Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Ei-chan! Hurry up!"

Eijun peeked out the door and yelled back, "OKAY! I AM!"

The young boy sped up his movement after that. He snatched his bag and put on his shoes, not even bothered to tie them up.

"I'M GOING NOW, GRAMPS! MOM! DAD!"

"DON'T YELL SO LOUD, EIJUN!" Shouted Eitoku while holding up his rolled up newspaper.

"Enjoy your first day of middle school, Ei-chan!"

"I'M NOT THAT LOUD, OLD MAN! And, I will, Mom! BYE!"

The moment Eijun stepped out the house, it rang with silence. Chisa chuckled, "He sure is loud."

"That's what I'm saying!"

Well, not that you're any different, father-in-law. Chisa chuckled once again before she got up from the dining table.

—

Eijun gobbled up the melon bread in his hand. Nobu who sat in front of him stared in disgust, "Calm down, Ei. No one's gonna take it away from you."

"HE WILL!" Eijun glared at the drooling Yuuichi who was eyeing at his bread.

Yuuichi finally took off his eyes when Eijun finished it and whined, "Ugh, that's the last one canteen oba-san have in stock. I wanted to have a melon pan for lunch..."

"Not my problem. You're too slow!"

"How is it even out of stock?! It's first day of school! And our school doesn't even have that much student! I'm hungry..."

Eijun contemplated a bit before handing out half of his red bean filled bread to Yuuichi, "Here, then. Have half."

"I want melon. Not red bean."

"DAMN IT!" Eijun shoved the bread into Yuuichi's mouth, "Be grateful that this Sawamura Eijun is willing to share with y-"

DING

Eijun paused, about to ask what was that sound, when a bright light shone on his face. He winced a bit.

"Ei. What's wrong?"

「 Host found. 」

Eijun stared at the bright blue floating screen in front of him. Rubbed his eyes multiple times before turning to his friends, "Guys, what is this?"

Wakana glanced at the direction Eijun was pointing at, "What is what?"

「 System 637 will be at your service. You have been chosen to be the main host for the event "Diamond of Ace", you are on the path to becoming the finest baseball player there is! Here is your player's profile. 」

"This thing!" Eijun pointed stronger at the screen as if it would make a difference.

Akio tilted his head at what was at the end of Eijun's finger, "Nobu?"

"Hey! I'm not a 'thing'!"

"No! This, blue... Board? Screen?"

Wakana sighed and shakes her head, "He's hopeless."

「 To finish the event, you need to finish the main mission given to you. 」

「 Main Mission – Become the ace and lead your team to victory.

     Time limit : 2189 D 23 H 59 Min 02 Sec
     Reward : One wish of yours will be granted.
     Penalty : Death. 」

"WHAT?!"

"Ei-chan! Don't shout!"

"I'M GONNA DIE?!?!"

His 'new' classmates which all consisted of the neighbourhood kids, just ignored Eijun's scream. They're too used to his obnoxious silly antics.

—

Eijun sat crosslegged on his bed,  g̶l̶a̶r̶e̶d̶ stared at the screen. Not far long after the main mission screen. Another one popped out.

「 Daily Mission – Let's work on your physical stats!

     Run 0 km / 10 km
     Push-up 0 / 100
     Sit-up 0 / 100
     Pull-up 0 / 100
     Squat 0 / 50
     Plank 0 min / 10 min

     Time remaining : 17 H 12 Min 14 Sec
     Reward : All stats +0.2 level
     ! Failing to complete will resulted in a penalty. 」

He was still unable to process what happened. The time limit on the other one was more than two thousand days. That's at least more than 5 years from now. Still, the thought that he could die in 5? 6? years is haunting. But he could ignore it for the moment. This one though... Eijun got all of these during lunch break and the current time was 7pm. 17 hours left. Could he even do all of these things? If he didn't complete it, he would get a penalty? What was the penalty? What was this all even about? Was this even true? Was he just halucinating?

"Ei-chan! Come down and have dinner!"

His mom's call broke him out of his thoughts. Eijun shouted, "Screen close!" and gone the screen. It was something that he found out while messing around earlier at school.

Eijun jumped off the bed and ran downstairs, "I'm coming down, Mom!"

"Stop being so rowdy! The house will crumble down with the way you stomped down the stairs."

A handchop was delivered to Eijun's backhead as soon as he sat down. He hissed, "There's no way that would happen, Gramps!"

"You two are energetic as always." Eiji laughed fondly. "Anyway, how's junior high for you, Eijun?"

"Well, we only did introductions today. Which kinda useless because we all already know each other." Told Eijun.

"Oh, yeah. I guess that how it is when you live in a small town. I remember being in the same classroom with like 10 people all through elementary to high school." Chisa added.

