Volume 1 – Chapter 15

“Akiko… I don’t know what to say…” Derek scratched his head. “I spoke to Hakaru but he’s completely lost it.”

Akiko sniffed, wiping the tears from her eyes. “He’s nothing like the guy I thought I knew. He took me, and now he’s spreading vile rumors all over school. No guy will ever love me again! I might as well be dead!”

Derek had a complicated look on his face, trying to come up with something to say. “Akiko, don’t be like that, you’ll always have me.”

“You have that other girl, Tori!” She cried out. “How could you possibly want me? Hakaru had me. He-he knew… about our relationship. He came in me last night. He said he wouldn’t be surprised if I got pregnant!”

“S-seriously? So, he knew, after all, no wonder he was looking at me that way.” Derek scratched his head, looking angry

“He said that you didn’t like soiled meat! That you’re too dickless to take me after he’s had me…”

I could only sigh inwardly, laughing to myself. Akiko’s words were relentless and manipulative. Of course, I had coached her a bit on what to say before she headed up to talk to Derek. It was lunchtime now, and she had taken everything I said and made it sound so natural. I could see her desperate lies whittling Derek down little by little. He was way too prideful and arrogant to let me win.

That was what it was about, after all. He wanted to win. It wasn’t about loving or caring about Akiko. It wasn’t even really about me. It was just about being better than everyone else. That’s why I made myself the enemy. I knew Derek and Derek had to be the hero.

Derek grabbed Akiko’s shoulders. “Look, Akiko, we’ve been together now almost as long as you’ve been with Hakaru. He turned out to be a piece of shit, I know, but I can’t have you thinking all men are like that.”

“Wh-what are you saying, Derek?” She asked through tear-stained eyes.

It was splendid watching the tables get turned on him. She was such a little liar, that as soon as I flipped her switch, she started lying and manipulating Derek with extreme ease. It was actually terrifying. I was glad that I had her under my ability. If not, she’d be a way to dangerous to keep around.

“It’ll be okay… if you consider me your boyfriend from now on.” Derek finally let out the words, looking only a little resistant.

I made a silent guts pose before turning back to the pair of them. This all worked exactly as well as I had hoped. I had thought it might take weeks to wear Derek down and get him to finally accept Akiko. I had planned to make her deprive him of sex as one of the ways to force him to accept her. How surprised he’d be when he realized that even after dating her, the sex never returned. In the end, Derek folded much quicker than I expected.

“What about Tori?” Akiko asked, looking hopeful, but hesitant.

“I-I will break up with her, I promise.” When he said those words, he nodded to himself, as if committing the idea to thought.

Well, supposing I had an embarrassing date where a girl laughed at my penis and I couldn’t get it up, I supposed I would also find it difficult to want to go on a second date.

“That… fucker…” A voice came quietly from behind me, causing me only to jump a little.

Of course, I recognized her voice immediately and glanced back to see Netori standing there, watching the couple interact just like I did.

“So, your first date sounded fun.” I teased her.

Netori sniffed. “Hmm… you’re going to gloat now? You wish to loose all progress with me then? Don’t think that it’s going to be this easy in the future. You’ll need 10,000 NTR points to break into level 3. You’re barely halfway there. Your morning blowjob barely gave you twenty points. It was pocket change!”

I gave a sigh. It looked like I couldn’t hide anything from Netori. She was aware of every action I took with another girl. There was no way I could deceive Netori into anything. Then again, I remembered that kiss. Shortly after that, I had gained a bunch of NTR points. That meant there was some advantage in wooing Netori.

Perhaps, Netori was the most important person to steal. However, I didn’t understand much about her. She was a goddess after all. The very way she thought was completely alien to me. She had more of a last boss feel, so I dropped the idea of dating her for now.

Netori noticed my look and crossed her arms. “Don’t be thinking you’ve made any particular progress with me. I am the goddess of theft. I could hardly be moved so easily by some human. You just caught me off guard last time. It won’t happen again. Any affection this stupid device may have said you earned was already lost.”

“Lost? Really? What did I do?” I asked, genuinely surprised that she admitted there had been progress made.

“You think you can sleep with other women casually and it wouldn’t affect my mood? Especially with that skank girlfriend of yours?” Netori threw back her hair in a huff. “Plus, you made my boyfriend break up with me, how could I be happy at that?”

“Who knows if he’ll break up with you or just date both of you at the same time?” I shrugged, causing Netori’s eyes to glimmer slightly. “That reminds me… why did you end up laughing at his penis?”

