Gratitude System: From Class F To a God

Chapter 2

Kazuo did notice. He was smiling still. He said, “Hey daughter. What's wrong? You just made me proud. Keep being the son your mother never gave me. Remember, you will one day inherit all of this okay? He tapped her hand as he said. Hana didn't even let out a smile.

"The boy is finished," he said. He poured the red and expensive wine and raised his glass to a toast. "Three million credits in debt. Class-F status. No appeal. No future."

Hana looked up. Her face was pale. "You just ruined his life."

"I protected this family." Kazuo took a sip of wine. "It's quite unfortunate but don't worry. He asked too many questions. He looked at files he should not have seen." He took a deep breath and said, “He was the perfect scapegoat. We needed to explain how funds disappeared from the company's account to calm our investors down, remember?”

Father, you siphoned this money. Why drag an innocent boy into this? He has a sick mother. Who is going to take care of her if he goes to jail? Cuz clearly, he cannot afford to pay back three million credits in three days' time. Plus, he was my boyfriend."

"He was a student from the wrong side of the city." Kazuo put his glass down. "You will thank me later when you marry someone worthy of the kuroda family."

Hana looked back down at her plate. Her hands were shaking.

Kazuo leaned back in his chair. He stretched his arms out. He looked like a man who had just won a lottery.

"The debt alone will bury him," Kazuo said. "Class-F means no good job. No good housing. No medical care for his mother. He will spend the rest of his life working to pay us back. And he will never finish."

"You are enjoying this, aren't you? Working to pay you back for money he never stole is evil. What if he goes to jail and doesn't survive there?" Hana said.

"I am enjoying protecting what is mine." Kazuo raised his glass again. "To the Kuroda family. May we never fall."

He drank.

Hana did not.

Hiroshi got to his apartment late that same evening. He had been worried sick about how his mother may have managed without him or help from anyone. The apartment was dark when he got in.

Emiko was asleep on the pullout couch. That was exactly where Hiroshi left her a day before 

He left the light off. He didn't want to disturb her.

He looked at his phone. Bank account. Zero.

Seventeen messages. All collectors. All of them were talking about what they were going to do next.

He put the phone on the kitchen counter. The surface was sticky. He couldn't think of when he'd last wiped it down.

Then Emiko coughed.

Wet and deep. The type that says fluid is in her lungs. He knew that cough.

"Mom." He screamed.

She coughed again harder. Her whole body moved with it.

He went over. Her eyes were open but they weren't on anything in the room. Just up at the ceiling somewhere far away.

"Mom! Can you hear me?"

She tried to say something. Her mouth opened and another cough came out instead. This one had blood in it.

He grabbed his phone and called emergency services.

"Emergency services. Your emergency please."

"My mother. She… she… she can't breathe right. There's blood. I need an ambulance!"

"What is your citizenship status?"

The cold moved through him. "Sorry, what?"

"Citizenship status. I need it before I can send anyone there."

"She's dying!"

"Please just send someone!"

"Sir. Your status."

He shut his eyes and said "Class F."

Pause on the line. "I'm sorry. Class F can't get emergency dispatch without paying first. Do you have a card on file?"

He hung up.

The phone came out of his hand and hit the floor. He looked at it waiting for it to be cracked or broken. It was fine.

Emiko coughed again. Blood on her lips. Blood on the pillow.

Hiroshi got down on his knees next to her and put his hand flat on her chest. Her heart was beating. Going way too fast but still going. Tears were running down his cheeks at this point.

"I'm here Mom." His voice was shaking and he couldn't do anything about it. "Right here."

Nothing back from her.

He whispered to himself. "How could Hana do this to me? I thought our love was real. How could she testify against me in court for something I didn't do? Now I can't take care of my sick mother."

He placed his hand over his head like he was about to scream. No money. No one to call. No way to get anyone to come to a Class F address on a Tuesday night. Just his hand on her chest and her heart going too fast under it.

A blue light came up at the edge of his vision.

He figured it was his head playing up. He'd been awake two days straight and things had been strange at the edges for a while.

But it stayed.

[Gratitude System Activated]

Just sitting there in front of him. Blue and lit up. Not from his phone. Not from any screen. Just there in the air.

[Rule: Protect. Receive. Grow.]

[Reward: Credits. Status boost. Strength]

He didn't know what he was looking at. Didn't have the space in him to try and work it out. His mother was on a pullout couch bleeding and he had nothing.

Emiko began to lose consciousness. Hiroshi quickly gave her some chest compressions and tried to make her sit up. Her breathing was hard. 

He prepared warm water for her and made her some food. He dished it and brought it to her. “Mum. Please eat something. We still have some medications left. Eat so you can take them.”  

Emiko looked at him with tired eyes. She didn't say a word. She just obeyed and ate.

The screen shifted.

[Act of Protection Detected: Emiko Tanaka]

[Reward: 200,000 Credits]

[Stat Boost: Strength +1]

His phone buzzed on the floor.

His heart was racing fast. He tilted his head sideways to think if this was possible. 200,000 credits from an unknown system. Just like that.

He picked it up.

The account wasn't zero. He refreshed 10 times but the account balance didn't change. He waited for like ten minutes thinking maybe someone sent it accidentally and they would call any moment from now. No one called.

Before he could think properly, he quickly called back emergency services.

"Emergency services. Your emergency."

"My mother is dying." Steady this time. He didn't know where that came from but it was there. "I've got the money. Send the ambulance."

There was a pause on the operator's end of the call. Then, the operator said, "What is your address?

2-7-11 Kitazawa, Setagaya City, Tokyo.

"Stay on the line. Do not hang up."

Hiroshi stayed on the line. He kept looking at Emiko. She was still finding it hard to breathe.

"Mom," he said. "Mom, can you hear me?"

Emiko's eyes fluttered. She looked at him. Her mouth moved but no sound came out.

"Stay with me," Hiroshi said. "They are coming. The ambulance is coming. Just hang on a little more please."

He heard the siren from a distance. It got louder and louder.

Then there were footsteps on the stairs. Two paramedics came through the door. A man and a woman. Both of them were wearing blue uniforms. Their faces were filled with enthusiasm.

The woman knelt down next to Emiko. She checked her pulse. She looked at her eyes. "We need to move her. Now!"

The man brought a stretcher. They lifted Emiko and placed her on the stretcher. Hiroshi followed them down the stairs.

The ambulance was parked outside. Red lights flashing. Neighbors were standing on the sidewalk just watching them.

One of the neighbours touched his arm. "Is she okay?"

Hiroshi did not answer. He got into the ambulance.

The doors closed. The siren started again.