Chapter 217: 217 | Platonic Friendship is an Aggressive Negotiation [PS BONUS]
I watched Rina’s shoulders relax slightly, the tension bleeding out of her posture. Her sheep mug sat forgotten beside her on the grass, its cartoon face grinning at nothing.
"You should probably get some rest," I said. "Tomorrow’s Sunday. Only day we get before Steele starts her six AM torture sessions."
Rina nodded slowly. "I think I’m going to sit here a little longer. Process things."
"Fair enough."
I turned to leave, and that’s when Felicity materialized beside me like she’d been waiting for the exact moment to insert herself into my life again.
"That was sweet," she said, falling into step beside me as I walked toward the dormitory. Her ponytail swung with each step, catching the late afternoon light. The athletic shorts she wore had ridden up during the evaluations and she hadn’t bothered adjusting them. I kept my eyes forward.
"Eavesdropping is rude."
"I wasn’t eavesdropping. I was strategically positioned within auditory range. Completely different thing."
"Definitely not the same thing at all."
"Exactly." She grinned. "So you held back during evaluations. That’s interesting. Very interesting. Almost as interesting as the fact that you just admitted it to a girl you barely know."
"Rina needed to hear it."
"Rina needed to hear that the hot mysterious transfer student is secretly more capable than he pretends to be? I’m sure that had nothing to do with your own psychological need to be seen as impressive."
I stopped walking. Felicity stopped too, turning to face me with that same knowing smile she’d worn since the entrance exam.
"What do you want, Felicity?"
"World peace. Universal healthcare. A closet that organizes itself." She ticked items off on her fingers. "More immediately, I want to be your friend. I thought we established this."
"We did. And I told you I’d talk to Sloane about it."
"Great. Did you?"
"Not yet. It’s been like four hours."
"Four hours is plenty of time. You could have texted her during the water break. You could have sent a quick message during the agility course. You could have called her right now instead of comforting sad sheep girls on the grass."
"You’re very persistent."
"I prefer the term ’determined.’ It sounds more heroic and less like a personality disorder."
I started walking again. Felicity matched my pace effortlessly, her legs keeping up despite being several inches shorter than mine.
"Here’s the thing," I said. "You and I both know this friendship thing isn’t going to work."
Felicity’s eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me?"
"You’re attractive. You know you’re attractive. You use being attractive as a tool. I have a girlfriend who can literally generate enough heat to melt steel when she’s jealous. The math doesn’t work."
"The math doesn’t work," she repeated flatly. "Did you just reduce human relationships to arithmetic?"
"I reduced a specific social situation to basic probability. The probability of you and me being purely platonic friends is approximately zero."
"That’s pessimistic."
"That’s realistic."
Felicity stopped walking, and something in her expression shifted. The playful energy didn’t disappear, but something harder appeared underneath it.
"You know what I think?"
"I’m sure you’re going to tell me."
"I think you’re scared."
I laughed. Actually laughed. "Scared of what? Your illusions? Your fashion sense?"
"Scared of having a genuine connection with a woman who isn’t your girlfriend. Scared of proving to yourself that you can be friends with an attractive person without it becoming complicated. Scared of what it would mean about you if you couldn’t."
The words landed harder than I expected.
"I’m not scared of anything."
"Everyone’s scared of something. The people who say they’re not are usually the most terrified of all."
We stood there in the middle of the path, students walking around us like water around stones.
"I’ll prove it to you," Felicity said.
"Prove what?"
"That we can be friends. Purely platonic. No romantic tension. No jealousy triggers. Just two people who went through a traumatic entrance exam together and decided to support each other through the next two years."
"And how exactly do you plan to prove that?"
Her grin returned, bright and dangerous. "Tomorrow’s Sunday. No classes. No Steele. No torture drills until Monday. You’re going to spend the day with me."
"Absolutely not."
"We’re going to the mall. I’m going to help you pick out some new clothes because frankly your wardrobe is tragic and you deserve better. We’re going to eat food court garbage and talk about our hopes and dreams and you’re going to realize that I’m delightful company who has zero romantic interest in you whatsoever."
"I have plans tomorrow."
"You don’t. I asked Percy. He has everyone’s schedules memorized. You’re free all day."
"I was going to train."
"You can train any day. You can only prove me wrong about this one specific thing tomorrow between the hours of eleven AM and four PM when the good stores close."
I stared at her. She stared back.
"Sloane will kill me."
"Sloane will be annoyed and then she’ll realize that you spending time with me in a completely public setting surrounded by witnesses is actually the least threatening possible scenario for female friendship. It’s not like we’re going to your room."
"The mall is still a date location."
"The mall is a commercial establishment designed for the exchange of goods and services. It’s only a date location if you make it one. We’re going to make it aggressively not one."
"How do you aggressively make something not a date?"
"By shopping for men’s clothes using your money while I complain about your terrible taste. Very unsexy. Extremely platonic. Possibly traumatizing for both of us."
I opened my mouth to refuse again.
The System notification appeared before I could.
〘 Side Quest Generated: Mall Crawl 〙
〘 Objective: Spend the day with Felicity Hardy in a purely platonic context 〙
〘 Reward: 500 SP, Potential Gauge Progression 〙
〘 Note: The System recognizes the Host’s desire to avoid complications. The System also recognizes that complications are where growth happens. Proceed accordingly. 〙
Of course the System wanted me to do this.
