The Wager
"Fine. Let's do it."
"W-wait a second!"
Luna only snapped back to her senses after everything had already been set in motion, and she scrambled to rein Louis in.
"Louis! Does it make any sense to bet exam scores against someone who hasn't attended a single class in a month?"
"Hmph. And why not? He's the one who agreed to it without a fuss, isn't he?"
"…"
Luna found herself speechless at the sheer childishness of the whole situation.
Louis, keenly aware of the eyes on them, started puffing himself up.
"Luna's got a point, though. The odds are stacked pretty heavily in my favor."
Common sense said it was absurd — pitting someone who'd been suspended at the start of the semester and missed most of his classes against someone with genuine talent who'd diligently attended every lecture, then deciding the winner by exam scores alone.
Louis figured a penalty substantial enough to make the arrangement look fair was necessary. That way, the onlookers would buy it too.
"I hear the overall rankings get posted on the final day based on combined scores. And any student who cracks the top five receives a special award."
There were one hundred seventy-five first-years in total. Once the exams ended, every student's ranking would be made public, and those who placed in the top five would receive a certificate of merit from the headmaster himself.
That was the gist of it. Louis cut straight to the heart of the matter.
"If you make the top five, I'll count it as your win — even if I place higher."
"Top five, huh…"
"However! If I take first place, I win even if you land in the top five."
"Hmm…"
Sung Suho closed his eyes and sank into thought.
Watching him deliberate, Louis started needling him.
"What? Getting cold feet now that it looks like you might lose?"
"No…"
"…?"
Suho gave a short, crooked smile.
"A bet needs something interesting on the line before I feel like actually putting in the effort."
"Haha…. This guy's insane…"
Louis furrowed his brow and sneered inwardly.
Go on, drown in that arrogance of yours. I'll keep dragging you down into the gutter of your life — right in front of Luna.
Luna had said it clearly enough.
Only after hearing those words had Louis finally understood why Luna showed any interest in Sung Suho.
I've forgotten for far too long…. Luna has always put her own growth above what anyone else thinks of her.
She had always hungered for progress. Louis had watched that side of her his entire life — so long, and so closely, that he'd taken it for granted and let it slip from his mind.
That bastard's magic is better than I expected, so of course she's drawn to him. That's got to be it.
Suho was still only a freshman, but the level of his magic-circle casting and the way he'd picked up the lightning attribute on the spot made it clear he possessed an unusual gift. Even Louis had felt a twinge of jealousy watching those magic circles on the first day.
Which means I need to break him now — before this goes any further.
Louis resolved to dangle bait Suho would be sure to bite.
"If you win, I'll personally invite you to our family estate during the summer break."
"Just an invitation?"
"…"
Louis ground his teeth and swallowed his rage.
Of course a shameless gutter rat like him wouldn't understand the prestige of our house…. Patience.
He forced the anger down and sweetened the terms.
"I'll cover everything from the journey to the Levin Kingdom onward. For the entire duration of your stay with the family, I'll treat you like a noble. All expenses on me. How's that?"
"Oh… that's not half bad."
"…"
Watching Suho's reaction, Louis felt less like a fisherman who'd landed his catch and more like a man being openly mocked. He held down the surge of irritation and asked,
"Then what are you putting up?"
"Hmm… me…"
While Suho wore an easy expression and pretended to think it over, Louis smiled and made the offer himself.
"You serve as my personal attendant for the entire summer break. How about it?"
"Louis! What on earth are you—!"
Luna, who had been holding her tongue until now, finally opened her mouth and tried to put a stop to both of them.
Louis looked at her with a flash of irritation — and, at the same time, a sense of relief.
I still don't understand what she sees in a guy like him…. But if I plant him under my heel and make him look pathetic, she'll keep her distance on her own.
Ignoring Luna entirely, Louis pressed Suho harder.
"What? If you think you're going to lose, you can back out right now. Being someone's attendant isn't exactly easy work."
"Fine. Let's do it."
"W-wait—!"
Louis cheered silently at Suho's answer.
Perfect! Whether that bastard keeps the promise or breaks it, he's finished either way!
