[Book of Eros] Chapter 52 - Less urgent matters are still important. (Patreon)

It was odd, but even with the urgency they now felt due to the ticking clock, they still had compromises that needed to be attended to. Angela had promised to meet with the delinquent group and Leo needed Reiko’s help to get hired at the fishery. In the end, it wasn’t like neglecting their daily lives would be of any help. On the contrary, carrying on might even be of use. Case in point, though it was shameful to admit, Leonardo was looking at Sasaki-san, the owner of the fishery, with different eyes.

“Alright,” the older woman said with a smile as she held the papers in her hand. “You even brought the permit from the immigration office to work part time! Now you’re officially hired!”

When he first met her, she’d pushed him into working for free while she was burrowed in paper work. It wasn’t the best first impression. But now that he looked at her more calmly, he noticed what a beauty she was. Pretty, amber colored eyes, a mature curvy figure, VERY well-endowed, and shiny black hair tied into a long high ponytail. Though that was only her physical appearance. He didn’t know her enough as a person to say much, but… they were against time.

“When do I start?” he asked.

“Tomorrow. I want you to help get the boats out of the water and clean them up. We have to do that every day, but you’ll only be coming on Tuesdays and Thursdays afternoons, and on Saturday mornings you’ll help load the boats and do general cleaning in the shed.

“I wish I could do more,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You’re a student. It can’t be helped,” Sasaki-san chuckled. “Even having you those days will be a ton of help. Thanks.”

It was tempting to make some kind of move. To say something flirty or the like. But now wasn’t the time. Reiko was beside him, and though she’d had the foresight to introduce herself to Sasaki-san as his friend, not his girlfriend, it would still look bad to try anything with her here. Or so said common sense. Leo was far from an expert in these things.

They left the fishery and went back home. Reiko would be helping him and Angela with some homework, so he would treat her to dinner. When they arrived, they found Angela already home, sitting at the table in the living room watching TV.

“Do you do anything else other than watch TV all day?” Leo asked her.

“Hey, I’m studying the language, okay? Look at this.” She rewound the Dragon Ball episode she was watching and sang the opening theme song along with perfect pronunciation. Though not particularly well-tuned.

“That was pretty good,” Reiko praised.

“Don’t lie to her or she’ll be singing around the house,” Leo said as he walked to the kitchen area.

“It wasn’t that bad, was it?” Angela pouted, looking at Reiko for support.

“Y-Your pronunciation was excellent!” The younger girl, smart as she was, immediately changed the topic. “So how did it go with the other guys? What did they want?”

“Oh,” Angela nodded. “Not much. Just wanted to apologize. They also asked me to beat up someone else.”

“HAH!?” Leo and Reiko exclaimed in unison from opposite ends of the room.

“Calm down. I told them to fuck off,” Angela said with a finger on her ears, acting like their shouts had been too loud. “I’m nobody’s personal hitman.”

Leo’s shoulders relaxed. “Okay, that’s good then.”

“Still…” Angela said. “If this person is someone these guys can’t beat, then it might be worth my time.”

“You’re gonna challenge them anyway?” Reiko asked.

“I might,” Angela said, grinning.

“Don’t go pissing people off. You know very well how thugs are like, don’t you? What if they get pissed at you and end up hurting Reiko instead?”

“Eek!” Reiko yelped.

“Tsk. You’re right…” Angela groaned. “Fine, I’ll stay put. But you have to fight me again tonight.”

“Sure, sure.” Leo nodded as he closed the fridge, having already checked he had everything for dinner.

“Let’s just get our homework done, okay?” Reiko laughed nervously. The three of them got to work. Reiko translated the harder characters for them and they took their time writing down their answers. It was as they were working that Leo’s phone beeped with the sound of a new email. The two girls went silent at that. Leo checked his phone and confirmed it.

“Mrs. Wisler,” he said.

‘Hello Leonardo,

I never expected something like this to happen. This isn’t something the book was designed to do. I am already preparing countermeasures. My advice would be to not rush into anything for the moment. It is imperative that you maintain an active sexual relationship with Reiko-chan. We will need the Gift of Giving.

I’ll do my best to return as soon as possible. I won’t take longer than two more weeks. Please contact me should anything else happens.

Best regards.
Delilah Wisler.’

“The old lady doesn’t mince words, does she?” Angela said with amusement.

“It’s embarrassing to think she knows we’re doing it,” Reiko said, sighing with red cheeks.

“I bet your parents know, too,” Leo commented with a small grimace.

“Ugh. Don’t make me think about that!” she said, shaking her head, hair whipping from side to side.

“Which reminds me…” Leo said, blinking. “You said you’d done crazy things last night that made it hard for you to sleep, but didn’t tell us what exactly.”

“Oh yeah!” Angela realized. “Spill it, girl!”

“E-Eh!?” Reiko started stammering, her hands gently tugging at her ponytail to find something to do as she glanced from Leo to Angela and back. “W-Well… You see, last night I had a lot on my mind, so…” she swallowed. “I was thinking of what you two would be doing, or could’ve been doing, and… I ended up… masturbating.”

“Oh,” Leo and Angela exclaimed in unison. The blonde blinked while Leo tried to hold back the sudden boner those words had given him, but it was difficult. After all, hearing from Reiko’s own mouth that she had masturbated to the thought of him and Angela doing it was stupidly arousing for some damn reason. And though he would’ve liked to press on that subject, now wasn’t the time.

“S-So what was the other crazy thing you did?” he asked.

That caused Reiko to purse her lips and speak in a low voice. “…I made a pixiv account under a fake name and uploaded a few of my drawings.”

“Wait! So you put up your drawing on the internet!?” Leo asked, eyes wide in shock.

With a stiff neck, Reiko nodded.

“So the internet has seen your drawings before me? What the hell, girl?” Angela pouted. The younger woman quickly got her phone, tapped the screen and, in an incognito window just to be careful, showed Angela the pictures she’d uploaded. “Oh wow,” the blonde exclaimed. “This is hot.” She narrowed her eyes. “Annoyingly so. Dammit.” She sighed and passed the phone to Leo.

Thankfully, the pictures she uploaded weren’t the ones she’d shown him before of him and Angela, but rather they were a 4-page short story of known characters going at it. But that wasn’t the most important thing. “Over 2000 views and 400 likes since last night? Is that good?”

“I don’t know,” Reiko said, smiling shyly. “But just knowing there’s people who like them is really encouraging.”

“I bet.” Angela grinned teasingly. “How does it feel to know there are people wanking it to your drawings?”

Reiko blushed madly, but crossed her arms and proudly thrust her chest forward. “It just means I’m a good artist, right?”

The two girls shared a hearty laugh while Leo looked on. This might not seem like much, but it was probably a huge step forward for Reiko. He smiled. Yeah, he’d better make curry today.