You really are a scumbag

Jerome held the bulging paper bag a little farther toward Ririko.

Ririko took it with a look of distaste and found it surprisingly heavy.

She glanced down into the bag. Inside was a round object wrapped in foil.

She peeled back a corner of the foil, and the aromas of beef, rich cheese, wheat bread, and fresh cucumber wafted up.

This time, it really was a beef burger!

She stared warily at Jerome. "Is this a real burger? You didn't stuff some doll inside to mess with me?"

Jerome flashed a wicked grin.

Ririko couldn't find an answer on that eerie face of his.

Clutching the paper bag, she found a secluded spot in the recreation room.

It was a corner between the wall and two tables. From the recreation room's entrance, only the top of her head and one of Jerome's shoulders were visible.

She sat down, opened the bag, and took out the burger to take a bite.

The beef patty's juices burst across her tongue. The salty richness of the cheese and the tangy crunch of the cucumber mingled with them, becoming a warm, hearty mouthful of deliciousness.

Jerome sat beside her with both hands on his knees, his eyes fixed on her face as she ate.

Ririko swallowed her mouthful of burger, raised her head, and studied him suspiciously.

"Are you actually stupid, or are you pretending?"

She had every reason to suspect he was putting on an act.

Jerome tilted his head, as if she'd asked a rather strange question.

"I'm plenty smart. Why are you calling me stupid?"

He even puffed out his chest to prove how smart he was.

Ririko sighed. An idiot never realized he was an idiot. Asking was pointless.

She kept eating her burger and changed the question.

"How did you get caught and thrown in here? You're Jerome."

That question suddenly perked Jerome up.

"I shot my dad dead." He mimed firing a gun with his right hand. "Then put him in City Square as a decoration."

Then he looked thoughtful.

"Guess the decoration was too ugly, so they locked me up."

Seeing Ririko's puzzled expression, he added:

"Next time, I'll make a prettier one."

He began gesturing as he planned which poor soul to turn into a more creative decoration for the square next time.

Ririko thought that something had gone seriously wrong with this timeline.

During her many previous resets, she had already witnessed Jerome's terrifying nature as an NPC.

Jerome Valeska should have amounted to far more than "shot his own father dead and got locked up in Arkham."

He could bring everyone pure, primal terror and utter despair.

Had taking the Waynes' place in Crime Alley messed up the timeline?

As she pondered this, her right eye narrowed slightly.

Herman stood at the recreation room's entrance, staring intently in their direction.

The corner of Ririko's mouth lifted.

She leaned a little closer to Jerome, raised her right hand, and reached toward his cheek.

Jerome froze for a moment, but he didn't pull away.

"You've got burger crumbs at the corner of your mouth," she told him.

She moved closer naturally, gently brushing the corner of his mouth with her fingertips.

"There." She smiled at him.

In truth, there was nothing at the corner of Jerome's mouth.

Ririko simply wanted Herman, who was standing in the doorway, to see the intimate way she behaved with Jerome.

She could touch him, and he didn't refuse.

That gesture was more powerful than any words, more lethal than any show of defiance, and more cutting than anything she could say to the woman standing in the doorway, consumed by extreme jealousy of her.

Herman's expression changed.

Ririko's lips curved. She had won this round.

Jerome, meanwhile, froze beside her. His brain seemed to crash and reboot several times before he suddenly understood something.

He jerked backward, springing clean off his chair, his eyes wide and round.

[Infatuation value +1. Current infatuation value: 16/100]

[Infatuation stage interpretation: He finds you increasingly interesting]

Ririko glanced at the number.

Jerome raised his hands, palms outward, and waved them wildly, as though trying to tell Ririko he needed some space to figure out what had just happened.

"I'm not eating burgers tomorrow," Jerome said at top speed.

Watching his exaggerated reaction and hearing those baffling words, Ririko asked:

"If you're not eating burgers, what are you going to eat?"

Jerome's lips moved a few times, as if he were trying to rephrase.

