Infinite Cashback System

Chapter 356: 356 | Patience Is A Virtue

Chloe’s eyes had gone flat and bright at the same time, the look she got when she was pricing something and running the numbers in her head faster than Jordan could track. Her blue streak fell across one cheek. She tilted her head two degrees to the left, and that was Chloe for "I’m about to say something that’s going to make you uncomfortable."

"You realize what this looks like from her angle, right?"

Jordan glanced over at the couch, where Kumiko had her face buried in the cushion and her entire body radiated the kind of mortification that only came from accidentally grinding against someone in public. The twin tails quivered. A muffled sound emerged that might have been a prayer or a threat.

"She thinks you’re being nice," Chloe said. "She thinks this is boyfriend behavior. Generous boyfriend who takes his girls on expensive trips and buys them things because he wants to make them happy."

"Isn’t that what it is?"

"Sure. Except you’re also running an arbitrage scheme on her emotional attachment, and the hotel room you just booked made you four thousand dollars net profit, and the clothes you’re about to buy her are going to pay for themselves plus thirty-two percent."

Jordan kept his expression neutral. This was the problem with dating someone whose brain operated on spreadsheets. Chloe saw through the romance to the underlying cash flow, and she didn’t judge him for it because she’d been doing her own version of the exact same thing for six months on OnlyFans, but she also wouldn’t let him pretend he wasn’t doing it.

"The money’s a bonus," he said quietly. "I’d do it anyway."

"Would you?"

"Yeah. I would."

Chloe studied his face for a long moment, her dark eyes tracking across his expression like she was reading a balance sheet looking for the cooked line item. Then something in her posture softened just a fraction, a barely perceptible shift in her shoulders that meant she’d found what she was looking for and it checked out.

"Good," she said. "Because if you’re lying, I’ll know, and then I’ll have to kill you with your own kitchen knife, and that’ll be messy."

"You don’t know where I keep the knives."

"Second drawer under the microwave, Jordan. I’ve lived here for three days. I know where everything is."

From the couch, Kumiko’s voice emerged muffled and distressed. "Are you two fighting? Please don’t fight. I’ll pack heavy. I’ll bring the whole spreadsheet. I’ll carry my own bags and we can skip the shopping and I promise I won’t be a problem—"

Jordan turned and looked at her. Kumiko’s head had lifted just enough that one brown eye was visible over the couch arm, tracking him with the expression of a rabbit who’d heard a branch snap and was calculating whether to bolt.

"We’re not fighting," he said. "Chloe’s just making sure I’m not an asshole."

"And?"

"Jury’s still out."

Chloe snorted, which was the closest she got to laughing at anything Jordan said before nine in the morning. She moved past him toward the kitchen island and picked up her laptop, settling it back into her lap with the kind of careful precision that meant she was done with the conversation but filing it away for future reference.

"I’m going to shower," she announced. "Then I’m going back to my place to work on the lease transfer. Kumiko, you have exactly one hour before mandatory bedtime. Use them wisely."

Kumiko sat up straight on the couch, her face still flushed and her twin tails askew from the cushion assault. "I’m not tired."

"You’ve been awake for sixteen hours on toast and adrenaline. You’re going to crash face-first into a churro cart at two PM if you don’t sleep."

"I’ll sleep in the car on the way there."

"We’re leaving at six-fifteen in the morning. The drive is one hour. You’ll get forty-five minutes of car sleep and then you’ll spend the entire day running on fumes and sugar until you have a meltdown in front of Cinderella’s Castle." Chloe’s voice stayed flat and clinical, the same tone she used when walking Kumiko through her emotional spirals, patient and unyielding. "So. Shower. Pajamas. Bed. Nine o’clock."

Kumiko opened her mouth to protest, looked at Chloe’s face, and closed it again. Some battles you fought. Some battles you recognized as unwinnable and retreated before casualties mounted.

"Fine," she mumbled. "But I’m setting an alarm for five-thirty so I have time to do my hair."

"You’re going to be wearing Mickey ears all day. Nobody’s going to see your hair."

"I’ll know it’s there."

Chloe shook her head and headed for the stairs, her bare feet making soft sounds on the concrete floor. Jordan watched her climb to the loft, the gray henley riding up just enough to show the curve of her lower back, and his phone buzzed in his pocket with a notification he already knew was coming.

He pulled it out. The golden UI glowed softly in the dim apartment light.

✨ CHEMISTRY UPDATE ✨

Kumiko Yamanaka

Chemistry: 42% ▰▰▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱

Return Rate: 0.84x

Status: Infatuated but guarded

Analysis: Target displays all behavioral markers of genuine romantic attachment (physical proximity-seeking, emotional vulnerability, trust exercises). However, core abandonment trauma creates persistent psychological barrier preventing full commitment. Recommend continued patience and consistent presence.

Note: Stop trying to math your way through this one, dumbass. She’s scared. Let her be scared. She’ll get there when she gets there.

Jordan stared at that last line for a long moment. The System had never editorialized before. It gave him data, quest updates, gacha notifications, and the occasional sarcastic aside about his life choices, but it had never told him to slow down and let something happen naturally.

Which meant he’d been pushing. Which meant the System had noticed him pushing. Which meant he was being the exact kind of asshole Chloe had just checked him for.

He locked the phone and shoved it back in his pocket.

Kumiko was still sitting on the couch, her pillow clutched to her chest and her brown eyes tracking him with an expression that lived somewhere between hope and terror. She’d pulled her knees up, making herself smaller, and her fingers had found one of the lavender ribbons in her hair and were worrying it between her thumb and forefinger.

"You don’t have to buy me things," she said quietly.

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