They were back at the beach house by that evening, after an exhausting but fun day. On the living room table, stacks of pizza boxes were piled up—dinner they picked up on their way back. When Maya announced they were eating pizza tonight and Tony declared her his new favorite human, Magnus knew there was no point for anyone to argue otherwise and that pizza was inevitable.
So now, they were all sprawled around in the living room, on the couch, chairs, or even the ground, eating pizza and drinking soft drinks or beers. And the conversation somehow focused on Magnus and his System again.
"So, Magnus," Valeria said. "What can you see in people's menus?"
"Well, the basic menu for everyone just shows Name and Level," Magnus began. "Interest as a percentage, which I think is how aware the person is of me. Popularity, which I believe is just local to maybe the person's circles but no idea how else the System is actually measuring it. Oh, and Sexual History. Like, it catalogues how many times and how many partners you've had."
"Well, that's invasive," a few people murmured.
"It gets worse," Magnus continued. "When someone's Interest in me reaches twenty percent, a Detailed Stats menu unlocks. And I can see how they view me, with stats like Trust, Arousal, and Submission. And there are also insights into their Hobbies, Guilty Pleasures, Romantic Types…" He rubbed the back of his neck. "…And even their Kinks."
Silence settled and stretched as they absorbed that.
Then Jade raised a hand. "Does that apply only to girls or can you view other guys' Detailed Stats, too?"
Magnus froze. Then he turned to her, scratching his cheek. "I actually don't know that. I've never tried—I've avoided reading people's menus in general since it feels like reading their diaries or something."
Jade nodded. Then slowly and contemplatively, she said:
"Well, I think we can have some light experimentation right now." She looked around the room. "If everyone's up for it, of course."
"Hell yeah!" Maya raised her beer can. "How about we make a drinking game out of this?"
***
The game Maya proposed was essentially an overcomplicated Truth-or-Dare. They'd spin a bottle. Whoever it landed on would have to pick a category from the list of things Magnus could supposedly see from his System menu, according to his earlier explanation, which Katie was happy to provide from the notes she apparently took… for research purposes. Once a topic was chosen, Magnus would open the menu and read the corresponding line out loud. Everyone who didn't already know the information or couldn't believe it—including Magnus and the subject of the reading themselves—must drink. The subject could choose to dispute the System's reading. If they succeeded, everyone else drank. But if anyone else in the room could prove the System was right, or get the subject to admit it themselves, then the subject had to drink double or perform a dare. Finally, the subject would get to spin the bottle to pick the next target. If the bottle landed on them again, then they instead would be allowed to pick the next target.
And because Maya was Maya, she volunteered for the first turn and immediately asked Magnus to read her own Kinks out loud for everyone to hear.
Magnus focused on her menu, and what greeted him was:
[Name: Maya Torres | Level: 6
Interest: 35% | Popularity: 72% | Sexual History: 89 times (11 known partners)
Relationship: Someone Worth Knowing / Conquest Target (Conquering)
Core Detailed Stats:
Trust: 58% | Arousal: 22% | Submission: 12%
Personal Insights:
– Hobbies: Spontaneous travel, dancing, picking up new skills and dropping them when they stop being fun, finding the best food in any city within one hour of arriving
– Guilty Pleasures: Aggressively sentimental music she'd never admit to listening to, keeping a journal she claims is just a notes app
– Type: Kind and Gentle Girls; People who surprise her, which rarely ever happens
– Kinks: Anal, breath-play, double-penetration, adrenaline, complete unpredictability, being genuinely caught off guard, the rare experience of someone keeping up with her]
Magnus stared at the Kinks line, then glanced at Maya's expectant gaze, then at his drink, before sighing. "Do I have to read this out loud?"
"Yes!" everyone said—Maya was the loudest.
He rubbed a hand down his face and started reading every item on that list.
Maya was grinning from ear to ear with her arms spread out, utterly unashamed. In fact, she seemed to be proudly boasting her kinks. Several girls, including Alex, rubbed their temples. Ethan and Sofia whistled loudly.
When Magnus was finally done, his brain decided to be very stupid, or very brave — which, according to Ethan, was the same thing separated only by perspective — and he said:
"Well, believe it or not, Maya's kinks overlapped with Alex's and Sofia's."
Both girls whirled on him.
"You didn't!" they snapped in unison.
Chaos ensued as everyone demanded to know which parts overlapped until Maya loudly reminded everyone that anyone who didn't know about any or all of her kinks should be drinking right now. Everyone else in the room, including Chloe, reached for their drinks.
Maya laughed, then spun the bottle. It landed on Ethan.
"Guilty Pleasures. Let's see if this System actually knows stuff or it's just guessing."
Magnus focused and apparently, he could view Ethan's Detailed menu, too.
