Chapter 10: The Landlady

Early morning.

The early worm is eaten by the bird, and dew drops from the roadside grass fall to the ground, creating tiny ripples.

Because the curtains hadn’t been drawn the previous night, the first rays of sunlight shone directly onto Haruhi Harano’s face.

The gentle sunlight made Haruhi squint and yawn, stretching his neck. He noticed his entire right arm felt numb, and his slightly rough right hand seemed to be grasping something—his large palm was holding on to something!

Sensing something amiss, Haruhi quickly opened his eyes wide, only to discover that Ryo Miho was sleeping soundly, resting her head on his arm, with a trace of drool at the corner of her mouth. Silent, she looked especially graceful.

But that was not the main issue. Most importantly, his right hand had somehow ended up in front of Ryo Miho’s chest, and her neatly wrapped bath towel had become wrinkled without him noticing.

Glancing at Ryo Miho, whose eyes remained tightly shut, Haruhi nervously withdrew his hand from inside. The bath towel, stretched loose, would never return to its original shape.

Supporting the Japanese girl’s head with his left hand, he carefully extracted his right arm and then gently placed her head onto the pillow.

Ryo Miho, lying on the pillow, rolled over uncomfortably, smacked her lips, and soon drifted back to sleep.

After completing all this, Haruhi flexed his numb right arm and breathed a sigh of relief.

He checked the time: 6:40 AM.

[Would you like to exercise this morning?]

Watching the flashing words in the corner of the virtual screen, Haruhi felt a bit puzzled. He hadn’t expected this assist device to have such options—it was becoming more and more like a game.

Such events, where you can only take action within a designated time frame, were common in games with paper-thin characters, especially those big 3D Western titles.

For example, morning exercise was only available at dawn, or studying at the library could only be done in the afternoon, and doing these things would grant extra character attribute points, such as increased stamina or intelligence.

But those were secondary. The real purpose was to build affection with exclusive story characters, gradually progressing through their routes.

He wondered what kind of reward his device would give.

A thought crossed his mind.

[Exercise outdoors.]

[Exercise at home.]

A very considerate choice between two options.

He pondered for a moment, then chose to exercise outdoors.

[Seeing your own overweight body, the player feels distressed and decides to exercise outside. The system is pleased and grants an attribute point as a reward:]

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[Outdoor run for 2,000 meters. Attribute point reward: 1.]

Mission countdown: 29 minutes, 59 seconds...

Damn, only one attribute point.

Haruhi grumbled to himself but got up to change clothes.

Better than nothing; it was a long-term source of income, and he really did need to lose some weight.

He donned a sports outfit, glanced at the still-sleeping Ryo Miho, and tiptoed out the door.

“Phew!”

Standing at the entrance, Haruhi took a deep breath, expelling all the stale air from his lungs.

It had rained the night before, and the morning air was particularly pleasant.

A gentle breeze carried the smell of flowers and a touch of coolness.

“Alright! From now on, I’ll exercise every day!”

Haruhi gave himself a pep talk, then stood in place, doing some warm-up stretches before preparing to jog around the neighborhood.

“Haruhi?”

Just as he was about to set off, a gentle voice came from above.

He turned his head and saw a beautiful woman standing at the second-floor outdoor stairway, dressed in a tight-fitting sports tank top and ash-brown yoga pants.

The apartment Haruhi rented was a typical two-story unit. The landlady had divided the first floor into three rooms for rent, collecting rent from the tenants, while she and her daughter lived upstairs.

The person who called out to him was his landlady, Eri Momotani.

“Good morning, ma’am,” Haruhi greeted politely.

“Haruhi, are you heading out?” Eri Momotani descended the stairs.

With each step, her tight tank top seemed strained to its limits, as if it could burst open at any moment.

Watching this, Haruhi felt dizzy. He wanted to ask Mrs. Momotani if she felt suffocated. He was getting breathless just looking at her.

[Event triggered.]

[Faced with the mature and alluring Eri Momotani, you can’t help but admire her figure. Seeing her yoga pants and tank top, and recalling her status as a widow, perhaps you could give it a try? You decide to:]

[A. Invite Eri Momotani to join you for morning exercise.]

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[B. Go for a morning run alone. (You can only lament that youth is no match for a wealthy woman, mistaking a girl for treasure. If you choose this, you might as well go back and sleep with Ryo Miho.)]

[C. Compliment the landlady’s figure and ask if she’s free tonight—after all, you happen to have two movie tickets lying around. (In 2023, it’s easy to buy two late-night movie tickets online, and then book a themed room for the evening.)]

Damn it! Haruhi was already exhausted from the system’s choices. Every time, it offered options that he couldn’t actually select, leaving him frustrated!

If only the system would let him save and reload—he’d try every option and show it the proper way to play a romance game!

Yet, lacking such features, the system kept throwing these flashy choices at him.

After grumbling in his mind, Haruhi smiled and said,

“I want to go jogging. Lately, I’ve been feeling like I’ve gained weight and need to work out!”

Eri Momotani looked him up and down, feeling amused. Have you only recently gained weight? As far as she remembered, he’d always looked like this. Still, it was good to see a young person making an effort, far better than her own daughter, who slept all day and refused to go to work.

She flashed a charming smile and invited Haruhi,

“Coincidentally, I’m heading out to exercise as well. Shall we go together?”

[Ding!]

Haruhi didn’t even need to speak—the option was automatically completed.

Five minutes later,

“Huff, huff!”

Haruhi was gasping for breath, struggling to move his feet, eyes fixed on the slender silhouette ahead.

Her shapely hips were accentuated by the yoga pants, swaying as she moved—he imagined the view from the front must be even more captivating, but he had no strength left to catch up for a look.

All he could do was stare at the beautiful back, working to steady his breathing and keep pace.

At first, they ran side by side.

But as they continued, Haruhi soon fell behind Mrs. Momotani. His stamina was simply too poor—he couldn’t even last three minutes before admitting defeat.

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