My Scumbag System Chapter 459: Five Women Who Would Burn the World Down

She vanished as well.

This left me isolated in the gym alongside a familiar shaped like a cat, five women soul-bound to me who were likely plotting their individual interventions, and a mere seventy-two hours to devise a way to endure a duel with one of the deadliest rising stars across the whole Academy.

Maki shifted back into her human shape.

Still clad only in my hoodie.

"Your friends are worried about you."

"They’re not my friends."

"Liar."

"Everyone keeps saying that."

"Because you keep lying." She cocked her head. "But it’s okay. I like you anyway."

"Gee. Thanks."

"You’re welcome, Master."

She seized my hand.

Intertwined her fingers with mine without a moment's pause.

"Come on. Let’s go eat. I’m starving. And you need protein if you’re going to fight an S-Rank prodigy in three days."

"She’s A-Rank."

"For now."

Together, we ascended the stairs.

Maki remaining in human form, clad solely in my hoodie, her exposed legs instantly capturing the gaze of everyone in the common room.

Juan roused just enough to gawk.

Jacob’s datapad tumbled to the floor.

Raphael’s jaw hung open in shock.

Marco murmured something to Malachi, causing Malachi’s eyes to bulge.

And Natalia.

Natalia lingered in the kitchen doorway.

Observed Maki with a look I couldn't fully decipher.

Then her eyes shifted to me.

"Satori. Who is this."

"This is Maki."

"Your cat."

"My familiar. Technically."

"Your very naked familiar."

"She’s wearing my hoodie."

"That doesn’t count as clothes."

Maki waved happily at Natalia.

"Hi! You must be the scary purple one. Master talks about you all the time."

Natalia’s eye twitched.

"Master?"

"It’s ironic," I said quickly.

"It’s not," Maki corrected.

"Maki. Transform. Now."

She pouted once more.

But complied all the same.

Her shape blurred, and a black cat now perched where the girl had stood, gazing up at Natalia with big, innocent eyes.

Natalia fixed her stare on the cat.

Then on me.

"We’re talking about this later."

"Can’t wait."

She spun around and retreated into the kitchen.

I caught her muttering in Russian, words that surely promised inventive perils for my future anatomy.

Emi materialized at my side.

"That was your familiar?"

"Yeah."

"She’s pretty."

"She’s trouble."

"Most pretty things are."

The very words Natalia had uttered before.

I required better companions.

Or a stiffer beverage.

Or perhaps both.

The dinner atmosphere hung heavy with tension.

Maki remained as a cat, nestled in my lap as I ate using one hand.

The five women arranged themselves strategically around the table.

Natalia positioned straight across from me.

Skylar on my left.

Celeste on my right.

Emi and Akari guarding Natalia’s sides.

As if they had coordinated it.

They undoubtedly had.

Topics remained neutral.

Classes. Training sessions. The looming tournament.

No one brought up the duel.

Nor Reyna’s open declaration of war against me before the entire group.

Nor my dwindling seventy-one hours before potential doom.

Post-dinner, the group dispersed.

Raphael off to pump iron.

Jacob to delve into his conspiracy theories.

Isabelle retreating to her room with a novel.

The familiar evening flow.

I climbed upstairs with Maki still feline, slung over my shoulders like an unusually weighty scarf.

My room lay shrouded in darkness.

Silent.

I placed Maki on the bed, and she instantly reverted, stretching out in lavish comfort.

"That was fun."

"That was a disaster."

"Same thing." She lounged across my bedding. "Your purple girl definitely wants to murder me."

"She wants to murder everyone."

"Fair."

A knock echoed at the door.

Gentle this time.

Uncertain.

Emi’s signature knock.

I shot a look at Maki.

"Hide."

"But—"

"Now."

She shifted forms.

I swung the door open.

Emi waited there in her yellow pajamas, clutching a first aid kit.

"Can I check your ribs?"

"They’re fine."

"Liar." She brushed past, placing the kit on my desk. "Shirt off."

"Emi—"

"Off."

I yanked my shirt over my head.

She turned professional in an instant.

Her fingers deftly explored my ribcage, assessing for inflammation or fractures with expert precision.

The regenerator brace had handled the bulk of the healing.

Yet soreness lingered.

"You need to rest more."

"Can’t. Tournament’s coming."

"The tournament doesn’t matter if you’re dead."

"I’m not going to die."

"Everyone keeps saying that. Nobody ever means it."

She wrapped up her check.

Stepped away.

Though her palms lingered on my chest.

"Reyna’s really good, Satori."

"I know."

"I don’t want you to get hurt."

"I’ll be fine."

"Promise?"

The second vow of the evening.

"Promise."

She lifted onto her toes.

Pressed a kiss to my cheek.

Tender and drawn out.

"Good. Because I just got you. I’m not ready to give you up yet."

Then she departed.

Grabbing the first aid kit.

Deserting me there shirtless, with a contented cat purring on my bed, and the dawning truth that I had somehow amassed five women prepared to torch the entire world should I fall in battle against Reyna.

Maki reverted to her human shape.

"She’s sweet."

"Yeah."

"You don’t deserve her."

"I know."

"But you’re going to keep her anyway."

"Yeah."

"Good." She patted the spot on the bed next to her. "Come sleep, Master. Big day tomorrow."

"It’s only eight."

"Exactly. You need, like, twelve hours if you’re going to survive training tomorrow."

She wasn’t wrong.

I flopped down onto the bed next to her.

Still fully dressed.

Maki snuggled right up against my side, her heat seeping through my garments.

"Master?"

"Yeah?"

"Don’t die fighting the electric princess. I just got here. I don’t want to find a new Master yet."

"Wasn’t planning on it."

"Good."

Seconds later, she drifted off to sleep.

Her breaths steadying, her tails coiling around her waist like animated covers.

I gazed up at the ceiling.

Counted the fissures.

Seventy hours before the duel.

Seventy hours to devise a way to defeat somebody who could likely thrash me effortlessly even while scrolling her phone.

The Ensemble tab shimmered faintly at the edge of my sight.

Five Rank Ten bonds.

Five women who had bound their souls to me.

The System buzzed under my skin, ever-present, meddlesome, and utterly mine.

Nel murmured from deep within my thoughts.

"Later."

"They always do."

I pondered it.

Reyna’s fame. Her strength. Her flawless fighting history.

The way she had eyed me today, as if I were a riddle she intended to crack.

How Natalia’s hand shook as she forced me to vow not to lose.

"Terrified."

"Glad I could help the ratings."

For once, Nel was right.