[Spirit of Lust 2] Chapters 183 & 184. (Patreon)

Chapter 183: An outing with Noelle.

I arrived at the venue at the agreed-upon time. It was 11:05 am, which meant I’d been waiting for five minutes. At the very least, there was no question that I was in the right place. Lots of people around, though less than I expected. Most were around my age or older.

The event was being held at a public indoor stadium, though I had yet to go in. I saw people carrying their arcade sticks or leverless controllers (I had mine in my backpack, just in case there were available consoles and TVs for everyone to play). I saw people wearing t-shirts with video game characters on them. I even saw some cosplayers, two of which were absolutely mind-blowingly good.

I stood close to yet away from the entrance to the stadium, watching my phone just in case I got a message. I was half-expecting Noelle to text me saying something had come up and she wouldn’t be able to make it. At first I thought that would be for the best, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I’d be really disappointed.

It was as I was considering texting her myself to ask where she was that she arrived. She came running and stopped in front of me, panting and red-faced.

“I’m so sorry!” Noelle said. “The bus was stuck in traffic and…!”

I smiled. “It’s only been ten minutes. It’s fine.”

“No, I should’ve texted you…” she insisted. “I hate when people are late, so to think I made you wait…”

I think seeing her so nervous helped ME relax. Funny how things work.

“My sister probably drives you nuts, then,” I joked.

Noelle started laughing. “Yes she does! Why is she always ten or fifteen minutes late? I don’t get it.”

“If it’s early in the morning, she has a hard time waking up even after she’s out of bed. If not, she’ll usually forget something after leaving the house and has to go back and get it.” Then I frowned. “Not that I’m making excuses for her.”

Noelle giggled. “Alice is always scolding her for it, but it doesn’t seem to stick.”

I rolled my eyes. “I wish her the best of luck.”

We laughed together at my sister’s expense. Considering none of this was false, I didn’t feel bad about it. She’d earned it, and I would always say it to her face, so it wasn’t like I was talking behind her back.

“Well, I’m sorry I’m late,” she said.

“Not a problem. I was looking around and there are even some cosplayers. I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Oh! Really?” Excitedly, Noelle started looking around herself. I had to look away for a second.

When she smiled like that, it was impossible for me not to think she was incredibly cute. Not only that, but the way she was dressed… God, this is so embarrassing to admit, but it pushed some buttons. Tight blue jeans, a tight fitting black turtleneck sweater and a brown duffle coat.

I’ve said it before, but Noelle has an outstanding figure. I remember Thomas mentioning that her being as short as she was was a turnoff, but to me it was neat to be noticeably taller than someone my age, even if it was by a few centimeters.

I should NOT be thinking about this.

“Sh-Shall we go inside now?”

“Ah! Yes! The schedule said a band should be playing on stage soon.”

The inside of the stadium was not at all what I expected. Honestly, I didn’t have high expectations for this. It was a local tournament, so I thought it would be hastily put together with whatever they could find, but I was completely wrong. This was… of professional quality.

There was a large carpet over the court to protect it. There were lines of tables with several TVs and console setups, enough to have about 20 matches playing at once. There was a stage setup at one of the ends of the court, where the tech crew were getting everything ready for a band to play. Drums, amps, microphones…

There were more people here than outside, obviously, but not enough that it was too much trouble to walk. There was enough space.

“This is actually the second day,” Noelle explained to me. “Most people in the tournament lost yesterday, and the ones who come to watch will probably come in the afternoon for the finals.”

Made sense.

At the outer edges of the court were stands selling all sorts of merchandise, and that was where Noelle and I were first drawn to. Everything from video game-themed posters and keychains to T-shirts and candy imported from Japan. Noelle was particularly interested in the latter.

“But why?” I asked her. “Those are just potato chips, but with everything written in Japanese. Twice as expensive as normal chips, too.”

“But these are soy sauce and mayo flavored,” she explained, already buying a bag. “And look at that. Have you ever drank coffee from a can?”

“From a can? That’s…” Curiosity got the better of me, so I bought one of those, wincing at the price. I opened it, tried it… “It’s… coffee,” I said, surprised. “It’s cold, black, sugarless coffee.”

