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

Chapter Ten

I stared at the food in front of me. I had grown up in America, true, but I was Japanese by heritage and my adoptive parents had raised me as such-- at least, until my little brother was born-- so I had developed a taste for seafood. I was no true expert, but I knew the difference between good and brilliant fish.
This was neither. This was barely even fish.
I poked at the rubbery white thing on the plate with my fork. How do you mess up fish enough that it goes rubbery? But this was like stabbing a car tyre.
"Everything alright, Lee?" I heard Garnet ask.
I glanced up to see most of the table watching me. Which, considering Garnet and co. had met up with two more friends, and all three other guys from the locker room had tagged along to the lunch hall, meant that quite a few pairs of eyes were fixed on me.
"Yes!" I said hurriedly. "Everything's fine!"
In an attempt to prove how fine it was, I stuffed a chunk of the fish in my mouth.
Oh. That was unexpected. The fish wasn't bad at all.
It was terrible.
My god, what had they done to it? Marinated it in sour milk and fried it in motor oil before garnishing it with toenail clippings? Was this the terrible foot fungus that the rabbit had told me about?
I tried to hide my expression, but the green tinge to my face must have given me away. Also maybe the slight yelp of shock I let out when the horrifying taste hit me in the taste buds. And the way I obviously dry-heaved can't have helped.
"...are you sure?" Garnet asked. "You look a little... discombobulated. Is Caleb too clingy already? He tends to latch on to people very fast."
Well, just hearing her say that word made it all better.
"No," I said, trying not to chew the fish any further for fear of setting more of the taste free. "I'm okay."
Taking a deep breath and gathering all my courage, I tried to swallow the mouthful. Tried being the key word. In my attempt to not actually let the fish touch any of my mouth, I inadvertently breathed it down the wrong hole.
I began to choke, the terrible fish that hadn't made a bee-line for my lungs seeming to get tossed around to coat every part of my mouth. My face must have been an interesting mixture of ghostly white from lack of air and nauseated green.
"Oh my goddess," Felix said, standing and hurrying to my side. Ryan, sitting between the two of us, was faster, and he gave me a thump on the back that dislodged most of the fish. I coughed it back up into, I realised with horror, my mouth. I hurriedly grabbed my glass of water and washed it down.
"Thanks, Ry," I wheezed, taking another gulp of water in an attempt to wash the taste away. I set my cup back down and glanced around. Anyone on the table who hadn't been watching me were certainly doing so now. In fact, people from nearby tables were also looking on. I waited for the laughter to start, but it didn't seem to come.
"Are you alright, Lee?"
"Yeah, that looked painful, almost."
Felix gently rubbed my back. "Are you okay?"
Caleb, on my other side, knocked his hand away. "Well, he won't be any better for you touching him."
"...Ry?"
People in this world were so nice! I don't know why everyone seems to already care about me, but it was nice. I couldn't help but be enthusiastic around them!
"I'm fine!" I beamed. "It was just a little different to what I'm used to, so it went down the wrong hole."
"Yeah, the dagger-back can have an unusual taste when you're not used to it," Karie said. "Because it's such a high-level fish, it's evolved to absorb part of the sea plant tu callidus which makes it deadly poisonous to its predators. It's fine for humans and other humanoids like us to eat, but it gives it a unique flavour."
Unique was one way to put it. But also, was this really the girl who was 'too lazy' to tell me to go up to the desk?
"Wow," I said, leaning forward and bracing my elbows on the table, resting my chin on my linked hands. "You know a lot about fish."
"She sure does!" Garnet said cheerfully, slinging an arm over her shoulders. "Karie's very passionate about sea life-- as you'd expect from a mermaid. In fact, I think it's the only thing she's passionate about!"
Was that a trace of bitterness I detected in Garnet's tone? I think it was! And she was going full in on the skin contact. Ooh, does somebody have a bit of a crush?
Karie nodded enthusiastically and began to tell me more than I ever wanted to know about the dagger-back fish as everyone returned to their conversations. I pretended to listen intently, but opened my dark storage in my lap and sneakily began to slide my plate towards it with my elbows. Yes, I might have to deal with cleaning fish off of my belongings, but it was better than having to actually eat the stuff.
I subtly slipped the fish into the portal, taking a quick look around to check if anyone had noticed. Caleb was watching me and I felt myself blush, but he tipped me a wink.
I won't tell, he mouthed.
A few minutes later, lunch was finished, and we all trailed after Garnet as she led us to wherever we were supposed to go next. How she knew where everyone had to be going was beyond me, but I was very glad I'd found her. There was no way I could have figured everything out alone. I ended up walking alongside one of Garnet's friends, who I had yet to be introduced to.
"Hi," she said, sticking out her hand for me to shake. "I'm Meg."
"Lee," I said, taking it. She looked to be a few years older than me, though she was quite petite, but I could instantly see why she was hanging out with our group. Her goat legs and ears would probably have made it hard to fit in anywhere else, if the country was as human dominated as Garnet had said.