"Anything but burgers."

Ririko wondered whether she'd gone a little too far. But she'd only touched the corner of his mouth, not bitten him. Did he really need to react like that?

"Just bring me something tasty," Ririko said.

Jerome finally lowered his hands. His gaze roamed over Ririko's face a couple of times, and he suddenly smiled.

"You've got breadcrumbs at the corner of your mouth too."

As he spoke, his thumb and forefinger were already reaching toward her.

Ririko instinctively covered her mouth and ducked away.

"I can do it myself." Her voice held a hint of panic. She hadn't expected him to turn around and wipe her mouth.

"We're partners. We should help each other."

Jerome sounded perfectly harmless, determined to return her "favor."

Ririko covered her face. She had no desire to let this unhinged young man touch her pretty face.

"Valeska!"

Harley Quinn's voice cut across the room from the entrance.

Jerome stopped abruptly, like a cat caught by the scruff of its neck.

Harley saw Jerome reaching toward Ririko's face and reached a conclusion in under two seconds:

Jerome had indecent intentions toward Ririko.

She drew a deep breath and said bitterly, "You really are a scumbag."

Ririko suddenly remembered that she'd bad-mouthed Jerome to Harley.

She hadn't expected that blade to come flying back at her.

In Harley's eyes, Jerome now had a "record" and had been caught red-handed. The charge of "scumbag" was proven.

Jerome mechanically turned his head toward Harley.

"What's a scumbag?" he asked sincerely.

"You, when you're blinded by lust like this." Harley lowered her voice. "Looks like your treatment hasn't been thorough enough."

At the word "treatment," Jerome's pupils abruptly contracted.

In a flash, he sat primly on his chair, his back ramrod straight.

"I'm behaving now. I'm not blinded by lust."

Ririko saw that Harley Quinn's gaze was full of disgust as she looked at Jerome.

This love-struck Gotham couple had actually fallen out completely thanks to her meddling. Live long enough, and you really did see everything.

While Harley was scolding Jerome, Ririko darted behind her and said:

"That Herman is awful. She won't let me eat. I'm starving to death."

She trusted Harley to recognize that she was asking for help.

Harley continued snapping at Jerome. "Valeska, come with me."

Jerome obediently stood up.

He cast a reluctant glance at Ririko, some complicated emotion in his eyes.

Ririko stood where she was, watching him disappear past the recreation room doorway.

She looked down at the floor, then bent to pick up the Clown Doll.

When Ririko returned to the Isolation Ward, a palm pressed against her back and shoved hard.

The hand sent her stumbling half a step forward.

"You're a man-seducing slut."

Herman's voice came from behind Ririko.

Ririko spun around.

Herman stood before her, her face flushed, her nostrils flaring, her buffalo-like chest heaving.

Ririko studied that face twisted by jealousy.

This bitch actually dared to insult me?

She raised her hand and slapped Herman across the face with a sharp smack.

Herman's head instantly snapped about fifteen degrees to the right. She turned back and drew the gun at her waist.

"You dare shoot?" Standing beneath the surveillance camera, Ririko stared coldly and arrogantly at Herman, who was half a head taller than her.

Herman hesitated.

Ririko stepped forward. "Why don't you go tell Hugo how I seduce people?"

She deliberately called him "Hugo." In Arkham, she was the only one who dared address him by his first name.

Herman's eyelid twitched.

Ririko continued, "There are so many guards in Arkham. He doesn't care about you at all. I'm the only one he values..."

She flicked her hair and said, enunciating every word, "You should take a good, hard look at your position and realize just how insignificant you are."

Herman's fingers trembled. Finally, she lowered her gun hand and sneered. "Don't expect to eat anything for the next few days."

She turned away, and the iron door slammed shut in Ririko's face.

Ririko turned to face the camera in the corner of the ceiling.

Its tiny red light glowed like an eye that never closed.

She lifted her chin and said to the camera:

"If I starve to death in here, your experiment is over."