Chapter 26: After the win
Xavier looked at her across the table.
She’s been sitting on that question for weeks, he thought. Waited until after the win to ask it. Until she had something solid under her feet before she looked at the thing that still felt uncertain.
Smart.
"I paid the debt," he said. "Then I found out who Femi actually answers to. Then I started making sure that whoever that person is understands that touching anything connected to me is more expensive than it’s worth."
Amira held his gaze. "How."
"Information and money," Xavier said. "Same tools I use for everything."
"Xavier that’s not..."
"Normal," Xavier cut in. "I know."
She looked at him for a long moment. The restaurant was quiet around them. Someone’s conversation two tables over. Plates arriving somewhere behind her.
"Who are you," she said. Not dramatically. Just genuinely.
"Xavier Cole," he said. "Food and Nutrition. First year."
She almost smiled despite herself. "You know what I mean."
"I know," he said. "Eat your food Amira."
She picked up her menu again. But she was looking at him differently and both of them knew it then ordered what she liked.
They ate slowly. The kind of meal that wasn’t really about the food.
Amira talked about what came next for the project. The board grants disbursement, the follow up requirements, the possibility of extending the research into a second phase. Xavier listened and asked the right questions and found himself actually interested which still caught him off guard sometimes.
She thinks in trajectories, he noted. Every conversation she’s already three steps ahead of where the words currently are.
"You’re doing it again," Amira said.
"What."
"Thinking about something else while looking like you’re listening."
"I was listening," Xavier replied. "Second phase research would need a lab partnership. The university has a standing agreement with Kenvale General Hospital’s nutrition department. That’s your in."
Amira stared at him. "How do you know that."
"I read things," he said.
"You read the university’s departmental agreements."
"I read useful things," he replied.
She shook her head slowly. "Xavier."
"Amira."
"Stop," she said. But she was almost smiling.
They finished eating. Xavier paid without discussion.
[ REBATE SYSTEM ]
Transaction Detected: $94 — Restaurant
Base Multiplier (Tier 2): 2x
Total Return: $188
[ Net Balance: $209,335.00 → $209,523.00 ]
Outside the restaurant the evening had settled properly. Street lights on. The city doing its quiet weeknight thing.
They stood on the pavement outside without immediately moving.
"Thank you," Amira said. "For today. For the funding. For all of it."
"You won and deserve it," Xavier said. "I just made sure the conditions were right."
"That’s what you always say."
"Because it’s always true."
She looked at him. The evening light, her glasses slightly catching it, the hair she’d worn down for the exhibition still down now.
"Xavier," she said.
"I know," he said.
She blinked. "You don’t know what I was going to say."
"You were going to say something about mixed feelings," he said. "And then stop yourself before you said the part after it."
She was quiet.
"Am I wrong," he said.
She looked away briefly. Then back.
"They’re not mixed anymore," she said quietly. Just that. Flat and honest the way she said everything.
Xavier held her gaze.
The gauge updated quietly in his peripheral vision.
Amira — 72%
Nine percent jump, he noted. From one honest sentence.
He filed that away too.
"Come on," he said. "I’ll get you a cab."
"I can get my own cab," she replied.
"I know you can but I insist," he said, already pulling out his phone.
She didn’t argue.
They walked toward the main road. Xavier ordered the cab while they walked. It confirmed in two minutes.
At the roadside Amira adjusted her bag and looked at him.
"The project second phase," she said. "Kenvale General. You think it’s actually possible?"
"I think you’ll make it possible," Xavier said. "Whether I help or not."
She looked at him for a moment.
"You’ll help," she said. Like she’d decided it.
"Probably," he said.
The cab pulled up.
She got in. Rolled the window down.
"Xavier."
"Amira."
"Not mixed," she said. And the cab pulled away.
Xavier stood at the roadside watching it go.
He checked the gauge.
Amira — 78%
Another six percent from one cab ride, he thought. She’s close. Very close.
He started walking back toward his hostel.
He was two blocks away when it happened.
[CHIME]
[ REBATE SYSTEM ]
Favorability Threshold Approaching
Amira Hassan — 78% → Binding Available at 80%
Current Status: 2% remaining
[ Binding unlocks 3x rebate on weekly targeted spend ]
Xavier looked at the notification and kept walking.
Two percent, he thought. From 78 to 80 in one evening. He thought about the dinner. The conversation. Her face when she said not mixed. It’ll cross tonight.
He was right.
He was at his desk reviewing the phase 3 preliminary report when the second notification arrived.
[CHIME]
[ REBATE SYSTEM ]
Favorability Threshold Reached
Amira Hassan — 80%
Binding Now Available
[ Bind Amira Hassan as Target? ]
[ YES / NO ]
Xavier looked at the prompt for a moment.
First binding, he thought. First official target.
He pressed YES mentally.
[ REBATE SYSTEM ]
Target Bound: Amira Hassan
Binding Rewards Active
Weekly Targeted Spend Multiplier: 3x
[ First binding reward cycle begins immediately ]
[ Spend on bound target within 7 days for maximum returns ]
[ SIDE QUEST COMPLETE ]
First Binding
Reward: +1,500 EXP
[ EXP: 11,850/50,000 ]
Xavier leaned back in his chair.
First bound target, he thought. 3x returns on everything I spend on her directly. Once a week. He pulled up his balance. $209,523 sitting in an account that resets every midnight with a $500,000 cap.
The system just got significantly more interesting.
He looked at the phase 3 report still open on his desk.
Ashworth, he thought. Cardinal Circle. Sarah’s showcase in under two weeks. Amira bound. He closed the report temporarily and looked at the ceiling.
Everything is converging, he thought. All of it at the same time.
He almost smiled.
Good, he thought. That’s when it gets interesting.
He opened the phase 3 report and got back to work.