Parasyte System

Chapter 103 - A Selfish Action

Because of how sudden Sarah's move had been, coupled with the fact that she was on top of him, there wasn't much Jay could do in this case.

Of course, it wasn't as if he was desperately trying to get out of this situation either, and the reason for this was because he wanted to know exactly what the mage was planning to do.

While it might seem that the actions of the two of them were rash, there were actually several factors behind them.

Along with James, they had been friends since they were children, with Jay being the connector between the mage and the pugilist, starting a relationship that would last even until now.

However, as Jay and Sarah grew older, they reached a point where they both noticed that it wasn't really just friendship that they felt for each other, but something more complicated.

Because of this, there were several situations where both the esper and the mage made advances on each other without really knowing what they wanted.

As a result, the trust they had in each other increased a lot more, although it also resulted in Jay developing his previously most powerful ability, his "Immunity to female charms", as a response to Sarah's advances.

As for the reason of why Jay was so confident in said "ability", it was quite simple, and it was because it had worked before.

Unfortunately, every time the two of them spent time together, the likelihood of either of them making any advances on each other was not low at all, testing the strenght of that ability time and time again.

However, even that would have been fine for Jay's resistance, but as if that wasn't enough, over the years, such advances were getting stronger and stronger, culminating in the evening where the two were training in Jay's yard, finally breaking through said resistance.

Following that pattern, it was only natural that now Sarah's advance was much stronger than before.

Now Sarah's face was too close for Jay to do anything other than get lost in the gorgeous facial features of said girl, so he made a decision to do something.

But just at that moment, when he was about to execute his special move also replete with all his resolve and willpower, Sarah was even faster.

*Chu*

The sound of a light kiss was heard in the silent plains, before a new silence began.

"..."

"..."

"...Eh?"

After a few short seconds, the silence was broken by Jay, who let out a sound of confusion, something that was totally understandable, after all, what he was expecting didn't happen.

The part of his body that was kissed, rather than his lips, forehead or cheeks, was none other than his neck.

However, just as he was about to say something, he felt how in the part where Sarah's lips had touched his neck, an intense heat began to burn him.

Wanting to bring his hand to his neck, this action was stopped by Sarah, "Don't move, it's not done yet."

"...What exactly?"

"My extremely selfish and reckless action...a reminder that we have something pending and that no one should intrude."

When she finished saying that, Jay sensed something wasn't right, so he quickly pulled out his smart watch and snapped a picture of his neck.

Although the moon was high in the sky, bestowing its glow on the surroundings, what still dominated everything were shadows, so the photo inevitably came out dark.

Fortunately for Jay, the part that interested him, his neck, could be seen with great clarity, thanks mainly to the fact that there was a small circle with the image of what appeared to be an azalea that was giving off a blue glow on said part of his body.

Seeing this, Jay's pupils shrank, again not knowing how to react to this.

"I... I'm sorry, it's stupidly selfish of me to do it without asking, but if I didn't do this... I wouldn't have been able to do anything but to think of this..." Sarah added, a tone of urgency and concern evident in her voice, her hands touching Jay's shoulders.

However, Jay simply stood still as he processed what had just happened.

In the face of this silence, the anxiety Sarah was feeling only grew more, causing a small amount of self-loathing to emerge.

She knew that with this action, even if Jay was upset and decided to cut off all contact with her, he would be well within his rights, after all, what she had done was no different than marking him.

Marking him so that not only would she be aware at all times that she had something pending with him, but so that anyone who saw him would be aware that Jay was... unavailable.

Despite this, while she was worried, she didn't had any regrets, she had made a decision and would accept the consequences no matter what they were.

On the other hand, Jay was working his brain to the max, trying to figure out why Sarah would do something like this, but more importantly, how he should react to this situation.

He could get upset, he could ignore this, or he could simply make a joke and pretend this never happened, just as he had done with all of Sarah's advances so far.

'I could probably pass it off as a joke...but is that what I really want...?'

Bringing his gaze to the girl above him, Jay's emotions, which up until a second ago were a mess, immediately calmed down, causing him to come to a conclusion about what to do.

"!"

In one swift movement, Jay sat up at the same time as he grabbed Sarah's wrists, who due to the guilt she felt inside, put up no resistance, "I understand... that you're angry, but I-"

"Hold still." Jay said, interrupting her abruptly, "This might hurt a bit."

The next moment, the esper opened his mouth wide before sinking his teeth into said girl's neck.

*Chack*

"Ugh!"

This unexpected move took Sarah by surprise, and although she recovered almost instantly, Jay's bite was still not over, giving her the option to stop this.

However, maybe because she was feeling guilty or just because she was confused, she didn't, still enduring the slight pain that now flooded her neck, "W-what are you doing?!"

Not having the time to answer her, Jay remained focused on his own thing, which was trying to do the same thing Sarah did, create a mark that wouldn't come off even after half a year had passed.

'...This won't do...I need something more...' Jay thought, now with his brow slightly furrowed.

While this might leave a mark, it wouldn't last that long...at least not if he only used his teeth.

A second later, though both Jay and Sarah's position remained the same, the last person mentioned suddenly lifted her shoulders, surprised at the new sensation she was feeling on her neck, "I-I-Is that your tongue?!"

That's right, what was now touching Sarah's neck, aside from Jay's teeth, was his tongue.

Then, before she could say anything else, Sarah felt a bite where Jay's tongue was touching her, causing Sarah to let out a small moan of pain.

*CHAK!*

"Ouch!"

And with that as his last, Jay finally broke away from Sarah, taking a breath of air before laying back down on the grass, seemingly tired from what he had just done.