“Hmm…” Netori raised an eyebrow. “Oh, when he took off his pants, he wasn’t hard yet. He has two big, hairy balls along with an uncircumcised shaft. When I saw it, it reminded me of a turkey neck. I couldn’t help but laugh. To be so proud he couldn’t get it up after. Hmph, what a loser.”

I let out a chuckle feeling some relief that it wasn’t more complicated than Netori being Netori, “Is that how it was…”

“So… what do we have here?” Netori pushed forward, looking through the door.

“Don’t act like you don’t already know…” I laughed.

“Hmm?”

“Look!” I pointed at the couple.

“So, baby, since we’re going out now…” Derek pressed up against Akiko, going in to kiss her.

She dodged his advances. “Ah! I’d love to, Derek. I really would. Unfortunately, I-I didn’t bring a condom. Remember, Hakaru came in me last night. If I were to become pregnant, you wouldn’t want to be stuck raising his baby, right?”

“Huh?” Derek let out a shocked noise.

“T-that’s right, that’s why we have to play it safe for a while.”

Derek frowned, but after a moment, he nodded. “Tonight, come to my house. My sister’s a pharmacologist, I can get you a day after pill on the low.”

“O-oh… thanks!” Akiko put on a smile that only looked slightly sick.

“You didn’t cum in her…” Netori frowned, glancing at her device. “It’d be on my records.”

“You seriously don’t know what happened?”

Netori blushed. “I-i don’t know everything. I’m not always watching, okay? What did you do?”

I chuckled imagining just how flustered I must have made her that she didn’t pay attention to me enacting my plan, “I broke up with Akiko last night.”

“Eh? Wh-why would you do that?” Netori glared. “She was getting you extra points with Derek!”

Realizing that Netori seriously hadn’t been paying attention, I sighed and began to explain it all out. “I used my new ability on her. I entered into a promise with her that she does whatever I want and she can’t reject it. She agreed to break up with me in front of the school, and I agreed to help her get with Derek. Now, the tables are turned. Akiko is Derek’s girlfriend, and I’m the man she cheats with.”

“That ability… it can’t be used in this way.” Netori frowned.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“You can’t just bully someone into doing whatever you want with simple orders. They might be compelled to follow it, but they’d never be able to break their bottom line. For example, if things worked the way you just said, then if you asked her to kill herself, she’d do it. There is also the situation when there are two wants that conflict with each other. If you want her to lose weight, but also want to make her eat fast food… at some point, her mind would have to pick. It’s more like strong hypnosis than an absolute law.”

“Is that so?” I shrugged. “Then why did she suck my cock this morning?”

“… I don’t know…” Netori admitted.

“Well, so far, everything has been working out the way I wanted. So, I have no complaints. As far as Akiko, I’ll find out tonight what is stronger.”

“How so?”

“You heard her. Tonight, Derek asked her to come to his house. However, I asked her to come to my house. Which house she goes to will decide how effective these promises are. Right?”

“Hmm… guess so…” Netori seemed slightly distracted as she spoke as if she was lost in her thoughts.

“Netori?” I asked.

“N-nothing…” Netori shook her head, “You have done a good job. We’ll see tonight if your work results in what you wanted. I have to go for now.”

Before I could say anything else, Netori disappeared with a flash. I shook my head in confusion. What had gotten into her? I left the stairway before the two star-crossed lovers returned. After quickly eating my lunch, I coasted for the rest of the day. I received a lot more hateful looks than I would have liked, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. Still, I had a small frown on my face. If Netori was right, then everything I had built up was for naught.

Whether Akiko chose to come to my house or Derek’s, that was now the deciding factor for my future. With Akiko here, I could keep earning points and steadily grow more powerful. If she left, then I was back to ground one. I could rape my sister for more, but there was a strange feeling inside me that told me if I failed to win Akiko, my game of NTR Crush would also be lost. Netori’s confusing and cryptic words only helped add to that uncomfortable feeling.

When the bell rang, I left school and went straight home. Being home quicker didn’t really mean Akiko would come over any time sooner. On that note, I never gave her an official time to meet me. I realized I’d be waiting at home for hours tapping my feet before I finally had an answer.

When I entered my house, I was immediately caught by surprise at the rich smells permeating the house. I could only follow my nose to the source of the smells, which were accompanied by the sound of clattering and the sizzling of something cooking. When my head peaked into the kitchen, I couldn’t help but gape in surprise.

