He spotted Toma after a minute or two, hurrying through the otherwise single-directional tide of students with a worried look on his face. It was only then that Lee considered how Toma and the rest of the Fujino family must have reacted to the news of Kei’s injury.
“Lee!” shouted Toma. “My brother, is he…?”
“He’s okay,” said Lee. “He’s in the infirmary. Come on.”
“What happened?” shouted Toma. “Tell me! Lee, what—”
Lee grabbed him by the shoulder and started pulling him toward the Seruna Center, ignoring the panicked stream of questions. The halls were still empty, as was most of the infirmary. Kei was asleep, but he stirred as Toma went to his bedside, opening his eyes halfway and frowning.
“Kei…” said Toma. There was almost as much resentment as there was concern in his voice, but the latter won out over the former. “You’re not dying… are you?”
Kei’s frown softened. “No, Toma. I am not dying.”
“I don’t understand,” said Toma. “I didn’t even realize you were here at Primhaven on an assignment. You haven’t told me anything. You haven’t even talked to me.”
“No, Toma, I haven’t,” said Kei. “I am sorry.”
“Sorry isn’t good enough,” said Toma. “I need an explanation, Kei. You’ve just been ignoring me, like I’m not even… anything to you.”
“I haven’t been ignoring you, Toma. I’ve been protecting you. The creature I’ve been hunting would have seized on any weakness I presented.”
“I would have understood if you’d explained it like that,” said Toma.
“Well, that’s only part of it.” Kei shrugged. “I remember how much I annoyed you when we were younger. I wanted you to have Primhaven as your own place, where you were free to spread your wings. Without being compared to others.”
Toma scrunched up his forehead. “I… guess that makes sense. I’ve already spread my wings though, Kei, more or less. I’m not cracked, I’ll admit that it annoys me when people compare the two of us. But I don’t give a shit. I want an older brother.”
Kei smiled. “Then an older brother you shall have.”
He held his arms out and Toma gave him a hug. The scene was enough to warm the cockles of Lee’s heart, though he knew it wasn’t where he needed to be. He slipped out into the hallway, walking intentionally slowly as he forced himself to head back to the library. Tess was waiting for him outside the entrance with a mischievous smile on her face.
“Eliza and I discussed what we should do with you, given your obvious difficulties with studying,” she said. “You’re smart, Lee, but hopelessly unmotivated. So we came up with an idea.”
“Am I going to like this idea?”
“Oh, I think you will,” she said. “You were the one who brought it up. Flash cards, remember?”
She took him by the hand and led him into the women’s dormitories. Students were still arriving back, and the constant flow of people meant that few gave Lee a second glance as he made his way into the female initiates’ common room. Tess led him to the door of Eliza’s room, and he knocked, wondering why the change of location was necessary.
“Come on in, Lee,” said Eliza. “My roommate won’t be back until tomorrow morning, just before the first exam. We don’t have to worry about, ahem, anyone interrupting.”
“I like the sound of that, but I was under the impression that I needed to be studying?” he said.
“You will be,” said Eliza. “Flash cards. For every practice question you get right, I’ll…”
Eliza trailed off, her face turning bright red. Tess giggled and finished the thought for her.
“She’ll undo one of her buttons,” said Tess. “Flash cards.”
“Oh.” Lee couldn’t stop from smiling. “I see. Well, that’s certainly a creative way to enflame my motivations.”
Eliza took him by the hand and led him over to her bed. She was wearing her blue-and-grey initiate’s robe, which Lee had always appreciated the tightness of. It was the perfect outfit for the game she and Tess had described, with the requisite number of straps, buttons, and ties to ensure that Lee would have to get a fair number of correct answers before seeing any skin.
“First question,” said Eliza. “What’s the maximum speed attainable by an alteration magic missile?”
“Maximum speed, hmmm…” He had no idea. “A thousand miles per hour?”
