Taking the initiative.

The fact that Lucia woke up only feeling thirsty was nothing short of a blessing. It was countered, however, by the fact she had somehow woken up at about 6:30 am despite having been drinking with Seina and Angela until 2:00 am last night. She wanted to keep sleeping, but the urgent desire to pee **** her out of bed. This, however, meant she’d beaten Angela to the bathroom for the first time, which in turn meant a very good chance to make good on all her wild claims from last night.

Admittedly, Lucia had said some things under the influence of some very strong (yet very good) liquor. That said, it meant only truths had come out of her mouth, for better or worse. There was no point in hiding them, anyway. Lucia had been getting herself ready to share Leo for a while now, even if she still harbored some small hope that he’d end up choosing only her. But she paid close attention to him. She knew he cared deeply for every girl he slept with. No one was just a sex friend to him, or worse, a means to an end. And though more than a little disappointing that Lucia was not the sole vessel of his sweet affection, she took great comfort in knowing she was getting more than other people got in their entire lives. And THAT was something Lucia knew well.

She had seen people take everything from each other. Money, friendships, pleasure. She had seen their base desires and saw little of worth. Leo, however? He gave back twice as much as he took. If she let it continue like that, Lucia would really become just as those she was disappointed in. It was high time she started giving him more.

She took a quick shower and got dressed in a sleeveless shirt and a blue denim skirt. She walked to the dining room and heard sounds coming from it already. Sneaking a peek, she saw Leo there getting ready to prepare breakfast. Lucia paid close attention to his face to see how last night had gone for him, and it didn’t take much to see it had been satisfactory.

Leo was clearly trying to hold back a giddy smile. Whenever his lips curved up, he would shake his head and frown at himself. No doubt he wasn’t letting himself forget what had happened yesterday. Things might be going well with Reiko, Valerie and Kaede, but he knew he had hurt Seina and maybe Angela and herself. He wasn’t allowing himself to relax until that was settled. It was really cute to see, but she would rather he simply enjoyed what he had.

Time to help settle matter, she guessed.

Lucia walked into the dining room, taking Leo by surprise.

“Oh. You’re up early,” he said with a worried smile.

“Yeah. I think I subconsciously knew I had to wake up early for this,” she said. She walked behind the counter and up to Leo, and before he could take a step back from the close proximity, she held his face and kissed his sweet lips.

She let out a soft moan into his mouth. Even if she was the one initiating and controlling the kiss, it just felt too intense. Her body shivered and grew hotter. She was hoping he would just hold her against him and deepen the kiss on his own, but he seemed to shocked to move right now. That was cute, too, so she’d forgive him this time.

“L-Lucia…?”

“Can I join your harem or is it too late?” she asked, half teasing him. She couldn’t help herself since she rarely got to see him so off balance.

“H-Harem? I… Are you serious?”

“Very. Can’t you tell?”

“Well, forgive me if I don’t understand why you’d do this first thing in the morning after what happened yesterday.”

“I’m doing this BECAUSE of what happened yesterday, you know? You win, Leo. I had plans, schemes and wishes to keep you to myself. It didn’t work, and now I have to choose whether to share you or let you go? I had my answer to that after two drinks.”

“Are you sure you should be making decisions like this while drunk?”

“You know I’m an honest drunk.” She shrugged. “Besides, I’m sober right now, aren’t I?”

“I suppose,” Leo chuckled. “Did you have to catch me off guard like that, though?”

“I couldn’t resists. You’re too cute when you looked confused.”

Leo shook his head, part in resignation and in part to hide his embarrassment at being called cute. Then he let out a heavy sigh. “Well, in regards to your little request… As much as I’d love to say yes immediately, this isn’t my own decision anymore.”

Lucia nodded. “Need to consult the girlfriends, huh?”

“You’d want me to talk to you if you were in their position, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course, and I’m not complaining.”

“Oh, skip the damn formalities,” Valerie said, coming into the room with Reiko and Kaede in tow. All three of them looked fresh off the shower and already dressed. “We were hoping for this to happen, weren’t we?” she asked her friends, who nodded back.

“Were you watching from behind the door?” Leo asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Sorry,” Kaede said with an apologetic smile. “Didn’t seem right to interrupt before you were done.”

“Leo and Lucia-san, sitting in a tree!” Reiko sang with a big smile on her face.

“K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” Kaede joined her with a hearty laugh.

“Huh. Are you sure it’s okay to say yes so quickly?” Lucia asked them.

“See how it feels when it comes out of nowhere?” Leo teased her back.

“I’m just asking if they’re not afraid I’ll go bitch mode again.”

Kaede stepped up to the counter, standing across from her. Lucia looked at the younger girl. She was smiling and standing confidently. A far cry from the nervous mess she was three months ago.

“If Leo trusts you, so will I. I really hope we can get along, Lucia-san.” Kaede bowed politely, and Lucia’s heart was wrung in response. She’d really gone too far in a couple of occasions, hadn’t she?

“Let’s start by dropping honorifics, then, shall we?” Lucia said.

“Fine by me,” Valerie said. “Though just calling you by name feels weird when you’re so much older than us.”

