Your Girlfriend Calls Me Daddy

Chapter 181: 182 | The Lesson Wasn’t About Fire Fist

Not a lie. Not the whole truth either.

Noel studied me for another moment, then nodded.

"Alright. First lesson." She pointed at my hands. "Fire Fist isn’t just about coating your fists in flames. The fire mimics kinetic density. That means it can be shaped. Compressed. Directed."

"I know. Cast-Off. I can throw a flaming projectile."

"That’s the beginner application." She stepped closer. "Think about what kinetic density really means. The fire hits like a solid object. But what if you could make that object bigger? Heavier? More concentrated?"

I considered it. The flames responded to my thoughts, shifting slightly around my hands.

"Explain."

"Most emitter types treat their abilities like hoses. Point and spray. But the best ones treat them like clay. They shape the output to match the situation." She reached out and touched my wrist, just above the flames. Her fingers were cool against my heated skin. "Compress the fire into a smaller point. Increase the density without increasing the size."

I tried it.

The flames around my right hand pulled inward, shrinking from a broad coating to a tight concentration around my knuckles. The heat intensified. The glow brightened from orange to white.

"Holy shit."

"Now imagine hitting someone with that."

I looked at my hand. The compressed fire pulsed with contained force. If Fire Fist at normal density hit like a flaming brick, this would hit like a flaming sledgehammer condensed into a golf ball.

"Why didn’t the system tell me about this?"

"The system?"

Shit. Wrong thing to say.

"The instructors," I corrected. "The ability training sessions. Why didn’t anyone teach me this?"

Noel’s eyes narrowed slightly. She’d noticed the slip. But she let it go.

"Because most instructors are themselves only intermediate users. They teach the standard applications because that’s all they know." She released my wrist. "Real mastery comes from pushing beyond the curriculum."

The compressed fire flickered and dispersed as I lost concentration. I let the flames die completely and sat down on the mat.

"What else?"

"Excuse me?"

"What else can I do that I don’t know about? With either ability."

Noel sat across from me. Close enough that our knees almost touched.

"Rubber Body has similar untapped potential. The elasticity applies to your entire body, not just your limbs. Your internal organs. Your skeletal structure. Even your Essentia pathways."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning you could theoretically absorb impacts that would kill a normal person. Compress your body to slip through tight spaces. Expand your torso to increase lung capacity temporarily." She tilted her head. "You could also use the elastic tension offensively. Wind up a punch from extreme distance, store the energy, then release it all at once."

"Like a slingshot."

"Exactly like a slingshot. But with your entire arm as the projectile."

I thought about it. Really thought about the implications.

If Noel was right, I’d been using these abilities at maybe twenty percent capacity. Fire Fist wasn’t just a punching enhancement. Rubber Body wasn’t just a damage sponge. Combined together with actual mastery, they could be devastating.

"How do you know all this?"

"I study. Obsessively. Compulsively. It’s what I do." She shrugged, but there was something vulnerable in the gesture. "When you’re not the strongest or the fastest, you compensate by being the smartest. By understanding how abilities work at a fundamental level. By seeing combinations and applications that others miss."

"That sounds exhausting."

"It is." Her grey eyes met mine. "But it’s also how I’ve stayed at the top of every tactical ranking since I was twelve. It’s how I qualified for Coastline. It’s how I became the person who can look at Rome D’Angelo and see both his greatest weakness and his greatest potential."

"And what’s my greatest weakness?"

"You don’t trust anyone with the full picture. Not even yourself."

The words landed like a punch.

"That’s not true."

"Isn’t it? You tell Cheon most things. Mera a little less. Me barely anything. But even they don’t know everything, do they?" She leaned forward. "There’s something you’re hiding. Something bigger than just the drain or the abilities you’ve collected. Something that explains how a registered Null suddenly became the most dangerous fighter in our class."

My heart rate spiked. The drain stirred in response to my elevated emotional state.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about."

"Yes you do." She reached out and placed her hand on my chest. Right over my heart. "Your pulse jumped. Your pupils dilated. Your entire body tensed." Her fingers pressed against my shirt. "I’ve spent five years learning to read you, Rome. I know when you’re lying."

"Then you should know when to stop pushing."

"I should." Her hand slid up to my collarbone. My neck. My jaw. "But I’ve never been good at backing down from things I want."

"What do you want?"

"I don’t know anymore." Her thumb traced my lower lip. "I wanted to destroy you. Then I wanted to understand you. Now I just want to be near you, and that terrifies me more than anything else."

I caught her wrist. Gently. But firmly enough to stop her movement.

"Noel."

"What?"

"If you want to be part of this, really part of it, there are things you need to know. Things that will change how you see me. How you see everything."

"I already know you’re not normal."

"You have no idea how not normal I am."

She pulled her wrist free. Not forcefully. Just a clear signal that she was ready to hear whatever I had to say.

"Tell me."

I looked at her. Really looked, the way she’d looked at me earlier.

Noel Stark. The untouchable princess who wasn’t really untouchable at all. The tactical genius hiding vulnerability beneath layers of pride and ambition. The girl I’d wounded years ago, who’d spent her life building herself into a weapon designed to hurt me back.

Could I trust her with the truth?

Could I afford not to?

"Not here," I said finally. "Tonight. After my meeting with Vivian."

"Your sister?"

"My father’s daughter. I’m not sure sister is the right word."

Noel nodded slowly. "I’ll wait up."

"It might be late."

"I don’t sleep much anyway."

She stood and offered me her hand. I took it and let her pull me to my feet. We stood close together for a moment, her hand still in mine.

"One more thing," she said. freeweɓnovel.cøm

"What?"

"When we train with Usagi tomorrow, don’t hold back. She needs to see what you’re really capable of. If our team is going to work, we all need to trust each other."

"You’re asking me to show my abilities."

"I’m asking you to show our teammate what she’s working with. There’s a difference."