The bell had barely stopped ringing when Blake let his head fall against the back of his chair.

’Oh Lord, I’m so tired.’

Truthfully, it hadn’t even been more than two days since he decided to attempt this impossible plan, but he already felt like he couldn’t keep this up much longer.

The exhaustion wasn’t physical, well, not entirely. It was the constant pressure of balancing school, secret investigations, and, most importantly, the ridiculous demands of the system.

His gaze drifted downward.

[ Mission: Trigger a "Heart-Flutter" Event ]

[ Time Limit: 1 Day ]

[ Reward: 100 Coins ]

[ Penalty: ??? ]

Blake sighed heavily.

The fact that the penalty was hidden made everything worse.

’Why is Spoon so into surprises?’

Honestly, he wasn’t even sure the system wanted him to succeed anymore.

This time especially, the mission was too vague.

Still, he needed the coins, that was the problem.

No matter how much he complained, he couldn’t survive in the system’s economy without constantly earning more. Every useful skill cost coins. Information cost coins. Emergency resources cost coins.

Everything cost coins.

Blake rubbed his temples.

He had avoided Myles for three entire days. If they were currently on speaking terms, maybe it’d be a slightly bit easier, but, honestly, he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to trigger a so-called heart-flutter event when they are... like this.

What did that even mean?

A romantic moment? An emotional moment? A jump scare?

The system never explained anything right.

Regardless, he couldn’t afford to fail again.

Not when a hundred coins were on the line.

***

When class ended, Blake left the room and headed outside.

For the past few days, he stuck around with Asher and Anthony, but today he wasn’t really in the mood.

It wasn’t that he disliked them.

A bit of the opposite, actually.

The problem was that Blake had spent so much time hiding things from everyone that genuine trust had become difficult.

Every conversation felt like walking through a minefield. This friendship came with the risk of one of the two, if not both, discovering something they shouldn’t.

Especially considering their dangerous position.

That didn’t mean Blake knew how to relax around them.

Sitting alone, he unwrapped the sandwich he’d brought from home and took a bite.

After considering it for a while, he eventually came to the same conclusion.

’Eh, there is truly no point for me to change building.’

A-EXP and YAN were both ancient, apparently unremarkable facilities with little remaining information attached to them. The only meaningful difference was that YAN was older.

That was it, and it’s not as if it mattered, since he planned on investigating all five possible locations, eventually.

Still, infiltrations weren’t simple.

People tended to focus on the actual break-in itself, but that was only one part of the process for most, and in this case, especially for Blake.

First came the planning.

Then gathering information.

Then creating backup plans.

Then creating backup plans for the backup plans.

And all of that had to be done with almost no reliable information regarding what was waiting inside.

After that came the actual infiltration.

And after that came the recovery period.

Blake glanced down at his foot, his expression tensing ever so slightly.

Every injury he received lingered, the system never magically healed him afterward.

On the surface, he was just an ordinary student.

Which meant every time something happened, he was forced to stay home for days while his body recovered enough to avoid questions.

It was inefficient.

Especially since the first person who has to think of him as not inconvenient or eye-catching was Myles.

Blake sighed again, then, he looked around.

Something felt off. Scratching the back of his head, he realized the area was almost completely empty.

There were no students, just silence.

A bad feeling immediately formed in his stomach.

He pulled out his phone.

Five minutes since the bell had rung...

"Crap."

Jumping to his feet, Blake stuffed the rest of the sandwich into its wrapper and hurried back toward the school building.

The hallways were mostly empty by the time he got inside.

As he rounded a corner, he noticed someone stepping out of a nearby bathroom.

Myles.

Blake froze, but the other didn’t.

The taller boy simply exited the bathroom and continued walking without even glancing in his direction.

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump.

Blake stared after him.

Then he sighed.

’Well, what did I expect, that’s that.’

Myles hadn’t even looked at him.

Considering the mission’s time limit that he had to respect, this was the proof a complete loss.

Why waste any more energy?

At this point, Blake should just walk up to him, no pride attached, and ask for a favor...

He took a step forward, then stopped.

