NeToRi System 64 – Growth Needed

Dave was enjoying a relaxed morning gulping down the delicious breakfast Jackie had prepared them. He had been eating a lot more than he used to, likely to make up for the amount of calories he burned these days it was craving a lot more than before.

He sighed. Deep down he knew he had only a handful of weeks at most until his father wasn't distracted by working hard for an upcoming match.

He had gotten lucky last time they had gotten into a fight. If his father hadn't hit his still recovering head things would have likely ended very differently. He couldn't count on getting that lucky again. Between his father getting concussed in his match and hitting it again in their fight he was sure he had already consumed what little luck he may have had.

The only thing he could do was hope that by that time with him growing in strength and his father weakening that the difference in strength would be on his side by enough to counter his father's experience. Almost two decades of experience would be hard to overcome even with his new ability to learn faster unless he outclassed his father physically.

All he could do was do his best to continue training, improving his physique, and hopefully find some place to refresh and improve his rusty fighting skills. Going to his father's gym like he used to was naturally off the table so he would need to find some other place.

He whipped out his cellphone and started doing a search for local martial arts gyms to see what was available.

Jackie frowned slightly. "Aren't you enjoying what I made?" She asked.

He looked up at her from his phone smiling at her softly, but shook his head. "Of course I'm enjoying it. Just thinking it might be good to find a martial arts gym to brush up some on my fighting moves," he said.

She looked at him closely, her gaze softening. She blushed. "Ok... I'll forgive you then," she said.

He smirked. "And what would you do if you didn't forgive me?" He asked.

Her blush deepened. "I don't know. Maybe I would have to think of some things," she said.

"Maybe you should. Let me know if you think of anything later," he said.

She nodded quietly, a smile playing on her lips as she thought about it.

He continued navigating his phone saving some locations and phone numbers to check out later.

He left Jackie home with a deep kiss and called a few of the locations during his jog to school to inquire about the services and facilities they offered. Although he had more time now that the personal trainer classes had finished he still had to participate in the apprenticeship along with his school hours making his schedule quite restrictive.

Shortly after getting to school he felt a persistent penetrative gaze as if he was being watched closely no matter what he did. He looked around a few times only spotting Mara after a few attempts. She seemed to be staying at a distance, but watching him closely.

He wasn't entirely surprised. After all he had changed too much in the past few weeks. Not just the most obvious physical changes, but his behavioural change had been quite noticeable too. Getting into fights. Doing better in class. Stealing someone's girlfriend.

If he had to guess he would guess Mara was very frustrated she was only good at reading people's feelings and not actual mind reading so she could dissect what was going on inside his head. He had never realised this when they were friends due to her skills at manipulation from a young age, but after seeing her ability and going over all of her prior actions with that knowledge he was convinced she was a pretty serious control freak. If that was indeed the case him breaking away from her expectations must be driving her absolutely bonkers. 

He shook his head. 'Just let her stew in it some more. Just count it as some interest paid on the revenge you still owed me, but that's something for down the line. Revenge is nice, but improving my own life takes priority,' he thought.

By the time class started he had already finished calling all the gyms whittling down the list of possibilities to just a few that he would like to visit to take a closer look in person and judge which would be best.

Kate waved him over with a wide smile the moment he walked into the classroom. She didn't even try to hide that there was more going on between them anymore. It wasn't like virtually the entire school hadn't been made aware of it by now. Even those that hadn't been in the cafeteria at the time had long heard it from the grapevine. Trying to be secretive about it any longer was just a waste of effort.

The school day went by rather uneventfully though he did feel Mara paying more attention to him. It was amusing that despite everything between her and Jeffrey who he had beaten up and given a dose of humiliation she was actually the one that seemed most bothered by everything he did. He just continued to ignore it though focusing on improving his image and flirting with Kate.

Before going to the sports gym for his apprenticeship he rushed and dropped by one of the martial arts gyms that wasn't too far off his route for a quick look.

Arriving at the sports gym he was noticed by Vanessa. "Oh you're running late. That's new," she said.

He raised his brow. "Oh you're not ignoring me anymore?" He asked calling her out.

She blushed. "What are you talking about? So why are you in such a rush?" She responded quickly.

He rolled his eyes, but decided to let it go. "I checked out a martial arts gym on the way. That's why," he said.

She looked him up and down. "Trying to learn some self defence?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Sort of," he said.

She held up her fist in a challenging way. "I could introduce you to where I train," she said.

"What kind of martial arts do they train?" He asked out of curiosity.

"Uhm... self defence?" She said unsurely.

