My Current Situation

I ended up living on as Kent.

When I looked at myself, I remembered a blue-haired male student who showed up in a background scene in the game. He was probably a nameless extra—some background character who didn’t even exist in the official settings.

Still, besides my own memories, it felt like I also had “Kent’s” setting data inside my head. I tried to understand it. Even so, those memories were text-only—I couldn’t picture faces or scenery at all. Maybe there really had been hidden backstory like that.

My name was Kent. At this school, I was a second-year in the same class as Josette. I lived alone in a detached house in an outlying district of the Royal Capital. Both my parents were apparently dead, I had no siblings, and I made a living by working at the bakery across the street in between my studies—that was the setting I’d been handed.

My situation was pretty harsh. For what it was worth, school seemed to be compulsory education and fully paid for by the state. Class assignments were divided evenly with no discrimination between commoners and nobles. Still, from what I’d seen, the class atmosphere was completely split into commoner and noble groups. Also, one uniform per person was provided by the country. Nobles and some wealthy commoners apparently had uniforms tailored privately, with slightly different designs and fabrics. I, of course, wore the state-issued one.

As consideration for the player, the writing system and numbers used in Japan seemed to be used here as well. The school system matched too: enrollment in spring, then summer, autumn, and winter, and when spring came you advanced to the next grade. The top grade was third year, and after that you graduated. For “adult reasons,” nobody had an age setting—only their grade was defined. In the game, it started when the female protagonist enrolled, and you reached an ending after playing through one or two years.

I checked what I needed to do from here on. It was after school. Apparently, once class ended, I was supposed to go home and then head to the bakery across the street. I returned home, put down my things, and went to the bakery.

“Hello.”

“Welcome back. You’re early today.”

The one who greeted me was Marie, the owner of the bakery. I guessed she was in her late twenties, but her figure matched my ideal—large chest, slim waist, and hips that looked like they’d feel good to the touch. Her face was well-shaped and beautiful, but maybe because she had a craftsman’s temperament, it was a shame she didn’t care about fashion at all. Originally, her husband had run the shop, but he’d died of illness, and now she managed it with her daughter Catherine.

“Welcome back, Onii-chan.”

“Yeah, I’m back.”

Catherine was a twelve-year-old girl who hadn’t started school yet. I figured it would be a few years before she attended. Since there were no age settings for anyone attending school—including me—I didn’t know the details. She had light-brown hair, with braids pinned on both sides.

“Alright, thanks for today too.”

At Marie’s words, I started working. I mixed some kind of powder (probably like flour), plus water and salt, kneaded it into dough, flattened it, and baked it in an oven. Then I lined up the finished product—something different from the bread I knew—as merchandise. Marie and I split the work. Catherine handled the register.

Customers came in one after another looking for dinner bread. This was the busiest time. The small bakery was packed. Catherine was doing her best at the register, but she couldn’t keep up, so I immediately stepped in to help.

“Thanks, Onii-chan.”

Since the shop sold only one kind of bread, the calculation was easy. Each one cost 50G, so I just multiplied by the quantity. It was simple arithmetic, so I could give the total right away and have the customers pay.

“Onii-chan, were you always this fast at math?”

Catherine asked with a surprised look. For a moment, I wondered what the old “Kent” had been like… but I was too busy handling customers, and the thought vanished.

With me calculating quickly and Catherine taking the money, we cleared the line faster than expected.

“Good work today. Here’s today’s wages and some bread.”

Marie paid me today’s wages. This was my living money. I could also receive leftover bread, so if I endured living on nothing but bread, I wouldn’t have food expenses—but doing only bread for days sounded hard. The coin I received was one large copper coin. In the game’s conversion, it was probably about 100G.

“Well then, I’ll be leaving for today.”

“Onii-chan. See you tomorrow.”

Catherine saw me off, and I left the bakery and returned to my home across the street. It was a single-story house with a yard, and I lived alone. With my parents already “gone” in the settings, the house was apparently the only asset they’d left me.

“Still… there’s nothing.”

It technically had the shape of a home, but it had absolutely nothing I needed to live. Empty shelves and a kitchen with nothing in it. It felt like the starting base at the beginning of a game. There weren’t even any lights, and as dusk approached, the rooms grew dark.

“Ah—right….”

I remembered the tablet-like device. The moment I focused on it, it was in my hand.

“Huh?”

It had appeared out of nowhere, so I startled, but when I touched the screen, an order screen lit up with a backlight.

Options like Categories, Favorites, and Search were displayed, and my money was shown as 100G.

“So I’ve got 100G right now… that’s the wage from earlier, isn’t it? Normally at the start of a game you’re supposed to have some money, but starting completely from zero is brutal.”

Since it was dark, I looked for lighting. Anything that needed an outlet or a power supply was impossible, so I checked battery-powered lanterns instead.

“Wha… what am I supposed to do with this…?”

All I could do was laugh. Even the cheapest one was nowhere near affordable with my current 100G. With 1G basically equal to 1 yen, my funds were only about 100 yen. With no choice, I bought a 100G aluminum thermal blanket to secure bedding. When I pressed the purchase button, my money displayed as 0G, and an aluminum thermal blanket materialized in my hands.

I gnawed on the bread I’d received and spent the night wrapped in the aluminum thermal blanket.

The next morning, before it was time to go to school, I had another bakery shift. Wages were paid in the evening as the combined total of the morning and evening work.

“Morning, Onii-chan. Let’s do our best again today.”

Catherine greeted me with a smile.

“Morning, Catherine. Let’s work hard today too.”

Marie was already baking bread, and it looked like it would be ready soon.

“The bread’s done. Alright, I’m counting on you.”

I took the freshly baked bread and started lining it up. Customers who’d been waiting bought them one after another. Just as the first batch was nearly gone, it was time to head to school.

“Alright, I’m off to school.”

“Have a good day. I’m counting on you this evening too.”

Sent off by Marie, I headed toward school.