He paid no attention whatsoever to Luna's cry. Spinning on his heel, he strode out of the room.
"Study hard! Hahaha!"
Louis left the lecture hall trailing a laugh thick with triumph.
"Why would you do that!?"
"…"
The moment we stepped out of the lecture hall, Luna and Armonia launched a dual assault on me in perfect stereo. I couldn't even decide whose tune to play along with first….
Luna's side I understood. She could see plain as day that I was at a disadvantage. The problem was Armonia….
Armonia had already arranged for the Zodiac faction to provide not only the written exam papers but the answer keys as well. The tests simply hadn't been printed yet, so we hadn't received them.
But acing the written exam alone wouldn't be enough to win. The real problem was the practical….
…
The truth was, Armonia had been trying to talk me out of it over the comms the entire time Louis was goading me. I ignored her and took the bet anyway.
The reason was simple.
…It would've bruised my pride to turn him down.
What other reason could there be….
Walking away from a guy who came at me like that was something my pride simply would not allow. Now that I'd settled Armonia, it was time to deal with the Luna standing right in front of me—
…
…Luna first, then.
She was staring me down with a sharp, unblinking glare, waiting out my silence. I scratched the back of my head under that look.
"I'll give it everything I've got, so don't worry about it too much."
"Haa… you really are something else…"
Luna took one look at my face, dropped her head, and pressed her fingers to her forehead. I stepped up beside her and gave her shoulder a couple of light pats.
"I've got an ace up my sleeve."
"…Do you really?"
She looked up at me, startled. I grinned at her, wide and shameless.
"Teach me how to study."
"…"
Smack!
The sound of her palm cracking against my back rang through the hallway.
Having decided to study together, Luna and I went to find Sonya and pay our respects.
"My, it's been a while."
"Haha… hello."
The moment Sonya saw me, she welcomed me with a warm, gentle smile.
"It must have been hard, wasn't it? Getting to the academy on time from another region couldn't have been easy."
"Fortunately, I managed to make it back in time."
"Hehe… if you'd been able to stay inside Shutra, I would have put you up at my place…"
"I appreciate the thought."
Sonya's full chest rose and fell as she radiated boundless maternal warmth right in front of me. And that maternal energy wasn't stimulating only me — Luna was getting hit with it too.
"…"
She was scowling at me, eyes narrowed. The look said, Say what you came to say and let's get out of here.
Snapped back to reality by Luna's murderous glare, I finally told Sonya why we'd come.
"Um… Professor Sonya, would it be all right if we used the Lightning Magic Research Club room?"
"The club room?"
"Yes. I considered the library, but I thought a quieter place might be better."
"Aha…"
Sonya looked back and forth between Luna and me, a faint smile playing on her lips. After studying us both for a moment, she pulled a key from her desk and held it up.
"The club is currently suspended, but there's no problem with you using the room. Besides, both of you are still club members."
"Thank you."
"That said, you should still make use of the library when you need it. Even if Luna is a strong student, there's still no better place for working through things you don't know."
Sonya offered us a few exam tips as she handed over the key, then delivered one final piece of advice.
"Just study, all right? Understood?"
Luna and I both answered with slightly flustered faces.
"…Understood."
"…Yes."
"Hehe… then off you go."
Looking thoroughly awkward, we took the key Sonya had given us and stepped outside. She'd told us we could keep it as long as it didn't go missing or cause any trouble — her way of saying not to waste time returning it and just focus on studying.
Well, Sonya did look genuinely busy.
She seemed even more harried than the last time I'd seen her. From what I'd gathered, she'd been nominated as a candidate for Assistant Professor and was going through a battery of evaluations, which explained the packed schedule.
"Professor Sonya has been coming in on weekends lately, too."
"Ah… she really is swamped, then."
"Why? Were you planning to drop by her house if she weren't busy?"
"Wouldn't mind it. Professor Sonya's place is nice."
"…"
Luna heard that, stuck out her lower lip, and whipped her head away with a sharp turn. Watching her, I rested a hand on her shoulder and murmured quietly,
"Next time, let's go together. Last time I stayed over alone and it was boring."
