System Mission: Seduce the Final Boss [BL]

Chapter 163: Is this enough passion, motherfu—

Blake let out a long sigh of relief, pulling back. Then, he rested against the wall, next to Myles.

"...Morning."

"Good morning."

Tilting his head, he stared up at Myles in silence.

He eventually turned, looking down at him. "What?"

Blake released another heavy sigh before letting his head fall onto Myles’ shoulder.

"I’m tired."

Myles pressed the back of his hand against Blake’s forehead.

"You have no fever," he murmured. "Did you eat?"

"Yeah." Blake nodded. "Had a sandwich."

"You’re breathing a little shallowly."

Blake frowneds slightly.

"Yeah, uh, I know."

Well, obviously he knew.

Breathing with broken ribs and a tiny puncture in his lung was significantly weirder than normal.

Thankfully, the incentive spirometer had worked pretty well yesterday. He’d had the foresight to bring it to school, so he could use it again during lunch break.

"It’s probably just my blood pressure acting up because of the heat."

Myles simply looked down at him, not saying a word.

Once the bus arrived, Blake took one of the single seats while Myles remained standing beside him, one hand wrapped around the overhead handle.

A cool palm suddenly rested against Blake’s forehead.

Blinking, Blake looked up and chuckled.

"You already checked my temperature earlier."

"I’m cooling you down."

"You’ve got cold hands, but I’m afraid that’s not how that works."

"It works enough."

Ding!

Blake froze.

’Again?’

It was a shame he couldn’t read the screen, especially with Myles literally staring down at him.

The bus finally stopped in front of the school.

They climbed off and headed inside together.

As soon as they stepped into the classroom, Myles reached over and lightly hooked Blake’s index finger.

"Can we sit together again now?"

Blake glanced down at their linked fingers before gently pulling away.

"Nope."

He headed straight for his now usual seat in the very front row.

Myles watched him for a second before quietly choosing another desk nearby, beside a different classmate.

Pretending to pay attention to the board, Blake finally opened the notification.

[ Emergency Mission: Confess passionately to Myles Cortez ]

[ Time Limit: 4 hours ]

[ Penalty: ??? ]

[ Reward: 50 Coins. ]

"..."

Blake slowly lowered his head onto his notebook.

’Seriously?’

He absentmindedly doodled circles in the margin.

He’d already told Myles I love you plenty of times.

So what exactly was the system expecting?

Without thinking much, he scribbled one word across the paper.

Why?

The screen appeared right in front of him, of the next page.

[ Because, Dear Host, the Target has to be seduced into your arms. ]

Blake stared blankly.

’God, what bullshit.’

He wrote again.

He already knows I like him. What’s the point of confessing again?

The response appeared almost immediately.

[ You have to do it passionately. ]

Blake pressed harder with his pencil.

...What exactly does passionately mean? Can’t I just say I love you?

[ No. You have to do it passionately, Dear Host. ]

He scratched the back of his head, utterly defeated.

’Then what am I even supposed to do?’

***

Lunch break arrived far too quickly.

Students poured out of the classroom.

Blake and Myles left together, though they couldn’t actually eat lunch together anymore.

That had been his own rule, and if he suddenly ignored it now, Myles would definitely notice and absolutely take advantage of it.

’Let’s just get this stupid mission over with first.’

At that thought, he stopped walking.

"Myles."

"Yeah?"

"Follow me."

"Why?"

"I need to tell you something."

Myles searched his expression for a moment before nodding.

"Okay."

They walked to one of the old storage hallways, a narrow, dim corridor rarely used except for keeping old desks and supplies.

It was embarrassingly quiet.

Blake cleared his throat.

"Even though we’ve fought these past few weeks, there’s something that never changed."

His heartbeat pounded in his ears as he took two steps and, before he knew it, he had Myles backed lightly against the wall.

His palm landed beside Myles’ shoulder with a soft thud.

His other hand lifted, gently grabbing Myles’ chin.

They were suddenly very close.

Close enough that Blake couldn’t even make out Myles’ expression properly in the dim light.

"I love you!"

The words echoed embarrassingly through the hallway.

"..."

"..."

’There... let’s hope the mission is done.’

Myles didn’t answer, instead, he leaned in closer, so much so their noses nearly brushed.

’Wait, wait, wait, wait—’

Blake’s eyes went wide.

At the last possible second, he panicked and slapped a hand over Myles’ mouth.

Myles blinked.

Then, he gently wrapped his fingers around Blake’s wrist and lowered the hand away from his face.

His voice was quiet.

