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

Chapter Six

Garnet led me into the building. The entrance hall, though it had to be impressive for this world, looked almost exactly like the one at Buckingham Palace, dual gold staircases and all. Not that I'd been, but I'd seen photographs from when my little brother took the trip.
Garnet didn't even glance around. "This way! My older brother goes here, and he's shown me around."
I followed her up the left hand staircase.
"Left is for first and third years," she explained. "And right for second and fourth. Fifth years have their own ways of getting around."
Alright, five years. I can manage another five years of school. I mean, I'd only just left in my old world, so it was like going to a long version of higher education. Not that I'd ever have done that in my old life, but it was still something considered mostly normal.
"It was very brave to stand up to Tia like that," commented Garnet as we climbed the stairs. "Most wouldn't dare."
"Was it?" I asked as we turned down a corridor. "I didn't really mean to, but by the time I stopped to think it was just too late."
"Fair enough," she giggled. "But still, it was a brave thing to do, especially considering you're not a noble. If you didn't have a scholarship, she could have claimed any kind of offence against you and had you punished."
"Right," I agreed. That was something I was at least slightly familiar with, thanks to anime. "Thanks for defending me."
"No problem!" she smiled. "I'm a noble, so she couldn't do anything to me without a serious investigation."
We paused at a fork in the corridor. "Now, the boys' side is down there, so you'll be on your own from here. But I'll wait here for you. Just have your bags delivered later."
"Oh, I don't have any bags."
She paused for a moment. "Oh. Okay. Well, you'll have some stuff you need anyways."
"Nope. I've got the clothes on my back, and not much else."
"Alright then," she said, confused. "I guess that makes things easier."
I said goodbye and headed off down the corridor, looking for room 24B.
"19, 20, 21..."
There we are, 24B. I hesitated outside. Should I knock? If everyone had a roommate then he might already be in there. But on the other hand, I didn't want to make a fool of myself.
No, wait. It was fine. If no-one was in there, then no-one would know I had knocked.
I tapped on the door. "Hello?"
"Come in," called a male voice from inside. Yes, I had been right to knock.
I poked my head around the door. The room was quite nice, with a couch and two armchairs arranged around a crystal screen on the far wall, and a small, basic kitchen off to one side. Three doors led out of the room, two on the right hand wall and one on the left. The man who had answered my knock wasn't immediately obvious, so I called out. "Hi, I'm your roommate, I think?"
A head popped up from what looked an awful lot like a beanbag, set in the middle of the arc of furniture and in front of the strange crystal screen which, now I looked closer, was displaying... A video game? Perhaps I could find a friend in this guy, whoever he is?
Then, suddenly, that head was uncomfortably close to my face, blue eyes wide and breathing heavy. Up close, I could see that his shoulder-length black hair was plastered to his head with grease.
"Are you a girl?" he asked excitedly.
"No?"
He frowned. "Are you sure?"
"Um, yeah."
"Oh."
The head was gone, and he was back on his beanbag, having lost interest. I stood awkwardly, blinking. What?
I mean, if he thought I was a girl then at least I wasn't wrong in designing my appearance. Though whether that was good or bad, I couldn't really tell.
I rounded the sofa. "Um, hello. I'm Lee."
I held out my hand for him to shake, but he ignored it, so I hesitantly pulled it back. Alright.
"Seth," the man said suddenly, not taking his eyes off the screen.
This was so awkward it was painful.
"Right," I said. "Um... Have you decided on which room you want yet?"
Seth didn't respond for a moment, focused on his game, but eventually shook his head.
"Okay. I'll just have a look around, then."
He nodded, so I chose a door at random from the right side of the room and opened it. A bathroom, complete with both shower and bath. Something I doubted Seth was familiar with, for some reason.
Next door to it was a simple bedroom, with a bed, another armchair and a decent sized window. After checking out the other room, which was almost exactly the same but for the lack of a window, I chose the one on the right. Seth probably didn't like seeing sunlight anyway.
I dropped my ration pack and coin pouch on the bed, belatedly realising that I did not want to risk pickpockets taking my only possessions. I need to remember that this is a different world from Earth, and that things like that aren't the same.
A shriek come from the main room, one that sounded like it came from a woman. I dashed out to see Garnet clutching her chest in shock, eyes wide. Seth was mere millimetres away, breathing heavily through flared nostrils. She was leaning away as much as she could, but was backed up to the door.
"Garnet?"
"Hi, Lee," she quavered. "I didn't mean to scream, but I wasn't expecting your roommate to be right on the other side of the door when I opened it."
"I wasn't," Seth said, with a slightly crazed grin. "I could tell it was a girl when you knocked, so I ran for the door."
Ooh, Seth, that's not the way to get ladies. I don't understand flirting at all, but creeping people out is not the way to go.
Garnet seemed to think so too, as she chuckled nervously and edged around him, careful not to let even her sleeve brush against him. But no such luck. He grabbed her hand and held it to his face, laying a kiss on it for just a little too long and then not so subtly taking a deep sniff of her wrist. Garnet snatched her hand away, horrified, and looked to be holding back a gag.
Oh my god, my roommate is a pervert.
"Well, I'm all set up here," I gabbled. "We'd better get going now, right, Garnet?"
She gave me a relieved glance. "Right. I said I'd show you around, didn't I?"
Seth's eyes got a lecherous gleam. "Could I come-"
"No!" shouted Garnet frantically. "I'm meeting my friends, and we only have room for Lee in our..."
She glanced around desperately, obviously not knowing how to continue. "...in our room?"
Good save.
"Well," Seth began, a smile spreading across his face. "We could all squash up a little, could we not? I don't mind being in close quarters with a pretty lady such as yourself."
"I do," Garnet said firmly. "Come on, Lee."
I went to follow her out of the room, but Seth dashed ahead and opened the door for Garnet with a bow. "M'lady."
Garnet gave him a disgusted look and snatched the door from his hand, slamming it behind her.
A moment later it opened again, and she poked her head around it, looking embarrassed. "Sorry, Lee."
Seth, making a desperate last attempt, planted a kiss on her cheek. "Until we meet again."
Garnet froze for a moment, a single muscle twitching under her eye, then visibly held back a gag. I wasn't surprised-- I had smelt Seth when he originally thought I was a girl, and it was not pleasant.
"Let's go," I said hurriedly, making a bee-line for the door. I leant in close and whispered to Garnet: "Before he does anything else."
She seemed to agree heartily with this, and we escaped to the hallway without further incident.
"I'm so sorry," I said the moment the door slammed shut behind us. "I didn't know he was such a creep."
She shuddered, but replied, "That's fine. It's not like you've met him before. And besides, I said I was going to wait at the end of the hall, but I came to check on you anyway."
We made our way down the corridor and out of the dorm rooms.
"Where do we go to now?" I asked.
"Well, I was planning on meeting up with my friends before we sort out all the admin," she replied. "I'd like to introduce you. You said you were from the deep forest, right?"
I nodded.
"Then you don't have any friends here, do you?"
I sighed, my shoulders slumping. "I don't have any friends anywhere."
It wasn't a lie-- I had no friends in this world, and in my old life I only had gaming buddies.
Her face fell. "Oh. Because you're half human?"
"Mm hm," I confirmed.
"Well, that's fine," Garnet said comfortingly. "You'll fit right in with us!"
I looked up hopefully. "You think so?"
"I know so!" she said cheerfully. "Come on, let's go meet them!"
I smiled, speeding up as she broke into a jog. Perhaps this new life wasn't going to be so bad after all.