[Book of Eros] Chapter 138: A source of insight. (Patreon)

That person was Reiko, of course. The issue was how to approach her. They spoke every once in a while at school or at the house, but Valerie wouldn’t say they were friends. Would it be too weird to go up to her and ask her?

“Hey, I’m thinking of maybe sleeping with your boyfriend. You seem to be okay with that. Why?”

Urgh. Valerie was starting to have doubts, but she had no time to hesitate. Reiko was the person she most wanted to speak to. She needed to understand why she seemed to be so okay with sharing. She very openly encouraged others to go on dates with him, never looked upset when he left the dining room with another woman and still spent a lot of time with him herself. Valerie wanted to understand, but how should she approach her?

Her first thought was to ask Leo for her number or her address, but he wanted to avoid him for now, if possible. Angela was probably her best option, as those two were still relatively close.

Valerie got home late for breakfast, but Leo had saved her serving.

“I’ll heat up the soup, just sit down,” he told her, walking back into the kitchen.

“Sorry for the trouble…” she apologized.

“Why did you leave so early? Had an appointment or something?” he asked casually.

“…My morning jog took longer than usual,” she lied. Leo’s face told her he didn’t believe her but wouldn’t press the topic. Somehow that bothered her more.

“Ask me, dammit! Be worried about me!” she wanted to tell him. He could tell there was something wrong with her, but wasn’t interested. No, more like he was giving her space. Leo had become capable of reading people’s emotions to an extent, but still wasn’t immune to misunderstanding them, apparently. She guessed not everyone could be Mrs. Wisler.

And speaking of the old lady, she was another person she wanted to avoid bringing the topic to. Her goals were very clear, and she’d do whatever she could with her mind-reading powers to convince her to just sleep with Leo. No, Valerie needed to figure this out for herself.

Leo served her breakfast and sat at the table with her, getting comfortable.

“You don’t have to stay here, you know?” she told him.

“I’m not letting you eat alone,” he said easily, then caught himself. “Unless I’m bothering you, of course.”

Valerie shook her head. “I’d… rather you stayed.” Well, there went the plan to avoid him.

Leo smiled. “Where did you go jogging?”

“…Up the mountain. Ended up at Victoria’s gym.”

“I thought you’d changed your routine to evening jogs,” he noted. “Why go out now?”

“I… woke up with too much energy, you know?”

“Is that so?” Again, his face and his tone told her he didn’t believe her.

…

Okay, she was going to ask Angela, but fuck it. “Hey Leo, can you give me Reiko’s number?”

“Reiko’s? Sure, but what for?” he asked, already taking his phone out.

“There’s something I want to ask her.”

Leo didn’t answer back. He had his eyes on his phone’s screen for a short moment before he looked at her again. “Actually, she says she’s coming over this afternoon. Why don’t you ask her for it yourself?”

Oh. That worked, too.

“On that note, we’ll be working on our summer homework. Want to join?”

“When you say we…?”

“Yeah, Angela and Kaede as well,” Leo nodded. “Though Kaede already finished hers. She’ll be here to help.”

“Can’t turn that opportunity down,” Valerie chuckled.

She finished eating and the rest of the day went quiet and as expected. The group of students worked on their assignments and got a lot done, as boring as it was. They were finished by 6:00 pm, but still had a little over half their homework left. Something for another day.

Reiko excused herself to go to the bathroom and Valerie took that as her opportunity. She followed her and stopped her in the hallway.

“Hey, Reiko?”

“Mm? Yes?” the girl asked innocently.

“I wanted to talk to you. Later, of course. Its… kind of important. Would you mind?”

“Oh? How important?”

“It’s about Leo.”

To Valerie’s surprise, Reiko blinked at her with a shared sentiment. “Seriously?”

“Wait, what do you mean seriously?”

“No, no. I don’t mean anything bad by it!” Reiko assured, flustered and quickly shaking her head. “You’re right, we have to talk. Um… come to my house this evening? I’m betting you don’t want others to overhear?”

Damn, this girl was clever. “Alright.”

They ate dinner, and Valerie left with Reiko to her house. Her room was interesting, especially her desk. It was dirty with ink and lots of unfinished sketches and sheets of paper. Reiko blushed and started cleaning up.

“Sorry,” she laughed awkwardly. “I’ve been working on something and pulling all-nighters. I haven’t had time to clean.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Valerie laughed. “My room is far worse. I mean, my room in back in Spain. My room here is tidy because every time Leo comes in to get my laundry basket he nags me about it. Though it’s hard to say anything to the guy who keeps that whole fucking house clean.”

“Oh yeah, he told me you guys did your summer cleanup,” Reiko laughed. “I’ve always liked the traditional style of houses, but I’d hate to clean them. They’re too big.”

“Exactly! Thank god it’s seven of us in there, or it would’ve taken forever.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask. Doesn’t that get annoying? Living with so many people? Like, having to share a bathroom? There are only two, right? And one is Leo’s.”

“We actually have a pretty set schedule. Angela always wakes up first, so she has the first turn. Then it’s usually me, followed by Lucia. Kaede and Seina are the late risers. And then there’s days when… one or two don’t use OUR bathroom.”

“…Right.” Reiko sighed, put her papers in order on the desk and sat on the bed, gesturing for Valerie to take the chair. “So? What did you want to talk about? You said it was about Leo, but I thought you weren’t interested in him.”

“…Hah? Wait, what? How did you know? Or why would you think that?” Valerie asked, taken aback.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s just me? Or the fact that you didn’t speak much before learning Japanese? But Leo and I talked last night. He told me he thought he was being a bother to you.”

