Erina finally agreed.
That afternoon, she made a phone call to the Nakiri family, set a time with Jaden, and then returned home.
There were things she needed to explain.
After all, she had to talk to her grandfather about the expulsion.
The man was a textbook daughter-complex and granddaughter-complex case. He had even single-handedly created the Golden Age of Totsuki for the sake of his daughter and granddaughter. This matter could not be hidden from him.
As the first Nakiri to enter Totsuki and the possessor of the God's Tongue, Erina's expulsion would not cause a massive public uproar. Even if there were rumors, the Nakiri family's public relations team would suppress them or handle them quietly.
Still, a brief explanation to her family was necessary.
And Erina, who took Shokugeki seriously, would most likely return and prepare carefully.
That was simply how she was.
As for Jaden-
After Erina left, he tidied up the house and took a shower.
Once he was done, he sat down in front of his computer.
He briefly searched through what he could do next. Then he checked the popular light novels in this world, wondering if becoming a copycat writer might be feasible.
"Love Setter, Fantasy Demon Blade Story..."
He scrolled.
"Wow. These are really all things I've never heard of."
It made him pause.
"It looks like copying a light novel might actually be a good idea?"
With that thought, Jaden stared at the screen for a while.
Then he realized something was wrong.
"Hmm..."
He frowned slightly.
"Strangely, I can't think of a single word."
He had planned to write something like Sword Art Online. He remembered the general plot. He remembered the setting. He even remembered the broad character arcs.
But when he actually opened a blank document and placed his hands on the keyboard, his mind went empty.
Completely empty.
He didn't know where to start.
He didn't know what sentence to type first.
Also-
"Submitting directly to a major award is way too risky."
He leaned back in his chair.
"I should probably start with a web novel version instead. Slowly post it. Just like Sword Art Online did back then."
He imagined it for a moment.
Daily updates.
No breaks.
Weekends.
Holidays.
"The thought of updating every day, holidays included..."
Jaden sighed.
"...somehow feels extremely relatable."
And exhausting.
"I'm already tired before even starting."
He sighed again.
Still, he knew one thing.
All work was tiring.
So, relying on what he believed was his strong willpower, Jaden forced himself to sit in front of the computer-
Then played video games until evening.
When he got tired, he went straight to sleep.
High Emotional Intelligence: Sword Art Online is about an online game, so I'm playing an online game for research.
Perfectly reasonable.
Heh.
Taking a break.
Taking a break.
As a proud representative of the easygoing generation, Jaden slept all the way into the next morning.
Then he was woken up.
- Sign-in.
The System's prompt appeared.
After opening his eyes, Jaden stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, then sluggishly selected Sign-in.
Then-
[Sign-in Reward: Limited Range Self-Select Template (One)]
"...Huh?"
His drowsiness vanished instantly.
Jaden sat up.
When he clicked on the reward, several options appeared in front of him.
[Available Panels: Chef, Fighter, Novelist, Mangaka, Musician]
Seeing the list, Jaden froze for a moment.
This afternoon, he was going to have a Shokugeki with Erina.
And one of the options was Chef.
If he selected that-
Could he instantly become some kind of Dragon Among Men-level culinary genius?
He considered it seriously.
Then he shook his head.
"Exclude."
Returning to a parallel world ten years in the past gave him countless possibilities. Insisting on becoming a chef under those circumstances would require an overly profound love for the profession.
If he had been a chef in his previous life-
If he deeply understood the future development of the culinary industry over the next decade-
Then maybe he would choose it without hesitation.
But the reality was simple.
He didn't know anything about it.
So the Chef panel was out.
Musician.
"...Exclude that too."
Same reason.
He didn't know enough about it to prioritize it. He didn't urgently need it. And he didn't particularly like it.
If a future sign-in reward came along, he could consider it then.
That left-
Novelist.
Mangaka.
These two held the greatest appeal for Jaden.
He had memories of many popular works from his previous world that didn't exist here. Light novels. Manga. Entire franchises that were missing.
The current problem wasn't a lack of material.
It was that he couldn't write at all.
As for drawing-
He couldn't even draw a perfectly round stick figure.
If these two panels could directly boost his professional skills, that would solve a lot of problems.
It would be perfect.
However-
"Fighter, huh..."
He looked at the last remaining option.
"I can probably learn to write novels and draw manga later."
He spoke slowly, thinking it through.
"But a Fighter..."
He glanced down at his body.
"With my poor health, I definitely don't have talent in that area."
The Jaden of this world had scraped together some savings from various part-time jobs. He could survive for a while without worrying too much about money.
That meant he had time.
"Why not choose the one that's hardest to learn later?"
He nodded to himself.
"I'll worry about the others with future sign-in rewards."
After all-
He could sign in once every day.
With that in mind, Jaden selected the Fighter panel without hesitation.
The moment he did, the other four panels disappeared.
A character panel was generated in their place.
[Character Panel (Fighter): Jack Hanma (from Baki)]
"...Huh!?"
Jaden stared.
At first, he thought the panel would be generated using him as the template.
He hadn't expected a randomly generated character.
From that character, of all people.
"...Damn it."
He clenched his fist.
- Kakarot is also a Fighter.
Why didn't it generate Kakarot's panel for him?
Even if it wasn't Kakarot-
At least give him someone who could shoot energy blasts.
Jack Hanma.
He wasn't weak.
That much was undeniable.
He inherited the Hanma blood of the strongest creature on Earth, Yujiro Hanma.
Jaden read the panel description carefully.
"...Peak strength."
It was exactly Jack Hanma at his peak.
That part was reassuring.
But-
Although the template granted him numerous combat techniques, and thanks to the Hanma bloodline, he gained the ability to use powerful imagination to simulate combat against opponents-
And a strong learning ability for others' techniques-
There was one problem.
Jack Hanma's signature fighting style.
Beast Style.
Jaden sighed.
Alright.
No need to sugarcoat it.
Simply put-
It involved biting people.
One of the most unforgettable scenes in Baki, for Jaden, was Jack Hanma crawling on the ground, chasing down an elderly fighter, and biting him.
At the time, Jaden had asked himself repeatedly-
Is that even fighting?
Especially when Jack's teeth were strong enough to bite through coconut shells.
This kind of combat technique...
Jaden rubbed his temples.
"Hiss- Forget it."
At least the physical enhancement was real.
The learning ability in combat granted by the Hanma blood alone was already worth the panel.
As for biting-
He wasn't going to fight people of that level anyway.
And there was no underground arena like the one in Baki in this world.
So he could just forget about that part.
He checked the integration progress.
Ten percent.
The panel would automatically integrate ten percent per day.
Ten days total.
Without hesitation, Jaden closed the panel.
He stood up, put on his clothes, and tidied his slightly messy hair.
Then he headed downstairs.
He needed to buy ingredients for the Shokugeki with Erina.
It might have been a coincidence.
But just as he reached the ground floor, he noticed a car parked at the apartment entrance.
The door opened.
Erina stepped out, carrying a box.
"Were you planning to run away?"
She scoffed, her gaze sharp as she saw Jaden heading out.
Jaden calmly pointed toward the convenience store next door.
"No."
"I'm going to buy the ingredients I need for the Shokugeki."
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