"Embezzlement of event funds?"
Aoi's eyes slowly widened, and her breath caught in her throat. She was completely baffled by what she had just heard.
"..."
A moment of silence followed, but soon Aoi's expression shifted from shock to confusion before settling into a cold, clinical expression.
"Excuse me. What did you say?"
Ren, who had been smiling the whole time, watched her regain her composure and act as if she hadn't heard him.
"Oh, you didn't hear me? I said, why are you embezzling the funds, Aoi?!"
This time, Ren's voice was clear and filled the entire room, showing that he wasn't backing down, even if she displayed that dangerous expression.
In Ren's mind, the following interaction was very important. It would determine the outcome of his little plan.
'Now everything is set for the maximum use of my skill.'
Ren thought about the system, and the skill window appeared in front of him. Without wasting a second, he activated it, and his vision began to blur.
The first step in Ren's plan to make Aoi his partner was to gather more information about her weaknesses, which he intended to use against her. To do that, he would rely on the Eyes of Desire skill rather than ordinary information-gathering methods.
But there was a problem: did the Eyes of Desire show random information, or did it reveal what a person was thinking about or concerned with at that moment?
After thinking it over, Ren concluded that the only way to avoid losing out in this scenario was to bring up a topic and activate the Eyes of Desire at that moment to see what information appeared. If all the information was related to the topic, that would prove his second theory. If not, his first theory would be correct.
Ren's vision returned from its blurry state, and his gaze fell on Aoi's face. This time, there was no pain or overwhelming sensation. He could clearly see her, and what he saw was Aoi surrounded by several blue texts. There were more than two.
(About to leave)
(Altered the cash logs by underreporting ticket sales from the school dance)
(Confused)
(Creating fake receipts for club supplies)
'Just four? Is this the limit of what I can see at my current level? And no purple text... Interesting.'
It was a success for Ren, as he had confirmed not one but three things with this single activation.
First, the Eyes of Desire only showed information that the target was thinking about or that was relevant to them at that moment. The source of this chapter is g.com.
Second, the purple text was absent, which meant that it only appeared when the target experienced sexual desire at that moment.
Third, the backlash he had experienced in the cafeteria was caused by the large number of people within his field of vision.
Now armed with this new information, Ren stopped the activation, and his eyes returned to normal. In real life, only one second had passed, making this experience completely different from the last time, when Ren had been stunned for ten minutes.
Aoi hadn't broken down under Ren's loud repetition of his accusation. Instead, she continued acting confused.
"Embezzlement? What are you talking about, Ren? Is this some prank Takeshi made you pull? If so, tell him it's not working..."
Aoi's act was perfect. Anyone could have fallen for it, but Ren knew the truth and cut her off mid-sentence.
"Aoi, there's no need to pretend. You just altered the cash logs by underreporting ticket sales from the school dance."
It wasn't a good day for Aoi. One shock followed another. Under normal circumstances, she wasn't an easy person to crack. After all, she was the vice president of the student council, a very smart and composed person indeed. But this time was different.
She had been caught in the middle of tampering with the school's financial documents. Not only that, but the person who caught her knew exactly what she was doing. Adding to that was the fact that he knew what she had done just minutes ago.
"You..."
"Not only that, but you also created fake receipts for club supplies, didn't you?"
"How...? Di...d you... How?"
There was no doubt that Ren knew Aoi understood the situation, but how? How did he know about the scandal and what she had just done? Had he been watching her the entire time? Suddenly, Aoi remembered something.
She remembered how Ren had been acting that day and the way he had been looking at her all the time. She had thought it was all in her head, but now...
'Checkmate, Aoi. There's no way out of this. Just take the bait.'
Ren's smile didn't fade for even a second as he waited for Aoi to take the bait so he could move on to the second step of his plan.
From Aoi's point of view, the situation seemed hopeless. There was no way she could pretend not to know anything in front of someone who even knew what she had been doing minutes ago. But admitting to it wasn't an option either, because there was still a possibility that he knew what she had done but didn't have solid proof.
Words were just words, after all, and for an accusation like this, Ren needed more than just words. That was where the gamble came in. He needed to provide some information to make her believe he had all the proof, and it seemed to be working very well. He had mentioned exactly what she had been doing just moments ago.
After twenty seconds of silence, Aoi exhaled deeply and broke the silence.
Aoi admitted it. Her reasoning was simple: the strongest possibility was that Ren had some proof. Considering his character, he wasn't the type of person who would do something like this without a reason. There had to be something he wanted as well. Besides, someone who knew what she had been doing could definitely find proof, so she admitted it.
Ren's smile deepened. He had succeeded, and now it was time for the second step to start.
"Look, Aoi, I'm a direct guy, so let's skip all the boring questions about how I know, whether anybody else knows, and why I chose you, because I'm not telling you. So, what do you say?"
Aoi didn't argue any further and simply answered.
"what you want?."
"Good to know that you understand me so well."
As Ren replied to her in a sarcastic tone, he started walking toward Aoi with measured steps. Each step made a sound that made Aoi uncomfortable.
"You see, I have an offer for you. I know you're not the one at fault here. I know it was Takeshi's fault from the start and that you're just covering for him. That's why I'm going to make you an offer rather than just straight-up blackmailing you."
With each step, Ren got closer to her as he continued talking. Aoi was speechless. Even at this point, she had thought nothing could shock her anymore, but apparently, that wasn't the case today.
"You know about Takeshi, too. Did he tell you?"
"Of course not. He's your frailer boyfriend who put you in this awkward situation. Why would he rat you out?"
By the time he finished speaking, Ren was only five steps away from her. This filled Aoi with an overwhelming sense of discomfort, forcing her to stand up from the sofa and move away from him—from this person who seemed to know everything about her.
"So, it just happens that you know everything, huh? Are you a stalker?"
Ren stopped in front of the sofa and turned to face Aoi, who had moved to the right side of it.
"No, but it happed that i know that you were thinking about having sex with Takeshi—about squeezing his dick, listening to his moans, and all sorts of stuff. when we were in the cafeteria "
"Wha...?"
"..."
Aoi's face turned red, and her heart filled with fear and unease.
"So, Aoi, would you like to hear my offer?"
Aoi was afraid of this person, someone who was even able to uncover her secret, naughty thoughts. So, she nodded in response, with only a vague idea of what he might offer.
"The deal is simple. For seven nights, from 7:45 PM to 10:45 PM, you will come to me and offer yourself. On the final night, I will erase your mistake, and you will be free to go," Ren said as he sat on the sofa.