---
## **Chapter Fifteen: The Flirt, The Flame, and The Flying Kick**
> *Location: Temporary Camp, Southern Ridge Valley*
> *Time: The Morning After Rin's System Awakening*
---
### **Scene One: The Silence Before the Roast**
The camp is unusually quiet.
Rin steps out of the supply tent, blinking against the morning sun. He stretches dramatically, only to find **everyone staring at him**.
Zara whispers to Hollis: "Is it just me or is he... taller?"
Hollis mutters, "His aura's weird. Like a drunk prince and a golden retriever had a magical baby."
Alin adds dryly, "His blood pressure is stable. His brainwaves are not."
Jane, wide-eyed and cheerful: "He *smiled* in his sleep. Repeatedly."
Rin waves. "Hey team. Miss me?"
Bai Lu says nothing. Arms folded. Eyes cold.
Lian stares like he's trying to find the real Rin underneath the idiot mask.
> *\[System Notice: Emotional Disturbance Detected – Target: Bai Lu.]*
> *\[Recalibrating Charm Offensive. Please select Flirting Style:]*
>
> A) Smooth & Sultry
> B) Sincere & Clumsy
> C) Over-the-top Anime Idiot
>
> → Rin picks **C**.
---
### **Scene Two: The Attempt**
Rin struts up to Bai Lu like a drunk peacock on a dating show.
He slicks his hair back with a bit of soup grease and clears his throat.
"Bai Lu..."
She raises an eyebrow. Slowly. Dangerously.
"You shine brighter than the moonlight on vampire baby oil. Your eyes are weapons of mass distraction. And if love was a battlefield, I'd surrender with honor. You feel me?"
Silence.
Alin closes his notebook. "I'm not documenting this."
Zara claps. "Do it again!"
Bai Lu doesn't blink. Doesn't breathe.
Then—
> *WHAM*
With a perfectly aimed spinning side-kick, she **launches Rin into a tree**.
He hits it like a cartoon character and slides down with a squeak.
> *\[System: CRITICAL HIT. Ego –25. Comedy Bonus +10. Bloodline Fusion Progress: 3%]*
Lian is somewhere between concern and schadenfreude.
He mutters: "That was the dumbest thing I've ever seen... and the most satisfying."
Jane helps Rin up, suppressing giggles.
He groans. "Worth it. My spleen disagrees, but my heart says yes."
---
### **Scene Three: Bai Lu's Inner Firestorm**
That night, Bai Lu sharpens her blade alone.
Jane walks up and says softly: "You kicked him really hard."
Bai Lu doesn't stop.
"I held back."
"But... you were blushing. I saw it."
Bai Lu stops. "I don't blush."
"You do when you're angry. And you do when you're confused."
Silence.
Then Bai Lu says, just loud enough for Jane to hear:
"He's changing. Faster than we are. And he's hiding it behind those stupid jokes."
Jane's expression softens. "He's trying to keep you all from worrying."
"I don't want him to *try*. I want him to *tell me*."
Pause.
"And yet... if he did... I don't know what I'd do."
---
### **Scene Four: Nightwatch**
Later, Rin takes the second watch.
Lian joins him with a thermos of something vaguely edible.
"You're still limping."
"I flirted with a goddess and got kicked like a goblin. I regret nothing."
"She nearly killed you."
"She nearly *felt* something."
Lian sighs. "You really believe making us laugh protects us, don't you?"
Rin shrugs. "Better than letting us cry."
Pause.
Lian hands him the thermos.
"For what it's worth... you dying would've sucked."
Rin grins. "Lian, if I die, you'll inherit all my failed pickup lines."
"I'll burn them."
"Fair."
---
### **Scene Five: Bai Lu Watches**
From the shadows, Bai Lu watches Rin laugh with Lian. Light in his eyes. Fire at his back.
She hates that it makes her heart twist.
She hates even more... that she *almost* wants him to try again.
---
> *Rin's charm may be absurd, but his truth is real.*
> *The team doesn't understand what he's becoming… but they're drawn to it anyway.*
>
> *And Bai Lu? She's afraid. Not of him. But of what she's starting to feel when he's around him