Love Collector Ch. 11

Chapter early today because I'm doing so well on this that I'm ahead of schedule.

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Oliver couldn't think of another time he'd been so excited to clock in because today it meant spending a whole day with Mia. He made it back to the lounge with her, she stashed her jacket on a rack, and they donned their aprons together. Still feeling his massive surge in confidence and ready to step out of his bubble, Oliver commented on the pins she put on today. They were random villains out of three different shounen series, the only commonality between the characters being that they were very sexy, had a lot of fangirls, and were the rough and wild type.

Sharp teeth seemed to be a plus in Mia's book, too.

Mia owned up to it immediately when pressed and was not ashamed, which Oliver found funny and appreciated even if he was jokingly worried about catching her eye compared to all those 2D bad boys.

They clocked in together and joined the circle forming in the middle of the lounge where everyone was waiting for Tessa to show up and bark her orders as per usual. Stacy stood directly across from them, and Oliver caught her looking up from her phone to raise a brow at them both. He couldn't put it into words, but it felt awkward in a different way than usual. She looked mildly amused while shooting Mia a smirk, which Mia rolled her eyes at and promptly ignored.

Oliver still couldn't fathom how his newfound powers worked the way that they did.

Mia and Stacy were both heroines, but what did that mean? Was this an either/or situation like a visual novel, and he was supposed to pick one of them? If that was the case, then there wasn't an easier choice in the world, but he suspected things weren't so simple.

All the weird stuff happening to Oliver directly correlated to his desire to live in a sandbox-style dating sim world. In nearly all his favorite games, the protagonist was not limited to a single love interest and was often incentivized to cast a net as wide as the ocean. Sometimes the protagonist had to convince them to share after being outed as a two-timer with the potential of failure, while in other, typically more fantasy-inspired settings, harems were just the societal norm, and he was allowed to just act as a blatant manslut with no fear of consequences.

Hand-waving the issue like that was every lewd writer's favorite trick in the book, and Oliver couldn't fault them for that.

But for the games where it wasn't the norm and where incentives were provided for the protagonist to slut himself out, Oliver was afraid he already had his answer. LP. He didn't know what it was used for, but it had to be something along the lines of a reward to push him into interacting with heroines, right?

If his assumption was correct, he might have a skill or perk system to look forward to since points were meaningless without something to spend them on, but... it was ridiculous to even entertain the thought. On top of having already latched onto Mia and Oliver just plain not being interested in anyone beyond her, least of all Stacy, polygamy flat out wasn't tolerated in America if you didn't live in Utah. Polyamory in its 'open relationship' form was somewhat on the rise, but even that had an enormous cultural stigma to it.

Then again, Oliver was still in the habit of applying real-world logic to his unbelievable circumstances. He wasn't living in the 'real world' anymore. That notion was thrown out the window the moment his car skipped the morning rush by warping across town.

He briefly thought back to when he first opened his eyes earlier that morning and sleepily swatted the text box he'd seen, thinking it was a dream. Oliver tried not to mentally beat himself up over that, but it was hard not to while knowing in retrospect that that notification was probably his tutorial or introduction to... all this.

Hard as it would be to adjust his way of thinking, all signs pointed to the world no longer being as it once was. Oliver had to mentally prepare himself for the fact that absolutely anything could happen to him from here on out, no matter how strange. Granted, Oliver was pretty sure he'd already seen the worst of it. After the universe strongly implied he should hit on Stacy Lynn, he didn't think much else could shock him.

What Oliver didn't know was that fate was always on the clock, and it had a cruel sense of humor. It was a balancing force, a cosmic law which punished every complacent idiot that dared think such careless thoughts as 'well, at least it can't get any worse' or 'now I've seen everything'. It's best to remember that you have not and never will have seen everything. Fate ensures it.

Tessa barged into the lounge. She was less pissed-looking than she was on Valentine's Day, but that wasn't saying much. Everyone turned to face her and stopped chatting, ready for the daily lashing.

An actual lashing would've been preferable to Oliver if he was wise enough to predict what was coming, but instead, he was subjected to another sudden shift in the background music of his life.

Wait, what? He thought while he stared at his boss, his entire body starting to tremble as he processed what was happening. No fucking way.

No, no, no. Stacy, I could maybe understand, what with the whole 'redeemed bully' trope present in so many dating sims, but this...?

This can't fucking be happening...

And yet it was.

Tessa's theme was an understated piece of moody, soft, and somber piano music. The notes were slow and arduous, each coming at him with melancholic purpose. Her music swallowed and permeated her surroundings in a way that Stacy's and Mia's simply didn't, as powerful as it was commanding. The mental image it brought to mind was that of a woman burning away the midnight hours as she sat alone at a high-class hole-in-the-wall. All this woman had to keep her company was a disinterested bartender, the bottom of her bottle, and a lifetime's worth of regrets.

Tessa was about to make her daily speech, but then she noticed Oliver staring at her and sweating like crazy. Her eyebrows tensed as she called him out in front of all his coworkers. "Christ. The fuck's wrong with you?"

