Chapter 36: The Thousand-Point Soak

【Seda PoV】

Alfred stood in my living room looking like a trapped animal that had just realized the cage door was welded shut.

Water dripped from his hair onto my floor. His wet uniform clung to his frame in the least flattering way possible. His phone sat confiscated on the far couch cushion, buzzing periodically with messages he couldn’t answer. His eyes kept darting to the locked door, calculating escape routes that didn’t exist.

Beautiful.

“Seda, give me my phone. I need to leave. I need to text Kanzaki back and tell him I’m okay.”

His voice carried that edge of desperation that meant the panic was building. Good. Panic made him easier to manipulate.​

“Hygiene critical. Priority override engaged.”

I stepped closer, invading his space with mechanical precision. My nose wrinkled slightly, breaking character just enough to sell the disgust.

“You smell like wet dog and failure. Unacceptable condition for a self-proclaimed Gentleman of Culture.”

That hit a nerve. I watched his ego twitch, visible in the way his jaw clenched and his shoulders went back.

“I do not smell like failure.”

The protest came out defensive and weak. Perfect opening.

“Olfactory sensors disagree. Detecting bacteria colonies. Detecting mildew formation. Detecting fundamental hygiene violation.”

I pointed toward the bathroom door with stiff mechanical motion.

“Go. Sterilization required immediately. Clean.”

“I’m not taking a shower in your apartment!”

His voice cracked on the last word. The idea alone was sending him into fresh panic. His hands came up in that useless defensive gesture.

“Bath. Immersion therapy more efficient for thermal regulation and contamination removal.”

I walked past him, deliberately brushing my wet shoulder against his arm. The contact made him flinch. I paused, turning my head to look at him with those empty doll eyes.​

“Or does Master require assistance? I am programmed for comprehensive maintenance protocols.”

His face went through several shades of red before settling on crimson.

“No! No assistance! Absolutely no assistance! I’ll just wash my face and hands and that’s it!”

He practically ran toward the bathroom, feet slipping slightly on the wet floor. The door slammed behind him. I heard the lock click immediately after.

Smart boy. Self-preservation instincts finally activating.

But he’d made a critical error. He’d forgotten who controlled the digital infrastructure in this apartment.​

I pulled out my phone, fingers moving quickly across the screen. Elizabeth’s contact info came up. I typed fast, laying out the situation with efficient precision.

Me: Target secured. Wet. Trapped in bathroom. Rival neutralized. Proceeding to endgame.

The response came within seconds. Elizabeth never slept. Or maybe she had alerts set for my messages. Either way, her reply materialized almost instantly.

Elizabeth: Please tell me you didn’t trigger the BL route again. I’m still debugging the Genre Shift protocols from yesterday.

I rolled my eyes. She would bring that up. Like Ryuuji’s affection metrics were somehow my fault.

Me: Negative. I removed the rival from the equation entirely. Target chose me over convenience. No romance flags detected.

Elizabeth: What do you want, Seda? You only text me mid-operation when you need something.

Perceptive as always. I smiled at my phone screen, already anticipating her reaction.

Me: The Bath Scenario. He’s miserable, wet, cold, and I need him naked. Also he deserves a reward for not running to Ryuuji. A debt wipe would be motivating.

Three dots appeared. Disappeared. Appeared again. Elizabeth was thinking. Calculating. Running probability matrices in that terrifyingly efficient brain of hers.​

Elizabeth: You want me to deploy a Legendary Quest. Right now. For a bath scene.

Me: 1000 CP reward. Full debt clearance. He won’t be able to resist. The greed will override the virginity shield.

Elizabeth: This is incredibly transparent manipulation.

Me: That’s literally our entire operational framework. What’s your point?

More dots. Longer pause. I could practically hear her weighing pros and cons, analyzing risk factors, deciding whether this served the larger strategic goals.

Elizabeth: Fine. But you’re writing the after-action report. And if this backfires, YOU’RE debugging the romance route conflicts. Deployment in 3… 2… 1…

Inside the bathroom, Alfred made a sound. Not quite a yelp. More like a strangled gasp of shock mixed with confusion.

“What the—?! Why is it flashing gold?! Why is there music?!”

I walked to the bathroom door. My hand went to my pocket, pulling out the master key I kept for maintenance emergencies. The lock clicked open silently. I pushed the door inward.

Alfred stood frozen in front of the sink, staring at his phone like it had sprouted tentacles. The screen bathed his face in golden light, pulsing rhythmically like a heartbeat. I could hear the triumphant quest music playing from the tiny speakers. Elizabeth had really committed to the aesthetic.​

“Seda! Look! The app sent something! It says…”

His voice trailed off as he read the screen. I watched his expression cycle through shock, confusion, horror, and then that telltale flash of desperate hope.

I moved closer, peering over his shoulder at the display.

The text blazed across the screen in bold golden letters, impossible to ignore.

【LEGENDARY QUEST UNLOCKED】

THE PURIFICATION RITUAL

OBJECTIVE: SHARE BATH WITH HYPNOTIZED SUBJECT TO RESTORE THERMAL EQUILIBRIUM AND PREVENT SYSTEM CORRUPTION

REWARD: 1000 CONTROL POINTS (COMPLETE DEBT FORGIVENESS)

FAILURE PENALTY: PERMANENT TITLE ‘WET DOG’ + RELATIONSHIP VALUES DECAY

TIME LIMIT: 15 MINUTES

ACCEPT QUEST? Y/N

Alfred’s hands shook as he held the phone. His eyes kept flickering to that number. One thousand CP. The exact amount of his remaining debt to Elizabeth. The chains that had been controlling him for weeks, suddenly offered up for release.​

All he had to do was get in a bath with me.

