Chapter 96| Activities in bed should never done in a training ground.

Chapter 96: Chapter 96| Activities in bed should never done in a training ground.

’She just wants food,’ Zane said mentally.

『 Sure. And the system just wants you to succeed. Both things can be true. 』

’Don’t push it,’ Zane thought.

『 The system is simply noting. Thursday. Private setting. Bond target. Food. All are very innocent. 』

’Two things can be true,’ Zane thought. ’But I don’t need you telling me that system.’

『 Understood. The system will say nothing further on the matter. 』

A brief pause.

『 Thursday though. 』

’System.’ Zane thought mentally.

『 Noted. Completely silent now. 』

He kept going.

At rep thirty-five Maren ran an aggressive burst sequence. Overdrive at higher output than her usual minimum, the surge hitting her system visibly and driving her movement to a speed that made the air around her feel slightly different. She cut a sharp direction change mid-sequence and the momentum carried her slightly off balance.

She caught herself.

But the recovery momentum carried her directly into Zane, not a shoulder graze this time. His hands came up instinctively to catch her and landed somewhere that was absolutely not her shoulders.

Both of them went very still.

His hands moved instinctively. Registering the softness before his brain caught up with what his hands were doing. The fabric of the training suit thin enough that he could feel everything it was supposed to be containing. The warmth from her Overdrive output still radiating through it. And beneath his palms, the specific response of someone whose body had reacted before they’d had time to process the situation. He wasn’t sure but he could feel two points getting erect on the middle of her bust.

Her breath caught.

One second.

Two.

Zane looked down.

Then up at her face.

Maren’s expression had gone through approximately four stages in under two seconds and had landed on something that wasn’t quite anger and wasn’t quite embarrassment but was somewhere in the specific territory between both where she had clearly lost control of her face entirely.

"Zane," she said. Very quietly.

He looked at her.

Her face was fully red. The deepest version yet. But she hadn’t moved away.

"That was.." he started.

"I know," she said. Just as quietly.

A beat.

Neither of them moved for exactly three seconds.

Then she stepped back slowly. Straightened her gear. The corner of her mouth doing the thing. Not the smirk, something softer than that. The specific expression of someone who was flustered and trying not to show it and failing at the second part.

"We’re in the middle of training," she said.

"Ohh.. Yes we are," Zane said.

"So train," she said.

Then added quietly, almost to herself "We could do that when we’re in bed."

Zane looked at her.

She immediately realised what she’d said.

The red went deeper. Which he hadn’t thought was physically possible at this point.

"I didn’t.." she started.

"I heard it," Zane said.

"That came out wrong," she said.

"Did it," Zane said.

"Train," she said firmly. "I meant train. As in physical training. In general."

"Of course," Zane said.

"Stop smiling," she said.

"I’m not smiling," he replied.

She turned and walked back to her side of the pad with the specific energy of someone who had said something they couldn’t unsay and had decided the best strategy was to pretend it never happened.

The system surfaced.

『 System Note: She said it. Unprompted. The system is extremely pleased. Bond depth accumulation detected. 』

『 GACHA METER: 22% → 26% 』

『 Fill source: Verbal intimate suggestion from bond target — unprompted 』

’She said it first,’ Zane thought.

『 She always does because you are a chicken. 』

’Still calling me chicken,’ Zane thought. ’Naughty system.’

『 The system calls it as it sees it. The host had his hands exactly where they were for three full seconds and said the word accidental. A non-chicken would not have said accidental. 』

’It was partially accidental,’ Zane thought.

『 Partially,’ the system repeated. 『 The system notes the host used the word partially. Progress. 』

’Shush,’ Zane thought.

『 Shushing. Proudly. 』

They both locked in to their respective training without further discussion.

Zane looked at his forearm.

Then at her back as she reset her stance for the next sequence.

’Everything accumulates,’ he thought.

He went back to the wall and finished his reps.

By 7:20 AM, the session ended.

They walked toward the academic block together. The Tuesday morning campus doing its usual thing. The east courtyard catching the early light. A few second years in the distance. The building waking up around them.

"So on Thursday," Zane said.

"Thursday," Maren confirmed.

"Any dietary restrictions I should know about," he said.

She looked at him.

"No," she said.

"Preferences," he said.

She thought about it for two seconds. The same focused deliberation she applied to everything including choosing what to eat when someone was going to cook it specifically for her.

"Something with rice," she said.

He looked at her.

"That’s a staple," he said. "Not a preference."

"It’s my preference," she said.

He looked at the path ahead.

’Something with rice,’ he thought. ’Thursday. Location TBD. Cooking dinner for Stellar Blitz who spent her favour on food and called it a preference when it was clearly a staple.’

’Completely consistent,’ he thought. ’Utterly predictable. Somehow still surprising.’

The system surfaced.

『 System Note: The host is smiling. The system notes this. 』

’I’m not smiling,’ Zane thought.

『 The host’s facial muscles suggest otherwise. The system has sensors. 』

’Shush,’ Zane thought.

『 Shushing. 』

They walked through the east courtyard.

Gerald wheezed in Zane’s imagination somewhere in the dormitory building behind them.

’Thursday,’ Zane thought.

_ _

Tuesday. 8:30 AM. Classroom 1-A.

It displayed accordingly as Zane checked it from his communicator.

Vael was running a session on field assessment protocols. How to read a situation before committing to a Sigil activation, the specific decision making that separated trained heroes from reactive ones.

Zane took notes.

Beside him Maren took notes.

Neither of them had mentioned the training grounds incident since walking out of the east courtyard. The silence between them had a specific texture that was different from the usual comfortable one. Not uncomfortable, just loaded. The kind that existed between two people who had both filed something under processing and were waiting for the right moment to unfile it.