The study session progressed in that same format over the next two hours, with Eliza doing the quizzing, Tess providing the occasional hint and readying follow-up questions, and Lee mostly giving wrong answers. The premise was truly ingenious, and the more he struggled, the more desperate he felt to get a glimpse of the pale skin he knew lay underneath Eliza’s robe.
“The primary limitation of telekinesis in regard to fine manipulation of distant objects?” asked Eliza.
“Uh… line of sight?” said Lee.
Eliza gave a small nod and Tess clapped her hands, expressing clear excitement even though Lee’s correct answer had been to one of the simpler questions. His body practically thrummed with anticipation as he watched Eliza undo the third button of her robe, opening the front wide enough to reveal the fabric of her bra underneath.
“Is that lace?” he asked.
Eliza’s face flushed. “It’s, um, lingerie. Tess and I each bought a set. Well, I bought my set, and Tess obtained hers.”
“You didn’t mention that Eliza got lingerie, too,” said Lee.
“It wasn’t exactly relevant at the time,” said Tess. “Hers is white lace, by the way. You should see how much, or rather, how little the bra covers.”
Lee got the next question correct, along with the one after it. He was channeling answers from the deepest crevices of his mind, determined, borderline-desperate to get Eliza’s robe off.
“Correct,” said Eliza. She undid the last button of the upper portion of her robe, which slid open to reveal her plump breasts. They were barely contained by the thin fabric of her lingerie top and, as with Tess, the pink of her nipples was visible underneath.
“What happens if you run out of clothing before we run out of questions?” asked Lee.
Eliza blushed and bit her lip. Lee felt like grabbing her by the waist, stripping what was left of her clothing off, and ramming into her with his, er, academic knowledge.
“Let’s just see how far you can get,” whispered Eliza.
She asked five more questions, two of which Lee answered correctly. He felt a strong appreciation for the fact that neither Tess nor Eliza had suggested a rule that she put clothes back on in the event of wrong answers. Eliza’s robe fell to the floor as he gave another correct response, revealing her in complete, seductive glory.
Her lingerie was different from the set Tess had worn, though similar in overall style. The sheer lace bra she wore was connected by a pink silk ribbon to her panties, the end tied in a neat bow on the front. She crossed her arms over her chest and blushed when she saw the focus of Lee’s eyes, but her breasts were large enough that the gesture was only barely enough.
“Next question,” said Eliza.
“It’s getting hard,” said Lee, “to stay focused.”
Eliza cleared her throat and turned around to hide her front from him, which only reminded Lee of what a perfectly balanced butt she had.
“I said, next question,” she repeated. “What is the approximate difference in essence cost multiplier between elemental and conjuration spells of similar difficulty?”
Lee knew the answer and couldn’t help but grin at his luck. “One point eight. I get to pick what you take off this time.”
He took Eliza by the waist and pulled her onto his lap, sliding his hands along her body as he found the clasp of her bra and undid it. She held it where it was, even as Lee began to kiss her neck and grind his hardness into her butt.
“Sorry, Lee, but you’re going to have to wait,” she whispered, breath husky. “The correct answer was one point eight four. You wo
uld have gotten it wrong on a test.”
She stood up and re-hooked her bra. Lee felt the typically unpleasant, unfulfilled pressure of long-held arousal, also known as blue balls. He leaned back on the bed and groaned.
“Let’s go, then,” he said. “Next question. Let’s rattle off five more in a row. This is absolute torture.”
“You’re so cute when you’re horny,” said Tess. “Like a little boy desperate for sweets.”
She stood up and took up a position next to Eliza, scribbling something into the other girl’s notebook. Eliza furrowed her brow and then nodded.
“Tess says she wants to join in as a participant, so the next few questions will be her taking off clothing,” said Eliza.
As desperate as Lee was to finish what he’d already started with Eliza, he was intrigued by the possibilities presented by getting them both naked simultaneously. He made eye contact with Tess as he nodded, noticing the slightly intimidated flush that came to her cheeks. He could dig deep. He could find the answers he needed.
