Rekindling The Flame Pt. 1

[Day: Thursday]

[Time: Afternoon]

[Location: Matsugaya University]

The afternoon sun was pretty bright out, yet the chilly embrace of nature's wind was incoming, signalling the oncoming transition between Autumn and Winter. I waited for Aubrie since she wanted to hang out today at my place for a bit, and I saw this an opportunity to get some answers about who was all at the party.

"Hey loser, you ready?" Aubrie asked as she walked toward me.

I looked over at Aubrie then smiled at her. "Yeah, I've been ready sour patch."

Aubrie blushed and scoffed, walking past me. "Hurry up then, I'm trying to sit down as fast as possible."

I chuckled softly and followed Aubrie. We walked to my house together, Aubrie on the phone with Whitney and me focusing on working on my System business. After she got off the phone, she looked at me, grabbing my hand.

I looked at Aubrie then chuckled softly. "Feeling scared walking along these roads."

"Tch! No! It's just gentleman like for you to hold a woman's hand while walking down the street! What if someone takes me?" Aubrie barked, a wild blush on her face from my comment.

"Then just have a sour attitude, they'll be sure to let you go," I teased then grunted softly as Aubrie began crushing my hand.

[Charm EXP +200]

"You're not funny!" Aubrie yelled, turning her head away from me.

Aubrie and I continued our stroll to my house, soon making it and walking inside. Aubrie went into the living room while I went to the kitchen to prepare dinner since Aubrie was staying the night over.

[Day: Thursday]

[Time: Evening]

[Location: Home]

As I cooked dinner, I kept thinking about how to approach the situation with Aubrie. I had no valuable info to give her, and I highly doubted she wanted to think about that day. I didn't want to risk my bond with her, but I had to count my losses and go for it, hoping the dinner would ease my way into talking about it.

"Shiro!" Aubrie called out to me from the living room.

I set a lid over the pot on the stove and went to the living room to see what Aubrie needed. "Yeah? What's up, Brie?" I asked, yawning and rubbing the back of my head as I sat next to her.

Aubrie was working on some of Akira's extra credit, some of the material confusing her. "Can you help me with these few questions? This shit is killing me.."

I looked at her laptop screen then rested my arm on the back of the couch and began to help Aubrie on her work. I explained the material to her, even giving her easier ways of doing certain equations and solving certain problems. She listened attentively, taking in everything I was telling her. In a few short minutes, Aubrie finished her work, sighing in relief.

"Finally..." Aubrie sighed, slouching on my couch. "Is dinner almost ready..?"

I smiled at her, giving her a nod. "Yeah, it's almost done. Think you can hold out for a bit longer?"

"Barely...I'm starving..." Aubrie softly whined, her gaze meeting mine, giving me puppy eyes.

I chuckled softly then leaned into her, giving her a quick peck on her lips. "Just ten more minutes, alright..?"

Aubrie softly groaned and crossed her arms, turning away. "Okay..."

I smiled, shaking my head and standing up from the couch. "Don't be a brat, I said what I said~"

Aubrie rolled her eyes then watched me walk to my kitchen, a smile playing on her face. She had grown a bit more comfortable with me, her demeanor softening day by day as she started to really like me more.

Dinner was finally ready, the two of us sharing a nice meal in the living room while watching a few movies. I didn't make anything too crazy like I did with Amber, but I did make sure to put a lot of heart into it. Aubrie really enjoyed my cooking, even having a second helping of it. It was nice seeing her gobble my food down with pleasure.

After dinner, Aubrie and I cuddled on the couch together. She scrolled through her socials while I was texting Whitney about the change of plans on Saturday with her meeting me at my place.

After a moment of calm, I decided to bring up the question I held back for a while. "Hey, Brie. Mind if we talk about something serious..?"

Aubrie looked up at my, setting down her phone. "What about..?"

"It's... It's about the party." I said.

[Aubrie has become defensive.]

