CHAPTER 53: LUSTLOCKED

I woke up to the sound of chains rattling.

Mine.

My wrists were bound to the headboard. Ankles too. Silk rope enchanted with runes I didn’t recognize. My breath came in short gasps. My chest was bare. My skin glistened with sweat I didn’t remember sweating. And my brain?

Empty.

Except for one thing.

Akane.

I could feel her. Smell her. Somewhere beyond the wall, her scent called to me like a siren—warm, sweet, sinful. My entire body ached to be against hers again. Every breath I took burned because it wasn’t filled with her. Every second I wasn’t touching her was agony.

I twisted against the bindings. Hard.

The door opened.

Sora walked in, wearing full tactical gear and holding a crossbow.

A crossbow.

"Don’t even think about it," she said flatly, cocking the thing like she was hunting a werewolf. "One more attempted breakout and I’m tying your legs to a concrete slab."

"You don’t understand," I rasped. My voice didn’t even sound like me anymore. "I need her. Now."

"You need a cold shower and a lobotomy."

I lunged. The ropes burned with a magical flare, locking me down.

Sora didn’t flinch. "Tried that already, lover boy. You melted the last ice cube with your groans."

From the hallway, a crash.

"AKANE’S OUT!" Rin’s voice. Panicked. "SHE’S GONE FERAL AGAIN!"

Sora’s eyes widened. "Oh hell—"

Then I heard it.

Footsteps. Fast. Barefoot.

A soft voice—half-moan, half-growl:

"Rennnnnnnnn~"

My entire body ignited.

The ropes snapped.

I tore through the bedroom door just in time to see Akane sprinting down the hall, hair wild, shirt clinging to her curves in all the worst/best ways. She leapt, and I caught her mid-air like we’d practiced it in a thousand past lives.

Our lips collided.

Her legs wrapped around my waist.

My hands went under her thighs, and her fingers buried into my hair like she’d never let go.

"Oh my god, no, NO—"

Ayame tackled us both from the side.

We went crashing into a pile of laundry.

"I SAID NO CONTACT!" she shrieked, dragging me by the shirt as Akane clawed at her like a starved jungle cat.

"I NEED HIM!" Akane howled. "LET ME TASTE HIS TONGUE!"

"Elira, fix this!" Ayame screamed.

"I’m TRYING!" Elira yelled from the kitchen. "The antidote is still brewing! I need three more drops of moonvine nectar and Rin keeps knocking over my tray!"

"I’M BUSY CHASING A FERAL NAKED WOMAN THROUGH THE HALLS!" Rin barked. "MULTITASKING IS HARD!"

Mei popped out from behind a couch holding a walkie-talkie and a banana.

"Team Harem to Base," she said into the banana, nodding seriously. "Subject A and Subject R have breached containment. Operation Cold Shower is a failure. Repeat, failure."

"I CAN STILL FEEL HER SCENT IN MY BONES!" I roared, trying to climb the laundry pile with one sock in my mouth.

"STAY BACK!" Sora shouted, firing the crossbow.

The bolt hit a wall beside me and exploded into glittering ropes that wrapped around my legs like sentient tentacles.

I screamed. Akane screamed louder.

"RENNNNNNN—!" she wailed, being dragged away by Rin and Ayame like a possessed demon bride. "DON’T LEAVE ME, MY LOVE! I’LL DIE WITHOUT YOUR TOUCH!"

"WE’LL BE TOGETHER SOON!" I bellowed, choking on the sock. "I’LL CRAWL TO YOU, EVEN IF IT KILLS ME!"

Sora climbed on top of me and sat on my back, panting. "Somebody better finish that damn potion now."

---

Two Hours Later

I was locked inside the upstairs linen closet.

Literal chains this time. Cold, iron, magically sealed, bolted to the wall.

Akane had been locked in the storage shed in the backyard.

From opposite ends of the house, we screamed each other’s names like tragic lovers separated by fate.

"AKANE!"

"RENNNNN!"

"I MISS YOUR SMELL!"

"I MISS YOUR TONGUE!"

Elira walked past holding a giant bubbling flask, looking dead inside.

Sora followed her, muttering, "I’m gonna throw all his clothes in the lake."

Ayame had developed a full command center in the living room. She’d drawn maps of the mansion with red Xs and labeled the danger zones "HEAT POINTS."

Rin rotated guard shifts with a kitchen timer.

Mei built a literal tripwire system. She named it the "Boner Alarm."

It went off six times in one hour.

---

Hour Four

The spell wasn’t just strong. It was evolving.

I started to smell her through the walls.

I heard her heartbeat through the air vents.

At one point, I reached my fingers under the closet door and she reached hers in from the backyard shed window, like two lovers crawling across a battlefield.

Our fingertips brushed, through the portal she created.

Time stopped.

And then—

Rin saw us.

"GET YOUR HANDS OUT OF THERE!" she said smacking my fingers with a ladle. "No touching! That’s Rule One!"

"YOU MADE A RULEBOOK?" I cried.

"Yes!" she shouted. "Because you two are monsters!"

---

Hour Six

Elira announced that the antidote would be ready at sundown.

The girls were running on caffeine and fury.

Mei had rigged a water balloon turret. Ayame threatened to summon her phoenix if we tried another breakout.

Sora set a password on the pantry. I failed the test. The floor collapsed beneath me.

Straight into a bean bag trap.

And Akane was waiting at the bottom.

Our eyes locked.

Oh no.

"Oh YES," she whispered.

