[Spirit of Lust 2] Chapters 472 & 473. (Patreon)

Chapter 472: Where does the time go?

Two months? Two months. 60 days.

Wait.

…

So… Thinking about the house, the deal with Luke, university and just the future in general had the effect of making me lose track of time for a while. I was worried about the far future that I was blind to the future coming at me like a bullet train. This was something I realized on the bus back home.

WHAT THE FUCK!?

I WAS GRADUATING IN JUST A LITTLE OVER A MONTH!

I was quiet in my seat because there was a lady with a sleeping baby sitting next to me, but inside I was panicking and freaking out. I mean, fuck, somehow I’d forgotten I was a senior! We would graduate before school officially ended! In our school, that meant the middle of June.

What the hell? Where did the time go!? I was hiding in my secret unused classroom just yesterday! Now I had a month until graduation? I mean, yeah, I knew we had finals coming up, but I didn’t make the connection somehow. This was all making my headache even worse. Just because Frey wasn’t reading minds anymore didn’t mean the pain would just fade, apparently.

God, I felt like a huge idiot. I kept thinking we had more time than we actually did. School would officially end in two months, but we’d be graduating before that. That… also meant prom. It meant university applications. And that was all on top of this whole deal with Luke.

My head was spinning. I got off the bus with one last stumble and went into my house more tired than I’d ever been since before Frey came into the picture.

Still, there were things that needed to be done.

I was late, but mom and Isabelle stayed with me in the kitchen while I had dinner. I took the opportunity to tell them I had finally agreed to work with Luke Allen, recounting how the whole thing had gone.

Mom sighed. “Let’s hope it all goes well. At this point my worry is that the process of making this… elixir isn’t too demanding on you.”

“Yeah, you don’t actually know how it’ll be, right?” Isabelle asked.

“No, but Frey says it shouldn’t be an issue.”

“When do you start?” mom asked.

“Luke, that is, Mr. Allen, wants to start experimenting as soon as possible, but the people who know how to make the thing aren’t in the country. They’ll arrive in two days.”

“And you also asked to work in his hotel?” Isabelle asked me with a raised eyebrow. “Why? Aren’t you doing enough by helping him with the elixir? He can’t make it without you, right?”

“...” I smiled. “Imagine that, for whatever reason, this elixir thing falls through eventually. Mr. Allen can’t pay me to make more, or he can’t make more, or he doesn’t want to work with me anymore, or maybe I lose the ability to make it altogether. I want to build skills that would help me work in something, well, normal. If I just work making that elixir, I wouldn’t know how to do anything else. Sure, ideally I’d make a living out of music which is what I like, but learning new skills and getting real work experience can only be a benefit.”

“Ah.” Isabelle blinked, then sank her neck between her shoulders. “When you put it that way… Maybe I should get a regular job, too.”

Mom chuckled. “I don’t know how I feel about you working at a love hotel, but that’s a lot more normal than what you’ll actually be doing. Besides, a job is a job. And speaking of, what will you do about your current job?”

I groaned. “I’ll have to quit, obviously, but I don’t want to leave Maria in a bad spot. I’ve been telling her to hire more people for a while. I think she’s rejecting people because most of them… Well…”

“They’re girls trying to get close to the waiter, aren’t they?” Isabelle asked, grinning teasingly.

“Yeah…” Then a lightbulb lit up in my head. “Wait. Sis. You.”

“Huh?”

“Go work at the coffee shop. I bet it’s something you could do far better than me.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” mom said. “Work with your brother for a while. He’ll teach you the ropes before going to his next job.”

“Working as a waiter? Hmm… That doesn’t sound too bad. Let me think about it.”

Another thing I did that night was talk to Frey.

When I opened my eyes to find myself in the world of my dreams, I shot my dear Frey a smug smirk which made her float away from me.

“W-What?” she asked.

“You did it. Luke and Jennifer were sure you wouldn’t be able to, but you did it. You read her mind like a book.”

Frey groaned. “No I didn’t. That wasn’t mind reading, exactly, was it? I was only able to tell if she was saying the truth or not. You know, read her feelings. And I only managed to do it because you have six girls feeding me energy, and let’s not forget that your good friend and subcontractor Thomas is also putting in work.”

Riiight. Frey had shared a small part of her powers with Thomas, creating a connection between us. Now, when he had sex, the energy from it went directly to Frey, too.

“Still. Don’t you think this means you’re stronger than what you think you are?” I asked her.

Frey crossed her arms and fidgeted in the air, grumbling. “I… Well… I guess I underestimated how much having a surplus of energy would change things. I’ll just… You know, I’ll have to think about some stuff, perfect some spells, try more ideas.” Despite the lack of a real face, I knew Frey was smiling. “But yes, I suppose I AM capable of more. Can’t rest on my laurels, though. Giving energy to make the elixir would’ve been the easiest thing in the world, but SOMEONE just haaaad to say they wanted to learn how to make it. Now we’ll BOTH need to put in more work! Thanks a lot.”

“Oh, and you’re telling me you aren’t curious about how to make it? I thought it would be right up your alley.”

“That’s completely besides the point. Do you have any idea how much work I have now? I need to fix the rune spells that were malfunctioning, I need to create new ones, I need to improve our mental defenses, I need to find a way to be more efficient with the energy we have…”

“Yeah, well, share my pain and know my suffering. I have a lot on my plate, too.”

