Leonardo gets everyone together.

It was a very simple matter: Leonardo was tired. Tired that the people he knew awkwardly avoided each other. Reiko and Angela got along great, which was good; Reiko and Kaede at least had a good start, even if they had yet to truly become friends; there seemed to be a weird tension between Angela and Valerie; and then there were the ones who hadn’t directed a word towards each other. Who knew if what he was doing was a good idea? But he was tired, and that meant it was time to take action.

“We’re going to have lunch at the rooftop again,” he told Reiko and Kaede after the bell had rung. “I told Angela to bring Valerie as well.”

“Eh?” Kaede blinked. “We’re all eating together?” She shifted in her seat, not knowing if she should be happy or nervous about it.

“Yep.” Leo nodded. “Let’s go,” he said, leaving no room to argue.

They met the blonde and the redhead at the stairs and made their way up. The huge group of cute girls drew everyone’s attention, but Leo ignored it. They sat at their usual spot, undisturbed by anyone else, and things proceeded as he had expected.

Nobody would say a word.

Kaede was shy, Valerie couldn’t speak any language the others understood, Reiko had troubles with people she didn’t know well and Angela probably just didn’t have anything to say to them. It was all up to him, he guessed. And what better way to bring people together than to unify them under a single cause to fight for?

“We’re already in the middle of May. If I remember correctly, that means…”

“Midterms!” Reiko gasped. “I… can’t believe I almost forgot!”

“When are they?” Angela asked with a groan.

“Next week,” Reiko told her.

Valerie gave Leo a puzzled look, not getting the conversation but wondering why Reiko had suddenly started to panic. He gave her a quick translation. “Oh. Well, I’m failing those,” she said. “I can’t even understand what the teachers say in class. How do they want me to answer the tests?”

“I wonder why they even let us into the school,” Leo said. “You don’t speak Japanese, and Angela and I are barely just getting the hang of it.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me if the old lady had pulled some strings…” Valerie said.

“We’ll have to ask the teachers how they plan on testing you.” Leo sighed. “We’ll have to spend time studying on top of everything else.”

“Can we start today?” Reiko asked, looking a little anxious. “Normally I would’ve started studying a week ago, but… things have been happening and it slipped my mind.”

“We were going to check out the gym, though…” Leo said, groaning and rubbing the back of his neck. Really, he’d forgotten what a pain exams were.

“Gym?” Valerie asked, recognizing that word even in English. “You guys are going to the gym the old lady mentioned?”

“Mm? Yeah, Angela and I are going,” he said. “Why? Want to come with us?”

Valerie eyed Angela with narrowed eyes. Angela herself looked confused by the staring and tilted her head. “Yeah, if you don’t mind,” she answered.

“B-But exams…!” Reiko pouted.

As Leo was about to answer, his eyes landed on the, until now, silent Kaede. Talk of exams seemed to bother her, as she looked like she wanted to say something but was holding it in. Right, her talent was being a genius. She’d already gone through these exams and was already about to graduate from university. She was here for the experience of being in school at the proper age.

…

Well, that gave him an idea.

“Why don’t you and Kaede study together,” he suggested, looking at the Gifted girl. “Would you mind studying with her? She usually uses Angela and me to review topics as she helps us, but today…”

“M-Me…!?” Kaede asked, pointing at herself.

Shock, happiness, nervousness, fear, excitement. All these emotions ran through Kaede’s face so quickly Leo had troubles believing he was seeing them right.

“Oh! Oh! Yes, come to my house!” Reiko nodded eagerly and leaned forward. “Maybe you could help me with some things I don’t understand? Pleaaaaaaaase?”

Leo smirked internally, glad that Reiko had caught up to his intentions as quickly as she did. She framed it as if Kaede would be doing Reiko a favor, while also loosening her up to being around more people. Then again, maybe Reiko was just really excited to bring a friend home.

“S-Sure, I’ll go,” Kaede said with a small, nervous smile.

“Yes!” Reiko fist pumped.

Leonardo read the atmosphere around them, noticing how that had suddenly ended the topic of conversation. He could practically feel them falling into another awkward silence, and though he refused to let it happen without a fight, there was something his newly acquired Gift let him notice.

Kaede tried to keep her eyes on her lunch box, but every so often she would glance between him and Reiko. The same happened with Valerie as she looked more blatantly from Angela to him. Curiosity was eating away at them.

“So… what’s the deal with you guys?” Valerie finally asked. “Are you like… going out?”

The rest looked at him in anticipation, waiting for him to translate her words. And even though it was embarrassing and made his chest tight, he had **** but to translate and answer.

“…Yeah,” he nodded. “Reiko, Angela and I are going out.”

Kaede’s eyes widened and her face heated up as she looked at the three people involved. “Y-Y-You three!?”

“It was that or let stupid misunderstandings happen between us,” Angela said, shrugging. “We’re already in a weird situation and our choices aren’t many. Reiko likes Leo, I like him too, and he needs to keep many women around him, anyway.”

Reiko swallowed, but pushed through her shame to make her opinion heard. “We… We’re trying our best to make it work. I know I’m the one least involved in all this curse and gifts affairs, but I don’t want to miss on building meaningful relationships just because I was too afraid to act. I’ve… learned a lot about myself in the past couple months, and that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t had the courage to say the things I felt.” Her cheeks and ears reddened deeply as she said that.

“I’m going to make one thing clear here,” Leo said, looking at Kaede and Valerie firmly in the eyes. Even if he had to translate, he’d make sure they heard this from his own mouth. “Personally, I don’t give a damn what Mrs. Wisler told you about this whole situation with the Book of Eros. I’m not going to **** you to do anything. I don’t want to do anything with you that you don’t want either. Since a few days ago, the Book gave me the ability to see deeper into people’s emotions. I think I can tell that the curse hasn’t been affecting you in the same way it did Angela and me, and certainly not Lucia-san and Miryoku-san, maybe because we’re older than you. Bottom line is, if you want to have sex, then we can do it. Hell, I’d be more than happy to, and Reiko and Angela already understand and accept this.” He turned to his two girlfriends as he said that. Reiko nodded firmly while Angela nonchalantly shrugged.

“It is what it is,” the blonde said.

Now it was the two new girls’ time to blush madly.

“But if you have any doubts that this is what you want, then refrain and hold it in for one more year,” he said, giving them all a confident and reassuring smile. “I’ll have this thing fixed by then.” The bell rang just as he said that, and thank fucking god it did because he didn’t want to deal with the aftermath of that declaration right now. “Now, off to class everyone. One last push and we’re free for the day,” he said, walking off in such a way he hoped looked cool while he was, in fact, running away. In hindsight, that had sounded really contradictive, but… it still felt like the right thing to say.

Author's Note: I'm not particularly happy with this chapter. Had a bit of a family emergency at the time of writing it and wasn't able to polish it as much as I would've liked to. I hope it still reads well enough.

Chapters 82 to 85 available at my Patreon.

Also, at a friend's suggestion, I made a Ko-Fi page in case someone just wants to do a one-time donation. If you can, It would help me a lot, but please don't give money you can't afford.

Lastly, another reminder that I have another story ongoing right now. The Spirit of Lust. Check it out if you're interested.