Chapter 184. An Awkward Encounter in a Public Washroom. (4/9)
“Does Rosa know about the other women?”
“Yes.”
“She’s okay with them?”
“What she’s okay with doesn’t change what I am.”
“Certainly, you’d still be viewed as a cheater by society even if she was the one who pushed other women into a relationship with you.”
“Exactly.”
“You know~ I told another lie before~”
“What lie?”
“I don’t despise all cheaters. Just the ones who do it without feeling anything about it. What turns me on is when the guy wants to resist, but can’t control his body and loses himself in pleasure. That sort of cheater really gets me off~ they’re actually my ideal type~”
“Just kill me, I’m not interested.”
“Heheh, even if you’re not interested I already am.”
I felt her hand dig into my pocket. When I felt her retrieve something my eyes shot open.
She had my phone in her hands.
“What are you doing with my phone?”
“Obediently unlock it for me or I’ll kill you~”
“Then kill me.”
“Fine, I’ll rape you then.”
My lips and eyes twitched. I was in a helpless situation where I couldn’t resist.
I raised my thumb up to my phone’s home button and used the fingerprint scanner to unlock it. It shook and said it required the password. This sometimes happened when it was in my pants pocket as a result of the heat from my body.
“Just enter pi, 42 digits after the decimal point, forget the decimal. That’s the passcode to unlock it.”
“Hah? Are you trying to make an unfunny joke in this sort of situation?”
“What? You don’t know that many digits of pi?”
“Of course not, who would bother to remember that or use it as their password? Are you going to try pulling something like you don’t remember it because you’re under stress? Or get it wrong a certain number of times so you have to wait a really long time to enter another password? Are you trying to stall for time, hoping someone will show up to interrupt us?”
“That might not be such a bad idea, but I’ve got to get to work. I don’t have time for this shit. I’m in hot enough water as it is at work. I’ve at least got to call in to let them know I’m running late.”
“I see. You’re quite calm to still be thinking about work when you might die.”
“I wouldn’t want to worry my co-worker after all.”
“Fine, I’ll allow you to notify them that you will be late.”
“Thanks.”
“But you can only send a text and I need to approve it before you send it.”
“Haaaaaah. Sure.”
“So, what’s the real passcode?”
“I told you, that was it.”
“What the hell?”
“You can search it up online if you want or I can recite it for you if you don’t trust me.”
“I’ll do both then.”
She put my phone down on the counter to our side and pulled out her own phone and searched up digits of pi.
“Go ahead.”
“3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169.” I recited it in just under seven seconds. I was so used to entering it on my phone that it was effectively muscle memory for the mind.
“Hah? Sorry, what was that? It sounded like you were just mumbling to me.”
“Sorry if I went a bit too fast, it’s just easier for me to not mess up when I go fast since it’s sort of like a song to me. 3.1415 - 926535 - 8979 - 323 - 84626 - 43383 - 27950 - 28841 - 97169.” I recited them much slower in the groups of numbers I’d memorized them in.
“What the hell? They’re all right. You’re a total nerd, why does Rosa like such a nerd who memorized so many digits of pi for his passcode?”
“Who knows? I’d really like to ask her that as well. Like, aren't her tastes just weird.”
“Yeah, yeah. Totally.” She completely agreed with me.
“Oh no, not good, I shouldn’t be having such a casual conversation with you when I have a knife to your throat. This is a serious situation.”
“Yeah, what’s wrong with you? Do your job properly and stop slacking or the person you’re holding up with a knife will look down on your professionalism as an assassin.”
“Haha, my bad, my bad. Ahem. Annnnyway, where were we? Oh, right, I’ve got to unlock your phone still and make sure you weren’t lying.”
She entered the passcode but frowned when it didn’t unlock.
“Hey, what the heck? It’s not working.”
“You probably just messed up when you entered it. Aren't you a bit careless?”
“Ugh. Give me a sec, I’ve got it this time.”
A second failure.
“You definitely lied. I’m sure I got it that time.”
“You entered an extra number by accident this time. The difficulty of the passcode is not from what it actually is, but rather the ability to patiently input it correctly by hand even under pressure when only given a few attempts before you will get locked out by a time gate.”
“You’re saying I’m careless?”
“Yeah.”
“There’s no way I can accept this.”
She tried three more times but failed.
“I refuse to accept I didn’t enter it correctly even when I know what it is.”
She’d taken several minutes just entering it slowly to make sure but she still found a way to mess it up.
I could help but let out a small laugh, “Hahah, your little bit of clumsiness is actually kind of cute.”
“I-I’m not clumsy, your passcode is the problem, not me. If it was something normal? I’d definitely have gotten it right by now. Hey, you’re actually lying to me about what it is just so you can make fun of me, aren’t you?”
“If you don’t believe me, hand my phone over.”
“Then prove it.”
“Alright.
I received my phone and held it in front of my chest. She leaned in a bit closer to watch me enter it.
My fingers moved about rapidly and in six seconds the phone unlocked.
“What the hell was that? I’m an assassin and I consider my eyesight to be pretty good, but all I saw was a blur. Is this considered a standard skill to possess among normal civilians?”
