Chapter 227: A gift

Knock. Knock.

The sound barely registered.

Blake shifted underneath the blankets, his eyebrows pulling together as he slowly surfaced from sleep.

"Mmm..."

His eyes opened halfway.

"Um... Myles...?"

He turned toward the other side of the bed, still more asleep than awake, his hand moving across the mattress.

However, there was nothing.

Blake’s palm dragged over the cold sheets.

He sat up slowly. The room was quiet, and well, Myles wasn’t there anymore.

Blake yawned, rubbing his eyes.

’Couldn’t you wake me up or something...?’

He looked around the room, but there was no sign of him.

’Well, whatever, I’ll see him later anyway...’

Another voice came from the other side of the door.

"Young master, the driver will be here in twenty minutes."

Blake stretched both arms over his head, his back cracking faintly.

"Alright, thank you."

He threw the blankets aside and shuffled toward the bathroom.

His feet were still heavy with sleep.

He had barely made it inside when—

Ding!

Blake stopped.

A familiar translucent window appeared before him.

[ Optional Mission: Give the Target a gift. ]

[ Time limit: 4 days. ]

[ Reward: 500 coins. ]

[ Penalty: ??? ]

Blake stared at it.

"...A gift, huh?"

He scratched his cheek.

Lately, he’d been rejecting practically every mission Spoon threw at him, since no mandatory ones have been thrown yet.

Blake tilted his head.

’A gift sounds fine enough. Makes sense too, since we did start dating like what, yesterday?’

He could handle that.

There was just one problem, he didn’t have any meaningful money.

"Hey, Spoon."

[ Yes, Dear Host? ]

"Can I get the gift from the system shop?"

[ As long as the gift does not explicitly reveal its origin as being the System, it is permissible. ]

Blake nodded.

’Alright then, that’ll make things much easier.’

He glanced at the mission again.

He had four days and a five hundred coin reward. That was actually a pretty generous reward for something as simple as buying a present.

"Fine. I’ll take it."

[ Mission accepted. ]

He turned toward the sink.

Then he looked at the clock.

5:20 a.m.

His expression immediately changed.

"...Crap."

He had five minutes.

"Waking me up so damn early... as always, they just want me secretly out."

He sighed and quickly rinsed his face with cold water.

The shock woke him up considerably.

He brushed his teeth, ran a comb through his dark-blonde hair, and tried to make himself look presentable without wasting too much time.

His hair refused to cooperate.

"Come on..."

He dragged the comb through it again.

A few minutes later, he gave up, it was good enough anyway.

He got dressed, grabbed his backpack, checked that he hadn’t forgotten anything, and hurried toward the elevator.

His fingers had barely reached the button when he remembered the mission.

Blake scratched his head.

The System had been giving him some surprisingly generous rewards lately.

Apparently, it had something to do with Myles’ favorability level.

Logically, the missions should have a greater effect on someone whose favorability toward him had reached seventy-nine.

Blake stared at the elevator doors.

’Spoon has been quiet, missions aside. Yet it never stops being a bastard...’

He sighed.

’I can’t imagine where I’d be now if I hadn’t paid to see the favorability level.’

The elevator doors opened.

Blake stepped inside.

By the time he reached the ground floor, he was awake enough to stop stumbling over his own feet.

A driver was already waiting.

"Follow me, young master."

Blake nodded.

"Alright."

The man led him through another discreet route.

Blake noticed that the location was even more secluded than usual.

’Huh.’

He looked around.

’Even more secret this time? They always find a new one.’

He got into the car.

Only after the vehicle had started moving did he finally take out his phone.

He took out his phone.

I’m on my way home... where are you??

’Let’s hope he’s at my house.’

Movement outside caught his attention.

Blake looked through the window.

The familiar rural scenery gradually appeared as the car moved farther away from the city.

There were scattered houses now, separated by patches of grass and trees.

Then, the same dog he saw the other day appeared, running along the road behind the car.

Blake’s eyes widened.

"Oh!"

He leaned toward the window. The dog kept running, its tongue hanging out, looking absurdly happy.

Blake grinned.

’Poor things, it can’t keep up for long.’

Still, the dog continued for several seconds before finally falling behind.

Blake looked back at it.

"Can we stop here?"

The driver glanced toward him through the mirror.

"I can’t, young master, as it was not entailed as permissible by the Madam or the Chairman."

Blake’s smile faded.

"Oh."

He turned toward the window again, his shoulders sunking slightly.

’I wanted to touch that fur...’