"I'm a faun," she continued. "Not a satyr. Just in case you were worried."
What was the difference?
"Half dark elf," I replied. "Just in case it isn't obvious."
She looked me up and down. "It is."
Caleb came up beside me, leaning an elbow on my shoulder. "Where are we going, Lee?"
I shrugged. "Couldn't tell you."
Garnet turned, walking backwards while she spoke. "Well, it's the afternoon, so anyone who hadn't yet summoned their familiar will be doing that now."
"Oh. I'm in that category," I said thoughtfully. "But I don't know how to summon anything."
"Don't worry about that," Garnet said dismissively. "They'll walk you through it. I don't have a familiar yet either."
"Really?" I asked. "But you're a noble, aren't you?"
"Yes," Garnet agreed. "But the familiar that you summon will be the animal that's had the biggest emotional impact on your life, so if you summon it too young then it's more likely to be something weak."
Ooh. Maybe my dog from Earth, Fin? I hope so.
"Plus," she was saying. "The academy has more resources to make the summoning cheaper and easi-"
She yelped, falling backwards as she tripped over the outstretched foot of a passerby.
"Watch where you're going," the lady snapped. Garnet blinked up at her from the floor while Felix dashed to help her up.
I watched as the woman sniggered as Garnet climbed to her feet, brushing herself down, then strolled away in the opposite direction to the one she'd been heading in. As she turned the corner I heard a low murmur of voices, and thought I could catch a glimpse of blonde ringlets.
Lady Tia, perhaps?
We continued walking in a subdued silence, until eventually we reached another queue of new students. Lots of queueing today, apparently.
Once we were safely surrounded by other students, conversation began to pick up again. I did my best to just keep quiet, because I needed to learn more about this world and eavesdropping seemed the best way to do that, but then:
"So, Lee, you're not from around here, right?" asked Garnet.
"No," I replied, trying my best to think of a way to deflect. "I'm not. That's why I'm so grateful to you for showing me around."
"So whereabouts are you from, then?" Caleb asked. The group fell silent, looking at me with expectant eyes.
"Um, the deep forest," I replied, keeping it vague. "What about you?"
"The fire realm," he said, with a dismissive wave of the hand. "What's it like in the forest?"
"Um..." What is it like in forests? "...green?"
"Well, yeah, of course," Ryan irritably interjected. "He meant like politically, idiot."
I glanced up the line. One person to go. Stall, Lee, stall.
"Inactive."
"Really?" Felix asked. "I thought the deep forest especially was rife with conflict."
Oops.
"Yeah," I said slowly, taking a step towards the door as the last person in front of me went through the door and into the darkened room. "But I'm from a tiny village. Not much goes on there."
"And isn't it unusual for dark elves to live in the woods?" demanded Ryan.
"It is," I said, nodding. "But dark elves are elitist-"
That was what Garnet had said, right?
"-so they kicked me out at a young age. The forest elves took me in."
"That must have been... interesting."
I paused as if remembering something for as long as I dared. "It was."
"Can't have been easy, being the only dark elf," Felix said sympathetically.
How long did these summonings take?!
"Not easy, no," I said, with a long sigh. Very long. As long as I could drag it out for, in fact.
I saw Caleb's mouth open to ask another question-- when did this become an interrogation?-- but he was interrupted.
"Next!"
"Welp, gotta go!" I gabbled. "See you in a few minutes!"
I dashed into the room, closing the door as a wave of relief crashed over me. I looked around to see a faintly glowing runed circle on the floor. Or, at least, what I assumed to be a runed circle. To me it just looked like a tangle of very long words. A strip ran out of it, made of some kind of greenish metal that I didn't recognise, and led to a podium that held a large, shimmering orb. No, not the eye of the OC of a one direction fanfic writer. Just a sphere of some kind of coloured glass. A bored looking man stood behind it.
"Hand on the sphere, feed in mana," he said flatly. "If you don't have the manipulation skill it'll attract it if you perform a spell."
I walked over and flattened my palm on the sphere's surface, and paused, unsure of what to do. Mana. Like in the dark portal?
I opened a dark portal, wincing at the slight smell of fish that wafted out, and watched in astonishment as it was sucked into the sphere. For the first time, the man showed a hint of emotion.
"No incantation, but you don't have mana manipulation?" he asked. Apparently rhetorically, because he interrupted me as I went to reply. "Never mind. Stay silent, now."
The circle began to glow, the words lighting up in strange orders and colours. I felt a wave of force push out from the centre and a glowing white portal opened up. I crossed the fingers of my free hand, hoping for Fin.
A silhouette materialised, deep black against the stark, white background. Too small for Fin, but maybe my brother's chihuahua, Gina?
Then I heard a familiar voice. Oh, not you again, foot fungus.
Why, goddess? WHY DO YOU HATE ME?!
I sighed. The biggest emotional impact of course only applied to this life.
Hello, rabbit.