Two days had passed in what felt like a tedious eternity of calculations and mana conditioning. The silence from Rose's end was deafening, exactly as I had predicted a charged, uncomfortable quiet that would be doing more work in her mind than any direct confrontation could.
I was in my dorm, having just finished a tedious review of my mana circulation patterns, when a knock sounded at the door.
I stood up, smoothing out my new nightclothes. These were the fruits of my recent investments: high collared, long sleeved, and made of a material thick enough to actually provide some semblance of modesty. No more black thongs acting as lightning rods for every stray gaze in the Academy. I felt more like a strategist and less like a walking provocation.
I opened the door. It was Cassius.
He looked different than he had two nights ago. The manic, almost feral energy had settled into something more controlled, more deliberate. But beneath that composure, I could see the restless tension in his jaw. The wait was clearly eating at him.
My face remained a perfectly neutral monument of ice, thanks to [Expression Suppression], though internally I was already assessing his state.
"What do you want, Cassius?" I asked, leaning against the doorframe to maintain a position of casual authority. "I told you to wait. Or is it because it's been two days and there's been no development?"
I kept my tone cold, clinical. I needed to establish immediately that I wasn't here to soothe his anxiety. I was here to manage his progress.
"Two days is a long time when you're waiting for a fuse to burn, Ellen," he said, his voice lower than before. He didn't try to push past me, but he didn't retreat either. He stood there in the hallway, the lamplight casting sharp shadows across his face. "I've been watching her. In class, in the halls. She's... she's different. She's distracted. Every time she thinks she's alone, she looks like she's remembering something."
A small, private spark of satisfaction flickered in my chest. The fever is setting in.
"That's the point of the silence, Cassius," I said flatly. "The memory is your leverage. If you interfere now, you break the spell. You become the boy who rushed her, instead of the man who captivated her. Do you understand the difference?"
He nodded slowly, his eyes searching mine. "I understand. But I also understand that she's not just remembering. She's avoiding Jin. Every time he tries to get close, she flinches. Just slightly. But she does it."
I tilted my head. "Good. The displacement has begun."
"Then you can be a little more forceful now," I said. "Get close to her when the three of you are together. Sit beside her. Maybe try touching her thigh or her hand during meals without Jin noticing. Small, deliberate escalations. That's the next phase."
Cassius froze.
"Ellen... isn't that going too far?" His brow furrowed, genuine doubt flickering across his face. "I mean... last time there was the excuse of being drunk. But if I do it consciously... it's not like using her as an outlet for pleasure will conquer her heart."
No, OF COURSE not, dummy! I screamed internally. You need actual charm! Conversation! Emotional intelligence! Not just a big dick and good bedroom skills! Do you think women are vending machines?! Insert affection, receive love?! This is exactly why you've been single for a decade, Cassius!
But and here was the bitter comedy of my situation despite that being the objective truth of my past world, this was not my past world. This was an eroge world. And in an eroge world, I knew exactly how the mechanics functioned.
"You don't understand, Cassius," I interrupted, my voice flat and precise, cutting through his moral crisis before it could spiral. "This is exactly the way you get a girl in this world. Use her for your pleasure. Make sure she gets the same. And it's a win. Pleasure shared is a bond formed. That's not cynicism; that's how attraction compounds here."
He stared at me.
"...That sounds like advice from a very strange romance manual," he said slowly.
"It's a proven methodology."
"By whom?"
"By people with better results than yours. You spent ten years watching from a window. I've read more successful case studies than you have."
He rubbed the back of his neck, looking somewhere between offended and convinced. "Fine. But touching her thigh during meals feels... sneaky. Like I'm treating her like... like a snack."
You ARE treating her like a snack. That's literally the genre. Welcome to the food chain, Cassius.
"Cassius," I said, with the patience of a woman explaining gravity to a bird. "When she felt your hand under her skirt, did she run away?"
"...No."
"Did she kiss you back?"
"...Yes."
"Did she cling to you afterward like you were the last warm thing in the building?"
He went red. "...Yes."
"Then her body has already voted. You're not 'sneaking.' You're reminding her of a result she already approved. There's a difference. Sneaking is theft. Reminding is... customer retention."
He blinked. "Customer retention."
"Repeat business, Cassius. The first kiss got her attention. Small touches keep the brand alive in her mind between purchases."
