Chapter 231: 231 | She’s Not Combat-Capable, But...
Her eyes widened further, which I hadn’t thought was possible given how wide they’d already been. "Oh no, did I hurt you? I didn’t mean to hurt you, I was just walking and thinking and I should have been more careful—"
"You definitely didn’t hurt me." I crouched down to pick up what she’d dropped, which turned out to be a tablet and a folder full of papers that had scattered across the walkway. The tablet was intact. The papers were reorganizable. "See? No damage."
She watched me gather her things with an expression that suggested she was waiting for the other shoe to drop, for me to suddenly get angry or demand something or otherwise confirm whatever negative expectations she’d been building up since the collision. Her hands were clasped in front of her chest in a gesture that read as defensive and also pulled her arms together in a way that emphasized her figure in ways she probably wasn’t aware of and definitely wasn’t intending.
Small. Cute. Anxious. Bunny ears.
The Ecchi Logic trait was absolutely responsible for this encounter. I’d bet money on it.
"Here." I held out her things. "All present and accounted for."
She took them with both hands, clutching them against her chest like they might try to escape. Her ears had relaxed slightly, moving from pressed-back distress to something more neutral. Up close, I could see that her eyes weren’t just brown, they had flecks of gold in them that caught the light when she blinked.
"Thank you." Her voice had dropped to something closer to normal speaking volume. "I’m really sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going."
"Neither was I. Mutual fault."
"But I was the one who—"
"Mutual fault," I repeated. "Unless you want to argue about who gets to be more apologetic, which seems like a weird use of both our evenings."
A sound escaped her that might have been a laugh if it hadn’t been strangled by residual anxiety. Her ears twitched again.
"I’m Saya." She said it like she was expecting me to already know the answer to a question she hadn’t asked yet. "Saya Usami. I’m a first-year in the Business department."
"Lukas Belmont. Combat Operations."
Her ears went fully upright at that, which I was learning to read as surprise or intense interest. "You’re in Combat Ops?"
"1-B, specifically. Why?"
"I saw the rankings." Her anxiety shifted into something closer to nervous excitement, her words coming faster again but with a different quality than before. "From the entrance exams. You came in third overall. Third. And your Aspect is just telekinesis? How did you—" She stopped herself, cheeks flushing pink. "Sorry. That’s probably rude to ask. I get too curious sometimes."
"It’s fine." The System had generated an explanation for exactly this situation. "Creativity and tactical positioning. The practical exam rewarded adaptability more than raw power."
"That makes sense." She nodded rapidly enough that her ears bounced. "I mean, I’m in Business so I don’t know a lot about combat stuff, but that makes sense. Strategy matters as much as strength, right?"
"Usually more."
"That’s what the textbooks say." She clutched her folder tighter. "I’ve been reading a lot of them. About Hero industries and agency management and market positioning. I want to understand how it all works before I have to start working with actual Heroes."
Business department. That meant support track, the people who handled the administrative and commercial side of heroics. Agency managers. PR specialists. Accountants and lawyers and the entire infrastructure that made the Hero industry function. They didn’t train for combat, but they trained alongside combat students because the relationship between Heroes and their support staff started forming early.
"First day on campus?"
"My move-in was today." She gestured vaguely in a direction that I thought was toward the Business department dormitories. "I got lost trying to find the cafeteria and then I got lost trying to get back and then I ran into you and now I don’t even know which direction my building is and I’m probably going to miss curfew and—"
"Breathe."
She stopped. Blinked. Her ears twitched.
"Right. Breathing. That’s a thing I should do."
I pointed down the path I’d come from. "Main campus is that way. If you take a left at the fountain and follow the signs to the Athena Wing, the Business department dorms are the building on the far side of the quad."
"Left at the fountain." She repeated it like a mantra. "Far side of the quad."
"You’ll see the signs once you get there."
"Okay." She took a breath that seemed to settle something in her chest. Her shoulders dropped from their position near her ears. "Okay. Thank you. For the directions and for not being mad about me running into you and for just being nice generally."
"No problem."
She started to move past me toward the main campus, then stopped and turned back. Her ears were still upright, attentive, and her expression had shifted into something that looked like determination fighting against her natural anxiety.
"Um. Good luck tomorrow. With training and everything." The words came out in a rush. "I know Combat Ops is really hard and Steele is supposed to be intense and I just wanted to say that I hope it goes well for you."
"Thanks, Saya."
Her name in my mouth made her ears twitch sharply and her cheeks flush darker. She nodded once, quickly, and then she was walking away with a pace that was just slightly too fast to be casual. Her bunny ears caught the campus lighting as she moved, the soft brown fur standing out against the darkening sky.
A System notification flickered at the edge of my vision.
New Heroine Detected: Saya Usami
Temptation Gauge: 4%
Note: The Host has encountered a support-track student with an Aspect that has given her permanent rabbit characteristics. The System notes that this is exactly the kind of encounter that Ecchi Logic was designed to generate and encourages the Host to consider whether a harem truly needs to be limited to combat-capable heroines.
I dismissed the notification and kept walking toward my dormitory.
Four percent. That was nothing. Barely a blip. The kind of interest that could fade with time and distance and the natural course of a busy academy schedule.
But Felicity had started at single digits too. So had Camille. So had everyone, at some point.
Sloane: Did you make it back okay?
Me: Yeah. Got a little distracted but I’m in my room now.
Sloane: Distracted by what?
I considered telling her about Saya. The bunny girl. The collision. The four percent that was probably meaningless but might not be.
Me: Just thinking about tomorrow.
Sloane: Don’t overthink it. You’ll be fine. You’re going to be a strong Hero, remember?
Me: Second to you.
Sloane: Damn right. Now go to sleep. You have to be up in six hours and I refuse to date someone who looks tired during our next dinner.
Me: Yes ma’am.
Sloane: I love you.
Me: Love you too.
