Fateful Reunion
How I seduced Rachel.
In truth, it was half pure chance.
From the start, I made it glaringly obvious I wanted nothing to do with anyone.
I projected an aura that actively repelled people. Half the world was women—why bother?
That was exactly why I tried it. If it worked, great. If it didn't, also fine.
Smooch!
I had her pinned against the wall. Without hesitation I lunged in and devoured Rachel's lips.
Thick yet soft—an absolutely superb texture. The kind that made you want to keep eating.
They need a little thickness to really be worth tasting.
Thin lips always made you worry they might tear. No such concern here.
Slurp!
I gently sucked her lower lip, coating it with saliva, then slipped my tongue between the parting seams of her mouth.
Her expression was pure fluster. But as if she had no idea what else to do, she squeezed her eyes shut.
Told you it would work.
I stroked her hair lightly and her posture steadied. Holding her chin, I continued the kiss.
About five minutes. To an outside observer it would have seemed quite long—but for the two people involved, it never felt that way.
"Haa…, haa…."
Only when she was gasping for breath did our lips finally separate. Rachel, who had completely failed to regulate her pace, was even worse off.
Slap!
At the same moment, her senses snapped back. The slap that flew out almost on reflex carried a great many meanings.
"Look what you've done!"
Agitated again, her mother tongue came spilling out. Her shoulders heaved as she fixed me with a look of genuine contempt.
For someone that furious, her reaction was pretty late.
She'd already gotten her fill of the fun. She'd accepted the kiss so meekly—and only now she was putting on a show.
"Y-you called me because you had something to say, didn't you? Did you call me just to do something like this?"
"I did have something to say."
"And what was that?"
"I forgot."
"?!"
It was possible I'd genuinely blanked out. At least, that was what I believed at the time.
In the first timeline…
I simply did it. I had been curious what those lofty, high-maintenance queenly lips would taste like.
It wasn't as if I hadn't considered the fallout. There was always a real chance she would take genuine offense.
"Because you were too beautiful."
"And you think that's an excuse—"
"The moment I stood in front of you, every thought vanished. All that was left was the urge to kiss you."
That version of events simply felt more natural. So I remembered spinning that half-baked excuse.
Surprisingly, it landed.
A virgin's mind was hard to parse by normal standards. Maybe that was why people said you never really knew someone until you'd slept with them—long or short.
"If you think I'll just let this slide, you're sorely mistaken. I could hire a lawyer this very second."
"Yes. I'm sorry."
"Do you honestly believe an apology is enough?"
"I know perfectly well it isn't. I'll go straight to the police station and turn myself in."
"Wh-what??"
The swift apology and offer to turn himself in were so unexpected that Rachel, mid-rage, was thrown completely off balance.
"Th-there's no need to go that far…"
She stammered, her words trailing off. I knew exactly why.
Having the person who took your first kiss become a criminal is an awkward situation like no other.
She seemed to feel a little guilty herself. Getting angry made her feel like the strange one.
"Do you do this sort of thing all the time?"
"Of course not. I swear—you're the first."
"Th-that…"
"You were so attractive that my body moved on pure reflex."
I drove the finishing blow home once more. That porcelain-blank face of hers grew a little more human.
Nailed it again.
I'd assumed she had a man in her life—yet in this life, too, she was living an utterly flat existence. A faint flush rose to her cheeks. She cleared her throat a couple of times and continued.
"Since it seems to be your first time, I'll let it go."
"Are you sure that's all right?"
"If I had to march in and out of a police station over something like this, it would only give me nightmares."
She was dying of embarrassment and still putting on airs. Her personality hadn't changed one bit from the one I knew.
Truth is, this is the second time.
I'd been in her debt in my previous life as well. Of course, back then the flow had been more along the lines of thanks for the meal and then a full confession.
The police-station talk had been a stall for time. I never would have known it would work this well if I hadn't tried it.
Smooch!
She was full of openings. I took her chin again and shared a tender kiss.
"What, what are you doing now?!"
"You said it was fine."
"Fine didn't mean—that, that kind of thing…"
Her voice shrank into itself as her cheeks flushed unmistakably red. That was the kind of personality she had.
Even back then I thought she looked edible enough to start working on her.
Any number of incidents followed after that. Regrettably, a bad connection had taken root. But in this life, things could be different. I would take her down, one careful step at a time.
"Anyway, you can't do that again. I really will sue you."
"Next time I'll make sure to get permission first."
"Wh-who said I'd give you permission!"
It didn't look all that difficult. For all her composed exterior, she was nursing some truly spectacular fantasies about her first experience.
The first time can be written off as a mistake. The second leaves no room for excuses.
I burned an indelible first impression into her.
