What, Failure to Transition!? Volume 1 Chapter 5 (Patreon)

Chapter 5 - Future Policies

On his way home from the Todou house, Yoichi dropped by a discount store. He was hungry, so he decided to buy some sweet bread to take home, but who would have thought that from coming there, he need to fight a great temptation.

This discount store sold a wide range of products, from food to household goods, from various home appliances to adult goods, even some of the items they sell were luxury brands, and genuine ones at that.

Wallets, handbags, watches, and jewelry of famous brands, both domestic and foreign, all were sold at lower prices here than in their respective specialty stores.

However, even if they come in cheaper, they still scream the luxury brand name, and since the original price was already high, no matter how much they discounted, it was still reasonably pricey.

At the corner where such luxury brand goods are sold, Yoichi suddenly had a thought.

(Maybe it can be stored in the [Infinite Storage], right?)

Yoichi is currently ten meters from a display showcase, a distance within the effective range of the [Infinite Storage+].

The clerk was busy dealing with other customers, and there was no one else in the store.

(……got it.)

In that gap, he stowed away the 300,000 yen watch that was in plain sight.

The watch disappears from the showcase, indicating that it has entered the [Infinite Storage+] of Yoichi.

There didn’t seem to be any kind of weight sensor, so there was no particular alarm that went off. Yoichi quickly left the place, ran to a public bathroom, and entered one of its cubicles.

He tore off a piece of toilet paper and placed it in the palm of his hand to avoid getting his fingerprints on it, and then took out the watch from the [infinite storage+].

“Seriously……”

The luxury watch appeared on the toilet paper in Yoichi’s palm. It’s a brand new, unused item, so if he were to sell it on Net-auctions, for example, he could probably get a price almost equal to the amount of what it sells for here.

If he did that, he would have earned enough money that is nearly equivalent to a month of work near the peak of the busy season.

“Fuhhh……”

Yoichi exhaled a deep breath.

His heart was racing and his breathing is getting rough, so he took a deep conscious breath to calm himself down.

The fact that he could obtain a 300,000 yen watch just like that, and the fact that his act was nothing more than theft, made Yoichi feel more than a little guilty in his heart. After calming down a bit, he put the watch back in the [Infinite Storage+] and left the cubicle like usual.

Suddenly, the mirror of the public restroom caught his eye.

He came closer and checked the swelling brought by the punch of the father of Todou’s wife, and after confirming it was already gone, he then checked the inside of his mouth with his tongue. He couldn’t feel anything that looked like a wound anymore.

He was not physically tired thanks to the [Healthy Body+], but Yoichi felt very fatigued right now.

(Although it got a little rough, I was able to convey the final words of Todou, so I still think it was worth coming there. And from the way Todou talked about his wife, she seemed to be a strong person, so I think they’ll be able to manage somewhat.)

Yoichi looked in the mirror again.

“Just what the hell am I doing!?”

But the reflection he saw in the mirror looked really pale.

(I know that I am in a perfect physical condition thanks to my [Healthy Body+], but still……)

He remembered his death, passing, Todou’s crossover, and Todou’s wife crying while strangling him.

(This is technically my second life now. Wouldn’t it be good to change for the better this time?)

And so, after fixing his face, he went back to the discount store, put the watch where it belonged, brought some red bean paste bread and coffee milk, then immediately left.

Yoichi went straight home after that.

〇●〇●

(Well, I guess that takes care of it.)

After returning the watch, Yoichi decided to immediately limit the use of newly found power.

How should I use this skill, which can be called a cheat, and how should I live in the future?

Through his recent action, Yoichi discovered that regardless of ownership, and even if there are obstacles like showcases, he can freely store any item within 10 meters in the [Infinite Storage+]. Once they are stored, they can be moved in and out as long as he pleased.

“If I wanted, I could easily become the greatest thief of the century.”

Whether it’s the Louvre or the British Museum, as long as he enters as a guest, he can steal every single exhibit that catches his eye.

And as long as he can confirm its location, he can steal anything within 10 meters, and it has only gotten easier because he can mark the location of the item using [Appraisal+].

Moreover, since the skills given were outside the logic of this world, his ways could never be exposed nor prevented, and he would never be caught red-handed.

Just imagining the scene where even in the eyes of the guards and the monitors of the security cameras, several works of art suddenly started disappearing one by one in a blink of an eye - it would be a terrifying sight to behold.

It has already surpassed what the greatest thief in fiction can do.

“But that’s not the proper way of living.”

Yoichi rebuked himself in his own soliloquy.

He can already do so much with just one [Infinite Storage+]. What more if he combines it with his other skills, which are all overpowered in their own ways?

