: 'I wonder... can this system improve more than just my mind? Can it improve... my strength?'