Chapter 113 – Late Growth Spurt

[Tuesday, May 21, 2030]

I wake up staring into the darkness of my room, and for once in my life, I'm actually conscious before my alarm goes off. This is unprecedented. Historic, even. I should mark this date on a calendar.

I can feel the weight of Selene and Bianca on either side of me, their warmth pressed against me, and I can't help but smile like an idiot into the darkness.

So yesterday wasn't just some elaborate fever dream my brain cooked up to torture me. This is really my life now. I have two gorgeous girlfriends who spent the night making out with me and are currently sleeping in my bed.

My brain keeps trying to process this information and malfunctioning halfway through. Some part of me still can't believe this is actually happening. That Selene and Bianca, two of the hottest girls I know, actually want to be with me. Together. At the same time.

I'm the luckiest bastard on the planet.

I start the delicate process of extracting myself from bed without waking up either of them. I move slowly, carefully shifting Selene's arm off my chest. She makes a small sound of protest but doesn't wake. I gently lift Bianca's leg that's draped over mine, and slide out from between them.

When I'm finally standing, I lean over and press a gentle kiss to each of their foreheads.

"Mmm..." Bianca makes a little sleepy noise, her eyelids fluttering but not quite opening. Even half-asleep, she looks gorgeous. Her black and green-tipped hair is a mess, splayed across my pillow, and there's a tiny bit of drool at the corner of her mouth that somehow makes her look even more endearing.

"Heehee..." Selene, in contrast, lets out this small, gleeful giggle, and a smile spreads across her face like she's having the world's best dream. Probably about unicorns or rainbows or whatever incredibly wholesome things occupy Selene's subconscious. Or maybe she's dreaming about me. That would be nice.

I find myself smiling at how cute they both look.

Alright, that's enough cuteness overload for one morning. Time to check if that height upgrade actually did anything.

I pull up my system menu, the familiar blue screen appearing in my vision.

Adam Gray

Age: 18 | Height: 5'2" → 5'3"

Dick Size: 3.5 inches (flaccid), 5 inches (erect)

Current Occupation

Student

Part-time worker at the Midnight Café

Inventory

Evolution Points: 240

Attributes

Body Enhancements

Active Skills

Passive Skills

Perks

Huh. Well, the upgrade definitely worked. I'm officially 5'3" now instead of 5'2".

I don't really feel that different though. I guess an inch doesn't substantially change anything, I've just evolved from a short guy to a short guy that’s an inch taller.

Whatever. It's progress.

I shrug, shaking off these thoughts, and get started on my morning routine.

After my workout, shower, and morning facial routine, I head downstairs to cook beside my mom.

"Morning, mom," I say when I see her already at the stove.

"Oh!" She turns, and her face lights up with one of those warm, motherly smiles. "Good morning, sweetie."

She crosses the kitchen and wraps me into one of our usual hugs, and as always, my face lands directly in her chest. It’s the curse of having a tall mom that happens to be built like a fertility goddess.

"Oh?" She pulls back slightly, her green eyes looking me up and down. "Adam, did you get taller?"

What.

How?

It's almost concerning how quickly she noticed. I only grew an inch, and she already clocked it? I really need to space out these upgrades or people are going to start asking questions I can't answer.

But also... I'm kind of happy that she noticed?

"Really? That's awesome!" I grin. "Maybe I'm finally hitting a growth spurt!"

Mom laughs, reaching up to ruffle my hair affectionately. "Maybe!”

We fall into our usual morning routine, working side by side in the kitchen. We chat easily, jumping between topics: she tells me about something that happened at work, I talk about my classes.

When we're done, we set the table together. I'm just sitting down when Mom turns toward the stairs.

"Girls! Breakfast is ready!" Mom calls out.

"Coming!" Selene's voice bounces back immediately.

A few minutes later, they both come downstairs.

We're all sitting around the table, and I’m just digging into my eggs when Mom says, completely casually, "So, did you girls sleep in Adam's room last night?"

I nearly choke on my eggs but I force myself to swallow, trying to keep my expression neutral while my brain screams internally. Shit shit shit, does she know? Did she hear something? Should I start planning my escape route?

I glance at Bianca, and even she looks slightly more alert than usual, a hint of tension in her shoulders.

But Selene? Selene doesn't even hesitate.

"Yup!" she says brightly, like Mom just asked her about the weather. "We were all hanging out and having such a good time that we ended up just falling asleep together. It was really fun!"

Her delivery is so natural, so genuinely enthusiastic, that even I almost believe we just had an innocent sleepover. This girl could sell ice to penguins.

