Chapter 48: A Date with May Yuna

The smokers backed off after that. A few of them even nodded at me like I had passed some unspoken test I did not know existed.

May did not look at them after their initial exchange, instead she looked at me.

She had changed.

The girl from the academy files, the one with the plain glasses and the quiet posture, was still there, but she had dressed for something more than class.

A simple cream blouse tucked into a dark skirt that stopped just above the knee.

The blouse sat close enough to show the small, careful shape of her waist.

Her hair was down instead of tied.

The glasses were the same, thin frames that made her eyes look larger than they already were.

She stood a little too straight, like she had practiced walking out of that house and still did not trust her own legs.

For a slum girl she looked expensive in the way quiet things sometimes did. Clean. Intentional.

Like she had spent the last hour choosing every piece so that I would not look at the street behind her and change my mind.

"You came," she said.

Her voice was softer now that the men had gone back to their cigarettes.

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and then seemed to regret drawing attention to her hands.

"You sent the address," I said.

"I know. I still thought you might not." She glanced past my shoulder at the smokers, then back at me, and something shy and fierce moved behind the lenses. "They talk too much. Ignore them."

"They called you their little sister."

May’s mouth tightened. "That is the polite version."

She stepped closer. Close enough that I caught the faint scent of cheap soap and something floral she had put on for me.

Her eyes moved over the black shirt, the chain, the way I stood in a street that did not belong to people who dressed like this. Color rose in her cheeks. She looked away first.

"You look..." She stopped, swallowed, tried again. "Different from school."

"Good different?"

She nodded once, small and quick, like the truth had slipped out before she could dress it up.

"We should go," she said. "If we stay they will start asking questions I do not want to answer."

I let her lead. She walked half a step ahead at first, then slowed until we were side by side.

Every few seconds her shoulder almost brushed mine and she corrected it, as if contact itself was a decision she had not finished making.

The lower district fell away behind us. The air changed. The cigarette stink thinned. By the time we reached the main road she was breathing easier.

I hailed a taxi. She gave the driver an address I did not recognize and then sat with her hands folded in her lap, staring at the passing streets like they might vanish if she blinked.

"You picked the place?" I asked.

"An eatery near the inner line. It is clean. Not loud. I go there when I can afford it." She hesitated. "I wanted somewhere you would not feel like you had to look over your shoulder."

The honesty sat between us, unpolished. I watched her profile. The glasses caught the late light. Her mouth was softer than the file photo had suggested. Introverted, the records said. Rarely talks. The girl in the taxi talked in short, careful sentences, but she talked. For me.

The eatery was a narrow place tucked between a bookshop and a shuttered clinic. Warm light. Wooden tables. The smell of broth and grilled meat. A woman behind the counter looked up, saw May, and smiled like she had been expecting her. Then she saw me and the smile changed into something more curious.

May chose a corner table. She sat across from me and immediately reached up to adjust her glasses, a nervous habit she probably did not know she had.

"Order whatever you want." I said to her with a smile and she immediately waved waiter who was about to pass beside us.

"I want a plate of stir fried pasta." She said and the waiter quickly noted the order.

I ordered something similar and the waiter went off to get out order.

Left along, may felt a little flustered feeling my calm gaze settle on her.

Her gaze drifted from my neck line all the way down and she felt as though compared to me she’d barely dressed at all.

"H—how’s school?" She asked trying to hide her shyness.

"It’s fine..." I replied with a smile and asked her a question in return.

Just like that, light conversations drifted between us.

The quietly distant atmosphere between us began breaking faintly and before long, both of our expressions had melted into smiles.

The waiter came some minutes later and served the meal and we began eating.

Time slowly passed while we ate together.

With how much may yuna was smiling, I figured internally that I’d probably captivated her heart.

Of course despite the fact that this was a date and we were having fun, a particular part of me had been bugging the corner of my mind the entire time.

I let out a faint sigh which I concealed and pulled up the system screen.

I was only doing this because I wanted to get stronger.

The more I corrupted the system’s candidates, the more they fell deeper into depravity, and the more of their strength I obtained for myself.

I pulled up her status panel, and in my line of sight, just beside may who was chatting lightly while smiling, revealing her perfect dimples, her glasses bouncing up and down on her eyes softly.

Her naked frame was a stark contrast to how dressed she was.

Upon closer look, i even noticed the differences in makeup between herself in the real world and the image on the system’s screen.

Even though there wasn’t much of a difference, it was still there nonetheless. I preferred her without the makeup though.

She looked... more natural.