"You say things like that..."

Their foreheads were almost touching now.

"...but you can’t even handle a kiss. So..."

Those eyes trembled an endless pit, indeed, Blake couldn’t get enough.

"What if we were to go further?"

"...Huh?"

Blake’s pupils shrank.

"...Huuuh?"

His face turned scarlet in an instant.

"...Huuuuuuuh?!"

Steam might as well have started pouring out of his ears.

His mouth opened and closed soundlessly several times before he finally managed,

"G-Go further...?!"

He pointed shakily between them.

His sentence dissolved into incoherent spluttering.

Myles watched him with a calm expression that contrasted painfully with Blake’s complete meltdown.

"Exactly."

Blake grabbed both sides of his own head.

His heartbeat thundered.

’Spoon! This wasn’t in the mission!’

Somewhere inside his mind, Spoon responded with infuriating cheerfulness.

[ Excellent progress, Dear Host. The Target appears highly receptive! ]

’That’s not something to be happy about!’

Blake narrowed his eyes before poking Myles square in the chest.

"Hey, we did kiss, though."

Myles looked thoroughly unimpressed.

Without a word, he caught Blake’s finger in his hand.

"To be specific," he said evenly, "the one who kissed you that time was me."

"..."

Blake’s face exploded into a deep crimson.

"J-Jesus..."

He looked everywhere except at Myles.

"T-Then, consider that we can’t exactly go any further anyway!"

He threw both hands into the air.

"It’s officially one-sided for now, only I confessed!"

"Hm."

Blake’s eyebrow twitched.

’What is that hum supposed to mean, you son of a...?’

His shoulders gradually drooped.

"How mean."

To think Myles wouldn’t even try to deny it.

Blake crossed his arms with an exaggerated pout.

"Is there someone you like?"

"No."

Blake stretched his neck with a frustrated groan.

"Then..."

He scratched his cheek.

"...Have you ever kissed anyone before, apart from me?"

"No."

Blake wasn’t exactly surprised.

Honestly, when would Myles have even had the time?

Still, the realization settled strangely in his stomach.

’So, we are each other’s first kiss.’

"You?"

Blake blinked.

"Hm?"

Myles looked at him.

"Have you kissed anyone else?"

Blake answered without even thinking.

"Oh, come on."

He laughed.

"I’ve only ever liked you, so of course you’re my first—"

A familiar hand suddenly covered his mouth.

"Mmph."

Blake sighed dramatically into Myles’ palm.

His muffled voice came through anyway.

"Whad id? Embarrassed?"

He already knew this habit.

Whenever Myles wanted a conversation to stop, or avoided a topic altogether, he’d cover Blake’s mouth, or his eyes.

Normally, Blake let it slide.

This time, he waited.

Myles looked at him for several quiet seconds before speaking.

"I’m not embarrassed."

Slowly, he lowered his hand.

Instead of stepping away, both of his hands slid down to Blake’s forearms.

He gently pulled Blake closer, an he simply let it happen, leaning forward while wrapping his arms around Myles.

"..."

For a brief moment, neither of them spoke.

Myles’ hands settled carefully on Blake’s waist, his grip light.

"I just don’t know what to do when you say things like that."

Blake tilted his head.

A small smile escaped with a soft sigh.

"You really are cute."

He gave Myles one last squeeze before letting go.

"Come on, we should head to the cafeteria, even if won’t sit next to each other."

"Okay."

Blake turned first.

He started walking toward the brighter corridor beyond the storage hallway.

Behind him, Myles didn’t move immediately.

He remained standing in the darkness.

The dim light barely reached him.

His black eyes stared after Blake’s retreating figure.

His gaze lingered on the outline beneath his uniform. He felt it the moment Blake hugged him, there was a chest strap wrapped securely around his ribs.

Blake truly got injured, even if pretending he was fine.

...

A few seconds later, Blake stepped out into the main hallway.

A student hurried around the corner without looking and bumped hard into his shoulder.

"Damn it, watch where you’re—"

The student looked up, accidentally past Blake, into the shadowed hallway. That way, his words caught in his throat.

Myles was standing there, completely still, expression unreadable.

His dark eyes rested on the student for only a second.

"..."

The student’s face visibly paled.

"...S-Sorry."

Without another word, they hurried away almost at a jog.

Blake blinked after them.

"Huh?"

He looked back toward Myles, utterly confused by the fact he was still standing there.

"Hey, aren’t you coming?"

Myles’ expression had already returned to its usual calm.

"Yes."

He walked over as if nothing had occurred.

"Let’s go."