He chuckled. "No that's ok. I'm not just looking for basic self defence techniques, but actual martial arts," he said.

He noticed she almost pouted. "Whatever," she said.

Writing Soundtrack: Palaye Royale - Various Tracks

NeToRi System 63 – A Relaxing Morning

To their surprise he didn't even address them heading instead straight to the kitchen.

Jackie looked after him nervously. "Your food is in the microwave," she said.

When she heard nothing in return she looked over at Dave who could only shrug. Eventually they heard the microwave though followed by the ringing of a beer bottle being taken from the fridge so he must have heard her after all.

Dave grabbed her hand giving it a gentle squeeze to reassure her.

She smiled at him nervously.

He let go of her hand before his father could come back out.

They silently continued watching the TV while focusing mostly on what his father was doing. It wasn't until his father had finished eating and headed up to bed that she let out a breath she didn't realise she had been holding.

After a few moments she threw herself into Dave's arms cuddling him again. She sighed as she burrowed into his arms. They just enjoyed each other's presence while continuing to use the TV as an excuse.

When they ended up at his bedroom door at the end of the night Jackie gave him a loving kiss, but then turned away and started heading towards the master bedroom.

Dave grabbed her hand and pulled her back. Due to pulling a little too hard she fell right back into his arms.

He smirked. "You're not going anywhere," he said before dragging her into his bedroom.

She was so excited by his brash actions she couldn't contain herself and wrapped her arms around him before dragged him onto the bed immediately.

She went absolutely wild. All he could be thankful for was that she at least she seemed to maintain enough sense to muffle her moans in his pillows. They went at it to the point of exhaustion. She didn't have the energy left to leave at the end of the night.

He woke up with Jackie still snuggled in his arms with a soft smile playing on her lips. The sheets were an absolute mess.

After carefully extracting himself from her grasp without waking her he went through his morning workout in nothing, but his underwear. He was so focused he didn't notice Jackie staring at him from underneath the sheets with an adoring smile.

He was planning to take a quick shower, but shortly after Jackie entered with a mischievous smile and started to undress herself seductively. The pieces of garment slid down her bare skin slowly as if to tempt him.

Dave frowned a little. "What if 'he' decides to take a shower now?" He asked.

She smirked. "I already checked on him. He already left," she said.

He nodded and closed his eyes leaning his head back to rinse the shampoo from his hair. He felt her press up against him. Her soft breasts squished up against against his chest.

She raised onto her toes leaning up towards his ear. "How about I clean you," she whispered.

He wrapped his around around her lower back pulling her tighter against him and opened his eyes looking into hers. "How about we wash each other," he said. 

Her smile widened.

"Ok. Turn around," he said.

She turned around excitedly.

He poured shampoo into his hand and carefully started lathering and massaging it into her long hair. A light moan escaped her lips. "Mmm... yes," she said.

While washing her hair he paid some attention to her ears teasing and massaging them on and off as his hands passed by them.

After rinsing the shampoo out he did the same with the conditioner.

She turned around and looked at his washcloth, but shook her head. She poured some of his body wash into her hands and started slowly massaging his chest with her bare hands instead.

Slowly tracing ever muscle she made sure not to miss any part of him, moving onto his arms next providing him with a hot soapy massage.

He decided to follow her lead and soaped up his hands with her soap giving her the same treatment. His focus on her chest being no less than hers was on his. It took most of his willpower not to make it outright sexual, but after everything that they did the night before he didn't feel the need as much. Sometimes just simple intimacy instead was nice too.

She bit her lips. "Ok, turn around now," she said.

She patiently washed his back before wrapped her arms around him from behind and her breasts pressing up against his back. He could feel her hardened nipples as they grazed his skin.

"Mmm... all clean," she murmured.

He gently rubbed her arms with a smile. "Maybe I am, but you aren't," he said.

He turned around with a playful smirked and wrapped his arms around her starting at her back, but slowly moving down.

His soapy hands travelled down from her back and massaged her shapely ass spending a little more time there.

She pouted slightly. "I'm still a little sore," she admitted regretfully.

He shrugged. "That's fine," he said. He gently pecked her on the lips.

She smiled. With her arms around his neck she pulled him back down giving him a more passionate kiss.

After they broke their kiss he moved down and slowly made his way down her thighs and legs with his hands making sure to wash every inch of them.

When he reached her feet she giggled.

He smirked. 'Oh, so her feet are ticklish? Good to know,' he thought.

She blushed and tried to put on a serious glare. "D-don't," she said.

