What I Think of You Pt. 07

If looks could kill, Alice's expression was as if he'd proposed murdering her murder and having relations with the corpse, there was murder in her eyes, and his every instinct told him to run, but he sat, and quickly muttered "kidding." He'd later come to learn that while the previous two girls seemed into Alex, Alice's was less "into" Alex and more so "Obsessed to a frankly terrifying degree." She'd since become a lot more open about her borderline deification of Alex over the past two years.

Unbeknownst to Sebastian, it'd been pure luck that'd stopped Alice from killing him over the past two years if, at any point over the past two years, they'd crossed paths outside of university, Alice fully intended to murder him for his blasphemy.

Feeling he'd just burned that bridge beyond all repair, he turned to the last remaining girl, Yoshiko. He knew her by reputation, and he intended to heed conventional wisdom and not get her attention, but now that he was here, and now that he was out of easy options, he started to think about Yoshiko more.

She was hot, extremely hot, probably the 2^nd hottest girl here, just behind Olivia, and a small jog ahead of Rachel, he'd heard stories of her personality, of her being vitriolic and often downright cruel to anyone she found even the slightest bit boring or annoying, the story he'd heard had been about her pulling out a switchblade in the middle of class, and calmly asking a girl who'd been calling her painting overly simplistic if her blood would add a level of detail to the painting.

This story had been embellished and misremembered. What had happened was Yoshiko had heard her work being insulted, and out of boredom more so than anger, she decided to throw the contents of a bucket of white paint at the offending girl's artwork. She then repeated the girl's criticisms back at her while staring at her ruined artwork "Overly simplistic... I mean it's just white paint on a canvas now."

A month of work was destroyed in a moment, the girl lunged at Yoshiko, and she pulled her switchblade to convince the girl to back off. She'd faced near expulsion for this but was saved not by merit, but by an overly complicated university bureaucracy that saw the expulsion edict accidentally shelved without ever being issued, the entire fiasco fell into the university memory hole for the most part, embellished to the point of losing all credibility.

Sebastian, setting red flags aside, thought she would certainly be interesting to date, maybe freaky in the bedroom, or maybe pure and innocent, the violence a veneer hiding a core of innocence. But at this point, he was willing to settle for anyone who wasn't in Alex's fan club, crazy or otherwise.

He got his wish in that regard, he decided this time not to directly slander Alex, but rather the entire situation going on with Rachel and Olivia.

Whispering to Yoshiko "So, is this entire group just those two girls talking to that guy?"

Yoshiko cracked a smile, it was a good observation, and she'd responded with a sly jab of her own.

"Hardly, it's one girl talking, and the other dreaming of killing her and wearing her skin, plus two onlookers."

"She looks pathetic, doesn't she? She is losing the race by that much?" Sebastian figured Yoshiko would appreciate crueller humour, he was right.

"Race? One girl ran three laps and then refused to cross the finish line, and the other girl isn't allowed to start the race, this is an unproductive farce, from beginning to end." Yoshiko looked over at Olivia and Alex's spirited conversation with a wry smile, it was so obvious how much those two liked each other, now if only they'd fuck already, the tension was annoying to be around.

Sebastian went on to have a rather sarcastic and spiteful conversation about Olivia and Alex, partly fuelled by their own feelings of isolation, Sebastian estranged from any woman higher than a 7/10, and Yoshiko from her own lustful desires and cruel, unrealistic expectations for a relationship.

Yoshiko comforted herself she was making strides with her roommate Rebecca. Sebastian comforted himself that he felt he had made some inroads with Yoshiko, nothing romantic, but he had his foot in the door, he just needed to keep talking to her, and hope love bloomed.

He attended Olivia's circle for a second time the next day. Yoshiko wasn't there, he quickly learned she was very rarely in attendance, and he found there to be no real fun in sitting in silence watching Alex enjoy a conversation, try as he might, the other two just didn't want to talk to him, and getting Olivia away from Alex felt impossible.

