Alex's brain just about stopped working.

'Holy... shit,' he thought, his mind totally blown. 'She's a tsundere! A real-life, 100% genuine, hot-as-hell, textbook tsundere! Damn! This is... this is awesome.'

Obviously, Alex understood what was happening now. He had all of old, loser Alex's boring memories, after all. He quickly dug through the mental files... yep. Old Alex always went to her birthday parties. He went to all her stupid, boring family functions at her house. It was, like, a thing they did.

See, Alex and his family used to live super close to Julia's family. They were neighbors! Right up until his dad, Daniel, decided to move them all to this stupid street for "better business." Ugh.

So, their connection, his and Julia's, went way back. Like, way, way back. They were probably in diapers together, crawling around and stuff.

He was basically like a weird piece of extra furniture in her house. He was like a "family memento" (whatever that means) to her family, and she was the same to his. Their families were that close.

In fact... their dads... both of their dads... really wanted these two to get married. They were always talking about it, "Oh, wouldn't it be great," blah blah blah.

And both of them, Alex and Julia, always acted like it was the grossest, most puke-worthy thing anyone had ever, ever said.

"Ewww, marry him?! He's like my gross brother!"

"Ugh, are you kidding? Get her away from me! She's so annoying!"

It was like hearing someone suggest you should marry your sister. Just... barf.

...Though, now that he thought about it, diving into those old memories... Alex was pretty sure that Julia's mom didn't really like him all that much. She was always kinda... cold to him. But still... their dads were totally shipping them. Hard.

'Damn it, Alexander! You useless, original, son of a bitch! You fumbled this! You fumbled this total baddy!'

Alex had to squeeze his eyes shut for a second, his brain just... short-circuiting. He was thinking about it. He was thinking about waking up beside a super-hot, tight-bodied little baddy like her.

Waking up with her all sleepy, and warm, and wearing one of his t-shirts... or maybe... maybe wearing nothing at all. Waking up to that every morning... Holy hell. Old Alex was a moron for putting her in the "friend zone." A total, complete, idiot.

But... wait a minute. All hope was not lost. No way.

Sure, okay, he remembered from the old memories... she has a boyfriend. Some guy.

But... knowing that guy... Alex laughed in his head. That dude was a total wimp. A spineless, boring, probably-can't-even-get-it-up wimp.

Alex was so sure he could steal her. Oh, yeah. He could steal her away from that loser so easy, it wouldn't even be a challenge. It would be like taking candy from a very, very weak baby.

'Heh heh heh...' a slimy little voice thought inside his head. 'The only question is... how do I plan it? How do I plan her... corruption? How do I turn this cute little tsundere girl-next-door... into my little toy?'

[Boss. Ahem. Boss? If she does have a boyfriend... then it's better to farm those sweet, sweet NTR points first. Just a suggestion.]

Alex's eyes narrowed at the system's stupid suggestion.

NTR points.

What the hell even was that? He still didn't have a single clue what that meant. It sounded weird. It sounded... sleazy. He was so excited about getting rich, so totally focused on his beautiful, wonderful cheque, that he just... totally forgot to even ask about it.

'Ugh. Whatever,' he thought, pushing it away. 'I'll think about all that weird "NTR" crap after I go cashing in my cheque. Money first. Always.'

And... not to mention... if he gets rich... like, super rich, which he was about to be...

He wouldn't even need this stupid, annoying system. He wouldn't need its weird "boons" or its "points" that probably came with some stupid, secret price.

Why?

Because he'd have money!

He could just throw giant piles of money at any problem. He could throw money at her. He could get anything he wants. Anyone he wants. Money was the real ultimate power. Not some stupid, invisible system talking in his head.

He made sure he didn't think that last part too loud inside his mind. He didn't want the system to know he was already planning to ditch it. He had to be sneaky.

"Hmpff?" he said out loud, faking a little gasp of his own.

He turned back to her, and he put on a show.

"You... you really think," he said, his voice suddenly full of so much drama. He put his hand on his chest, right over his heart, like he was about to pledge allegiance or something.

"...that I... your one... your only... your true best friend... could ever miss your birthday?"

He finished the line by looking up at the sky, like a total diva. Like he was the star of a soap opera who just delivered the most important line in history. He was so full of shit. And he was loving it.

"Yeah, you better not!" she huffed, finally uncrossing her arms. But she was still trying to look all tough and mad. "I mean it, Alex! I only... I only asked you about it because... well..."

Her whole face softened up. Ugh.

"You just seemed so down these past few months," Juliana said, her voice getting all quiet. "Like, really, really down. Not like you at all." She finally looked away from him, her eyes scanning the busy, noisy street like she was embarrassed or something.

'Down? Me? What?!' Alex's brain went into full-on panic mode. 'Why the hell was the old, stupid Alexander "down"? What did that loser do? Did he, like... do something he regrets? Did he get dumped? Did his dog die?'

He frantically searched all the old memories, digging and digging. And... nothing. There was no file labeled "WHY I WAS A BIG SAD EMO LOSER FOR THREE MONTHS." He had no idea what she was talking about. This was bad.

'This guy must have done something stupid! Or else why didn't he go to the party meeting where even the literal princess is present!!'

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