He chuckled and let go to raise his hands in surrender. "Ok. Ok," he said.

She rolled her eyes at his insincere surrender.

Having finished their shower they spent some extra time drying each other. Both of them full of smiles as they enjoyed some more time for skinship.

They didn't separate until they left the bathroom.

He sighed. 'Unfortunately her clean clothes aren't in my bedroom," he thought.

Writing Soundtrack: Jonathan Young - Various Tracks

NeToRi System 62 – Time For Tests

All Dave could do was twiddle his thumbs waiting for the test to be over. The downside of finishing early. If he did anything he might be accused of cheating after all. Hell he might be accused of it anyway if the results for this test were as good as he expected them to be. They might not believe it when comparing them to his scores up until recently. No need to add any extra weight to such accusations.

When they finally got out of the class Kate wrapped her arms around his arm. "How did you do?" she asked curiously.

Dave shrugged nonchalantly. "Fine, probably," he said.

She smiled not even questioning it despite his less than stellar track record. He had already impressed her enough to completely overcome his first impression. If he said he could do it she would believe him. He was her man after all. She didn't seem to think of her previous man she callously abandoned to be with him though.

It seemed this was a week meant for testing as not only did one of his morning classes have a written test, but the same happened again during the afternoon. He wouldn't be surprised if a few more happened throughout this week as outside of the official test weeks where the whole week was nothing but tests throughout the year there would be waves of tests every few weeks for a couple of classes to prevent them from being too overwhelmed. This seemed to be one of those.

Outside of that the rest of the day was thankfully uneventful. As much as beating up bullies brought him some primal form of pleasure his life was already stressful enough with the situation at home without his life at school adding even more to it. It would likely take some time for Jeffrey to build up his confidence to make another move, he really hoped that was the case so he could take some time focusing on other things. He still needed to find a gym for training his combat skills and get through his apprenticeship at the gym so he could finally start making some decent money. For his work as an apprentice he was barely getting a pittance in them covering his memberships and a free meal while he was there. As nice as that was his goal was financial independence from his father for himself and Jackie.

After school he swung by the gym to get in more time on his apprenticeship. To his dismay Vanessa still seemed determined to avoid him which prevented him from having any conversation with her let alone discussing what had happened between the two of them.

When he came back home surprisingly he only found Jackie. It seemed his father had really been serious about focusing on training this time. When his father was originally focused on rising the ranks in the league he had been similarly dedicated to training, but that had stopped years ago when he had became famous and successful. He still trained, but with nowhere near the same dedication. Unfortunately, his ability meant despite him slacking in training he still managed to maintain the physique that allowed him to dominate the league rather than punish his laziness.

It seemed his loss had knocked some sense in to him, even if it was too little too late. Dave wasn't going to complain though as the longer his father's focus was elsewhere the more time he himself had to grow. His physique was already catching up to his father with his physique since his father was deteriorating at an equally rapid rate as he was improving. Now with [Enhanced Neuroplasticity] he should be able to brush up and improve his martial arts skills far faster than his father could ever dream of doing.

He got to the kitchen to find Jackie with a smile wearing an apron while finishing up dinner preparations for them. He smiled walking up behind her and giving her a tender kiss on the neck as he watched what she was working on.

"Hmm looks good," he said.

She smirked lightly while still focusing on the food. "Are you talking about me or the food?" she asked. 

He chuckled lightly. "Hmm... let me think..." he said.

She pouted in response. "What? You need to think about it?" she asked. She acted outraged, but he could tell she was just playing with him.

He smiled. "Well you're a great cook..." he said. He might have been teasing her, but it wasn't an exaggeration. Though she wasn't a trained profession chef for a home cook she ranked near the top. Definitely the best he had had himself from someone not professionally trained.

She rolled her eyes. "Ok mister smooth why don't you go set the table while I finish up," she said.

"Sure," he said. It didn't take long for him to set the table for two so she could serve dinner.

After sharing an intimate meal between the two of them they ended up cuddling together on the couch watching some TV. It was some kind of crime procedural she enjoyed watching. He wasn't particularly interested, but didn't mind it either. He was resting in the corner with her pressed up beside him her chest pressing up against his. His arm was wrapped around her waist and his hand had snuck under her shirt playfully caressing her smooth abdomen. They were just enjoying each other's presence. Any time they could spend together as a couple without the interference of his father's presence was precious.

It was already almost ten at night when they heard the front door being unlocked. They quickly unentangled themselves from each other. By the time the door was unlocked and opened and they could hear his father taking off his bag and jacket she had already moved to the other end of the couch and straightened her clothing to look more proper.

