Chapter 10: New System Functions
The breeze in Riku's room was perfect.
Riku lay on his futon, arms behind his head, eyes half-lidded as the fan above rotated slowly. The air it pushed across his face was crisp and cool, carrying the scent of distant flowers and sun-warmed wood.
The glow from the electric bulb beside the bed cast a soft amber hue across the room. A small tray with matcha and a half-bitten mochi bun rested on the low table nearby.
For the first time in what felt like a lifetime — across two worlds, even — Riku was genuinely comfortable.
No alarms. No reports. No phone calls to worry about. Just a spinning fan and silence.
Of course, he wasn't entirely idle.
He pulled a small folded cloth from the nearby chest, unwrapped it, and laid out the items he'd received from Rennan: seed pouches labeled in messy ink — wheat, onion, green bean, garlic, and most importantly, a small satchel of dried coffee berries.
"Coffee," he whispered reverently. "If this works out, I'll build a shrine."
Next to the seeds sat coils of copper wire, a small jar of sugar crystals, and a palm-sized rock of coarse salt.
His mind turned.
Turbines: He had the materials for two more, though they'd be smaller than his prototype.