A hopeless girl admits her feelings.

Someone was standing by the fence behind Lily’s house when he finally returned. Leon assumed Lily was waiting for him, but the closer he got, the more wraithlike the person became.

“Hello,” a feminine voice called out with a lack of emotion.

It was Ophelia.

“Ophelia? What are you doing out here?”

“I wanted to see you,” she said.

She did?

“You did?”

“I did. And I wanted to apologize for not responding to your text. I was upset.”

Already he’d learned that her lack of expression had very little to do with her actual emotions. Her mood was pretty much concealed until she felt like sharing it.

“With me?” he asked.

“In a way. I was upset that we couldn’t finish our date. I was feeling quite charmed by the whole affair until you made a fool of yourself and I had to depart.” Her eyes reflected the moonlight bewitchingly.

“Crap. I’m so sorry. I meant to follow up and fill you in on things, but I’ve had a busy day.” Then he said, “I have some stuff to tell you about.”

“About why you’re so sad?”

“...Yeah.” As always, she somehow read him like an open book.

They leaned against the fence together in silence once he finished describing the events of last night.

“I’m terribly sorry for your loss. I could tell how much she meant to you from the way you looked at her.”

He looked up at the stars shining brilliantly against the inky tapestry of night. “It doesn’t matter. I just hope she’s happy, wherever she is.”

Ophelia’s fingers intertwined with his. “It matters to you, so it matters to me.”

Tears stung his eyes, but he stubbornly wiped them away before they could fall. “Since when?”

“Since you approached me on the beach,” she said matter-of-factly. “You don’t have to hide it. Go ahead and cry.”

She has a power, and I know what that probably means now. I shouldn’t show weakness.

But he was tired of holding it in, so he let go of the lonely weight he’d been carrying ever since Jessie ran away from him. The tears made him feel very much alone... until Ophelia crouched beside him and pulled his head to her chest. She smelled like the sea.

“There, there. Everything will be okay,” Ophelia said. Her flat voice felt somehow soothing.

It took longer than he wanted to admit before he was done. He couldn’t believe he’d let her see that side of him. Even if she wasn’t the enemy, his pain wasn’t meant to be shared with anyone like that.

“Gah, sorry you had to see that,” Leon said, scratching his head.

Ophelia was still crouched beside him, now staring into his eyes like she was looking for some kind of answer in their depths.

“You good?” he asked.

Ophelia reached her hand out and touched his face like it was an alien object.

“Such a mystery.”

“Me?”

She acted like she hadn’t heard him. “A mysterious man with a mysterious power. So similar to myself, and yet...”

Leon’s heart began to pound. She knew.

“...and yet I...”

There was no attack, no accusation. Just her velvety soft lips landing lightly on his. Then they were gone.

“I can’t hold back this curiosity.”

Leon didn’t expect her to take the lead like that. She’d been blunt before, sure, but a kiss?

“What exactly is it that you’re so curious about?” he asked.

“I’m curious about your power. I’m curious what you’re doing when I’m not there. I’m curious what you’d think of my clothes when I put them on the morning. I’m curious if you ever think about me. I’m curious if there’s room for me by your side. And most of all, I’m curious if you’re curious about me, too,” she said, and kissed him again. The unpracticed peck of an amateur.

That sounds like a confession, but I don’t think she realizes what she’s confessing to.

“Who are you, that could turn me into this?” she asked. “Just who exactly are you?”

Most of her weight was leaning on him now. She was frail and light like a feather; permanently in danger of blowing away if he didn’t hold tight. The word ‘ephemeral’ must have been created to describe people like Ophelia.

“Just a guy who’s curious about you, too.”

Ophelia held onto his arm. “I suspect that it’s your power making me feel this way, but I don’t think it much matters. All that matters is that I’m close to you.”

This is some kind of trap. It has to be. A girl seemingly oblivious to what it feels like fall for someone? That can’t be real. No one’s that naive.

“What if you’re right? What if I’m using some kind of power on you? Wouldn’t that cheapen what you’re feeling?”

Ophelia didn’t even have to stop to think about her answer. “What I’m feeling isn’t cheap, because I’m finally feeling something. Something besides the overwhelming urge to die.”

I’m a fool. This could be bait on a trap.

“I don’t want to think about you dying.”

Her eyes conveyed the pain that her voice couldn’t. “Then give me a reason to live.”

Why are you so sad?

She was a beautiful enigma, and one he wanted to unravel. Needed to unravel, according to Cammy. Juggling this many romances wasn’t going to be easy, but at least they made these early Ranks rise quickly.

“This might make me sound like a pig, but are you a virgin, Ophelia?”

For a single flap of a butterfly’s wings, her eyes shifted off of his. He read that slight slip as embarrassment.

“It’s okay if you are.”

“I am, but if your power requires you to penetrate me, it’s okay. I’ll recover.”

“N-no, Jesus. I never thought I’d be the one saying this, but it’s okay to take things slow.”

“My body isn’t appealing enough, is it? I’m sorry that my breasts are small.”

This time, he initiated the kiss. He taught her inexperienced lips a better way to satisfy their yearning.

