The Affection Multiplier - Chapter 182: Back to School. (Patreon)

Playing roles is difficult, but necessary. Even though just a few days ago you and Emma were fucking relentlessly on your bed, you’re now just a quiet student in her classroom while she welcomes everybody back. You’ve gotten somewhat used to this odd duality to your relationship, but it never stops feeling weird.

As a general rule, you try to avoid eye contact, and the way you’ve found works the best is by just being the quiet kid of her class. That’s why you don’t participate much in the current discussion about the book you all had to read throughout the break. You already told Emma your opinion, anyway.

Though it was interesting to see how your current life changed some of those opinions. The book was about a love triangle between a guy and two women, and it’s weird (or maybe expected?) that your first thought was that if they all just got together everything would’ve been fine.

When discussing this with Sophia, she said “Maybe, but I think the guy wasn’t worth the trouble. It wouldn’t have worked out.”

The two of you then pondered in silence, looking at each other. Has living with/in a harem relationship changed your perspective on things? Given, that was just a trivial opinion on a book, but maybe it’s changing things at a deeper level.

You’re woken up from your thoughts when you hear your name. One of your classmates, someone you’ve spoken to just a few times, says.

“If David was the protagonist, there wouldn’t have been a book at all!” That prompts the class to laugh while you just lower your head and start to feel the heat go to your cheeks.

“Maybe you’re right.” Emma laughs with the class. However, to prevent anything from slipping out, she doesn’t pursue that line of thought or asks for your opinion.

Man, you really ARE back in school. After everything that happened in Japan, it feels… normal.

You sigh. 

You suppose that, technically speaking, what you’ll be doing during lunch hour is also normal by now.

_________________________________________________________

The breeze is getting less and less chillier as the days pass. Soon, more people will be coming up to the rooftop to hang out, so it won’t be a good place to meet secretly. That’s a damn shame, but inevitable.

Still, you wait here with your backpack at your side, sitting at the bench. You hear the sound of the door opening and look towards it. There, Sophia is giving Katherine a push before she disappears, closing the door and leaving the redhead stunned when her eyes meet yours.

Nervously, she walks up to you.

This was all Sophia’s idea, by the way. She said that, if you really wanted to talk to Katherine, to make it as soon as possible. That meant lunch hour of the first day of school.

You checked her score while you waited. It’s kept mostly the same since the last time you checked back before finals. Except for one thing.

-Brown, Katherine-
Affection Score: 73
Love Score: 40
Lust Score: 45 (+20)

Her lust score is rising. Is this a representation of the… frustration Sophia mentioned?

“What did she tell you?” You ask with a sympathetic smile, deciding to keep those thoughts for later.

“To come with her to the rooftop because she had something to talk about.” Katherine says, smiling wryly and relaxing a bit as she sits next to you. “Then she went all ‘Oh no! I forgot something! Anyway, good luck!’ and just left.”

“Why did she even go through all that?” You ask rhetorically.

“Beats me.”

The two of you share a light chuckle, and before things can even start to get awkward, you start again.

“Have you been getting along with her?”

“Y-yes.” She nods, and a warm smile slowly forms on her face. “It feels stupid now to think I never spoke to her just because I thought she was better than me.”

“Hindsight can be a bitch, can’t it?” You chuckle.

“Couldn’t agree more.” She joins.

“Hey, I got you a Christmas gift.” You say, suddenly changing topic and taking Katherine by surprise.

“W-What?” Her eyes widen and her body recoils. She watches you dig through your backpack and get the things she wanted. First you pull out what you know is a magazine, but you still had it wrapped as a gift for her. And it’s a big magazine! It’s about 500 pages long.

You give it to her and she takes it with shaking hands.

“W-Why?” She asks.

“I don’t need a reason to bring a friend a souvenir.” You tell her, yet instantly regretting the use of the word ‘friend’. Still, she smiles and thanks you before opening the gift carefully.

“Oh!” She gasps, seeing what it is.

“It’s the issue that released the week before Christmas. Of course, you might have read everything already in it, but still.”

“Thank you!” Katherine beams at you before flipping through the pages. “Oh! Is that why Sophia asked me what I’d get if I was in Japan?” She laughs.

“Pretty much.” You laugh with her. “She told me you also wanted a figurine.”

“Yeah, I hope I can find one cheap eventually.” She nods, still looking through the pages of the magazine. Since her eyes are glued to it, you simply put the second gift box in front of her eyes. She gets two because the magazine was cheap.

It’s a small but long box. About 20 cm long. Katherine’s jaw hangs open as she stares at you.

“My sister knows a place.” You tell her, grinning at her reaction.

Again, she takes the box from you and is very slow at opening it. Her eyes are getting watery, yet she’s smiling. She takes her hand to her mouth when she sees it’s the exact figure from the picture Sophia sent you. It’s a blonde guy in a greyish suit and a pink tie. He has his right hand in his pocket and the other outstretched.

“I w-was just…! I didn’t expect you to…!” A few tears are falling down her face right now as she smiles.

You didn’t think this would make her so happy.

