I arrived exactly fifteen minutes early. Punctuality is a professional courtesy, and if I was going to be the director of this little production, I needed to be backstage before the actors took their marks.
I knocked, and the door swung open almost immediately. Cassius stood there, and for a heartbeat, my brain short circuited.
He wasn't wearing a shirt.
He stood there bare chested, muscles defined and warm in the lamplight, looking like he'd been caught in some kind of impromptu training session. The evidence of his physique the broad shoulders, the lean lines of his abdomen was impossible to ignore.
"Were you trying something with that?" I asked, my voice remaining flat despite the fact that my heartbeat was already accelerating into a dangerous rhythm. "It doesn't work, Cassius."
Damn this world, I thought bitterly. Every single person is built like a Greek god. Even the childhood friends. It's statistically improbable and deeply unfair.
I pushed past him into the room before he could respond to my accusation. I sat on the edge of his bed, the springs creaking slightly under my weight, and grabbed a potato chip from the low table he had prepared. I needed the salt; my nerves were already fraying.
"So where do I stand?" I asked, crunching on the chip with forced nonchalance. "I can't exactly join your little party as the uninvited guest."
Cassius appeared behind me, pulling on a shirt with obvious reluctance and a visible flush creeping up his neck. He looked like a man who had been caught doing something shameful, even though he'd been the one to open the door shirtless.
"I don't have a better place, unfortunately," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. He pointed toward his closet. "But it's spacious enough for you to lie down in and not be bothered. You can monitor everything from in there."
I stood up, walked over, and opened the closet door. He wasn't lying. It was a generous walk in closet, lined with neatly hung uniforms and enough space for me to sit cross legged on a small rug without feeling claustrophobic.
"Alright," I said, turning back to him. I needed to reassert control. The proximity to his bare skin had made my pulse spike, and I needed to re establish the professional distance that kept me sane. "I'll be in there. I will send you a text when it's time for you to fake your bathroom break. Once you're positioned, I'll text you when the moment is right for the kiss."
I fixed him with my most serious, business like stare.
"Any questions? Any last doubts? This is the final briefing before we go live."
Cassius took a breath, his jaw working as he steadied himself. "No. I've got it. The bathroom break, the fake intoxication, the kiss. I'm ready, Ellen. Let's just... let's hope the universe cooperates."
"The universe doesn't cooperate, Cassius. People cooperate," I corrected him. "Now, go get dressed properly and wait for them. I'm going to get settled."
I retreated into the closet, the door clicking shut behind me. The space was quiet, smelling faintly of cedar and expensive detergent. I sat down on the floor, crossing my legs, and pulled my phone from my pocket. The screen glowed in the darkness, casting a pale light over my face.
I leaned my head against the back wall of the closet, closing my eyes.
This is it. Phase One of the Rose Mira route. The moment the first domino falls.
My heart was still hammering against my ribs, but I forced it down. I had spent too much time preparing for this moment to let nerves ruin it. I needed to be the ghost in the machine. The invisible hand that nudged destiny into its new shape.
Just remember: monitor the timing, watch the alcohol consumption, and don't let your own pulse betray you.
I settled into the darkness, waiting for the sound of footsteps, the laughter of students, and the beginning of the end for Rose Mira's innocence.
***
From my wooden observation post, the party unfolded exactly as scripted. The door had opened with laughter, Jin and Rose walking in with the easy warmth of people who'd known each other since diapers.
Small talk. Academy gossip. The classic nostalgia circuit.
"...remember when Cassius fell into the river trying to impress that girl in middle school?"
"I was NOT trying to impress her. I was okay, maybe a little."
"You screamed, Cassius. You screamed like a kettle."
"Jin laughed so hard he couldn't pull me out for a full minute!"
"He left me there! My best friend left me there to DROWN!"
"You were in one meter of water."
"ONE METER OF HUMILIATION, Rose."
Rose giggled, the sound soft and bright through the closet door. Jin laughed, deep and easy. It was, objectively, a pleasant scene. Two boys and a girl, childhood friends, reminiscing about rivers and kettles.
Fascinating, I thought, shifting my weight for the fourth time in ten minutes. Absolutely riveting television. Truly the golden age of programming.
I want to move. My leg is asleep. My left butt cheek has been sitting on a coat hanger for an hour. This closet was not designed for stakeouts. This closet was designed for coats. COATS, Cassius.
Because yes the drinking had started. Jin and Cassius were working through the bottles, glasses clinking, while Rose sipped her grape juice with the serene patience of the designated adult.
But the pace. THE PACE.
Two hours. It's been TWO HOURS. At this rate, Jin will be pleasantly tipsy by sunrise. Do these men have livers or industrial processing plants? I'm watching two of the most efficient mana cores in the first year metabolize alcohol like it's tap water. OF COURSE. They're Awakened. Awakened bodies burn alcohol like jet fuel. I DIDN'T ACCOUNT FOR THE METABOLISM. Amateur mistake, Ellen. Amateur. Mistake.