We tackled each other.

Ripped shirts. Moaning. Tongues. Chaos.

Ayame had to dump an entire bucket of snow on us from the freezer.

Sora actually tased me. I was about grateful.

---

Hour Eight – Sundown

The antidote was done.

A glowing blue potion in two crystal vials.

Everyone gathered in the living room. I was restrained between Ayame and Sora. Akane between Rin and Mei, who was now wearing medieval armor made of pots and pans.

Elira held up the vials like she was presenting holy relics.

"This is it," she said. "One sip each, and the spell should end."

"Should?". Mei muttered

"No," I growled. "Let me taste her one more time."

"Ren!" Ayame snapped.

"Elira," Akane purred. "Forget the antidote. Just throw me into his arms and let fate do the rest."

"You’re not Romeo and Juliet!" Rin barked. "You’re horny and cursed!"

Elira sighed. "Okay. On the count of three. Ready?"

We both thrashed against our captors.

"ONE—"

"LET ME LICK HER—"

"TWO—"

"REN MY TONGUE IS READY—"

"THREE!"

She forced the vial between my lips. Ayame held my jaw shut while I swallowed.

Across from me, Rin did the same to Akane.

We both choked it down.

The change was... almost immediate.

Like a light flickering back to normal.

The haze started to lift.

My chest stopped burning. My fingers relaxed. For the first time in hours, I could breathe without tasting lust in the air.

I blinked. Looked around.

Akane was sitting across from me, drenched in sweat, cheeks flushed, shirt torn at the shoulder. Her hair was a disaster.

She blinked back.

"...Hi," I said, my voice a lot less growly than earlier.

"...Hi," she replied softly.

Ayame stepped forward, cautiously. "Do you feel... normal?"

I tilted my head. "I think so. I can... think again."

Akane nodded. "Yeah. It’s like the fog’s finally gone."

Sora exhaled and tossed her crossbow onto the couch. "Thank the gods. If I had to fire one more glitter rope at your pants, I was going to lose it."

"I’m never making another potion again," Elira said as she collapsed into the armchair, exhausted. "I don’t even want to drink tea anymore."

Ayame clapped her hands. "All right. New rule—no drinking anything left unattended in this house ever again."

"Agreed," Rin said, tossing the ladle aside.

Mei leaned on the table, smirking. "Sooo... are we still counting that as first base, or...?"

"MEI!" the rest of us yelled.

She just laughed. "What? Just asking!"

Everyone started to relax. Elira stood and stretched. Rin turned toward the hall. Sora reached for the fridge.

And then—

I looked at Akane.

She looked at me.

That fog?

It wasn’t gone.

It was gathering.

Our eyes widened—together.

"Oh no," Ayame said. "Don’t you—"

We leapt.

Like animals.

I tackled her to the floor. She met me halfway, hands in my hair, my lips crashing onto hers like a wave slamming a cliff. Her legs wrapped around me. My hands clawed at her hips, greedy, wild.

"NOT AGAIN!" Sora shouted.

Ayame lunged forward, but just as she did—

FWOOM!

A blinding flash.

A glowing pink barrier erupted around us, sealing us inside an arcane dome pulsing with runes.

"No way," Rin gasped. "Akane just cast a barrier spell—around them!"

"They’re locked in together?!" Ayame screamed.

"I’M NOT WATCHING THIS!" Elira cried, turning her back instantly.

Inside the dome, I had Akane pinned against the rug. She was laughing breathlessly, lips parted as I kissed down her throat.

"I knew we weren’t cured," she moaned.

"The second I saw your eyes," I growled, "I knew I was still yours."

Outside, chaos.

"Break it!" Sora yelled. "Break the damn dome!"

"I’m trying!" Rin shouted, hammering it with a kitchen chair. "It’s... absorbing the hits!"

Ayame summoned a ball of fire and slammed it into the barrier. It bounced off and hit the fridge.

"WATCH THE APPLIANCES!" Mei shouted.

"I CAN SEE THEIR TONGUES, GUYS," Sora groaned, shielding her face. "THEIR ACTUAL TONGUES."

"They’re devouring each other like demons!" Rin howled. "Why is he shirtless again?!"

"I think she ripped it off this time," Elira mumbled, peeking through her fingers in horror.

Inside, Akane clawed at my back, hips grinding against me like we were the last two bodies in the world. I could barely think. I didn’t want to.

All I wanted was her.

Outside, someone retched.

"I’M COVERING MY EYES!" Mei shouted, dropping her banana walkie. "I CAN’T LIVE LIKE THIS!"

But then—slowly—the barrier shimmered.

Cracks formed.

The heat in my chest faded.

Akane’s movements slowed beneath me. My head dipped against her collarbone, breath shallow, heart racing.

I looked down at her.

She was blinking slowly, dazed.

"I... think it’s fading," she whispered. "For real this time."

The barrier cracked again—then burst, shimmering dust raining around us like broken magic.

I pushed myself off her, just barely. Still panting. Still aching. But in control.

The girls stared down at us in stunned silence.

I was shirtless. She was flushed, lips swollen, dress askew.

We both stared up at them.

"...Hi again," I said.

"Still poisoned?" Ayame asked, exasperated.

Akane groaned. "Not anymore."

I nodded. "It’s gone now. Really."

Rin crossed her arms. "Prove it by keeping your hands to yourself for five minutes."

I stood up slowly. Reached down to help Akane.

Our fingers brushed.

We both flinched.

Everyone screamed.

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