Noelle snickered. “And what were you expecting?”

“I… don’t know,” I answered, still a little stumped and eyeing the can. It had ‘BLACK’ written in all capitals along its length. “I was expecting black coffee, but it’s so… exactly that that it’s kind of anti-climactic?”

“Right!? I felt exactly the same!” Noelle said excitedly. “The mocha and cappuccino are waaay better.”

I eyed those in the stand. “I should’ve bought one of those.” I still drank the sugarless black coffee because I paid for it, dammit.

We walked around some more, looking at the figurines and t-shirts being sold. We recognized the characters in most of them, and we started to get an idea of what games the other enjoyed.

“You play MMOs?” I asked her.

“A couple, yeah,” she admitted shyly. “One’s an old-school grindfest, the other I play mainly for the story.”

“MMOs have a story?” I asked with genuine curiosity.

“XIV does. I like it a lot. You don’t play any?”

“...Not a fan of online games in general. I don’t like having to deal with people yelling in the chat or through a mic. Also, I don’t want to pay a monthly sub for a game. I mostly stick to RPGs and fighting games.”

“I can understand that. I think the games I love the most are the cozy farming games.”

“Oh, I like those, too!” Woah. Got a little excited there. Calm down. I cleared my throat before continuing. “They’re pretty relaxing.”

“Right?” Noelle giggled. “Which ones do you play?”

We sat near the upper gallery seats and continued talking like that for a long while without realizing it. Turns out we’d played a lot of the same games. I hadn’t shared an interest in games with someone since Isabelle and I were little kids, but now she’d moved away from games.

There was an announcement over the speakers that ‘Top 32’ of the tournament would be starting soon, so we went down to watch some matches happening. Crowds were forming behind the players, people cheered, winners shouted in excitement. The atmosphere was overwhelming, but in a good way.

We watched the band play. It all consisted of video game songs which I was surprised to see Noelle recognize. I suppose I shouldn’t have been, considering Isabelle said Noelle had lots of consoles.

Sadly, I didn’t enjoy the performance as much as I hoped. There were a couple of sound issues, and their drummer and bassist sounded slightly out of sync. If anything here wasn’t of professional quality, it was them, but I wasn’t going to criticize them more than that.

Playing an instrument on your own is one thing. Playing in a band is a different kind of beast. Huge props to those guys for standing on a stage and sounding as good as they did. I knew I couldn’t do it.

“Um… it’s about lunch time,” Noelle said. “Sh-Should we… find a place to eat?”

“Yes. I’m getting hungry. What should we eat?”

“How about… sushi?”

I blinked. “I’ve never tried sushi.”

Noelle’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Would you like to?”

“You know what? Sure.”

With that decided, we stepped out of the venue to find a good place to eat.

************

Chapter 184: A conversation over sushi.

“So… you’ve never used chopsticks before?” Noelle asked me.

“Never,” I answered. Nevertheless, I tried.

Sushi places are pretty common, it turns out. We didn’t have to look hard to find at least three, so we went into the one that looked the cleanest.

It was a bit embarrassing to have Noelle watch me struggle with the chopsticks. I tried grabbing one of the rolls, but I just couldn’t do it.

“Just use your hands,” she told me with a reassuring smile. “I don’t mind.”

“...Sorry.” I gave up. I grabbed one of the rolls, dipped it in soy sauce and tried it.

“How is it?” Noelle asked.

I swallowed. “Good. Slightly bland, but I guess that’s what the soy sauce is for. Still, not bad at all.”

She giggled. “I like it a lot. I don’t know what it is, but the light flavors agree with me.”

We were out on the back terrace at a table for two. We placed a single order with a plethora of different sushi rolls to try. Noelle said she liked them all, so I could have whichever I wanted.

I cleaned my hands with a napkin, and while I was doing that, Noelle caught me by surprise.

“H-Hey, Oliver? Thanks for coming with me today.” She was looking down at the table, yet she smiled with red cheeks. “I… probably wouldn’t have come if I’d been alone.”

