═══════════════════════
⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆
Leon:
STATUS:
STRENGTH: 125
STAMINA: 155
AGILITY: 60
INTELLIGENCE: 140
LOOKS: 75
S-SKILL: 65
CHARISMA: 35
COMMUNICATION: 100
LUCK: 75
REPUTATION: 6
INFAMY: 88
⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆
═══════════════════════
Honestly, things had been going surprisingly well lately.
If I compared myself to how I used to be before all of this system stuff happened, the difference was honestly ridiculous. Back then, I probably would've spent most of my time overthinking every single decision until I ended up doing absolutely nothing.
Now?
I had stats. Employees. A business that was about to officially open. Girls around me. Actual confidence.
It still felt kind of insane when I stopped to think about it properly.
Looking at my current status, I honestly felt like I'd managed to make myself pretty decent already. Not perfect, obviously, but definitely not bad either.
Right now, I didn't really feel like there was anything major for me to panic over.
Well... aside from midterms trying to personally ruin my mental stability.
Even though my INTELLIGENCE still wasn't at the level where I could completely dominate the exams without effort, I felt like I was getting close enough. At the rate things were going, I'd probably reach the right threshold before midterms even arrived.
So honestly, I didn't think I needed to stress too hard yet.
If anything, panicking early would probably just make me stupid.
After some time passed, it finally became 7 P.M., which meant Lisa's shift was over.
I took a quick moment to freshen myself up before waiting outside for her.
After a bit, Lisa finally walked out.
"I hope I didn't make you wait too long," she said.
"Well, I don't really mind waiting," I replied.
"For some reason, I feel like you keep saying things specifically to get into my head," she said with a small smirk. "You're such a bad boy."
Honestly, I still wasn't sure if saying basic nice things qualified somebody as a bad boy nowadays, but apparently Lisa thought it did.
Maybe standards were just changing.
Or maybe the bar was genuinely on the floor.
"Well," I said, "do you want to go back to that restaurant we went to before... or should we just walk around somewhere instead?"
"Like... an actual official date?" she asked.
"Well, if you're okay with that. Are you free tonight?"
"Well... yeah," she answered after a short pause.
Honestly, she agreed way easier than I expected.
Not that I was complaining.
At this point, I was slowly realizing that confidence really carried conversations harder than looks sometimes. Which honestly felt unfair considering how much effort some people put into skincare routines alone.
With that settled, she got onto my motorcycle, and we headed toward the city to figure out where we'd spend the night.
═══════════════════════
⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆
COMPLETED!
Lisa wants to get to know you more
Convince her to go on a date tomorrow
Reward: +30♥︎ Mood
⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆
═══════════════════════
═══════════════════════
⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆
Lisa
Affection: 10♥︎
Mood: 70♥︎
Lust: 30♥︎
Status: Interested
⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆
═══════════════════════
Looks like I completed the quest way more easily than I thought I would.
Honestly, I expected way more struggle.
But then again, maybe I was finally starting to understand how the system worked properly. At this point, I felt like I was naturally getting better at handling situations like this without even realizing it.
Or maybe I was accidentally speedrunning romance routes.
Which honestly sounded both impressive and slightly concerning.
While I was thinking about that, another panel suddenly appeared in front of me.
═══════════════════════
⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆
NEW QUEST
Lisa might be inclined to get a little tipsy tonight.
Make her drunk
Reward: +5♥︎ Mood, +50♥︎ Lust
⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆
═══════════════════════
The system immediately gave me another quest.
And honestly... it was painfully obvious what kind of direction this was probably trying to push things toward tonight.
Not that I was exactly against progressing further with Lisa.
Still, while we were riding on my motorcycle, she didn't really seem like the clingy type. Instead of wrapping her arms around my waist dramatically like couples did in romance movies, she just held onto the handle behind her seat.
Honestly, I wasn't bothered by it.
At least she trusted my driving enough not to scream every five seconds.
Although I did kind of wonder if girls actually enjoyed motorcycle rides as much as movies pretended they did. Half the time you couldn't even talk properly because of the wind.
After a while, we finally reached the city.
Honestly, the city looked pretty beautiful around this time of night.
The lights from the buildings reflected off windows and streets while people walked around everywhere minding their own business. Restaurants were busy, signs glowed brightly overhead, and cars kept passing by nonstop. Somehow, despite all the noise and movement, the atmosphere still felt weirdly relaxing.
It had that late-night energy where everything felt alive.