It was all just in time as his father walked into the living room just moments later.

Writing Soundtrack: Ed Sheeran - Various Tracks

NeToRi System 61 – Playing With Fire

Dave actually enjoyed a nice morning flirting with Kate. More of their classmates were paying attention to them now and he even caught Mara glaring at the two of them a few times. She actually seemed more interested in the two of them than her boyfriend that she was currently disappointed in. It actually seemed like she was pouting. The moment Dave caught her looking she would look away though trying to feign ignorance.

Kate nudged him with her elbow. "Why does Mara keep staring at us?" she asked.

Dave shrugged. "No idea, she has been doing it since class started," he said nonchalantly.

A smirk formed on her lips. "I heard some rumours saying you were in love with her and pursuing her for years, but that she wanted nothing to do with you," she said.

Dave rolled his eyes. "You shouldn't believe everything you hear. That only contains a little bit of truth," he said.

Though he had loved her they had been childhood friends and she had been the one to pursue him at first. Her rejection of him had only been something of the last few years since high school started. Likely due to her originally believing he held a lot of promise and once she stopped believing that was the case she dropped him like he was some kind of piece of trash.

Kate smiled playfully. "Well I think we should show her what she missed out on," she said.

Dave smiled. This was something he could get behind. "Oh yeah? What were you thinking of?" he asked.

Kate looked over at Mara to make sure she was paying attention. After ensuring she was she leaned in closer to Dave pressing her chest up against him and wrapping her arms around him. "Well we could start by flaunting our relationship," she said.

The idea of showing off to one of her bullies and also flaunting her relationship with her boyfriend held great appeal to her. She might be biased, but she felt Dave was much better than Jeffrey and thought Mara was the biggest fool in school for the way she treated him. The feeling of taking something away from her main tormentor definitely didn't hurt either. She just needed to make sure Mara understood this too.

She looked up into Dave's eyes her head slowly raising closer to his. Her eyes darted to his lips. She licked her own lips. Dave noticed what she was doing with a smile and lowered his head to match hers his lips moving closer to her which were starting to pucker.

Suddenly they were interrupted by a load cough. "Could you save it for outside of my class?" their teacher asked them with an annoyed expression embarrassing the two of them. They quickly broke apart again sitting more properly behind their desk.

Dave nodded seriously. "Yes sir," he said as if he hadn't just been caught.

Kate had a heavy blush on her cheeks. She had completely forgotten about where they were distracted by her goals.

Their second period was English with Ms. Samoine.

Ms. Samoine handed out the test sheets for everyone to pass back.

"Alright, you have 45 minutes to complete the test, when I announce the end of the test put down your pens," she said.

Dave was surprised by just how easy the test seemed to be. After performing amazingly during primary and middle school he had struggled academically for most of high school. Not only did he remember everything from his first life, but since geography, history and a bunch of other classes were entirely new for this new world making much of his education useless he struggled far more than he had expected.

It didn't help that although people were unaware of the special abilities some had the curriculum was affected by the presence of a much larger minority of very gifted students raising the ceiling well beyond what he had been capable of. However every since he got [Enhanced Neuroplasticity] repetition was barely even necessary. Though understanding wasn't improved as much recollection became easy and near flawless. He only needed to hear or read something once and most things would stick in his memory. It was almost like a light form of eidetic memory.

He was finally able to reap the benefits. The questions were easy as remembering what was in the books took virtually no effort enabling him to breeze through the multiple choice questions in just a few minutes. The open ended questions took slightly longer, but for a test they were given 45 minutes to complete it only took him about a third of that to answer everything. Most of the time spent was just the time it took to note down all the answers itself rather than figuring them out.

At this rate even this one ability should make most of school quite easy. Any subject focused on rote memorisation over understanding of some type of theory like math would be easy requiring minimal effort going forward. That would save him a lot of time for other important things such as improving his physique, training his combat skills, and making money. If only he could also get another brain related ability that improved actual intelligence to a greater degree like Jeffrey's then all of school would become a breeze. He could only keep grinding away at things until then.

He flipped over his paper. He was already eager to find out how he had performed. He wouldn't know just how effective his new ability was until he received the concrete results. 

Ms. Samoine looked at him in surprise seeing him being the first to finish. This in itself wouldn't have been too surprising as he could have just given up, but his confident demeanour told her this might not be the case this time. She shook her head. 'It would be too much to expect good results from him, but maybe he would beat his usual bottom of the barrel scores,' she thought to herself.

Writing Soundtrack: Set It Off - Various Tracks