Chapter 13: SOLID PLAN

I dismissed the system update and focused on the last page she had turned over. Nodding, genuinely impressed, I leaned back in my seat. Sarah closed the sketchbook, the heavy leather cover snapping shut with a soft thud. A small, self-deprecating smile played on her lips as she cleared her throat.

"I should hide this," she murmured, keeping her hand resting on the cover. "Don’t want Hubert to see it."

I nodded understandingly. "Yeah... Oh, by the way, I actually ordered some pizza earlier. If you haven’t had dinner yet, we could share it. I’d love to hear more about that anime."

"Pizza?" Sarah asked, standing up from the couch. She hesitated, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "Mm. I don’t know..."

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OPPORTUNITY DETECTED

[Grievance: Ignores her at dinner]

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[ SUGGESTED ACTION ]

"As a thank you for rushing me

to the hospital that day. And,

well, I kinda need a friend, as well."

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COST: 25 Lust

EST. GAIN: ???

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"Consider it a thank you for rushing me to the hospital that day," I added smoothly, executing the system’s prompt. "And, well... I kinda need a friend as well."

The hesitation melted off her face. She rubbed the back of her neck and shrugged. "Sure. I’m claiming the big slices, though."

"Okay, I changed my mind," I chuckled, pushing myself up from the armchair.

She laughed, the tension completely leaving her shoulders. "I’ll just run and hide the book and be right with you. Meet you downstairs at your place?"

"Yep."

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PERCEPTION CHECK: x

[Needed: 15] - [Result: 14]

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You were going to quote a

character from the anime.

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Damn it. My Perception skill was still too low, so the reference slipped right through my fingers. The system added my dice rolls to my base stat of PER, which was ten. That sucked. I definitely needed to focus on pumping points into Perception moving forward if I wanted to stop missing these extra windows.

With a small wave from her, I stepped out of the apartment and headed downstairs to my place. Once inside, I stretched my arms and looked at the kitchen table. To be honest, I hadn’t actually expected her to accept the offer. The only real downside was that I was hungry as a monster; I’d ordered a single large pizza fully intending to demolish the entire thing in one sitting. I guess I was sharing now.

A few moments later, a soft knock rattled the door. I opened it to find Sarah standing on the welcome mat, wearing casual flip-flops and holding a cold two-liter bottle of Coca-Cola.

"I didn’t want to come over empty-handed," she smiled, gesturing with the bottle.

"Oh, perfect," I said, taking the heavy bottle from her hands. "Come on in, sit down. I’ll pour us some drinks."

"Wow. You ordered from Rambly’s, huh?" she noted, walking over to the small dining table where the steaming box sat. "Yummy."

"Yep. Best pizza place in the whole city, I tell you," I called out, walking into the kitchen area.

I grabbed two tall glass tumblers from the cupboard, the ice-cold plastic of the soda bottle sweating against my palms. Twisting the cap off with a sharp hiss, I poured the liquid down the sides of the glasses, watching the foam rise and settle. I capped the bottle, grabbed the two glasses, and walked back into the living room.

She had already taken a seat at the table, so I pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down, placing a glass right in front of her.

"So," I said, reaching over and flipping open the cardboard lid of the pizza box, releasing a wave of hot steam, melted mozzarella, and garlic. "Tell me about the show. Does it have a bad ending? Because I really can’t stand bad endings."

"That would be a spoiler," she smirked, leaning forward over the table. "But... I will say that someone very close to the main protagonist dies midway through."

"Okay... is it a devastating drop?" I asked, pulling a slice free as the cheese stretched between the crusts.

"No, not really. The guy was a total prick," she shrugged, effortlessly sliding a large slice onto her plate. "But honestly? The execution was handled so well that it was still a little sad. You actually feel the weight of it because the main character is forced to grow up immediately afterward. He loses his safety net, you know?"

"I can appreciate that," I murmured, taking a bite. "Good writing makes you feel for the situation, even if the guy deserved it."

"Exactly!" Sarah’s eyes lit up as she animatedly pointed her slice at me. "And the magic system in it isn’t just random power-ups either. Everything operates on strict exchange. If a character wants to cast a high-tier spell, they have to permanently sacrifice a memory or a physical sense. It makes every single battle carry massive stakes."

"Wait, seriously?" I leaned in, playing the captivated listener perfectly. "So if the protagonist wants to win the final fight, he might just forget who he was fighting for in the first place?"

"Yes! That’s exactly the direction the manga is heading right now!" she exclaimed, practically beaming. She was leaning so far forward that her tank top shifted slightly, but her mind was completely entirely on the conversation. She was talking fast, gesturing with her hands, entirely engrossed in the rare opportunity to actually share her passion.

Watching her animate like this made it completely obvious how starved for attention she was at her own dinner table. Hubert probably sat there staring at his phone or grunting in response to her. I just kept my eyes locked on hers, nodding at every detail, feeding her exactly what she was craving.

Right on cue, a transparent notification pinged silently in my peripheral vision, confirming the successful exploitation of her husband’s neglect. One of her grievances him ignoring her at dinner.

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TARGET: Sarah Angi

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[ RELATIONSHIP ]

> Partner: [Hubert]

> Loyalty: 60% [▼5%]

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[ SYSTEM SYNC ]

> Favor: 38% [▲7%]

> Threat: None

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> GRIEVANCE LOG

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We kept talking about the anime, and I forced myself to play the part of the rapt listener. In reality, I didn’t give a single shit about some fictional cartoon. All that consumed my mind was the image of bending her over my bed while her husband was out working a miserable shift. I wanted her to be entirely mine, isolated from everyone else. I was going to make it happen, too. And when that day finally came, I’d look Hubert dead in his oblivious eyes the next morning, knowing exactly how thoroughly I’d rearranged his wife’s guts the night before.

With only two slices left in the box, we each claimed one and began to eat. A cold calculation ran through my head, I had a new skill to test, didn’t I? If I could just establish physical contact, Empathic Resonance would tell me exactly what kind of emotional validation she was starving for. But how to trigger it naturally?

Maybe I can pretend to reach for her glass to offer a refill.

It was a solid plan.