My Scumbag System-Chapter 359: Two Plans for Tomorrow

The ceiling of my room had become intimately familiar over the past hour. Every crack, every imperfection in the paint, every shadow cast by the dim lamp on my nightstand. I’d memorized them all while Natalia’s naked body pressed against my side, her breath warm against my shoulder, her fingers tracing lazy patterns across my chest.

"You’re thinking too loud," she murmured.

"Didn’t realize thinking made noise."

"It does when you do it." She shifted, propping herself up on one elbow to look down at me. Her purple hair fell in messy waves around her face, the white streaks from the Necropolis catching the lamplight. "What’s bothering you?"

I let out a breath. The Gate briefing sat on my datapad across the room, the screen dark but the information burning in my brain like an itch I couldn’t scratch. Team Gamma’s deployment tomorrow. Me playing porter for Celeste and her crew. Monica’s first real test since the Arboretum.

A C-Rank Standard Gate. Open concept layout. Balanced ecosystem. Single boss entity.

Simple. Clean. Straightforward.

So why did my gut keep screaming that something was wrong?

"The Gate tomorrow," I admitted. "Something feels off."

Natalia’s fingers paused their exploration. "Off how?"

"Can’t pin it down. The briefing looks clean. Threat assessment is standard. Environmental factors are within normal parameters." I rubbed my eyes with my free hand. "But after the Necropolis..."

"You’re paranoid."

"Paranoid keeps people alive."

She hummed in agreement, her hand resuming its wandering path down my abdomen. "True. But paranoid also keeps people awake when they should be resting."

"Hard to rest when my brain won’t shut up."

Natalia rolled fully on top of me, her weight settling across my hips in a way that immediately redirected my attention. Her eyes glittered in the low light, that mix of amusement and hunger that always preceded something either wonderful or terrifying.

Usually both.

"Then let me help you shut it up," she whispered, and leaned down to press a lazy kiss to my jaw. Then my neck. Then the spot just below my ear that made my breath catch.

"Nat..."

"Mmm?" Another kiss. Her hips shifted slightly, and I felt myself responding despite the exhaustion.

"I’m serious. The Gate could be another trap."

"So handle it." She pulled back just enough to meet my gaze, her expression softening into something almost gentle. "You’re the strongest person in this guild, Satori. Probably in this entire academy. Whatever’s waiting in that dungeon, you’ll crush it."

I snorted. "Flattery now?"

"Statement of fact." Her smile turned wicked. "The flattery comes later. When I tell you exactly how good you make me feel."

My hands found her hips on instinct, fingers digging into the soft flesh there. She made a sound somewhere between a moan and a laugh as I squeezed, using her curves like stress relief.

"You’re trying to distract me," I accused.

"Is it working?"

I squeezed harder. She ground down against me in response, and yeah. Yeah, it was definitely working.

"Tell me about the Gate," she breathed, even as she started moving in slow circles. "I want to know what you’re walking into."

Strange pillow talk, but I’d take it.

"Open concept layout," I managed, my voice rougher than intended as her movements grew more deliberate. "Means limited cover, long sightlines stretching across the entire arena. Perfect territory for ranged fighters like Celeste, but absolute hell for anyone trying to set up ambushes or execute stealth maneuvers."

"Mmm." She leaned down, her lips brushing the sensitive shell of my ear, her hot breath sending involuntary shivers down my spine. "What else does your precious briefing say?"

"Balanced ecosystem. Mixed monster types spread throughout the dungeon levels. Nothing too specialized or exotic—basic slimes, some skeletal constructs, maybe a few feral beasts. Textbook Gate-spawn variety pack."

"Boring," she whispered dismissively, her teeth finding my earlobe and giving it a sharp, possessive nip that made my fingers dig deeper into the soft flesh beneath them. "What about the boss? Anything interesting there?"

"Unknown specific entity. Briefing just says single commanding presence, estimated B-Rank threat with C-Rank minion support structure." My grip on her ass tightened instinctively as she picked up her pace, the friction making coherent thought increasingly difficult. "Standard stuff for what’s supposed to be a controlled training environment. Nothing that should give Celeste’s team any real trouble."

"Then why are you so worried?" Her violet eyes locked with mine, seeing through my attempts at nonchalance. "If everything looks this mundane on paper?"

