Help! I'm asexual and trapped in a dating sim!

Chapter Eight

I stepped cautiously into the changing room, partly because it was full of boys who looked far more intimidating than I did, and partly because my arms were so full of teetering towers of equipment that I barely trusted myself to keep it all balanced when standing still, never mind walking.
The walls were clean, white tile-- unusually even, for such an old-fashioned world, looking almost machine made. It had to be magic. The floor, too, was tiled, but these larger, and a slatted wooden bench ran around the room at about knee height, with pegs embedded into the walls at even intervals. Pretty much like every locker room I'd ever been given a wedgie in.
I immediately spotted Caleb and Ryan from Garnet's description-- one with bright red hair and almost yellow eyes, and one with auburn hair to match his ears and furry tail. They were the only other non-humans in the room, and were huddled off in one corner with a sort of bubble of empty space around them. Though I put that down as more because of the thunderous look on the beastman's face than to any kind of aversion to their unusual characteristics.
That, and that I too wouldn't particularly want to approach someone who's head was literally on fire. Oh, not totally, but his hair was an unnaturally bright red and smouldering in places, little flames licking up.
I made my way through the crowd, which was fortunately thin enough to let me slip through, and began to dump my stuff in the space on the bench next to them with a sigh of relief. Caleb glanced to me, then did a double take.
"Hey, are you an elf?"
I chuckled, rubbing at the back of my neck self-consciously with my free hand as he unsubtly looked me over with an appraising eye. "Half-elf, actually."
"Flaming! I'm an ifrit myself."
Flaming? And what's an ifrit?
"Oh, cool."
"Opposite, actually," he grinned. "I'm a royal fire spirit."
Ah, like in Final Fantasy. Although Caleb looked significantly less demonic, despite being several inches taller than me and, as was evident by the fact that he was partway through changing, very muscular.
"Hey Ryan, check this out! Another demi!"
Demi? Was this guy just really hard to understand, or was I just ignorant?
The wolverine tossed me a glance, scowled furiously, then continued inspecting his trousers. I quailed, but Caleb turned back to me with a smile.
"I think he likes you!"
"...does he?"
"Yes! That was his 'not total and instant hatred' scowl."
"Well, you know what I have got total and instant hatred for, Caleb?" Ryan snarled. "These trousers! Why couldn't they think, even for a moment, that SOME PEOPLE HAVE TAILS?!"
Ryan's little explosion drew the attention of almost everyone in the room as the chatter quietened. His tail was made even more obvious by the way it lashed furiously, and I could feel a blush rising in my cheeks as the eyes of the crowd fell on us all.
"Scalding," Caleb whispered to me.
What does he mean?! Is this a term I should be familiar with?
Ryan glared at the people watching him then, with a lethal-sounding schnick, grew long, dangerous claws. Not from his knuckles, unfortunately, for all he looked quite a lot like Hugh Jackman, but from the tips of his fingers where his nails had been before he transformed. He angrily slashed a hole in the back of the trousers, then hissed at the watchers who hurriedly turned back to their own benches.
I went back to unloading my stuff, but one of the many towers of books began to topple. I yelped and went to catch it, and managed to stop the fall of all but one, which flew off the top and right into the face of the unsuspecting boy next to me on the bench. He let out a squeak of shock, stumbling backwards as his hands flew up to his face and tripping over a bag that someone had carelessly discarded on the floor.
Who would do such a thing? It was obviously a tripping hazard and-
Oh, wait, that was mine.
I leapt forward to catch him as he began to fall, letting my books collapse onto the floor, and luckily managed to snatch him out of the air just as he lost his footing. I instinctively tightened my grip as I almost staggered myself, and he gasped as I squeezed him probably a little too tight.
"Are you okay?" I asked him hurriedly. "I'm so sorry, I should've known that a stack that high was going to fall."
He was a little flushed, likely from the shock, and his voice was higher than was probably usual as he replied: "Yes, I'm fine."
I peered closer at the place where the spine of the book had smashed into the bridge of his nose. "I can't see a cut or anything, but that must have hurt." I glanced at the book. I knew it. Poisonous fungi and their uses.
"Here," came a voice from behind me, and I turned to see Caleb holding out the stack of books to me. I set the boy back on his feet, then took them from him.
"Thanks, Caleb!"
He grinned, but then his brow furrowed. "I don't think I told you my name, did I?"
"Oh, I spoke to Garnet. She told me to look out for you."
I set the books back on the bench, in a much smaller pile, then turned back to the boy as I began to lay out my uniform.
"I'm Lee, by the way."
"Caleb," the man so named said, gesturing to me. "Obviously."
"Felix," he replied, holding out a hand for me to shake. I took it, and was surprised at the force behind his grip. He didn't look like someone with a very high strength stat-- slimmer than me, and with delicate features half-covered by floppy brown hair-- but he must be quite a high level, as I had forgotten to adjust my own grip for my high stats.
Look at that! I was already thinking like I'd lived in this world for a whole lot longer than I actually had.
With disaster averted, we turned back to our clothes.
I unbuttoned the shirt-- why they had buttoned it up in the first place, considering literally everyone who picked one up was going to immediately wear it, I don't know-- then shrugged off my tunic. I held it up to the light, peering at the mud, grass and various other stains on it, and briefly considered folding it.
By briefly, I mean I took less than a second to decide it wasn't worth trying to preserve its wrinkle-free condition, before balling it up and tossing it on the bench.
