She turned back to her desk.
Grabbed her laptop.
"You want to put sothing on? Watch a movie or sothing?"
Deflection.
Classic.
I could push.
Find out why money was a sore subject for her.
But honestly?
I didn’t care enough right now.
My brain was still processing the fact that I’d just made a girl squirt for the first ti in either of my lives.
"Yeah sure. Or we could do howork."
She whipped around so fast her tail nearly knocked over a textbook.
"After you made co multiple tis and squirt all over my bed you want to do calculus?"
"Just saying. The howork isn’t gonna do itself."
Her mouth opened.
Closed.
Opened again.
Then she laughed.
"Touché."
She looked down.
Her eyes landed sowhere south of my belt.
Her cheeks went dark again.
"Sorry. That looks painful."
I glanced down at the obvious tent in my jeans.
Yeah.
Blue balls are real and they suck.
"It’s fine."
"Are you sure because I could—"
"I’m sure."
I really just wanted to kiss her again.
Watch a movie.
Eat pizza.
Pretend for a few hours that my life wasn’t a transmigrated nightmare with a death tir attached to a harem quest.
Is that too much to ask?
She bit her lip.
Nodded.
"Okay. I’m gonna pick out a movie then. Any preference?"
"Nah. You choose."
She walked over to the bed and sat cross-legged with her laptop balanced on her thighs.
I looked down at my hand.
The one that had been inside her shorts five minutes ago.
My fingers still glistened slightly in the light from her desk lamp.
Fuck it.
I brought them to my mouth and sucked.
Sweet.
Like cinnamon and honey and sothing else I couldn’t na.
Damn.
ra tastes good.
I pulled my hand away and wiped it on my jeans.
Then opened my status screen ntally.
The familiar interface materialized in the corner of my vision.
STATUS
NA: Ro D’Angelo
TITLE: The Wrong Protagonist
HERO RATING: ★☆☆☆☆
PROTAGONIST %: 1.2%
The percentage had gone up.
Not by much.
But it had moved.
I scrolled down to the active quests section.
ACTIVE QUESTS
❖ [MAIN] HAREM LORD
Progress: 1/7 Heroine Slots Filled
699 days remaining
❖ [STORY] FIRST IMPRESSIONS AT COASTLINE HERO ACADEMY
58 hours remaining
Wait.
What.
I stared at the first line.
Progress: 1/7 Heroine Slots Filled
One slot filled.
Already.
ra.
The realization hit like cold water.
I’d known the quest required to steal seven heroines from the original protagonist.
I’d known I needed to complete the first story quest within seventy-two hours or die.
But I hadn’t expected ra to count as a heroine.
She wasn’t in the novel.
At least not in the parts I rembered.
Unless she was one of the side characters I’d skipped over entirely.
Which is possible.
Probable even.
I skimd half the damn book.
I scrolled down further to see if there were any details.
HEROINE ACQUISITION TRACKER
❖ SLOT 1 — Marilyn "ra" Cross [ACQUIRED]
Affection Level: 62%
Bond Strength: Moderate
Essentia Compatibility: High
Notes: First contact established. Genuine emotional connection detected. Subject displays curiosity and attraction independent of VIRGIN KILLER influence. Continue developnt.
❖ SLOT 2 — [VACANT]
❖ SLOT 3 — [VACANT]
❖ SLOT 4 — [VACANT]
❖ SLOT 5 — [VACANT]
❖ SLOT 6 — [VACANT]
❖ SLOT 7 — [VACANT]
Sixty-two percent affection.
Moderate bond strength.
Genuine emotional connection.
I closed the screen and looked at ra.
She was still scrolling through movies on her laptop.
Her tail swayed back and forth behind her in a lazy pattern.
Completely unaware that the system had just classified her as heroine number one.
Shit.
This complicates things.
Because if ra counted as a heroine that ant she was supposed to be with the original protagonist in so version of this story.
Which ant I’d just stolen her.
On day one.
Good.
That’s the whole point of the quest.
Steal them all.
Leave nothing for him.
But sothing about the words "genuine emotional connection" bothered .
The system knew the difference.
Between a girl who chose and a girl who had no other options.
Between attraction caused by VIRGIN KILLER and attraction that existed on its own.
ra likes .
Actually likes .
Not just because of the incubus bullshit.
I didn’t know how to feel about that.
My past life self would have called it a win and moved on to the next target.
Great.
Now I have a conscience.
When did that happen.
Sothing warm wrapped around my torso.
Two hands crossed over my chest from behind.
I turned my head and saw ra grinning at .
Her chin rested on my shoulder.
"Hey. You zoned out on ."
"Sorry. Just thinking."
"About what?"
About how you’re apparently heroine number one in a quest that requires to seduce six more girls while keeping you interested enough to stay.
About how I have no idea what I’m doing.
About how this entire situation is insane.
"Nothing important."
She squeezed tighter.
"Well stop thinking. I have 21 Leap Drive queued up."
21 Leap Drive?
I blinked.
"What’s that?"
"You’ve never seen it? It’s a classic. Undercover cops in a high school with Essentia users. Super campy but the action scenes are amazing."
This world’s version of 21 Jump Street.
Got it.
"Sounds good. Let’s watch."
She let go and flopped back onto the bed.
Patted the space next to her.
I climbed up and settled in beside her.
She angled the laptop so we could both see the screen.
Hit play.
The opening credits rolled with upbeat music and shots of a high school campus that looked suspiciously like Coastline.
Product placent maybe.
ra leaned against my shoulder.
Her tail draped over my legs again.
I could feel her breathing.
Slow and even.
The movie played.
Two cops got assigned to go undercover as students.
One of them had super strength.
The other could turn invisible.
The dialogue was terrible.
The acting was worse.
But ra laughed at every dumb joke and I found myself smiling despite the quality.
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
I pulled it out and checked the screen.
Unknown number.
I answered.
"Yeah?"
"Delivery for D’Angelo. I’m at the main entrance to Building F."
Pizza.
Right.
"Be right down."
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