I felt her body become a bit tense, but I quickly calmed her down with a few strokes of her hair. "Hey, hey...I'm not gonna ask about that. I just wanna know who all attended that party.."

[Aubrie has calmed down.]

[Empathy EXP +200]

"Why do you wanna know that..?" Aubrie asked.

"A few people said they saw me at the party, and I wanna know if I remember them well enough. I mean I was only there for about 30 minutes talking to you." I lied, but my tone made it believable.

[Talent EXP +300 (Deception Mastery)]

"I guess...uhm...it was some chick named Alice, another chick named Emily, some dude named Caden, and that's all I can really remember." Aubrie said.

'Caden..? The same Caden Bridges..? Nah...couldn't be..' I thought to myself.

Aubrie noticed how long I was thinking and reached up to pat my cheek. "Hey? You in there?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking. That Caden guy. His last name is Bridges right?" I asked.

"Yeah, why?" Aubrie asked, her eyebrow raising with confusion.

"I was just wondering since his name was so familiar to me. You don't have to worry though..~" I said, gently rubbing her hair.

"Mmkay.." Aubrie said, lying her head back on my chest and went back to scrolling on her phone.

[Information saved.]

[Task: Find Caden Bridges.]

"Now we're getting somewhere~ Alright, I'm gonna let you do your thing, I'm going to do my research on this Caden guy~" Lustie said, floating off to the guest bedroom.

Aubrie and I decided to move our cuddle session to my room for the night. Aubrie was the first to fall asleep while I was digging through my memories on if I could figure out if I know Caden. I decided to head to sleep for the night and think about it in the morning.

[Day: Friday]

[Time: Morning]

[Location: Home]

"Hurry up, loser! If you don't pick up the slack, we're gonna be late!" Aubrie called out from downstairs.

"Calm your tits, you damn grouch! I'm coming, besides it's your fault I'm getting down late!" I said as I walked downstairs.

"And how's that?" Aubrie scoffed, watching me walk downstairs.

"'Can we go one quick round? I had such a good dre—'" I started only to be met with a magazine thrown at my face.

Aubrie scowled, her cheeks bright red like a tomato as she grew embarrassed. "Don't finish that fucking sentence!"

I looked at Aubrie, my eye twitching a bit and I sniffed. I shook my head then chuckled softly. "Let's just go before you start reaching for other weapons..~"

"Finally..." Aubrie said and followed me out my front door.

[Day: Friday]

[Time: Morning]

[Location: Matsugaya University]

Once we got onto campus, Aubrie immediately hurried to Gloria and Whitney who were waiting for her at their table in the courtyard. I already had my own personal mission set and didn't plan on letting anyone stop me.

[Caden's location has been found.]

[Caden's location: University's Gym]

I nodded and made my way to the gym, with a lot of pep in my step. I needed as much information as I could possibly get from Caden, and I planned to investigate Alice and Emily as well if I could find them also. Once I made it to the gym, I noticed Caden talking with Eric, one of the three goons who somehow smooth talked their way from expulsion.

Lustie grabbed my shoulder, making it look like a force field stop me. "Don't engage. The animosity Eric, Jake, and Mark feels against you is very strong, meaning even at the sight of you they will crash out. They seem to be talking on the bleachers, let's sneak close to them."

I nodded and quietly entered the gym then noticed one of the girls running along the gym. I used my Luscious Presence to attract her, making her come over to me. I whispered in her ear and she nodded at me with a smile. I watched as she jogged over to Caden and Eric to distract them.

[Talent EXP +500 (Persuasion Mastery)]

[Charm EXP +500 (Heart Stealer Bonus)]

As the girl distracted Eric and Caden, I snuck my way to the bleachers they sat on then put on my hoodie and a blue face mask to cover my face as I sat a safe distance from Caden and Eric. I activated my Luscious Unleash so I could use my heightened hearing to listen closely to Caden and Eric.