I stretched, letting a slight groan of relief escape as my back cracked, and rolled my neck, wincing as I worked out a crick that had somehow formed over the last few minutes.
A muffled meep had me turning back towards Felix. His hands were clasped over his nose as blood trickled from between his fingers, and his eyes were wide in what I assumed to be panic as he stared at me.
"Gods, are you okay?" I asked worriedly, hurrying over. "Here, I think I have a cloth."
I pulled out the rag Varth had used to wrap the cake and carefully held it to his nose as he wiped the blood from his hands onto his trousers. Old ones, hopefully.
"You got it?"
He nodded as he grabbed the cloth, then started to straighten.
"Nuh-uh," I scolded, sliding a hand into his hair to keep his head tilted down. "You don't move, got it? You'll make it bleed more."
I crouched down in front of him, keeping his head tilted forwards. I spotted a smear of blood on his cheek.
"You've got a little bit- No, don't, you'll drop the rag. I'll get it."
I licked my thumb, intending to rub away the mark, but he suddenly started to bleed even more heavily. Like, there was some real force behind it.
"Ah, gods, are you okay? Stupid question, you're obviously not."
"Scalding," came a voice from behind me. Caleb! Maybe he'd know what to do.
"Caleb!" I cried, my voice full of relief. I tipped my head back to look at him, careful not to let go of Felix. "Do you know how to make the bleeding stop?"
He dropped to his knees behind me, resting his hands on my shoulders as he inspected Felix's face.
"I could cauterise it."
"What?"
"You know. Flaming finger, just stick it up there."
I looked back at him again, to see if he was serious, but he was scowling at Felix so it had to be a joke. Why would he dislike the boy he'd just met if not for comedic purposes? I laughed. "You're funny. But seriously."
"Nah," Caleb said dismissively, slumping against me and draping his arms around my neck. What a touchy-feely kinda guy. "He's got a decent endurance stat. He'll be fine."
"Yeah?"
I was doubtful-- it was an awful lot of blood-- but sure enough the bleeding was beginning to slow.
Felix straightened up, scrubbing at the drying blood on his face.
"I'm sorry," I said anxiously. "I didn't think a book would do something like that."
"Oh, I don't think it was the book that did it," Caleb muttered, resting his chin on my shoulder. More cryptic wording. What did he mean?
"It's fine," Felix said, still rubbing at the blood now crusted onto his face. He'd even managed to get some above his eyebrow, which was something I thought only toddlers with ice cream could do.
I stood, pulling Caleb up by the elbow.
"Um... You've missed a spot."
"Yeah?" he asked, turning his face up towards me. "Could you get it?"
"You might want to get it yourself. There's... more than just a spot, actually."
"Whereabouts?" he asked, looking disappointed. I would be too-- blood was not an easy thing to get off.
"Just... here." I said, guiding his finger.
"Thanks."
He made a show of licking his finger, then wiped at the spot.
"All gone?"
"Not quite."
Caleb came up behind me again, and slung an arm around my shoulders. "Hey Lee, you'd better get a hurry on. Garnet's not one to be kept waiting."
"Right," I said, glancing down and realising that I didn't even have a shirt on yet. I turned to Felix. "Are you alright now you've stopped bleeding?"
"Yeah, I suppose," he said, and Caleb smirked.
"He'll be fine. Come on, Lee."
"Right."
I turned away, but a sudden thought made me spin back around.
"Oh, I know a way I can make it up to you!"
Felix, who had also turned to go, looked back. "Oh, you don't need to do that."
"I want to, though," I beamed. "I know a lady that sells great..." Oh gods, what were they called? "Fruit. I'm not from around here, I don't know what they're called. But anyways, she helped me out and I promised to pay her a visit once I had a little more money to spend. Once I've got the coin, let me take you to her stall?"
"Sure!" Felix beamed. "It's a date."
Well, it wasn't actually a definitive date that I could save yet, because I still didn't know how to get any money.
When I turned back to Caleb, it was to see him looking upset, and maybe a little jealous. I wouldn't want to miss out on the promise of free food either.
"Oh, sorry," I said comfortingly. "I'll take you too, if you want."
I must have hit the nail on the head, because Caleb broke out into a smile and nodded vigorously. "Flaming!"
"Great!" I said, with a grin.
"What, not going to invite me?" grumped Ryan from the corner.
"Of course I am," I said merrily. "Do you want to go out sometime too?"
"What?! No!" he practically shouted. "I don't actually want to go, and especially not with you! I just wanted to be invited, that's all! I don't want to go! Not at all."
"Aw, come on," I said pleadingly. "It'll be fun!"
"Fine," he said angrily, crossing his arms in a huff. Well, he folded rather quickly. I wasn't expecting that. He shot me a sideways glance, hurriedly looking away when he saw me watching him.
"This is going to be fun!" I cheered.
"Yeah! Boys' trip!" Felix hollered, a little too loud.
"So weird," Ryan grumbled. "Though I suppose it might not all be terrible."
"That's the spirit," Caleb encouraged.
"The company will be, though," Ryan hurriedly added. "Terrible."
"I agree with you on one account," Caleb said bitterly, glancing to Felix, who seemed oblivious to the joke.
"You're so funny," I laughed, shrugging into my shirt and beginning to button it up.
We fell silent, but I whooped inside. I'd just made at least two-- three, if you counted Ryan, which I was absolutely going to-- new friends, and it wasn't even that hard!
Maybe reincarnation wasn't so bad after all.