’Wait, why is he walking toward me, our classroom is in the opposite direction....’ 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Blake frowned.

’Why would—’

His thoughts cut off as Myles stopped directly in front of him.

’Oh dear.’

The timing couldn’t have been better.

For the first time in days, Blake felt genuinely lucky.

He opened his mouth.

Myles grabbed his hand, immediately dragging him away.

"What—"

Before Blake could finish protesting, Myles pulled him into the nearest bathroom, shoved open a stall door, guided both of them inside, and locked it behind them.

The tiny space suddenly felt very cramped.

Blake crossed his arms.

His act was ready!

"What exactly are you doing?"

Myles didn’t answer right away.

"For your information, I already told you we’re not on speaking terms for the time being."

"Blake."

The simple use of his name made Blake immediately raise a finger.

"Shh. Doing this isn’t helping your case at all."

All the silence made the stall suddenly feel much smaller than before.

For a moment, Myles simply stood there.

Then, quietly, he asked,

"What do I have to do?"

"...What?"

"What do I have to do to make it up to you?"

The surprise nearly showed on his face.

’That easy? Really?’

After all the scenarios Blake had imagined over the last three days, he hadn’t expected Myles to surrender immediately.

Still, he wasn’t about to make things easy.

"It’s not that simple," he said.

Myles waited.

"And besides, it’s not like you can actually do anything I ask, right?"

"I can."

The answer came without hesitation.

’Well then, if you insist.’

Blake barely managed to suppress a smirk.

"Fine. Listen here, for the next month, you’re going to train me."

"Train you?"

"Yep."

Blake leaned casually against the stall wall.

"Physical training. Fitness. Endurance. All of that. I mean man, I’m weak."

That wasn’t exactly a lie, since compared to normal students, he still had a small chance to survive.

Buf compared to the people he kept encountering lately... he might as well have been made of paper.

"I need a stronger body. You know, for health. And I’m also terrible at fighting bullies. So if you know how to fight, you’re teaching me."

Myles considered the request.

Then nodded.

"Okay."

Blake blinked.

"...Okay?"

"I accept it."

For a second, Blake almost felt disappointed.

He’d expected more resistance.

Then again, free combat training from the strongest human he knew wasn’t exactly something to complain about.

"Good."

Satisfied, Blake reached toward the lock.

"Then we’re done here."

He unlocked the stall door.

Before he could open it, however, a hand wrapped around his wrist.

Myles was still holding him.

"What?"

"Will you talk to me during this month?"

Blake stared.

"...What?"

"Even if it’s during training, will you talk to me?"

Myles looked completely serious, asking such a question.

’Will you talk to me? Is he being for real?’

For several seconds, Blake simply stood there.

His brain struggled to process the question.

Of all the things Myles could have asked...

Of all the concerns he could have had...

That was what mattered?

Slowly, realization dawned, his amusement following.

Then genuine disbelief.

And finally, Blake laughed.

He couldn’t help it, the sound literally escaped before he could stop himself.

Blake shook his head.

"You dragged me into a bathroom stall to also ask that? C’mon..."

Myles didn’t answer.

"Seriously?"

Still nothing.

The expression on his face somehow made the situation even funnier.

Blake wiped at the corner of one eye.

"Yes."

Myles remained silent.

"Of course we’ll talk."

A brief pause, then, he added...

"In either case, what kind of psychopath trains with someone for an entire month without speaking to them?"

[ Mission Completed ]

[ Reward: 100 Coins ]

Blake froze.

The familiar blue notification appeared before his eyes.

For a moment, he thought he’d imagined it.

Then he read it again, in his mind.

His seemingly difficult mission was completed so fast...

His smile slowly disappeared, since he started to actually think about it.

’Wait a damn a second.’

The mission was done, but what about the heart-flutter event...

Blake looked at the screen, then at Myles, then back at the screen, then back at Myles.

"..."

Myles stared back.

"What?"

Blake opened his mouth, then, the closed It again.

Nothing came out.

Because there was only one thought running through his head.

’What made his heart flutter?’