Your Girlfriend Calls Me Daddy-Chapter 97 - 98 | New Type of Hardcore Sparring

Professor Reeves’ class was in Building A, third floor, same room as always. The walk there involved passing approximately forty students who all suddenly found my neck fascinating. News traveled fast in this school. Faster when it involved visible evidence that someone had been doing something other than studying.

I took my usual seat near the back. Mera settled next to me, looking entirely too pleased with herself. Cheon sat three rows ahead with perfect posture and zero acknowledgment that we’d spent the last twelve hours doing things the academy handbook definitely didn’t cover.

Nolan walked in with Aurora. They headed for the table I was at. Great. Aurora gave me one of those warm smiles that probably made Nolan’s brain short-circuit on a regular basis. Nolan just looked friendly and earnest, which was somehow worse.

"Mind if we join?" Aurora asked.

"Go ahead."

They sat. Nolan across from me, Aurora next to him. Then Noel walked in, saw the seating arrangement, and her face did something complicated. She looked at the other tables, all filling up fast, then back at ours.

"This the only spot left?"

"Looks like it, Short Stack."

Her jaw tightened. She sat down with her portfolio case and didn’t look at me.

Reeves walked to the front of the class and dropped her tablet on the desk with a thud that got everyone’s attention immediately.

"Good morning. Today we’re discussing incident response protocols and why most of you will ignore them the second real pressure hits. Open your case files to the Westbrook Mall scenario from last month. Someone read the brief out loud."

One of the students near the front started reading. Something about a three-villain coordinated attack during peak shopping hours. Seventeen injuries. Millions in property damage. I tuned out the details and focused on rubbing my neck where one of Mera’s bite marks was particularly noticeable.

That’s when Nolan leaned forward.

"Hey, you okay? Those look pretty bad."

I dropped my hand. "I’m fine."

"Looks like you got attacked by something."

"Training."

His eyes went wide. "Training? What kind of training leaves marks like that?"

"New type. Hardcore sparring."

He pulled out his notebook. Actual paper notebook. The guy took physical notes like it was still 2015.

"What kind of regiment are you running? Those look like impact bruising along the trapezius, but the coloring suggests—"

"It’s custom."

"Can you walk me through it? I’ve been trying to optimize my own routine but I keep plateauing on the upper body endurance threshold."

Aurora leaned over to look at my neck. Her green eyes tracked the marks with way too much focus. Then she met my gaze and her cheeks went pink.

She knew.

Noel was staring too, but her expression wasn’t curiosity. It was something closer to recognition mixed with disbelief. She’d read enough romance manga to know exactly what hickeys looked like.

"Who were you training with?" Noel asked. Her voice came out flat.

I looked at Aurora. Held her gaze for a second too long. Then turned back to Noel.

"Don’t you know, Noel? Me and you used to train all the time together. You were very enthusiastic about it too."

Her face went white, then red, then white again. "I have never trained with you."

"Memory’s fuzzy? We spent hours together working on technique."

"That never happened."

"You sure? Because I remember you being really into it."

Aurora made a small choking sound. Nolan looked between us, completely lost.

"When did you two train together?"

"We didn’t," Noel snapped.

"She’s being modest."

"I am being accurate."

Mera leaned over from the other side of the table. "He’s messing with you, Stark. Those are from actual sparring. Very close-quarters combat."

The way she said it made Aurora hide her face behind her hand. Nolan still looked confused but he was nodding along like this made perfect sense.

"Close-quarters would explain the concentration on the neck and shoulders. What techniques were you working on specifically?"

"Grappling."

"Ground work or standing?"

"Both."

"Submission holds?"

Mera snorted. I kicked her under the table.

"Yeah. Lots of submissions."

Nolan wrote that down. "And your partner was experienced with the style?"

"Very experienced."

"Do you think they’d be willing to do a demonstration? I’ve been trying to improve my ground game but most of the training videos online are garbage."

Reeves’ voice cut through the conversation. "D’Angelo. Traore. Are we interrupting your private discussion?"

"No ma’am."

"Excellent. Then perhaps you can explain to the class why the responding hero team at Westbrook failed to establish a perimeter before engaging?"

I hadn’t read the case file. Hadn’t even opened it.

"They saw civilians in danger and went straight for the save instead of controlling the environment first."

"Correct. And why is that a problem?"

"Because the villains had backup they didn’t know about. The second wave came through the unguarded exits and flanked them."

She looked mildly impressed. "Someone did the reading."

I hadn’t. But I’d seen enough hero incidents go sideways to know the pattern. Emotional response beats tactical planning every time. Gets people killed.

