The next morning, before leaving for school, "Mmm... mmm... mmm," Dylan knelt again, surrounded by Ellie, Maya, Lena, and Amy, then pressed his face to their stomachs one after the other. After that,
"Hey... why do I have to do this?" Dylan asked.
"You should at least say goodbye to your babies before you go, Daddy," Lena replied with a satisfied smile.
"Haaah... but we all go to the same school... the same class, even," Dylan countered as he stood up.
"It's practice. We graduate in two and a half weeks, and we'll be on break in ten days. After that, we'll all be working in our own places. You always say goodbye to the babies before leaving, right? So we're practicing now," Maya added.
"Exactly. Even though I'll be staying home later, I already ordered a laptop online. It'll be delivered in a few days, and I can start working from home," Amy said.
"Same here. My website's backdoor is getting too slow to open on a smartphone. I need a laptop, and I ordered one too," Ellie added.
"When did you guys order them?" Dylan asked.
"Last night, after you fell asleep," Ellie answered.
"That's right," Amy added with a straight face.
"Come on, let's go, or we'll be late. Aaron and Clara already left with Fiona and Iris," Ellie urged.
They walked out the door and gate. As they walked, Dylan suddenly turned to walk backward, watching the four girls walking behind him.
"Hey... the four of you skip P.E. today. You're pregnant; I don't want anything to happen to you," Dylan said, worried.
"Hehe... I know, babe. You worry too much," Lena replied, smiling.
"Yeah, but I'm glad you care," Ellie added, smiling.
"Don't worry. I didn't plan on going in the first place, so relax," Amy added, giving a faint smile with slightly pink cheeks.
"Thanks, babe, I'm really happy you're so thoughtful. I already told my friends I wasn't feeling well so I'm skipping P.E.," Maya added, smiling.
"Thanks, guys," Dylan replied, smiling.
Dylan turned back and walked normally. Meanwhile, Lena, Ellie, Amy, and Maya stared at Dylan's back, all smiling to themselves with visible hearts in their eyes, and their breathing started to quicken. Not long after, they arrived at school. Just as Dylan stepped inside the gate, "Bwoooong," a hologram screen appeared in front of Dylan.
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Quest: Help a junior student who was taken to the sports storage room for blackmail.
Target: A teacher named Brandon Doyle.
Location: Unused sports storage room behind the gym building.
Time: P.E. class.
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Rec skill: 1000 Face, search area, ray vision, invisibility.
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Reward:
- $5,000
- 330 skill xp
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Auto quest mode? [yes] [no] [Activated at 00:00:02:00]
==================================================
"Hmm? Something like this is happening at my school?" Dylan asked in his head.
[Of course, sir. It just happened.]
"Brandon Doyle? I don't know that teacher. Is he new?" Dylan asked.
[That's right, sir. He only started this week.]
"So who's the junior he's blackmailing?" Dylan asked.
[Her name is Heather.]
"Okay... open workspace interface," Dylan said.
"Bwoooong," a screen like a holographic computer monitor and its keyboard appeared in front of Dylan's face using his hacking skill.
He immediately started typing to breach the school's database program, which was part of the same foundation nationwide. He pulled up the data on a teacher named Brandon Doyle and automatically sorted for the name Heather, since there were quite a few, to find the one connected to the quest. While the sorting was still running, he studied Brandon's profile.
"Hmm... fired twice from public schools... transferred once to a private school... and finally to our school... the reason for his firing was covered up by the school administration to protect the school's reputation... let's dig deeper," Dylan muttered in his head.
Dylan tried to find more data on Brandon by breaching various sources like police databases, the district attorney's office, civil records for background checks, and so on. "Bwoooong," a new data screen appeared on a new hologram display. Dylan read it immediately and smiled.
"Ha! So he was reported to the police once by a student's parent on suspicion of raping their child, but there wasn't enough evidence. And there was also a report of a threat from a teenager at another school, but it wasn't followed up on... interesting," Dylan thought.
"Bwoooong," another screen appeared to Dylan's right. He glanced at it and saw the profile of student Heather Nash: 10th grade, frequently absent, from a broken home, lives with her aunt and uncle, has good grades, and is often late paying tuition. From her data, Dylan immediately understood that Heather was in "survival mode" just like he was. He then saved all the data into CATS's internal database.
"Alright, just need to send an email later. Why doesn't our school check a teacher's background before hiring them?" Dylan muttered in his head.
[If the school checked, they wouldn't need us, sir.]
"Hmm... you've got a point. This is just a windfall for me, more money, hehe," Dylan said.
[Absolutely right, sir.]
***
Meanwhile, Ellie, who saw Dylan looking deep in thought and occasionally laughing while walking in front of her, slowed her pace. Lena, Amy, and Maya, walking next to her, followed suit and looked at Ellie.
"What is it, Ellie?" Maya asked.
"Um... he seems happy, right? Am I seeing things?" Ellie asked, pointing at Dylan in front of them.
Lena, Amy, and Maya immediately turned to watch Dylan, who seemed to be thinking and laughing as if imagining something.
"Yeah, he does... is he happy because he's going to be a dad soon?" Maya asked.
"Really? Is he happy?" Amy asked, curious.
"Hmm... based on his behavior, it seems so... he's been more open with us since yesterday. He even started sleeping in the room last night, whether it's because he wants to be close to us or he feels awkward around Clara," Lena added, contemplating.
"Whatever the reason, he's a little more mature now than before. I like that," Ellie added, smiling.
"You're right, Ellie. Honestly, I still feel guilty for trapping him, but when I told him after we got back from the restaurant interview, he said he would take care of me and all of us without making a big deal out of it. I was so happy to hear that," Maya added.
"He remembered his promise to us from before," Amy added.
"Wait... you guys told him about that old promise?" Lena asked, shocked.
"No... he said it himself. Remember when Maya's grandfather passed away and we knew we might not see each other again? When we said goodbye, he said, 'You don't have to be scared because I'll always protect you and be by your side.' And yesterday he said the exact same thing," Ellie answered.
"Yeah... I heard it too. That's why I finally told him everything," Amy said.
"Seriously? Oh my god... I'm suddenly feeling hot... I'm falling even more in love with him," Lena replied.
"Thank goodness... I thought he'd forgotten. Now we have to protect him and... get rid of any flies buzzing around him because he's totally changed now," Maya replied.
"Yep, that's for sure. We'll crush every fly that comes near," Ellie added with enthusiasm, pumping her fist.
"Agreed. Dylan belongs to the four of us. No other girl is allowed to get close," Lena said.
"Shh... don't say girl, say fly," Amy countered.
"Oh, right... hahaha... my bad. Does that include your cousin Clara, Amy?" Lena replied.
"Of course. If she turns into a fly, I'll take care of her," Amy answered with a straight face.
All four of them stared at Dylan's back with aggression, plus the heart symbols that appeared in their eyes. Their breathing was quickening, and it was clear they had marked Dylan as their property, completely unaware of what Dylan was actually thinking.