“Tessa, sweetheart, you’re not seriously planning to go out dressed like that, are you?”
Early the next morning, Tessa had just changed into what she considered the safest outfit possible, a plain T-shirt and long pants, when Vanessa Rose blocked her path.
The elegant, dangerously charming roommate was wearing the same oversized white button-down as before, her long pale legs catching the morning light in a way that made Tessa’s eyes go dizzy. One hand rested on her hip. In the other, she held a black camisole with so little fabric that it looked more like a threat than clothing. Her smile was full of bad intentions.
“Look at what you’re working with. That skin, those shoulders, that waist. You’re wasting all of it under these sad little rags.” Vanessa held the black camisole up in front of Tessa. “Come on. Try this with these faded denim shorts. I guarantee you’ll get a three-hundred-percent turn rate today.”
The shorts were so short they barely looked legal by Tessa’s personal standards. The distressed rips were placed just right, giving them a wild, dangerous kind of charm.
“N-No thanks! I think what I’m wearing is fine!” Tessa shook her head like a rattle and kept backing away.
Was she kidding? If Tessa went out dressed like that, the soul of her former straight-guy self would burn to death from sheer embarrassment.
“What are you so shy for? We’re all girls here,” Chloe Hart said, bouncing over with her usual energy. Without asking, she stuffed the shorts into Tessa’s arms. “Go change! Today is Club Fair. Room 407’s face of the group has to make a proper entrance.”
Iris Lane, who had been stretching nearby, stopped as well. She gave Tessa a cool once-over and said calmly, “Your proportions are good. You’ll look better in that than I would.”
When Tessa saw all three roommates looking like they were about to help her change by force, her soul nearly left her body. With a tiny scream, she grabbed the outfit that made her scalp tingle and fled into the bathroom.
The door slammed shut behind her. Only then did she breathe again.
But when she looked at the innocent-yet-dangerous face in the mirror, then down at the outfit in her hands, she thought bitterly that this life was impossible.
A few minutes later, the bathroom door opened again.
The dorm room went silent.
Tessa stepped out with her head lowered and her face burning red, looking like a startled little rabbit.
The simple black camisole outlined the balanced curves of her upper body perfectly. Against the black fabric, her pale skin seemed to glow. Her pretty shoulders, slim neck, and delicate collarbones were fully visible, giving her a sweet, youthful charm that still carried an undeniable pull. The denim shorts freed her straight, smooth legs completely, and with every step, the flash of pale skin was almost blinding.
“Wow…” Chloe breathed, her admiration completely sincere.
Vanessa gave a satisfied whistle. She walked over, lifted Tessa’s chin lightly with one finger, and laughed at the sight of her face, which was so red it looked ready to bleed.
“My little darling, are you trying to kill me?”
[Ding! Received “Amazement” from Vanessa Rose. Affection Points +3!]
[Ding! Received “Fondness” from Chloe Hart. Affection Points +2!]
[Ding! Received “Admiration” from Iris Lane. Affection Points +1!]
Amid the teasing and the steady rise of Affection Points in her head, Tessa was half-pushed and half-dragged out of the dorm by her three roommates.
Halewick University felt like it was celebrating a festival today.
From the dorm building to the main walkway, people were everywhere. Colorful banners fluttered overhead. Club booths stood one after another. Speakers blasted music loud enough to shake the air, and students in all kinds of costumes moved through the crowd. The entire campus seemed saturated with youth, excitement, and restless energy.
To Tessa, however, this ocean of noise was basically hell.
Her social anxiety alarms were screaming. Every time someone bumped into her, she felt like she was about to suffocate.
“Tessa, come on! The Anime Club’s cosplay looks amazing!” Chloe excitedly tugged her left hand, trying to drag her toward a crowd of costumed students.
“No. Tessa is coming with me to Dance Club. We’re doing a recruitment performance,” Iris said, taking her right hand and pulling her firmly in the opposite direction.
“Stop fighting over her. Tessa is too delicate for this much pushing around,” Vanessa said, gently guarding her from behind. “Why don’t we visit the Student Council booth first? It should be quieter there.”
Pulled in three different directions, Tessa felt like a rag doll about to be torn apart. Her head spun, and she wanted to collapse on the spot.
Just as she was about to break, a cool, gentle voice cut through the noise like salvation and landed clearly in her ears.
“Tessa?”
Tessa snapped her head up.
The crowd seemed to part on its own, opening a path. Seraphina Frost was walking toward her with several Student Council officers, a soft smile on her face.
She was like the one clear color on a chaotic battlefield, elegant and untouched by the noise. The sight of her instantly soothed every frantic feeling in Tessa’s chest.
“S-Seraphina!” Tessa’s eyes lit up as if she had just seen her rescuer.
Seraphina’s gaze fell on Tessa’s outfit. She paused for a moment, then the smile in her eyes deepened. She walked up to Tessa and, with terrifying naturalness, took the hand Tessa had no idea where to put. Then she turned to Tessa’s three roommates with a gentle smile.
