[Status — Host: Lucien Cross]
Strength: 25 (+10) - How hard you can swing a punch or accidentally bruise your girlfriend while hugging her.
Speed: 19 (+5) - Determines if you can dodge a thrown slipper from Saki when you act dumb.
Charm: 104 (+5) (Broken) - Even gods are not immune to your charm. (System Warning: charm above 100 bypasses rational defense. Targets may comply against better judgment. Your smile could make a nun question her vows. (Also, the system is low-key worried about you))
Endurance: 18 (+5) - How long you can run, fight, or suffer through karaoke duets of songs you don't know.
Resolve: 4 (+3) - The magical ability to say "no" to bad ideas… at least for three seconds.
Mana Perception (Upgraded): Active (Medium Range) - Basically "magic Wi-Fi." Lets you see vibes, auras, and who's lying with their heartbeat.(You're basically a human lie detector, but also the lie.)
Affinity: Yoshida Saki 100% — Bound (Love stat maxed. Translation: she'd forgive him if he accidentally blew up the kitchen. She'd also forgive you for burning down the house, maybe even if you cheated on her?)
Tsukimi Chifuyu (100%) — Bound (Humiliation)(Love stat maxed. Translation: she'd forgive him if he accidentally ruined her life.)
Flagged Rival: Hayato — Active (Means the system thinks you need to crush this guy or he'll keep showing up like bad DLC. Hayato is the human equivalent of a pop-up ad. The system wants you to close the tab permanently.)
Inventory(Cannot store snacks. Lucien tested this):
[Anchor Token x1]
Titles:
Pure Lover — "He only wanted one girl." (A title for people who still believe in fairy tales.)
Corruptor of Innocence — "But the system wanted everyone else." (The system's way of saying 'good job, you monster.)
[Quest Rewards Multiplied.]
[Distributing…]
Stat Boosts Applied:
Strength: +5 → 30 total. (You can casually break furniture. Or bones. Please be careful with door handles. You could bench-press a car, but you're more likely to bench-press your own guilt)
Speed: +4 → 23 total. (You will arrive late to class by choice, not because you couldn't run fast enough. You also could outrun a cheetah, but you'll still be late because you stopped to stare at your existential crisis. Way to go :D!)
Endurance: +6 → 24 total. (More stamina in fights. More stamina in… other things.)
Resolve: +2 → 6 total. (Longer than three seconds. Almost a full sentence of resistance before you cave... for at least four seconds. Progress!)
New Items Unlocked:
[Mirage Veil] Artifact. Duration: 24 Hours. - "Casts an illusory 'lover' into the mind of a target. They perceive and interact with the fake as if it were their partner. The fake obeys the host's will. Target's memories are rewritten during the effect, though reality reasserts itself afterward. Side effects: identity fracture, addiction." (Gaslighting, but make it magical.)
[Silken Thread] Consumable. - "Invisible tether. Bind one target emotionally to the host for 48 hours. Effects mimic obsession. Removal may cause target collapse." (Emotional duct tape. Use responsibly. (You won't.))
[Whisper Key] Passive Unlock. - "Allows host to implant a single 'truth' into the target's subconscious. It will be believed without question. Limit: 1 use per individual. Cannot overwrite core values." (Brainwashing Lite™. Some assembly required.)
[Blood Blossom Charm] Accessory. - "While worn, Charm stat is considered double against weakened or emotionally unstable targets. Warning: effects are permanent if applied during trauma." (Predator mode: activated. (Also, the system is really not subtle.))
The system chimed like it had just dropped party favors on a banquet table.
I read each line, stomach sinking with every word. Mirage Veil wasn't just temptation; it was weaponized violation. Silken Thread sounded like a leash. Whisper Key was worse, a scalpel to rewrite what someone believes. And the Blood Blossom… that one didn't even pretend to be anything other than predatory.
Rewards. The system called these rewards.
I flexed my hand, watching faint light ripple across my skin, new strength humming under bone and muscle. My body felt tighter, sharper, like I could sprint for miles or tear through steel if I wanted. And yet the weight in my chest was heavier than ever.
Titles scrolled across the bottom of the screen:
Pure Lover.
Corruptor of Innocence.
