<Nocturnal Harmonia>

[Bloodedge]

Miko moved in to partake of the mixture between Yugi and Ai, all while the pair continued casually enjoying one another. The brunette's tongue went to work under the guise of cleaning ─ which always seemed more like an excuse to feast. Either way, Yugi's hips gently bucked a few times as her tongue trailed from his balls up his shaft. Whatever this was actually meant to be viewed as, was totally unimportant; it was all pretense anyway. Miko brought up the combination of flavors between the two, presenting it as the perfect compliment to an appetizing salad. Yugi... paused and furrowed his brow. "How the fuck does cinnamon compliment a salad?" he questioned.

Soon enough, Ai was commenting on her appreciation of the Players ─ as a unit and as individuals. That came with a boost to Intimacy, which put her at, and over, the 49%-50% threshold. Ai herself would be seeing a System notification to detail her new abilities and privileges.

[BOND THRESHOLD REACHED]

Bond Route: Hayasaka Ai

Intimacy has reached 50%.

Designation Confirmed: Shadow Concubine

The bond has crossed a structural threshold.
This connection is now formally acknowledged by the System.

New Access Granted:
• Concubine Inventory — Authorization Expanded
 Target may now access her designated Inventory Node.
• Concubine Key — Generated and Activated
 A unique access key has been created and is fully functional.
 Hayasaka Ai may now enter the established Domain at any time.

Status Notes:
• Concubine Room is now accessible as a private, instanced space.
• Access is shared between Player and Concubine.

System Message:
Hayasaka Ai has been designated Shadow Concubine.
She retains significant autonomy.

As always, Ai wasn't the only one with a notification. Yugi had one of the best updates he'd seen since acquiring System access. His display was:

[BOND ROUTE MILESTONE REACHED]

Bond Route: Hayasaka Ai

Intimacy has reached 50%.

Route Activated: Ghost Protocol

Current Progress: 50%

Reward Unlocked:
- Passive Skill: Lightning Weaver
Yugi’s control and precision over lightning mana is greatly enhanced.
He can now shape and manipulate lightning into finer, more complex forms (such as needles, wires, or projectiles).
Lightning-based attacks gain +20% piercing power and +15% control.

"Oh shit!" he exclaimed while pulling away from Ai's mouth, positively throbbing with excitement. There was something Yugi had been trying to build... and this connection to Ai made it so, so much easier. "Generator Build Buffs!" he chanted. "Lightning control, piercing damage... OOO─HOO─HOOO~‼ You've got no idea what kind of OP shit you just handed me!"

[Apollymi]

Miko took her flavor extraction rather seriously and would be enjoying the flavors. She gave an understanding of the situation after taking it, noting the extra pulsing and slight movements of Ai as she tickled both of them with her tongue a bit. When Miko mentioned how well the mix would compliment a salad, Yugi had a legitimate question to ask, Miko smiled brightly and answered, "Cinnamon is warm, woody and a bit pungent. It can add some aromatic spiciness to salads especially anything that could potentially include fruits, root vegetables or something roasted. Or am I weird for sprinkling five or seven spice on bland salads?" Miko asserted. Well, at the very least she seemed to have a good understanding of the spice itself, Ai would only chuckle. "Well, I don't do that, and you are a bit weird, but... you've never given me food I wouldn't eat so~" Ai let that statement hang, mostly because she was soon reading a System Screen for the first time.

"Oh shit? I get System access too?!~" she seemed legitimately excited, enough that it was palpable. "Status." Ai uttered seeing a screen in front of her, that listed her current Intimacy with the Player, Yugi. Had a tab to lead her to her Inventory and a different Shop Tab because she had gold, and a crafting tab as well. "Sugei~ Inventory access, my own room, a crafting menu, and shop!~ This shit is awesome!~" she chimed excitedly, her Intimacy increasing by another 7 percent as she began to peruse things. Meanwhile, Yugi's excitement was felt by Ai and heard by Miko. Ai seemed surprised, "Glad I could help..." she mentioned seeming a bit sheepish. While Miko chirped happily, "Sugei!~ You can finish the lightning stuff now♪~ And you sound so happy♪!~" Miko sang like she too was excited.

[Bloodedge]

Miko had a lot of defense to offer cinnamon as a potential salad enhancer. Yugi, on the other hand, couldn't let himself agree with it. He didn't mind cinnamon added to certain things... but everyone would be finding out the specifics of that once Miko finished speaking. "Ew, fuck that. Cinnamon is only good on sweets and Christmas things. Putting that garbage on a salad should be a crime; just drench that bitch in ranch!" he insisted.

