What’s the next step?

Will settled himself in his body once more. He rotated his neck just for that mental assurance that, yes, he was indeed in control. He then smiled at Ruth.

“Is it weird that I’m only saying hello now?” he asked her.

Ruth grinned and rose from her seat to wrap her arms around him, meeting his lips in a fierce kiss. Will held her as they kissed, enjoying the feeling of her slender figure in his arms.

“I’m getting used to it,” Ruth answered, caressing his cheek. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Even better now that you’re here.” He let his hands roam down to her butt, giving it a gentle squeeze that made Ruth shiver.

“What?” She grinned. “Was Reina not enough for you?”

“Please,” the brunette scoffed. “You alone wouldn’t be enough, either.”

Will chuckled and hugged Ruth closer, burying his nose in her neck and letting her smell intoxicate him. “I’m just enjoying having you close. It’s reassuring.”

Ruth smiled and sighed. “What a needy boyfriend.” She dragged him back to the couch, sat him down and straddled his lap. She pressed her forehead against his, their noses touched and their gazes locked on one another’s. “It’s the same for me. Thank God you’re not hurt.”

She kissed him again, this time more tenderly but every bit as passionate. Will rested his hands on Ruth’s waist and she held the sides of his head. She pulled away after a while, then looked from him to Reina.

“So? What’s next on the bucket list?” she asked. “What’s the most urgent thing we need to take care of before we can return to a bit of normalcy?”

“Don’t hold your breath,” Reina told her, crossing her arms. “I don’t think we’ll ever go back to the ‘normal’ life we had before.”

“That’s why I said ‘a bit of normalcy’,” Ruth clarified. “I made my peace with that already. Kinda looking forward to learning to use magic now. But still, we need to find some peace and quiet wherever we can find it, right? That’s why I’m asking what we have to do next.”

Will sighed. “Right now, my two biggest worries are Cynthia and Amelia. There’s nothing I can do anymore about the former. She’ll call me when she’s ready to talk. I can only wait. But Amelia is a different matter. She’s more involved in this than she knows. She owns the building where that portal to that other world exists. That said, I… I don’t want to get her involved anymore than that. Maybe… If I tell her I don’t want to see her anymore, she can still stay away from all this supernatural nonsense.”

Ruth scowled and pulled on Will’s cheek, hard enough that it actually hurt.

“Ow! Ow! Ow! What gives?” he asked.

“Will, unless you actually don’t want to see her anymore, that’s not for you to decide,” Reina told him. “Didn’t you just tell her you wanted her to be yours?”

“I did, but…!”

“Then be a man and take responsibility,” Reina said bluntly. “You need to tell her about it.”

“And we’ll go with you,” Ruth added. “Either it makes it easier to believe or she calls us all crazy.”

“It’s not that I’m not willing to take responsibility, okay? I just thought that… Making her stay out of this would be better for her.”

“And like Reina said, that part is not for you to decide.”

“Okay, okay. Stupid suggestions.” Will threw his hands up. “Sorry I brought it up.”

Reina chuckled. “It’s funny how you can be so worried about someone that you can sometimes disregard their feelings. Good thing we’re here to set you straight.”

“Cut him some slack, Reina,” Ruth grinned. “Remember he’s just a 19 year old baby.”

“Oh?” Will raised an eyebrow. “Are we bringing age up, old lady?”

Ruth pouted and lightly flicked Will’s nose. “Shut it.”

“Isn’t Mrs. Evans like 38?” Reina asked.

“39,” Will corrected.

“I’m 24, Anna is 22, Ruth is… 21, was it?”

“Yeah. And how old is Amelia?”

“37, I think,” Will said.

“I don't know how old Nanami is, but she looks about my age, too,” Ruth said. “And Aoi looks around her 30s, too.”

“So age is not a factor at all to you, is it?” Reina asked him.

“...Never even considered it,” Will realized, blinking. “Huh. So you’re all older than me.”

Ruth snickered. “Why are YOU surprised? Did you just realize that?”

“Well… yes.”

Before Ishtar, Will only dated girls his age. After Ishtar possessed him, Will always went for whichever girl attracted him the most. Plainly put, the ones he thought were the hottest. After all, Will never expected to have a real relationship with any of them. He was just following his desire for sex, amplified by Ishtar’s meddling with his thoughts.

Before, Will followed his heart and dated girls who he thought he could be happy with, but that backfired 100% of the time. Now, with no regards for a long-term relationship, he had found amazing women who were actually willing to put up with his baggage and agree to a relationship as wild and strange as this one.

Was it pure, dumb luck or was it Ishtar’s sex powers? He knew a big reason for it was the latter, yet a part of him wanted to believe it was the former, because… Because if sex was the key to a good relationship, then… would he have been doomed to a lonely life if Ishtar had never appeared?

Will didn’t like that thought.

It scared him.