Chapter 6: 6: Paving the Way with Mile

Dinner didn't take long to arrive. I waited for the delivery guy to leave before grabbing the food from the front porch and bringing it to the dinner table. Today's order seemed to be burgers.

A few seconds after texting everyone "Food's here" I heard loud thumping as Noitte ran down the stairs and up to the table.

"Which ones are mine and Season's?"

As usual it seemed they would be eating in their rooms. Well, that actually works for me today.

"Here." I said, handing her two of the boxes.

With a quick "Thanks!" she took them and noisily ran back up the stairs. 

I took a third box, marked with "chicken" and sat it in front of Mile's usual seat before grabbing the last box and sitting across from it.

As I waited for Mile, I opened up my food and took a few fries from the box.

Salty as usual.

"Aww! I just realized I can't eat burgers!"

Fig complained loudly as she flew out of my chest once again, still completely naked for some reason. 

She floated over to Mile's food and phased her head through the box as she tried to look inside. She quickly phased her entire upper half into the box, leaving behind just a pair of slender legs, her perky butt, and enough light blue hair to frame them nicely.

Wait, is it weird to compliment my skill's ass? It feels weird, but I also can't look away.

As I was pondering this dilemma for the ages, I heard the sound of someone coming down the stairs again, this time much slower than before.

Hopefully it's Mile this time.

As for the blatant distraction…

"Fig, could you please put on some clothes?" I whispered.

Fig stood and turned around, looking at me with confusion written on her face. All of the peach colored skin on the front half of her body was suddenly exposed to me at once, causing me to stare once again despite my previous words. 

"Huh? But why? It's not like she can see me?"

"It's distracting!"

After a moment of confusion, Fig started to laugh as her face slackened. 

"Hehehe!" 

Fig smiled lewdly as she turned around and faced her ass towards me once again, bending forward and tilting it upwards to emphasize it as much as possible. She started slowly shaking her butt from side to side as she looked over her shoulder at me.

"Come on! You know you like it! Wouldn't it be super hot to watch me dance for you while your stepmom sat there totally oblivious?"

It… kind of would be actually … but I wanted to focus on this conversation, and seeing Fig shaking her butt in front of me like that was just… too much. 

"Fig. Clothes. Now please."

"Boo! Fine."

She groaned and put on the most disappointed face she could muster, but nonetheless stood up straight as the black catsuit from before slowly faded into existence, finally covering her up… sort of.

Mile had reached the bottom of the stairs by the time the clothes solidified, so I quickly whispered one last order to Fig.

"No funny business okay? Just help me with Mile."

"Yeah yeah, I know." Fig replied, sounding strangely dejected.

"Is this one mine, Conor?"

Mile finally made her way to the table, having changed out of her work clothes and into a slightly looser T shirt and a pair of sweatpants. Although I said "slightly looser" that's only relative to the shirt that looked like it was about to tear before. The shape of her breasts was still completely unobscured as she began picking up her food from the table. She was probably planning to eat in her room since Season and Noitte weren't eating with us and I usually didn't like to talk during dinner.

Today was different, though.

"Uh, hey Mile, can I ask you something real quick?"

Seemingly caught off guard by the fact that I had something I actively wanted to talk about, Mile paused for a second before setting her box back down and looking over at me with a gentle smile on her face.

"Of course, honey. What's up?"

"Well, I was looking through some job listings-"

"Oh!"

Mile's eyes lit up as her face quickly became a mixture of unconcealed shock and happiness.

No no no, even if you're surprised, that's just plain an overreaction isn't it?

"...er, so I was going through the local listings and I think I've narrowed it down to two for now, so I wanted to know if you had any advice on-"

"Of course sweetie!"

Mile sat down in front of me as she interrupted my words once again, her food apparently forgotten in the face of me actually doing something with my life.

Okay. Let's put her reaction aside for now and just focus on the jobs. I felt that any workplace I went for needed to meet three requirements.

First: it needed to be somewhere locally run. I needed to be able to meet the person in charge so that I could control them and make my life easier. Also, Corruption probably wouldn't work over camera, so if some corporate HQ ever checked security footage and caught me doing something shady, that would be the end.

