The Affection Multiplier - Chapter 229: The important meeting with Olivia, Lilian and Jessica. (Patreon)

You try your best to concentrate on the book in front of you while laying on your bed, but every ten words or so you end up glancing at the door. Impatience and a bit of nervousness make your heart beat faster than usual. Olivia, Lilian and Jessica said they’d be coming here to talk. You need to tell them about the multiplier, after all. And that’s what has you a bit on edge.

Olivia knows and accepted it, but you wonder if Jessica and Lilian will take it just as well. So far, every girl you’ve told this to has come to accept it, but that doesn’t mean it’s a rule. You groan, fearing that the revelation might upset them. You should’ve told them sooner, before you even wanted a relationship with them, before you cared what they thought of it.

If they’d been upset, you would’ve just dismissed it. After all, you didn’t owe them anything. But now that you have genuine feelings for them, you’re afraid they’ll just… walk away. Perhaps those fears are unfounded, since their affection scores are high enough that, even if they are against the multiplier, they’d forgive you. But even so, the pressure in your chest lingers.

You rise from the bed the moment you hear the knock on the door. You take a couple of seconds to calm yourself, remembering that you’ve done this before. What’s more, Olivia already knows. She’ll help… right?

You open the door and see them standing there, having changed from their school uniforms into casual clothes. You’re about to greet them when Olivia leans in and locks her lips with yours, her tongue meeting yours for but a moment before she pulls away.

“Hello.” She says, smirking proudly for taking you by surprise.

“Y-Yes, hello.” You say with a goofy smile, trying to shake off the shock. Jessica’s not helping, though, because as soon as Olivia goes into the room, she wraps her arms around your waist and gives you a passionate, if short, kiss as well.

“Good afternoon.” She says, giggling to herself.

You let out a soft breath and give her a smile. “Good afternoon.”

Pleased with herself and your reaction, she also goes inside.

And while you were preparing yourself for Lilian to mimic her friends, seeing her hesitantly and nervously walk up to you makes you scold yourself. You remind yourself that she’s trying to not simply follow what her friends do, but find her own pace. So instead, it’s you who makes a move. You wrap an arm around her waist and pull her to you. She lets out a small yelp of surprise, but calm down when she meets your eyes. You lean in and gently press your lips against hers.

You feel her body relax in your arms. She puts her hands on your shoulders and eagerly returns the gentle kiss. You break it after a few seconds and smile at her.

“Hello.” You greet her.

“Y-Yeah.” She lets out a soft sigh and smiles at you. She gives you a quick kiss on the cheek and whispers a quick “Thanks” before going inside with the others, who seem to be nodding in approval.

“Okay. Let’s get the boring stuff out of the way.” Olivia says, taking a seat at the table along with her friends. “Tell them what you told me.”

“We asked her,” Jessica starts. “But all the said was ‘It’s magic bullshit, but whatever’.”

“Only got us more curious.” Lilian nods.

“You have a way with words, don’t you?” You chuckle, taking your own seat at the head of the table.

“You said you’d tell them.” Olivia shrugs.

“Alright then.” You clear your throat before starting. “The thing is, Katherine and Olivia aren’t lying. I do have magic bullshit.” You admit with a sheepish smile.

You tell Jessica and Lilian what you’ve told everyone else. You watch their faces carefully, but notice how they look more confused than anything else.

“So it’s not mind control? Katherine made it sound like it.” Jessica says.

“Yeah, I thought the same.” Olivia nods in agreement.

“So… it makes people like you faster. But if… I didn’t like you at all, then it’d have no effect?”

“Pretty much.” You confirm. “Although I do have a thing that makes it so that people who dislike me start… um… disliking me less? If I put it in terms of scores, it slowly diminishes negative scores without making them positives.”

“Okay, I get it, but more importantly…” Lilian narrows her eyes at you. “You’ve know exactly how we’ve felt about you this whole time, then.”

You flinch.

“Oh! You’re right!” Olivia realizes. She then looks at you with an annoyed scowl. “And here I was hiding it like an idiot and you already knew!”

That makes both Lilian and Jessica snicker.

“What’s so funny.”

“Please, Olivia! You were TERRIBLE at hiding it!” Lilian laughs.

“I bet half the school knew!” Jessica laughs with her.

“…Yeah, okay.” Olivia groans and just drops it. “Still, it means you knew and still acted like you didn’t!”

“Well, what did you want me to do? It’s not like we were in the best of terms.” You tell her.

“Yes, but, but…! Ah, screw it. Whatever.” Olivia says, crossing her arms and slumping in her chair.

“I told him how I felt only days after I started feeling that way, so it’s irrelevant for me.” Jessica laughs.

“Then spill it. What are the numbers?” Lilian asks.

“You want to know?” You ask, a little apprehensive about it.

“Of course. Wouldn’t you be curious?” She asks.

“I guess I am. I know the AMA tracks my scores with people, but keeps them hidden.” You tell them.

“I want to hear it too.” Jessica says and Olivia agrees.

“Okay, fine.”

-Hughes, Olivia-
Affection Score: 96
Love Score: 92
Lust Score: 95

-Ramirez, Jessica-
Affection Score: 98
Love score: 90
Lust score: 92

-Reed, Lilian-
Affection Score: 92
Love Score: 50
Lust Score: 80

Available points: 490 Friendship points / 450 Love points / 550 Lust points

“That… sound about right, actually.” Olivia nods.

“Yeah, I’d say it’s pretty accurate.” Jessica says.

“So… I’m the lowest score?” Lilian asks with a complicated expression.

“Did you know Sophia and I got together before a love score even showed up?” You tell them as a small piece of trivia. The girl in question will probably give you an earful later, but you feel like it’ll be good for Lilian to hear this.