[Name: Ethan Zhang | Level: 5
Interest: 28% | Popularity: 55% | Sexual History: 47 times (3 known partners)
Relationship: "Bro" / Friend
Core Detailed Stats:
Trust: 52% | Arousal: 0% | Submission: 5%
Personal Insights:
– Hobbies: Engineering projects, competitive gaming, stand-up comedy videos, basketball
– Guilty Pleasures: Watching rom-coms alone and pretending he hates them, doing the broken English bit even when nobody asked
– Type: Confident women who can keep up with him and occasionally shut him up
– Kinks: Light teasing, being challenged, his partner taking control when he's being too much]
He read the requested line.
"Nuh uh! I don't like rom-coms!" Ethan said immediately.
"I knew it!" Camila stood up and pointed at him accusingly as he said it.
Ethan froze. But Camila wasn't finished. "That time I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and saw you watching rom-coms in the living room—that really happened!" She took a step toward him. "You convinced me I had dreamt that the next day!"
"And you actually bought that?" Tori shook her head in disbelief.
"I passed out drunk that night." Camila shrugged. "It really could have been a dream."
Maya tapped the table with her beer can. "So. What's it gonna be, Ethan? Double or a dare?"
Ethan reached for his drink.
"And…" Maya raised her own can. "Everyone who didn't know about Ethan's guilty pleasures should also drink. Rules are rules."
"Since when do you care so much about rules?" Valeria snorted.
"I don't," Maya said casually. "I just want everyone to drink."
Everyone who wasn't Camila also drank.
Ethan spun the bottle and it landed on himself, so he immediately picked his girlfriend as revenge for ousting him last round. Camila glared at him before announcing her category — Hobbies — and got booed by every girl in the room and Ethan.
Magnus pulled up her menu.
[Name: Camila Ortega | Level: 5
Interest: 25% | Popularity: 62% | Sexual History: 38 times (2 known partners)
Relationship: Alex's Boyfriend / Friend
Core Detailed Stats:
Trust: 45% | Arousal: 0% | Submission: 22%
Personal Insights:
– Hobbies: Spa treatments, event planning, group activities, being the loudest person in any room
– Guilty Pleasures: Crying at reality TV elimination shows, stress-eating snacks she claims she doesn't buy
– Type: Men who can match her energy without trying to quiet her down
– Kinks: Being praised enthusiastically, playful competition, spontaneity]
Except for Magnus and Miguel, no one else drank. Chloe had apparently already learned about Camila's hobbies from Camila herself the day before. As for Aaron…
"How did you even know?" Ethan asked him in disbelief.
"Most of it was obvious." Aaron shrugged. "Spa treatments and event planning were the only two I had to deduce from her behavior."
"Bro, you should be studying to be a detective, not a nurse!"
Maya booed Camila loudly again for only succeeding in making two people drink. Then the game moved on, with the next target being Miguel, who — at Maya's insistence — reluctantly picked Guilty Pleasures for his reading.
[Name: Miguel Hernández | Level: 5
Interest: 25% | Popularity: 45% | Sexual History: 94 times (1 known partner)
Relationship: Friend / Friend
Core Detailed Stats:
Trust: 55% | Arousal: 0% | Submission: 5%
Personal Insights:
– Hobbies: Automotive repair, hiking, cooking, being the most responsible person in any group
– Guilty Pleasures: Overprotective Googling of things Carmen mentions in passing, telenovelas he follows with his mom and will never admit to
– Type: Someone who makes him feel like it's okay to relax for once
– Kinks: Oral, domestic intimacy, being needed, his partner initiating]
Magnus pulled up Miguel's menu and read the requested line. The room went silent; several heads turned in Carmen and Miguel's direction. Carmen herself also slowly turned toward her boyfriend. But the man himself, after freezing for a brief moment, simply said with a shrug:
"Guilty as charged."
Everyone reached for their drinks but Carmen stopped them all with a hand. "Hang on! Before we all drink, I have to know. Babe, what did you Google?"
Miguel took a sip of his beer — even though he didn't need to per the rules of the game — then glanced around the room before locking eyes with his girlfriend.
"…All of it," he said finally. "Everything you've ever mentioned. Medical symptoms, that one restaurant you said looked interesting, the documentary you said you wanted to watch, that actress whose name you couldn't remember…"
Carmen picked up her drink and took a gulp. "That's…" She searched for the word. "That's actually very sweet and also a little unhinged."
He shrugged again. "I know."
Maya tapped the table with her beer can. "And the telenovelas?"
He shrugged for a third time. "They're hard to drop once you really get into them."
Everyone took a drink. Miguel just sat back in his chair with the resigned expression of someone who'd accepted the fact that his guilty pleasures were no longer a well-kept secret.