Mom beams at us. "That's wonderful! I came home late last night and just went straight to bed, but I saw Adam's door was closed and thought you might all be spending time together." She smiles at us warmly. "I'm so happy you're all getting along so well."

Crisis averted. Thank you, Selene.

"Of course we're getting along!" Selene says, leaning her head against my shoulder. "We love Adam!"

My heart does this stupid flutter thing in my chest, and I feel Bianca's hand slip into mine under the table. Her fingers intertwine with mine, and she gives my hand a little squeeze.

"Yeah," Bianca adds, her voice still sleepy but sincere. "He's not completely terrible."

"High praise coming from you," I mutter.

"Don't get used to it, dumbass," she says, but she squeezes my hand again.

After breakfast, the three of us start walking to school together, and I immediately become the subject of intense scrutiny.

Bianca's squinting at me suspiciously.

"Hmm." Selene walks around me in a circle, examining me from different angles like I'm a statue in a museum. "Yeah! You definitely look different!"

"You grew," Bianca says flatly. Her teal eyes narrow. "When the fuck did you grow?"

I can't help but grin at her. "Maybe I'm hitting a late growth spurt. Watch out, Bianca, soon you'll be the short one."

Bianca was always only a few inches taller than me, and after just one upgrade we're almost the same height now.

She glares at me and pinches my arm, hard.

"Ow! What the hell?"

"That's for being so smug about it," she says.

"You're just mad that I'm catching up to you."

"I'm mad that you're being annoying about it."

"I think it's great!" Selene chimes in cheerfully. "I bet you're gonna get super tall, Adam!"

The rest of our walk continues like this, filled with comfortable teasing and banter.

My day passes normally. Troy is nowhere to be seen, which is both a relief and also slightly concerning. Part of me wonders if he's planning something. The other part wonders if he just transferred schools out of embarrassment.

Either way, I'm keeping my guard up.

[Wednesday, May 22, 2030]

Still no Troy.

I’m constantly on alert for an ambush, but the day ends without incident, and soon I'm walking to Luna's apartment after school and my shift at the café.

Training with Eva is, as always, brutal. She has me working on more complex combinations now: kick, jab, cross, hook, uppercut, knee. My muscles are screaming and sweat is pouring down my face. My shirt is completely soaked through, clinging to my skin, and I'm pretty sure I've sweated out about half my body weight.

My knuckles are raw inside the practice gloves. My shins ache from the kicks. My abs are burning from all the core engagement. Everything hurts.

But I keep going.

And then, finally, I hear it.

Ding! You've obtained the passive skill: Novice Striker

Yes! Finally!

I'm gasping for air, hands on my knees, when Eva addresses me.

"You're improving quickly." Her voice is as monotone and expressionless as always. "We will begin work on grappling tomorrow."

"Sounds—" I gasp for air. "Sounds good." Another gasp. "Thanks for the training... I'll see you all... again tomorrow..."

When I get home, I demolish dinner, then shower until I feel human again.

After that, I get to work on my side project.

Selene and Bianca didn’t spend the night with me yesterday. They're both locked in their rooms, busy studying for final exams.

Fairchild is an extremely competitive school. It's actually a private school with strict enrollment requirements. Surprisingly though, despite its outrageous opulence: the pristine hallways, the absurdly high ceilings, the facilities that look like they belong in a tech company rather than a school, tuition fees are actually quite fair.

Especially because Selene, Bianca, and I all get reduced fees.

Me, because I've consistently maintained high marks through elementary school and high school.

Selene, because she participates in cheerleading competitions and actually wins them.

And Bianca, because of her insane art. Seriously, the stuff she creates is gallery-worthy.

Regardless, we're all expected to maintain certain standards in academic performance. I usually don't have any trouble with that, but my sisters need to put in more effort before major exams.

Hence the lack of late-night makeout sessions.

Which is fine. I have my own stuff to work on anyway.

I'm completely focused on my side project. My fingers fly across the keyboard, typing out code and running tests.

I'm so close. I've been testing my stock market bot obsessively, plugging in historical data to see how it performs, fixing bugs whenever it screws up. Each failure has taught me something, helped me refine the algorithm.

But this time...

Holy shit.

My stock market bot just passed every single test I threw at it. Every. Single. One. The predictions are accurate, the trading logic is sound, the autonomous systems are working exactly as intended.

It actually works.

I stare at my screen, at the lines of code I've been working on for more than a year, and feel this surge of pure triumph.

I—I might be done!