"Nicole, you're acting strange today. And coming here all by yourself... did something happen?"
Hearing Wise's slightly puzzled voice, Nicole became even more fidgety. The reason was simple: today was the final deadline for her repayment. Normally, for such a small matter, Nicole could shamelessly drag it out for a while longer. The problem was, she had already dragged out this payment again and again. And last time, she had even said that if she couldn't pay it back this time, she would use her body...
In short, this was why Nicole felt so nervous upon entering the video store. She had been worried that Wise would remember her promise. But to her surprise, after arriving, she realized he had completely forgotten about it. Was the condition she had offered so unappealing? She wasn't bad-looking!
No, now's not the time for that. What Nicole was truly afraid of was this: if she pretended not to know and didn't come to the video store today, and Wise remembered it later and used their agreement to blackmail her... Although she knew that with Wise's personality, that was highly unlikely, as a qualified deadbeat, she couldn't leave any leverage against herself.
Knowing the personality of every creditor, she decided to come here today to play the pity card again and extend the deadline.
"Um... it's about... the debt..." Nicole put on a look of someone struggling to speak, then explained how the recent unexpected events had left everyone at the Cunning Hares exhausted, both physically and mentally. The Vista case hadn't proceeded as planned, meaning they didn't get paid, and they hadn't had time to complete other commissions, so they couldn't repay the loan.
"Anyway, if you could please extend it for a few more days, I'll be grateful to you for the rest of my life!" Nicole clasped her hands together, looking at Wise with pitiful eyes.
He wasn't surprised. After all, she wouldn't have visited so early in the morning if it wasn't for something important. This explanation seemed reasonable. But the mention of the debt suddenly reminded Wise of her previous promise, and he couldn't help but tease her a bit.
"An extension is no problem, but speaking of which, didn't you promise me something last time, Nicole? Something about your body, was it?"
"Urk..." Seeing Wise's playful expression, Nicole's heart tightened, and she couldn't help but swallow. "Th-that, um, this..."
Nicole was clearly still hesitant. Just then, Wise continued. "Oh? Could it be that Nicole doesn't want to honor our agreement? Well, I wasn't really expecting you to go through with it anyway..."
What does he mean, he wasn't expecting me to do it? Does he think I don't keep my word? Uh, okay, maybe sometimes that's true, but since it's a promise, then I...
As if having made up her mind, Nicole gritted her teeth, and with a look of determination, she moved straight towards Wise. "Who says I won't do it?!"
As she spoke, Nicole pressed her lips against Wise's and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her technique, which tried to be practiced but was actually clumsy, was rather endearing.
After they separated, Nicole's face was so red it looked like blood might drip from it. She licked her lips, seemingly savoring the taste of the kiss. Her gaze towards Wise seemed to have changed. Maybe paying off a debt like this isn't such a bad deal after all?
Sensing the change in Nicole, Wise guessed it was probably because she had accidentally ingested some of his saliva.
At this point, Nicole snapped back to her senses from her bold move and showed an uncharacteristically shy expression, her eyes darting away from Wise. "S-so? I told you I'd keep my promise, didn't I?"
"Mhm, yes you did. But just this doesn't seem to be enough. At the very least, it should be..."
... (Deleted) (Specific content to be written later)
Some time later, Nicole left the first-floor room, completely drained of energy. It seemed that because she couldn't pay her debt, Wise had made her do a lot of physically demanding chores in the store, leaving her utterly exhausted.
"D-damn it! To think he'd make me suffer such a huge loss! In that case, the debt should be cleared now, right?" Nicole glared fiercely at Wise as she spoke, as if she would explode if he dared to say no.
"Alright, alright. This debt is considered paid in full."
Nicole breathed a sigh of relief. Although she had gone through... that, at least the burden of the debt was gone, which was some psychological comfort. But before she could be happy for long, Wise added another sentence.
"But don't get too happy just yet. The Cunning Hares' debt still isn't fully paid off."
"What? Didn't you just say...?!" Nicole's anger flared instantly, like a furious little rabbit. But before she could do anything, Wise grabbed her outstretched hand.
"Don't be angry yet, let me explain. I did say that the Cunning Hares have paid off this debt, but notice I said 'this time.' There have been many other times before." As he spoke, Wise pulled a stack of IOUs from a drawer with a smile. The signature on all of them was "Cunning Hares."
"See, Nicole?" After tearing up one of the IOUs in front of her, Wise noticed Nicole was now both embarrassed and indignant. What's going on? Did I really owe this much? It seems like it's been so long, I've completely forgotten how much it was.
"Nicole, I looked at the repayment dates on these IOUs, and they're all due in the next few days. But don't worry too much. Based on the price of the IOU we just settled... you'll probably just need to repeat that repayment method another ten or so times, right?"
"D-damn it!" Nicole gritted her teeth. She really wanted to slam the table and shout, I don't need that kind of repayment method! and storm out, only to come back another day and pay off all the debt at once. But that was obviously unrealistic.
So, Nicole began to hypnotize herself. Paying off the debt like this seems pretty good. It's easy and fun, and looking at Wise's face, I'm not exactly losing out. Anyway, I'll just stop after it's all paid off and never mention it again. Then I'll make Wise promise not to tell anyone, and no one will ever find out.
That's what Nicole thought. But she was clearly being a bit too naive.
[Nicole's Affection increased by 10 points. Current Affection: 90 points. Obtained 1,000 Emotional Value. Current Emotional Value: 14,000 points.] (Note: This isn't a miscalculation; the Emotional Value generated during the previous dates has been included.)
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