Make a Girl Fall in Love

[The Devil System is currently idle]

[Waiting for conditions to fully activate...]

[Calculating...]

[...]

[Progress Towards Activation: 16%]

...

The next day, before I went to class, I was once again called into the headmaster's office.

What does she want with me this early...?

My entire body was brushed by a wave of cool air as I entered the room. There wasn't any air-conditioning. It was all just... the melancholy...? No, that didn't seem right, the room was cold, but it was still comforting.

I guess it was a bit hard to explain. Whatever the case, the apathetic headmaster greeted me as indifferently as always.

"Couldn't you have come any quicker?"

"I came here as quick as I could."

"Oh, well, take a seat; this is going to take a while."

"Huh?"

I found myself sitting on a dark leather couch as she spoke to me.

"First of all, good job with your mission yesterday. That was a job well done."

"I got several members of Spectrum-Judgement killed."

"That doesn't matter. You shouldn't stay hung up about it."

Ah, well, I was already pretty desensitized to death. My life during the Ideal Human Project was filled with it... well, figuratively and sometimes literally.

"Anyways, I'll get to the matter."

"Okay."

"Basically, Aiko has filed a complaint against the National Police Organisation. Usually, this wouldn't be an issue, but in the current climate, we can't allow this to get leaked to the press."

"Mhm, so what do you want me to do?"

"She's currently in the early stages of the complaint. They usually take over a week to process, so before that point, I want you to stop her."

"You want me to stop her? How exactly... I doubt I'd be able to beat her in a fight."

"I'm not asking you to fight her. In fact, it's quite simple."

"I don't like where this is going."

"Oh, come on, Oliver, you're going to do what you're best at."

"What I'm best at...?"

The room was filled with a sudden eerie atmosphere.

"You're going to make her fall in love with you."

***

There was a moment of silence.

"I don't get it. It's not that easy."

"Maybe not for anyone else, but it's a piece of cake for you."

"I'm not following...?"

"You can hide it as much as you like, but I know all about you—if there's anyone who can make a girl fall in love with them, it's you."

"You make it sound like I'm a playboy, but I have no such skills."

"Ah, sometimes I wish you still had your memories."

"My... memories?"

"Being a woman magnet is in your blood."

"I don't think that's true."

She sighed.

"You're going to make Aiko fall in love with you. I don't care what you have to do. You can request further resources from me if you need them. Just make her fall for you."

"Uh..."

"You're dismissed."

Rather passive-aggressively, I was sent out of the room.

After that, I slowly made my way down the halls to my classroom.

What did she mean by all of that?

I still don't understand why she thinks that I'm some sort of playboy. As far as I can remember, I've never even been in a relationship with a girl.

Ah... this was such a hassle.

I didn't have the choice to disobey her either.

I made my way into the classroom.

As I looked at the rows of students who were already seated, the teacher turned to me. I had just opened the door a little too abruptly and seemed to have disrupted the class. Being the target of everyone's glare, the teacher spoke up.

"Oliver, why are you late?!"

"Um, I had a meeting with the headmaster."

"Please inform me beforehand next time. Take a seat."

"Okay."

I made my way over to the seat that I usually sat at. Astoria, the blonde girl sitting beside me, stared daggers as always. She still was quite unimpressed by my presence, acting disgusted every time I even looked in her direction.

I don't see how I'm supposed to be a 'woman magnet'.

A few minutes into the class, Astoria dropped her eraser onto the ground.

Ugh, I should help, but I see no timeline where this ends well for me.

In the end, I decided to just ignore it as she leaned down to pick it up herself.

All of a sudden, something hit the side of my chair with a thump.

"Ow!"

I looked over to see Astoria rubbing her forehead in pain. My chair shook so much that I almost fell over. I saw her chair, which had tumbled over.

Well, this was awkward.

We made eye contact for a split second, and I thought I was about to be killed.

Her face was bright red, but her eyes showed nothing but the glare of a murderer.

I looked away as fast as I could. If I continued to look at her even for a second more, I was dead meat. I heard a few ruffles before she got back onto her seat. No one else in the class seemed to have made a big deal out of it. Even the teacher was still talking as if nothing had happened.

Thank goodness.

The class continued with no other major issues. We were taught some more specifics in relation to Realisers and Interceptors. The main problem was that most of the information was irrelevant to me. I didn't even have a Realiser, so it was basically useless to me.

The class ended, and we were dismissed.

*

Ah, this entire situation was annoying.

I guess my best strategy at the moment was to find Aiko and try to speak to her. She definitely went to this school, so after enough time. I'd eventually run into her. I decided to stroll through the schoolyard and see if I could find her anywhere.

The main problem was that she was an A-rank esper. At this school, there were pretty distinct groups based on your skill as an esper. The separation was very evident.

I wasn't sure if I'd even be able to speak to her if I did manage to find her, but I didn't really have any other choice.