Call Alice when she was just small

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin strutted forward out of the doorway with a confident swagger in her step and an amused smirk on her lips. She leaned over Nick with her hands on her hips, looking like the cat that had caught the canary.

Which was quite ironic since Nick was technically the one who was supposed to be chasing her right now.

“Whelp, you caught me,” Nick joked. “I’m at your mercy now, I suppose…”

He was glad that he’d landed on this pile of blankets and cushions. That could have ended really poorly. Then again, this was Harem Hotel- the chance of him actually getting hurt was almost zero.

Hopefully Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin had known that when she flipped him over into the linen closet.

The assassin scrunched up her face, like she was trying to think of what to do to Nick. He anticipated some other sexy and arousing manner of playing with him, like what had happened when she pounced on him in the Trophy Garden.

But as exciting as that sounded, it wouldn’t resolve their little game of tag. He might have liked the way Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s touch made him feel, but he wasn’t interested in being at her mercy all day long.

So as she thought of what she’d do next to tease him for “losing” their little exchange, he plotted to show her that he hadn’t lost at all yet.

Nick’s hand lashed out suddenly and wrapped around her ankle. He made sure he got a firm grip around her slender leg and held on tight- this way, she couldn’t deny that he’d caught her! She’d have to kick him off to get him to let go, and **** wasn’t allowed here- especially not **** directed at the master.

I can’t believe I actually managed to grab her! Nick was still in shock. He held onto the assassin’s foot for dear life, still marveling at how impossible that seemed. After all, she was Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin! She’d made a marvelous show of how elusive and skilled she was in her Dream Alley introduction, getting rid of all those gangsters, and now Nick…

…What, he was just supposed to stand there and look pretty while she played her games? No, of course he’d tried to catch her… and to his surprise, he’d actually succeeded.

But he didn’t know what to do with her now that he’d caught her. Though, going by the rules of the game as she’d been playing them, wasn’t he entitled to some fun with her, now? He was hesitant to do it even as he looked up into her eyes, which sparkled with expectant excitement. She wanted something from him, but what?

This is the problem with not being able to communicate, he thought, groaning internally. I have to guess at everything she does, and everything she wants! And that wasn’t easy at all, even when he had a pretty good guess as to her motives.

Then he heard a tearing sound.

Oh, man!

Before Nick could respond, he felt the solid grip he had on the assassin’s leg slowly slip away, becoming not-so-solid. It shouldn’t have happened for obvious reasons- after all, he knew he had his fingers wrapped tightly around her!

But evidently, just saying that didn’t make it so, and before he knew it, she’d somehow managed to pull herself free, leaving only the tattered remains of the lower leg of her jumpsuit behind.

She shook her head coyly and when he lunged out again to try and grab her leg, she flipped backwards, pulling her legs out of his reach. As she tumbled through the air and landed gracefully on her heels, she posed for him again, leaning against the doorway as he climbed back up to his feet.

“Sorry to spoil the mood,” he said, giving her a crooked smile, “but if we’re playing a game of tag, I’m gonna want to try and tag you, too, you know.”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin silently laughed, clearly enjoying their little exchange. But she still shook her head, turned, and dashed back down the hall as soon as she saw that Nick was able to keep their little game going.

Nick didn’t hesitate to chase after her. He saw that she was missing part of her sleeve, and now part of her jumpsuit’s leg, as well… he wondered if the game would continue until she lost the whole thing.

It was really hard to tell what this woman wanted, other than to have fun, of course.

His heart sank as he saw her heading for the elevator. That would mean he’d have to double-back to the Swimming Pool and go grab Nola again, which would waste even more time. Really it had been a mistake to let her just leave to go relax like that, but on the other hand if he hadn’t left her to her own devices she would have been right at his side cracking jokes the whole time he was trying to have a moment with the assassin.

As hard as that seemed to be, he did feel like they were bonding in a strange way. She was just a very unusual girl playing a very unusual game with him, and a game he was having a lot of fun with.

Then, she ran right past the elevators, surprising him.

So she avoided them again? Nick wondered if she had grown impatient waiting for him to catch up on the elevator the last time she’d done so. Or maybe, like him, she didn’t want to get Nola involved in their little game of chase either.

Then she ducked into an open doorway, and he followed after her…

…Nearly falling into empty space!

“Whoa!? What the hell?!” Nick’s hands flailed wildly and he grabbed onto the closest thing he could find, a banister. For a staircase.

Yes, to Nick’s shock, Harem Hotel actually had a staircase!

“Why are there stairs!?” He sputtered in disbelief, looking down at Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin waiting on the platform of the next floor. She was staring up at him with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

“Why wouldn’t there be stairs?” Dakota asked, popping up beside Nick and placing her hands on her hips. She puffed up her cheeks slightly.