So that was his last day in attendance, he was quickly forgotten, but occasionally, he'd quickly peak in on the circle to see if Yoshiko was in attendance, his one good lead for a 10/10 girlfriend. He'd looked maybe 50 times over the last two years and had not seen her once.

In the present, Sebastian's desire to approach Alex was rooted in an understanding he'd reached regarding Alex's hogging of all these attractive women, while Alice felt eternally out of reach, now she'd outed herself as being crazy on a level he didn't want to deal with if Alex started dating Olivia, or vice-versa, the other would probably be distraught, or at the very least newly up for grabs. So he was approaching Alex for information, and maybe to ask about Yoshiko, if he could find any way to consistently be with her, that might be enough to secure a relationship, in the past two years, he'd found success only with women as desperate as he was.

But that wouldn't do, he wanted a girlfriend he could show off, and as sad as it was to admit, that one day he'd spent taking the piss out of Olivia and Alex's cutesy relationship with Yoshiko was the closest he'd gotten to an attractive girl in his life, he felt they were compatible.

So if he could re-enter that group, and assuming Alex had finally picked a girlfriend, he would most likely have two options on the table, he might even be able to make moves on both, and leverage jealousy to get something out of one of them, to his mind, it was the perfect plan. He'd finally secure one of those 9's or 10's.

So he sat down next to Alex and greeted him like an old friend.

"Hey mate, long time no see, it's been a while, remember me!" Sebastian did a wide grin, he had no idea why Alex was sitting alone, and his mind raced, maybe he was very lucky, and all of the girls were now up for grabs, maybe they'd abandoned him and kicked him out.

Alex stared at him for a good long while, it felt impolite, but he felt he knew this guy, he just couldn't remember where from, eventually, he remembered him as the guy who'd shown up at Olivia's circle, tried to make small talk, chatted a bit with Rachel and Yoshiko, then left. Alex's version of history was now off, as a result of the shade, he remembered Alice being slightly receptive to Sebastian's attempts at conversation but ultimately lost interest in him on the second day, Sebastian's conversation with Yoshiko had been slightly less successful in his Alex's remembered history, but he remembered a Sebastian that seemed interested primarily in Alice, but was keeping Yoshiko as a back-up option, he didn't like Sebastian very much, he just felt slimy to him.

"Uh, yeah, long time no see, Sebastian, what you been up to?"

"This and that, just coursework and other shit, Y'know? Surprised you remembered my name, even more, surprised you're eating alone, don't you have Olivia and what-not you eat with? Just want to know what's happened over the years is all."

"Olivia's at an art camp, and I think the rest are off sick."

"All three are sick?"

Alex figured he'd stretch the truth a bit, just to avoid talking about recent events, as far as he knew, Alice and Rachel weren't sick, he had no real idea what happened to Alice, but apparently, Rachel was recuperating, according to Yoshiko at least, and he was inclined to take her at her word.

"Well, Alice and Rachel are sick, Yoshiko might be here, but I don't know where."

That perked Sebastian up a bit, Yoshiko might be alone, and he might be able to rectify that. But it felt smarter to drill for a bit of information on Yoshiko before leaving to find her.

"Really, and what's she been up to these days? Are you still in the same group?"

Alex wanted to avoid mentioning that he was now living with Yoshiko, he felt that might give Sebastian the wrong idea, something that seemed especially possible given Alex didn't really know what the right idea was himself, what even was their relationship? Fuck buddies seemed the right term at the moment, but this morning made it feel closer to master and slave.

"Yoshiko's still going around being... herself for the most part, let's put it that way."

"Interesting, good to know... Is she seeing anyone these days? Are you? You and Olivia seemed close last I saw ya, you and her an item?"

This was a brilliant menagerie of questions Alex didn't want to answer, but he strained out some answers.

"I... Yoshiko's private life is her business to discuss, that's my policy on it anyways, no offence. As for me and Olivia, nah, we're just friends."