“S-Seriously?” The blonde girl grins. “So you just wanted to…”

“Pretty much.” You nod casually. “And I feel like I should stress this. I don’t give a damn about scores.”

“What?” Olivia asks.

“I used to care a lot before, but I while it’s certainly useful information, I understand that you can’t just see people as a number on a screen.” You tell them, looking at each of them firmly in the eyes. “There might be some occult shit going on here, but whatever it is, it doesn’t make you girls any less you. Your feelings are your own. I’ve questioned it for a long enough time to be sure of it. Your feeling for me, whatever they may be, are not any less real than my feelings for you.”

You smile sheepishly.

“Weird as everything’s been, I have to admit it. I’m in love with you girls. The three of you. It’s because I’m such a greedy bastard that I’ve made use of this tool to let me not have to make a choice. I want you three. I want the others as well. And I’ll do everything I need to make that possible.”

The girls look at each other, chuckling at an unspoken conversation.

“You know,” Lilian smirks. “I do like a man willing to take what he wants.”

“I have to agree with you there.” Olivia says, giving you a sexy smile.

“Yeah. Something about that vibe you give when you get like that is just so sexy.” Jessica giggles.

“Oh yeah?” You can’t help but chuckle. “Well, it’s difficult not to get this possessive when I have you in front of me.”

“Getting smooth, are we?” Olivia smirks.

“I don’t know. I’m just saying what I think.” You sigh contently. “But I mean it. I’m not going about this half-heartedly.” You give Lilian a reassuring smile. “Not with any of you.”

You glance at your phone. “I seriously have no idea why I was suddenly given this thing, but I want to make the best of it. For me and everyone else I hold dear. That includes you three, now.” You admit with a shy smile.

“Ugh. The others warned us, but it’s really weird how effective those corny lines are.” Olivia groans. “But hey, before anything else, you need to set something straight.”

“Hm?”

“You still haven’t officially asked Lilian to be your girlfriend.” She says, grinning teasingly as she looks at her friend.

“O-Olivia!”

“Oh, you know you want to hear it.” Jessica giggles.

“B-But it’s embarrassing!”

“I thought I was being explicit enough when I said I wanted you three.” You say, scratching the back of your head. “But I guess I have yet to hear it from her.”

“Lilian, I already told you how I feel, but what about you? Do you think there can be something between us?”

“…Ugh, this is too much.” She lets out a heavy sigh to brush of the embarrassment. “But… yes, I think so. There’s a lot I have to understand about myself, but I think I’d like to find out… with you.”

“It makes me happy to hear that.” You tell her. Her face starts getting red again when she sees you smiling at her. Really, her blushes are very noticeable.

“Good. Now that that’s clear, there’s… something else we need to tell you. Just to avoid confusion.” Olivia says, grimacing.

“Uh?”

Jessica mirrors Olivia’s face.

“…” Lilian doesn’t say anything either, but bites her lip hard enough to leave a mark.

“Alright. What is it?”

“Lilian and Jessica are virgins,” Olivia says with a sigh. “But I’m not. Though you may have guessed that.”

You smile wryly as you answer. “To be honest, I didn’t know what to think. I still don’t know what to make of it, considering you’ve been very clear about not trusting anyone.”

“Y-Yeah…” Olivia sighs.

“Don’t get the wrong idea, though.” Lilian frowns. “It wasn’t with a boyfriend or anyone she liked. The opposite, actually.”

“Girls, I don’t think we need to tell him that much.” Olivia says, looking nervous.

“You already started.” Lilian tells her. “And I bet he’s already getting ideas, even if I just told him not to.”

“…” You sigh. “Just to be clear here, it’s not like I have any room to judge regarding previous partners.” You smile sheepishly. “You probably already know that my first was Emma. Since then, I’ve been with seven other women. I guess that makes me a slut by definition.” You laugh.

“…I was just joking when I called you that.” Olivia says. “It’s different. You care about these women. I…”

“It happened on our senior high school year.” Jessica starts. Olivia looks at her with a weak, silent plea to keep silent, but Jessica ignores it. “We screwed up on our midterm exams. It was bad enough that it put us in serious danger of failing the year.”

“That’s when our math teacher approached Jessica.” Lilian says with a look of utter disgust. “He told her that, if she was willing to have sex with him, he’d fix our grades.”

“I asked him to give me some time to think.” Jessica says, nodding and looking downcast. “I couldn’t hold it and told Lilian and Olivia.”

“You know how men hurt Jessica before, right?” Lilian asks. “Even so, she was going to do it. That is, until Olivia told her not to.”

The girl in question looks away from you.

“She ended up convincing the teacher to settle for her instead of me.” Jessica says, her voice weak and her eyes watering.

“And the bastard wasn’t happy with just one time.” Olivia snarls in disgust. “The motherfucker tried to blackmail me into becoming his personal bitch.”

Your chest tightens, but you keep quiet and listen.

“So Olivia decided to, well, be Olivia.” Lilian can’t help the small grin. “We found all the dirt we could on him. Turns out he’d done the same at another school with two girls.”

“We also caught him groping women in public transport and took pictures of him.” Jessica says with a small smile.

“We didn’t hold back. We got him fired immediately.” Olivia says. “We didn’t even reveal everything we found. We still have dirt on him, just in case he ever tries to get back at us.”

“…” You let out a mix of a groan and a sigh and look for the right words. What can you say about this?

“I told you before,” Olivia says, though still having troubles meeting your eyes. “I don’t regret what I did. In the end it did save us from repeating the year and we even got back at the bastard. I just… thought I should let you know I’m not a pure maiden like these two.” She jokes and grins, though there’s no humor in it.

What do you say? What do you do?