"...You're describing seduction like a business seminar."
"Everything is a business seminar if you're competent enough." I crossed my arms. "Now. Practical instructions. During your next shared meal, sit beside her, not across. Jin sits opposite; that's the natural geometry. Talk to Jin, keep his eyes on you. And under the table slow, calm, brief. Two minutes maximum. Thigh only. The goal is not to pleasure her in public like some kind of cafeteria deviant. The goal is to make her flinch, flush, and remember."
He nodded slowly, the blush fading into focus. "Two minutes. Thigh only. While talking to Jin."
"Exactly. And afterward, don't look at her. Act like nothing happened. The confusion will do more work than the touch."
He exhaled, half laugh, half surrender. "You're terrifying, you know that?"
"I'm effective. Terrifying is a side effect."
He turned to leave, then paused at the end of the hallway. "Hey, Ellen?"
"What."
"Thanks. Again." He grinned. "Even if your advice sounds like it was written by a demon wearing a suit."
If only you knew, Cassius. If only you knew.
"Go," I said flatly. "And remember: two minutes. Any longer and you'll turn a strategy into a scandal."
He saluted lazily and walked off down the corridor.
He was about to turn the corner when he stopped. He didn't just stop he pivoted, turning back to face me with a look that wasn't hesitant or anxious anymore. It was predatorily curious.
"Ellen," he said, his voice dropping into that dangerous, low register that made my pulse jump. "You said I should treat Rose like a snack for my pleasure. That this is how you get girls. Is that true for every girl?" His gaze darkened, sliding down my throat to where my collarbones met, then lingering on the swell of my chest before snapping back to my eyes. "Even you?"
The implication hung in the air like a loaded crossbow bolt. He wasn't asking for dating advice anymore. He was testing the market to see if the architect was also part of the inventory.
OH MY GOD.
Internally, I was screaming so loud I thought I might actually rupture an eardrum.
HE'S PROBING THE MARKET! HE'S DOING MARKET RESEARCH ON ME! The audacity! The absolute, unmitigated gall of this man! Does he think I'm just some exotic fruit he can pick off a tree because he saw the recipe?! I am the Chef! I am the Manager! I am the one who decides what gets eaten, not the one who gets consumed!
And yet because this body is a traitorous, ungrateful piece of biological equipment my reaction was instantaneous and devastating.
A hot, molten wave of arousal crashed through my lower abdomen. My thighs pressed together involuntarily, and I could feel the unmistakable, traitorous dampness beginning to pool beneath my new, high coverage underwear. My heart wasn't just beating; it was performing a frantic drum solo against my ribs.
Control it, Ellen! Use the skill! Use the skill before you turn into a puddle on the dorm floor!
"You are greedy, Cassius," I said.
My voice came out perfectly flat. Thanks to [Expression Suppression], my face remained a serene, unbothered mask of icy indifference. I looked like I was discussing the weather or perhaps the price of grain. I didn't look like a girl whose body was currently screaming 'YES, PLEASE, TAKE ME TO THE BREAKROOM AND EAT ME LIKE A SNACK'.
"Greed is a virtue in business," I added, leaning back against the doorframe to hide the fact that my knees felt like they were made of warm gelatin. "But you're getting ahead of yourself. You haven't even finished the first course with Rose."
Cassius didn't flinch. He just kept looking at me, that cocky, amused smile playing at the corners of his mouth as he read the micro tremor in my voice even if he couldn't see the flush beneath my skin.
"Just asking for future reference," he said, stepping back toward the hallway, though his eyes never left mine. "In case I need to diversify my portfolio."
"Diversify somewhere else," I snapped, though it lacked real venom. "Go practice your timing. And for heaven's sake, put some pants on that actually fit properly before you embarrass yourself again."
He laughed a genuine, throaty sound and finally turned to walk away.
I waited until his footsteps faded completely before I allowed myself to collapse against the wall, sliding down until I was sitting on the floor, legs splayed, breathing as if I'd just run a marathon through a Gate.
Fuck.
I need to renegotiate my entire worldview. And I definitely need to buy more laundry detergent.
But if Cassius keeps testing the merchandise like that, I'm going to need to upgrade my defensive barriers. Or at least buy pants that are five sizes thicker.