Dreamless and Strengthening Friendship (New Book, Please Support in Every Way!)

Shinji did not dream.

Not dreaming was Shinji's exceptionally unusual constitution. He had been this way in his previous life too, never dreaming for all eternity.

When the System first told him about this, Shinji did not think it was anything special. But after looking into it, he discovered that there was no one in the world who never dreamed. Even those who claimed they did not dream still dreamed while asleep.

It all had to do with the cerebral cortex and neural activity in the brain. Simply put, it was a human instinct. If someone truly could not dream, it could only mean that they were brain-damaged... that their brain activity was defective and there was something wrong with their body.

But there was nothing wrong with Shinji's brain or body. He simply did not dream, as though he were missing one of humanity's instincts.

Even the System could not explain why. Shinji did not care, though. So what if he could not dream? It was not as if he could not fantasize while awake.

Over the past two and a half years, the System interface had undergone another change: Normal Quests and the Point Shop had opened up.

As the name implied, Normal Quests were truly ordinary quests that refreshed at random. For example: The original owner of this body dared to confess to a woman, so why would this emperor's grandson not dare? On the first day of school, go to xxx Middle School and make a heartfelt confession to Tohsaka Rin.

Or: Old people should take care of their health. Go wake Old Bug up at six in the morning and do Tai Chi Quan with him.

Or again: Though reincarnated, you still owe them the debt of giving you life. Go to the hotel where your cheap father is staying, catch him cheating, and make that woman get lost!

The rewards for Normal Quests were points, which could be used to purchase items from the Point Shop. There were many things in the shop, all sorts of miscellaneous items.

When broken down further, they became even more varied. In short, it had everything one could possibly need!

There were even items adjusted for this world, such as bricks that could break any magecraft barrier with one hundred percent certainty (single-use), Suck-Suck Ice that cleared Imprint Worms from the body (single-use), and Brain-Damage Pills that made people smarter after taking them (take two whenever you feel brain-damaged—it worked!)...

The most incredible part was that it even had Ruby and Sapphire! They were useless to him, though—the prices were so high that Shinji did not even dare think about them.

Looking at the most affordable Quick Firm Pill, which cost only five hundred points and doubled cultivation speed for a month, limited to the Soul Condensation Realm, Shinji could not help swallowing.

But that was useless too. He could not afford it. After doing so many Normal Quests, he had saved up less than two hundred points. He could only buy two bottles of Brain-Damage Pills—Brain-Damage Pills for whoever bought them was brain-damaged.

After coming down to the first floor, Shinji closed the System interface while continuing to carefully analyze things in his mind.

Over the past two years, because of certain Normal Quests—such as doing Tai Chi together in the morning—his relationship with Zouken had eased considerably. Occasionally, the old man even showed him the kind side of himself, like an ordinary grandfather.

But to Zouken, these were merely his grandson's clumsy schemes. Shinji wanted Zouken to help him become a magus and the head of the Matou Family. But it was useless. Zouken had checked long ago: this grandson's Mage Circuits were blocked beyond salvation. His path as a magus had already been cut off.

Still, this grandson trained his body fairly well, and his good grades showed that he was smart enough. Aside from the pride of a mage family that could not be erased from his bones, he handled himself well at school. Thus, Zouken's attitude toward Shinji had changed somewhat in recent years.

Sometimes, he even bypassed his own son and handed stocks over to Shinji to manage. It seemed he wanted to cultivate Shinji into someone who would handle the Matou Family's non-magecraft affairs in the future.

The occasional jealousy and hatred Shinji revealed in his eyes whenever he saw Sakura at home made Zouken think that his grandson had not given up on magecraft. Yet, for certain reasons, Zouken seemed rather pleased by this...

To Zouken now, though Shinji was of no use in magecraft, he was at least no longer a completely unfilial grandson. He had a tiny, insignificant use.

And so, this gave rise to Shinji's complicated feelings. Could he truly kill this cheap grandfather without mercy?

I am your real grandfather.

Shinji: ...Pay more?

At that moment, Shinji suddenly stopped outside the half-open door of a lit clubroom. Inside was a classmate he was fairly familiar with—Emiya Shirou, the protagonist of Fate/stay night, the harem king, the Partner of Justice.

"Yo, Emiya." Leaning against the classroom doorframe, Shinji raised a hand in greeting.

Shirou, who was repairing a Cultural Festival sign, turned around and replied, "Shinji, you still haven't left school?"

Shinji shrugged and slowly walked into the clubroom. "Yeah, I just finished enduring Yuko's misery after getting dumped by her boyfriend."

"Honestly..." Shirou shook his head helplessly. "Stop teasing Yuko-sensei all the time. She was only angry because you skip school so often, right?"

Sure enough, as if it were fate, even though he was a reincarnator, he had still become good friends with Shirou. They had become friends several months earlier than in the original story, right after entering middle school.

Only after getting to know him did Shinji finally understand just how pure and precious Emiya Shirou's integrity, simplicity, earnestness, stubborn persistence in everything he did, clumsiness, and even his idealistic innocence truly were.

"Did someone ask you to do it again?"

"Yeah. It has to be finished before dawn tomorrow."

"You really haven't changed. You'd even agree to such an unreasonable request." Shinji showed a hint of helplessness. "Want some help?"

"No, I can handle it alone."

"Emiya, you..." Shinji pinched his chin, his brows knitting slightly as his expression turned serious. "What kind of AV do you like? The kind with beep— and beep—?"

Pfft! Shirou could not hold it in and spat out a mouthful. "What are you suddenly saying?"

"No, I just feel like you've become distant toward me, your friend. Don't you know that one common-sense way to strengthen friendship and bring people closer is to discuss embarrassing things with each other?"

"What kind of common sense is that?" Shirou retorted. Then he showed a hint of gratitude and continued, "Although I appreciate that you want to help, isn't it okay over there? Whenever you come to school, your sister usually waits for you at the school gate so you can go home together."

"Her..." Shinji looked unconcerned. "She's probably already gone home. It's so late, after all."

"Pay a little more attention to your own sister." Shirou sounded somewhat helpless.

"Don't worry about that." Shinji pulled over a chair and sat down, looking thoroughly interested. "What's the answer to that question just now? Which of those two types do you like? Or do you like another type, Emiya?"

"Should you really be asking a middle schooler that kind of question?"

"What does it matter? We're both guys. Or are you saying you've never watched any?"