Shortly after a minor rant, Ai was excitedly searching for System access. How strange it was that she... became the first Bondmate to actively try accessing the interface. She managed. Oddly, Yugi hadn't even given consideration to the idea that Bondmates would have proper System menus... but Ai spoke of a crafting menu and a shop: two things he'd been wanting to share with some of the others. "... Fucking purée," he said aggressively toward himself. "Routes," he ordered of the System, immediately searching for Tae to begin a direct call through the hologram screen. Whenever she answered, he'd be looking right into the screen, already speaking. "Tell me I'm not the only idiot here, and you also never thought about accessing the System? Because you can definitely access some parts of the System."

At the same time, Ren was recovering enough to remove that stocking from his mouth and look toward the others. He didn't know if he had a proper place in this current group, but he at least had some connection to Miko... whom he'd soon be standing beside despite a slouch. "Did nobody else know about that? It seemed like normal game mechanics. . ." he said. "Urusai! Don't talk to purée brains; you'll get all mixed-up and silky smooth like us!"

[Apollymi]

Miko could defend many a food choice. Pretty much anything except, anko. In this case, a minor tirade about the savory uses of cinnamon came with tacit approval of her food choices from Ai, but Yugi was a different story. Apparently, that young man only liked cinnamon with sweets and Christmas things. "Really? No five spice or seven spice in ramen broth or anything? I mean I can work with it... and I'm not judging, it's just a little crazy we are Japanese," Miko said with her hands up in mock surrender. Still, she'd keep track of the lad's preferences. She wouldn't purposefully hand anyone food they wouldn't actually eat.

Moving on from that point, both of the Players were once again proving that they were far from infallible. They could both be counted as geniuses in their own right, casually brilliant in others and still... they missed one of the most obvious aspects of a person reaching 50 percent as a Bondmate. "Nooo, we're dumb♪!~" Miko said while pinching the bridge of her nose as yet another tirade from Yugi was about to begin. "Puree?" Ai questioned. "That's the consistency of our stupid brains♪!~" Miko added. All the while, Tae was soon answering a System call as she packed away the rest of the samples and file cabinets unrelated to patients. "Huh?" was the first thing out of her mouth as she was confronted with a tirade. "I can fucking what?!" she exclaimed pausing and putting her phone on speaker. "Menu!" she looked and a System window popped up. It had Inventory, Shop, Crafting... she clicked over to the crafting screen and noted identification and a crafting matrix. "Are you fucking kidding me? I've been mixing things myself and the System would have done it for me and identified it? I get that kind of access?! It will even turn certain plants into seeds for growth. It's fucking bullshit!" Tae exclaimed.

All the while, apparently the only reasonable person in their current set was... Amamiya Ren. He'd taken that stocking out of his mouth and was now... commenting on the fact that it was a basic game mechanic. "Of course you actually fucking looked. You're a good boy♪!~" Miko exclaimed. "Kaya wouldn't have looked she doesn't do video games. Gojo probably also didn't look because he wouldn't care... I want to blame Brainface, that fucking tutorial could have been a bit clearer!" Miko asserted grumpily. While stomping her foot. "Well, this is new and interesting. If anyone needs me, I'll be in my room/laboratory, playing with System functions until dinner is ready. Ja~" Tae asserted before she would hang up.

[Bloodedge]

"Well sure," Yugi said about the use of things like Seven Spice in broths and the like. "But only a little bit. Cinnamon's one of those annoying things that wants to be the most dominant flavor in everything you put it in. I don't want to end up with cinnamon ramen," he insisted. From there, Yugi was content to... be incredibly upset with himself for missing something obvious... again. He didn't hesitate to call Tae, who would be the primary beneficiary to the crafting menu and such. Lo and behold... she didn't know about the System access either.

Hearing Tae's initial reaction, Yugi scoffed ─ at himself above all else. "Godfuckingdamnit. You caught it," he said as if stupidity was a disease Tae contracted from him. If nothing else, though, Tae became excited by the ability to utilize those new options. He'd gladly leave her to that, and take the time to be upset about his own brain. "You enjoy tha─... wait, what? Why'd you make your room a lab? Just get yourself a lab!" he asserted. "All the fucking space in this building, we're not gonna use it all. It's not like we need that many sex dungeons. Maybe just like... six, seven," he said almost dismissively.

Speaking of dinner prep, quite a bit had been done in the kitchen since Miko left Igris alone. One might soon be picking up the scent of cooked tomatoes in a well-seasoned sauce, Igris now had other Shadow Soldiers moving around the kitchen, chopping, mixing and tossing various ingredients for various purposes. He didn't know what Miko needed a sauce for, but there were multiple other things being assembled across the kitchen ─ including a dessert Igris himself began working on once the sauce was left to simmer.