Eventually they all drowned in conversations with occasional clatter of the cutlery. And Eijun, sweet short minded little boy, slowly forget about his impending doom.

—

As soon as the bell rang, Eijun shot up from his seat, scrambling to get out of the class.

"Where are you going, Ei-chan? I thought you brought a bento?"

"I need to go to the toilet!"

Without looking back, he ran for it. Not without bumping a few students on the hallway. Eijun sighed in relief while doing his business. Humming down a song he heard on TV when washing his hands.

DING

"Oh, crap. I forgot about this."

Eijun looked at what he expected to be a blue screen, instead it was blaring red.

「 You have failed to complete your daily missions. Penalty initiation. 」

"Wha-"

BZZT

Before even finishing his words, Eijun felt electricity shot through his whole body. Eyes almost bulging out, throat tightening up not letting anything out or in, Eijun grasped his chest painfully. With all of his might he let out a scream.

"ARGH! H-HELP!"

「 It's useless. When you are receiving a penalty, you are in a different time and space with anyone from this world. No one will come to help you, host. 」

Eijun glared at the almost mockingly bright screen.

「 I would suggest completing your mission in a timely manner. 」

"FUCK! YOU!" Spat out Eijun with difficulty.

WHEN WILL THIS END?!

「 20 seconds has passed. 40 seconds left. 」

It's not even half a minute yet?!

Time passed. Eijun could feel his consciousness leaving him slowly when suddenly all the electricity that struck him inside out, for what feels like an excruciatingly long amount of time, dissappeared in a second. Eijun gasped for air, coughing. His hand trembled. Because of the pain and a realization.

The realization that this whole thing was real.

And he would die if he didn't complete it.

Chapter Text

All of his classmates glanced at each other. Every seconds or so they looked at him. Eijun was aware of that. After he came back, his body slumped, his face paled, and what's more, he was quiet.

The Sawamura Eijun? Quiet? The world must be ending.

Shouta who sat next to him rubbed his shoulder gently, "Ei-chan, are you okay?"

"I'm okay, Shou-kun. Thanks for asking." Answered Eijun with a smile. A smile so painfully obvious that it was fake.

"Are you sure, Ei?" Nobu asked him again to confirm.

"Yep."

Yeah right... The whole class collectively thought.

Eijun zoned out through the rest of the school. By the time he realized, he was at home. He couldn't be bothered. All of this system thing happened so suddenly. His fist clenched tight. Why him? He doesn't even asked for this.

「 Look at your attribute. 」

"What?"

「 Your attribute. Look at it. 」

Eijun sighed, not wanting to challenge this higher being who is capable of doing– He shuddered at the thought of the penalty.

"Profile, open."

「 Sawamura Eijun
     Age : 12
     Position : Not decided
     Level : Novice
     Title : None
     Attribute : Born to be Ace (Legendary)

     Personal Skill(s) : None
     Overall Stats : [Stamina Lv. 8], [Strength Lv. 5], [Agility Lv. 2]
     (Not decided) stats : – 」

"Born to be ace?"

「 Yes. Your fate is written in a gold string. You are the most suitable person– no. No other person can do this except you. 」

The boy scoffed, "Fate. Who decided that? God?"

「 Something like that. 」

"I didn't know God's fate is so weak that they have to threatened me with death for it."

DING

BZZT

The screen turned red with sparks bouncing around it. Eijun cowered at the sight of it.

「 Please refrain on commenting negatively on them. 」

"I-I will."

「 Good. 」

The screen turn back to blue.

「 Now that you know the penalty, you need to do your missions. 」

Eijun narrowed his eyes, "There is no way I could finish all of those thing!"

「 Well. You have to. Unless you want to receive a penalty. 」

For the nth time, Eijun shuddered. He can still feel the pain on his body even hours after the penalty. The fact that it only went on for one minutes was incomprehensible for Eijun. It felt way longer than that. It was torturing to say the least.

「 ..st. 」

The way his body convulsed. The way his throat tightened up to the point that even letting out a scream is painful. The way his breath quicken up. The way his consciousness slowly fading away–

「 Host! 」

"Y-yes! I'm sorry." Whimpered Eijun. The system was quiet after that. That silence made Eijun even more terrified. What– Why is it quiet? Is it planning to do something?

「 Host. Are you scared of me? 」

Sc-scared? Ha. Eijun was the most cowardless one out of the kids in the neighborhood. He could get out at night alone without even thinking about ghost. He could went into the woods without worrying whether a bear is going to eat him or not. He could talk with stranger without getting scared of getting kidnapped because he had his gramps special technique. He's never scared. Never.

But glimpses of sparks and red screen appeared on his eyes, "I-I'm–"

「 Host, please do know this one thing. I will never ever hurt you. 」

"BUT YOU DID!"