“Well, I don’t think so. This is the only number I can enter so fast and it’s only because I’ve entered it so many times that it’s pure muscle memory by this point. If you change the size of the keypad up on me enough, I wouldn’t be able to enter it nearly as fast with such accuracy. I’d definitely make some mistakes. I don’t even really think at this point when entering this number on my phone.”
“Did you really even enter pi just now?”
“Yeah, I did. I can do it again but go slower if you want.”
“Yeah, please do.”
I did it again at a quarter the speed, a very leisurely pace.
When the phone unlocked she removed the knife from my throat and clapped and exclaimed, “Ohhhh! So you weren’t lying. It’s kind of cool how fast you can enter it.”
“Is it? Don't you think it’s a pointless little gimmick?”
“Well, it is, but somehow it’s interesting to watch. You have me entertained.”
“Aren’t you a bit too easy to entertain for an assassin? By the way, is it alright for you to not keep that knife to my throat?”
“Ah! Sorry, sorry. We keep getting distracted.” She pressed the knife up against my neck again.
“Pass me your phone again. I want to get in myself.”
“Sure.”
I locked it and handed it back over to her.
She sat down on the counter and had me do the same.
With one hand she tried entering the passcode again while casually holding the knife against my throat. It felt like a rather comical scene.
She failed five more times and looked at me with a troubled expression, ‘Why can’t I do it? Why is it so hard to enter this stupid number accurately?’ That was what her eyes conveyed?
I sighed and took the phone back from her. I unlocked it on the sixth attempt to avoid the time gate for the next failed attempt. When I handed it back to her, she smiled and took another crack at it.
On her fourteenth attempt, she finally entered it correctly.
“Yes! I finally did it.”
“Oh! Good job, good job.” I instinctively congratulated her, forgetting about the knife at my throat.
“Heheh, thanks.” She smiled happily and rubbed the back of her head embarrassedly when she suddenly froze up.
“What the hell am I doing getting all chummy with you? Ah, not good, I got caught up in your pace.”
“I thought we were starting to get along pretty well though.”
“Are you trying to make me develop Lima Syndrome or something?”
“Not at all, if you felt anything positive toward me that’s definitely not my intention. I don’t need more troublesome women in my life. I’ve already got my hands full.”
“Oh, you wouldn’t want me? How cruel~ and here I am coming onto you so hard~”
She leaned her body against me. If it wasn’t for the knife at my neck, I might completely forget the sort of situation I was in.
These past two new characters have been extremely annoying
well, I like the characters, besides that this one opened the door of genetic modifications
Characters may start off annoying but they grow on you with time as you get to know more about them as relationships develop/deepen and you find out more about their story. Besides, if every character was immediately likeable to everyone, all characters would just be the same and there would be no variety. Variety is the spice of life and what makes life interesting. And in life there are going to be people that just annoy the living f*ck out of you and there's nothing you can really do about it. Real life isn't like the internet where you can just block someone and not have to hear from them again. Unless you want to plug your ears and scream "lalalalala I can't hear you."
What makes a story interesting is its ability to evoke all sorts of different emotions in the reader, not just positive ones. Annoyance is just one of those many emotions. Of course as with everything in life, it needs to be done in moderation and balanced.
Speaking of annoying characters, there's one that really gives me a headache.
Agreed.
Rosa - Fine
Alicia - Super fine.
Irene - Bit of a stretch, but still passable.
These two whores? - Kill me please.
@Kurumi69 Two?
It will be that you are not in the official discord but if I remember correctly irene is the most beloved character
@Ehitogami This one and Miss Angel of Death.
@Templary discord link please?
@Kurumi69 https://discord.gg/uvNzGgc
@Templary Irene is actually winning in the most recent ScribbleHub poll. Rosa’s ahead in Discord.
@Templary @KiraMinoru It's not that I hate Irene. It's just that when considering their relationships, which one is weirder? Dating with your girlfriend's best friend, or dating with said best friend's mother? That's why I said it's a bit of a stretch.
@KiraMinoru I like them being annoying
To annoy the mc but later gets drag in Mc's phase kinda makes it funny
In real life though people that “annoy the living f*ck out of you” don’t end up in a relationship with you. Dealing with such people definitely doesn’t mean f*cking them or becoming involved long term. Moreover there’s a lot of different types of people and personalities that could be “immediately likeable”. It’s not like “immediately likeable” is merely a single personality type between people who are essentially the same.
So I don’t really follow through with your reasoning for Angela and this last wacko being necessary. Hopefully they become more bearable and don’t mess up or slow down the relationship the main characters already have going. Ran and Rosa are way behind on sealing the deal and she doesn’t even have her anti aging contract yet like the other gals.
Personally I don’t find annoyance in the reader (myself) to be something of particular interest, especially when it’s drawn out by such characters being repeatedly tossed in or kept around for the long haul. Nor are all emotions truly worth drawing out among the negative ones. Like genuine disgust for one (not the case here), like a really cruel and vile NTR scene or something. Some level of emotions just lose readers.
If there’s a character that bothers you the author and gives you a headache then why would you even write them into existence?
@Arrastra7 Well, I imagine it's because of the emotions that they arouse, you don't realize that when you become a reader, a real one, that reads everything and everything... everything is boring and there isn't much that arouses emotions