[Spirit of Lust 2] Chapters 25 & 26. (Patreon)

Author's Note: Did I ever post the Character list here? Well, here it is. Decided to use art from hentai doujins this time for reference pictures because a couple of designs inspired the story in the first place.

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Chapter 25: Help needed.

After having the time to cool down, I noticed a couple of things about my… encounter with Sarah. It was just like the time I had fingered her without ever having done it before. I just sort of… knew how to do it and it obviously worked wonders. The other thing was that, though my heart was beating quickly and my ears burned, I was sufficiently calm.

None of that sounded like me, but… I didn’t care. Why should I, I thought. Was it better to instinctively know what to do and please Sarah or have some kind of panic attack in the middle of it and leave her hanging? There were too many strange changes with me, but so far none of them were for the worse. I felt physically better. I was… being around more people. Not talking much, and hell if I knew why they were okay with that, but just having them close made me feel like I was making a bit of progress. I was experiencing things I thought only happened in scripted porn.

I found myself questioning things less and less, so when the bell to the second recess rang, I was eager to go back to the old music room with the girls.

But…

“Oliver, you here?” called my sister from the door to the classroom. She looked directly to my seat and found me there. “Come, I need your help with something.”

I had an idea of what it was about, and normally it wouldn’t have bothered me very much, but now it was cutting on my time with the girls. Nevertheless, I couldn’t bring myself to say no, so I shot the girls an apologetic look and went to Isabelle.

“What is it?” I asked in a soft voice.

“The prez needs help moving stuff from her office.”

Figured.

I followed Isabelle to where I was needed, a room on the third floor that served as the offices of the school’s student council. Remember when I said our school took a lot of influence from Japanese schools because the founder was Japanese? Well, in our school the student council was actually given a lot of influence. Not enough to be like what certain shows would have you believe, but if they put up a proposal to the principal, then it would be seriously considered. They also had many duties and responsibilities, which was why I didn’t get why anyone would want to be in the student council. That said, I also still don’t get why anyone would want to be president of a country.

Why is this relevant? Because one of Isabelle’s friends was the elected candidate this year, with the elections happening near the end of last semester.

“Oliver,” a girl said, her voice polite yet distant. Then her eyes widened ever so slightly at seeing me, giving me a quick look from head to toe. Had she noticed my physical changes? She was someone I already knew, if only in passing, so it wasn’t impossible.

Alice Knight had been friends with my sister since junior year, when they were in the same class. As such, she visited my house every once in a while. It didn’t mean we’d ever had a proper conversation, though.

The fact that she was an absolute beauty made things even harder. She was about as tall as me, meaning about 1.68; she had shoulder length, straight blonde hair; blue eyes; thin lips; and a sexy, curvy figure with a chest and hips to rival Grace’s. To add to the comparison, if Grace gave the impression of being a complete honors student while actually being very laid back, mischievous and a troublemaker, Alice Knight was an actual honors student, being one of the few people in school to rival Grace’s grades and always upholding school rules.

From this description, she sounded like the kind of girl I’d be head-over-heels for, yet I wasn’t. She was… way too perfect. Polite attitude towards everyone, great academic performance, no nasty rumors going around about her. She was perfect, but even back then I wasn’t as naïve to believe she actually was. To me that perfection meant she was keeping her distance from everyone else, like she didn’t want to be bothered, but for reasons different than mine.

“I hope we aren’t bothering you. We need help and Isabelle said she’d go get you,” she told me.

“It’s fine, Alice. He wasn’t doing anything important,” said my sister.

I had to swallow my response, which also made my face tense up. I think Alice noticed, because she shot Isabelle a disappointed frown. “Did you even ask him?”

Isabelle shrugged it off. “He never does anything during recess.”

“I’m sorry, Oliver,” Alice said, sighing. “We need help carrying these boxes with documents to the teachers’ office, but if you had plans already please don’t feel obligated.”