And he did. Lee nailed nine out of the next ten, rendering Tess in a similar state of undress to Eliza. He started taking off his own clothes, stripping down until he was wearing only his boxers. He liked the way that Eliza and Tess both seemed conflicted by the question of whether to look at his crotch and acknowledge his hard-on, or to just pretend like it didn’t exist.
“The two of you are nearly out of clothing,” he said, pointing out the obvious. Tess was already bottomless, down to just her bra. Eliza still had her lingerie on, but he’d gotten the last question right.
“You’re gaining confidence in his test-taking ability, if nothing else,” said Eliza. “How about this? If you get the next question right…” Eliza slowly lowered herself to her knees in front of the bed. “Tess and I will give you an extra-generous reward.”
Lee nodded, feeling like he’d finally found his motivation as a student.
“How much spell force can a spell shield withstand in a single blow?” asked Eliza.
He hesitated, almost answering before thinking. He’d gone over the factors involved in determining the strength of a spell shield, along with the approximate strength of one cast under controlled conditions, but that wasn’t what Eliza was asking.
“Trick question. It depends on the arcane essence and ability of the caster.”
Tess made a small noise of appreciation and winked at him, taking up a position next to Eliza. Both of them were no longer pretending like they didn’t notice his erection. They were staring at it, almost transfixed, as though the sexual tone of the study session was sucking them in.
“Correct,” said Eliza in a breathy voice.
She reached a hand out and grasped Lee’s shaft through his boxers. He watched her with a growing smile as she groped his length, feeling the shape of it like a child with a new toy still in the packaging.
Lee took his boxers off. His cock felt like a loaded weapon, one aimed directly into Eliza’s and Tess’s faces. Both of them joined in, fondling and beginning the slow, sensual motions of stroking him off.
“I think you should ask another question,” said Lee.
“Is that really necessary?” asked Eliza.
“Just one more.”
She licked her lips. “Why is it dangerous to cast offensive magic when low on arcane essence?”
“There’s a risk that the spell could backfire,” he said quickly.
Eliza nodded. Her eyes fluttered and closed halfway. She stuck out her tongue and gently leaned forward to let it dab against Lee’s tip. It was cute, and it felt good, but her posture was so earnest and inexperienced that Lee almost burst out laughing.
“I think she might need some help,” whispered Tess. “You don’t mind, do you?”
Lee grinned and shook his head. Tess planted a kiss on the side of his cock, sliding her tongue forward to tease and caress him. Eliza gave her approach a second try, this time letting her lips close around the first inch or so of his length and softly sucking.
The pleasure of the sensation was unreal, and Lee felt like the luckiest man in the world. He’d somehow stumbled his way into a threesome with the prettiest ghost and the prettiest girl he knew, which was far more bizarre of an occurrence than the mere words made it sound.
There was nothing bizarre about how good their mouths felt, however. Lee wasn’t entirely sure that Eliza knew where Tess was and what she was doing at first. He saw her eyes dart toward Lee’s hand at one point as he was running his fingers through Tess’s hair, and the tiny, blushing smile that danced across her lips told him that she’d figured it out.
The slow, studious buildup had left him on the brink. Eliza’s blowjob was clumsy and inexperienced, but she had full lips and a hot, wet mouth. Tess was playing the part of the backup singer with perfect pitch, giving the lower half of his cock attention with soft licks and kisses.
“Oh…” moaned Lee. “Eliza… oh!”
He tapped her on the back of her head as he felt his arousal sprinting across the last few yards of his self-control. She didn’t get the memo. Eliza let out a surprised squeak as he unloaded into her mouth, her eyes blinking in question, as though she’d made it to that point without thinking ahead to what she’d do when he came.
