The automatic doors slid shut behind her. They sealed Rei inside the air-conditioned, brightly lit box.
The temperature drop was instant and violent. Outside, New Kowloon was a humid armpit. Inside, the AFK-Mart was a meat locker.
The refrigerated air bit into her bare legs. It sent goosebumps rippling up her thighs and hardened her nipples against the coarse cotton of her hoodie.
It wasn't just cold. It was exposure. Without the buffer of underwear, the draft felt invasive. It swirled up the loose legs of her sweatpants. It caressed skin that had no business feeling a breeze in a public setting.
Rei hugged herself. Her arms crossed over her chest. The reaction was immediate.
Her nipples hardened. They pressed painfully against the rough fabric. Without a bra, there was no armor class to mitigate the environmental damage.
[ SYSTEM ALERT: ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD ]
[ EFFECT: 'HIGH BEAMS' ACTIVATED ]
[ STEALTH: COMPROMISED ]
"Why is that a feature?" Rei muttered frantically, hunching her shoulders. "I didn't spec into 'Exhibitionist.' I specced into 'Thirsty Girl Buying Water.'"
She kept her head down. Her hood was pulled low. She scuttled toward the back of the store. The fluorescent lights hummed with a sound that felt like it was scratching the inside of her skull.
Focus.
Loot the water. Exfiltrate.
She passed the magazine rack. The glossy covers seemed to judge her loadout.
Succu-Babes Weekly sat front and center. It looked like a strategy guide for her new life. A woman with impossible curves and flawless, airbrushed skin posing in black lace. The headline promised: "CHARM HIM TO DEATH: THE META BUILD FOR MODERN DATING."
But it was the magazine next to it that made her roll her eyes. Apex Monthly.
The cover model was a man in a bespoke charcoal three-piece suit that cost more than Rei's entire debt. He was undeniably handsome. Sharp, aristocratic features. Slicked-back blonde hair. But his eyes were cold.
Calculation and violence lurked behind the expensive grooming.
FENRIS. The Alpha Werewolf. The Podcast King.
The headline screamed in bold, aggressive red font: THE SHEEP ARE WAITING. JOIN THE WOLFPACK. 5 RULES TO DOMINATE YOUR REALITY.
"Ugh," Rei whispered. She cringed physically. "Alpha-male podcast bros. Even in the printed press?"
She hurried past. She tried to scrub the image of the judgmental "Sigma" guru from her mind. They were the winners of this system. Perfect. Polished. Predatory.
Rei reached the beverage aisle. She grabbed the handle of the cooler door.
Her reflection stared back from the glass. A pale, shaking ghost in gray sweatpants. But the HUD overlaid it with a wireframe skeleton. It highlighted the trembling in her knees in bright red.
[ STATUS: VIBRATING ]
She yanked the door open. She grabbed a bottle of water.
The condensation on the plastic was freezing. She pressed it against her burning cheek for a second. It was a desperate attempt to cool down the Heat boiling in her gut.
It didn't help. The contrast just made her senses spike. The cold bottle against her face. The hot friction between her legs. The buzzing lights.
It was too much input.
Pay.
Leave. Survive.
She turned toward the counter.
Kenji was waiting.
He hadn't moved. He was leaning against the counter, tapping a vape pen against his chin. A wisp of vapor smelling like synthetic grapes curled around his head.
[ BOSS BATTLE INITIATED ]
[ TARGET: KENJI (THE GATEKEEPER) ]
[ HP: 100/100 ]
[ OBJECTIVE: COMPLETE TRANSACTION WITHOUT CRYING ]
Rei walked toward him. Every step was a gamble.
STEP. RUB. STEP.
SLIDE.
The sweat pooling at the top of her thighs made the fabric stick. Then it peeled away with a wet, audible sound.
SCHLICK.
Rei flinched. He heard that. The acoustics in here are too good. He definitely heard the sound of my dignity evaporating.
She reached the counter. She slammed the water bottle down a little too hard.
Kenji looked at the water. Then he looked at her.
