The Value of a High Quality Smile
The walk home was completely silent.
Neither Sora nor the girls wanted to say a single word about it. They didn't want to admit it, but deep down, each of them knew it was true they weren't exactly the most popular kids at the institute.
"That damn witch... she has the temperament of a berserker," Sora thought as he watched the girls' lack of spirit from behind.
Sora opened the door to his house, and the girls entered without saying a single word. Each retreated to a corner to take refuge.
Witnessing the depressing aura, Sora wanted to try to cheer them up, but he couldn't find the right words.
"Damn it... I can't think of anything to cheer them up. Think, Sora, think." Sora kept thinking about how to ease the tension of the moment.
That's when a brilliant idea came to mind.
Without saying a single word, Sora quickly ran to his room. This action even made both girls look at him with some intrigue and confusion.
Sora came darting out of his room after a few moments, noticeably breathing with some difficulty.
In his right hand, he firmly held a crimson red ceramic Daruma doll. The doll was about the size of a human head, with one eye painted in black ink—a large pupil that seemed to observe the emotional disorder in the room.
Shiori and Mochi looked up, confused by Sora's sudden appearance.
"A Daruma, Sora?" Mochi murmured, wiping away a small tear. "Are you... going to wish for that blonde girl to be banned from existence?"
"No, I don't think I'd go that far," Sora responded, walking to the center of the room and placing the Daruma on the coffee table.
"This Daruma has been with me since Frontier Online shut down. It was the last item I won in an event; they mailed it to me a while ago. You're supposed to paint the first eye when you have a goal in mind, but I've been saving it without a specific purpose. However, this morning I painted the first eye, though I'm not sure why I did it, haha." Sora said with a small smile on his face, opening up for a few moments in front of both girls.
They didn't fully understand what Sora was doing.
However, so both girls could understand what Sora was really trying to say, he picked up a small hammer from his toolbox near the entrance. Shiori and Mochi froze, watching their leader approach the object that represented his years of post-Frontier effort.
"Sora, wait... What are you going to do?" Shiori asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"I said I painted the first eye this morning because I finally found a goal." Sora raised the hammer. His eyes shone with a determination he hadn't shown all day.
"And now that goal is to erase the sadness from your faces!" Without hesitation, Sora delivered a precise strike, and the red ceramic Daruma shattered into a thousand pieces. From inside, not only did the echo of the impact emerge, but a rain of bills and coins scattered across the entire table.
It was years of sweat and effort saved under the sun.
Both Shiori and Mochi brought their hands to their mouths, letting out small cries of surprise.
"My savings weren't for buying an expensive video game or a new computer," Sora said while looking toward Mochi and then shifting his gaze to Shiori. "They were for emergencies. And as your guild leader... well, my duty is to take care of everyone in the guild."
Sora pulled a brochure from his pocket for Dream World, the largest amusement park in the region.
"I was thinking that since tomorrow there's no school and we have nothing to do, I thought we could go out and have some fun, the three of us together," Sora said as both girls gradually approached the table where Sora and the destroyed Daruma were. "How about we spend all this gold on having some fun like in the old days?"
Shiori blinked, looking at the money and then at Sora. A small spark of light—the one Mika had almost extinguished—returned to her eyes.
"Tank... I think that's a very inefficient use of resources. Besides, they're your savings; I don't think we should take advantage of that..." Shiori murmured, but for the first time that day, a small otter smile appeared on her face. "But... I suppose I'll accept this reward."
"Sora!" Mochi threw herself at him to hug him, completely forgetting her sadness. "You're the best husband and guild leader in the world! I promise I'll have so much fun that my happiness stats will exceed the limit!"
"You know, Tank..." Shiori said without lifting her gaze from the loot in front of her. "This is a lot of money. You could buy a high-end computer with all of this."
Sora sighed with relief. The group was finally happy again. The Daruma was broken, yes. But the goal Sora had painted in his mind that morning was being fulfilled with every second of peace they shared in that room.