A Backup Plan

As he lifted his uniform shirt to wipe the sweat from his forehead, he intentionally revealed his glistening abs to the girls watching from the sidelines.

Miguel was second to finish, coming in over an entire minute behind Noah, panting and sweating bullets as he dropped onto the grass to catch his breath.

"What the hell, dude?...Didn't realize you were on 'roids," Miguel exhaled.

He laughed, "I just do a bit of cardio before going to bed each night."

After his world-record beating display, he was approached by Freja, who still retained the proud look and air around herself like a modern day princess.

"I will admit, that was certainly impressive," Freja told him.

"Yeah? Impressive enough to get your number?" He asked with a smile.

Freja held her hand out, gesturing for him to hand her his phone, "A deal is a deal."

A sense of triumph flowed through him at yet another victory on his mission of building a harem, sliding his phone out of his pocket and handing it to the blonde-haired girl.

He watched as she tapped her number into his contacts, taking in her features further as she wore a cute, verdant bracelet on her right wrist with green nail polish matching on her fingers. She definitely had more voluptuous or curvy features than Emily or Akari.

Amidst their interaction on the track, there was already gossip brewing as the meeting of the two was like Prince Charming and Cinderella; Noah was head-and-shoulders considered the most attractive boy at the school with Freja holding the same title on the girl's side.

–

Still, Miguel sighed out knowing he'd been promptly outdone by his friend as he laid back on the grass.

"What a bummer. Can that guy do anything wrong?" Miguel mumbled.

The tan-skinned basketball member found himself surprised by another person looming over him–a meek girl he knew, wearing circular-rimmed glasses and dark-brown hair kept in twin braids.

"Delilah?" Miguel said.

"You were super cool out there," Delilah told him with a smile.

Miguel sat up, looking away, "Noah totally left me in the dust. That's as uncool as it gets."

It was unbecoming of the eccentric, shaggy-haired adolescent to act so defeated as he was usually as energetic and optimistic as can be, though it was simply the reality of watching somebody like Noah conquer everything with ease.

A flick to the forehead was received by Miguel, who winced and covered his head,

"Yow! What was that for!?" Miguel asked.

Delilah extended her hand down to him for him to stand, giving him a smile, "Stop comparing yourself to others. I think the 'Miguel' you are is perfectly cool."

Those kind words enlightened the tall, tan-skinned man as he accepted the girl's hand, being hoisted to his feet despite a size disparity.

"I guess I am pretty awesome. Strong, smart—" Miguel began to playfully gloat.

"Don't get ahead of yourself now," Delilah lightly poked him.

"Ha-ha! Anyway, thanks. You've always been a friend I can count on!" Miguel told the girl.

The two were childhood friends, but Miguel only saw Delilah as such: a friend. On the other hand, it was clear as day that Delilah looked at Miguel with different eyes, though was unable to properly voice her feelings.

"…Yeah," Delilah smiled.

—

Returning home that day, Noah felt a sense of delight in his accomplishments, though he almost forgot about the entire encounter he was sucked into during the morning.

As usual, he was home alone, though he had no complaints as total freedom was what he strived for.

The moment he walked into his bedroom, he snapped his fingers to reactive ["Sentience Bestowment"], returning the maid figurine to life as Melly appeared as living and breathing once more.

"Good day, Master. What shall I do for you?" Melly asked with a smile.

He set his backpack down while replying, "Spruce up the place—I might have some guests in the near future."

"As you wish, Master," Melly nodded before getting to work.

While the red-haired maid tidied up the house, he thought about his approach to the unknown system wielders he encountered.

'Whether I'd like to admit it or not, that person had the capabilities to kill me. If I made a wrong move, he could've taken my head off. I need to be ready,' he thought.

Raking his mind, he received a rare notification from his system in response to his current state of mind:

[Noah, your stress levels have risen considerably. It is imperative that you maintain a steady head going forward. Do what you must to cool yourself.]

Those words brought to his attention that he did indeed need to relax his mind and relieve some stress, and an idea quickly came to mind on how to do so.

"Melly."

With a snap of his fingers and a call of her name, he brought the lively maid to his room.

"Yes, Master?"

He looked at her before his eyes lingered on her prominent bust, "Take them out."

"Are you asking for 'that'?" The red-haired maid's cheeks were flushed,

"I am."

The words he spoke were absolute to the one he summoned with his own authority, leaving Melly, despite her shyness, to pull down the 'breast window' of her maid uniform,

Just as she tugged it down, her large, pale breasts bounced out in full-view for Noah. It was a new sensation for him as he poked at the mound on the maid's chest, witnessing a subtle, but cute reaction as a small noise left her mouth.

'Soft', he thought.

There was no doubt in his mind he had free reign over the two, heavenly soft objects as he moved his fingers across them, tracing the tips of his digits around the pretty, pink nipples of the maid he had created.

"...Ahh…" Another small noise left her lips.

–Just then, it seemed he was taken out of his view of lust as he snapped his fingers, "Sleep."

He returned the lively maid back into her statuesque figure for the time being, deciding to turn himself into bed.

--

As the weekend finally arrived, having spent a week at school with his mind stuck on the looming threat of system wielders, he finally got to work on setting up a new base of operations.

Sitting at his desk, he glanced back as his eyes for some reason watched his closet, finding an idea surfacing in his mind.

"Hmm…"

Standing up from his desk, he moved over to his closet, opening it as it was perfectly organized with clothes, having been fixed-up by Melly previously.

'I need a place where I can freely use magic without drawing too many eyes. It might be a bit tacky, but…this'll do,' he thought.

As his grimoire conjured, flipping rapidly to the desired page, he held it in front of him while pointing one hand towards the back of his closet, focusing on the dim wall.

["Sub-Space Creation"]