Tentacle Monster, but With a Romance System

I'm a tentacle monster, the kind that can change shape at will.

But I prefer my soft pink, springy tentacle form. Every cute human who sees my tentacles is so overwhelmed by my cuteness that their eyes widen, their whole bodies tremble, and they faint.

Naturally, a universally beloved being like me would be bound to a System called ☆The Absolutely Amazing Romance Master Conquest Handbook☆.

All I have to do is conquer my love interests and reach a sweet happy ending!

Hahaha!

After getting a bad ending a hundred times in a row, I calmly wrap a tentacle around the game console and crush it: There must be a bug.

Looking at a hundred beautiful CGs of my different conquest targets peacefully asleep, I can only obediently follow the System's instructions.

System (closing its eyes in pain): First... you have to turn into a human! And second... take a good look! Those conquest targets aren't asleep. You got the death ending, you hear me?!

The System's conquest rules:

1. Humans are fragile, so stay in human form.

2. Humans are timid, so don't eat in front of them.

3. Humans are cunning. Saying they love you doesn't mean you've conquered them, so don't get carried away and reveal your tentacles.

-

After Gojo-sensei brought back Okkotsu, who looked shy and frail but was actually a terrifying Special Grade, everyone saw the pink-haired boy hiding behind Gojo-sensei, only daring to greet them from there. They didn't take his cute, innocent, and weak appearance at face value.

But after spending more time with him, they realized...

Panda: Aside from being a bit of a glutton, Hoshina seems pretty normal.

Tsukimizato Hoshina covers his mouth and hurriedly swallows the Special Grade Cursed Spirit in his mouth. Before his classmates notice, he retracts his tentacles and smiles, sweet and innocent.

Maki: Yeah, and he gets lost all the time. If you don't keep an eye on him, he'll wander off in the blink of an eye.

Tsukimizato Hoshina: There are cute humans everywhere! I could suck them dry all day and still never get enough!

Okkotsu: I don't know why, but Rika really hates Hoshina. She refuses to come out whenever she sees him.

Tsukimizato Hoshina: Yuta, are you carrying anything tasty? It smells so good. I want to take a bite.

Inumaki: Salmon.

Tsukimizato Hoshina: (chewing) That one just now (the Cursed Spirit) really did taste like salmon. I want to eat another one.

But the strangest thing is that Tsukimizato Hoshina is incredibly clingy with Gojo-sensei!!!

Tsukimizato Hoshina: Sensei isn't scared of my tentacles at all! Yay! This conquest is going to be easy!

Gojo: (being tossed up high by tentacles) Can you go higher?! Woohoo!

-

Ever since they started taking missions with Tsukimizato Hoshina, Cursed Spirits have been easier to deal with, and missions get wrapped up in no time. The higher-ups gradually start sending them to Yokohama, a place with a wholesome local culture, for exchange visits.

But somehow, something doesn't feel right.

A ginger-haired mafia executive accidentally bumps into the pink-haired student from Tokyo Jujutsu High, who's visiting the Port Mafia building to observe and learn. Strange, nonexistent images suddenly appear in his mind:

[In a pitch-black, sealed cell, sweet, soft pink tentacles fill the entire room. In their midst, the ginger-haired boy is a precious treasure, lovingly wrapped in their coils.

His face is flushed, and he trembles as tentacles covered in tiny spines brush against his whole body.

He has just mustered the strength to scold it, but it affectionately presses its thinnest, cutest, softest tentacle against his lips, silencing him. All he can do is helplessly gather tears in his eyes, which it tenderly licks away with its suction cups.]

The ginger-haired executive instantly goes rigid, as if struck by lightning. He leaves work early for the first time ever, and whenever he spots that pink-haired figure from a distance, he runs off in a hurry.

The Tokyo Jujutsu High students: ?

The silver-haired young man from the Armed Detective Agency is chosen to show the Tokyo Jujutsu High students around, but when he sees Tsukimizato Hoshina, his eyes widen in shock.

[In a strange, inverted dream of beauty, it envelops all of Yokohama with its irresistible, terrifying power. Its tentacles blot out the sky and reveal their menacing faces, all to protect the white tiger who was abandoned and abused at an orphanage.

But he is afraid.

He trembles beneath the tentacles' gentle caresses, and for the first time, refuses its touch.

And so, it never appears again.]

The young man introduced as the powerful ability user "Man-Tiger" suddenly sheds sparkling tears in front of everyone, murmuring to himself:

"I could have done anything... Please come back... Don't leave me behind..."

The students watch one suspicious person after another turn strange, dazed, and break down in tears after meeting Tsukimizato Hoshina. They turn their eyes to the pink-haired boy, who seems oblivious to everything and remains as sweet and innocent as ever.

We absolutely have to protect Hoshina! Yokohama is so dangerous!

#How was I supposed to know my conquest targets would see snippets from the bad endings I'd already played?!

#No, no, I refuse to admit it

#I'm just a cute, weak human, that's all

Reader notes:

1. A naturally clueless, secretly dark tentacle monster, with a huge gap between how it sees humans and how it sees itself. It thinks it's a cute, adorable little octopus, but it's actually an overpowered boss monster.

2. The timeline has been heavily altered. It won't deeply involve itself in the original plot, and will steamroll everything. This was mainly written to indulge my personal tastes.

3. Although it uses its tentacles to cuddle its conquest targets, Hoshina is the shou.

4. Blurb written on 24.10.04. The first version feels a little long, so it may be revised later, but the central premise won't change.

Theme: Love can bring about anything