Second: it needed to be somewhere I could work with a high-school diploma that still had some degree of opportunity in the long term. I didn't plan to do my job the legit way, but I still wanted to do something and make some extra money. 

And third: it needed enough private space for me to do what I wanted without having to worry about a random customer walking in and interrupting my fun.

Given these criteria, one particular place came to mind.

"So the first place was actually Richard's."

"Really!?"

Mile's face grew even brighter at the mention of the supermarket she worked at, probably specifically at the prospect of me working with her.

Richard's was a local supermarket that was opened about a decade ago in the building left behind when a major chain relocated. It had plenty of space in the back, the owner was a friend of Mile's, and as long as I could corrupt the owner and managers a bit I could get promotions as fast as I wanted. Add on that the manager for the day shift was Mile, and it became an easy first choice.

After a moment of joy, Mile's face began to drop as she seemed to remember something.

"Conor, you know the only positions we have open are for day shift cashiers and stockers, right? That would mean that you're interacting with a lot of different people every day, you know? Are you sure you're up for that right now?"

As expected of a woman who's known me for twenty years, she immediately spotted the most obvious problem. She asked it as a question, but it was one we both clearly knew the answer to: no.

Simply put: I couldn't handle social interactions. I dropped out of college over it, I couldn't hold a job because of it, and these days I could barely handle going to a convenience store, let alone a supermarket.

Plainly speaking: Mile was entirely right, and me working at a supermarket like Richard's where dozens or hundreds of people would be in my face every day would be a recipe for self-destruction.

That is, if I did things normally.

With Corruption, I could have my cake and eat it too. A few days of work and I could be given a job to do in the back if I wanted. I'd never have to deal with any customers while I get paid and have a nice place to mess around in.

Even so, I probably needed to convince Mile that I could handle the job normally if I wanted things to go smoothly.

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"Well… I'm pretty sure I can do it, Mile. I mean, it's about time for me to work on overcoming my anxiety and get back to doing things, right?"

She furrowed her brow a bit as she listened to my words. She obviously wasn't convinced, and I couldn't really blame her.

"I… I'm glad you think that way, Conor, but aren't you rushing a little?"

Yes, yes I am, but I obviously can't say that.

"I'm just tired of sitting around doing nothing, Mile. I feel like I can do a lot more, and this seems like the best way to do that and… get myself back out into the world, I guess?"

Mile made a strange face as she looked at me in confusion. Well, I was suddenly talking about jobs and doing more after over five years of adamantly retaining my NEET status and avoiding people. I'd be suspicious too.

"Conor… what brought this on all of a sudden?"

"It's… complicated, but I really do think getting a job and working around people will help me do better in the long term."

Mile still wore a troubled expression as she put a hand under her chin, probably trying to figure out if there was some weird angle to what I was saying. 

There is a weird angle, of course, but not whichever one she's thinking of. Instead of letting her guess, I played what I felt was my strongest card in dealing with Mile.

"It would really mean a lot to me if you could support me in getting this job."

She looked shocked for a moment as she processed my words, her concerned frown slowly relaxing before being replaced by a gentle smile. The easiest way to get Mile to agree to something has always been to make her feel depended on, and this time was no different.

"Well… maybe you're right. It might be a good way to help you get back on your feet, and I'll be there to help you so it should probably be fine."

I decided to make my move while she was on an emotional upswing.

Corruption.

I felt my energy drain out of me as I activated my skill for the second time. Although I felt like my energy had come back to some extent over the last few hours, I was sure I wouldn't be able to use it a third time today.

While I thought about my energy, Mile's expression slowly dropped as she entered a trance.

"Woohoo! MILF time!"

Fig shouted excitedly as she flew off of the table (where she'd been behaving surprisingly well) and landed on Mile's shoulder.

"Hey Conor! What's the plan for her?"

Listening carefully, I couldn't hear Season or Noitte coming out of their rooms, so I began to question Fig in a low voice.

"Hey Fig, can you tell how she feels about me like you could with Luce?"

