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Chapter 9: She Called Me a Hentai

Chapter 9: She Called Me a Hentai

They rounded into the next rack and nearly collided with her.

"Oh." Dumpster girl caught herself, one hand out. "Sorry."

"No, you’re good." The assistant recovered fast, professional smile already back in place.

Her eyes flicked to Adrian for half a second, a moment of recognition settling, then nothing.

She asked what they were after, half curious whether "jacket" counted as its own occasion or if there was something more specific behind it.

Adrian didn’t pay mind to what they conversed next. All he knew was that in time The assistant was already pulling one off the rack before Rose finished answering.

He drifted a step back and let them handle it, watching the pile in Rose’s arms grow with the specific dread of a man watching a bill rack up in real time.

Small mercy. Not his money on the line. Then the thought caught up with itself half a second later.

Wait.

He looked at Dumpster girl. Looked at the pile. Looked at himself, standing there with nothing to contribute but perhaps the bill covering.

Nobody had said the word pay. Nobody needed to. That was the problem.

His hand found his phone before his brain had fully signed off on checking. He clicked on his bank app. $107.89 stared back at him.

He was suddenly a lot less relaxed than he’d been thirty seconds ago.

Dumpster girl held a grey jacket up against herself in the mirror one more time, then turned, catching him mid-stare before he’d managed to look busy.

"Well?"

He looked at it properly instead of nodding along on reflex. "It looks nice." A beat. "Kind of highlights your eyes."

She blinked, caught slightly off guard. "That sounds pervy in any perspective you look at it."

"Pervy?" He raised a brow. "You’re the one who told me not to be chicken."

"Doesn’t mean it wasn’t totally eechi." A small smile. "Expected you to just say ’looks good’ and move on."

"Would’ve, if it didn’t look good."

"Careful." She held the jacket against herself again, tilting her head at the mirror instead of at him. "Keep talking like that and I’m gonna start thinking you’re some harem loving creep.."

He didn’t particularly mean to but his eyes drifted down to the curves of her waist. Her waist. A sophomore’s waist. She had a small frame. A bit surprising that he was still bigger than his own upperclassman. Still, her petitness was pretty. Almost like Maya’s...

Stop it. Jackass.

He’d gone this long without thinking about her. Didn’t need to start now.

"Is that a bad thing?" He kept his face carefully blank.

"Ofcourse." She said it like a threat and a compliment. "Who the hell likes a harem?"

She carried everything she’d bought and proceeded towards the register herself, leaving Adrian alone for a moment.

Who likes harem? He scratched his hair. Umm. Every real guy, maybe?

He moved after her, catching up as she set everything on the counter. The total came up. He braced without meaning to. Pure reflex left over from an hour ago that hadn’t gotten the memo this wasn’t his bill.

However, she already had her card out before he’d finished bracing.

He blinked.The knot in his chest finally loosing. "You’re paying for all that?"

"It’s my stuff." She said it like the question itself was strange. "Why. Were you planning to?"

"No. I mean." He stopped, hearing exactly how that sounded a beat too late. "No."

The relief must’ve shown, because she caught it instantly, the specific way his shoulders dropped half an inch he hadn’t noticed holding.

"You were sweating that. Weren’t you."

"I wasn’t sweating anything."

"You sure?" She tapped her card against the reader without looking away from him. "You went quiet on me for a second there."

"I was thinking..."

"About?"

The flash of his account balance ran through his head. Definitely not something he wanted to remember.

"Nothing good."

The reader beeped green. She pocketed her card, already turning for the bag the assistant was holding out. Their conversation continued as they moved to the exit.

By the time they stepped outside, the lot lights had already started flickering on one at a time, the late night settling in with the specific quiet of a day everyone was ready to be done with.

His phone buzzed.

New Mechanic Unlocked: Investment Candidate

A designation assigned to individuals who may be selected for future system-linked engagement. Host may register one Candidate at a time. Registration is permanent until reassigned.

An investment target. He looked up.

...Her.

She was a few steps ahead, adjusting the bags in her hand, jacket bag swinging against her leg, completely unaware she’d just been quietly filed under a category he wasn’t prepared to think too hard about right now.

Don’t.

He pocketed the phone before it could say anything else unhelpful.

"You need a ride?" Came out level. No hesitation behind it, whatever was actually happening underneath. "We’re going the same way anyway."

She stopped, one eyebrow up. "You’re offering to drive your neighbor. From two buildings away."

"...Yeah."

"That’s not a ride. That’s a very slow, very unnecessary favor."

"I’m aware."

She studied him a second, deciding whether to let it go or make him suffer a little longer for it. Landed somewhere in between.

"I’m swinging by the convenience store first. Need drinks." She shifted the bags. "Go ahead without me."

She turned toward the sidewalk. He didn’t move.

"I want to get to know you."

She stopped mid-step and turned back around, unreadable for exactly one second before the eyebrow came back up. "What?"

"You heard me."

"I heard you say something. Doesn’t mean it made sense." She crossed her arms, shopping bags swinging with the motion. "We met this morning. Over a dumpster."

"Sounds like a good origin story to me."

That got something out of her , not quite a laugh, more the sound right before one, held back on principle. "You’re also, what. Eighteen?"

"Nineteen."

"Practically a toddler."

"And you’re a sophomore." A beat. " We covered this already."

"Doesn’t mean I have to make it easy for you." A small shrug. "Some things are more fun to make you work for."

She tilted her head, studying him the way she had back in the fitting room. "You’re not even a little embarrassed right now?"

"Should I be?"

"Most people would be."

"Oh." He replied. "I’m not most people. And things don’t get to me that easily."

That was partially true. Mostly because he was already contemplating how the heck he was going to get a stranger to have dinner with him in less than eight hours.

"Fine." She said, bring Adrian back to reality.

"Hm?" A beat. "Fine?"

She turned to him. "I accept your giving me a drive offer." She inspected him for a moment as though it brought comfort.. "But you better not try anything pervy around me... Hentai."

"Don’t worry." He said. "Maybe we could even sneak in getting something we could eat after. My treat."

She raised her brow. "Your treat?"

He nodded. She smiled. No rejection sighted. It was secured. He officially had the date. Well. Kinda.

Without another word. She walked up to him, still mostly shocked.

"Alright freshman...so." She glanced through the parking lot. "Which one’s yours?"

~~~

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