I watched the war play out across his face. Greed versus self-preservation. Freedom versus virginity. Logic versus panic.

“1000 CP…”

He whispered it like a prayer. Like salvation. His thumb hovered over the Y button, trembling with indecision.

“Master.”

My voice cut through his internal crisis, flat and robotic. His head snapped toward me. Only then did he seem to register that I’d entered the bathroom. That the door he’d locked was now open. That escape had become even more impossible.

“The app has issued commands. Thermal equilibrium must be restored. Compliance is mandatory.”

I pointed at the bathtub behind him. The tub I’d preset to auto-fill using the smart home controls earlier. Steam rose from the surface, water filled to the perfect level, exactly the right temperature.​

His eyes went wide as he registered the prepared bath. The trap that had been waiting all along.

“You planned this. You actually planned this.”

“Preparations for optimal efficiency. Standard protocol.”

I reached for the hem of my wet uniform shirt. My fingers gripped the fabric. Alfred’s brain visibly short-circuited, panic overriding all other processes.​

“Wait! Stop! Don’t—”

“The app commands. I must comply. Master must comply. Equilibrium restoration cannot be delayed.”

I pulled the shirt up slightly, just enough to reveal a strip of pale stomach. Enough to sell the threat. Enough to push him over the edge.

Alfred’s eyes darted to his phone. To the countdown timer that had appeared. Thirteen minutes remaining. To the 1000 CP reward flashing in golden numbers. To the door I was blocking with my body.

His face cycled through approximately twenty emotions in five seconds.

Then his shoulders slumped. That defeated posture that meant the Virgin Shield had calculated the least-worst option and accepted it.​

“Turn around! Just turn around!”

He practically screamed the words, hands coming up to cover his face. His other hand jabbed at the Y button on his phone screen. The acceptance chime played, bright and cheerful, sealing his fate.

【QUEST ACCEPTED】

【PURIFICATION RITUAL BEGINS NOW】

I turned around obediently, facing the bathroom door. Behind me, I heard frantic splashing. Violent water displacement. The sound of someone climbing into a bathtub with the grace of a panicked cat.

“Okay! I’m in! I’m in the water! Quest complete! Where’s my CP?!”

I turned back around, maintaining that robotic expression even as satisfaction bloomed warm in my chest.

Alfred sat in the bathtub fully clothed. Uniform shirt plastered to his chest. Pants soaked through. He’d literally just climbed into the bath without removing anything, trying to technically satisfy the quest requirements while maintaining maximum clothing coverage.

The water came up to his chest. His hair dripped. His face burned red with embarrassment and panic. He looked absolutely ridiculous and somehow endearing at the same time.

“Inefficient.”

I stepped toward the tub. My wet uniform squelched with each movement. Water from my clothes dripped onto the tile floor.

“But acceptable. Quest parameters satisfied. Now commencing equilibrium restoration.”

“Wait, you don’t need to—”

I didn’t wait for permission. I stepped into the bath fully clothed, just like him. The warm water soaked through my already-wet uniform, enveloping me in immediate heat that felt like heaven after the cold rain.

The tub wasn’t huge. Designed for one person comfortably, maybe two if they were very close. With both of us inside, space became minimal. My legs pressed against his. My shoulder touched his arm. The water level rose dangerously close to the rim.

Alfred had frozen completely. His entire body locked up, muscles rigid, eyes wide and unseeing. I’d broken him. His brain had blue-screened from proximity and situation overload.​

“Thermal equilibrium initiating. Core temperature rising. Systems stabilizing.”

I settled into the water properly, letting the warmth seep into my cold limbs. The smart home had done its job perfectly. The temperature was exactly right. Hot enough to warm up but not scalding. The steam rose around us, creating this isolated bubble of heat and moisture and privacy.

“I can’t believe this is happening. I can’t believe I’m in a bath with you. I can’t believe I accepted this quest.”

Alfred’s voice came out strangled and high-pitched. His hands floated uselessly in the water, not touching anything, not touching me, just hovering like dead fish.

“The reward was sufficient motivation. Master’s greed exceeded Master’s fear. Logical outcome achieved.”

“Don’t call it greed! It’s debt management! It’s financial responsibility!”

He was rationalizing already. Building elaborate mental excuses for why this was actually a smart decision. Classic Alfred coping mechanism.​

I leaned back against the tub, letting my head rest on the porcelain rim. The water lapped around my shoulders. Steam curled in the air. Through the small bathroom window, I could see rain still falling outside, grey and cold and distant.

Inside was warm. Inside was private. Inside, Alfred was trapped with me, quest accepted, debt on the verge of clearance, and Ryuuji Kanzaki was nowhere in sight.​

My phone buzzed from where I’d left it on the counter. Probably Elizabeth sending confirmation of the CP transfer. Probably commenting on the success of the operation. Maybe adding more lecture notes about proper protocols and risk management.

I ignored it. That could wait. Right now, in this moment, victory was complete.

“How long do we have to stay in here?”

Alfred’s question came out small and defeated. I glanced at his phone on the edge of the tub, tracking the quest timer.

“Quest completion requires fifteen minutes minimum for thermal equilibrium. Twelve minutes remaining.”

He made a sound like a dying animal. His head tilted back, staring at the ceiling like he was praying for divine intervention.

“Twelve minutes. In a bath. With you. While wearing my entire uniform.”

“Affirmative. Though uniform removal would increase efficiency by thirty-seven percent.”

“Not happening! Never happening! The clothes stay on!”

I smiled slightly, just the tiniest curve of my lips hidden beneath the water’s surface.

The water was warm. The trap was sprung. The debt would be cleared. The rival was neutralized.

And for twelve more minutes, Alfred belonged exclusively to me.