"Uh, yeah? It's basically nothing but love and concern in there, but it'll be hard to do anything fun since it's all maternal."

That was fine by me for now. If I could only use my skill twice per day it would be hard to get her, Season, and Noitte under control all at once in a short period of time. Even if I could directly use my skill to "do anything fun" today, I'd have to pass on it since the risk of getting caught by one of my stepsisters was just too high.

My goal for today was much easier to achieve: making her easier to work with.

"Okay Mile, you want us to be closer to each other as stepmother and stepson, and the best way to do that is to support me as much as possible and make sure I am taken care of both at home and at work."

Having given my suggestion, I waited as the air around me began to shift and… did nothing?

I glanced at Fig, confused, only to see her looking back at me with her mouth hanging open and her eyebrows raised in exasperation.

"Hey Conor… are you stupid?"

"What's that supposed to mean!"

"I mean! You may as well have told her she should breathe air or sleep at night, idiot!"

"You're… you!"

I wanted to argue back, but something seemed to click in my head as I thought about  what she said. In other words: Mile was already trying to support me as best as she could, and already planned to do so at work as well…

I was caught between feeling thankful and frustrated. Of course it feels good to know that someone loves you and wants to do their best for you, but just how was I supposed to react to that normally! I just didn't see her that way, and probably never could!

My head started to hurt again as I leaned back in my chair and absent-mindedly threw some fries into my mouth.

I wanted to give her the love she seemed to want from me, but I just couldn't do so from the position of a son…

It was something I knew I needed to address, and felt confident that I would be able to, thanks to Corruption, but for now I needed to focus on what I came here for: making sure I could get a convenient job.

Looking into Mile's empty eyes once again, I carefully considered what I needed from her, then tried again.

"Since you are already going to try your best to support me, you feel like you should do so as diligently as possible. You want to prioritize me at work and make sure that any trouble or distraction I run into gets taken care of immediately."

This time I felt a weak shift in the air, followed by a slow movement of the energy around us as it flowed towards Mile. It felt completely different than the way the air quickly rushed at Luce earlier, maybe because of the difficulty of the command. I'd have to test more to be sure. 

As I thought, Fig floated off Mile's shoulder and stretched while yawning loudly as she floated towards me.

"Hoooo~ I feel exhausted. I don't think I can do much more today, so I'm going to hit the hay, okay?"

Saying that, she floated towards me and disappeared into my chest before I could reply.

"Night Conor!"

I heard her voice one more time from inside my head.

I was also feeling pretty sleepy despite the fact that it was barely six, the feeling of using up most of my mana brought an unfamiliar tiredness to my mind and body.

That said…

"Hmm?"

Mile quietly voiced her confusion as she blinked a few times and slowly looked around her.

"Sorry sweetie. What were you saying?"

"Er, just that I'd really appreciate it if you could help me to get the job at Richard's?"

"Right! Of course!"

Mile jumped up in her seat a little as she remembered our conversation. She leaned forward as she started speaking, and I tried to ignore the sight of her breasts deforming against the table as she did. 

"I can't just give you the job, of course, but I can help you through the application and make sure it goes through quickly. Also-"

Mile continued going through the fastest possible process to get me a job at the supermarket. I listened as closely as I could, taking out my phone to start filling out the application as she spoke.

I was caught up in listening to Mile as she excitedly but carefully guided me through the application, and then in finding my documents scattered around the house. I was so busy that I barely noticed when Season and Noitte came down and looked curiously at what was going on, or when they had shocked expressions upon realizing that I was looking to apply for an actual job at the supermarket.

Yep, barely noticed at all…

Like that, I spent about two hours filling out an application and looking for required documents. Fig, for her part, stayed silent the whole time, apparently actually sleeping while I worked. 

Exhausted by the unusual amount of effort, the bizarre and exciting day, and my drained mana, I collapsed on the couch shortly after submitting everything and watching Mile cheerfully go upstairs.

I usually stayed up late into the night indulging in video games and other "media", but tonight I felt too tired to focus. Shortly after my head hit the cushion, I fell asleep.

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