While Sebastian wanted to take that last bit as an indication that Olivia had lost interest in him, he had the feeling it more so meant that nothing had changed in two years, that was slightly infuriating to think about, that comment about Yoshiko was suspicious, but he figured he'd have heard about it if she suddenly started dating someone, so she was probably still on the market. Maybe it would be worth going back to the circle and checking in with Rachel, maybe she'd also stopped pining for Alex, and maybe his plan of seducing either Yoshiko or Rachel by playing them off each other was still possible.

It was at that moment that Yoshiko popped into view, she'd seen Alex from across the other side of the lounge room and was now speed-walking towards him. Sebastian didn't notice her until she was close, when his mind processed her sudden presence, he opened his mouth to say something to her, to start any sort of conversation.

The words failed to materialize, as he saw Yoshiko embrace Alex from behind, wrapping her hands around him, and planting what sounded like a soft kiss on the top of his head. Alex's surprised expression conveyed only confusion, Sebastian bore the same expression, but while Alex's expression settled into a sense of embarrassed happiness as he realised the arms belonged to Yoshiko, Sebastian's expression grew dour quickly.

Yoshiko was the first to speak.

"Alex, took forever to find you, I was hoping to eat with you, if that's alright with you."

Yoshiko was eying Sebastian, she remembered him well, they'd spoken a few years back, and Yoshiko was aware that he was asking after her from time to time, she didn't much care for him, he was a decent distraction on a day when she tired of Olivia's upbeat energy, but beyond that, she didn't want to spend any great deal of time with him. However, she was aware he seemed to dislike Alex, and she was making the assumption that Alex was at least in part aware of that, he had to be right? Their conversation was long, and he must have overheard some of it, fortunately, Yoshiko hadn't really directly insulted Alex back then, that'd been almost entirely Sebastian.

Alex had heard none of their conversations and figured Sebastian was decent enough, if a tad boring.

Sebastian was in shock to see Yoshiko hugging Alex, even now, a good couple of seconds after her arrival, she'd sat down and was now reaching her arm around him, holding him close.

Sebastian had remembered Alex as someone who was relatively isolated in high school, someone who tried hard to fit in with his betters, and failed, time had only served to erode that image further, apparently Alex had managed to crawl into even Yoshiko's good graces, looking at them now, and judging by that kiss, were they now dating? If so, that was unfortunate, but now Olivia and Rachel were up for grabs... he felt he should ask, and state the obvious.

"Wow, I uh... you two seem close... really close... gotta ask, have you two started dating since I last saw you?" Sebastian put on a friendly smile, trying to make his question seem genuine and mask his opportunistic ambitions. Still, it hurt to see Alex win over another girl, while he remained undesirable, what was it about this guy?

Alex scrambled to think of a convincing explanation for Yoshiko's kiss and didn't want to insult Yoshiko by saying something careless or dismissing her entirely. Yoshiko answered before he could.

"I'm not that lucky, I'm just his admirer right now." Yoshiko nuzzled her face into Alex's chest as she finished speaking, her face the picture of quiet satisfaction.

Sebastian had no idea why a girl who was an easy 10/10 in terms of looks was an "admirer" of a guy who by his reckoning was lucky to consider himself a 7/10. He really had nothing to say to that beyond the most basic answer he could give.

"Okay."

Alex had sunk into the recesses of his mind, he felt he could leave this conversation to Yoshiko for the most part, it was easier, and it made it easier to pay attention to the good view he had of Yoshiko's exposed thigh, he wasn't much of a thigh guy, but he'd rather pay attention to anything besides a conversation where he flat out didn't know the answers to any of the questions that were going to be asked.

Sebastian had mentally regrouped and felt the need to probe for further details.

"Hahaha... so what exactly do you mean you're an admirer? So, do you're like best friends? Is that a cute way of putting it?"

Yoshiko had no idea how sexual she should be in this conversation, it was embarrassing to say submissive stuff in public, and she'd winced when she'd called herself an admirer to someone else's face, but she persisted, refraining from anything explicit unless it felt called for.