Nick looked at her. “Uh…”

“It’s a safety thing, you know,” she pointed out. “What if a fire breaks out? Can’t use the elevator then, we’d get shut down!”

“It’s Harem Hotel,” Nick bluntly reminded her.

She pulled back her lips into a smirk. “…Yes it is. And we take the safety of our guests very seriously here.”

“…Right. So what, this magic staircase you’ve got, is it enchanted somehow? I go down the stairs and suddenly I find they’re really slippery and I fall on a girl, probably groping her a little?” Nick dryly asked, rolling his eyes.

“You’re no fun, you know that?”

“I can see the slime you’ve oiled up the stairs with!” He sputtered, pointing at the glistening substance slathered all over the steps beneath his feet.

“Sylvia probably did that. You know how much she loves her slime,” Dakota scoffed, waving her hand dismissively.

“But you could just remove it,” Nick pointed out.

“Why would I do that?” Again, Dakota’s bluntness was almost refreshing, almost. Nick was much more annoyed about the situation he found himself in, though.

“Besides,” Dakota cleared her throat, pointing down the stairs, “it doesn’t seem to be bothering your date any… not like paying attention to me is.”

Nick followed her finger with his eyes to see Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin below him, arms crossed impatiently over her chest. She wasn’t smiling for once, and she was tapping her foot on the floor.

Apparently his instincts about her not wanting to share her date with other girls had been right on the money.

Sighing in resignation, Nick stepped forward onto the slime, clutching the banister for dear life as he braced himself for what was about to happen.

It went about as he expected. Practically the second his foot made contact with the slime, it slipped out from under him, and his hands slipped from the railing in kind.

“Waaah!” With a yell he tumbled forward, flailing his arms in a frantic but futile effort to get his balance back, knowing he was inevitably going to land right on the mute assassin below him.

But that wasn’t what ended up happening.

As much as the hotel stairwell had been arranged for Nick to end up falling on an accompanying woman (and Dakota was definitely responsible, Nick didn’t buy her story for a second) there was something it didn’t account for.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was simply just that competent.

So as he fell, about to land on her, she used her phenomenal reflexes to step out of the way, avoiding the collision. And that was obviously the right decision for her, but she wasn’t just prioritizing her own safety either.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin reached out, and wrapped her arm around Nick’s chest, stopping his fall. She actually managed to catch him, and did so without any sort of groping or “landing face-first into cleavage” shenanigans at all.

Nick was so stunned he didn’t know what had happened for a moment.

“Ugh… huh? What…?” He looked around, confused, and raised his head to look up at Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, who was staring playfully down at him. He clung to her body to stabilize himself, which was possibly the worst thing he could have done.

“RIP! RIIIIIPPP!” Two loud tearing sounds echoed through the stairwell as Nick felt something give away beneath his fingers. He’d been clinging tightly to the assassin’s arms, or more specifically, the fabric still covering her arms.

And thanks to her Tear Away transformation, it was all ripped off.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin gasped, her eyes widening and her cheeks turning a light pink. With that last exchange her jumpsuit had turned completely sleeveless, while she was still missing part of the fabric beneath the knee on her right leg. That was a lot of skin to be exposed (not to mention her cleavage was showing) and she definitely was feeling the effects of her transformation.

Nick didn’t notice any of this, though, because he’d landed flat on his face after falling out of her arms and taking her clothing with him.

When he picked himself up off the floor and looked up at her, though, he saw how aroused she was, and soon realized just what he’d gotten himself into.

He swallowed.

“So, uh… I know this is a little unexpected,” he stammered, awkwardly holding the tattered remains of her jumpsuit out to her as a paltry offering, “but I’m still having a lot of fun playing tag. Aren’t you enjoying yourself?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin blinked, and a hint of clarity returned to her eyes, which had been glazing over prior to this point. Staring at him, she nodded slowly, and her lips slowly curled up into a smile.

“…But we probably shouldn’t be playing in the stairwell,” Nick pointed out. He glanced up at the platform above them where Dakota had been watching with venomous amusement, only to see that the host had fled.

Probably for the best, he had to admit.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin considered Nick’s concerns and nodded slowly, stroking her chin. She glanced down the stairs and then back at Nick, and the two of them reached an unspoken agreement- probably the first real accord they’d come to all day.

If they were going to keep playing their little game of tag, it wouldn’t be safe to do it here.

“…I think it’s pretty simple what we should do,” Nick decided. “We should just let me go down the stair first. Does that work?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was skilled enough to walk down the stairs without falling all over herself. And if Nick went down first, there was no reason for Dakota to enforce the slippery effects of the slime, because there was nobody to fall onto.

They’d almost reached the ground floor anyhow, they just needed to clear the last flight of stairs. This was the safest way to do it.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was clearly disappointed to not be the one doing the chasing, but she could recognize the logic in Nick’s proposal. She nodded.