“But this is just too powerful. I need to set my rules immediately, or else I might lose myself in this power later on.”

Why do people dream about committing crimes the first time they realize that they have gained supernatural powers? Yoichi is now having a first-hand experience in this.

(Because of temptation, I guess?)

If you have instantaneous movement, you can sneak into a bank vault and steal a lot of money; if you have clairvoyance, you can peek into a woman’s bath without being detected; if you have telekinesis, you can flip up a sexy girl’s skirt who was just passing by; if you have precognition, you can find out your future husband or wife and the next winning numbers. And the best thing is that you can do this without getting any consequences, because all of it is done beyond the norm.

However, just as all the endings depicted in the works of fiction, characters that often abuse this power will often lose themselves in them, and their story usually ends with a horrifying outcome in the end.

(Yep, let’s not resort to criminal activities. At least, try to avoid criminal acts that make one go overboard.)

And so, Yoichi made up his own rules based on the premise of not breaking the law, at least for now.

(But for me to implement my own rules, I wonder how long it will last? Well, I’ll just have to deal with it when the time comes.)

Next, Yoichi thought about how is he going to live in the future.

Even if he uses the cheat skills he’s acquired without breaking the law, he’s still be able to do quite a lot.

He is sure to make a good fortune in shipping and trading with his [Infinite Storage+] and [Return+], and he will be easily able to translate and interpret anything with [Language Comprehension+], not to mention other plenty of ways one can do that he hasn’t thought off yet if he combined all of the skills, especially that overpowered [Appraisal+].

“However, doing it this way would lead to everything becoming boring and a pain in the ass in the end.”

If you start something out of the blue and successfully made a lot of money just because you can do it, without thinking deeply, you may find yourself sinking in an inescapable pit of numerous responsibilities later on.

It would already be too late once that happens, and you won’t be able to quit even if you wanted to because people who got involved with you won’t allow it as they had already started to become dependent on you.

(However, I can still do many other things, so let’s better think about ‘what I want to do’ rather than ‘what I can do’ instead.)

When Yoichi got involved in that accident, he got enough time to arrange his thoughts on the chasm of time, and surprisingly, he found out that he has no regrets even if he passed away for real that time. Ironically, he felt more regretful when he returned instead, as he remembered all his leftover debts that he had to pay.

But all of that was over now.

Since Yoichi has just been living ‘for the sake of living,’ there was nothing in particular that he wanted to do.

But now that he survived an ordeal and was given a second chance, he felt he must not waste it anymore.

Thanks to the administrator fixing the bug and applying a buff in his system, Yoichi has acquired a significant boost – which are the several abilities that were just beyond the norm.

No matter how much money the people of this world have, the millionaires, the royalty, and the aristocracy, even if they pile up all the money that they have, they won’t be able to buy these precious skills no matter what, even if they tried every measure that they can try.

But most importantly, for Yoichi, even if he were to use his power to the fullest legal extent he could imagine, it would be a loss if he didn’t live happily in the end.

(Live happily. Yes, that sounds good. Let’s do just that.)

Do what you want to do and don’t do what you don’t want to do. If he can live a relaxed and carefree life, that is already good enough.

So first, let’s start with work.

Since survival is no longer a big necessity for Yoichi, if he wants to have a carefree life, he has to quit his current work soon as he got the chance. Of course, that would be after he establishes a way to earn a living on his own first, which also uses his newly acquired skills.

Thankfully, he’s got the rest of the month off, giving him a lot of time to find a way to earn money and resign immediately soon as he does this thing.

Before that, however, there’s one more thing Yoichi doesn’t want to do, or rather, he wants to avoid as much as possible, now that he has begun this extraordinary life.

And that is being conspicuous.

If he gets noticed for his unique skills, he won’t be able to do what he wants to do anymore and what’s worse, be forced to do what he doesn’t want to do instead.

He may have decided to live happily without breaking the law, but he knows that was still far enough to live a relaxed life in this world.

Attention garners trouble. And trouble disturbs peace.

The goal may sound pretty generic like those main characters in parallel-world novels, but for Yoichi, who’s living in a modern world as a setting, hiding under the radar was already quite challenging in this day and age.

(Well, for now, let’s set this as our goal until we encounter any problems or until I find something that I want to do. When that time comes, let’s adjust to it accordingly.)

“Sigh. I really wish that I could have gone to another world, though, where I could use these skills relentlessly without worrying about being monitored by people.”

If I have any regrets, it’s probably in that area.

“I guess I’ll do my best tomorrow.” After filling his stomach lightly with red bean paste and coffee milk, Yoichi spent the rest of the evening lurking on the internet with his PC. It was already nearly dawn when he went to bed.

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