(Samantha Pov)
The world outside the warehouse was a smear of sodium-orange and twilight-indigo, a watercolor painting viewed through a waterfall. The city lights blurred, streaking past as if desperate to flee the memory of what we'd left behind. Or maybe that was just me.
My hands were clamped to the handlebars of Akemi-nee's Kawasaki, my knuckles white, blood that wasn't mine drying under my fingernails. The machine vibrated beneath me, a deep, throaty growl of contained power that echoed the strange, humming energy thrumming through my own veins. It felt less like I was driving a motorcycle and more like I was riding a tamed beast, its fury temporarily leashed to my will.
Pressed against my back, Ren was a fragile, trembling weight. Every bump in the road, every slight lean into a turn, elicited a faint, hitching gasp from him. I could feel the clammy chill of his skin even through his ruined uniform and my own shirt. He was losing too much blood. He was too cold.
The roar of the engine was a welcome noise. It almost drowned out the sound of his breathing—a shallow, rattling thing that spoke of bruised ribs, swelling lungs, and the ever-present threat of another asthma attack. It almost drowned out the sound of my own heart, which hammered against my ribs not with fear, but with a horrifying, unfamiliar cadence of cold, focused rage.
"Just hold on, Onii-chan," I whispered, the words whipped away by the wind before they could even reach him. "We're almost there. Just hold on."
It was a lie. The hospital was still miles away, a distant beacon in a sea of indifferent city lights. And a part of me, the new, cold, monstrous part, knew that 'almost there' might not be enough. I needed more. I needed it now.
As if summoned by the thought, a sound pierced the roaring chaos of the wind and engine.
TING.
It wasn't a sound in my ears. It was a sound in my skull. A pure, crystalline chime that resonated through my bones, cutting through the adrenaline haze with the clean, sharp finality of a guillotine.
[Main Mission #2: Save Your Older Brother — COMPLETE!]
[Reward Conditions Met. You have earned 4 SPINS on the SYSTEM WHEEL.]
[Would you like to initiate the Gacha Protocol now?]
"Oh-ho-ho, now that's what I'm talking about!" Mochi's voice erupted from somewhere near my shoulder, a ridiculously cheerful squeak against the grim reality of the moment. He zipped into my peripheral vision, a glowing, manic dumpling. "Four spins! Four! Do you know the odds of that, contractor?! That's like hitting the grand prize on four separate lottery tickets bought with someone else's blood! Deliciously efficient!"
I didn't take my eyes off the road, weaving the bike between a sluggish delivery truck and a taxi. "Can I even do this while driving?" My voice was tight, strained.
"Of course! The System is the ultimate multi-tasker! Just focus on the intent. It's less like seeing, more like… knowing. Probably won't even make you blink. Too much."
"'Probably'?!"
"Kishishi," Mochi giggled, a sound that grated on my raw nerves. "Come on, Sam-chan. You walked through fire for this. Time to claim your pound of flesh. Just focus your will. Think: 'Spin.'"
I grit my teeth, the wind stinging my eyes. Ren moaned softly behind me, a sound of pure misery that lanced through my chest. The memory of Akemi-nee standing amidst the broken, bleeding bodies of those thugs flashed behind my eyes—a silent, beautiful horror movie. This power had a price. And it had a purpose.
I took a deep, shuddering breath that tasted of exhaust fumes and desperation.
Spin the wheel.
The world didn't vanish. It tilted. The vibrant symphony of city lights dimmed, the colors washing out as if a gray filter had been dropped over my vision. I could still feel the vibration of the engine, still see the taillights of the car in front of me, but a significant portion of my consciousness was yanked away, dragged into the silent, cold void of the System's interface.
There, suspended in an abyss of non-space, was the wheel.
It was more immense, more terrifying than I could have imagined. It wasn't made of plastic or metal. It seemed carved from a slab of polished obsidian that reflected a thousand dying nebulas. Each segment glowed with a soft, internal light, inscribed not with text I could read, but with strange, shifting runes that seemed to crawl and writhe. My brain, however, instantly processed their meaning, a direct, unfiltered download of information.
[Kinetic Boost (Minor)], [Weapon Proficiency: Blades (E)], [Financial windfall: ¥100,000], [System Shop Access], [Tactile Nullification (5 Mins)], [Rare Item: Graphene-Laced Bodysuit]… a hundred possibilities, from the mundane to the miraculous. And I had four chances.
Four spins, a colder part of my mind whispered. The part that had broken a boy's neck. Make them count.