Nick turned and headed down the stairs. He placed one foot on the next step-

…And immediately it slipped out from under him and he went tumbling through the air.

“Nick? Eh!?” Gasped the woman who stepped into the stairwell right below him.

Scenes From a Hat: Falling All Over You!

Nick barely had time to register that it was Rose standing right in the path of where he was about to fall. She seemed to have been manifested from thin air! What was Rose doing here? Why would she come use the stairs?!

These were questions he didn’t even have time to process, let alone answer, in the milliseconds before impact. The most he could do was make out her wide blue eyes as he collided with her, landing with his head nestled between two soft, round objects.

He didn’t even have to open his eyes to know what was going on- Dani had made him watch anime like this more times than he could remember, and so had Morgana.

“Oh… well, hello there,” Rose tittered, quite enjoying the feeling of Nick’s hands caressing her breasts as his face nuzzled up between them. She was a little dazed and confused, not expecting that to happen- she’d been compelled to enter the stairway for reasons unknown, but now it was clear.

It’s been a while since this one triggered. I almost forgot about it!

Nick had forgotten about it, too, hence his surprise. But Dakota wasn’t the kind of woman to leave money on the table, or leave an opportunity for sexy shenanigans to go unrealized. And as Nick managed to pull himself free of Rose and look down at the swooning Frenchwoman, he realized that this scene wasn’t necessarily over yet…

…

…

…

Oh, thank goodness. This isn’t a tsundere anime scene.

“…Nick, mon compagnon, would you be so kind as to get off of me?” Rose’s sweet croon brought him back down to reality and he looked down at her, surprised. She smiled up at him, amused.

“…You’re not going to slap me, right?” Nick asked cautiously.

“Oh? Why would I ever do something like that?” She asked, blinking in confusion.

“It’s a long story. Don’t worry about it.” Nick was relieved it wasn’t going in that direction, but he was also confused. Knowing Rose, she wouldn’t ask him to get off, she’d enjoy this moment for all it was worth. Neither of them were injured (due to a mixture of anime comedy shenanigans and Harem Hotel’s protection) so why…

Rose batted her eyelashes and flashed a weak smile. “S'il vous plaît?” She asked cutely. Part of her wanted to keep this little dalliance going, but that…

Would be inadvisable.

She pointed up the stairs, to where Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was standing.

Nick had never seen her scowling like that before.

His blood ran cold as he felt a murderous chill radiating from the girl. He scrambled to his feet, getting as far away from Rose as possible. She stumbled upright as well, holding up her hands defensively.

“Pardon, please do not misunderstand,” she pleaded. If even Rose had no appetite for teasing or flexing her position with Nick, this must be something serious. “It was an accident!”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin said nothing, of course. She merely stepped forward, tensed, and leapt through the air, clearing the flight of stairs easily and landing between the two of them.

For a brief moment, Nick’s fears got the better of him and he wondered if Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was actually going to kill Rose. She couldn’t, of course, Dakota would never allow that. But the current atmosphere around her made it still seem like a possibility somehow, even if it should never be.

…But she didn’t.

Instead, she firmly asserted her position, stepping over to Nick and wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug, pressing her exposed cleavage against his side as she turned her head and gave Rose a triumphant and possessive look.

Rose knew well enough to break things off and she stepped back, still holding up her hands.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin just tightened her grip.

Nick knew he had to do something to fix the mood. He was relieved she wasn’t violent, just possessive and determined, but right now that wasn’t fixing the situation.

No, he needed to do something that would turn her mood around and cheer her up, while reinforcing his support of her.

So thinking fast, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her in tightly, returning her hug.

Hugged the Master! +1 VP

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin looked up at him in wonder and surprise. The seductive and playful face she’d been wearing all morning fell away, replaced by the visage of an innocent and almost childlike girl happy to receive a reciprocation of her affection.

Rose wisely decided that now was a good time to book it when the assassin was distracted, and quickly dashed back into the hall.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin didn’t even notice her leave, she had all eyes for Nick right now.

“So, uh… that was something, huh?” Nick tried awkwardly to change the subject, hard to do when she was hugging him so tightly he truly feared that his ribs were in danger. “…But I did catch you, you know,” he pointed out.

Her eyes widened and she looked down, realizing that he was correct. With his arm around her like this, pulling her in for a hug, it was pretty impossible to deny that she’d been captured. And even if she did try to struggle, well… she’d have to break the hug.

And that wasn’t good, either.

So even though the assassin could have gotten away if she’d wanted to, she calculated the benefit of that and decided that it was best to bring the game to a close. Nick had caught her fair and square, after all, and she nodded in resignation.

Nick, personally, was relieved. Not only because they’d avoided a violent route, but because maybe this way they could finally get to a more traditional date. As fun as the game of tag had been, he wanted to spend some peaceful time with the trained killer as well.

Her volatile behavior, fun as it was, suggested to him that she could really use it.