The dog disappeared behind the trees.

Blake sighed.

’And play with it a little.’

But Blake knew he couldn’t blame him.

He simply took out his phone again and scrolled aimlessly.

Eventually, the car stopped.

The driver turned around.

"We’ve arrived at the designated location."

Blake looked outside.

They were still roughly twenty minutes away from his apartment complex.

The same quiet spot, that one didn’t change at least.

The driver opened the door.

"Thanks."

He stepped out.

The car drove away almost immediately.

Ding.

His phone vibrated.

Blake looked down, there was a new message.

I can’t come today.

His expression dropped.

’Seriously? Oh well, he isn’t omnipresent, unfortunately...’

He stared at the screen for another second, then he shoved his phone into his pocket.

’Well.’

He sighed.

’I was getting a little too used to having him around.’

The walk home was uneventful.

By the time Blake reached his apartment, he was exhausted enough to simply unlock the door, throw his backpack aside, and collapse onto his bed.

He lay flat on his back, his eyes staring at the ceiling.

Then the mission came back to him.

"...Wait."

Blake frowned.

"When is Myles’ birthday?"

He hadn’t actually known. It had never crossed his mind to ask this whole year...

Blake covered his face with both hands.

"I feel a little trashy."

He groaned.

’It’s just that... I forgot he was born in general.’

He sat up.

’What kind of person forgets to ask their boyfriend’s birthday?’

Blake paused.

’...Well, technically we were not dating until a day ago.’

He slapped his forehead.

’Idiot!’

After a moment, he called out.

"Spoon."

[ Yes, Dear Host? ]

"When is Myles’ birthday?"

The System responded immediately.

[ Myles Cortez’s birthday is November 22th. ]

Blake froze.

"...What?"

He sat upright, grabbing his head.

"Wait."

His eyes widened.

"That means..."

He mentally calculated the dates, his own birthday was ok November 11th.

Blake’s expression slowly transformed into a smug smile.

"I’m older than him."

[ By eleven days. ]

"So? Still counts, what would you understand."

Blake leaned back against the headboard, looking ridiculously pleased with himself.

"Eleven days, huh."

He lifted one finger.

"That’s eleven entire days, you idiot."

[ The difference is negligible. ]

"Don’t ruin this for me, c’mon."

Blake grinned.

"I can’t stop thinking about the fact that he is younger."

[ Technically. ]

Blake laughed.

"This is an interesting discovery! Spoon, open the system shop."

The familiar interface appeared.

Blake began scrolling, scrolling and scrolling.

His enthusiasm slowly disappeared.

"...What am I supposed to buy?"

There were countless things available.

Clothes, accessories, electronics, decorations, luxury items, tools.

Strange objects whose purposes Blake couldn’t even understand.

He frowned.

’I mean... Myles isn’t really the type to care about gifts.’

He always kept the things Blake gave him and appreciated them, he knew that.

But it was different from someone who actively wanted presents.

Yesterday’s conversation came back to him.

’It is kinda like the thing he explained yesterday. I mean, not completely since we’re talking about gift, and not physical contact... in this situation he’d be the only one receiving something. He said he likes most seeing me kissing back and stuff.’

Blake’s fingers stopped scrolling.

’What would he even want?’

He hummed.

Maybe something practical and that he could actually use.

He kept looking through the shop.

There were watches.

Bracelets.

Rings.

Necklaces.

Blake paused at one of the accessory sections.

He imagined Myles wearing one.

"...Actually."

He narrowed his eyes.

"That would look really good on him."

He scrolled back.

A few seconds later, he shook his head.

"No."

Myles was trying to look ordinary.

Wearing something too distinctive could draw unnecessary attention.

Blake leaned back.

"Admittedly, he’d look hot in them."

He sighed.

"But he probably won’t wear anything like that."

Another scroll.

Nothing.

Another.

Still nothing.

Blake’s expression became increasingly conflicted.

Maybe he had accepted this mission too quickly.

Five hundred coins suddenly seemed much less generous.

He dropped his phone onto the bed.

"...Maybe I shouldn’t have accepted this so easily."

The System window remained open.

The mission timer quietly continued counting down.

’But still, four days isn’t a short time.’

Blake stared at the ceiling.

Then he picked up his phone again.

"Alright."

His eyes narrowed with determination.

"There has to be something."

He resumed scrolling.

After all, if he was going to give Myles a gift, he wanted it to be something Myles would actually keep.

Not something expensive.

Not something impressive.

Something that meant something.

"...Now that’s the hard part."