Later that day, Roja had entered the store, greeted by the new maid whose voice was trembling.
"Thank you, the usual, boss."
Sakura nodded with sleepy eyes, took out a cola from the refrigerator, and handed it to Roja.
Roja took a long swig of cola—his usual morning ritual. At that moment when Roja was handed the bill, he asked something.
"Boss, I've always wondered about this, but why do you always look so sleepy when you're always asleep? This is even before you began making that cute cyborg of yours…" Roja pointed at Sakura's eyebags.
"A-a-adorable…!" Steam visibly raised above Aqua's head.
Influenced by Sakura's yawning, Roja naturally opened his mouth wide, inhaling comfortable air. He could use a sleep if the shop isn't filled up later.
"Ah yes, it's about time, I told you my secret. Are you sure, that you want to know the truth?"
The atmosphere heavied, as Sakura' droppily eyes focused at him—his arms on top of the table supporting his chin.
"*gulp* yes, I am sure," Roja drank his saliva.
Ever since they first met, Roja couldn't naturally grasp the timing when Sakura was just playing around or was actually serious.
"Twelve hours! That's how much sleep I need. But now? Minus one for robot work! Minus one for customer chaos! Minus two for stress! That leaves me with eight measly hours! I'm stressed..."
"Uh, huh…" Roja nodded helplessly.
"I want to unlock more games! I want more variety of customers to visit my Internet Cafe but what can I do? This shop could only accommodate ten customers, and I don't have the money to ask the system to expand the shop!"
"Do you even know where these games come from? From the system! From another world! After completing a task given by the system, I can finally choose a game as a reward but it's so dang slow!"
Sakura tapped his fingers at increasing speed eventually scratching his head with frustration.
"Uh huh...wait, what? Those computers came from another world? You had a mission you needed to fulfill—like those in games?" Roja couldn't help but hold his head at the sudden lore dump.
"Obviously."
Sakura told the mission handed by the system.
Main Quest: Start Of The End
Complete Conditions: Increases the number of regulars by ten.
Complete Conditions 2: Accumulate the strength to defeat a pirate above 10,000,000 Berries.
Failure Conditions: Death.
Rewards: A random skill, unlocking a part of the system's function, +50 Contribution Points.
"I see..., then want to kick a warship with me? I just recently found an abandoned one," Roja suggested—still confused but trying his best.
"Ah, no. I've already surpassed the strength of 10 million. I just need ten regulars, and it's hard-stuck at 9/10. Counting you, Carol, Daddy Masterson, Smoker, Tashigi, the four marine recruits. One of the original members hasn't come since the last time he played—other marines are replacing his spot."
"Shit," a rare curse escaped from Sakura's mouth. "How ridiculous is this mission! The initial ten members had already become regulars! It's just that they couldn't visit the shop again."
Sakura held his head between his hands.
"It's unfair! Other protagonists would've achieved astronomical growth and built a 2nd shop by the second month, but here I am! With only two games in my arsenal! I'm glad my customer still hadn't grown bored with Super Smash Bros. Universes yet!"
Sakura cried.
[That's true…]
At that moment, the system notification rang out.
[Ding! You have completed Main Quest: Start Of The End!]
[Sending out rewards!]
[Congratulations! You have received: Languages Of All Voices!]
[Language Of All Voices]
The universal tongue born from the harmony of every voice and language in existence.
This skill grants the user the ability to comprehend and speak all voices and languages at will.
"What? Why so suddenly...!?" Just as Sakura muttered, a tremendous headache attacked him as information entered his brain.
"ⱧɆ.̵̡͑͂.̴̧́̏̈.̵̨͔̪̠̖͌̂̓̓̏̀̚̚₦₮.̵̡͑͂.̴̧́̏̈.̵̨͔̪̠̖͈͌̂̓̓̏̀̚̚.̸̡̛̙̬͎̲͝ͅ₳ł.̴̳͍̋͗͝" a word escaped from his mouth, completely undecipherable.
"What?" Roja questioned as if he had misheard something but no answer returned.
Inside Sakura's brain, sentences had combined into one letter to be optimized. Despite only sounding out a single word, he had completed a single sentence.
As for what he meant by that word, he doesn't know yet—it came out instinctively.
[You have unlocked Employees System]
By assigning someone your employees, you can upgrade their business ability by spending money, and many more benefits.
[You have received 50 contribution points!]
[The shop interior has been expanded to accommodate ten extra devices]
[Giving two random mini-game licenses and one game of your choosing.]
[Congratulations! You have received 'My Talking Pet' & 'Beat The Boss' mini-game.]
'This must meant My Talking Tom, that one game I used to play when I was a child. How nostalgic,' Sakura thought his headache easing up.
At the same time—out of many available options that were handed out, he chose a single game without hesitation.
[You have chosen the Palworld as your 2nd game!]
Accompanied by his choice, the system notification sounded once more as the blue interface interchanged.
[Main Quest has been renewed!]
[Main Quest: Rising StarT]
Streaming is the best advertisement to spread the reputation of your store!
Complete Condition 1: Achieve 100 subscribers as a streamer!
You cannot expect a talentless person like yourself to manage a whole industry.
Complete Condition 2: Assign a manager!
Complete Condition 3: Accumulate a strength to defeat a pirate above 100,000,000 Berries.
Failure Condition: Death.
Rewards:500 Contributions Points, 70% Off Daily Shop Discount. Shop Expands, Warp System.
Roja opened his eyes wide reacting to the space expanding magically. "Bo-Boss, is this one of your Devil Fruit ability?"
"As if, not like I'm some Wapol, who have a house inside his body."
Sakura said.
He was fed up with the system.
Not because the rewards were generous. He was grateful about that—but because the mission had been completed the moment he complained.
His system, for some reason, always winged it around, always going with the flow, even the details written in the mission weren't absolute.
Besides him, Roja nodded satisfied while drinking Cola, "Haaah~ there's a guy who has a house inside their body."
"Multiple guys, in fact…"
O' the wonder of devil fruits ability. Looking at the empty space available, Sakura couldn't help but sigh.
Then, with trembling hands, he visited the furniture shop and bought the same equipment.
Feeling a little bit light-headed, Sakura almost lost consciousness as he viewed his bank depleting from a shiny 880,000 to poop 335,000.
In the next instant, three extra setups were placed on the same floor—automatically registered to Sakura's computer, now available for use.
Thankfully, the system gave Sakura free computers, as it assumably cost the most expensive. Otherwise, he was sure that he'd be vomiting tons of blood.
Instinctively, as he moved past the furniture shop section, the screen had been swapped to the Daily Shop Section.
Then in that moment, a product to wake up even Sakura's dead-fish eyes had been displayed.
"Wait, what…!?"
Sakura's pupils dilated. His breath caught.
He couldn't calm himself down.
The beating of his heart muted the world outside.
At this moment, nothing else—but this item reflected in the lens of his eyes.
[Daily Shop]
21:17:44s before reset.
[Timewatch]
A golden palm-sized device resembling an ornate pocket watch, gleaming with a polished luster that catches light like a rusted relic.
When opened, it reveals an intricately crafted interface emitting an aura that of brilliance—unaffected by the erosion of time.
Single-use: Upon usage, it allows you to travel at any point of the timeline of your desire and brings the person of your wish to the present. To do so, it requires the mutual agreement.
While in another time—either past or future—you CANNOT cause a butterfly effect.
The time limit, is until you return to the present and once you've chosen the time you wish to travel, you cannot switch to another time.
If you die in different timeline, your existence would be wiped off from the present.