“O-oh my. That was... exquisite.” Her expression stayed the same, but she was breathing harder.

“If we move too fast, you won’t get to appreciate the little things along the way.”

Protecting her might not be necessary. Lily didn’t need protecting, after all. Not all women needed him to look out for them. But bending an emotionally stunted girl against a fence and fucking her senseless wouldn’t sit right with him, regardless of how Ophelia felt about it.

“You’re protecting me, aren’t you?”

Leon wondered if mind reading was the power her System gave her.

“Yeah, I guess I am.”

“Why?”

“Well... for a lot of reasons, but mostly because I have this stupid thing inside me that drives me to protect the people I care about. Even when they don’t need it.”

“And I’m one of those people?”

“Yeah, looks like it.”

Ophelia moved her face so close that their noses were touching, and then she simply stopped awkwardly.

After a minute or two he asked, “Do you like this or something?”

“Not particularly. I’m waiting for you to kiss me.”

“Oh,” he said, and did exactly that. It was funny how she could seem so all-knowing, yet so naive all at once.

“I don’t want to go. This feeling is so nice,” she said, somehow sensing that he wanted to wrap things up for the night.

“We can stay for a little bit longer, while you tell me about your power.” It was a low blow, but he had to know if she was dangerous.

“Must I? I wouldn’t use it to harm you.”

“I’d feel better if I knew.”

“Will you tell me about yours?”

“I’ll tell you how it affects you, at the very least. If I reveal the whole mystery, our promise won’t last. Unless you can tell me truthfully that I’m enough to keep you living.”

Apparently, he wasn’t. “Tell me how it affects me, and that will be enough.”

“Deal, but tell me about yours first,” he said.

Ophelia stood up and looked off into the distance. “I have something strange in my head. I don’t know what it really is, but the manual called it the Clarity System.”

So she was an Inheritor after all. “The manual?”

“A small book that I can reference when I have questions about my power. It’s quite useful.”

Cammy, why don’t I have one of those?

You have me, the AI replied without missing a beat.

“And this Clarity System, what does it do for you?”

“Many things, but most of them revolve around seeing the truth. I can sense when people are around me, and I can sense what they’re feeling. If they’re lying to me, the Clarity System displays a red X across their face. It’s quite useful, but it makes life even more boring than it was before.”

“How could I possibly be a mystery to you if you have a power like that?”

“It’s your power, I think. It interferes with the signals your emotions give out and makes them harder to read. With others, their emotions are so clear that I might as well be reading their thoughts, too.”

A competent power, but at least it couldn’t directly control him or his girls. It was hard to see how she’d become a threat to anyone but herself.

As promised, he told her about his power. How it amplified her emotions and made him seem more appealing. He even told her about the invisible camera, which she’d already figured out, apparently.

“Then when I’m bored or lonely, your System manipulates me into wanting to see you?”

It sounded sinister when she put it like that. “Pretty much.”

“There’s something exceptionally important about what you’ve told me. My lie detector works perfectly on you, so I know you didn’t lie about it.”

“Something important?”

“If your System only amplifies my emotions, then it means I already felt these things towards you after our first meeting, wouldn’t you say?”

“I mean, I guess so.” Talking about his power so openly felt awkward.

“So they aren’t fake...”

Whatever thoughts she was lost in after that, she didn’t share.

“Maybe I could come stay at your house tonight. If you want?” Leon said after some time had passed. She seemed to genuinely want to be by his side, and he didn’t hate being with her.

“I don’t have a house, I’m afraid, but you’ve been to my home a couple of times now.”

“Your home...? Wait wait wait. Please tell me I’m misunderstanding you and you do not live under a bridge.

“It’s where I feel most at peace.”

The instinct to protect her started bubbling up again.

“But you have nice clothes and you never smell like you haven’t- You know what, it doesn’t matter. I’m not letting you be homeless.”

“You’re being protective again.”

“So sue me. Wait here, I need to have a talk with Lily,” Leon said, and kissed Ophelia’s cheek before going to knock on Lily’s window.

Ophelia was not going to continue sleeping under a bridge.

When Lily answered, he spent a long time explaining who Ophelia was and that she needed a place to stay. Lily complained, saying that she wasn’t running a halfway house, but in the end she agreed to let Ophelia sleep there when she wanted to, as long as Leon didn’t invite anymore people to sleep in her room.

Although she wasn’t jealous per se, Lily still ended up frustrated with him. She was none to happy that she couldn’t be dominated after waiting for it all day.

At least the two girls didn’t act catty with one another. Ophelia was polite and distant, and for her part, Lily didn’t act pissy with her, which was about all he could hope for.

Ophelia slept on the floor (a situation he wasn’t going to let fly for very long at all) and he and Lily slept together in bed. It was strange to be here with them like this, but he secretly loved it.

Having two women who couldn’t bear to be without him was more than he’d ever dared to hope for in all his lonely high school years.

The me from before could never even begin to imagine something like this.

Life with the System was strange and confusing, but he couldn’t picture living without it anymore. Except, there was still something missing. An obvious hole that couldn’t be filled.

Come back to me, Jessie girl, he thought as he fell asleep. I miss you so much.