The initial greetings were very awkward but I felt I did not fuck it up too much. All of them had enough weirdness going on that my own was lost in the crowd. One thing I did notice, however, was that conversations kept going on tangents till the original subject got quite lost. One overarching theme remained constant though; they loved monster girls. Every idea seemed to get whipped back to monster girl talk one way or the other. Listening to them made me realize how little I knew about the creatures for all my supposed love of monster girls.

"So what about you?"

"Huh?"

I blinked in surprise my mind trying to come back to the present.

"Sorry. I zoned out a bit."

Alice looked immediately apologetic.

"No, no. I am sorry. We can get kinda get lost in our little world."

I shook my head.

"Don't worry. I also got lost in my head so it is fine."

I took a double take on what I just said, that was too much to share so early.

"Yes, that is something I do often. Hmm... maybe you will be a permanent and welcome addition."

Stephany pointed her stony gaze at me. I could judge nothing from her face but her emotions spoke volumes.

"Hush, Stephany. It is uncouth to do so for it is bad conversation etiquette. However, it is our folly for him to resort to such behavior."

Victoria chimed in, though her words had a certain bite I could feel no malice from her statements. The contrast between her bearing and her outward appearance was probably the starkest out of all of them and it was really hard to take her words seriously. But she was being very sincere.

As Claudia was the only one yet to chime in, it felt prophetic as she spoke next.

"Victoria, like I keep telling you people are not monster girls that you need to constantly guide. Like, geez your stuck-up ass is the reason half the people leave our group."

This group even had the diametrically opposed friends trope covered. I shook my head trying to get my head into the now. I knew loosening the shackles would help but I was scared of brushing with the deeper emotions of such characters. My current self, however, was in no condition to carry a conversation.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Making a snap decision I loosened the hold of the shackles a bit, and with it came a cacophony of emotions. Immediately I realized I made a very big mistake.

"Is that a mana shackle?"

Stephany's sharp eyes caught onto it. Surprise invaded an already very crowded mind. This was the first time anyone recognized the ornate bracelets as anything but ornaments.

I choked my thoughts sharpening but I was still not all there yet. All I could do was a grunt. My thoughts spiraled.

"Wait, really?!"

Alice exclaimed curiosity submerging her whole being.

Now I was sweating. The universe felt like that was not enough shit on my plate because Victoria exclaimed.

"Oh my Lord! You are an empath. Oh heavens, no wonder my little darlings were feeling so amorous around you."

This caused the other two physically jerk in surprise.

Everything was happening too fast. It started getting harder to breathe, I started intaking air rapidly but nothing seemed to enter my lungs. I felt green wooden armor covering my body as both my cats shifted to their large combat forms growling.

"What is happening..."

"My guess, emotional overload combined with a panic attack..."

The words and everything felt distant as I felt the soft plant material engulf me giving me the sweet darkness I craved.

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Beep. Beep. Beep.

I woke to a strange white room with monitors that resembled the ones I saw in television so often.

"Where am I?"

I was groggy, something was different but I could not pinpoint what. All I felt was blissful silence. I was in no pain but there was this haze that made it hard to think. I gave up and tried to go back to sleep. That slight beeping noise was very loud especially in a room that was void of any such sound.

"How are you feeling?"

My eyes snapped open to see a flawlessly beautiful woman in a nurse outfit, not the practical ones but the slutty ones that existed more for cosplay and extracurricular purposes. My brain started connecting the dots at this point finally deciding to work for a change.

"What happened?"

"We believe you suffered a panic attack."

That made me confused, my shackles dampened my emotions too much for any rise like that which made me realize, at this moment I had nothing on me. The only articles of clothing were my monster gear and nothing else which included my mana shackles.

I leapt up to my legs so fast that I disoriented myself but still could keep perfect balance.

"Keep calm Mr. Simon you are in safe space, protected from all form of harm including the empathic."

I was now crouching on the bed looking straight at her in only green undies, white jacket and black shirt.

Before I could speak or even think why I did what I did she replied.

"Yes, we know of your empathic abilities. Though, till a couple of hours ago did not realize just how strong they really were. Your current condition was caused by what is referred to as an psychic overload. Yours was caused by an onset of panic combined with uncontrolled intake of emotional data."

Her voice had soothing lilt to it. So much so that my spiraling mind latched on to it like a drowning man to life jacket. I did not want to think right now and her calm and friendly voice kept me sedated. That I was pretty sure I was on some sort of medication.

"Please lie down. It will take some time for the medication to truly leave your system and I shall accompany you till then."

I listened to her and lay down once more. I felt like I was forgetting something but with all the chemicals that were raging through my system, I could deal with it later. Right now I was in a safe space.