Paster's Grand Plan (Or So It Seemed)
1. The moment Lapis Julie saw the photo and post Ska Rate had uploaded to Inbyul, only one thought remained in her mind: I have to go to him. Senpai.
She had a dinner date with Ul Blond, her fiancé whom her mother Jelina Julie had arranged, but she'd forgotten all about that nonsense long ago. The anxiety that staying put would mean losing Paster to Ska Rate was rapidly consuming her.
"She said they're going to the outlet."
Damn that Ska Rate— that's what her Inbyul post said. The city where Liar's Trap Guild's headquarters was located, Hypo City, had the most expensive real estate in the world. Thanks to that, its infrastructure was perfectly built out, and there was more than one department store called an outlet. If Lapis Julie had even a little more composure, she would have discreetly asked Liar's Trap's intel team to track Paster's location. But in her panic, she couldn't think of that.
"If I search everywhere, I'll find them somehow."
In the end, Lapis Julie ended up doing something utterly unbecoming of the intelligent, cool-headed flower of the Julie family, known for her sharp mind that made her body suffer.
"Wait for me, Senpai. It's a misunderstanding. I can explain everything."
To win back Paster's heart, she donned a beautiful white dress and rushed out of the house toward where he might be.
2. "Ska, so where are we shopping today? Red Outlet?"
When Ska dragged me out by force to be her shopping pack mule, she usually hit the outlets. No special reason—just that she liked the vibe of the word "outlet," or something. She didn't even know why herself. My guess was it had to do with that anime she was obsessed with back in the day, Outlet Man. The words sounded similar, so she stuck to outlets. Who knows what nonsense it was, but that was classic Ska. She had this simple side that was hard to understand sometimes. Anyway, since we'd gone to outlets so often before, I figured that's where we'd go again and asked. Surprisingly, she shook her head, denying it.
"Nah, no outlets today. Let's hit Furios instead."
"Furios?"
"Yeah."
Furios was a super expensive clothing store that sold stuff even pricier than outlets. But the quality matched the price, so it was worth it. Still, to Ska, whether it was an outlet or Furios, they were just stores with good value—for her, anyway. Not that surprising. What did pique my curiosity was why skip the nearby, familiar outlet for the distant, unfamiliar Furios.
"Why not the outlet, though?"
"If we go to the outlet, our day... uh, I mean our shopping'll get interrupted."
I had no idea what she meant by "interrupted," but I caught her almost saying "date" before switching words. I was tempted to tease her about it, but if I did and she got pissed, it'd be a headache. Walking peacefully like this wasn't bad, so I just nodded along.
"Got it. Whatever. I'm the one getting stuff today, so I don't care where we go."
Considering I'd planned to grab whatever cheap crap from the market, outlet or Furios was a massive upgrade. If I asked for everything on the racks, today's good-mood Ska would buy it all without hesitation. Going to a high-end brand like Furios was pure honey in every way. I hated owing people, but since this whole thing started with Ska and Ia Ris, I planned to take it all without guilt this time.
"Shall we go then, Ska?"
Like a mosquito extending its proboscis—er, hand—I reached out. Oblivious that I was about to suck her dry, Ska beamed happily and took my hand.
"Yeah!"
Around noon, we arrived near Furios, grabbed a quick lunch, enjoyed dessert at a famous date-spot café, wandered around sightseeing, and finally headed into Furios around 4 p.m.
"Wait here a sec!"
The moment we entered, Ska dashed off somewhere and returned with clothes she'd apparently scoped out ahead of time. Then, as if it were the most natural thing, she ordered me:
"Here! Now ditch that shitty tracksuit and change into this."
Changing was fine, but I couldn't let that slide.
I narrowed my eyes slightly, thrust the cartoon character on my chest toward her, and protested. "Shitty tracksuit? This thing's comfy as hell. And the character's cute."
"Yeah, it's cute. But I wanna see you in something cool. So hurry up and change."
Ska seemed to want to make this time together more date-like. Fine, whatever. Today was the day I'd decided to play along with what she wanted while sucking her dry. Changing clothes was no big deal.
I went into the fitting room, put on the black oversized blazer, white tee, and black slacks she'd handed me, and stepped out. Ska stared at me, totally entranced.
"……"
"Ska? Why're you staring? Something wrong?"
"H-Huh? Oh, no! Nothing! Right—gimme that tracksuit! I'm burning it at home so you never wear it again!"
Snapping back to reality at my question, she snatched the tracksuit from my hands in shock. An S-rank Awakener's grab was sharp—I just stood there wide-eyed as I lost the tracksuit I'd worn for days.
She stuffed my confiscated tracksuit into some mystery ziplock bag, then into a shopping bag she'd grabbed from who-knows-where, grinning like a gamer who'd scored a rare drop. Usually, when people take your clothes, they say they'll wash them or something, right? Though offering to wash someone else's clothes is weird anyway. Still, "I'll wash it" beats "I'll burn it so you can't wear it." Both are excuses, though—in reality, she'd sniff the scent off it at home. And masturbate to it. Total perv.
Now that I knew Ska liked me, a few unsolved mysteries from the past clicked into place. Back when I worked as a butler for the Rate family, my underwear would vanish while I showered, or I'd get a call from Ska the nights it did—her voice oddly excited, with sniffing sounds in the background. Yeah, she stole my undies, sniffed them while jerking off, and called me to listen in for the thrill. When I first realized it, I was horrified, shaking. But after trying the Beastman Collar and getting hooked on her scent, I got it. Human body odor has endless potential. Even I, who resented her, was mesmerized for a moment. Doesn't make stealing panties, sniffing them, and calling the owner to moan into the phone any less pervy bitch behavior, though.
Anyway, she was probably planning the same now. Her face flushed, sneaking peeks at the tracksuit in the bag, swallowing hard nonstop—she was busted.
Watching her excitement plain on her face, a thought hit me: Come to think of it, Ska hasn't flipped out once today. And she's covering all costs without complaint, doing whatever I want.
I'd only gone along because I wanted to drain her, not to bend her to my will. Yet today's Ska was a pushover. Sure, she snapped back tsundere-style sometimes, but compared to her usual bitchy self, this redheaded childhood friend was practically kid-friendly strawberry toothpaste. Just matching the date vibe a bit turned her into an easy girl. Seeing that, a word I'd overheard somewhere lodged in my brain.
Gaslighting.
Manipulating someone's psyche to make them doubt their beliefs, cloud their judgment, and exert control. Watching Ska grin and bend over backward now that I'd played along a little... yeah, something clicked.
Wait, isn't Ska perfect for gaslighting?
Clinging to my leg sobbing she didn't want me to abandon her? Skyrocketing mood from a tiny bit of compliance? Planning to jerk off to my tracksuit scent? All prime justification for gaslighting her.
But "gaslighting"... it felt familiar and off-putting. Probably just my imagination. Didn't matter now. After 15 years of her shit, it was payback time.
"……Heh. Hee hee."
I grinned slyly at Ska, who kept giggling, clueless about the fate awaiting her.