Beast Gacha System: All Mine-Chapter 130: His Secrets

DING!

A chime sounded directly in Cecilia’s mind, the System’s interface superimposing itself over the chaotic, noisy backdrop of the Athenaeum’s great hall. Text boxes, gleaming with a polished sheen, scrolled into her vision.

[You’ve met Bully!Eastiel Rank 1, the school’s heartthrob!]

[Unlock rewards by acquiring scenario copies in the banner and completing tasks!]

A list unfurled, each line item appearing with a satisfying blip.

[Reward Rank 2]

- [5 Stars Outfit: Bully!Eastiel’s School Uniform]

Disguise him as a normal school boy, and +50% AGI

- [Task: Make him kiss you!]

[Reward Rank 3]

- [5 Stars Weapon: Bully!Eastiel’s Brass Knuckle]

+50% ATK

- [Task: Make him confess to you!]

[Reward Rank 4]

- [5 Stars Artifact: Bully!Eastiel’s Woven String Bracelet]

+50% CritDMG

- [Task: Make him claim you in front of everyone!]

[Reward Rank 5]

- [5 Stars Artifact: Bully!Eastiel’s Metal Neck Cuffs]

+50% CritRate

- [Task: Make love with him!]

[Reward Rank 6]

- [5 Stars Skill Orb: Blacksmith]

Grant him enchanted blacksmithing skills!

- [Task: Uncover his secret!]

[Reward Rank 7]

- [5 Stars Skill Orb: Leathersmith]

Grant him enchanted leathersmithing skills!

- [Task: Make him remember the life outside of this scenario!]

A final, bolded notice appeared at the bottom.

[You will be returned to your world after you complete the tasks, and no time will pass outside of the scenario.]

[You can gain Love Points and double the Affinity Levels in this scenario.]

[You can roll the banners in this scenario.]

[Good luck, and have fun!]

Cecilia’s eyes, which had been scanning the absurd objectives, narrowed. Her internal voice was dry. "Hmm, so, failing would just make me stuck in here? In this... teenage drama simulation?"

DING!

[Correct!]

Cecilia chuckled softly to herself, the sound lost in the din of the hall. The System’s priorities were, as always, transparently ridiculous. She focused inward. First of all, "How old are we in this... narrative?"

[You are a senior!]

So... around eighteen. Well, that was fine. Manageable.

Her attention snapped back to the scene. The younger, sharper Eastiel was already herding his pack.

"Let’s go to class, shitheads. Yo daddy said he’ll cut off your allowance if you get another F," he said, his voice a lazy drawl that carried absolute authority.

He grasped the cuff of the boy who had snatched her book, yanking him along. The group erupted in protests and rough laughter, but they fell in step behind him without real resistance, a pride of young lions following their golden-maned leader.

When... did Eastiel start to fall for her?

The question bloomed in Cecilia’s mind as she sat alone at the long table, the noise of the departing students fading into a buzz. Not this scenario’s Eastiel, but her Eastiel. In the real world.

A wave of nostalgia washed over her, momentarily drowning out the narrative.

She was fifteen again, not in a magical academy, but in the hushed, dust-moted silence of the capital’s great library tower. She’d been perched on a rolling ladder, absorbed in a massive, leather-bound tome on the structural engineering of ancient aqueducts, her fingers tracing the intricate diagrams.

She hadn’t heard him approach. She’d only felt a presence, a focused stillness behind her. Thinking he was waiting for the shelf, she’d shifted sideways on the ladder, ready to make room.

But he hadn’t been looking at the books. His golden eyes, so intense even then, were fixed on her. Dazed.

"Excuse me?" she’d asked, her voice echoing slightly in the quiet.

He’d blinked, the spell broken. A flicker of something crossed his features. Annoyance? Embarrassment?

"Empire’s students learn engineering too?"

She’d tilted her head, genuinely confused. "Huh?"

He’d scoffed and turned on his heel to leave. But not without tossing a final, mocking word over his shoulder.

"Tryhard."

Now, a decade later and trapped in a gacha-game high school, remembering it all, she could swear that the boy’s fluffy lion ears had been tinged red under the gold, and his tail was shaking as he’d stalked away from her ladder.

A boy in a library, struck dumb by a girl with her nose in a book about aqueducts, who could only respond with a clumsy insult.

"Hey."

The voice cut through her reminiscence. Cecilia raised her head from the memory of a blushing, teenage lion in a library.

Bully!Eastiel stood a few feet away, having doubled back. His pack lingered by the arched doorway, snickering. He’d noticed her still planted on the bench. His golden eyes narrowed, scanned her.

"Finally breaking your perfect attendance streak, nerd?" he drawled, sauntering a step closer. He hooked his thumbs into his pockets. "I can skip too, you know. Got better things to do than listen to Ialdi drone on about dead languages."

A smirk tugged at his lips. "Want me to show you the fun?"

From the doorway, the boys he herded erupted in a chorus of whoops and barks, their noise echoing in the vaulted space, hyping him up.

Cecilia wanted to laugh. The bravado was so transparent, the attempt to impress so... juvenile. Compared to the layered, tortured intensity of the man she knew, this version was almost refreshing in his straightforward posturing.

She let a slow smile spread across her face, meeting his stare warmly. "Sure," she said, her voice gentle. "Show me the fun."

"Hmph, playing hard to ge—"

The effect was instantaneous.

All the smug confidence drained from the young man’s face. He froze, statue-still. His jaw went slightly slack. His eyes, wide, locked onto hers.

He’d thrown out a line. A lazy, teasing dare, a way to assert dominance and maybe, maybe, see her flustered. He’d fully expected a huff, a blush, a hurried gathering of books and a retreat to class.

He had never anticipated her calling his bluff. And so cleanly. And with that smile.

"H-huh?"

The syllable was punched out of him.

Cecilia had to physically bite the inside of her cheek to stop the laughter from bubbling out.

The school’s heartthrob, the untouchable bully... had just been reduced to a stammering, frozen boy. And look at that—those human ears, visible with his shorter hair, were turning an unmistakable shade of crimson.