[Book of Eros] Chapter 174: If it does, it’s yours forever. (Patreon)

It took Leo a while to come back to his senses. The cool wind on his face made him realize just how out of it he had been during… THAT, as he hadn’t even felt it during whatever that experience was. Having never done drugs, he had to imagine that was what doing the hardest drugs would feel like, and he wasn’t a fan.

If that had truly been real, then Ragaraja said his piece and left, not letting Leo get a word in. Though even now he struggled to think of anything to say.

He stood up and moved his body around. He didn’t feel much different. His arms and legs were as strong as ever. His fear of being left there unable to even stand up was fortunately unfounded. He looked around just in case he’d missed something, but seeing no more than ruins, Leo decided it was time to go back.

The way down wasn’t very hard, but it took a little longer than the way up. He needed to take it slow or risk taking the wrong step. He had to go through the foliage, and at one point a bent branch bounced back and hit him in the face. Leo recoiled from it, then stood still. He took his hand to his cheek, touching the small injury. He had a small, superficial cut. It…burned and stung in a way Leo had never felt.

He chuckled. “Pain, huh? Not a fan of this, either.”

By the time he made it back down it was already over 3:00 pm. Over three hours of walking down uneven, rocky paths. His legs throbbed like they never had. The burden of the long walk down was surprising. His stomach grumbled as well.

“Shit. When was the last time I felt this hungry? I must have been a kid…”

Perhaps the wise thing to do would’ve been to take a short break. Let his legs rest from the first big burden they had to suffer without with Gift. But it may have been some dumb sense of pride that made him keep going. From there it was only a twenty minute walk to the residential district and the Tensai Residence anyway.

Every step felt like it burned his legs. Lifting his feet to take another step was more difficult with each one. And yet Leo refused to sit down and rest, because this was nothing out of the ordinary. Everyone else has gone through it. Everyone else has experienced having to keep walking on tired legs. So, even as he put one heavy foot in front of the other, he smiled.

“I’ll get used to it,” he told himself.

He finally got home, standing outside the gates for a long moment before he dared go inside.

What would happen from now on? He knew the girls wouldn’t turn their back on him immediately. If he thought they were that type of people, he never would’ve fallen for them. If he had them right, they’d probably try to make things work for some time before… before they realized it would never be the same as it once was.

A sharp pain was beginning to assault his head. It threw him off, making him feel clumsy. He didn’t want to think about the future anymore. He would just have to see where things went, let them run their course. For now… he would just go back in and make lunch, as he did every day. That, at least, was something no one could take away from him.

“I’m home,” he announced as he went through the front door. Everything was eerily silent, but he still found everyone, including Reiko and Victoria, there in the dining room. They were sitting around the table and turned to him.

“Ah, welcome back, Leo,” Kaede said with a small smile. “How did it go?”

“Well… it’s done,” he answered, smiling casually. “Mind explaining why the silence is so heavy?”

“Oh, they’re just getting used to their new selves,” Mrs. Wisler explained, chuckling. “You’re going through the same process, are you not, Leonardo?”

“Hm?” Wait, what did she say? “Excuse me, what?”

“Ugh, it’s so weird!” Valerie groaned and stood up from her seat. She began stretching her body, moving her hips around and punching the air with quick jabs. “I feel so damn clumsy.”

“You’re not moving any different, though,” Angela pointed out. She looked at her own hand, opening and closing her fist. “I don’t feel all that different, but something tells me I wouldn’t be able to lift the fridge on my own anymore…”

“You say you feel weird, but I’m getting a little creeped out.” Lucia shuddered. “When I went out to buy a water bottle, I just… couldn’t read the cashier at all.”

“I’m more impressed by how Seina looks now,” Angela said, turning to the older woman.

Seina flinched and avoided everyone’s gaze, hugging herself and hunching her back as she bit her lip. Leo could see why. She didn’t look any different than she used to. Her face, her figure, her eyes… they were the same as they always where. She was still a beauty. But… the intense, charming aura around her was gone. Leo was able to see past it thanks to the lesser Gift he had gotten from Lucia, so while he noticed there was a difference… “She doesn’t look all that different to me,” he said. Seina’s eyes widened, and she looked at him with clear relief.

Still… From what they were saying and from looking at Seina, Leo didn’t have to guess what had happened. He clenched his fist and grit his teeth before he asked. “Did he take your Gifts as well?”

“Well, yes,” Kaede answered, still smiling at him. “But it’s probably not what you think.”

“What?”

“I was surprised as well,” Reiko told him. “Apparently they asked to have their Gifts taken away.”

“Blows my damn mind,” Victoria said. “All that talent out the window, even now that there were no repercussions? Makes a normal person wince.”

“W-Wait. You asked for it? How? And WHY?”

“You didn’t forget who made the Book of Eros, did you?” Mrs. Wisler asked with a grin. “I still had some leftover materials. Special ink, prepared pages… If it was only to contact Ragaraja, then that was easy enough to do. Of course, I did it at their behest.” She gestured to the group of women with her at the table. “And with their consent, Ragaraja had it done in the blink of an eye.”

“Hah?”

“We got to talking the moment you left,” Lucia said. “I told you many times, Leo. I was never able to read someone as well as I could you. And frankly, I’m offended you’d be scared I’d leave you over something so superficial.”

“Yeah,” Seina said, grinning and looking at Lucia. “It’s not like you loved pointing out how out of this world the sex was. Who would ever believe you thought it was an important aspect of the relationship?”

Lucia flinched. “I… may have overstated how much I liked it, sure, but it was only to give Leo some more confidence.”

“Point is,” Valerie continued, “that yeah, it’s gonna suck that we lost that, but no matter how good it was, we wouldn’t be okay with this relationship if that was all you had going for you.”