My mother was standing in the kitchen. Her hair was done up nice and she was wearing a pretty dress. On top of that, she had an apron on and was cooking. I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen my mother cook.  She seemed to have a slightly satisfied smile on her face as she flipped the Okonomiyaki she was working on. When was the last time I seen my mother smile?

“Mom?”

Mom’s smile faded and she turned in a fluster, realizing I was present. “Oh, It’s you. Hmph… come into the house with your shoes on. Were you born in some westerner home!”

“Ah!” I ran back to the entrance and took off my shoes, putting on my house slippers in their place.

It had been years since Mother had ever enforced these kinds of rules. I was a bit flummoxed at her sudden change of behavior. Was it the talk I had given her this morning? I hadn’t meant much by it. I was just feeling a bit cocky, so I talked back to her some of the thoughts I had. In retrospect, it was kind of embarrassing that I spoke to my mother that way.

I headed back to the kitchen as mom put together a plate with fresh rice and some okonomiyaki. I gave a pleased noise recognizing it was made with shrimp, my favorite. As I headed for the table, I found mom sitting across from me with her own plate. She was watching me eat, her expression imperceptible. Her back was straight and she had her hands in her lap in a very reserved manner. For me, it felt incredibly awkward. I was so used to eating alone, that the silence felt like it dragged on forever.

“Mo-“

“Hakar-“ We both started to talk at the same time.

“Ah… Mother… continue…” I lowered my shoulders, wondering why the atmosphere felt so weird.

“Hakaru, I was wondering if tonight, you’d like to accompany your mother to a movie.” Mother asked, finally taking a small bite.

“Ah! A movie?” I asked.

“It can be anything you want….” Mother said, blushing slightly.

“Ah… I’m sorry…” I lowered my head. “Actually, Akiko is coming over tonight, so…”

Mother’s face flashed with irritation. “That is, your girlfriend?”

“Of sorts…” I let out a soft, weird chuckle.

Mother turned away. “Fine, I’ll be on the couch if you need me.”

Mom’s behavior immediately started dropping quickly. Her posture left, and her face grew a lazy displeased expression on it. I finished my meal while she barely touched hers. If the previous atmosphere was weird, now it was simply unpleasant. I supposed I had told mom I’d give her more attention if she acted better. If that was true why she had cooked for me today, then I was failing on my end of the bargain. I went to the kitchen and cleaned my dishes. When I returned, mom stood up and left to head back into the living room, her dirty dishes untouched.

A frown grew on my face, and I realized that whatever happened, I didn’t want to leave mom back in the same condition she was in. This side of her was definitely preferable, so I would need to reward it. Without thinking, I ran up to mom and wrapped my arms around her from behind.

“Ah!” She let out a cry as I squeezed her.

“I’ll take mom out this weekend. Better than a movie. I’ll treat you to dinner.”

“R-r-really?” Mom looked away from me, hiding her face.

“Your smile made me happy today,” I whispered in her ear.

Mom shivered for some reason, but then she spoke in her normally no-nonsense voice. “Shopping.”

“Hmm?”

“Take your Mother out shopping, and hold all of her stuff… on top of dinner!” Mom demanded in a somewhat pouty and cute way.

“Okay…”

“Fine…” Mom said. “Now, let go of your mother. I’m not one of your girlfriend floozies you bring home to hammer in your room.”

“M-mother, please!”

“Hmph… Just go on and have your fun.” Mom waved her hand. “It’s better if you had practice.”

Mother pushed away and went to the couch, no longer acknowledging me with her head in the pillow. I scratched my cheek and left for my room. I still wasn’t sure what to make of what mom said. She had all but consented I could have sex, didn’t she? She was truly being odd today. Well, I didn’t hate some of the changes, and with full permission from my parental figure, then all I needed to do was wait and see.

I lay on my bed and counted the minutes. My sister played loud music which sounded through the walls deep into the night. I wondered if she was waiting for a visit from her new friend. Sorry, I wouldn’t be able to arrive tonight, not unless Akiko stood me up.

That was an idle thought, but as the night grew later, I started growing nervous. It was already dark out and the clock was growing late. Did Akiko seriously end up going to him? I really didn’t know what I would do if my ability didn’t work. If she turned around and broke her promise… Just as my mind was starting to grow frantic with fantasies, I heard knocking on my window. I glanced out to see Akiko standing there, her arms wrapped around herself staving off the cold night. With her appearance, all of my worry dissipated. I won.

I opened the window and grinned out at her. “Well, let’s begin.”