"Ei-chan? Is everything okay?"

Eijun freezed, "Yeah! Everything's fine, Mom!"

「 That is because you didn't complete the mission. Other than the penalty, I will do my outmost best to be of help for you. 」

Eijun was quiet. Not believing a single word. The system also was quiet again for a while.

「 Here. How about this. 」

The screen glitched. Eijun tensed up at the sight. When the glitches stopped, a little being came out from it. Eijun's eyes lightened up.

"EH?! PAWAPURO-KUN?!"

「 Yep. You can call me that, then. 」

Eijun's eyes sparkled even more. He reached out his hand slowly, when Pawapuro didn't move away, Eijun pat him on the head.

"Wow!"

Eijun took off his hat, his bat, his glove, and searched every nook and cranny of him.

「 That should be enough or I'll need to report you for harassment. 」

"Oops. Sorry!"

「 Are you still scared of me now, host? 」

Eijun looked at him in the eyes, "No! I like Pawapuro-kun!"

The system was quiet again.

"Pawapuro-kun?"

「 Cough. Ah. Yes. You still need to complete your daily missions. I will still have to give you a penalty if you don't complete it. 」

"Will you come with me?!"

「 Of course, host. I could only stay within your radius anyway. 」

"ALRIGHT! Daily missions, open!"

「 Daily Mission – Let's work on your physical stats!

     Run 0 km / 10 km
     Push-up 0 / 100
     Sit-up 0 / 100
     Pull-up 0 / 100
     Squat 0 / 50
     Plank 0 min / 10 min

     Time remaining : 18 H 01 Min 02 Sec
     Reward : All stats +0.2 level
     ! Failing to complete will resulted in a penalty. 」

All of Eijun's excitement almost gone when he looked at the things he had to do, "Won't I die if I did all of this?"

「 No, you won't, Host. Our system will protect you from any fatality other than failing the main mission. 」

Eijun was only saying it figuratively, so he gulped nervously at the mention of his actual possible death. At the end, he steeled his heart.

"AH WHATEVER! WHY DO I THINK ABOUT IT SO MUCH! I NEVER THINK THAT MUCH ANYWAYS!  LET'S DO THIS!!!"

"Ei-chan! Stop screaming and come down! Let's eat dinner!"

"Okay!"

Eijun sat himself on the chair. Face visibly a lot better. All the adults exchanged glances before smiling fondly. When Eijun got home without his typical announcement, it was already very odd. But then he went straight to his room without talking to anyone. Chisa almost called the police because she thought that her son got swapped or something.

Eitoku slapped Eijun's back, "I can hear you screaming all the way down here, Eijun! What, are you playing that game again? What's the name? Papaparo?"

"It's Pawapuro, Gramps! Power Pros!"

Chisa smiled softly, "Well, it's fine to play games. But don't play too much of it, okay?"

"Okay, Mom!"

Chisa elbowed Eiji. He nodded, "Well, Eijun, did anything happen at school?"

Eijun's eyes lost focus for a few seconds, which made the three of them alerted, "Well... Something did happen. But I don't really mind it that much now." Eijun blinded them with his smile.

"It's good to hear that. But if you want to talk about it to us, you are welcome anytime, Ei-chan." Chisa reached out from the other side of the table to rub Eijun's hand.

"I could tell you. But, I don't think I can say it now."

Eitoke raised his eyebrows, "Ha? Why is that?"

"It's something that happened in the toilet, you see."

The table was silence.

"This Sawamura Eijun– Ouch! That hurts like hell, Gramps!" Eijun rubbed his head which fell to another victim of Eitoka's handchop.

"Shut it up, you brat! We're eating dinner!"

"But I thought you all wanted to know!"

Eiji parted them, "Okay okay. Let's finish dinner first and then talk about it. If you want, Eijun."

"Ah! After this, may I go play out?"

"Sure. Be sure to get back safely."

"YES, THIS HUMBLE BEING WILL ENSURE HIS OWN SAFETY AND COME BACK IN ONE PIECE!!!"

"TONE IT DOWN!"

BONK

"UGH!"

—

After dinner, Eijun hurriedly got out of the house as only 15 hours remaining on the ticking clock bomb. He and Pawapuro on his shoulder arrived at the park 10 minutes later.

"I'll go warm up first."

Pawapuro nodded and jumped off his shoulder. He fly and positioned himself in front of Eijun to monitored him.

「 Didn't take you to be that type of kid. 」

"What type of kid?"

「 You know, spouting white lies to make your family at ease. 」

"Well, ugh–" Eijun paused to groaned when he stretched to touched his toes, "I didn't do it that often. I suck at lying and it was technically not a lie."

「 Huh. By the way, you are really flexible. 」

"I am! Wanna see something freaky?"