Like two names fighting for space on the same gravestone.
A soft sound drew me back to the room.
I turned. Tsukimi stirred under the sheets, her frame small and fragile in the bed's vastness. She shifted once, then flinched. My chest tightened.
"…You're sore." My voice came out too low, like I'd already answered for her.
She blinked up at me, eyes glassy, her breath trembling. "Why… why are you acting like this?"
Her words cracked, halfway between accusation and plea.
For a moment, I didn't know which mask I was wearing. The "angel" everyone saw? The "villain" the system demanded? Or just Lucien, the boy who once swore he'd never become like his father, never leave someone crying in the dark.
I sat on the edge of the mattress. "Because I don't want you hurt. Last night..." My throat tightened. "I didn't realize… my strength…"
Her fingers dug into the sheets, knuckles white. "You scared me. And then-" She stopped herself, like even the air didn't deserve to hear the rest. Tears slipped down her cheeks in silence.
[Target Emotional State: Fractured.]
[Affection Binding: Stable.]
It was cataloging her pain. Turning it into a graph, a reward, a measurable gain.
I clenched my fists until my nails bit skin. "Tsukimi, I'm sorry." The words tasted useless. "I didn't want this. I just..."
She shook her head, hair falling forward to hide her face. "You could have stopped."
"Tsukimi," I said softly, steadying my tone, "I won't let anyone else see you like this. Not Takagi. Not anyone. You're safe with me."
Her tears slowed, confusion breaking through grief. "Safe…?"
Her shoulders began to shake. "You… you took everything from me. I was saving myself. For Takagi. For us. And then you..." She broke off, choking on the word. "You didn't even care. You were so rough, like it didn't matter if I bled, if I cried, if I begged-"
Her face crumpled. "And now you sit there acting like you're worried for me? What am I supposed to tell him, Lucien?"
The sheets muffled her sobs, each one stabbing into me sharper than any blade.
I felt it all at once: the heat of the system's "gifts" still humming through my body, the phantom strength in my hands that had pinned her down, the voice in my head that told me you did this because you had to.
And then her voice again, soft, broken, but so clear it hurt.
"…He kissed me once. Just once. That's as far as we went. I thought it was enough. I thought it was special."
She pressed her palms over her eyes like she could bury the memory. "Now what am I? What do I tell him when he looks at me and thinks I'm still pure? That I didn't..." Her voice strangled itself into silence.
I couldn't breathe. The system didn't force me to say anything. No flashing objective. No command. Just the sound of her sobbing, the sound of something I couldn't fix.
"…I don't know," I whispered.
The words felt pathetic, but they were the only honest ones I had left.
Tsukimi curled in on herself, shaking. She wasn't listening anymore, not to me, not to anything. She was lost in the aftermath the system demanded, and I had been its willing blade.
Tsukimi sobbed into the sheets, and for a moment I thought about walking away. About letting the system win, letting her break, because maybe that would be easier than pretending to be human anymore.
But something else moved in me. Not mercy... strategy.
If the system demanded chains, then maybe I could at least decide how they looked.
"Tsukimi." My voice cut through her crying, steady in a way I didn't feel. "Listen to me."
She flinched, but didn't look up.
I leaned closer, lowering my tone until it was almost a whisper. "You're not broken. You're not worthless. Takagi is the one who ruined everything."
That made her stir, confusion breaking through her grief. "…What?"
I held her shoulders, forcing her to meet my eyes. "He's been cheating on you. For weeks. With a girl from another class." The lie slid too easily past my lips, shaped by the system's poisonous gift. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want you hurt. But when I saw you clinging to him, when I realized you were still waiting for him while he betrayed you..." My jaw tightened. "That's why I did what I did."
Her tears slowed, confusion twisting into disbelief. "…No. Takagi wouldn't, he…"
I pulled her into my chest, her body rigid in my arms. "I couldn't let him keep lying to you. I couldn't let him keep touching you while thinking you were his toy." My voice softened, "You deserve someone who won't betray you."
She trembled, her fists pressing weakly against my shirt before curling there. "…You're lying."