"Anyway, like I was saying...So after the party bro, Mark actually went over to Ashley's house to check on her and shit. Apparently Ashley came onto him and they did it again, like that girl is a freak freak. Anyway, after he left and came back that's when we noticed Aubrie was missing and shit..." Eric explained the night to Caden since he wasn't there for the after party.

"Yikes...this is not looking good for Ashley's case. It really is his words against her own." Lustie said.

'Nah...A party like that has to come with a few videos. There were a lot of people there, so we need video evidence...' I thought to Lustie.

"But I searched the entire internet for a video, not one. They treating that party like it's Vegas. This is Destiny Islands people!" Lustie said.

"That's kinda crazy that she went back to him, but have you seen Aubrie and Shiro lately? She's all on that guy like he's her new boyfriend." Caden said.

"That guy swears he's a lady's man. I promise when we find that fool, we're merking that dude. He's a big problem seriously.." Eric replied, and sighed then looked at his phone as Jake sent him a video of the party.

I could hear the video and realized it was the party. 'I'm going for it.'

"You're not like that, partner. You're not stealing his phone and getting away with it~" Lustie chuckled.

'When an innocent woman's livelihood is in jeopardy over a false narrative, what else am I to do..? E, can't you like steal the video from him?' I uttered softly then looked at Lust-E.

[I can't. My OS can only do so much for you, but hacking into other technology is out of my range. I am essentially a Technological Succubus, I am made to fulfill your desires that are within my permissions.]

'Figured. OP at a limit huh?' I smiled as I looked at Lust-E.

"Hm...I can do it for you~" Lustie said.

'Yeah? What are you gonna do?' I thought to Lustie.

"Watch~" Lustie said then floated over to Eric then used her demonic presence to make the air around him colder.

Eric began to get goosebumps and looked at his arms. 'What the fuck..?'

"Yooo, you got mad goosebumps bro. You good?" Caden asked.

"I don't know man...I feel off..." Eric said, setting his phone down and standing up to look around him, but nothing was there.

Lustie looked at me and nodded. I was confused on what she was planning then noticed the lights flickering. Everyone froze once they saw the lights flickering then the gym's power went out due to Lustie's demonic presence.

"C'mon, Shiro! Take his phone!" Lustie called out.

I grunted and quickly got up and ran toward Eric's phone, snatching it off the seat then ran off with his phone. Eric noticed and quickly ran after me with Caden, both of them hot on my tracks. I looked back then deactivated my Luscious Unleash then took a sharp right into the Janitor's closet. I looked out the window and noticed the two run by.

I looked at Eric's phone in my hand, noticing it was locked. Lustie took it out of my hand, typing in his password and handed it back to me. I began to add my number into his phone, sending the video to my phone and deleting my number completely.

'There...E, is the coast clear?' I thought to Lust-E.

[Caden and Eric are nowhere near you. You can return the phone and get out of there. We have no real reason to question Caden anymore, but he does intrigue me. From what I see in his data, you two have history.]

'Yeah...We went to the same highschool. Me and him used to rival over Whitney, but those days are over. We just agreed to ignore each other in the future.' I thought to Lust-E as I walked out the closet and went back to the gym.

I set down Eric's phone on the bleachers then heard someone shouting at me from behind. I looked back and noticed it was Eric and Caden. I didn't respond back, just activated my Luscious Unleash just in case.

[Stamina Percentage: 85%]

[You're good.]

"So you thought you could get away with taking people's shit huh?! You think that shit is funny?!" Eric yelled, throwing a punch at me, but I dodged his punch and stepped back.

Eric threw another swift jab, but I evaded his jab, countering with a shove to get him back. Eric grunted as Caden caught him. "You think you're tough shit huh...Okay.." he said, getting off Caden and walking to his phone.

Eric went for a sneak attack, sending the back of his fist toward me, but I dodged his attack then grabbed his arm, sending a chop to his side then pushed him off me. I fixed my hood then looked at Caden. Caden slightly raised his hands, wanting no part of what Eric got.

