Gacha Harem System

"You killed him, didn’t you?"

Silence filled the air after her question.

Lukas let the silence stay that way for a full second before letting confusion move across his face in a slow, genuine-looking wave.

He tilted his head slightly. "What?"

He looked at her the way a person looked at someone who had just said something that didn’t connect to anything. "Killed who?"

Skye’s eyes moved between him and Melody, reading their faces with intensity. She’d done this before, and she knew what to look for, but she hadn’t seen it. Not yet.

Melody glanced at her husband, her expression one of mild puzzlement, while Lukas frowned slightly at her words, even more confused than she was.

Skye leaned back slightly. "Kylo," she said. "My brother. You killed him. I know it was you."

Lukas blinked, then his expression changed.

The confusion didn’t disappear. Instead, it shifted, replaced by surprise.

He straightened in his seat, and when he spoke again, his voice held a hint of disbelief.

"Kylo is dead?"

Skye said nothing, simply watching his expression and body language for any tells.

Lukas was quiet, taking her silence as a yes. Then he exhaled, and let the satisfaction he felt show on his face without apology.

"I won’t offer condolences," he said. "I’d be lying if I did. Honestly, hearing that? I feel relieved."

The temperature in the room dropped.

Skye’s eyes grew cold and dangerous. The air around her shifted, her aura pressing out against the room. Beside her, both guards went rigid, as if about to spring into action at a moment’s notice.

"Excuse me?" Her voice was very quiet.

Lukas leaned forward.

"I didn’t like Kylo." His voice was even but there was steel underneath it. "He made a point of targeting me every chance he got. Of making sure I knew exactly what he thought of people like me."

He clenched his jaw. "So tell me... why is it a crime for me to feel relieved when someone like that dies?"

"Where was this energy when Kylo was spending his free time belittling underprivileged kids at the academy? Why should I grieve for someone who wouldn’t have lost a single night of sleep over me?"

He held her gaze, his eyes showing her exactly what he thought of Kylo’s death.

"If I ever meet whoever killed him, I’d probably shake their hand. And I’m not the only one who would. There are a hundred others who’d want the same chance."

Skye made a strangled sound, rising slightly from the couch, and one of the guards stepped forward.

"Let’s not forget that we’re here about the land." Melody’s voice rang out in the air, cutting through the tension.

Her aura bloomed out of her, pressing against Skye’s. She stared at Skye directly, then briefly at Lukas, her eyes communicating everything that needed to be communicated.

"Whatever feelings exist in this room about Kylo Rivers, they don’t belong in this conversation. We came here to finalize a transaction. So did you."

Skye glared at Lukas, her eyes searching for something. The silence held for several seconds before she blinked, failing to see what she was looking for.

Then she sat back down on the couch. The dangerous edge of her aura pulled back by slowly, until it was gone entirely. She straightened the front of her dress with one gloved hand and said nothing further.

Melody nodded, before receding her aura too. "So, where were we?"

After a moment, Skye gestured to her left. One of the guards stepped forward and placed a pouch on the low table.

"That’s your hundred thousand coins. Let’s finish this."

The coins were counted, the documents were signed and the realtor was recalled, collecting his portion without making eye contact with anyone.

Skye stood.

"You have one hour to remove your belongings from the property." Her voice was cold. "After that, demolition begins. Whatever remains inside stays inside."

Melody opened her mouth to argue but Skye had already turned towards the door.

Her guards fell in behind her, and then they were gone, footsteps fading down the corridor and out into the street.

Lukas and Melody looked at each other.

They thanked the realtor, who nodded with an expression of a man who was very glad this particular morning was almost over, and walked out into the open air.

They were halfway down the street when the notification appeared.

[Congratulations! You have cleared the quest.]

[Reward: +300 Gacha Points.]

Lukas read it without breaking stride, but blinked in surprise, having forgotten about the quest entirely.

They moved through the streets without speaking, taking a route that looped through the busier sections of the market quarter.

When the foot traffic grew thicker around them and the noise of vendors and haggling rose high enough to swallow their conversation to anyone listening in, Melody spoke.

"That was close."

"My acting was good though," Lukas said, grinning.

Melody slapped him on the forearm. "Why did you provoke her like that? She was half a second from attacking us."

"That was the point." He kept his voice low, matching the ambient noise around them.

"Think about it. Kylo and I had history that everyone at the academy knew about. If I’d sat there looking nervous or evasive, she’d have walked out with her mind made up that I killed him."

"The only thing that made sense for a person with my history with Kylo was to be surprised he was dead and openly glad about it." He glanced at her. "Anything else would have been suspicious."

Melody was quiet for a moment, then she exhaled. "Fine. At least it worked." She paused. "Do our spatial rings have enough room for everything we need to take from the house?"

Lukas laughed softly. "We don’t need much. Just our clothes and personal things." He thought for a moment. "And everything in the kitchen."

"Obviously," Melody said immediately.

"Obviously," he agreed.

They turned onto the familiar lane, their house visible at the end of it, standing exactly as they had left it that morning.

And they had just one hour left with it.