As for the mark on Sarah's neck, it was in the shape of an oval, with a small circle even more pronounced on the inside of it, creating an image that bore a strong resemblance to an eye, and while it wasn't as sophisticated as the one said mage had made on him, it certainly was eye-catching.

"Since you marked me, then it's only fair that I also do the same, also, if you're going to do something like this, at least next time let me know in advance, so I can create a better design."

"...Yes, I... I think that's what I'll do." She replied, holding her sore neck with one of her hands, though careful not to touch the mark Jay had made on it.

Without another word, Sarah slowly lay down beside him, with a smile on her face that she couldn't help but show because of what Jay had just done.

In that way, under the silence of the night, time passed, until finally, they both said their goodbyes and returned to their respective cities.

While it was true that this pair might not see each other again for a long time, neither was particularly worried.

***

In the early morning of the next day, deep inside the bronze city's training center, a certain person wearing a baggy gray uniform was sweeping a large stone courtyard, removing the dust that had accumulated over the past few days.

Fortunately, thanks to the fact that he had been cleaning this courtyard for a while now, it didn't take him long to finish.

Letting out a sigh, said person then took out his smartwatch and opened his notes app, in which all his tasks for the day were written down.

"Let's see, I already finished cleaning three yards, that leaves me another seventeen remaining to meet my quota, I'll just have to finish at night, as for the loads of laundry to be done, it shouldn't take me more than 2 hours... I'd better hurry."

Said person, or rather Jay, then began to move quickly to the next yard to be swept.

The night before, after he had returned from his training session with Sarah, he had expected Syvis, or much worse, the instructor, to scold him for running away, but to his surprise, neither happened.

Instead, Syvis, who had apparently gotten his contact information without his knowledge, sent a message to his smartwatch which contained all of his duties information plus a screenshot where the instructor said that she was unable to return due to certain issues at the academy.

Although his to-do list was somewhat extensive, having to clean 20 yards and wash hundreds of clothes as his daily quota, he knew that if he organized himself well and woke up earlier, he would be able to make it.

The problem started because just an hour ago, he had also received his classes schedule, which was almost entirely focused on improving his skills as an esper, as for the supplementary classes, they barely took up about four hours of an entire week.

It could be said that he got the best possible result, since it was precisely those classes that he needed the most at the moment, although of course, it was to be expected, after all, the nights he spent studying were not few at all.

As a result, in the interest of not affecting his classes, although it was currently five in the morning, Jay was already working fervently, wanting to make as much progress as possible before he had to go to his classes, which started at ten o'clock.

Finally, the hours passed, and the time to go to class drew ever closer, so Jay headed to his room to get ready before leaving for the school.

While his start at the academy had been complicated for more than one reason, from this moment on, his school life at the best educational institution for supers in the world, the Eitsirc Academy, had begun!

***

At the same time Jay was on his way to his classroom, in a certain unknown city, specifically in a skyscraper that was located in the center of said city, a meeting was taking place.

The person sitting at the head of this table, a large man with tanned skin and a prominent beard spoke seriously, "As most of you may know, yesterday one of the silver city's students, Tessa Clemmensen was injured while she was with her hunting party in the 'Limit' forest and her current condition is complicated."

Although it had only happened yesterday, an incredibly detailed report of the event had already been sent to these people, by none other than the instructor in charge of the 'Limit' forest, Elaina.

"Now, this would normally not be a strange occurrence, if it were not for three unusual factors, firstly there would be an unknown infection that seems to have spread in the aforementioned student's wounds, secondly there would be the disappearance of all the monsters in said camp and lastly the appearance of a strange entity with humanoid form and a minimum capacity of a rank (B-) super."

When the man finished speaking, those present couldn't help but feel surprised, after all, only one of these events on their own were enough for the academy to focus most of their attention on them, but now there were actually three of them!

One should know that the academy, with the time it had been in existence, had acquired knowledge about countless kinds of diseases and ailments that could affect supers, so the fact that the infection that Tessa had didn't appear in their database meant that it was something completely new.

Then there would be the incident of the disappearance of all the monsters, something that should be virtually impossible to achieve thanks precisely to the surveillance that was in place in the forest and also due to the extreme difficulty of being able to infiltrate the forest without the express permission of the academy.

Finally, the culprit of the first incident mentioned and also the major suspect of the second incident, the unknown humanoid entity whose information was incredibly scarce.

"It is estimated that such an entity has that rank due to the fact that it was able to escape from Elaine, however, its concealment ability goes far beyond that, as it was even able to bypass the security of the magic circuits."

One could tell from the man's tone that there was some suspicion in his words, especially at the mention of magic circuits.

However, that only lasted a few seconds before he gave his conclusion, "I want 10 circuit mages and 5 shadow pugilists to investigate the 'Limit', as for the girl, if the doctors aren't able to cure her arm and the infection, have them call Beali, no matter the price, she must be cured."

Immediately, one of the people present in the room, a young man with gray hair and blue eyes who appeared to be the secretary wrote down the order from the large man.

Although this action had been incredibly simple, it should have been known that not only were circuit mages scarce mages everywhere in the world, but those who had attained rank (B) were even fewer, not to mention shadow pugilists, who were known as the fastest supers in the world.

Although both were types of supers in high demand by huge organizations all around the globe, to the academy, they were just outstanding workers.

The other people present on the other hand began to talk about what they could do to avoid such incidents in the future while wondering where their pillars of trust were at the moment, referring to the head teachers, none of whom were present.

As for the person leading this meeting, the man of large stature, he was thinking something similar about the head teachers, '...Perhaps, it was not a good idea to send them on such a long mission so soon...'