[SPIN #1 — COMMENCING]
At my silent command, the great wheel exploded into motion. It wasn't a smooth spin; it was a violent, jarring lurch, as if a colossal, unseen hand had sent it tumbling through the cosmos. The nebulae reflected on its surface blurred into a single, breathtaking smear of color. It spun, and spun, and the sound it made was not the cheery clicking of a game show, but the low, ominous hum of immense power.
Then, it began to slow. The clicking started—each pass of a segment a deep, resonant thrum that vibrated through my soul.
Thrum… thrum… thrum…
The needle, a sliver of pure, white light, passed over [Enhanced Healing Factor (Minor)] and I held my breath. It ticked past. It approached a segment labeled [ERROR: DATA CORRUPT]. The needle hovered, then moved on.
DING!
The sound was absolute, wiping out all other sensation for a microsecond. The wheel shuddered to a halt.
[Reward #1: Unique Passive Skill – 'Eidetic Kinesis' (Photographic Reflexes)]
[Description: The user's neurology and muscle memory are instantly remapped upon observing a physical action. Any observed motion, from a complex martial arts kata to a delicate surgical incision, can be perfectly replicated once within 24 hours of observation. A skill of mimicry, of theft. To see is to become.]
The knowledge didn't just appear in my mind. It was branded onto it. A flood of phantom sensations rushed through me—the feeling of a ballerina's perfect pirouette, the coiled power of a boxer's jab, the steady hand of a master calligrapher. My body now understood the geometry of movement in a way it never had before.
"Holy shit," I breathed out, the words real, spoken into the wind. "That's… insane."
"Insane?" Mochi zipped around my head. "That's a protagonist-level cheat skill! You're a human copy-and-paste function now, Sam-chan! The applications are… delightfully terrifying."
[SPIN #2 — COMMENCING]
I merged onto the Shuto Expressway, the motorcycle surging forward with a throaty roar. The bike felt more intuitive now, an extension of my own body. The feeling was intoxicating. I pushed the second spin from my mind.
The wheel spun again. Slower this time. Each rotation felt deliberate, pregnant with possibility. The clicking was a slow, heavy heartbeat in the void. Thump… thump… thump…
My real-world eyes flicked to the side mirror. Far behind, the blinking red and blue lights of an ambulance were approaching. Not for us. Someone else's tragedy. A reminder of how close we were. I gunned the engine.
Back in the void, the needle slid past [Stamina Boost (Major)] and then over a tantalizing [Item: Unbreakable Combat Knife].
DING!
[Reward #2: Rare Active Skill – 'Veil of the Unheard' (Veil of Silence)]
[Description: A temporary active skill. By consciously controlling micro-muscular movements, breath, and the displacement of air, the user can erase their presence. For 10 minutes, footsteps are silenced, breathing becomes inaudible, and the body casts no discernible scent. A tool for the assassin, the thief, or the girl who just wants to disappear.]
A new wave of understanding flooded me. It was a cold, precise knowledge. How to walk heel-to-toe to distribute weight without a sound. How to exhale slowly, through clenched teeth, to muffle the sound of breath. How to control my body's heat signature, ever so slightly, by regulating blood flow. It was the knowledge of a hunter. A predator.
A shiver traced its way down my spine. This wasn't a power for a good person.
"Oh, you're a proper little ninja now," Mochi whispered, his voice taking on the tone of a late-night movie trailer narrator. "In the shadows, she waits…"
"Shut up, Mochi."
[SPIN #3 — COMMENCING]
This time the wheel felt… angry. It spun with a violent, unrestrained fury, a grinding shriek echoing through my mind. Sparks of what looked like raw data, lines of green and gold code, flew from its edges. It felt heavier. The stakes felt higher.
My eyes snapped back to reality for a second. The sign for Keio Hospital was up ahead. Less than five kilometers. Ren shifted behind me, letting out a low, pained groan that vibrated through my whole body.
Please, I begged the uncaring, cosmic wheel. Give me something to protect him. Not to hide. Not to copy. To protect.
The wheel slowed. The humming intensified, growing from a low thrum to a piercing shriek.
The needle danced on the edge between [Random Low-Tier Consumable Item] and [Stat Enhancement: Strength (D- → D)]. And then, with a final, shuddering click, it settled.
DING!
