Infinite Cashback System

Chapter 251: 251 | The Kumiko Sandwich is My New Favorite Meal

"You were." Her fingers found the collar of his robe and straightened it with a domestic gesture that made his chest feel too full. "And now you’re standing in a building worth more money than either of us will see in a decade, telling me you don’t want it because you didn’t earn it. That it feels cheap."

"Does that make me stupid?"

"It makes you the opposite of every man I’ve ever met." Chloe’s voice dropped low enough that the steam and the distant sound of Kumiko’s narration swallowed it. "Every guy who ever subscribed to my content wanted something from me. They paid because they wanted access. Attention. The fantasy of ownership. You’re the only person who’s ever been handed something valuable and said no, I want to build my own version."

Jordan’s hand found Chloe’s waist beneath the hem of her sweater. Bare skin, warm from the humidity, impossibly soft at the curve above her hip. She leaned into the contact like a cat accepting affection on its own terms.

"The money still goes somewhere useful," he said. "I’m not going to let it rot."

"Obviously. You’d be an idiot to ignore one point two million in annual revenue."

"So I put it away. Let it compound. Use it for emergencies and family stuff. But Nova Network succeeds or fails on its own."

Chloe’s eyes held his with that specific intensity that always preceded important declarations. "And when Nova Network needs capital to scale? When you need a studio space or equipment upgrades or marketing budget that exceeds what your cashback generates?"

"Then I’ll figure it out the same way every other startup does. Not by raiding a trust fund."

"Stubborn."

"Consistent."

"Same thing." Chloe rose on her toes and pressed her mouth against the corner of his jaw, just below his ear, in a spot that made his entire nervous system light up like a switchboard. Her breath was warm and her lips barely grazed his skin before she pulled away.

"Jordan-kun!"

Kumiko’s voice carried across the garden courtyard with the enthusiasm of someone who had discovered buried treasure. She stood at the koi pond’s edge with her phone held high, her pastel pink crop hoodie riding up to expose her navel as she stretched toward the camera angle she wanted. Water droplets glistened on her fingertips where they’d touched the pond’s surface.

"Come look! Mochi ate from my hand! I got video!" Kumiko’s head snapped toward Jordan and Chloe with the sudden paranoid energy of someone who just remembered protocol existed. Her eyes went wide behind her phone screen. "Wait. Is there a rule about posting the koi fish? I just made the rules document yesterday. Chloe-chan, is there a rule about koi fish content? I need to know right now immediately because this video is so cute I might explode if I don’t share it."

"There is no rule about koi fish content," Chloe confirmed with the patient tone of someone who’d had this exact conversation about three other topics in the last hour.

"Then witness this miracle!" Kumiko sprinted toward them across the garden. Her platform sneakers slapped against the stone pathway with the rhythm of an approaching drumline. She closed the distance in approximately four seconds and launched herself between Jordan and Chloe with the force of a guided missile that had locked onto warmth and affection.

Her arms wrapped around both of them at waist height. Her face pressed into Jordan’s chest while her back nudged against Chloe’s front, creating a Kumiko sandwich situation that seemed to be her preferred method of expressing joy. The impact knocked Jordan back half a step. His free hand came up automatically to steady her before she ricocheted off him into the koi pond.

"This is the best place in the whole world and I want to live here forever," Kumiko announced into Jordan’s sternum. Her voice was muffled by fabric but her enthusiasm remained at full volume. "Also I want to become friends with all five of your employees because they are beautiful and nice and Kaori-san gave me mochi three times already. Three times! She said I have good energy and that I should come back whenever I want and I think she might be my new favorite person after you two. Maybe tied with you two. It’s hard to rank."

Jordan’s hand found the top of Kumiko’s head between her twin tails. His palm settled against the crown of her skull, and the Headpat trait engaged like a key sliding home in a lock. Warm energy traveled from his wrist through his forearm and out through the pads of his fingers into Kumiko’s scalp.

Kumiko’s rapid speech dissolved mid-syllable.

"Nnnh." Her body went liquid against him, her grip loosening from a tackle into something closer to a lean. Her eyes drifted shut and her mouth formed a small, unconscious smile. The vibrating anxiety that powered her personality went quiet. "That’s... cheating... Jordan..."

"You’re the one who tackled me."

"Mnm." A sound that communicated nothing except profound contentment.

Chloe watched this exchange with an expression Jordan couldn’t quite categorize. Her blue contact lenses caught the lantern light and reflected it back like captured starlight.

"I can see why you don’t want this place to be your identity," Chloe said softly, watching Kumiko melt against Jordan’s chest with the unfiltered peace of someone whose internal radio had finally gone silent. "You want to be the person who earned things. Not the person who inherited them."

Jordan removed his hand from Kumiko’s head before the trait could deepen further. Kumiko blinked twice and swayed slightly, her equilibrium taking a few seconds to return.

"What just happened," Kumiko murmured. "I had thoughts and now they’re all organized."

"You got headpatted into compliance," Chloe said.

"Oh." Kumiko considered this with drowsy acceptance. "Again please."

"Later," Jordan said. "When we get home."

Kumiko’s lower lip pushed forward into a devastating pout that Jordan had zero defenses against, but he held firm. They stood in the garden of a million-dollar hot springs resort that belonged to him on paper and to five women he’d met ninety minutes ago in practice. The sun had dropped below the tree line and cast everything in amber and purple. Steam rose from the bathhouse behind them in lazy columns that dissolved against the darkening sky.

Jordan pulled out his phone with his free hand and opened his banking app. The numbers stared back at him with the cold indifference of mathematics.

The System’s account showed his current balance. The onsen’s revenue existed separately in a business account Rina managed. He hadn’t touched it. Hadn’t transferred a cent into his personal funds.

And he wouldn’t.