Without waiting for the answer, Eijun fold his wrist then his elbow in a way that made Pawapuro winced.

「 Are you a human? 」

"I think you know the answer to that question better than me."

「 I know the answer to every questions better than you. 」

"Ugh! You're so annoying!" Shouted Eijun in frustation. "Let's start now! I'm warmed up enough. Daily missions, open!"

「 Daily Mission – Let's work on your physical stats!

     Run 0 km / 10 km
     Push-up 0 / 100
     Sit-up 0 / 100
     Pull-up 0 / 100
     Squat 0 / 50
     Plank 0 min / 10 min

     Time remaining : 15 H 28 Min 42 Sec
     Reward : All stats +0.2 level
     ! Failing to complete will resulted in a penalty. 」

"Where do I even start..."

「 You don't have to finish it one go. You can do it little by little. For example, you can do 1 minute planks and then rest or do the other one, and then you can do another 1 minute. 」

Eijun listened carefully, "Ooh. You're being helpful for once."

Pawapuro smiled tightly, is this the same person who is scared of me hours ago? Can I punch him a bit?

"Okay! I'm starting now!"

—

"AH! Gasp. Gasp." Eijun held himself up on a tree, "I can't. No way I'm gonna complete this."

「 You need water? 」

"Y-yes!" Answered Eijun eagerly. He watched as bunch of glitches appeared in front of him. He was too tired to even question what was happening in front of him. As soon as the water bottle materialized, he grabbed it hungrily.

「 Daily Mission – Let's work on your physical stats!

     Run 6.2 km / 10 km
     Push-up 100 / 100
     Sit-up 100 / 100
     Pull-up 100 / 100
     Squat 0 / 50
     Plank 4.3 min / 10 min

     Time remaining : 12 H 31 Min 12 Sec
     Reward : All stats +0.2 level
     ! Failing to complete will resulted in a penalty. 」

「 You did better than I expected. This much progress in 3 hours? You should be proud of yourself. 」

"I- I think I'm gonna die first. Hah. Before I can be proud of myself." At some point, Eijun splayed out on the ground.

"GAHH! I'M DYING!"

Eijun stared up at the starry sky, "What time is it now? 12?"

「 11.30 pm. 」

"Okay. I'll finish up my running and do the rest at my house. Mom would be worried if I didn't got back by midnight."

「 Wow. Such a good son. 」

"Is that a sarcasm?"

「 No. 」

Eijun rolled his eyes and tried to stand up. After 5 minutes of rest, he continued the run. He's not gonna lie. Something about running at night like this was relaxing. He doesn't have to worry about the sun and its heat. Don't get him wrong, he loved the sun. But sometimes he just wondered if he was roasting alive slowly. He is still dying of tiredness right now though. Eijun opened his daily missions to find that he only need to run one kilometer more.

"Let's go home now. Huft. I'll run there."

「 I was about to say. 」

"I said it first so it's my idea. Don't take my credit."

「 ... I wasn't trying to. 」

Eijun puffed his cheek a bit, glanced at the floating doll-sized being. God, he is annoying. He's not the actual Pawapuro-kun right? Oh no. What should he do if he hate the actual Pawapuro-kun because it reminded him of this shitty system?!

「 ... You know that I'm inside your brain, right? I can hear all your thoughts. 」

"What the hell?! Get out of there then, you peeping tom!"

「 I can't believe you only noticed it just now... If you want to die then. Sure, I'll get out. 」

Eijun stopped in his tracks. And so did Pawapuro. "What do you mean by that?"

「 The moment I attached to you, our lifeline tangled with each other's. So If I leave you, you will die. 」

Pawapuro's eyes closes menacingly. Even though it doesn't have mouth, Eijun swore he could see an evil smile attached on his face, "YOU PARASITE! It's you who made my destiny like this!"

「 Wait a minute, now. It also works vice versa. If you leave me, which in theory and practice mean you died. I will also cease from existing. So as I said before, host. I. Will. Do my best to help you. And you better do your job right. 」

Eijun clenched his fist. So both of their lives would be on stake then. That... Kind of comforting in a way. "But still! How am I the one who suffered?!  What are you doing, then?"

「 I could help you. But, not yet. Build your stamina first and we'll get into that. 」

shitty-ass system.

「 I can hear that. 」

"I know. I did that on purpose to let you know that you're a shit system."

「 ... 」

DING

「 New mission has arrived! 」

"Huh?"

「 Hidden Mission – System 637 is the best!
     Run 0 km/3 km
    
     Time limit : 59 min 57 sec
     Reward : System 637's forgiveness.
     ! Failing in completing the mission will result in a penalty. 」

Eijun turned around to went back to the park and picked up his speed, "YOU FUCKING SHITTY SYSTEM!!!"