Ren opened his eyes to the sight of a cobweb drifting lazily from a rusted ceiling beam. The air in the garage was stale, smelling of old oil and the faint, lingering scent of Mrs. Lorenzo's perfume.
He didn't move for a long time. He just stared at the roof, his heart beating with a steady, powerful rhythm.
[Ding!]
[Morning Synchronization Complete.]
[Stat Updates Applied:]
• Endurance: 15 —> 20
[Your body is becoming a fortress of stamina.]
• Charm: 10 —> 12 (The 'Sovereign's Air' is settling into your features.)
Ren sat up and looked at his hands, then down at his chest. It hadn't been a dream. He flashed back to the way Mrs. Lorenzo had looked under him, the way she had surrendered her professional mask for raw, desperate gasps.
"This never happened, Ren," she had whispered as she adjusted her skirt at the door last night, her hands still trembling. "Don't look for me. Don't contact me. You are a student, and I am staff. We are done."
Ren let out a breathy laugh, then stood up in the middle of the dusty garage. A sudden, uncontrollable surge of joy hit him. He started a clumsy little victory dance.
"I did it," he whispered, a grin splitting his face. "I actually did it."
The curse was broken. He wasn't the "ghost" anymore.
But as he sat back down to pull on his boots, the smile faded. He thought about the other Shino. The one who spent eighteen years staring at the ground, apologizing for taking up space. He remembered the feeling of being "small" and not just in height, but in soul. That boy was dead, but his memories were a cold weight in Ren's stomach. He knew how it felt to have nothing. He wouldn't let this new life slip away.
[Warning]
[The First Tithe has been consumed. The Sovereign's Hunger will now accelerate.]
[Next Debt Milestone: 24 Hours.]
Ren paused, his hand on his laces. It was getting worse. The "Toll" wasn't a one-time payment; it was a subscription to stay alive.
The Social Dynamics Lecture
Ren was late. Again.
He had spent too much time trying to find a shirt that didn't look like it was about to burst at the seams. He settled on a dark navy polo and his jeans, sprinting across the campus toward Hall 104: Principles of Social Influence.
He pushed the heavy mahogany doors open. The lecture hall was massive, filled with hundreds of students. At the podium stood a stern-looking man in a grey suit, but Ren didn't look at him. Every head in the room turned toward the door.
"Ah, Mr. Camry," the professor said, peering over his spectacles. "Late on day one. A bold strategy. Find a seat."
Ren scanned the rows. The only empty spot was toward the front, right next to a familiar head of dark, silky hair. It was the girl from the bus.
He strode down the steps, his boots echoing, and slid into the seat beside her. She didn't look up from her notebook, but he saw her pen falter.
"Is your sense of time always this... relaxed?" she whispered, her voice cool and sharp.
Ren leaned back, his shoulder nearly touching hers. "The garage doesn't come with an alarm clock yet. I'm Ren."
She finally turned her head. Up close, her resemblance to Mrs. Lorenzo was striking, the same elegant jawline, the same deep, intelligent eyes but without the glasses and with a much colder aura.
"I know who you are. The 'Scholarship Giant' everyone was whispering about on the bus," she said. She closed her notebook with a soft thud. "I'm Bella. Bella Lorenzo."
Ren felt a jolt. Lorenzo. [Insight Eye: Bella Lorenzo]
[Relation: Daughter of Target (Mrs. Lorenzo)]
[Condition: Guarded / Curious]
"Lorenzo, huh?" Ren said, a faint, dangerous smirk playing on his lips as he remembered exactly how her mother had tasted only hours ago. "That's a nice name."
Bella narrowed her eyes, sensing something in his tone she couldn't quite place. "Don't get comfortable, Camry. This isn't a normal school. If you can't keep up with the social rankings, you'll be out of here by the end of the month."
—(Whispers of Desire: Bella)—
(Why is he looking at me like that? And that smell... he smells like sandalwood and..No, My mind is playing tricks on me because of how big he is. Focus, Bella. He's just a late-arrival scholarship kid.)
Ren leaned in closer, his voice a low hum that only she could hear. "I think I'll keep up just fine, Bella. I'm a quick learner."
Professor Mitchel adjusted his tie for the third time in ten minutes, smoothing the front of his store-bought suit. He wasn't a movie star; he was an average-looking man in his late thirties with a receding hairline he tried to hide with a clever comb-over. He projected an air of importance that didn't quite reach his eyes, which kept darting toward Bella with a mixture of professional interest and something far more desperate.
"Since you are all new to the Academy," Mitchel continued, his voice straining for a gravitas he didn't possess, "your first grades will be based on your initial 'Social Mapping' project. I've pre-selected pairs based on your entrance exam scores."
He cleared his throat, tapping a pen against his clipboard. "Miss Lorenzo. Since you had the highest scores in the humanities section, I've decided to pair you with... well, with someone who can assist in the research. Perhaps Mr. Sato?"
Ren didn't wait. He didn't slink. He simply stood up. The sheer physical presence of him made the rows of students behind him feel small.
"Professor," Ren's voice cut through Mitchel's droning like a blade. "I'm the scholarship student. If I'm going to catch up, I should be paired with the person who has the best notes. That would be Miss Lorenzo, wouldn't it?"
Mitchel blinked, his face flushing a patchy red. He looked at Ren, taking in the broad shoulders, the dark, rugged look, and the way the boy stood with a terrifying amount of confidence. Mitchel had been trying to get close to Mrs. Lorenzo for months, sending "check-in" emails that went ignored. Seeing a male version of that power standing next to her daughter triggered an immediate, petty jealousy.
"Mr. Camry, the lists are final," Mitchel snapped, though he didn't meet Ren's eyes. "Sit down."
"Actually," Bella whispered, her voice cool but loud enough for the first few rows to hear. She looked up at Ren, her eyes tracing the way his polo shirt strained against his biceps. "I don't mind. Sato is... well, Sato is a talker. This one looks like he knows how to be quiet and work."
Mitchel's mouth popped open. To be shut down by the student he was trying to impress was a sting he couldn't hide. "Very well," he muttered, scribbling furiously on his clipboard. "But don't expect any special treatment, Camry. This is a high-level course."
Ren sat back down. The air between him and Bella was thick, charged with the [Scent of the Alpha] he didn't even realize he was radiating.
"You're very bold for someone who lives in a garage," Bella murmured, her eyes back on her notebook.
"I find that if you don't ask for what you want, people give you what they don't want," Ren replied.
He leaned in, his shoulder brushing hers. The contact was brief, but he felt her entire body go rigid.
—(Whispers of Desire: Bella)—
(What is wrong with me?And that scent... it's driving me crazy. I need to get away from him, but I can't stop thinking about what those hands would feel like on...)
She cut her own thought off, her pen scratching a jagged line across the paper.
Ren watched the side of her face. She was trying so hard to be the "Perfect Lorenzo," but the System was showing him the cracks. He felt his heart give that familiar, heavy thrum. The debt was settled for today, but the hunger for tomorrow was already beginning to stir.
"We'll meet after my last lecture," Bella said, her voice shaking just a fraction. "At the library. 3 o'clock. Don't be late, Ren."
"I wouldn't dream of it," he said.
As the bell rang and the students began to filter out, Ren caught Professor Mitchel staring at him from the podium. The man's face was twisted in a look of pure, unadulterated envy.
Ren didn't even give him a second glance. He had a princess to break, a God to satisfy, and a whole new world to conquer.