She opted to keep sucking until the very end. Lee melted in the pleasure and the sheets of her bed. Eliza and Tess slid up along either side of him to cuddle once they both decided that the deed was finished.
“Well then,” said Eliza. “Was that a productive study session?”
“About as productive as it gets.” He kissed her, and he kissed Tess.
CHAPTER 43
The next day marked the start of the initiate written exams. They began in the morning, with each student being issued a thick booklet of photocopied test questions to fill out in stark silence. Lee was familiar with the standard test-taking protocol, and he did his best to adhere to it, though the temptation to attempt to persuade Tess into offering her insight on a few questions was almost overwhelming.
The last-minute study session with Eliza and Tess had done a remarkable job of refreshing his knowledge. He felt confident about the majority of his answers, though having facts about illusion susceptibility factors tied to the way Eliza’s bodacious cleavage looked in a white silk lingerie bra was more than a little distracting.
The first test took two hours to finish. Lee’s fingers were cramped and numb from holding his pen too tightly by the end. The initiates were given a 15-minute break, and then a new instructor entered the lecture hall with their own stack of massive, indifferent test packets.
They were allowed to eat lunch after the second test, though even the food seemed to have a bland, mechanical taste to it, as though the day’s menu had been specifically picked to keep from arousing their taste buds. After that, Lee and the other initiates were back in the lecture hall for three more tests, spanning six hours.
Several students broke into tears when they finally reached the end of the exam quagmire. Lee went to the bathroom and washed his hands, trying to un-stick fingers that had grown around the pen they held like tree branches curling around an obstacle.
It was already time for dinner, though few of the initiates were hungry. Lee sat at a table with Toma, Eliza, and Jenna, staring blankly at the rice and beef stir fry on the plate in front of him.
“I want to cry, but I think I used up all my tears during the fourth test,” muttered Toma.
“Was it that bad for you?” asked Eliza. “I finished each of the packets within the first hour. It’s mind-numbingly boring to sit and wait for that long without being able to read or look at your phone.”
“It was bad enough to make me look forward to the Midterm Trial,” said Lee. “At least that will be a hands-on test.”
“Be careful what you wish for,” said Toma. “The Trial is where most initiates end up failing. If you don’t pass it… they don’t give you a second chance. It’s cracked.”
The Cropping. Lee had
put his fear of it out of his mind, deciding that it was just too monumental of a consequence for him to properly weigh its ramifications. It was like dying, better in some ways and far worse in others.
“I need to relax,” muttered Lee. “We all do.”
“I’ve got it covered,” said Toma. “Meet me in the orchard in half an hour.”
He split off from the rest of them, as did Jenna and eventually Eliza. Lee arrived at the instructed time, walking hand in hand with Tess, who had teased him into skipping for most of the walk across campus.
“What’s with the secrecy, Toma?” asked Lee.
“I didn’t want to set off any smoke alarms.” Toma reached into his sweatshirt and pulled out a thick joint. “A gift from Kei.”
“Kei smokes weed?” asked Jenna.
“Of course he does,” said Toma. “Not all of the smoking he does is just tobacco. That’s just how he hides the smell.”
They sat down cross-legged, Eliza to Lee’s left, Jenna to his right, and Tess directly behind him. Eliza reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of coconut rum.
“I thought we were sneaking off to drink, so I brought this,” she said. “My roommate gave it to me.”
“Might as well add it to the mix.” Lee accepted the bottle from her and took a sniff of sweet, tropical-smelling liquor. He had a small sip and sighed at the instant satisfaction it brought to his shoulders and fingers.
Toma struggled to light the joint in the wind, but he eventually managed it and took a large hit, which led to a flurry of coughs. He passed it to Jenna, who only took a quick puff before passing it to Lee.
“Do you think Kei brought this with him, or do you think he bought it from someone on campus?” he asked.
“I doubt he bought it here,” said Toma. “Something tells me that weed is expensive in this part of Alaska. Like, an arm and a leg expensive.”
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