"So," Lisa asked while looking around, "what do you want to do first?"
She was basically leaving the date plans entirely up to me.
Which honestly was kind of dangerous considering I had absolutely zero experience.
"Well... to be honest," I admitted, "I've never actually been on a date before, so I don't really know where people are supposed to start."
Lisa blinked a few times.
"Wait," she said slowly, "you've seriously never been on a date before?"
"Uh... yeah."
"And you want to build a harem even though you basically have no experience whatsoever?"
"I mean... is there something wrong with that?"
Honestly, everybody started somewhere.
Nobody came out of the womb with dating experience and emotional maturity. Some people barely had emotional maturity at thirty.
"Well, it's not that there's something wrong with it," Lisa said while brushing her hair behind her ear. "It's just kind of surprising."
She looked at me carefully for a moment.
"You talk about going for the harem route with way too much confidence for somebody who's never actually dated anyone before."
"Well, confidence can carry a lot."
"That sounds fake."
"It probably is."
Lisa laughed quietly after hearing that.
"But honestly," she continued, "you don't really seem inexperienced at first glance."
Honestly, that was probably because of the system.
Without it, I'd probably be awkward as hell right now.
Then after a few moments, Lisa suddenly looked at me again.
"Am I the first one?" she asked.
"What?"
"The first girl you approached for this whole harem thing."
Oh.
So that was what she meant.
Honestly... she wasn't.
But at the same time, I wasn't sure if directly admitting that was the smartest possible decision. Part of me genuinely felt like I'd lose affection points instantly if I answered badly.
The system seriously turned normal conversations into strategy games sometimes.
Still, I also felt like honesty would probably give me the best chance long term.
Or maybe I just didn't feel like lying.
"You're not," I admitted honestly. "But you are the first person I actually told about it."
Lisa went quiet after hearing that.
Not angry quiet.
Just... thoughtful quiet.
For a few seconds, she didn't say anything at all.
Finally, she spoke again.
"I don't know if I should feel happy about that or not," she admitted softly.
Her tone sounded way quieter than before now.
"To be honest... I'd really prefer it if my partner didn't go around looking for other girls besides me."
Honestly, hearing her say that made sense.
Most people probably wouldn't exactly dream about sharing somebody they liked.
Even I understood that much.
"But... I guess I can't really force something like that onto you, considering that's what you want."
"Is that a turnoff?" I asked. "The fact that I want to create a harem?"
Lisa didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she spent a few moments thinking about it while we continued walking through the city. The sounds of cars passing by and people talking around us filled the silence between us.
Eventually, she spoke.
"If you actually manage to make everyone happy, then I guess it isn't really a turnoff."
I raised an eyebrow.
"Really?"
"Well, yeah."
She shrugged.
"I mean, if we're talking from a purely ethical standpoint, then it's probably not the most practical relationship structure in the world. Most people would probably say it's a bad idea."
"Most people?"
"Most sane people."
"That's encouraging."
Lisa laughed.
"I'm serious."
"That somehow makes it worse."
She rolled her eyes before continuing.
"What I mean is that people do this kind of thing nowadays. Maybe not exactly the same way you're talking about it, but there are plenty of people exploring different kinds of relationships."
She folded her arms loosely.
"I know quite a few people who are in polyamorous relationships. Some of them seem happy. Some of them don't. Honestly, that's the same as normal relationships."
"Fair point."
"So the idea itself doesn't bother me that much."
Then she looked at me.
"But at the same time, I can't help thinking about certain things."
"Like what?"
Lisa hesitated slightly.
"If I became your woman, would I actually be important to you?"
I blinked.
"Of course."
"No, that's not exactly what I mean."
She looked away for a moment before continuing.
"Would I be a priority?"
That was a much harder question.
"Or would I always end up being second to somebody else?"
Honestly, that sounded like a completely natural concern.
Anybody would think about that.
Lisa let out a small sigh.
"It's only normal for me to think that way."
She looked back at me.
"If I'm sharing you with other women, then obviously I'm going to wonder about things like that."
She gave a small laugh.
"It's not like we can split your body into multiple pieces."
"That would be useful."
"Please don't."
"I'm just saying."
"No. Don't."
I laughed.
Lisa shook her head before continuing.
"What I'm trying to say is that there's only one of you."
"Unfortunately."
"So how are you even planning to divide your attention enough to make everybody happy?"
That was honestly the biggest problem.
Everybody only had twenty-four hours in a day.
No amount of confidence changed that.
