After the exams, and after Arnold saw just how easy the whole thing really was.

It was already guaranteed that he would take one of the top spots, but now his status as number one in the class was no longer in doubt.

He was the son of a manager, after all, so he only had one real opponent: Anna, who of course was walking right up to him as he thought of her. Speak of the Devil, and she shall appear, his father always said...

Her reputation preceded her--exceeded her, some would say. She had the nasty habit of looking down on every single person around her, regardless of status. She saw herself as superior, and the entire world knew it.

Still, her approach was not without its benefits, not least of which to Arnold’s eyes. She was a feast to men in the visual sense; her hips bounced back and forth as if independent organisms, her breasts as if rubber bouncy balls tossed about, struggling desperately to pry themselves loose from whatever tight-fitting bra she must have had on. All girls at the school wore the same uniforms, with dark, plain blazers and simple red ties, but Anna’s chest somehow made itself wholly separate from this entire dimension of uniformity.

God, what he’d give to bed her, if not for her repugnant personality. Honestly, he imagined that if it got down to it, she’d open her legs wide the moment he asked, because that’s just the kind of girl Anna was, according to her reputation around school. From the day she turned legal at nineteen, she was all over the place. Arnold was just too dignified to give into that kind of path, or else he’d probably be just like the rest of his asshole classmates.

No, he was a nice guy, out here saving himself for Kat. Whenever she was ready, he’d be too.

And he knew he was about to be very, very ready.

Before Anna and her curvaceous curviness could curve its way over to him, Arnold turned tail and beelined straight for Kat, who stood next to the desk where she took her test.

She looked dazed, tired, and altogether not very confident. The sweat still dripped from her clothes, and he knew it must have been a runner job she just got done with. She was vulnerable, and she needed a strong man to sweep her off her feet.

Arnold smiled on the inside, and poked his elbow into her side. Then he smiled on the outside too.

“Arnold, geez,” she muttered. “Your elbows are so bony. Why don’t...” She stopped herself and tried to put on a normal face. “How did you think you did, Arnold?” She threw a smile and began to walk out of the lecture hall, into the hallway where everyone else was going for some reasons. Arnold, of course, followed her side-by-side.

“Does it even matter?” He replied with a little bit of pride. “My dad is a senior manager. Even if I just drew dicks all over the page they’d at least give me the second slot. I don’t really know why they made Anna and I take the test. Everyone knows the result.”

Arnold was just way, way too suave, and Kat was instantly absorbed into their conversation like she and her delicious body had nowhere else to ever be in this universe they called home.

“But how did you do?” Kat asked conspiratorially. “I bet you’ll get placed above your own mother. She’s a bitch, after all.”

“I agree. What a bitch. She’s nothing like you, Kat,” he said. “I wish you were my mom instead.”

“Uh... Yeah, okay.”

He knowingly grinned at her, and she was sent into a blushing mess, obviously impressed by his amazing skills at humor. She’d probably just killed some people on her most recent run, from the way she looked, but she was still reduced to a shivering mess just by his cute-ass smile.

“How about a favor if I manage to make valedictorian?” Arnold asked with a wink.

Kat’s blush intensified to meme-like levels. She could have been taken straight out of one of those popular moe animes and nobody would know the difference. “I-I don’t... Well...”

He wondered if she understood that he liked her. Girls seemed like they were usually pretty obtuse to this sort of thing, so he wasn’t sure if she got his signals.

Yeah, dating and marriage across social classes certainly happened, but it always was supposed to be initiated by the lower in status, at least that’s what his parents always told him. He had been waiting for Kat to realize his feelings for him ever since they met in their fourth year of school. Now that they were both adults, he still harbored that same affection--probably more since Kat’s body had blossomed into a scrumptious dessert the likes of which kings would feast on after defeating the opposing army and forcing an unequal treaty on a smaller nation whose exports would go entirely to the conquerors.

A favor... That’s all he was asking for. It was up to Kat to make the first move so they could finally smooch and hopefully more.

“As long as it isn’t anything gross.” She smiled back, batting her eyelashes at him, and Arnold gulped instantly. That was the kind of thing she usually did towards the other guys in class, not him. She’d dated a few guys before, and he was always there to give his shoulder for her to lean on when things inevitably went sour, but she never directed those eyelashes in his direction. Not as much as as he stared at her.

“Say, Kat?” Arnold took a half step away from her and tried to steel himself. “You looked distracted during the test. Did everything go alright on your end?”

“Yeah, the test was fine. I could outperform everyone but you and Anna on autopilot. It wasn’t a hard test.”

“I mean alright with... you know.”

“Oh, yeah... With running.” She darted her eyes around the crowded hallway to make sure nobody was eavesdropping. It wasn’t a closely guarded secret or anything, but she clearly didn’t want to blab about it all the time. That’s sort of why Arnold brought it up, though. “I’m fine. More or less. I had a run this morning and things didn’t turn out all that well. I still finished it just fine, but I ended up in a fight with some trash tier street samurai. Luckily, I got here on time and I’ll be a firm number three on the rankings.”

“Street samurai... My dad’s told me stories about those guys. I don’t want any part of that in the arcology. We’ve got to keep that shit out.”

“They weren’t players or anything. Don’t worry,” Kat said. “I can hold my own in a fight, and I can definitely outrun those clunky contractors. I’m pretty decent in a tight spot.”

“That’s what she said.” Arnold’s eyes flickered with appetite.

Kat refused to make eye contact, probably because she was so attracted to him or something. Then, she playfully elbowed him in the ribs.

Oh, what a great relationship they were going to have.

Because even though she didn’t explicitly say yes, she definitely meant yes about that favor. And that favor was the Tower of Somnus.

Soon, he was going to have her supple mounds wrestled onto his bed, and he was going to make her the most powerful street samurai in the whole arcology. They’d be an unstoppable team, and unstoppable under the sheets as well.

Anna was fast approaching them, and he immediately tuned out that entire rant with her bitching bitchiness, deciding just to focus on the plans coming up in his life.

Soon, they walked into the main auditorium, where the aptitude tests were announced in front of the whole school.

As expected...

“Arnold Jacques: You are our new valedictorian! Congratulations!”

He succeeded, just like he always did when he set his mind to it.

He went up on the stage and stared right into Kat’s eyes.

Just you wait, babe. Just you wait.