I was lying there on the floor, my jaw feeling like it was about to fall off, and Nina was kneeling next to .
"You are so cute," I said, and the second the words left my mouth, I thought, ’Oh, shit. Did I just say that out loud?’
Nina just looked at , her head tilted a bit. "Eh?" she said, like she wasn’t sure she heard right.
’Yep, I definitely said it,’ I thought. My brain usually had a better filter than that. Maybe getting punched scrambled it a little. I didn’t panic though. It was out there, so I figured I might as well own it.
I tried to sit up again, and this ti Nina helped , putting a hand on my arm. The pain was still pretty bad, but at least I wasn’t flat on my back anymore.
"Sorry," I said, looking at her. "That was, uh, out of nowhere. And I’m sorry about yesterday too. For all that stuff I said in the hallway. I was a complete jerk." I figured I should just get it all out while I was at it. "I’d understand if you hated after that."
She didn’t say anything for a second. Then she reached out and her hands were on my face, gentle, like she was checking if I was okay. It was a weird feeling, having her touch like that after I’d been such an asshole.
"I was never angry with you, Kofi," she said, her voice soft. "Just sad."
I just looked at her. I didn’t know what to say to that.
"I’ve never really felt comfortable talking to guys," she continued, looking right into my eyes. "Even Tyler... he always talks like he has so other motive, you know? Like he wants sothing. But that day with you in the hospital, when we were just talking? I felt so relaxed. It was easy."
She took a little breath. "It’s true that I felt guilty at first, about the accident. That’s why I ca to the hospital. But that’s not the only reason I kept being nice to you. It wasn’t just guilt after that first day."
She was still holding my face, and I could see tears welling up in her eyes again, but she was smiling this ti. It was a watery, shaky smile.
"I thought of you as a friend," she said, a couple of tears escaped and ran down her cheeks. "I really did."
I just stared at her. ’A friend?’ I thought. ’She actually wanted to be my friend?’ After everything, after how I’d treated her, she still said that. It hit harder than Tyler’s punch, almost.
Around us, I could hear whispers starting up again. I glanced past Nina and saw the whole class. They were all just staring, their mouths hanging open. I guessed they couldn’t believe what they were seeing or hearing. Nina Shoka, crying and smiling and holding the face of the guy who just got decked, saying she wanted to be his friend. It was probably a lot for them to process.
Nina seed to realize everyone was watching us too, because she let go of my face and quickly wiped her eyes.
"Co on," she said, her voice a little thick from crying. She helped get to my feet, and it really hurt, but having her there made it a bit more bearable. She supported as I limped back to my desk and carefully sat down in my chair.
Then, as soon as I was settled, she just turned and hurried out of the classroom. Her face was bright red.
’Wow,’ I thought, still trying to process everything she’d said. ’She really thought of as a friend.’ It was a strange feeling. A good one, mostly. But also kind of terrifying.
The rest of the class was dead silent. I guessed they were all still trying to process the whole drama. First Tyler decking , then Nina crying and confessing all that stuff, then her helping up. It was probably more excitent than they’d had all year. I didn’t dare look around. I could feel their eyes on , though.
Then, that stupid blue window popped up in front of my face, just hovering there.
’Oh, great,’ I thought. ’What now?’ I was really not in the mood for another mission or a penalty.
But the text on the screen surprised .
[Mission Complete: Have a conversation with Nina Shoka]
[Reward: 2,000 NAD has been deposited to your bank account.]
I just stared at it. ’Wait, what?’ I thought. ’It’s complete now?’ My brain was still a bit fuzzy from the punch, but I was pretty sure this didn’t make sense.
’We talked yesterday,’ I thought, my mind going back to that awful conversation in the hallway after school. ’We talked for way longer then. It was a terrible conversation, and I was a total jerk, but it was still a conversation. Why didn’t it count then?’ I rembered telling her to stop talking to , and her yelling and crying. Yeah, that was definitely talking.
As if the system could hear my thoughts, or maybe it was just programd to be annoying, new text appeared on the blue window.
[System Clarification: Yesterday’s interaction did not et the "sincere conversation from both parties" requirent for mission completion.]
[The objective requires genuine emotional exchange. Today’s interaction, while brief, fulfilled the sincerity parater from both user and target.]
I read that over a couple of tis. ’Sincere conversation from both parties?’ I thought. ’Genuine emotional exchange?’
I thought about yesterday. I had been trying to push Nina away. I’d said so pretty harsh things because I wanted her to leave alone. That wasn’t exactly sincere in a good way. It was being defensive and trying to end things. And she had been holding back too, I guessed, until she just exploded with all that stuff about her friends and never being kissed.
But today, on the floor, after getting punched... when I apologized, that was real. I felt like a total idiot for how I’d treated her. And when she told she was never angry, just sad, and that she’d actually thought of as a friend... yeah, that felt different. She was crying, and I was in pain, but for those few monts, it felt like we were both being completely honest. No guards up, no pretending.
’So, the system isn’t just about ticking boxes and saying words,’ I realized. ’It wants actual, real talk. The kind where people are being honest, even if it’s ssy.’ That was... kind of more complicated than I thought. It wasn’t just about completing a task; it was about how I completed it.
The 2,000 NAD was nice, though. I could definitely use the money, especially since my parents weren’t around to bail out if I needed anything.
’This whole system thing is a lot weirder than just getting quests in a ga,’ I thought, as the blue window finally faded away. It seed like it was trying to teach sothing, or push in a certain direction, not just give rewards for random stuff. I wasn’t sure if I liked that or not.
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