Luna lay beneath me, both my hands wrapped around her hands and pinned above her head, while Luna glared up with absolute murder in her eyes.
Her mana flared violently, catching the thick velvet curtains that slammed them against the ceiling while the double-paned glass windows rattled violently in their frames.
I immediately unhanded her wrists, sat back, and closed my eyes, bracing for the inevitable bullshit power something that’s gonna hit me.
Aha, yes... I probably won’t die. Even though this entire situation isn’t remotely my fault, taking a full-force magic blast to the chest is honestly the fastest way to get this over with.
Three long seconds passed in complete silence.
But nothing hit me.
Slowly opening one eye, I found Luna just staring, her face flushed a violent shade of crimson.
One arm was pinned awkwardly across her bare chest to shield herself, while her other hand was pressed flat against my torso, trembling slightly as her fingers unconsciously mapped out the outline of my abs.
"R-Rex... yesterday you were being a pervert with Hana... and now you’re doing this to me?!" She jerked her head away, dropping her chest cover to slam both hands over her burning face instead. "I-I... I thought we were just friends! Or are we not, and we’re already in that kind of relationship?! ミ●﹏☉ミ U-uh..."
She went completely rigid, her voice dropping as her brain finally processed reality. "Wait... we literally met three days ago! We’re going way too fast!"
Even as she said it, her right hand hadn’t actually left my torso; her fingers were still cupping my stomach like a heat pack.
"What are you even talking about?" I muttered, genuinely lost.
DING—
A neon-bordered, translucent interface snapped open directly in front of Luna’s face, completely blocking her red cheeks from view.
「Adult Quest System」
Emergency Quest Generated.
Quest: Survive the Morning
Objective: Prevent Luna Ebonveil from destroying the dorm.
Time Limit: 3 minutes.
Failure Penalty: ???
Reward: +5 Mana
Tip: Do anything to shut her up. Do not, under any circumstances, let her do anything.]
"...Fuck," I muttered.
The window blinked out, and Luna’s face reappeared behind it, blush still very much in place even with her hand doing its best to smother it.
"Rex," she said.
"Yes." I answered.
"Now that I think about it... what are we?"
"A human," I offered, keeping my tone as neutral as possible.
"That’s obviously not what I meant!" she hissed, her eyes narrowing.
"Oh."
"Oh." I took an agonizingly slow second to process the social landmine in front of me. "Friends?"
[TIME REMAINING: 02:21]
Luna stared at me with an utterly unreadable expression, her jaw tightening. "Friends...?"
"Best friends, if you really want to put a title on it," I added, tossing in a quick, completely flat smile to diffuse the tension. ":D...?"
"Then why did you just treat me like I was someone special?!" she demanded, dropping her hands to her sides and staring at me with dead, blank eyes. "Why were you all lovey-dovey with my sleeping body?! And... why aren’t you doing anything now? You look like you’re bracing for impact! Why aren’t you pouncing on me?! You already started it when I was unconscious, and now that I’m awake, you’re just sitting there?!"
"Wait, what do you mean pouncing?!" I sputtered, leaning back.
"Answer me!"
I flinched on reflex. "Because you were about to blast me through a wall."
"YOU MADE ME THINK—" She cut herself off mid-sentence, her teeth clicking shut as her breath hitched.
I tilted my head, my deadpan mask slipping into genuine confusion. "Think what?"
Luna’s eyes slowly tracked down from my face, taking in our posture— me kneeling over her, her bare waist exposed on the sheets, and my unbuttoned shirt hanging completely open.
[Luna Ebonveil has entered a temporary berserk state.]
"Ah..." I breathed out.
Luna’s pupils dilated until her purple eyes looked almost black.
WHOOM—!
The mana pressure inside the bedroom doubled instantly.
The heavy oak curtains shot straight up against the ceiling, the glass windows rattled so hard I heard the frame seal crack, and the loose papers on my desk began whipping around the room.
"REX!" she roared.
Thunder rolled.
I squeezed my eyes shut again.
Yep. Here it comes. Goodbye, cruel world.
I braced my body to accept my... violent... violent fate... waiting for the wind or thunder to pulverize my ribs.
[WARNING.][Quest Objective: Prevent Luna Ebonveil from destroying the dorm — didn’t I already tell you that?]
[Time Remaining: 1 min, 32 sec.]
I opened one eye. "Ah. Yeah. Right."
[Recommended Action: Stop her.]
Opening one eye, I grumbled internally at the glowing pink text hovering over my nose.