"How are you supposed to make everyone satisfied?" she asked.
I thought about it for a moment.
Then I answered honestly.
"Dividing my attention perfectly probably won't be possible. Honestly, I don't think it would be realistic."
That was simply the truth.
Not only would I have relationships to maintain, but I also had my own life to deal with.
I had a business.
I had classes.
I had responsibilities.
I had goals.
I had things I wanted to accomplish.
Trying to dedicate every single second of my attention to multiple women at the same time sounded impossible.
I only had one body and one mind.
That wasn't going to magically change.
And honestly, the more I thought about it, the harder the entire idea sounded.
Building a harem wasn't as simple as collecting girls and calling it a day.
I had to make sure everyone got along.
I had to make sure nobody felt neglected.
I had to support them.
Understand them.
Spend time with them.
Help them when they needed it.
And somehow maintain a healthy relationship between all of them.
Just taking care of one relationship properly could already be difficult.
Trying to handle multiple sounded insane when you looked at it objectively.
"So then why are you still trying to do something like this?" Lisa asked.
That question made me pause.
Honestly?
I wasn't completely sure how to explain it.
I scratched the back of my head.
"Well..."
I thought about it for another second.
Then I sighed.
"Because I want to."
Lisa stared at me.
"...That's it?"
"Pretty much."
"That's your answer?"
"Yeah."
I laughed awkwardly.
"I honestly don't know how to explain it any better."
Because I really didn't.
There wasn't some grand philosophy behind it.
I simply wanted it.
That was the truth.
And strangely enough, telling the truth felt easier than trying to come up with some impressive explanation.
The moment I said that, a notification appeared in front of me.
[+10 Lisa's AFFECTION]
I blinked.
That was a surprisingly huge increase.
Honestly, I wasn't expecting that at all.
For a moment, I wondered if the system had bugged out.
Then again, if there was one thing I had learned so far, it was that people tended to respond positively when they felt someone was being genuine.
Even if what they were saying sounded ridiculous.
Lisa looked away slightly.
"You really sound determined."
"Hm?"
She smiled.
"I kind of like that."
Well.
That wasn't the response I expected either.
Even though I was talking about something that most people would consider unconventional, weird, or completely unrealistic, she still seemed attracted to the fact that I wasn't backing down from it.
Maybe conviction really was attractive.
Or maybe I was just getting lucky.
Honestly, it could've been either.
"If you manage to convince me enough," Lisa continued, "and if the girls around you are people I think I can actually get along with..."
She paused.
"Then I won't complain too much."
That was already way more acceptance than I expected.
"And I won't mind being one of many."
I looked at her.
Honestly, hearing that felt like a huge step forward.
Of course, she wasn't done talking.
"Although..."
Lisa pointed a finger at me.
"I'm leaving if I end up unhappy."
"Fair."
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
She looked directly at me.
"If I feel neglected."
"Fair."
"If I feel dissatisfied."
"Also fair."
"If I feel like I'm not getting enough happiness from the relationship."
"Still fair."
"I'm glad we're agreeing on this."
"Because you're being reasonable."
She smiled slightly.
"Good answer."
"Thank you."
"Don't get used to compliments."
"I'll treasure this one forever."
"You're annoying."
"Only sometimes."
Lisa rolled her eyes.
But she was smiling.
"Just remember that."
"I will."
Honestly, it sounded like a perfectly reasonable deal.
If she became unhappy in a relationship where she was sharing somebody, then of course she'd leave.
Anybody would.
I couldn't exactly blame her for that.
At the same time, though, I didn't really want that outcome.
If she became part of my life, then naturally I'd want her to stay.
And honestly, part of me felt like the system would eventually help with that.
Not by magically solving everything.
But by giving me the tools to actually manage things properly.
At least, I hoped so.
Otherwise this entire plan was probably doomed from the start.
"Oh."
Lisa suddenly pointed ahead.
"Look over there, Leon."
I followed her gaze.
There was a barbecue restaurant up ahead.
Compared to the other places nearby, it wasn't very crowded.
A handful of people were sitting outside, eating and talking while drinks were being served.
From where we were standing, I could already see alcohol on several tables.
"It doesn't look very busy right now," Lisa said.
"Yeah."
"Why don't we go there?"
Honestly, that seemed like a pretty good idea.
And considering my current QUEST...
It was probably the perfect opportunity.
"I think that's a good idea too."
Lisa smiled.
"Then let's go."
With that, the two of us headed toward the restaurant.