“I’m sorry.” Katherine sniffs. “I must look ridiculous crying over this.”

“Don’t be. I’m glad you liked it.” You tell her, shaking your head.

“But I didn’t get you anything for Christmas. This isn’t fair.”

…

Fine. You’ll take that approach.

“If you really want to pay me back, then go on a date with me.” You say, looking directly into her eyes.

Her eyes grow even wider, her mouth slowly starts to open and she covers in again, but you can still see her cheeks blushing madly.

“W-W-W-What!?”

“Go on a date with me. That is, unless you don’t actually want to. I was just kidding when I said it would be to pay me back.” You smile wryly. “I’d also understand if you don’t want to.”

“I want to!” She quickly says, her voice coming out louder than she probably intended and apologizes for yelling. “Sorry, I… I… God, what’s wrong with me!?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” You chuckle, trying to ease her nervousness. “I’m happy you want to go with me. To be honest, I’ve… been interested in you from the moment I saw you back when that debate between you and Sophia happened.”

That manages to stop her tears and her blush, but instead it just dampened her mood.

“I… I was a total bitch that time, wasn’t I? Even after that, I just…”

“Stop it. We’ve talked about it already.” You insist. “We’ve moved on from that, and I’d like us to be, you know… maybe more than just friends.”

Oops. There’s the heat rising to her cheeks again. Those quick changes can’t be healthy.

“You… mean it?” She asks hesitantly, shifting in place as her thumb traces along her new figurine.

“I know I might be getting a reputation since I’ve… gotten together with Megan, Emily and Sophia. But I’d like you to believe me when I say that I’m not playing around. I’m asking you out because I truly think that there could be something between us. Does it bother you that I’m with other women, too?”

“I don’t know.” Katherine shakes her head. “I’ve… never had a boyfriend. I don’t even know how normal relationships work, let alone whatever it is you and the others have.”

“We’re figuring that as we go.” You offer with a shy smile.

“I guess I’m mostly worried that I’d be... a nuisance.” She admits, looking down.

You want to reject that statement entirely and immediately, but you also feel like it might be insensitive to just deny her feeling without knowing her better, first.

“Why would you think that?”

“Because! We’ve hanged out, but you still don’t know me!” She argues, almost getting mad. Is it at you or at herself?

“That’s kind of the point, isn’t it? People start dating to get to know each other better.”

“…Is it? I thought people start dating when they’re sure they’re in… in l-love.” She says, shyly.

“I’d say people only get married when they’re sure they’re in love.” You correct with a soft laugh. “And even then, a lot of them get it wrong.”

You grimace internally. It isn’t as funny when you remember that happened to Mia.

“Look, I’ll be completely honest with you, Katherine. I said I’ve been interested in you from the moment I saw you. I’m going to sound like an absolute asshole here, but do you think it was because of how sweet you were with me?”

She flinches and bites her lip. “…No.”

“It was because you’re downright beautiful, Katherine. Cute AND sexy. But if that was all I cared about, I would’ve asked Olivia out already.”

Katherine’s mouth hangs open as she stares at you, baffled. You just laugh.

“See? You understand what I mean. I wouldn’t be asking you out if I didn’t already like you for who you are and wanted to know you better.”

After staring at you, Katherine slowly breaks into a chuckle. “You’re being WAY too blunt.”

“I have to be, because I don’t want you to think I’m coating my words with honey. And to prove that…” You let out a heavy, long and tired sigh before finishing that sentence. “I have to confess a couple of very important things to you.”

______________________________________________________________

After talking to Katherine, there’s one last issue to take care of on your first day. And that’s confirming something important with Anzu. After the last bell rings, you head to the nurse’s office.

When Anzu sees you entering, her face brightens up and she’s about to stand up from her chair behind her desk to greet you but stops herself. She hides her face behind her hands and groans in frustration.

“I assume that means it didn’t go absolutely terribly?” You asks, offering her a wry smile.

“Pretty much.” She nods. “The headmistress said that, since this was a matter from outside the school, she couldn’t just tell us not to date. However, she did warn me that we shouldn’t be acting like a couple here.”

“That’s about what we expected, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but… No, it’s for the best.” She nods, as if trying to convince herself. “It’s just… not even a kiss every once in a while?”

“You can always drop by my place after work, even if it’s for a little while.” You assure her.

“Really? I wouldn’t be bothering you?”

“I get most of my stuff done from 4 to 7 am, anyway.”

“Magic again?”

You just shrug in response.

“Oh, that’s right. The other girls came to talk to me during lunch.” Anzu tells you.

“Oh. Did they? How did it go?”

“They were… very encouraging. It was a bit embarrassing.” She giggles, taking her fingers to her mouth.

“We just need to find a day when we can have a proper welcome party.” You say.

“You make it sound like a secret club.”

The two of you laugh together.

“I guess I better go. We don’t want to get in trouble.” You say.

“Yes… I’ll see you after work, then?”

“Sure. I’ll be waiting.”

You wish you could kiss her goodbye, but you better not push your luck.

What’s next?