I felt my own chest tightening. “...Same here. I didn’t know this was happening, but I wouldn’t have come even if I did.” I smiled. “But this has been fun. I’m glad I came. Thank you for inviting me.”

“Can I say something? I’m… surprised you’re talking so much today.” Her face turned to horror the moment the words left her. “Oh my God! I’m so sorry! That sounded much worse than I thought!”

Much to my surprise as well as hers, I started laughing. “I AM talking more, aren’t I?” I shook my head. “Sorry. I probably looked like an anti-social creep to you.”

“No! That’s not…!”

“It’s fine,” I said, smiling wryly. “That’s probably how a lot of people see me. I’ve been told that to my face, even. That doesn’t mean I like it, or that I’m okay with it. That’s why… I’m trying to change. Sorry if it ever seemed like I was ignoring you. I was… too afraid to speak.”

“Afraid?”

I nodded. “Afraid to get laughed at, afraid to be a bother. Afraid of everyone. I know it sounds pathetic, but I couldn’t help it.”

Noelle fervently shook her head. “It’s not pathetic. I… I get it. I know how it is.”

“Really? You don’t seem afraid of speaking to people.”

“It’s… gotten better recently, but I still get nervous in front of strangers.” She let out a self-deprecating chuckle. “Sometimes I avoid going to stores or restaurants because I don’t want to interact with cashiers and waiters.”

Ugh. That hit close to home.

“But… I tried something recently,” she continued. “I did it out of curiosity and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. After that, I feel like talking to people is not that big a deal.”

“Can I ask what that something was?”

“...” Noelle pursed her lips and looked down at her knees. She was struggling.

“No, forget it. I’m not going to push you to tell me. Don’t worry.”

“S-Sorry, it’s just… I’m not comfortable telling anyone yet.” Her cheeks went bright red again. She looked straight at me with an intense gaze. “Oh, but it’s nothing… weird, okay? Nothing like…!”

I lightly tilted my head. “Like what?”

“N-Never mind.”

Only in hindsight did I realize that Noelle thought I might believe she was doing something… naughty. That didn’t even cross my mind at the time, though.

“I think I can understand what that’s like. I mean, realizing that talking is not that big a deal,” I continued the previous topic. “You can never stop people from judging you over what you say and what you do, but… Taking chances can be worth it.”

“Taking chances?”

I smiled. “If I hadn’t said yes when the basketball coach asked me to take over as team manager for a few days last semester, I wouldn’t have met Thomas. If I hadn’t gone to his birthday party some months ago, I wouldn’t have met Mila, Grace and Sarah. If I hadn’t asked, I wouldn’t have a job now. It’s all because I… dared to do something.”

It was still shocking to think how much my life had changed in such a short time, and it was even more overwhelming to think how long I still had to go. There was so much more I had to improve on, lots of challenges that still awaited. Going through university, earning my own livelihood, maybe… maybe starting a family one day. Some of these things were further off than others, but they would come.

Then I caught what I was doing. Talking too much about myself wasn’t something I enjoyed, and I had the feeling most people dislike it when others do it.

“Sorry,” I said, trying to laugh it off. “That was a bit much.”

Why did I go on like that? It was strange, but… I felt like Noelle was really easy to talk to, like she understood. Still…

“No, no. I… I think you’re right. You don’t experience new things by saying no to everything. That’s what my parents always tell me, but it can be really scary.”

“Right?”

“...” Noelle pursed her lips and started fidgeting. “Oliver?”

“Hm?”

“C-Can you keep a secret?”

I grimaced lightly. “I can. I can promise that. But… are you sure you want to tell me?”

“I… want to tell someone. I’ve wanted to for a while, but it’s… embarrassing.”

“You haven’t told Isabelle or Alice?”

Noelle shook her head.

“Why?”

“It’s… somehow more embarrassing to tell people who know you better. It’s like, they have this image of you that could get distorted if they knew I…”

Noelle swallowed as she stared down at the table.

“If you want to get it out, I promise not to tell anyone. Not to my sister or any of my friends.”

“...” Noelle let out a long sigh. She looked at me with red cheeks and finally revealed her secret. “I’m… a video game streamer.”