Your Girlfriend Calls Me Daddy

Chapter 171 - 172 | The Other Matter

The elevator doors opened. We walked out into the lobby, past security guards and corporate drones and people who had no idea they were standing next to someone whose existence broke half the rules they’d been taught about how the world worked.

My phone buzzed.

NOEL: You’re late.

I checked the time. 3:47 PM.

ROME: You said 3.

NOEL: I said don’t be late. That implies arriving early.

ROME: That’s insane logic.

NOEL: It’s efficient logic. Conference room 2-B. Now.

I showed the screen to Cheon. "Duty calls."

"Noel?"

"Yeah."

"Try not to have sex with her on campus this time."

"No promises."

Marco dropped me at the academy gates. I walked through the quad with my hands in my pockets, ignoring the stares and whispers that followed me everywhere now. The match footage had made me famous in the worst possible way. Everyone wanted to know how the academy’s biggest disappointment had suddenly become its most dangerous student.

Conference room 2-B was on the second floor of the administration building. I found the door and knocked twice before pushing it open.

Noel stood at the whiteboard with a marker in her hand. She’d drawn some kind of tactical diagram that involved arrows and circles and numbers I didn’t recognize. Her violet hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, and she wore the school uniform with her usual military precision.

"You’re twelve minutes late."

"Traffic."

"You were dropped off at the gate."

"Long walk."

Her eye twitched. "Sit down."

I sat. The chair was uncomfortable on purpose, one of those institutional designs meant to keep meetings short.

"The exhibition against Century East," she said. "Three weeks away. Our team is you, me, and Usagi against their top three."

"Marcus mentioned Mei Chen."

"You met with Vanguard?"

"Recruitment discussion."

"Already?" She turned back to the whiteboard. "Of course. Your match footage is probably on every agency’s radar by now."

"Jealous?"

"Concerned. Your performance against Nolan was impressive, but it also raised questions. Questions that people with authority might start asking."

"I’ve been warned."

"By your father?"

"And Marcus. And Cheon. And probably Mera, but she did it with more jokes."

"Then you understand the stakes."

"I understand that if I don’t perform at the exhibition, I lose my shot at everything I’m building. And if I perform too well, I attract the wrong kind of attention."

"Exactly." She tapped the whiteboard. "Which is why we need a strategy that showcases your abilities without exposing the full scope of what you can do."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Controlled escalation. We start the match with conventional tactics. Usagi provides ranged support, I handle reconnaissance and disruption, you engage in direct combat using only your publicly acknowledged abilities."

"Rubber Body and Fire Fist."

"Exactly. Save the gravity manipulation for defensive emergencies. Don’t use the portals at all unless we’re about to lose."

"What about the drain?"

Her cheeks colored slightly. "What about it?"

"It’s my most effective ability. Against high-level opponents—"

"Against high-level opponents, you’ll have to find other ways to win. The drain is too visible. The eye manifestation, the energy transfer, the way targets respond to sustained contact." She cleared her throat. "It’s distinctive."

"You’re speaking from experience."

"I’m speaking from tactical analysis."

"Sure you are."

She threw the marker at my head. I caught it.

"This is serious, Rome."

"I know it’s serious."

"Then act like it."

"I am acting like it. I’m here, aren’t I? Listening to your tactical briefing instead of doing literally anything else with my afternoon."

"Anything else like what?"

"I don’t know. Napping. Eating. Having sex with my multiple girlfriends."

"You’re disgusting."

"You’re one of those girlfriends."

Her face went red. "I am not your girlfriend."

"Right. You’re my scheduled appointment. That’s much better."

"I hate you."

"No you don’t."

She opened her mouth to argue. Closed it. Turned back to the whiteboard.

"Mei Chen’s ability is called Fold Space," she said, her voice brittle. "She can compress the distance between two points, effectively teleporting short distances or pulling distant objects into her immediate vicinity. Range is approximately fifty meters. Cooldown between compressions is roughly four seconds."

"So she’s faster than Mera."

"Different mechanic. Mera creates openings between locations. Mei compresses the space itself. The practical difference is that Mei can affect things at range without physical contact."

"Meaning she could yank me toward her from across the arena."

"Or pull the ground out from under you. Or compress the air around your head to create a pressure differential that ruptures your eardrums."

"Fun."

"She’s never actually done that in a sanctioned match. But the theoretical capability exists."

"What are her limitations?"

"Line of sight, same as most spatial abilities. And she burns through her reserves quickly at maximum output. A sustained fight favors her opponents if they can survive the initial onslaught."

"So the strategy is to weather the storm and outlast her."

"The strategy is to not let her target you in the first place. Your Rubber Body gives you unpredictable movement. Use it. Be impossible to track."

"And if she gets a lock on me anyway?"

"Then you’d better hope your healing factor is as good as the footage suggests."

I leaned back in my chair. "What about their other two fighters?"

"Jun Park. Enhancement type. Augments his physical stats to superhuman levels for short bursts. Strong and fast but predictable. Basic brawler tactics."

"I can handle brawlers."

"Don’t underestimate him. His enhancement peaks at roughly eight times normal human output. That’s enough to crack concrete with his bare hands."

"Noted."

"The third is Lisa Tanaka. Support type. She generates hard-light constructs for defense and area control. Shields, barriers, platforms. Essentially a mobile fortress."

"So Mei attacks, Jun pressures, and Lisa protects them both."

"Their team coordination is excellent. They’ve trained together for two years."

"And our team has been together for what, two weeks?"

"Approximately."

"Great odds."

"Which is why we need to train. Starting tomorrow. Every afternoon until the exhibition."

"Every afternoon?"

"Is that a problem?"

I thought about my schedule. Mera. Cheon. Laurana on Wednesdays. Aurora tonight, assuming she didn’t change her mind about meeting.

"I’ll make it work."

"Good." She set down a new marker and turned to face me fully. "Now. About the other matter."