Chapter 189 - 188 - Advice

"Yeah, uh, no...it's definitely not just the movie, you little idiot," Laughed Kilella, as she poked my stomach playfully. 

"I swear, if you keep doing that, I'll make sure that I puke on you when it inevitably happens," I groaned, as I pushed her hand away with a sigh of exasperation. 

It was 6:30 PM now, and my sister had arrived a couple of minutes ago, more than half an hour early. But since I was bored, I didn't complain. Especially since I'm the one that called her here, to ask her for some advice. 

Anyway, she noticed my nauseous expression when she arrived, I explained what had happened, and she was under the impression that I was feeling sick because I 'ate too many sweets', not because of the movie. She's totally wrong though. 

"You really should eat sweets with more moderation, Zax," She remarked with a wry smile, as she ruffled my hair. 

"Like I've been saying...I'm nauseous because of the movie, not because-," I began with an exasperated groan. 

"Little bro, you had a mountain of dessert for lunch, and then ate a further one and a half boxes worth of desserts over the following three hours or so...you really gonna act like that didn't make you nauseous? I'm sure the movie played a part, but it's definitely not the primary reason," She pointed out objectively. 

"Fine...agree to disagree," I grumbled in response. 

"Hehe, you just don't wanna admit that your precious desserts caused your current suffering, isn't that right?" She inquired slyly, as she poked my cheek. 

"No idea what you're talking about." 

"I'm sure you don't. Anyway, you said you wanted my advice about something, right? It's not often that you call me over, I usually have to invite myself...so, what's up?" She asked me, as she sat on my bed next to me and pulled my head down, resting it on her lap. 

"Hey, I'm not a kid anymore-," I began with a sigh, starting to get up, before she pushed me back down. 

"Yeah, I know, but humor me just this once. It's been forever since you slept on my lap, I guess I'm feeling a bit nostalgic," She replied sheepishly, before a warm, happy smile appeared on her face as she stroked my hair. 

...okay, fine, I can't exactly say no when she's got an expression like that. Still, this is really embarrassing...I'm definitely way too old for stuff like this. 

"Just this once, okay?" I muttered quietly. 

"Okay!" She grinned cheerfully, before asking me, "Alright, so what did you want my advice on, little bro?" 

"Well, uh...it's kinda complicated...," I responded awkwardly, not sure how to start. 

"Take your time, Zax...you can tell me anything," She smiled, as I trailed off uncertainly. 

Yeah...she's got a point. I've kept a lot of things from her, even though there's no one I trust more than I trust her...I probably don't deserve to have such an amazing sister, while she definitely deserves to have a much better brother. 

At the very least, I need to start trying to be more open with her...that doesn't mean I'm going to reveal all my secrets to her, just that I should stop hiding so much from her. She's always been there for me, right from the beginning...I won't take her for granted... 

"Okay, uh, this might be kinda awkward to talk about, but...what I need your advice with is...," I began explaining my current situation. 

I didn't mention any names, but told her about Katie's recent confession and how I'm lost as to how to respond to it, since I myself am not really sure how I feel about her. I also told her about Suri, though I once again avoided mentioning any names, I just said something like 'there's another girl that I've been, uh, seeing for a while, but I don't know if that's serious or not'. 

"Huh...wow, first off, uh...I wasn't expecting to hear about your love troubles, of all things, let alone you asking me advice about it. You must really be agonizing over this, huh?" She remarked as I finished explaining my situation to her. 

"Well, I...I don't want to hurt anyone, you know? So I don't want to act or respond carelessly, and I have no prior experience, so I was hoping you could give me some advice on how to handle this...I couldn't think of anyone else whom I'd be willing to talk about this with, so yeah," I admitted sheepishly. 

"I'm glad you feel comfortable enough to talk to me about it, little bro...alright, I'll help you as best I can! Though, uh, I haven't actually been in a serious, long-term relationship or anything like that before, so I'm not a hundred percent sure about how reliable my advice might be," She replied with a laugh. 