"Yo bro, not gonna lie, you gotta stop. He's on your ass.." Caden said.

'There is only one person who can dodge like that...but I'm not sure. I'll let him have this one..' Eric thought to himself as he stood up.

I walked backwards then ran off out the gym. 'I know I was in the wrong, but damn that guy just comes out swinging on anyone? He's got serious issues.'

[Honestly. You got the video, all there's left to do is to present this to Ashley and see if she remembers any of it.]

'Right...Where is she right now?' I asked.

[Her house. We can stop by there this afternoon.]

---------------------------------

[Day: Friday]

[Time: Afternoon]

[Location: Matsugaya University]

All my classes had ended and I was making my way outside. As I walked outside, I got a text from Ashley telling me her address. I saved it and Lust-E quickly added it for later.

I began walking home by myself, watching the video I got from Eric. It was a video showing Jake and his friends dancing and I noticed Ashley in the background who was in the bathroom wasted, throwing up. The cameraman panned over to Ashley, who kept pushing him off her then it started to get aggressive until Ashley had ended the video by shoving him back.

"No wonder these videos didn't make it out, this shit is incriminating. As you saw she wasn't in the mood, and they were killing her vibe too. It isn't enough, but it's a start." Lustie said as she watched the video with me.

"Aubrie isn't in this video...meaning everything happened upstairs. Of course Aubrie wouldn't know what happened up there. If this is anything, this is undeniable proof. It would be nice to get more information so that Aubrie doesn't have any reason to doubt.." I said.

"It's too risky to go for the old Demonic Trickery move again. I do use up my energy even from a simple light trick like that and I need all of my energy for you in case you actually need it. In the video, Jake wasn't even the cameraman...so that means Jake was sent the video by someone else." Lustie said.

"Probably Mark...Fuck man, I have to encounter him. I was hoping to avoid the encounter until after I fix this mess." I sighed softly, watching the video one more time and listening to the voices.

After a second watch, Lustie and I were able to confirm the cameraman was Mark himself. After making that conclusion, I assumed he had other videos on top of it and has sent them amongst his friends. I just needed a way to get them.

[Suggestion: Talk to Caden on Monday about the party.]

"It is my only option for now... Alright. After we meet up with Ashley and show her the video, let's put this Mission on hold." I said.

[Checkpoint Made. All information recorded.]

-------------------------------

[Day: Friday]

[Time: Evening]

[Location: Ashley's House]

I sat with Ashley in her room, showing her the video of the party last week. Ashley watched it with disgust and utter disappointment in herself. Ashley was on the brink of tears, but I comforted her the best I could. I didn't want to see Ashley like this at all...

"How fucking stupid could I be?" Ashley cried softly into her pillow, her voice muffled from the pillow.

I gently rubbed her hair, looking down at her. "It's not your fault, Ashley. It really isn't, so stop blaming yourself for this."

[Empathy EXP +300]

"It is my fault tho..." Ashley squeaked, her voice shaky from the crying she was doing. "I went to that stupid party and got wasted like an idiot...Now my friends hate me, Mark is clearly lying on my name, and I'm just so lost right now.."

I kept comforting her, letting her get all of her emotions out. The entire situation she's in took a toll on her, her shattered world unable to be rebuilt. All I could do was comfort her and listen to her troubles.

[Empathy EXP +600]

[Ashley has grown closer to you..]

After the sea of tears that Ashley produced, a calm resolve followed, causing her to fall asleep on me. I decided to stay with Ashley while she slept peacefully, gently stroking her hair, holding her close to me. She looked so calm and beautiful in my arms, her soft breathing and snoring signalling her tranquility.

Ashley soon woke up from her sleep, noticing I was still next to her and had fallen asleep on her bed. She smiled after noticing I was still beside her, laying her head back down and drifting off back to sleep to return to her pleasant dream.