“W-What!? He told you!?” Valerie asked, frustrated.

Reiko nodded. “We talk on the phone every other night and he sounded down, so I asked.”

“Urgh… I guess I should explain myself, huh? I do like him. A lot. I’m just not… in serious need to have sex, so I was waiting until I was sure of my feelings, or until I felt okay with this whole situation.”

“And what changed?”

“That he got tired of waiting, apparently. He says he won’t try to make me like him, and now I feel… brushed aside.” Valerie said, with a groaning sigh, mortified at her own words.

“I’m sure it’s not as simple as this, but… Have you tried just telling him you like him?”

“No, not yet. See, now I’m sure of my own feelings about him, but not about this whole sharing thing.”

“Oh. Is that why you wanted to talk to me?” Reiko realized.

“You really are clever,” Valerie chuckled. “You’re the only one who’s his actual girlfriend, right? But you seem to be okay with it all. I’ve never once seen you get jealous or anything like it. How do you do that?”

Reiko pursed her lips. Her cheeks turned a deep shade of pink and she was shifting uncomfortably on her seat. Had Valerie made an inappropriate question? Had she gotten it wrong and Reiko wasn’t actually okay with it? The brunette took several deep breaths before she looked at Valerie straight in the eyes.

“I can… trust you, right?”

“Ah?”

“I can tell you something and you won’t go spreading it around school, right?”

“Do I seem the type to you?”

“I’m serious! Please don’t tell anyone about this! The only ones who know are Leo, Angela, Kaede and Mrs. Wisler. Maybe Lucia-san, too, but I don’t know.”

“…Okay, I won’t tell anyone.” It seemed serious, so Valerie knew not to play around.

“I’m okay with sharing Leo, and it’s for two main reasons. I really do love him, and being with many women makes him very happy. It’s hard to get him to admit it out loud, but it does. I’m the one who made him… come for the first time,” she admitted, swallowing nervously, “and I still remember his face. He looked exhausted, he wasn’t smiling, but he was crying tears of joy. Like the world’s biggest boulder had been taken off his shoulders. I felt like he deserved to enjoy himself, which is one of the reasons I was okay with it at the start. I also knew what I was getting into. It’s funny,” she said, giggling. “When we started dating we did so yelling at each other.”

Oh? Valerie felt like she wanted to hear more details later. She’d ever only seen Leo yell once before.

“But that’s only half the reason I’m okay with it,” Reiko continued. “The other half is that… I also enjoy it.” Valerie blinked. Did she hear right? “Yep, that’s right. I enjoy that my boyfriend is sleeping with other women. Weird, right?” she laughed, trying to ease the awkwardness. “He sends me pictures of him sleeping with Kaede and Angela, and we’ve had threesomes with her, too. Not with Kaede yet, though. Still waiting on that one until she’s more comfortable. He also tells me about his escapades with Lucia-san, Seina-san and Victoria-san.”

“Are you serious? And you really like this? It’ doesn’t make you mad?” Valerie asked in disbelief.

“I was scared at first, but Leo is always transparent with me. The best part is that it doesn’t stop us from being a normal couple. We go on dates, we have sex, we talk and enjoy each other’s company. Being able to have other women doesn’t stop him from wanting me, and he’s every adamant in making sure I understand that.” She giggled.

“…Coach Victoria said something similar. She said that he always made her feel like she was special to him.”

“Oh, you’ve talked to her about this already? Well, it’s spot on. That pretty much sums it up. And the thing is, we really are all special to him. Let me ask you something. Does he remember your favorite food and cooks it every once in a while without telling you?”

“…Yes.”

“Does he notice when you’ve done something different? Like wearing a different cream or gotten a haircut?”

“…Yes.”

“Does he listen to you talk about your own interest for a long time and encourages you to keep going by actively listening and asking questions?”

“Goddammit, yes!”

“It’s the little things,” Reiko giggled. “Angela will tell you the same. So will Kaede and so will I. I could probably gush all day, but that’s how it is when you’re in love, I guess. Still… Mine is a very specific situation. I just happen to enjoy sharing Leo. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.”

“No,” Valerie said. “You’ve been, actually. I mean, it makes sense. At first I used to think Mrs. Wisler had guilt-tripped them all into sharing Leo without complains, but it seems I was wrong. Lucia used to be a huge bitch, but now she’s pretty chill. Seina looks far more relaxed than she used to. Kaede’s been looking more confident. Angela is always excited about something or other. If they all feel similarly to you and Victoria, then yeah, it makes sense. But… I still don’t know if I could do it. How would I handle knowing the guy I like could be fucking another woman at any minute?”

“I don’t know, how do you feel now?” Reiko asked.

“Huh?”

“I mean, chances are Leo is fucking someone right now. Kaede, Angela, Seina and Lucia are up for it anywhere and anytime from what he tells me, and for better or worse, his sexual appetite is near insatiable. I’ve lost count of the amount of times we’ve been calmly chatting at one moment and fucking the next. It just happens, and I love it, by the way.”

“…”

How did Valerie feel right now? Hell, how did she feel every day? Leo spent every single night with someone. It was practically his job. Valerie didn’t feel all that bothered, but maybe it was because there was nothing between her and Leo yet. How would it be if she was sleeping with him too?

“Hey. I’ve got… a crazy idea,” Reiko said, nervously biting her lip. “But it could backfire.”

“An idea? For what?”

“For you to make up your mind. It’s drastic, and it might make you end up rejecting the idea of being with Leo altogether. Though maybe that would be good for you in a different way.”

“I’m not liking where this is going, but continue. I’m listening.”

Reiko swallowed. “I… have plenty of videos of him. What if you watched one?”