Lucia’s eye nearly twitched at that, but she held it back. “Age is just a number, dear, and I’ll thank you not to bring it up again.” That only made the girls laugh nervously. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d love to hear some details of what happened last night between you four.”

“Oh! Leo! Show her the thing!” Reiko said. “Kaede, help him!”

“H-Here? What if the others come in?”

“Angela and Seina drank more than me last night. They’ll be up late today,” Lucia assured them.

“And with a big hangover, I assume,” Leo said, checking a cupboard to see if he had something to prepare for them.

“What do you want to show me?” Lucia asked.

“It’ll be better if you feel it. Just get ready because it’ll be weird,” Reiko insisted.

Lucia watched as Kaede walked behind the kitchen counter and approached Leo. Their boyfriend then lightly pinched Kaede’s nipple through her t-shirt. It looked normal enough until Lucia flet her own nipple being touched by invisible fingers.

“Gah!” she exclaimed in shock. “W-What…!?”

“The Book of Eros gave me this Gift last night. I still don’t know how I feel about it.”

Lucia turned back to Reiko. “Explain.”

The four girls sat down at the table while their boyfriend prepared breakfast. They told Lucia about what had happened last night while the smell of tamagoyaki and toasted bread filled the dining room. The peaceful sense she got from it all was a feeling she had been growing used to while living on this house, and she was starting to believe she wouldn’t mind if this became the new normal in her life.

And she thought she had tasted all of life’s pleasures. So naïve.

“So you want to make it all public, then?” Lucia asked the girls, just to confirm she had everything right. “And bet on the clan’s reputation to carry it to normalcy?”

“Think it’ll work?” Reiko asked.

“It very well may, but…” It was a solid bet, Lucia thought. Her mother was a well-known figure in the island, and by this point Leo was too, though to a lesser extent. Not to mention that Lucia was a firm believer on letting people mind their own business so long as they weren’t bothering her, so letting everyone else know Leo was in an open relationship with them wouldn’t be an issue.

If not for one of her near-future plans which was already a done deal. Oh well, she’d just have to be more mindful than usual for half a year. She wouldn’t let it get between her and her new boyfriend.

Urgh. She still got giddy when calling him that. So stupid, but she couldn’t help it.

“But what?” Valerie asked.

“No, it’ll be fine. Give it enough time and people will come to accept it. Just be prepared for odd looks and some nasty whispers at first. Other than that, there’s the matter of the future, right?”

Kaede pursed her lips and nodded slowly, worry clear in her face.

“I have no idea what you’re worried about, though. Remember, if we lift the curse using the powers of the Book, we’ll even get to keep our Gifts. You can quite literally do anything you want, especially with yours.”

“But… My family…”

“Well go talk to them if you need to. Won’t we, Leo?” Lucia asked the man in the kitchen.

“Of course. You were clearly unhappy with your situation from before. You don’t want to return to that, do you?”

Kaede fervently shook her head. “I don’t! I’m tired of it!”

“Then we’ll just have to explain that to your parents.”

“For what’s worth, you now have all of us for support,” Reiko added.

“That said, if we want to have a strong case for her staying here in the island, we need to have some solid backing,” Lucia said.

“You mean, like, she’d need to have a job here or something?” Valerie asked.

“Sort of. I doubt her parents would consider it a good future if she was selling souvenirs at the gift shop. And what about you, Valerie? Won’t your parents ask you to return to Spain?”

“I think I can convince my dad to let me stay,” Valerie answered. “He was worried about my lack of passion, but since I found plenty of things to be passionate about here, I think he’d let me stay if I explain things to him.”

“And you, Reiko?” Lucia asked. “Do your parents have plans for your future?”

“I bet they’d throw away any plans they have in favor of me having Leo’s children,” Reiko said bluntly. At the same time they heard some cutlery falling behind them.

Lucia smirked. “You okay there, sweetheart?”

“S-Sure…” Leo answered with a nervous laugh.

“I’m not joking, though,” Reiko clarified. “They want me to be an elementary school teacher, but they’d be happier if I was just a housewife.”

“And do you want to be a housewife?” Leo asked.

“…Not sure. I’ve been thinking about some things recently, but it’s too soon to say anything. I wouldn’t be all that opposed to it, though, if it wasn’t for the fact you’re 20 times better at it than me,” she teased.

“I won’t argue with that,” he admitted casually.

“Well, as for me, I can do whatever,” Lucia said. “I still have tons of money saved and I’ll start working come this new semester. Not like the job is going to tie me down, however.”

“Is that was you’ve been so secretive about?” Leo asked.

“Oops. Did I let that slip?” she giggled.

“…A strong backing, huh?” Kaede muttered to herself.

“You still have time. No need to rush,” Lucia told her.

Kaede’s eyes turned to Reiko, who in turned looked back at her with curiosity. Lucia could see the gears turning in Kaede’s pretty head. She already had a plan, but was too hesitant to say it. Maybe she would when she had thought it through.

For now, some things were clear. Lucia took the initiative and was now part of this weird and official relationship. It wasn’t going to magically work, but don’t let it be said she wasn’t going to put in the effort. This was far more exciting than anything Vegas had to offer.

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