Chapter 11|Security Risk

Chapter 11: Chapter 11|Security Risk

Chapter 11|Security Risk

Zane was halfway through his evening notes when Dex spun his chair around.

"Okay," Dex said. "We need to talk."

Zane looked up. "About what."

"About the fact that you’ve been here almost a week and we haven’t done anything together." Dex leaned back with the energy of someone who had already made a decision and was now informing the other party. "That’s not how roommates work. We should have some get time."

"Get time," Zane repeated.

"Time to get to know each other." Dex said it like it was obvious. "Come on. I want to show you something."

Zane looked at his notes. Then at Dex. Then back at his notes.

’This is going to be a terrible idea,’ he thought.

『 Familiarity with DEX: 11%. Low engagement outside of passive proximity. Active shared experience would accelerate progress significantly. 』

’You want me to go,’ Zane thought.

『 I want you to make informed decisions. This is information. 』

He closed his notebook.

"Where are we going," he said.

Dex was already at the door.

"You’ll see." Then they both stepped outside.

The campus at night was a different world.

Most of the external lighting ran on a timer .Bright enough to navigate, dim enough that the shadows between buildings had real depth. The academic block was locked after nine. The training grounds were gated. The corridors between dormitories were technically open but technically was doing a lot of work in that sentence after the posted curfew.

Zane followed Dex across the east courtyard at a pace that was specifically calibrated to look like two people who were not supposed to be there.

"Where exactly are we going," Zane said quietly.

"East wing," Dex said, equally quiet.

Zane stopped walking.

Dex took three more steps before realising and turned around.

"The girls’ dorm," Zane said flatly.

"Technically the exterior perimeter of the east wing," Dex said. "Which is not restricted. The interior is restricted. We’re not going inside."

"You’ve made this argument before," Zane said.

"Four times," Dex confirmed. "The argument holds up."

Zane stared at him.

He started walking again.

The east wing had a narrow maintenance corridor running along its north face . A gap between the building and the perimeter wall just wide enough for one person moving carefully. Dex navigated it with the confidence of someone who had made this exact journey enough times to know which sections of gravel were loud and which weren’t.

They stopped at a point where the corridor opened slightly into a small alcove. The windows of the east wing’s second floor were three meters up and partially visible from the alcove . Not directly, but at an angle that caught the light from inside.

Dex crouched down against the wall and looked up.

Second floor windows. Lights on. Curtains not fully drawn on two of them.

Zane crouched beside him.

Then he saw what Dex had clearly seen before.

The second window from the left. A girl moving around her room moved about her room, dressed in fitted white lingerie that left little to the imagination. The delicate fabric clung to every curve, accentuating her figure as she went about her routine, completely unaware of the eyes that had settled on her.

The window beside it . Another girl crossing her room in a matching situation. Different colors. Same problem for anyone trying to maintain composure.

Zane stared for exactly two seconds longer than he intended to.

’What,’ he thought.

Then his brain, entirely without his permission, produced an image of Maren.

Not doing anything specific. Just Maren. The way she moved in the training grounds. That controlled deliberate energy. What that energy probably looked like outside of training hours in a second floor room with the curtains not fully drawn.

’Stop,’ he thought to himself.

It did not stop.

’For the love of ...’

He became aware of a situation developing south of his waistband. His crotch had begun to tent his pants, the unmistakable bulge growing more noticeable by the second. It was going to need his attention very soon.

"What is wrong with you," he whispered to Dex.

Dex had the expression of a man completely at peace with his life choices. "I told you. Superhero girls just feel different."

Zane opened his mouth.

Closed it.

Because the honest answer was that Dex was not wrong and he deeply resented that.

"This is the most unhinged thing I’ve done since arriving at this academy," Zane whispered.

"Week one," Dex whispered back. "Plenty of time to raise the bar."

Then something happened.

A low hum started at the base of the perimeter wall. Subtle at first . The kind of frequency that sat just below hearing and made itself known through the soles of your feet instead of your ears.

Dex went rigid.

"That’s the closure signal," he whispered. Voice completely different now. The peace was gone. "The security Sigil activates in thirty seconds when the dorm goes to full lockdown."

"What does it do," Zane whispered.

"You don’t want to know what it does," Dex whispered. "Move."

He was already moving.

Zane followed immediately without asking further questions because the way Dex had said you don’t want to know contained enough genuine personal experience to be entirely convincing.

They cleared the maintenance corridor in fifteen seconds. Crossed the courtyard in twenty. Were back through the main building entrance with eight seconds to spare before the hum behind them shifted into something that sounded significantly more serious.

Dex leaned against the interior wall breathing slightly harder than usual.

"What does the security Sigil actually do," Zane said.

Dex looked at him sideways.

"Third time I tried this," Dex said, "I didn’t move fast enough." He paused. "I couldn’t use my hands properly for two days."

Zane looked at him.

"It targets the hands specifically?" Zane said.

"It targets whatever it decides is the most relevant appendage," Dex said carefully, "based on the context of the intrusion."

Silence.

"I see," Zane said.

"Yeah," Dex said.

They stood in the corridor for a moment.

"Superhero girls really do feel different though," Dex said quietly, with the gravity of someone sharing hard-won wisdom.

Zane thought about Maren. About the second floor window. About the complete lack of control his brain had demonstrated in the last four minutes.

"Yeah," he said.

He wasn’t going to elaborate on that.

They walked back to room 714 in companionable silence.

Gerald wheezed when they came through the door like he’d been waiting up.

『 Familiarity with DEX: 19% 』

『 System Note: Shared experience accelerates bond accumulation significantly. Shared inadvisable experience accelerates it further. This is noted for future reference. 』

’Please never reference this specific experience again,’ Zane thought.

『 No promises. 』