--- New Heroine Encountered! Tessa Robinson

+100 LP ---

--- Graphic Goes Here ---

"...Just one of those days, boss. There's a lot of my mind."

And boy was there.

Tessa's affection was so unfathomably low that it completely altered his current understanding of the way the system worked. If Stacy's negative fifty affection was akin to mild dislike, then by comparison, Tessa's negative two hundred must've been seething hatred. Sure, he knew he wasn't her favorite employee, but negative two hundred?

Actually, that did kind of explain a few things... but still.

Oliver just wished he knew why Tessa felt so strongly about him. It kind of hurt, to be honest. Now, he firmly understood that seeing the way other people actually thought of him could be a double-edged sword.

Aside from the source of her hatred, the biggest question he had was how in the name of Jesus Almighty did Tessa even qualify as a heroine in the first place. Was the universe trying to tell him something here? Surely it didn't mean to imply he had a chance of hooking up with his employer, did it?

It didn't matter if she was ridiculously hot in that milf-y way men craved- Tessa absolutely terrified him, and Oliver saw no way that would be changing anytime soon.

"Yeah, I bet..." Tessa scowled at him. Given how Stacy was so quick to assume he was on drugs that morning, Oliver wondered if his boss was wondering the same thing. She was, of course. You can't live in Vista Venus without becoming familiar with the sight of someone tweaking out. Tessa was even considering calling him to her office after the meeting to ask him about it, but then she noticed the funniest thing.

Mia reached over and casually patted Oliver on his upper arm. It was subtle, but he calmed down a lot just from the brief contact. Interesting. Annoying as hell, but interesting.

Tessa never thought she'd see the day. She figured she'd let Oliver off the hook just this once but reserved the right to get on his case if whatever was going on between them became too much of a distraction.

"Well, whatever... long as you don't die while you're on the clock or sweat all over the produce, you're good." Tessa sighed as she took her gaze from Oliver and spread it across the room at large, ultimately landing her gaze on Stacy, who rolled her eyes at where this was heading. "Thanks to a certain someone who thought it was a good idea to make Valentine's Day all about her, we're shorthanded on a delivery day. Fucking-A, Stacy. Lucky number five. You just keep hitting the goddamn homers, don't you?"

"He asked if I had a mirror in my pants," Stacy shrugged with disinterest. "Worse, he thought he was being clever. Fucker's lucky I didn't do worse." Her comment inspired light chuckling from some other employees, along with a few women agreeing in Stacy's favor that Jeff was giving them bad vibes.

Tessa pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. "Granted, but what I'm really getting at is that you all need to pick up the pace while I put out some help wanted ads. Hope that's not expecting too much from you lot, but who knows? Maybe you'll surprise me."

There wasn't much else to cover, so the morning meeting went by quick. Trucks came on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Oliver and Mia were always among the associates assigned to unloading. Today was no exception, so they took off together for the back of the shop while Stacy was sent to work the register.

"I've never understood why she has it out for you," Mia thought aloud on their way. "There was no good reason to single you out like that other than to humiliate you."

"I think you're answering your own question, there."

"Hm. You've worked here longer than I have. Sure you can't remember ever doing anything that pissed off the boss lady?"

Oliver tried, but he really couldn't come up with a single reason, no matter how hard he poured over his memories. He'd been an average employee for the last two years, and while his performance was never anything standout, he wasn't a slacker by any means.

"Nope. I think she's just like that..."

"Sad."

"A little, yeah..."

"Oh, well. Least she cut you some slack, for once."

"That was kinda surprising. Wonder what was up with that?" Oliver mused.

They reached the back with their fellow associates, only for Mia to pause in front of the door. "Better off not questioning it. Don't want her changing her mind."

"That, I don't."

"You ready?" Mia crooked her head towards the door.

"As I'll ever... be?"

--- Work Hard / Manual option ---

A new popup entered Oliver's field of vision. Like the one regarding fast travel earlier that morning, this one gave him a choice. The options were between 'Work Hard' and 'Manual' again. He froze up as he considered what he saw.

"Ollie? You still there?" Mia waved her hand in front of his face, causing him to notice she was frowning at him something fierce. She looked like she regretted her choice to stand down and let him talk her into letting him come to work today.

"Y-Yeah," Oliver snapped himself out of it, but he wasn't ready to commit to either of the options just yet. He needed a moment of privacy to think. "I, uh... I just... realized I could really use an iced coffee before we get started. Go on ahead. I'll be right back."

He turned around and sped off back to the vending machines in the employee lounge, leaving Mia feeling worried and conflicted in his wake.

"Okay, cool. Just leave me in the dust, why don't you?" Mia sighed, recognizing the obvious excuse for what it was.

It sucked seeing him so off his game like this, but Mia tried not to hold it against him. Oliver was obviously going through some shit, and a single heart-to-heart chat wasn't enough to work through it all. If he needed a moment alone, so be it. After all, they had the rest of the day to chat as they worked, and Mia was eager to start pushing for an evolution from coworkers into something more.