Reeves moved on to the next part of the lesson. Something about resource allocation during mass casualty events. Nolan went back to his notes. Aurora was still looking at my neck but trying not to be obvious about it. Noel had her arms crossed and her portfolio open, but she wasn’t reading anything on the page.

"You really got those from training?" she asked quietly.

"That’s what I said."

"I don’t believe you."

"Don’t have to."

"Were you training with Mera?"

"Among others."

Her grey eyes narrowed. "Others."

"Team bonding exercise."

"That’s not what team bonding means."

"Sure it is. We’re much more coordinated now."

Aurora leaned forward. Her voice was soft but there was something else underneath it. Curiosity maybe. "How many people were involved in this training?"

"Enough to be effective."

"That’s not an answer."

"No, it’s not."

Nolan looked up from his notes. "If you’re running group drills, I’d be interested in joining. The more bodies you have for scenario work, the better the simulation quality."

Mera buried her face in her arms to muffle the laugh. Her shoulders shook.

"I don’t think that’s the kind of training you want, Nolan."

"Why not? I’m always looking to improve."

"It’s very specialized."

"I can adapt."

Aurora put her hand on his arm. "I don’t think he means combat training."

"Then what kind of—" He stopped. His face went through several expressions in rapid succession. Understanding hit last. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"Oh."

"We good?"

"I think I’m just going to focus on my notes now."

He went back to writing. His ears were red. Aurora was biting her lip, trying not to smile. Noel looked like she wanted to throw her portfolio at my face.

Reeves called on someone else to analyze the next section. The class dragged on. I spent most of it watching the clock and thinking about tomorrow’s Battle Trials. Station rotations. Team coordination. Whether Noel was going to murder me before or after we placed top three.

When the bell finally rang, Nolan packed up his stuff fast. Aurora touched my shoulder as she passed.

"Just so you know," she said quietly, "hickeys fade faster if you ice them."

"Appreciate the tip."

"Also, you might want to invest in higher collars."

She walked out with Nolan. He was asking her something about perimeter establishment protocols. She was nodding along but her eyes kept sliding back toward me before she forced them forward again.

Interesting.

Noel stood up and shoved her portfolio into her bag with more force than necessary. "We have team review in an hour. Conference room 2-B. Don’t be late."

"Wouldn’t dream of it."

"And if you show up covered in new marks, I’m requesting a team transfer."

"You’d miss me too much."

"I would celebrate."

She left. Mera waited until the door closed behind her before turning to me with the biggest grin I’d seen all day.

"You’re evil."

"I’m efficient."

"You made Nolan think you’re running some kind of underground fight club."

"He made that assumption himself."

"And Aurora knows exactly what you’ve been doing."

"She’s smart."

"You think she’s gonna say anything?"

"To who? Nolan? That would require explaining how she knows what hickeys look like."

"Fair point."

We walked out of the classroom together. The hallway was packed with students moving between periods. I spotted Cheon near the stairs, talking to another class rep type. She saw me, held my gaze for exactly two seconds, then looked away like we were strangers.

Professional.

My phone buzzed. Text from Noel.

One hour. Conference room. Bring actual strategy notes this time.

I sent back a thumbs up emoji. She replied with a middle finger emoji. Progress.

"You really think you can win tomorrow?" Mera asked.

"Yeah."

"Based on what?"

"We ran clean drills this morning. Noel’s stopped micromanaging. Usagi’s gaining confidence. I can stretch my limbs in ways that break most combat expectations. We’ve got this."

"And if you don’t?"

"Then I’m fifty-eighth in the rankings and one step closer to getting disinherited by a father who already doesn’t like me."

"Motivating."

"I’m very motivated."

We split up at Building C. She had Combat Drills. I had a free period I was supposed to use for independent study. What I actually did was head to an empty classroom and pull up the quest log.

MAIN QUEST: HAREM LORD

Time Remaining: 696 days

Current Progress: 2/7 Heroines

ACTIVE QUEST: ORCHESTRA OF ANIMOSITY

Objective: Achieve total victory in Battle Trials

Reward: Platinum Gacha Ticket, Team Synergy Unlock

Time Remaining: 23 hours, 14 minutes

Twenty-three hours. One day. Tomorrow afternoon we’d be in the arena with every first-year watching. Scouts in the stands. Rankings on the line.

No pressure.

I closed the log and opened the status screen instead.

ABILITIES:

Essence Drain [SS]

Liminal Step [B+, degrading]

Gravity Jail [2-Star]

Fuego [2-Star]

Rubber Body [3-Star]

This was my life now. Superhero student by day. Harem protagonist by necessity. Walking scandal waiting to explode.

Could be worse.

I could be Nolan, still thinking those marks came from actual training.