Good question. The briefing really was clean. No red flags. No anomalies in the spawn predictions or environmental data. Just a textbook C-Rank Gate that should pose minimal challenge to a team with Celeste’s firepower.

"Because it’s too clean," I realized. "After what happened in the Necropolis, I expected the VHC to be more cautious. More thorough. But this briefing reads like they’re not even considering the possibility of another incident."

Natalia stopped moving. Her eyes sharpened, that brilliant tactical mind engaging despite the intimate situation.

"You think they’re being careless, or you think they’re being deliberate?" 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"I think whoever planted that A-Rank monster in our last dungeon had access to high-level security protocols. And I think the fact that this briefing looks so normal might be the point."

"Hide in plain sight," she murmured. "Make everything look routine so nobody suspects anything."

"Exactly."

She studied my face for a long moment, her expression unreadable. Then she leaned down and kissed me properly, deep and slow and possessive.

When she pulled back, her smile had turned predatory.

"Then you’ll just have to be ready for anything." Her hips started moving again, harder this time. More insistent. "And I’ll make sure you’re properly... motivated."

"Motivated how?"

"By reminding you exactly what you’re coming home to."

Her hand traveled down between our bodies, leading me into her with a tender familiarity that spoke volumes of our shared intimacy. A molten warmth enveloped me as she lowered herself, inch by delicious inch, until she had taken all of me.

I couldn’t help but release a deep, primal sound from my throat as our bodies joined completely, the sensation of her surrounding me entirely overwhelming my senses in the most exquisite way possible.

The feeling of wholeness when our bodies fully connected sent waves of pleasure coursing through my entire being.

"This is still distraction," I managed.

"This is stress relief." She rose up slowly, then dropped back down with enough force to make us both gasp. "There’s a difference."

Hard to argue with that logic.

Especially when she started riding me like her life depended on it.

The Gate could wait until morning. The conspiracy could wait until I had evidence. The paranoid voice in my head could wait until I finished thoroughly ravishing my step-sister.

Some problems required immediate attention.

This was one of them.

Later, much later, we lay tangled together in the aftermath. Natalia had claimed her usual spot against my chest, one leg thrown over mine, her breathing slowly returning to normal.

"The real reason you’re going tomorrow," she said quietly. "It’s not just about keeping Celeste safe."

"No."

"You want to get closer to her."

I ran my fingers through her hair, working out a tangle near the ends. "She’s my key to the VHC’s inner circle. Her sister controls half the Hunter world. If I want answers about my father, about any of it... I need access."

"And you think protecting her will earn that access."

"I think protecting her will earn her trust. Trust leads to information. Information leads to answers." I paused. "Plus, someone really is trying to kill her. And letting that happen would be strategically stupid."

Natalia lifted her head to look at me, her purple eyes unreadable in the darkness.

"You always have a plan."

"Always."

"And what’s your plan for Monica? You’re dragging her into this too."

"Monica needs field experience. Real combat, real stakes, real consequences. The Arboretum awakened something in her, but she’s still scared of her own power. Tomorrow’s Gate is a chance for her to prove to herself that she’s not the weak little shield Julian tried to make her."

"Tactical and altruistic. How very you."

I grinned. "I contain multitudes."

She smacked my chest lightly, then settled back against me with a sigh.

"Just come back in one piece. I have plans for you tomorrow night."

"What kind of plans?"

"The kind that require you conscious and intact." Her hand drifted down my stomach, ghosting over skin that was still sensitive from our earlier activities. "Mostly intact, anyway. I might leave some marks."

"Promises, promises."

She laughed, low and warm, and pressed a kiss to my shoulder.

Outside my window, the stars wheeled overhead in their eternal dance. Somewhere on this campus, Celeste was probably reviewing the same briefing I’d memorized, preparing for a Gate that might be a trap. Somewhere else, Monica was probably talking to her plants, building courage she didn’t know she already possessed.

"Sleep," Natalia murmured against my skin. "Whatever’s coming, you can’t fight it exhausted."

She was right.

She usually was.

I closed my eyes and let the warmth of her body chase away the cold edge of paranoia.

Tomorrow would bring answers.

Or death.