Yeah, yeah, I get it.
Luna’s mana surged higher, spiraling into visible blue wisps that hummed like high-voltage power lines.
Watching her hair float around her head, a random thought crossed my mind: Does Luna have the exact same anger issues as Hana, or is everyone in this elite academy just fundamentally unhinged?
"I’M GOING TO KILL Y—" she started shouting, her hands gathering raw, condensed arcana.
Moving on pure survival instinct, I lunged forward, grabbing both her wrists and forcefully slamming them back above her head, pinning her down against the mattress hard enough that the frame groaned under us, and glared right down into her furious face.
She glared up at me, chest heaving, mana still crackling faintly at her fingertips even with her arms locked.
"Calm down!"
"LET GO OF ME!" she squirmed violently, her hips twisting beneath me.
"No!"
"REX!"
"Hey! Aren’t you supposed to be some super-talented noble high-tier mage?!" I shouted back over the roaring wind inside the room. "What happens if you accidentally blow up the entire residence hall?! We’ll both get expelled on week one!"
She stopped twisting for a fraction of a second, her eyes locking onto mine. "You care about the dorm?!"
"No! I care about not getting expelled!"
Her left eye twitched violently. "AND NOT ME?!"
ಠ_ಠ
[Quest Progress: 1 min, 1 sec.]
"What are you even saying right now?!" I yelled, trying to keep my weight pressed down on her legs as her mana kept pushing against my chest.
"The entire room is literally falling apart! Just calm down, Luna!"
"Are you saying you don’t like me?!" she screamed back, eyes teary, her voice cracking with pure, irrational emotion.
"WAIT, WHAT?! NO! I LIKE YOU!" I blurted out at the top of my lungs.
Instantly, the raging blue mana swirling around the room sputtered.
The violent wind dropped by half, and the floating curtains sagged slightly toward the floor.
Oh. HAHA Wow. Okay. That actually worked?
"I CARE ABOUT YOU BECAUSE WE’RE BEST FRIENDS!" I added, trying to sound as reassuring as possible.
Luna’s expression went completely, utterly blank.
The sputtered mana didn’t just return— it detonated.
WHAT?!
Before I could react, she bucked her hips upward with sheer, mana-reinforced physical strength.
My grip slipped off her wrists, her palm slammed into my chest, and she flipped our positions in a single violent motion.
Suddenly, I was flat on my back against the mattress, and Luna was sitting fully upright on my torso, her fingers dug into my shoulders, her teeth grit so hard her jaw was shaking. "You...!" she said, probably thinking if she would strangle me.
I stared up at her from the bed, my head ringing. "What me?"
The floorboards beneath the bed began to groan.
A visible crack spider-webbed up the wooden frame of the bunk, and on the nightstand below, a luxury ceramic vase wobbled, tipped over, and shattered against the floorboards alongside the desk lamp.
[32 sec.]
Fuck! Words aren’t working! Thinking isn’t working! If she detonates this spell, we’re both going to end up in the infirmary and I’m going to be expelled by noon! Ahhhh FUCKKKAKSKDHDISJAHSB
Abandoning every shred of logic, dignity, and common sense, I lunged upward.
I wrapped my left arm tightly around her soft waist, using my Strength to pull her heavy, mana-charged body down flat against mine.
Before she could process the movement, my right hand shot up, grabbing the back of her neck, and I slammed my lips directly against hers.
Luna froze instantly.
Her eyes widened.
She tried to bring her hands up to shove my chest, but I tightened my grip on her waist, holding her locked against my body so she couldn’t generate leverage.
The raw, violent mana humming through her skin flickered like a dying lightbulb.
Driven by pure, frantic desperation to clear the System’s timer, I pushed deeper, forcing her lips open and intertwining my tongue with hers.
I let go of her wrists entirely, sliding my hand up into her tangled brown hair to hold her head still, pulling her so close there wasn’t a single millimeter of space left between us.
The sensation of her soft, warm lips and the sudden, overwhelming taste of sweet vanilla hit me all at once, completely drowning out the sound of the crumbling room.
Luna’s entire body went limp in my arms.
Her hands, which had been raised to strike me, slowly drifted down, her fingers clutching weakly at the open fabric of my shirt as a soft, muffled gasp escaped her throat.
Dick—
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[EMERGENCY QUEST COMPLETED!]
• Objective Achieved: Structural Integrity Maintained.
• Rewards Granted: +5 Mana
• Current Mana Total: 28
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