Noticing Genichi's brief lapse and the sharp glint that had flashed through his eyes, a trace of doubt rippled through Rias.
She stepped closer, trying to catch whatever emotion still lingered in his gaze. The distance between them shrank to almost nothing.
"Genichi? What's wrong? You looked like you spaced out just now?"
Her voice was soft, her eyes searching.
Genichi was still immersed in his new plan for Orario when the suddenly enlarged, exquisitely delicate face right in front of him startled him on instinct. His body reacted before his mind did, retreating backward.
He forgot he was standing by the bed.
There was no room behind him.
His footing slipped out from under him. He lost his balance and toppled back in a stumble.
In a burst of panic, his hands shot forward, grasping for anything to brace against.
"Ah!"
"Ugh!"
He not only failed to steady himself, he dragged the too-close Rias down with him.
They both tumbled onto the soft carpet.
Genichi landed flat on his back, and in the next instant a warm, fragrant weight pressed down onto him. Her body, supple and soft, ended up entirely atop his.
Worse, the hand he had thrown forward in reflex landed dead-on against a place that was extremely soft, shockingly elastic. Even through the thin fabric of her shirt, the full, unmistakable sensation transmitted with brutal clarity.
Time seemed to freeze for a beat.
Genichi's mind went blank for half a second. Then, as if he had been shocked, he yanked his hand back at lightning speed, so fast it almost left an afterimage.
"S-Sorry!"
The words burst out of him, his voice stiff in a way that was rare.
No matter how calm he usually was, an accident this intimate was enough to crack his composure.
Rias propped herself up, looking down at him. A few strands of her crimson hair slipped loose, brushing across his cheek.
She did not immediately get up. Instead, she raised an eyebrow. A glint of amusement flickered in her emerald eyes. There was no embarrassment, no anger. Only a look that said, of course, and a trace of teasing.
"It's fine."
Her voice carried a smile as she leaned lower, so close it was almost at his ear, her breath warm and sweet.
"I told you. If it's you, Genichi, it's completely fine."
The indulgence and suggestion in her words made his heartbeat want to accelerate more than any scolding could have.
But Genichi steadied his breathing quickly. The flicker of fluster vanished, covered over by a deeper, heavier calm.
He did not respond to her deliberately suggestive line. He simply turned his eyes away, staring at the ceiling, adopting the posture of see no impropriety, speak no impropriety.
It was not that he felt nothing.
Rias's allure was beyond question. That kind of contact was more than enough to make any normal man's blood run hot.
But Genichi's reason was a chain of ice, locking down every spark that tried to become something more.
He understood perfectly that no matter how unusually affectionate and permissive she seemed, there were complicated motives braided underneath. Investment in the potential of those eight mutated pieces. Expectations of a trump card to break her engagement. Perhaps also a sliver of curiosity or interest in him as a person.
How much of it was pure emotion?
How much of it was benefit and calculation?
Even if, by some stretch, she did carry genuine feelings, so what?
Genichi sneered inwardly.
What right did he have to answer, let alone accept, this kind of favor?
A pawn struggling to survive, trapped in multiple worlds' crises, unable to fully control even the power in his own hands, daring to covet the attention of the one holding the board?
That was not romance.
That was stupidity.
His objective was clear and cold: grow stronger, stay alive, devour the other versions of himself, become the only one.
Feelings, right now, were excess baggage. They were poison that could skew judgment. They were a weakness that could drag him into a more passive position.
At least until he had the kind of absolute power that let him ignore rules and trample obstacles, he would not, and could not, let his heart tilt toward anyone. He would not give even the slightest ambiguous response.
He needed to remain absolutely calm and distant, keeping every relationship, including the one with Rias, inside a frame of clear, explicit, equal exchange.
Genichi's silence and his deliberate refusal to meet her eyes made the smile in Rias's gaze gradually fade. In its place rose a faint, hard-to-hide displeasure and frustration.
She admired his calm, his rationality, his sense of purpose. In her eyes, those were essential traits for the strong.
But when she, as a woman, had already shown closeness and allowance that clearly went beyond a normal master-servant bond, and he still remained like a stone that refused to warm, offering no response at all, not even a lingering hint of embarrassment or fluster, it was hard not to feel subtly slighted.
She was the heiress of House Gremory. Her looks, her status, her strength were beyond reproach. When had she ever been this forward with a man?
Even if her forwardness carried its own agenda, her pride as a woman still chafed at Genichi's complete indifference.
"Genichi."
Rias's voice rose slightly, edged with a questioning bite. She still hovered over him, pressure heavy in her posture.
"You really have nothing you want to say?"
She wanted an explanation, a reaction. Even a clumsy apology or an awkward change of subject would have been better than this total silence and avoidance.
Genichi finally brought his eyes back to her, meeting her emerald gaze that held both faint anger and expectation.
His eyes were clear and straightforward, yet coldly distant.
"No."
His voice was steady, without a ripple.
"Whatever reason you have for favoring me, Buchou, whether it's an investment in my potential, or for the Rating Game, or some other consideration, I'm grateful. I'll do everything I can to improve myself and not waste what you've put into me."
He paused, his tone sharpening into something unambiguously firm, like a statement of fact that would not be changed.
"But right now, I don't have the strength to obtain anything I want. I also don't have the spare energy to think about anything that isn't strength. That's my answer, and nothing more."
The words were polished, perfectly proper. He expressed thanks, promised cooperation, and drew a boundary in the same breath. He blamed it all on his current lack of power, neatly sidestepping her demand.
Rias stared at him, at that maddeningly calm face that seemed to have everything under control, and the nameless fire in her chest flared up again. Mixed in was a sting of embarrassment at having her intentions laid bare.
She shot him an annoyed look, her voice carrying a hint of sulky indignation.
"Don't treat me like I'm some kind of woman with no self-respect who'll just throw herself at anyone."
The line was more like she was defending her pride than truly accusing him of believing that.
Genichi nodded immediately, his tone sincere but faintly, maddeningly procedural.
"Of course. I believe you're absolutely not that kind of woman, Buchou."
There was nothing wrong with the sentence. It was respectful. It was appropriate.
And yet Rias caught it, that split-second flash of near-indifferent calm in his eyes.
He was not taking her anger to heart at all.
It felt like punching cotton. The lack of impact only made her more irritated.
She wanted to do something, anything, to crack that cold mask and see what was really underneath.
But when she looked at his calm, unbroken gaze, a wave of helplessness swept over her.
She realized she did not, at this moment, have any good way to deal with Genichi.
Tempt him?
Threaten him?
Seduce him?
In the end, Rias could only huff, annoyed, and climb off him. She straightened her slightly rumpled uniform and forced herself back into the composed, elegant demeanor of a club leader.
"Forget it."
She turned toward the door. Her voice settled back into calm, but there was a faint, hard-to-hide frustration in it, along with an even deeper curiosity.
"If you want to get stronger that badly, then get ready for the next phase of training. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to put you through something harsher. I expect your strength to improve."
With that, she opened the door and left without looking back. The sound of it closing was a little heavier than usual.
The room fell quiet again, leaving Genichi alone.
(End of Chapter)
[Get +30 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"]
[Every 300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]