[Apollymi]

Miko was finding out that Yugi didn't have a problem with five spice or seven spice. No... he had an issue with the overpowering nature of cinnamon. Miko looked at Yugi, her face blank those big eyes of hers seeming to show a light in the back but her brain was processing that information strangely. There was something, ironic about a man who tasted of cinnamon describing it's overpowering and dominating nature the way Yugi was. He may not have even realized it, but it was self-loathing at best. "Uh-huh. Less than a pinch," Miko noted aloud though in her head she noted that there was probably a deep connection between the flavors of people's bodily fluids and their personality.

At the same time, Tae and Yugi were having a conversation in which he claimed something had spread to her. "Well, in my defense, why would I assume the weird System that chose two horny teens as it's main characters would give me access to things!" Tae complained about the whole situation. What she was finding in the System was far too useful to not fully explore. "The room is bigger than my apartment... I have a nice open concept thing going. I don't know if it's standard or not, but I can definitely fit all of my hobbies in here right now. Though I would take a sex dungeon too~" Tae claimed in a joking manner.

All of what Miko was hearing was great but she sniffed the air and began walking again. "Behave yourself, Renny. I have to go check on dinner and Iggy. And you know actually finish cooking♪~" Miko chirped. Wandering off towards the kitchen once more, fully intending to see what was happening. And she found... Igris and several Shadow Soldiers hard at work. "What's an Iggy?" Ai wondered curiously as Miko wandered off, that was a cutesy name and Miko usually only gave those to things she liked.

[Bloodedge]

"Probably. Nothing wrong with a pinch, I guess," was Yugi's final note about spice mixtures containing cinnamon, and cinnamon in general. While conversing with Tae, he had to agree about the System offering itself to Bondmates so readily being... a little unexpected. There were obviously some privileges over time, but as Bondmates didn't even see System loot drops before 25%, there wasn't much reason to expect anything resembling true access. As for her room, its size was apparently quite impressive. She had space enough for a bed, her lab and presumably various other fixings... but she'd still take a sex dungeon. "One sex dungeon for the big titty goth GF, coming up... as soon as we earn some more gold. We kind of blew everything on the house," he chattered.

Around the same time, Miko decided to revisit the kitchen. She left with a word to Ren about behaving... which he thought twice about, considering there was a tall, curvaceous blonde in the room. Speaking of that blonde though, Ai asked what an 'Iggy' was as Miko left. Yugi supposed she was a bit more 'out of the loop' than some others they were close to. "Right, you don't know much about the job-change quest, huh? You should take a look. Iggy is just as cute and fluffy as you'd imagine..."

Meanwhile, that tall, imposing knight of a Shadow was finishing the assembly of a five-layer trifle featuring ladyfingers he had ample time to prepare during Miko's absence. The sponge cake biscuits were hot out of the oven, but of course... a Shadow didn't care about heat. Layers of berries, cream fluffier than the human norm, and those ladyfingers filled a clear container. One could even compare it to a certain parfait known from the popular series Air Gear. When Miko arrived, Igris was just placing the last ladyfinger to complete a spiral pattern against the bowl's rim.

[Apollymi]

Yugi and Miko came to an agreement. Nothing wrong with a pinch and she wouldn't be pointing out his self-loathing. Beyond this point, Tae had a few valid points to make about the System offering itself to the Bondmates in such a way. No matter what though, the perverted Players were always willing to go the extra mile for pervert things. Including but not limited to... creating a sex dungeon for their favorites. "Well, this place is kinda crazy. No worries. I plan to get back into the Dungeons tomorrow maybe... and with most of us being Hunters already there should be enough funds going on," Tae offered. She was stepping back into her room upstairs and thus would be hanging up soon.

Meanwhile, Miko was headed back to the kitchen and Ai was questioning Iggy. She was a bit out of the loop and given Miko's taste in men... she'd decided Iggy was some kinda buff guy in an apron cooking in the kitchen but with an overly docile personality. "I sense some sarcasm in that... but I do enjoy kitchen snacks and Mi-tan won't let you have them if you don't help~" Ai said as she properly separated from Yugi and adjusted her clothing enough to be presentable so she could walk into the kitchen to see...

Miko, standing with a big black armored shadow knight squealing with delight over a test dessert. "Sugei♪~ Iggy you made this while I was gone?~ I was coming back you know... but this is so good looking. Can I taste?♪~" the girl asked of the Blood-Red Commander. She was still going to cook, but perhaps it would end up being better if she put aside her dessert idea for this one. She could smell that he'd done a great job with the sauce already and putting together the rest of the food would be quite easy if she left Igris on dessert duty. "Mi-tan... that knight is way too present for you to give it a cutesy nickname!" Ai claimed. "You nickname everyone, Iggy's great. He earned a good nickname♪!~ Look at this dessert♪!~" she said pointing tohis work. Ai couldn't help but look astounded. Only Miko could name what looked like the leader of the shadow knights something as cute as 'Iggy' and say it with a straight face.