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

Chapter Fifteen

"That," I said, with a satisfied sigh. "Was a good meal."
"Right," Caleb agreed. "Better than a single slice of stale bread?"
I nodded. "I'd say so, yes. Thank very much, Felix."
"You're very welcome," Felix beamed. "I'm always happy to help out my friends."
"Right," Ryan muttered, scowling at Felix from beneath his rather fierce eyebrows. "Friends. That's all you want to be."
I chose to ignore that statement, because I didn't understand it. Just like I had done with maths in school. Why did I need to find the area under a curve? God only knows, but the moment I passed the tests I needed to know it for, I instantly forgot it.
Joke's on me, though-- I did actually end up needing quite a bit of maths in my job as a coder. If you could count the paltry wage I received as a job, of course, but it was enough for the two Rs-- rent and ramen. What else could a young college student in crippling debt need? But, no matter how little money I made from it, or how exorbitant the rent charged by the lazy landlord, it was better than living in that house for even a moment more.
"So," I asked, coming back to my new reality. "What do we do now?"
Garnet opened her mouth to answer my question, but was cut off by another ring of the deafeningly loud bell. I clapped my hands over my ears, flinching away, as did Ryan, but the others seemed not to care.
When the torture ended, I surfaced to see everyone watching me with concern.
"What was that?" I asked.
"Just the warning bell," Caleb said, his voice full of concern. "Why did you react like it was killing you?"
"Because this is a human country," Ryan said glumly. "And it's not designed for demi-humans. You lot are alright, but me and Lee have sensitive hearing and these kind of things can be painful."
"Oh," I said, with a sudden understanding. "You mean that it sounds that loud because of my enhanced hearing! That makes a lot of sense."
"Enhanced hearing?" Caleb queried.
Oops, that wasn't the right language for an actual resident of this world. I pretended I hadn't heard him. "Hm?"
"Never mind. That was the morning bell, so it means it's time for our first lesson of the day."
"And... which lesson is that, exactly?"
"Just check your schedule."
"My schedule! Of course. I forgot I had one of those."
I hurried into my bedroom, a couple of friends-- which I still couldn't believe I had-- trailing behind, and dug my bag out from beneath my bed.
"There we go," I muttered to myself, digging through the copious amounts of stuff in it. "Schedule, schedule. Or did I...?"
I opened my dark storage, plunging my arm into it after only a moment's hesitation at the yawning void before me and rummaging around.
"Ah, here it is!"
I pulled the piece of paper-- or perhaps parchment, I can't say I'm sure-- from the storage, holding it up triumphantly. It was already looking tattered and torn, with a mysterious crease running down the middle of it. I unfolded it, glancing at the words on the paper. The unfamiliar shapes seemed to twist and writhe for a moment, before reforming themselves into English.
"Monday," I read out.
"Tuesday," Caleb corrected, draping his arms over my shoulders and resting his chin on the crown of my head to gaze down at the parchment. I dropped my head back to look up at him.
"Really? It's Tuesday?"
"Yeah," he confirmed. "How did you not know this?"
I shrugged. "Lost track of the days, I guess. Anyways, Tuesday: first hour, potions, followed by magic theory-"
Oh good, because I was really going to need that.
"And then fifteen minutes break, followed by an hour of dark magic. Then after an hour's lunch break there's physical education-"
Which, for once, I could actually look forward to.
"Followed by 'grinding time'."
Grinding time? I really, really hope that that's not a euphemism for dancing of some kind, and means what it did on Earth in the context of video games.
"Ooh, you've got P.E. and grind with me!" Caleb said excitedly, shaking me back and forth a little. "We can grind together!"
Please, please don't be a euphemism.
"I think all of first year has got grind at the same time." Garnet volunteered. "Because we'll naturally split up according to what area we can afford to use, so the groups will be small enough anyway."
She glanced at me with concern. "That said, how much money do you have, Lee?"
"Me? Um, none."
"That's fine," Felix said comfortingly. "I'll lend you some gold."
I chuckled awkwardly, rubbing at the back of my neck. "Nah, it's fine. I'll just..."
I had no idea what I'd just do, because I had no idea what I was meant to be doing in the first, so I hoped fervently that they'd fill in the gaps for me. Thank the Goddess, Garnet did.
"Just sit out?"
Not the most helpful, but it was something.
"Right. We didn't have 'grinding time' back at home, so it won't be a big change."
"Oh," Ryan said. "So that's why you're such a low level."
I blinked. "Thanks a lot, Ryan."
"He didn't mean it in a mean way," Caleb explained, shaking me gently back and forth. "He just meant that there's a good reason that you're only level five, rather than that you're not capable."
I turned to face him. "You thought that I was incapable?"
His eyes widened and he got visibly flustered. "Not incapable, no. Just perhaps... scared?"
"Oh, wonderful. It's nice to know that, rather than being weak because I was untalented, you thought I was weak because I was a coward. When actually it's just because I'm poor."
Caleb began to stutter, and I tried my best to keep a straight face. I didn't last long though, before I burst into hysterical laughter. I shoved at his shoulder.
"My god, your face!"
He still looked terrified. "My face?"
"I'm joking, Caleb! I'm just joking! But by god, did you fall for it!"
Caleb began to laugh nervously. "Oh. That's good."
"No need to look scared, Caleb. Trust me, I'm not easily offended. I'm well used to being insulted."
I slapped him on the back, accidentally making him stumble forwards. Oops. Elven strength was something to get used to.
"Come on, guys. Let's get going."

A/N: Yeah, this is a short chapter, sorry! I wrote it and then realised that it was nothing but boring filler, but by then it was too late. I'd probably cut this scene entirely if I were to make this a real book, but then I'd have nothing to publish this week, so I figured that something was better than nothing. So here you go!