By Wednesday morning, Damian had almost forgotten about Adrian’s question.
Almost.
He was halfway through getting dressed when he caught himself staring at the mirror.
Black shirt.
Dark jeans.
White sneakers.
Nothing unusual.
He changed the shirt.
The black one went back onto the bed.
He picked up a dark blue shirt instead.
It fit better.
That was enough.
Damian grabbed his watch and left his room.
He hadn’t suddenly developed an interest in fashion. He simply had more options now.
Before the system, buying clothes had been a calculation.
Do I actually need this?
Can I afford it?
What else could the money be used for?
Now, he could walk into a store and buy something decent without worrying about whether it would interfere with rent, food, school expenses, or an emergency.
He still wasn’t going to start spending thousands on clothes.
That seemed ridiculous.
But there was no reason to look like he had slept in the same three shirts for the past year either.
Ethan was waiting outside the lecture hall.
He looked Damian up and down when he arrived.
"You’re doing it again."
Damian stopped.
"Doing what?"
"Looking like I don’t know you."
Damian looked at his clothes.
"I’m wearing a shirt."
"Exactly...not your previous style."
Ethan shook his head.
"This is suspicious."
"You’re dramatic."
"Last week or so you were wearing that grey hoodie every other day."
"I still have the hoodie."
"I know. I’m saying you’ve upgraded."
Damian smiled.
"Maybe I got tired of looking like you."
Ethan placed a hand over his chest.
"That’s disrespectful."
"You’ll recover."
They walked into the lecture hall.
Ethan continued talking about their upcoming assignment, complaining about the amount of work Professor Hayes had given them.
Damian listened, occasionally throwing in a respose.
After the lecture, Damian and Ethan stopped by the student center.
They were halfway through a conversation about Saturday’s football match when Emily walked past.
She stopped.
"Okay."
Damian looked at her.
"Okay what?"
Emily pointed at him.
"You look nice."
Ethan immediately turned toward Damian.
"I said the same thing."
"No, you didn’t."
"I said he looked presentable."
"That’s basically the same thing."
Emily laughed.
"Maybe."
Damian shook his head.
"You two are making this weird."
"I’m just saying," Emily said. "You’ve been dressing differently lately."
"Is that a bad thing?"
"No."
She looked him over again.
"Actually, I think it suits you."
Damian smiled.
"Thanks."
Ethan stared between them.
"What?"
Emily looked at him.
"What?"
"You two are agreeing too much."
Emily rolled her eyes.
"Ethan, you’re weird."
"Thank you."
"That wasn’t a compliment."
"I’ll take it anyway."
Emily laughed.
She checked her phone.
"I’ve got to go. Don’t forget the entrepreneurship meeting at three."
"I won’t."
She started walking away before turning back.
"And don’t wear that old hoodie."
Damian looked down at himself.
"You people are becoming controlling."
Emily smiled.
"See you later."
She walked away.
Ethan watched her leave.
Then he looked at Damian.
"Interesting."
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Ethan."
"I said nothing."
Damian shook his head.
"Whatever."
The entrepreneurship club meeting was held in one of the university’s smaller seminar rooms.
Damian arrived a few minutes early.
Claire was already there, sitting at a table with several printed documents spread in front of her.
She looked up when he entered.
"You’re early."
"Apparently that’s my thing now."
Claire smiled.
"I was beginning to think you’d be late at least once so I could make fun of you."
"Sorry to disappoint."
"Very disappointing."
Damian took a seat.
A few other students began arriving.
The meeting wasn’t specifically about Damian or Westbridge. It was mostly about the student pilot and how the entrepreneurship club would help recruit participants.
Claire went through the plan.
"We’re still targeting fifty students for the first group. Different departments, different levels, and different levels of experience with business software."
One student raised his hand.
"What if we can’t get fifty?"
"Then we work with thirty or forty," Claire said. "The point is to test the process, not manufacture perfect numbers."
Damian nodded.
Claire noticed.
"You agree?"
"Yeah."
"That’s a first."
"I agree with you sometimes."
"and i’m honored."
The room laughed.
They continued discussing recruitment.
Damian didn’t dominate the conversation.
He answered when someone asked his opinion and stayed quiet when there wasn’t anything useful to add.
At one point, a student suggested giving participants a long introduction explaining every feature before allowing them to use the software.
Damian disagreed.
"That might actually make it harder."
The student looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because you’re asking someone who’s never used the product to remember a list of things before they’ve even decided whether they like it."
Claire nodded.
"That’s basically what we discussed."
Damian continued.
"Give them one simple task first. Let them figure something out. Then introduce the next feature."
The student considered it.
"That makes sense."
Claire wrote something down.
"Good. We’ll keep the onboarding short."
The discussion moved on.
Damian leaned back.
He wasn’t trying to impress anyone.
He just liked solving problems.
After the meeting, most of the students left together.
Damian stayed behind for a few minutes to help Claire organize the papers.
"You’ve changed," Claire said.
Damian glanced at her.
"Apparently everyone today thinks that."
"It’s not a bad thing."
"i guess."
She stacked the papers.
"You seem more comfortable now."
"i wasn’t comfortable before now?."
"Before, you always looked like you were waiting for someone to ask why you were there."
Damian laughed.
"That obvious?"
"A little."
"And now?"
Claire looked at him for a moment.
"Now you look like you expect to be there."
Damian didn’t have an answer for that.
Claire picked up the remaining documents.
"Anyway, I’ll send you the updated pilot schedule."
"Sounds good."
They walked out together.
As they reached the hallway, Claire stopped.
"Oh, one more thing."
"Yeah?"
"Nice watch."
Damian looked at his wrist.
It was a simple watch he’d bought because he liked it.
"Thanks."
Claire nodded.
"See you around."
She headed in the opposite direction.
Damian continued toward the exit.
That evening, Damian sat at his desk working on his economics assignment.
His phone buzzed.
Emily:
You survived the club meeting.
Damian smiled.
Damian:
Barely.
Emily:
Claire didn’t scare you away?
Damian:
She tried.
Emily:
😂
A second message appeared.
Emily:
You coming to the library tomorrow?
Damian paused.
Damian:
Probably.
Emily:
Good. I need help with something.
Damian:
What’s wrong?
Emily:
I’ll tell you tomorrow.
Damian stared at the message.
Then typed.
Damian:
Okay.
He placed his phone beside his laptop and returned to his assignment.
A few seconds later, he picked up the phone again.
Damian:
You could’ve just told me now.
The reply came almost immediately.
Emily:
Nope.
Damian laughed.
"Fine."
He put the phone down.
Across the room, his old clothes sat in the corner of his wardrobe.
A few months ago, he had owned almost nothing beyond what he absolutely needed.
Now he had better clothes, a better laptop, more financial security, and an investment that was actually growing.
None of it felt dramatic.
It was just a collection of small changes.
And apparently, other people were starting to notice.
Damian returned to his assignment.
His phone buzzed again.
He ignored it.
For the next hour, economics came first.