I decided to completely ignore my sister for the time being. I shook my head and went to grab one of the boxes. They were heavy, full of folders on top of folders. I always wondered how the student council collected so much paper. I could’ve carried one of these with some difficulties before, but now, with me feeling much stronger, I was sure I could manage three. I stacked them one on top of the other and lifted them with little issue. I didn’t think I could carry a fourth, though.

“Are you okay?” Alice asked, moving closer with her arms stretched to make sure I wasn’t wobbling. “Can you really carry all that?”

I nodded and turned towards the door to make my way down to the teachers’ office, when I heard someone yelp in surprise in front of me.

“Ah! Sorry… Eh? Oliver?” asked the redhead, moving out of the way after nearly bumping into the boxes.

Noelle Summers, student council secretary and Alice’s friend from a very young age, from what I had heard listening to Isabelle telling mom about her new friends. She was shorter than me, if you can believe that. About 1.58 meters, probably. She had shoulder length fluffy red hair and green eyes. She was, in simple terms, a shortstack. Her chest was technically a bit smaller than the president’s, but on her it looked huge. She was really cute, but I honestly didn’t know much about her. I was surprised she knew my name, though I guessed Isabelle must have mentioned me once or twice. To make fun of me, I was sure.

“Sorry,” I muttered a soft apology of my own and continued my way to the teacher’s office at the other end of the same floor.

“Fucking dammit, Oliver! Do you always have to be so rude?” my sister asked me in an exasperated tone. “Say something, for fuck’s sake!” I flinched and felt my heart shrinking. Was that how I came across? I guess I hadn’t even said hello. Dammit.

I didn’t know how to respond and I didn’t dare look back, so I kept walking and delivered the three boxes. On the way back, my eyes met Alice’s as she carried a single box on her own, and I instinctively looked away. I wasn’t getting the same reassurance as I did with Sarah, Grace and Mila, and felt too ashamed of my own silence. Was it too late to say anything?

I made two more trips, carrying a total of seven boxes by myself. I noticed that had been most of them, so I allowed myself to feel a little proud.

“Thank you for your help, Oliver,” Alice told me with a kind and polite smile. “Sorry we pushed you into it. It seemed like you really did have plans.”

She’s clever. I gently shook my head and forced myself to say what I wanted, even if my voice came out low and quiet. “I don’t mind. Ask me anytime.” It wasn’t like helping with this sort of stuff would kill me.

“Really? Because I might take you up on that.” Alice’s smile this time was more… genuine, I thought.

I nodded again. “If it’s something I can do.”

“Alright then. Thank you.”

I wanted to say more, but couldn’t find the words, and my own, typical overthinking made me hesitate. Should I apologize for before? But it was Noelle I had almost bumped into, so I should apologize to her, right? But had my silence made things awkward for them?

“By the way, Oliver,” Alice continued, studying my face, “did you…”

“Alice, we’re done!” called Noelle as she and my sister came into the council office. “Recess’ about to end, so let’s go to the restroom while we still can.”

“…Yes, lets,” Alice sighed and nodded. She turned to me with the same smile and said, “See you around, Oliver.”

Isabelle, Noelle and Alice left, and I didn’t grow the courage to call out to Noelle to apologize for before. I watched their backs as they walked away, my chest once again beating painfully from frustration.

Why couldn’t I just say things, for fuck’s sake!?

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Chapter 26: Daring to open up.

Nothing happened to interrupt us during lunch break, so we went directly to the old music room. The girls kept talking about this and that, and while I was silent, it wasn’t for any fear of speaking this time. Throughout class and even then, I was still thinking about my sister’s words.

“Fucking dammit, Oliver! Do you always have to be so rude? Say something, for fuck’s sake!” That was what my sister had yelled at me.

I kept silent for several reasons. One was because indecision and fear of ridicule froze me in place, but I also wanted to prevent myself from saying something rude on accident, to not bother people and make them dislike me more. But if even staying quiet pissed people off, then…

“Hey, Oliver,” Mila called to me, poking my cheek from her seat beside me. “You’re looking scary again.”

“A-Again?” I asked.

“Yeah, I noticed too,” Sarah nodded. “Sometimes you get this scary look on your face, like you’re really pissed. Did something happen when your sister called you?”

