My Ecchi Superpower System

Chapter 174: Chapter 174| Free Period

Zane didn’t change his mind about going back for lectures.

He walked straight past the academic block, down the side path behind the practical complex, and into the old gym. Almost nobody used it at this hour, since everyone was in lectures. Dust hung in the light from the high windows. Rubber mats lay stacked against the far wall. It smelled like old sweat and floor polish, and nobody would think to look for him there.

’Forty minutes,’ he thought. ’Then I’ll go back and pretend I was in the library.’

『 System Note: The host is truant. The system will not report it. 』

’You can’t report it.’

『 The system is choosing generosity. 』

He pushed the door open with his shoulder and stopped.

Someone was already in there.

A girl lay on the middle mat with her legs split flat in both directions, her chest pressed to the floor and her arms stretched out in front of her. Black leggings, a grey sports bra, long dark hair tied up in a loose knot. Her back was perfectly smooth. She breathed in slowly and out slowly, like a machine that had been told to relax.

Zane knew that flat, unbothered posture before he saw her face.

”Pris?” he said.

”Zane.” She didn’t open her eyes. ”You’re blocking my light.”

He stepped sideways. The sun fell across her again and caught the curve of her hips where the leggings stretched thin, and he had to look at the wall for a second.

”I didn’t know anyone used this place,” Zane said.

”I do.” She lifted her head, finally, and gave him a long, level look. ”Second years have a free period on Fridays. First years have lectures. You’re a first year.”

”I’m aware,” Zane said, scratching the back of his head.

”Then why are you here?” Pris asked, tilting her head a few degrees.

”Lost,” Zane said, with a straight face.

”The gym is a dead end behind a building.” She tilted her head. ”You’re not lost.”

He opened his mouth. Closed it.

”I’m skipping,” Zane said.

”Obviously.” She pushed up onto her elbows, and the movement pulled the sports bra tight over her small breasts, her nipples pressing visibly against the grey fabric. His eyes dropped and rose again at a speed he hoped looked casual. ”Sit down. If you stand there like a guard, I’ll never finish.”

He sat on the edge of a bench. Pris sank back down into the split without a sound.

He glanced at her leggings. They held her small butt tight, neat and trim against the fabric.

’After my experience with Nil,’ Zane thought, ’I doubt I’ll get much pleasure out of small butts.’

『 System Note: The host is comparing. The system finds this unkind. 』

’It’s just a thought.’

『 The system will log it as a rude one. 』

Then Zane glanced again sternly.

System Note: Pris — second year, A-rank. The host is currently looking at her hips, for someone who undermined her petite physique. 』

’Shush,’ Zane thought. ’Just observing and besides was looking at the wall.’

『 The wall is behind her. 』

’Same direction.’

『 The system will allow it. 』

”Did you eat?” Pris asked, her face still half hidden against her forearm.

”What?”

”Breakfast. Did you eat.” She said it patiently, like someone repeating a question to a toddler. ”You skipped lunch twice this week. Dex told me.”

”Dex talks too much.”

”Dex tells me things because I ask.” She reached over without looking, dug through a gym bag beside her, and tossed him a foil-wrapped parcel. It landed neatly in his lap. ”Herb chicken wrap. Don’t make it weird.”

He unwrapped it. The smell hit him before the taste did, and the taste was exactly as good as he remembered.

”You made this?” Zane asked, mouth half full.

”Obviously.”

”At what time?”

”Five. I don’t sleep much.” She sat up properly now, folded her legs under her, and took a sip from a water bottle. ”Eat. You look like you got hit by a truck.”

”Long week,” Zane said, rubbing the back of his neck.

”I heard.” Pris screwed the cap back on her water bottle. ”The duel. Everyone’s still talking about it.”

Zane stopped chewing and looked up.

”Dex says you’ve been leaving your room at odd hours,” Pris said, her flat eyes holding his. ”He doesn’t know why. I’m not asking either.”

”Thanks,” Zane said, a little hoarsely.

”Don’t thank me,” Pris said, nudging the foil toward him with one finger. ”Finish the wrap.”

He finished the wrap.

For a while neither of them spoke. Pris stretched through a long, slow sequence, folding forward and rolling her shoulders and pulling one knee to her chest. She did it with the same mechanical care she brought to everything, with no show in it at all. That made it worse. Every time she bent, the leggings pulled tight, and every time she straightened, the sports bra gave a little, and Zane found himself reading the ceiling beams with great attention.

”You’re staring,” Pris said, mid-stretch.

”At the roof.”

”The roof isn’t on my back.”

He closed his mouth.

”Relax,” Pris said. She didn’t look offended. If anything she looked faintly entertained, which on her face was a very small change. ”I’ve got a body. People look. It’s fine.”

”I wasn’t...”

”You were. I’m not angry.” She straightened up, stood, and held out a hand. ”Help me with this. I can’t reach the last one alone.”

”Reach what?”

”The back stretch. I need someone to hold my wrists.”

He took her hand. She pulled him upright with surprising strength, positioned him behind her, and turned her back to him. She lifted both arms behind her head and let them fall back.

”Grab here,” she said, tapping her wrists. ”Pull gently. Not hard.”

He wrapped his fingers around her wrists. They were warm and slim. He pulled, and she leaned back against his chest with a long exhale, her spine arching, her hair brushing his jaw. For a second there was nothing in the room except the smell of her shampoo and the soft weight of her against him.

His breath caught.

”Don’t stop,” Pris said calmly. ”Hold it.”

’She’s the calmest person I know,’ he thought. ’I’m having a mild crisis and she’s doing stretches.’

『 System Note: The host’s heart rate is elevated. Pris’s is not. 』

’I noticed.’

『 The host will note the contrast. 』

”Okay,” Pris said, after a slow count of ten. ”Release.”

He let go. She stepped forward, rolled her shoulders, and turned around with her hair a little mussed and her cheeks slightly pink.

Slightly. Not much. A hint of colour that might have been the stretch.

”Thank you,” Pris said.

”Any time,” Zane replied, and immediately wished he hadn’t.

Pris looked at him for a beat. The corner of her mouth moved. It wasn’t quite a smile, but it was the closest thing to one he’d seen from her.

”That’s the third time this week,” she said.

”What?”

”I almost smiled.” She picked up her bag. ”Dex counts them. Don’t tell him.”

”I won’t.”

”Good.” Pris slung the bag over her shoulder and headed for the door. Halfway there she paused with one hand on the frame. ”Your dad used to skip classes too, you know.”

Zane stared at her. ”What?”

”I found it in the old attendance sheets, the ones nobody checks,” Pris said, glancing back with flat, unreadable eyes. ”Thought you should know.”

She left.

The door swung shut behind her.

Zane stood alone in the dust and the light with a foil wrapper in his hand and a pulse still running faster than he liked.

’Dad used to skip classes too,’ he thought. ’That sheet has to be years old.’

『 System Note: The host is thinking about two things at once. The system finds this inefficient. 』

’Which two?’

『 The first is his father. The second is the way Pris’s hair smelled. 』

’...Both,’ Zane admitted.

『 The system will log that as honest. 』

He picked up his bag and walked back out into the bright morning.

He was still picturing Pris’s butt in those tights. ’Going out with a petite girl doesn’t sound bad,’ he thought. ’I’d have to break my spec list, but screw it. It’s updated.’