As he cleaned his parents' room, Winter recalled the notification screen about his partners' tab and inquired about it to the system.
'Hey, system.'
Not a second later, a mechanical voice rang out in his head.
[You called]
'Are there any benefits for adding Sage to my 'Partners'?' He questioned.
[Yes]
[Not only does the host get 70% more Apocalust Points when having Sexual Intercourse with said person, but the other party also gains a 50% Increase in Experience Points for 8 hours. (Does not stack.)]
[Benefits may or may not increase over time]
Winter read the messages, getting excited with the new increase in Apocalust Points—though it was only when having sex with Sage. But when he saw the last message, he grew hopeful for the near future.
'Putting that aside, what was that feeling I felt when I accepted Sage to be my partner?'
[Cannot disclose that information]
[System level is too low]
[Upgrade System to access information]
*Sigh*
"It's probably nothing anyway. One last thing, can we change the way we address each other?" he asked. "Calling you 'System' all the time makes me feel like I'm talking to a robot."
There was a temporary silence before the screen appeared once again.
[According to your terms, I am technically a 'robot']
*Kmt*
"You know what I meant."
[Sure, what would host like me to be called]
Winter said as if he's been waiting for this moment. "I thought about it for a while, and I think this would be the best choice."
"How about, Jarvis?" he added. "Stands for 'Just A Rather Very Intelligent System'."
Cheesing, he asked. "What do you think?!"
The air grew quiet once again, his system replying shortly after.
[My name is now Jarvis. Thank you for giving me a name, host.]
Feigning professional, he tipped his imaginary hat. "Please, call me Winter."
Jarvis didn't reply after that, but Winter knew she heard him. He continued to clean the room, which consisted of a light dusting, new sheets, cleaning the bathroom, and sorting out his parents' belongings.
When he got done tidying up the room, Winter grabbed the box of belongings before taking them down to the basement. On his way down, he noticed Simon was up, stretching his limbs.
Simon turned his waist to try and crack his back, when he noticed Winter walking down the stairs.
"Good Morning."
"Morning."
Glancing at the box in his hands, Simon asked curiously. "What's up with the box?"
"Just some of my parents' belongings I'm taking down to the basement," he answered.
Simon refrained from prying. He peeped that Winter hadn't talked about his parents a lot. This meant one of two things: Either his parents fell to the apocalypse, or they weren't on good terms.
But if the second hypothesis were true, would he be storing a box of their belongings in the basement? Simon thought not, so he leaned towards his first theory.
He watched Winter take down the box before he continued to stretch. "He'll come around when he's ready."
Down in the basement, Winter placed the box down in a corner, looked at it once more, and walked away. Unfortunately, both of them passed, but maybe this was for the better. They wouldn't have to deal with all this, their souls were at peace.
"I'm sorry that I wasn't able to come home faster," he said.
Winter walked towards the other side of the basement and found a brown door, the word 'Storage' engraved into it. He opened the door and walked inside. Soon after, a notification materialized in front of him.
[Storage Room]
[Temperature: 65°F (18°C)]
[Room Size: 9x9x9 Cubic Metres]
[Appliances: Refrigeratorx1 and Deep Freezer x1]
After he was done reading the notifications, Winter looked in the room, surprised by the size.
'If it's this big on the inside, wouldn't it mess with the house's structure?'
[The storage room is lined with Dimensional Folding Magic]
[No matter how big it is on the inside, it'll always look the usual size on the outside]
Listening to Jarvis's explanation, Winter got a grasp on how it worked. Next, he went to check out the appliances in the corner to the left.
When he opened the refrigerator door, a small breeze of cool air wafted over his face. The deep freezer on the other hand assaulted with chilling breeze when he pushed it open.
Weirdly enough, when he looped around to the back of them, there was no power cord. He was originally confused, but remembered that the size of this whole place didn't make sense. Appliances running without a power outlet were the least of his worries.
Winter exited the room, closing the door behind him, then checked out the boiler room. Inside was a water purification system installed next to the boiler.
Glancing at the purifier, a familiar screen popped up giving him the specifications. Before he could read it through, Simon's voice was heard from through the door calling out to him.
"Winter! Breakfast is ready!"
Turning away from the purifier, Winter opened up the door and walked out of the room. Simon saw him, telling him that Sage and Ava were waiting for him upstairs.
The two walked up the stairs into the kitchen, where they found Ava and Sage having small talk. As Winter walked into the kitchen, there was a slight shift in the mood.
It wasn't anything bad, it was more like when a group of girls were gossiping about a guy, and said guy walked past them.
Sage glanced up at Winter with subtle annoyance while Ava stared at him in disbelief and hysteria. Ava's eyes were slightly tearing up after hearing Sage's story from last night. Which was completely different from Winter's.
Winter looked at Sage, confused—as if he wasn't the victim in this scenario. Nevertheless, he sat down across from Sage, Simon sitting down next to him.
Unaware of the events that took place last night, Simon questioned half-heartedly as he took a bite of eggs.
"What were you laughing about, sis?" Ava glanced at Winter—who was eating a sausage—and said humorously, "Nothing really, Sage was just telling me about how she almost choked on a sausage."
Winter's gaze shot towards Ava, who started laughing again. Sage saw this and couldn't contain her laughter either.
"What's up with them?" Simon asked.
Winter stuffed his face with eggs and responded, "I don't know, eat your eggs."
Dejectedly, Simon ate his eggs. "Am I the only normal one here?"