“…”

“Oliver, you promised you’d talk to us more,” Grace said, turning her head to look at me from her seat on my lap. She traced her fingers teasingly along my jaw and smiled. “Or do you not want to see what underwear I chose for today?”

It was an unfair question because I did want to see, but it wasn’t because of that that I wanted to talk. Maybe they could give me a few answers to the questions I always had. I swallowed, and with my body shaking, I unintentionally held Grace closer to me.

“I was… I was thinking about something my sister said. Do I… come across as rude?” I asked bluntly, feeling my jaw tense.

The three girls shared a frowning glance.

“Rude? No, I wouldn’t say so,” Mila told me. “But since you make faces like that, you’re a bit unapproachable. Or more like, I thought you were. We were classmates during our first year, remember? But it always seemed like you didn’t want anyone to approach you, so I never did. Had I known you were just shy, I would’ve talked to you sooner.”

Grace looked at Mila with wide, blinking eyes.

“Mmm, I kinda get it.” Sarah continued. “You look all serious from afar but you’re pretty cute up close. It’s kind of funny. I have to disagree with Mila, though. Talking to you can be pretty frustrating because you don’t talk back or even react much. Now I know it’s because you have problems comunicating, but you can come across as rude to someone who’s not aware.”

I flinched, and a cold sensation grew in my chest. “I-Is that so? I’m sorry. I just… don’t even know what to say most of the time.”

“But why are you asking this?” Mila asked me. “Did something happen with your sister?”

I pursed my lips, unsure if I wanted or even should say more. My sister clearly didn’t like these girls, and I didn’t think it was a good idea to complain about her to them. I didn’t want to make things worse. But… my chest felt somewhat lighter and the knot in my throat felt smaller. The girls were listening and being nice. I wanted to trust them more.

“I was helping the student council carry some things and I almost bumped into the secretary. I apologized, but… my sister said I was being rude.”

“But you apologized,” Mila pointed out, tilting her head in confusion.

“I only said ‘sorry’. It could have been the way I said it. I don’t know,” I admitted. “I didn’t mean to be rude.”

“The secretary is… Noelle, right? Did she say complain or yell at you?” Mila asked. I shook my head. “Then don’t worry about it,” she shrugged. “The issue was between you and Noelle, not your sister, and if Noelle didn’t say anything, then you gain nothing overthinking it, right? Just because your sister said something doesn’t mean Noelle thought the same.”

…It made sense. Remembering well, Noelle didn’t look mad or bothered. Rather, I think she was more surprised by me being there at all, or perhaps my new appearance.

“THAT I fully agree with,” Sarah said. “You need to stop worrying so much about what others think.”

“I wish I could,” I said with a self-deprecating chuckle. It was too hard to do. Being shunned, being laughed at… Those things make you believe it’s better to be alone, but then you start missing human contact but don’t know how to be likable, so you keep screwing things up and making it all worse.

Even now, if my body hadn’t strangely changed, if I wasn’t somehow as good at sex as they claimed I was… These three wouldn’t be hanging out with me. I knew that.

Then I felt Mila’s warm lips on my cheek. Taken by surprise, I turned to her with wide eyes to find her smiling at me, like she was wordlessly telling me to relax. It very nearly worked, but then Grace got off my lap and stood up.

“Sarah, Mila, do you mind coming with me to the restroom for a minute?” she said, trying but failing to sound casual. Her eyes were slightly narrowed, glancing back and forth between Mila and me. “We’ll be back in a moment, Oliver. ‘Kay?”

Without waiting for her friends, Grace walked out of the room. Mila and Sarah looked at each other, seemingly just as confused as I was. They shot me apologetic looks and ran after their friend.

And so I was left alone after asking if I came across as rude. After daring to talk about myself. The knot in my throat grew larger. The pressure in my chest returned. I had to bite on my quivering lip to try to stop it. Had something I said made Grace mad? I had no idea what just happened. I had no idea what to believe. I just knew that wasn’t a normal trip to the restroom.