“We JUST got back together yesterday,” Angela told him. “And we had done it before you started stacking all those extra sex powers. You were already good then, I liked it. I know I hesitated a lot, but I didn’t ask you out again because I thought the sex was worth the trouble. I did it because YOU are worth the effort.”

“You said there was nothing you wanted to do that you couldn’t without your Gift,” Kaede said, smiling yet looking down at the table. “It made me think of myself. I always hated my Gift and what it led me to, but when I thought of throwing it away… it was terrifying. Even if I didn’t like where I was going, I knew I would find success thanks to it. But then you didn’t think twice about throwing yours away despite finding it helpful. Made me ashamed, so when Lucia proposed that we let go of ours, I accepted.”

“B-But why? Why would you?” Leo asked, baffled.

“To drive a point home, of course,” Seina told him. “Words are all fine and good, but they mean nothing when not backed up by actions. We could sit here all day proclaiming our love through poetry and song, but it’d be worthless. We wanted to show you we’re serious, and… Well, we couldn’t think of anything better that let go of our Gifts to be on even ground with you.”

“It’s not like it proves anything,” Angela said, rubbing the back of her neck. “It’s not like giving away our Gifts binds us to you or something. But it still felt like the right thing to do. I didn’t need to think too hard about it.”

“Being a teacher with my Gift would’ve been helpful,” Lucia sighed. “One look and I’d know what a kid is going through, if they’re hiding something, if they’re feeling down. Just means I’ll have to do a proper job and pay attention now.” She grinned.

“Remember what you told me?” Seina asked. “To use my looks if I had to to get where I wanted? Well, that’s not an option anymore.” She chuckled. “Now I only have the hard way. Going to audition after audition, failing and failing until I make it, until I’m good enough that no one can deny me.”

Kaede let out a soft laugh. “I’ll have to tell my mom I’ll have to quit university. There’s no way I can keep up with that level right now. I don’t feel dumber or anything. It’s not like I’ve forgotten everything I learned, either. But… I never built studying habits, you know? Now that I can no longer effortlessly remember everything I read or process information as quickly, I’ll need to start from zero. And besides, I think I’d like to try more creative areas. I never did like math. So… Could we keep working together for a while longer, Reiko?”

“Of course!” her friend laughed. “Like it was ever a question. So long as you have stories for me to draw, I’ll continue drawing them!”

“For us, is actually more of a blessing than anything else,” Valerie said. “I never liked my Gift, either. Just being good at any sport I tried… I always hated it. What I love is learning and getting better, and that process was always so short! Now I’ll have to put in real effort and I’m excited about it.”

“Same here.” Angela grinned. “I never liked effortlessly beating people up. I’m addicted to the rush of adrenaline that facing someone strong gives me. If I no longer tower over everyone else, it means there are far more worthy opponents. We’ll need to train a lot, though, so we’ll continue counting on you, coach.”

“It’s a shame, yeah, but I admit I’m excited to see how far you can go as normal people,” Victoria said. “And perhaps relevant to the conversation, I have a strong feeling that, despite losing your Gifts, you haven’t lost everything.”

“Oh?” Mrs. Wisler exclaimed, curious. “Please, elaborate.”

“Look at Leo.” Victoria pointed to him with her thumb. “He may not be the stamina monster he used to be, but no regular person could come down that mountain and still be standing there like it was nothing. He also wasn’t as toned when he first started working out with me, nor was Angela, and Valerie still knows how to throw a proper punch. The effort they’ve put in this year wasn’t taken away.”

Meaning the growth they went through wasn’t wasted. Everything they learned, all the effort they put in… It wasn’t for nothing. Angela and Valerie’s training, the creative process Kaede had gone through, Lucia and Seina’s journey to finding and understanding what they truly wanted out of their careers… Leo’s chest swelled with relief. They gave up their Gifts, but their growth was intact. Thank god.

He walked past them and around the counter, opening a cupboard to get take out a frying pan and a couple of pots. He turned to the entire group with an easy smile of his own. “What do you feel like eating today?”

“Ah! So cold!” Valerie pouted. “Not even some thanks for the gesture?”

He chuckled. “I believed I was sacrificing my Gift for you to keep yours, and you all complained instead of thanking me.”

“Leave him be, Valerie,” Seina said, resting her chin on her hand and shooting Leo a loving smile. “It’s better this way.”

“We’re all just normal people now. Well, save my mother,” Lucia said. “No need to make a fuss about it.”

“School tomorrow, and then we’ll drop by the gym, right?” Angela asked.

“Of course! I need to get used to this body as soon as possible,” Valerie said.

“I’ll go too,” Leo said. “If I hope to maintain some of the lifestyle I’ve led for so long, then I don’t have the luxury of slacking off.”

“Still… I think we should have a proper celebration tonight,” Lucia said. “The curse is gone, after all. THAT we can make a fuss over.”

“Aw, shucks,” Mrs. Wisler chuckled. “And I have plans for tonight. I won’t be coming back until tomorrow afternoon. You can all celebrate without me.”

“Oh, we’ll celebrate,” Angela said, the mischievous excitement clear in her voice. “And you two are staying, aren’t you?” she asked Reiko and Victoria.

“Sure, sure,” Victoria said, smiling in resignation. “And I thought last night was wild…”

On her part, Reiko was trying very hard to hold back her eager smile, even though everyone already knew she was the most excited there.

Leo, however, was more than a little nervous. It would be a trial by fire. It would determine just how far he was able to go with… seven women. As a normal person.

Oh dear gods. Protect him.

***

Author's Note: Had to go through and edit this chapter several times. A lot of the dialogue felt weird and even now I'm still not completely satisfied. Still, I hope you enjoyed it. Around three more chapters to go till the end.