"Then let me prove it," I murmured, my gaze flicking to the item still glowing faintly in my vision. [Mirage Veil]. A weapon. A tool. A way to make Takagi destroy himself in her eyes.
[Suggested Action: Deploy Mirage Veil on Rival — Probability of Target Collapse: 87%.]
I stroked her hair, the gesture almost gentle. "If he really loved you, he wouldn't be out there with someone else. He wouldn't make you cry like this."
Tsukimi's voice cracked. "And you think what you did didn't...?"
"I'll take responsibility. For everything. Even if you hate me. I'll protect you from now on."
Her sobs returned, weaker this time, muffled against me. She clung to my shirt like she had nowhere else to fall.
[Target: Tsukimi Chifuyu — Affection 100%. Binding Condition: Humiliation. Translation: She'd forgive you if you accidentally ruined her life.]
I hugged her tighter, even as guilt went deeper.
If I'm already damned, I thought, then let me at least decide how the story ends.
Her sobs dulled into a fragile rhythm against my chest. Every breath she took shivered through me, faint and broken, and for the first time since last night I wondered if she even realized she was still holding on. Maybe she didn't. Maybe her body clung out of instinct, because no matter what her heart wanted, I was the one here.
I stroked her hair, my voice low. "Rest. You don't have to think about Takagi. You don't have to think about anything. I already paid for the hotel, we'll stay until you're ready to leave."
She stiffened faintly at the word we, but didn't argue. Her exhaustion was too heavy, her eyes swollen red, lashes damp.
[Target Emotional State: Vulnerable.]
[Binding Condition Reinforced.]
Like chains tightening each time she breathed.
I eased her down onto the pillow, pulling the blanket back over her. She didn't resist. Just curled inward, a fragile silhouette against the sheets.
"Sleep," I said softly. "I'll be here."
For a moment, her lips parted like she wanted to speak. Instead, a shallow nod, barely perceptible, before her eyes fluttered shut.
My phone buzzed.
The sound was obscene in the quiet.
I slipped it out of my pocket, thumb hesitating before I saw the name.
Saki.
The vibration cut through the silence, sharp and relentless.
I stepped into the corridor before answering. "…Hey."
"Lucien?" Her voice was soft, light with relief. "You finally picked up. I was worried, you weren't in class."
Her warmth hit like a knife. The sound of someone who actually trusted me.
I rubbed a hand over my face. "Yeah. I just… had something to take care of."
There was a pause. "…You sound tired."
"I'm fine," I lied, glancing back at the door. Beyond it, Tsukimi lay curled up in humiliation and lies I'd fed her.
Saki's voice brightened, fragile with hope. "Then… maybe we could meet later? Just us. I... I made lunch for you, but I didn't get to give it today."
Two girls. One clinging to me because she had nothing else left. The other reaching out because she still believed I was someone worth her time.
My mouth went dry.
"Lucien?" she asked gently. "Will you come?"
The lock clicked softly as I slipped back into the room.
Tsukimi stirred, half-asleep, her lashes sticky from dried tears. Her voice rasped into the quiet. "…Who was that?"
I didn't hesitate. "…Saki."
Her eyes widened. A sharp breath caught in her throat. "Saki… your girlfriend?"
"Yes." I sat down on the edge of the bed, the mattress dipping under my weight. "She wanted to see me."
Her lips trembled. She turned her face away, voice thin and breaking. "…And you said yes."
[Target Emotional State: Fractured → Splintering.]
I reached for her shoulder. She flinched but didn't pull away.
"I'll still take responsibility for you," I said. The words came out steady, even as guilt hollowed me from the inside. "For everything. Even if you hate me. Even if you curse my name for the rest of your life, I won't abandon you."
She twisted, glaring at me through tear-blurred eyes. "How can you say that? You tell her you love her, then turn around and promise to take care of me? What am I supposed to be to you, Lucien?"
I swallowed hard. My reflection stared back at me in her eyes, a stranger I didn't recognize.
"You're Tsukimi," I whispered. "And that's enough for me to stay."
Her fists clenched the sheets until her knuckles went white. "You're a liar."
Maybe I was. Maybe that was all I'd ever be.
But I didn't move away. I couldn't.
Two chains. Two girls. Both tied to me.
And I… was tied to both.