Divine Milking System

I stepped forward without thinking and pulled Naomi into a hug.

Her body went rigid for half a second. Then she collapsed into me. Face against my chest. Arms wrapping around my back. Fingers gripping the blazer like I might disappear if she let go.

She didn’t cry. Not really. But her breathing came uneven. Shaky. The kind that comes right before tears decide whether they’re worth making an appearance.

"Call your mom," I said into her hair.

She shook her head against my chest.

"I can’t. Not here. Not with everyone."

"Then we’ll find somewhere quiet."

Belle watched this happen. Her amber eyes tracking the interaction with the same intensity she used for everything else. Jordan had already wandered off toward the exit, probably to find somewhere horizontal to exist for the next four hours.

Misato’s phone buzzed. She glanced at it. Her entire face went carefully blank.

Blair.

Had to be Blair.

Misato looked at me. Then at Naomi still pressed against my uniform. Then back at her phone.

"I have to go."

"Yeah."

"Results are final. Official posting goes live in the app in ten minutes with full breakdowns."

"Got it."

She walked away fast. Not quite running but close enough that other students moved out of her path automatically.

Belle stepped closer. Lowered her voice.

"You’re being nice to her."

"She needs it."

"You fucked me last night."

"I know."

"Then fucked her the night before."

"Also aware."

"But you’re being nice to her specifically."

I looked at Belle. She looked back. Her face showed nothing but her eyes were doing complicated math.

"Belle."

"What."

"Not now."

She studied me for another second. Then nodded once.

"Fine. But we’re talking about this later."

"After Aurora."

"After Aurora," she agreed.

Belle left. Her blue hair caught the sunlight as she navigated through the crowd. Multiple guys tracked her movement. She ignored all of them.

Naomi hadn’t moved. Still pressed against me like I was the only solid thing in a room full of shifting ground.

The amphitheater started emptying. Houses filing out in their color-coded clusters. The guild kids loud and confident. The lottery section quieter. More careful.

"Come on," I said.

Naomi pulled back slightly. Looked up at me. Her pink eyes were wet but no tears had actually fallen.

"Where?"

"Somewhere you can call your family without half the school listening."

"Okay."

I took her hand. She let me. Her fingers laced through mine automatically and we walked toward the exit together.

Some girl from Ruby house watched us pass. Whispered to her friend. They both giggled.

I ignored them. Naomi’s grip tightened slightly. She’d heard it too.

We left the amphitheater and I pulled out my phone. Opened the campus map. Found a spot that looked quiet and far from everywhere important.

The meditation gardens near Zone Four. Nobody went there except third years who needed to pretend they were spiritual instead of just stressed.

Ten minute walk. Maybe twelve with how slow Naomi was moving.

Her buff had worn off yesterday. The Silver essence I’d given her was gone. She was operating on normal stats now. Normal tired. Normal sore. Normal everything.

And she’d just found out she ranked seventy-eight out of two hundred fifty.

Her parents were fishermen who worked sixteen hour days. Her brothers were thirteen and ten. She sent them two grand every month out of her stipend. She was here to change their lives.

And she’d just proven she could actually do it.

We reached the gardens. Stone pathways. Carefully trimmed bushes. Benches positioned for ocean views. One couple making out near a fountain but they saw us coming and left quickly.

Privacy.

Naomi sat on a bench facing the water. I sat beside her. Not touching. Just close.

"I can’t believe it," she said quietly.

"Believe it."

"Seventy-eight. That’s. That’s better than half the school."

"You earned it."

"I had help."

"You fired the shots. You held the formation. You cleared sixteen Crawlers yourself."

She looked at her hands. Turned them over. Examined her palms like they belonged to someone else.

"Captain Cross sponsored me. He told my parents I had potential. He told me I could make real money if I survived three years."

"You’re surviving."

"I killed things yesterday." Her voice dropped even lower. "Real things. Living things."

"They were trying to kill you first."

"I know."

She went quiet. The ocean made its ocean sounds. Waves hitting rocks. Seagulls screaming about nothing.

"Call your mom," I said again.

Naomi pulled out her phone. Stared at it. Her thumb hovered over her mother’s contact.

"What if they’re working? What if I’m interrupting?"

"They’ll want to hear this."

"What if they think I’m calling because something bad happened?"

"Naomi."

She looked at me.

"Call your mom."

She pressed the button. Put it on speaker. Her hands shook slightly.

Three rings. Four.

Then a woman’s voice came through. Warm. Slightly rough around the edges like someone who spent decades breathing salt air.

"Naomi? Baby? What’s wrong?"

"Nothing’s wrong, Mama."

"You never call this early unless something’s wrong."

Naomi smiled. Small. Real.

"I got my ranking."

Silence on the other end. Then footsteps. Movement. A door closing.

"Sam! Samuel! Get in here right now!"

A man’s voice in the background. Deep. Confused.

"What happened?"

"It’s Naomi. She has news."

"I’m here," her father said. Slightly breathless like he’d been running. "I’m here, sweetheart. What is it?"

Naomi’s voice cracked.

"I ranked seventy-eight out of two hundred fifty."

More silence. Long enough that I thought the connection had dropped.

Then her mother made a sound. High and sharp. Joy or shock or both at the same time.

"You what?"

"Seventy-eight. Top hundred. We cleared an E-rank gate yesterday. Got an A-rank evaluation. My squad is seventh overall but we had the best performance rating and I. I did it. I actually did it."

Her father said something that might have been words but came out garbled. Then he cleared his throat.

"That’s my girl. That’s my girl right there."