After that first kiss.
"The United States' rate-hike stance slows the economic cycle and helps stabilize prices."
"On the surface, sure."
"Do you have something to add?"
"In reality, it's nothing more than dripping water, drop by drop, into a cup that's already full—until it finally overflows."
Life went on much as before. Whenever we crossed paths in a lecture, I picked a fight.
"There he goes again, that senior."
"The TA must have it rough."
"He just can't stand losing—he really can't!"
The students' reactions were different from before. Especially among the female students, something like a Rachel fan club had formed.
Girl power, loud and proud.
She was definitely a high-popularity character. Her ability outstripped most of the professors, and her looks were cool beauty incarnate.
"A rate hike is the act of draining water from the cup."
"Politicians are desperate to pour more water in, aren't they?"
"It can anchor inflation expectations."
"A cheap parlor trick."
Her own reaction, however, was a little different. On the surface it looked like we were brawling—
The kid's a bit of a brick wall.
She simply didn't know how to connect with other people. The only time she ever showed emotion was during heated debate.
"I've noted your opinion. However, it seems we've drifted from today's lecture, so if you still have something you wish to say, please come find me after class. Anything further?"
"Nothing."
The truth was she was starving for affection. She wanted someone to take a genuine interest in her.
Surprisingly cute personality, really.
Just now, "come find me" had been her roundabout way of saying it. To the students who didn't know that—
"Shot down again."
"Isn't he a Water Rocket himself?"
"Water Rocket—whoosh!"
"…"
That was how it could look. And maybe that was for the best.
The market's been in freefall lately.
Stock-market beginners. Dip a toe in clumsily and the odds of getting burned were high. Better to cherry-pick recruits and grow the existing roster than run a mass recruitment drive.
"Senior, you really do pull every kind of stunt, don't you."
"Must be nice for you."
"Me?"
"You're underwater anyway—you don't have to do a thing."
"Hey."
Even Sora was still underwater. One wrong tap of the buy button and you wanted to cut your own finger off—that was a bear market.
"So what on earth do you talk about with the TA unnie?"
"Can't you tell by looking?"
"You two keep going on about water overflowing and draining it—how am I supposed to follow all the metaphors?"
It was also a period when you could learn a great deal. Things you never paid attention to in ordinary times suddenly became interesting.
She's awfully interested in the water-draining part.
The Fed's balance sheet. By tweaking rates and the like, it either flooded the market with money or vacuumed it back up.
"We're in a rate-hike cycle now, so they're vacuuming it up, right?"
"If they actually stick to what they say, sure."
"?"
When the economy is in recession, they print money. When the economy is booming, they pull it back. In theory, it was beautiful.
Except it never actually gets followed.
Pull the money back and the market, of course, hates it. That hits voter psychology too. My votes are shrinking? Politicians start hunting for other ways to shovel out cash just to keep their seats.
"Which is why, ever since rates started being artificially managed, there has never once been a meaningful contraction. The debt of the US and Japan is astronomical. You've probably heard that before."
"And there are no side effects?"
"Who knows."
Of course the policymakers weren't just winging it. They grounded themselves in economic theory of a sort.
A rotten rope called MMT.
Modern Monetary Theory. The idea that a reserve-currency nation can print money with zero consequences. The US, the EU, Japan—the world's major powers all used it. For a while people even called it the new normal of economics.
"If it fails, you get massive inflation."
"Ah, so that's…"
"Hm?"
"That's why you said the water overflows?"
Starting with COVID, the whole thing would be exposed for what it was. An extremely dangerous game.
Even poison often leaves you surprisingly fine—right up until the lethal dose.
Regulate the amount and it can even become medicine. But human greed always finds a way to screw it up. It was still a hot potato among economists. Knowing the future made it all the more bitter.
"Doesn't really concern you, though."
"Well, I mean…"
"You're underwater."
"Ugh, seriously!"
Crisis could become opportunity. An investor waited for that moment while honing themselves.
Thwack!
Sora was only honing her figure. When I laid my palm against her padded waist, it sank right in.
"I'm not just sitting around, you know."
"Oh?"
"You said having a regular income stream is better, so…"
Maybe she was finally about to show off her talent. Come to think of it, I'd mentioned it before.
When we made that crypto bet.
The reason Yoo-min had been guaranteed to win. A steady income put the mind at ease.
"So I'm going to start a YouTube channel!"
"Not camstreaming?"
"Ehh, I wouldn't do that kind of thing."
"Haa…"
Even when you handed her the answer sheet outright, she refused to copy it down. Just shaking her hips would—
You'd make more than you ever will trading stocks!
She still wasn't putting her real talent to proper use. Career counseling was clearly overdue.