"…I'd like that."
Apparently that was enough to smooth things over — the corners of her mouth lifted into a smile.
"Let's eat first before we hit the books."
Thanks to the earlier incident, we'd been so busy running around that lunch had completely slipped our minds. Luna and I headed for the dining hall together.
Squelch, squelch, squelch, squelch.
Creak, creak, creak!
"Haaang! Haaa! Suho!"
"Luna!"
Luna braced both hands on the desk, bent at the waist, and I drove into her from behind without pause, slamming my hips against the soft give of her ass. I'd shoved her skirt all the way up to her waist and gripped her hips with both hands. Her underwear, pushed down to her knees, was soaked through with the wetness steadily dripping from her.
Her firm, springy ass bounced hard every time it met my lower stomach, and the rebound sent her whole upper body rocking. When I snapped my hips forward, Luna shoved the desk ahead of her; when I pulled back, the recoil dragged the desk right along with us.
I could confirm firsthand that the desks at the continent's finest educational institution were built to last.
Squelch, squelch, squelch!
Creak, creak, creak!
"Haa! Haa! Luna! Lunaaa!"
"Suho! Haaang! Hnnngh!!"
Barely twenty minutes earlier, Luna and I had been studying peacefully atop this very same indestructible desk. She'd taught me with genuine dedication, and I had done my absolute best… to look like I was listening carefully to every word.
I'd held out. I really had.
The scent rolling off Luna filled the room unfiltered and started teasing my cock with slow, deliberate insistence. But Luna, clearly conscious of the bet with Louis, kept her mind on the lesson and threw herself into teaching without a hint of anything else.
Then I made the mistake of checking her trait window.
[Pheromone: Mild Addiction]
[Fantasy Masturbation]
[Masturbation]
Pheromone and Fantasy Masturbation had been there before — fine. But Masturbation….
Seeing that trait sitting there in plain text was enough to tell me she'd been touching herself a great deal during the stretch we couldn't meet. How was I supposed to hold back after seeing that?
The image of Luna pleasuring herself while thinking of me — and me imagining that image —
I stopped mid-lesson, buried my face against the nape of her neck, and let her feel every rough breath I took. Luna resisted stubbornly at first, then let out a long sigh of resignation.
"So just once, then… and we go right back to focusing?"
"Yeah! Yeah!"
"Pfft…."
Even faced with a man completely enslaved to lust, Luna laughed and twisted her upper body back toward me. The fact that her first time had been doggy-style meant the position came to her instantly — and that only made the heat in me boil harder.
After a few rounds of foreplay, I finally gave Luna's pussy the gift it had been aching for over more than a month without my cock. The demure expression she'd worn while directing the situation shattered the moment I pushed inside; the key to her desire turned, and she spilled out a moan thick with pleasure.
Squelch, squelch, squelch!
"Haa! Haaang! Suho! I've been waiting! I waited so long!!"
"Haa! Sorry! I'm sorry I made you wait!"
"Haaang! Don't leave me again! Haaaang!"
Before long her ass had turned faintly pink from the impact of my hips, and her thighs trembled with every thrust, signaling the approach of her orgasm.
Everything in moderation. Sex is best between twenty and thirty minutes. Drag it out longer and you only risk missing the timing of a woman's climax.
I kicked into a final sprint and called out to her.
"I'm gonna cum! Luna — I'm cumming inside!!"
"Haaang! Hnnghhh—!"
I buried myself to the hilt and emptied a thick load of white cum deep into her womb, climaxing at the same time she did.
For a long while I simply stayed there, savoring every fold of her pussy. Then Luna caught her breath and began easing my cock free. As the head dragged out, raking mercilessly over every ridge inside her, her whole body shuddered.
"Hnnn…."
She pulled me free, dropped to her knees, and brought her eyes level with the head of my cock. Looking up at me with an expression of decadent allure she'd never shown before, she said,
"If we're going to focus, we should finish properly, don't you think?"
"Oh…"
"Slurp."
Only after Luna's blowjob was done could we finally get back to studying.