"That's fine, just getting a second opinion at all would be helpful," I responded gratefully. 

"Okay, let me think about everything you said...hm, alright, about the girl that recently confessed to you, how do you feel about her?" She asked me. 

"Uh, I mean, if I knew that, then I wouldn't be so troubled over this," I pointed out. 

"No, I mean it as in, do you like or dislike her?" She rephrased the question. 

"I definitely don't dislike her, otherwise I'd have turned her down when she asked me out in the first place...and I do enjoy her company and stuff, but that's not conclusive enough. How much affection do you need to have towards a person before you can consider them as more than a friend?" I frowned in uncertainty. 

"Yeah, okay, you're definitely overthinking this way too much. It's not as simple as that, I think it's more a gut feel kinda thing...though, again, I've never had a serious relationship before, so this is kinda presumptuous on my part. Let's get back to that in a bit...first, let's talk about the other girl you mentioned, the one you've been hooking up with for a wh-...wait a sec, are you talking about Ruby!?"

"Huh? No, uh, I don't mean her. I rarely ever speak to her outside of when I need maintenance on my weapons and equipment, so no."

"That's good...she may be a long time friend of mine and all, but that girl is a major pervert. She's not relationship material...and this isn't me trying to be mean, I'm literally quoting her on this. She once told me that if she ever gets into a relationship, she'll be way too tempted to cheat because, and I quote, 'that'd be so hot!'...just thought I should let you know," She warned me with an exasperated sigh. 

Yeah, that definitely sounds like something she'd say. 

"Huh, if I do end up deciding on pursuing a serious relationship with someone, I'll probably have to come up with a different way to compensate her for my maintenance," I muttered warily. 

"She probably won't make that easy, knowing her. Anyway, getting back on topic...how do you feel about the other girl?" Inquired Kilella curiously. 

"Oh, uh...I like her, but again, I don't know if it's to a romantic extent or not. For all I know, I'm not in love with anyone," I shrugged realistically. 

"Hm, that's also true...well, I wouldn't call this a solution, more like just a potential option, but you could consider both of them. There aren't any laws preventing polygamy in the Sanctuary, after all, a girl can marry multiple guys and a guy can marry multiple girls. Though, well, it isn't all that common, and in most existing cases, one or more of the involved parties are gold diggers. But, hey, I'm sure there's at least a few genuine harems out there!" She grinned half-jokingly...I could tell that she was at least a tiny bit serious with that suggestion. 

"Yeah, I don't know...kinda seems like an irresponsible solution to me, I doubt most people would be okay with being shared like that," I responded, before admitting, "But, well, I can't deny that the thought isn't a tempting one."

"I guess so, I certainly wouldn't like to be in a relationship with more than just one other person-...oh, I know! Maybe this'll help you figure out how strongly you feel about those girls...try imagining them with another guy, the more it hurts, the more strongly you feel for them!" She suggested as her eyes lit up. 

"That, uh, sounds logical enough, I suppose it's worth trying, at least," I responded doubtfully, before closing my eyes and doing as she said. 

Hm, picturing them with a guy I don't like probably won't work, and picturing with a guy that I do like might be kinda weird too, I should go with someone I feel neutral towards, to prevent any bias in how I feel. 

Huh, in that case, I'll just make up a stranger in my head, it won't get any more neutral than that. Okay, let's get started-...oh. This is, uh...kinda unpleasant. Does that mean I'm in l-...no, wait, I need to try it with both of them before deciding and-...huh, it's unpleasant with either of them, not just one. 

Is that bad? 

"Well? How'd it go?" Inquired Kilella curiously, as I opened my eyes and let out a sigh. 

"Hard to say, if I'm being honest...but, uh, while I was picturing it, one of them hurt a bit more than the other. So I think I might have gotten a bit more clarity towards how things stand right now," I replied uncertainly, before adding, "That said, though, I'm still very confused about this whole thing..."

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