[Reward #3: Skill Tree Evolution – 'Basic Hand-to-Hand Combat (E)' has evolved to 'Way of the Intercepting Fist (C)']
[Description: Knowledge is not enough. You now possess an ingrained, instinctual understanding of combat flow. This includes advanced tactical positioning, exploitation of enemy balance, pressure point strikes designed to incapacitate, and counter-techniques that shatter an opponent's guard. Your body no longer just knows moves; it knows how to fight. You are no longer an amateur. You are a weapon.]
The wave of information this time was a physical blow. Phantom pains exploded across my knuckles. My muscles spasmed with the ghost-memory of a thousand fights I'd never had. I understood, on a cellular level, how to pivot my weight to turn a clumsy shove into a devastating throw. I knew, with absolute certainty, the precise angle and pressure needed to jab a thumb into the cluster of nerves below the ear to send a grown man to his knees, vomiting and dizzy.
YO! SAM-CHAN, THAT'S A NAMED MARTIAL ART! A TIER-UP EVOLUTION! Mochi screamed in my head. That's a one-in-a-thousand spin! Your combat potential just quintupled! QUINTUPLED!
"I can protect him now," I whispered, the words a raw, fierce promise. "I can actually protect him."
[SPIN #4 — COMMENCING]
My final spin. The roaring energy of the last spin was gone. This one was slow. Silent. Almost reverent. The colossal wheel turned with a lazy, deliberate grace, as if the entire universe were holding its breath. The hum was gone. There was no clicking. Just a profound, weighty silence.
My throat felt tight. My real-world hands trembled on the handlebars. Beside me, I heard Ren's breathing hitch again, a wet, rattling sound. It grounded me. This was for him. All of this was for him.
Let it be enough.
The needle, a beacon in the void, drifted. It passed a glowing segment marked [ULTRA RARE: SYSTEM PARTIAL OWNERSHIP]. It passed another, [FATE INTERVENTION]. And then it stopped. No ding. Just a soft, final chime, like a single, perfect bell rung in a silent temple.
[Reward #4: Mythic Tier Consumable – 'Sovereign's Veto' (System Override Token) (1x Use)]
[Description: The System is a structure of rules, probabilities, and consequences. This is the exception. A single, one-time-use token that grants the Host the authority to issue a single, absolute veto. Negate any system-mandated penalty. Reject any forced mission. Erase any unwanted consequence. For one moment, you, not the System, are the god of your own reality. A power to rewrite fate itself. Use it wisely, for you will never see another.]
For a long moment, I couldn't breathe.
The world—the real one and the one in my head—simply ceased to exist.
"What… what is this?" I whispered, my voice cracking.
Mochi was silent for once. When he finally spoke, his voice was small, filled with a genuine, unfeigned awe that chilled me to the bone.
"That… Sam-chan… that's a get out of Hell free card. That's a miracle."
I can… cancel anything? The 'Cursed Physique'? The penalty for failure?
Once, Mochi confirmed, his voice barely a psychic whisper. A single moment where the rules of the world don't apply to you. It's… beyond rare. They say it's a power not even the System's administrators can grant. Don't waste it on something stupid. It is worth more than your own life.
The wheel dissolved. The void vanished. The silent temple bell faded.
The world snapped back into place with the force of a physical blow. The roar of the Kawasaki was deafening. The glare of headlights in the rearview mirror was blinding. The hospital entrance loomed ahead, a gateway of sterile, unforgiving white light.
Ren stirred, his good hand weakly gripping my arm. "Sami…?"
"I'm here, Onii-chan," I said instantly, my voice thick. "We're here. We made it."
He managed a weak, ghastly smile, his eyes fluttering. "You're… my hero…"
My throat closed up completely. I pulled the motorcycle up to the emergency entrance, ignoring the designated parking spots, and killed the engine. The sudden silence was jarring.
I pushed the System's glowing windows out of my mind. The skills, the token, the power… it didn't matter right now. None of it.
Now was the time to be a sister.
I helped him off the bike, practically carrying him through the automatic doors. Shouts went up. Nurses and orderlies rushed forward with a gurney. I was gently but firmly pushed aside as they took over, rattling off his injuries, barking questions I couldn't answer.
I just stood there, under the sterile, buzzing fluorescent lights, my hands trembling, my clothes smelling of blood and exhaust. My reflection in the glass of the door was a stranger—a pale, fierce-eyed girl with blood on her cheek and a terrifying new stillness in her gaze.
I wasn't a sick girl anymore. I was a weapon. I was a shield. I was a miracle-holder.
And I would not let anything happen to him. Ever. Again.