I unlocked my phone, thumbs moving with cold efficiency.
'Accelerate the pace.'
Through the sliver of light from the door, I watched Cassius glance at his screen, frown faintly, and then give a tiny, almost invisible nod toward the closet.
Good boy. Take the direction. Follow the script.
He immediately pivoted, leaning back with a lazy grin and announcing:
"Alright, Jin. Drinking game. Loser of each round drinks. No mana reinforcement allowed that's cheating, and cheaters drink double."
"You're on," Jin replied instantly, because of course he did. Pride. The most exploitable resource in the universe.
They started some convoluted game involving cards and reflexes, and the glasses began refilling faster. Rose watched them with the fond, exasperated expression of a woman babysitting two overgrown children.
Faster. Faster. Drink, you beautiful idiots. Drink like your romance arc depends on it. Because one of yours does.
I settled back against the wall, watching the glasses empty and refill.
Never understood drinking games, honestly. Even in my first life, as a freshman everyone around me treating alcohol like a competitive sport while I sat there calculating how bad tomorrow's headache would be. Being drunk feels like shit. It's a tax on your body with zero return on investment.
But tonight, it's the most profitable transaction in this Academy.
Drink up, Jin. Your fetish needs an origin story.
Two more hours. Two more excruciating hours of watching the slow motion train wreck of Jin Kang's alcohol tolerance.
Finally, the inevitable happened. Jin, the C rank prodigy who could manipulate four primal elements, couldn't manipulate a single bottle of cheap whiskey. He slumped forward, his forehead hitting the table with a dull thunk. "I wooooon..." he slurred, the words dissolving into a drunken groan.
Cassius, who had been playing the part of the equally intoxicated rival while secretly rationing his intake like a seasoned spy, grinned with genuine delight. "Nope. I won." He laughed, patting Jin's back with mock sympathy as the protagonist began to sway dangerously.
"Cassius! Honestly!" Rose's voice cut through the room, fond but laced with that exasperated edge that only childhood friends can manage. She immediately moved to Jin's side, her hands gentle as she helped him upright. "You know he can't handle this much. You're being terrible."
"Me? Terrible?" Cassius slurred, his voice thick with practiced guilt. "I was just... playing fair, Rose. Fair and square."
"You're both terrible," she muttered, though there was no real heat in it. "Sit down before you both end up on the floor."
From the safety of my closet, I watched Cassius. His apology was convincing, his stumble convincing, but his eyes those red eyes were fixed on Rose. I could see the way he watched her fingers as she caressed Jin's back, the way he tracked every movement of her hips as she hovered over his friend. He wasn't just playing a role; he was starving.
Then came the signal. Jin let out a wet, pathetic snort a sound so uncharacteristic of the composed hero that Rose and Cassius both burst into laughter.
Perfect. The moment of vulnerability. The moment of distraction.
I tapped my phone screen. 'Now.'
Cassius's phone buzzed. I watched through the crack in the door as his expression shifted from playful drunkenness to a staged, nauseating grimace. He hunched over, clutching his stomach.
"R... I need the toilets... Sorry, Rose. Hate this stuff..." he stumbled, staggering toward the bathroom. He left the door cracked just an inch, a calculated invitation for the next act.
Rose, focused on stabilizing Jin, watched Cassius disappear with a worried glance. "Cassius? Are you okay?" When no reply came except the sound of the door clicking shut, she bit her lip. She looked at Jin, then at the bathroom door, and with a determined nod, she stood up. "I'll check on him."
She entered the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
I waited. Five seconds. Ten. Fifteen. The silence in the room was deafening, broken only by Jin's rhythmic, drunken snoring.
Then, the world flicked.
[ NTR EVENT ! Rose Mira and Cassius Desde ! Would you like to watch ? ]
I froze. My heart stopped mid beat. The System wasn't just a tracker; it was offering me a VIP seat. A voyeur's pass to the very corruption I had orchestrated. The implications made my skin crawl even as my curiosity burned like acid.
Yes, I thought, the word echoing in my mind with desperate urgency. Show me. Show me what I've done.
My vision dissolved into a blinding white light, and suddenly, the cramped confines of the closet vanished. The smell of cedar was replaced by the sterile, humid air of the bathroom.
I wasn't standing in the room anymore. I was watching through the eyes of the event itself. The bathroom tiles, the dim light filtering through the cracked door, the sounds of muffled breathing.
And then I saw them.
My eyes widened. My jaw dropped.
HOLY SHIT! I screamed internally, a sound that no one could hear but that felt like it should have shattered the building. I told him to commit, but not like THIS! Cassius, you absolute maniac, what are you doing?!