“Sorry. I happen to have some Student Council matters to discuss with Tessa. May I borrow her for a while?”
That warm smile, paired with the authority of the Student Council vice president, left Chloe and the others with no way to refuse. They could only watch as Tessa was “kidnapped.”
“O-Of course,” Chloe said.
And so, once again under countless watching eyes, Tessa was led through the crowd by Seraphina and brought to the Student Council recruitment booth in the very center of the main walkway.
“Sit here. There are too many people, and you’ve gone pale.” Seraphina guided Tessa into the seat beside her and even poured her a cup of warm water.
The nearby Student Council members stared at their vice president, who was usually cool and hard to approach, treating a younger student with such tenderness. Their eyes nearly fell out of their heads as they glanced back and forth between the two of them, curiosity and gossip written all over their faces.
Feeling the warmth of Seraphina’s palm and breathing in that familiar gardenia scent, Tessa’s racing heart finally began to settle.
Unfortunately, she did not even have time to enjoy that brief peace before the flashy chibi devil UI appeared in front of her with a dangerous red glow and another cheerful “biu.”
[Ding! Perfect quest trigger detected. Limited-Time Quest issued.]
[Quest Name: An Intimate Feeding]
[Objective: At the Club Fair, personally feed any food item to a female with an appearance rating of 90 or higher.]
[Reward: Affection Points +50. Unlock new feature, [Sweet Whisper].]
[Failure Penalty: Random Succubus Debuff [Public Cuteness] will activate. For the next ten minutes, every sentence you speak will unconsciously end with “meow.”]
“H-Hand-feed?!”
“And if I fail, I have to meow?!”
Tessa stared at the quest panel. Her vision went dark for a second, and she nearly died on the spot.
Was this system a demon?
Feeding a girl by hand in front of the entire campus? That was worse than killing her. But the failure penalty was just as horrifying. The thought of standing there with this face, in front of Seraphina and a crowd of people, saying “meow” after every sentence made Tessa feel like the scythe of social death was already pressed against her neck.
She looked around in despair. There were plenty of pretty girls in sight, but the only one the system rated over ninety was the moonlit campus goddess beside her, who was currently explaining the different Student Council departments in a gentle voice.
Seraphina Frost.
The only target.
Also the most impossible one.
No. Absolutely not. That’s way too weird. Way too inappropriate.
Tessa howled in her heart over and over.
But her succubus survival instinct screamed right back.
Imagine this. Seraphina says, “I’ll introduce the Student Council to you.” You answer, “Okay, meow.” She asks, “Are you all right?” You say, “Thank you for worrying about me, meow.” Are you sure you want that?
Just as Tessa was struggling so hard she nearly split in two, a perfect assist fell from the sky.
“Seraphina, you all must be working hard. These are fresh teddy bear cookies from the Baking Club. Please try some!”
A chubby boy from the booth next door came over, holding a neatly packaged box of cookies. His face was bright red as he offered them.
Seraphina thanked him politely and casually placed the box in front of Tessa. Then she smiled at her.
“Hungry? You can have some to hold you over.”
Tessa looked at the box of cute teddy bear cookies, then at the merciless countdown on the quest panel.
For dignity.
For the dignity of not meowing.
Tessa gritted her teeth and hardened her heart.
She was doing this.
Her heart felt like it was about to jump out of her throat. She breathed in, then breathed in again, repeating the same thought to herself like a spell.
This was acting. This was survival. This was a necessary sacrifice for an epic quest.
With a trembling hand, she reached into the box. Her fingertips were faintly white from tension as she picked up a bear-shaped cookie.
Then she squeezed her eyes shut. Her face turned red in an instant. With the tragic courage of someone walking to the gallows, she stiffly, rigidly, held the cookie straight up to Seraphina’s mouth.
Her hand shook like a leaf in an autumn wind. She was so embarrassed and nervous that she did not even dare open her eyes to see Seraphina’s reaction. She could only rely on feeling and hold the cookie in place.
In that moment, everyone at the Student Council booth, along with every passerby who noticed the scene, turned to look.
All eyes focused on the stunning girl with her eyes squeezed shut and her face burning red, offering a teddy bear cookie to the campus goddess as if she were undergoing torture.
From Seraphina’s point of view, however, the scene looked entirely different.
The girl beside her had suddenly blushed for some reason. Then, with the courage of someone risking everything, she closed her eyes and tremblingly held a cookie to Seraphina’s lips.
That expression, so shy she looked close to tears, yet still trying her hardest to “feed” Seraphina, felt like the softest little paw scratching at Seraphina’s heart. Soft, prickly, and impossible to ignore.
What was this impossibly precious creature?
Seraphina immediately interpreted the entire situation in the most favorable way possible. Tessa must have gathered the courage of her entire life to do something clumsy and pure, all because she wanted to get closer to her.
Looking at Tessa’s tightly shut eyes and trembling lashes, Seraphina did not find it strange or abrupt at all. Instead, tenderness and indulgence nearly overflowed from her gaze.
She smiled faintly.
Then, under everyone’s stare, she slowly leaned closer.