“Oh yeah. What the hell are you gonna do about this prom thing? Isn’t that a thing where you just take one person as a date?”

I sighed. “Plenty of friends go as a group. That’s not the issue.”

“Then what is?”

“That I don’t like prom. Or more like parties in general. I wasn’t planning on going to the thing, but… All the girls will want to go.”

“Well, then suck it up.”

“That’s the plan.”

Frey laughed, and when she stopped, she looked at me with an apologetic gaze. “Hey, Oliver… Sorry about the headaches. You okay?”

“I’m fine. Just let me actually get some sleep.”

“Sure. We’re gonna be very busy from now on.”

Yep.

Very busy.

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

Chapter 473: The plans for university. 

It goes without saying that I told the girls everything that next Friday as soon as I could. That morning in the club room, I told them I was confident that Luke had no ulterior motives, that I wanted my cover job to be real, that he would introduce me to a construction group and that they could have a house ready for us in the next two months.

“...”

There was an unexpected silence when I finished. The girls looked thoughtful and a little conflicted. “Did… something happen?” I asked.

“No,” Grace said, sighing. “It’s just… It’s finally time to make the real choices. We can’t put it off much longer.” She looked up at the ceiling with a bitter smile. “I’m not looking forward to talking to my parents. They’re not gonna be happy.”

“Yes…” Alice sighed as well, staring into her cup of tea. “I’ll do what my parents want and study law, but it’ll be here in town. I’m not moving away. If they’re not okay with that, then I’ll go work with my brother in his shop and forgo higher education.”

I grimaced. Alice was one of the most intelligent people I knew. She had the academic abilities to excel at whatever she wanted to do. I didn’t doubt she’d find success as a mechanic, but… It felt like a waste of her talents not to go to university.

Noelle took a deep breath. “I’ll just go ahead with what my parents want and get into medicine. It’s… not like I’m super against it, and they won’t object to me picking Hyogen University. That’s one area where they’re very good at.”

“But you wanted to be a vet, didn’t you?” Mila asked her, frowning.

“I did, but… It’ll be better for us if I do what I want. My dad was a doctor, too, but ended up becoming the biggest investor of a private hospital. He wants me to work there. Says it’s the safest way to guarantee my economic stability. And… I think I agree.” She smiled wryly at me. “It’s not that I’m afraid to be poor or anything. But our situation is already complex as it is. If we can avoid dealing with money issues, then I’ll do my part, too.” Her smile brightened. “B-Besides, who says I can’t be a vet? Maybe it’ll take longer, but one day I’ll study again and get a second degree, so I’m not exactly giving up on it. Just… postponing it.”

“...” Noelle’s stance was conflicting, too. Her heart was in it, and I didn’t know if that made it better or worse. She really was willing to put aside what she truly wanted to be just to help our livelihood. It just made me sad. I wanted Noelle to do what she really wanted. With the house being the biggest concern right now, would I have enough left over to pay for Noelle’s vet studies, too?

“I’m practically set,” Mila said, though the heavy mood didn’t let her sound too happy about it. “After talking it through with my parents, I decided not to go to university. Instead, I’ll take acting classes in a good drama school in the city. We figured that would help more with modeling and a random English degree.”

Okay, Mila had it figured out already and had the approval of her family. That was reassuring.

“I’m set, too,” Sarah said. “I’m going into psychology at Hyogen. They’re not great at it but they’re not bad, either. I can always ask my dad to recommend more studying material if it feels like the courses are lacking. He has a doctorate, after all, and he always stays up to date with new research as it comes out.”

Yeah, I still remember when her dad saw right through all my issues when I first talked to him. The man was good. More than that, though, it was gladdening to see Sarah so confident. She wasn’t the best student and didn’t have the best grades, but that was in part because she didn’t care about half the subjects in school. When it was about the stuff she was interested in, Sarah really put her all into it.

“And you, Oliver?” Alice asked me. “What are you going to do?”

“Tsk. I’m still not sure,” I said, groaning. “I think I should just start working full time. Even if I trust Luke, that still doesn’t mean the business venture will succeed like he expects it to. Maybe my partnership with him won’t last too long. If it doesn’t, well… We’ll be living on our own. We’ll need a steady income.”

“What about your music?” Grace asked me.

“I won’t stop playing, if that’s what you’re wondering,” I told her with a smile. “I don’t think I could even if I wanted to. Besides, the best place in town to study music would be Hyogen University, too, and I’ve already told you they’re not actually very good.”

“But you always said you wanted to study music,” Mila said.

“And I will,” I told her. “There’s still a lot I can learn from the internet. It’s not like I need a degree to play guitar, right?”

“I suppose…” Alice said.

The girls looked at each other with uncertain looks. They accepted my reasoning but weren’t sure my heart was in it. And they were right, to an extent.

Hyogen University didn’t have the best music courses. However, I still thought there was value in going there. Meeting other musicians, hearing what the teachers had to say and even just pushing my music out of my comfort zone could be beneficial. But at the end of the day my priorities were elsewhere.

I’d continue playing music and continue learning. I just wouldn’t have the formal studies I always thought I’d have.

…

But man, the atmosphere was heavy, and the girls had had enough of it.

“Well, now that we know that, what are we doing in summer?” Sarah asked.

The mood immediately brightened with that.