His eyes were dark, tired, and uncomfortably sharp. He didn't look at her chest. He didn't look at her legs. He looked right into the shadow of her hood. He met her eyes.
[ ATTACK: EYE CONTACT ]
[ DAMAGE: -5 SANITY ]
Rei's breath hitched. She wanted to look away, but the System pinned her gaze.
"Just this?" Kenji asked.
His voice was low. Bored. Scratching at the bottom of his vocal range.
"Y-yeah," Rei squeaked. She cleared her throat, trying to lower her pitch. "Yes. Just. Loot."
Kenji paused. He scanned the bottle.
BEEP.
"1.50 Credits."
Rei reached into her hoodie pocket for her phone to pay.
Disaster struck. Or maybe... Opportunity.
As she pulled her hand out, the movement hiked the hem of her oversized hoodie up by three inches.
It wasn't much. It didn't reveal anything "explicit." But it revealed the curve of her hip bone through the thin, worn fabric of the sweatpants. It revealed the way the waistband hung loosely. Unsupported by elastic. Unsupported by undergarments.
And for a split second, the draft from the door hit her lower stomach.
Rei froze.
Her breath caught in a stranglehold. She felt completely, utterly naked.
Kenji's eyes flicked down.
It wasn't a leer. It was a data input. He noticed. He perceived the lack of layers.
[ PASSIVE TRIGGERED: VENTILATION PROTOCOL ]
[ SKILL: THE GLIMPSE ]
[ EFFECT: TARGET STUNNED ]
A jolt of electricity shot through Rei's pelvis. It was the Heat. It surged, reacting to his attention like gasoline hitting a flare.
[ HEAT: 40% ]
[ THIRST GENERATED: +15 ]
She felt her knees knock together. A drop of slick wetness slid down her inner thigh. Hot and terrifying.
He knows, her brain screamed. He knows you're free-balling in an AFK-Mart! He knows you're wet!
But then she looked at Kenji.
The bored expression was gone. He was staring at the sliver of hip. He had stopped vaping. He looked... flustered.
[ BOSS STATUS: CONFUSED ]
Rei realized something wild. I'm not the only one taking damage here. I just hit him with a Pheromone Crit.
"Device?" Kenji asked. His voice cracked slightly. He held out the scanner.
He didn't look her in the eye anymore. He couldn't.
Rei's hand shook as she held her phone up.
BEEP.
"Receipt?"
"No," Rei whispered.
"Cool."
Kenji slid the water toward her. He took a drag of his vape. He exhaled a purple cloud that was significantly larger than the last one. A nervous habit?
He looked at her one last time. "Rough night?" he asked.
Rei grabbed the water. She felt the heat rising in her cheeks, but she also felt a strange, dizzying rush of power. She had entered the boss room. She dropped a pheromone bomb. And the boss had blinked first.
"You have no idea," she said. Her voice was raspy.
She turned. She didn't walk. She speed-waddled. Her thighs created a symphony of friction that deafened her.
STEP. RUB. STEP.
[ MISSION COMPLETE ]
[ REWARD: +50 THIRST ]
[ BONUS: +15 THIRST (THE GLIMPSE) ]
[ XP GAINED: 100 ]
She burst through the automatic doors and back into the humid, noisy night.
[ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ]
[ LEVEL UP! ]
[ CURRENT LEVEL: 2 ]
[ NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: LUSTFUL TOUCH ]
She slid down until she was crouching on the sidewalk. She clutched the cold water bottle to her burning chest.
Her heart was hammering a drum and bass rhythm against her ribs.
[ HEAT: 42% ]
[ SANITY: 58% ]
"I did it," she panted. She unscrewed the cap with trembling fingers and downed half the bottle in one go. Water spilled down her chin. It soaked the collar of her hoodie. "I survived the raid."
"Level 2," she whispered.
A bitter, hysterical laugh bubbled up in her throat.
"Great. Now I'm a Level 2 Pervert."
She looked down at her legs. The sweatpants were clinging to her. Damp with sweat and... other fluids.
The walk home was going to be so much harder.