"Best friends... That feels a bit limited, and a bit... overly platonic, I want as much to do with Alex as possible, who wouldn't?"

Sebastian's mind raced.

"Are they fucking? Platonic means not fucking or something like that... so saying that's 'overly platonic' means it implies they're not fucking... did I understand that right? Seriously... why are these hotties obsessed with this guy, surely they're dating, Yoshiko wouldn't let Alex fuck her if they weren't dating, it's not like Alex had any power over her, or anything right?"

Sebastian had a hierarchical worldview, one that sorted people into better and lesser. To his mind, Alex was lesser, and Yoshiko was hot and therefore better. It made no sense to him that a lesser should get to fuck a better.

"So... what makes you admire him exactly?"

Alex was still checked out for the most part, but he was enjoying Yoshiko singing his praises to Sebastian, it felt good to have such a direct ego boost.

Yoshiko responded with endless anecdotes, some fabricated, some embellished, singing of Alex's merits, calling him witty, calling him smart, telling stories of how his facial features captivated her, stories that vaguely alluded to his dick without directly stating that she was talking about it.

By the end, Alex felt a great sense of embarrassment from receiving such vigorous. Yoshiko felt an ever-greater sense of embarrassment from having to deliver it and wished she could hide her blushing face. Sebastian was presently seething, he didn't know what he was going to get when he asked that question, but it was clear from how she spoke that Yoshiko was obsessed with the man.

At this point, Sebastian was starting to feel distinctly inferior to Alex, a thought he wished to escape from, he made some small pleasantries and quickly hurried off, he wanted nothing to do with what he was increasingly beginning to see as Alex's harem.

"Some people have all the luck." Sebastian dryly mused.

After Sebastian was gone, Alex eventually spoke a few words to Yoshiko, he'd said nothing to her since she'd arrived, he hadn't felt the need to until now.

"Thank you, for what you said back there... not used to receiving compliments that people are willing to attach their name and face to." He spoke from the heart, while he didn't dislike Sebastian, he reminded him of the shitty people he'd gone to high school with, the people he'd tried to impress, and he felt like Sebastian had left with a deep sense of jealousy, morality aside, that felt good, like it'd helped resolve a past trauma somewhat.

"Anytime, Alex, I merely spoke what I believe" Yoshiko felt she might literally die of embarrassment if she asked her to repeat any of that, she'd only managed it through adrenaline and momentum, and now she felt the full weight of saying several increasingly bizarre and worshipful compliments.

"I thought I'd let you know that I've prepared something fun for you when we get back home, as something of thanks for staying with me these past three days."

"You know I'm the one who's supposed to be thankful for that, right?"

"Your presence is a gift, one I could not hope to repay." Yoshiko retorted, her voice low and sweet.

Alex rolled his eyes, and the pair ate lunch together, Yoshiko dodging Alex's inquiries into recent events the entire time, she was careful never to outright lie, eventually, he'd find out, but for now there was more to be gained in ignorance than understanding, at least that was what Yoshiko suspected.

Eventually, the lunch period ended, and the pair needed to return to their separate classes.

Yoshiko opted not to, she'd seen Alex, she'd gotten all she wanted out of the day's lessons, and she had a better use for the time. Her wardrobe was by no means modest, but it was time to update it with some more depraved attire, she needed things that were sexy, she needed she through underwear, she needed an apron, she needed a collar, she needed just about anything that'd help her grab and hold Alex's attention.

So, she headed out, leaving her class half-finished, she wasn't sure she'd made a great impression on Alex over lunch, all she did was flaunt their relationship to Sebastian, and say some nice things about him, much to her embarrassment. Tonight with Asha would be different, Alex would enjoy carnal relations with Asha, and Yoshiko would take a more involved role, she'd prove to him that she bore no real jealousy, Olivia aside, Alex would come to appreciate her, Alex would come to trust her, and finally, when Alex learned of his gift, they'd stand side by side, in twisting the world to their depraved whims.