I step into the forest, making sure to not go so far I annoy the very aggressive flora. I remember Cel saying that the plants will leave you alone if you don't go too deep; I'll have to trust her word on it.

Now that I'm alone, I can think about this a little more clearly. Something is wrong, Cel didn't act or talk like she did before--but now that I think about it, the others also acted weird. Eda is a lot more submissive, Cayden has taken the lead less and less and Lexia... it's not like her to admit she's wrong, about anything. There's a thing they all have in common though, they are all attracted to me in one way or another, that means those changes are probably my fault.

My arm instinctively tries to grab someone near me, but my hand grasps at no one, why is there no one? Someone should be here.

Wait, no one should be here, that's the entire reason I went into the forest, so that I could think alone. When did I become so dependent on other's presence?

I'm getting sidetracked. First, I need to find why all of this is happening; there are three possibilities.

One: I've been cursed somehow, and that curse is affecting the people around me. However, I do not know when I could've been cursed, or why.

Two: They are all in love with me because of my personality, and there is nothing to worry about.

Three: There is something related to my class that I have overlooked.

One is not impossible, Lexia deals in curses and hexes, so I could ask her. Two is very likely, but it does not hurt to consider the last option: that my class has something that causes all of this.

Unfortunately, I have studied my class as much as I could when I tried to get stronger, so my class has very little secrets to me, I can't think of anything that could've caused this.

Wait, didn't people start acting a lot weirder when I did get stronger? But the only thing that really changed were my stats, my strength, my intelligence, my charisma...

Wait, charisma?

What does charisma do again? Probably nothing--but it doesn't make sense, every stat does something other than just strengthening skills, there's no reason why charisma would be an exception. I've studied the effects of every stat; charisma was the only one with little to no information on it, it is also my highest stat as of now.

Charisma is also a term used to define someone's charm, so of course a stat with this name would affect your general attractiveness. If it's really charisma that is at fault, then I know of a way to prove my hypothesis.

****

I find Lexia on the same bench as last time. I sit down next to her without waiting for her approval, and she beams at me. I want to kiss her, to take her right now, but that's not what I'm here for.

"Lexia, would you die for me?" I ask.

"Sure I would! I trust you'd have a good reason to put my life in danger, you're not the type to hurt others for no reason," she answers with no hesitation. Definitely unlike her, and yet it is the expected answer, I am happy to hear someone would die for me.

I nod. "Do you still have that spell? The one that steals stats?"

"I do, I can even use it on enemies now! Why do you ask?"

"Can you drain my charisma until we both have the same amount?"

She raises an eyebrow. "I'm guessing you're going somewhere with this, so I'll play along."

This is a bad idea, there's no telling what she'll do if I let her. She's selfish, so why should I-

Lexia snaps her fingers. "aaaand done, we should be about the same level of charisma, what now?"

This doesn't feel as different as I thought it would, maybe it wasn't charisma after all?

I ask the same question to make sure, "Lexia, would you die for me?"

She leans back against the bench with a frown. "You already asked me that, I said I would- well, you'd probably need to explain to me what your plan is and... y'know, maybe we could find another way if we really talked about it, I'm not very good with hypotheticals--I also like...y'know, being alive."

Hesitation, thoughts that stray away from me, hope.

I grab her by the shoulders a little more violently than I expected. "Lexia, you were right! There was something wrong with me, I was affecting everyone around me with my charisma stat, and I don't know how to undo it. I need your help! Please tell me you believe me you're the only one I can count on!" I babble desperately, the words come out before I can even think of what I'm saying.

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She's still blushing, but she looks more worried than enthralled. "What does charisma have to do about anything? It's just... wait, hold on, it does make a lot of sense, how come I've never thought about that before?" It's now her turn to grab my shoulders. "I WAS RIGHT! I'M RIGHT! I WASN'T PARANOID! SOMETHING WAS WRONG! I'M THE BEST! LEXIA WINS ONCE AGAIN!"

Of all the reactions I expected, this was not one of them; although a part of me is really happy to see that she isn't mad at me.

Lexia composes herself after what felt like hours of boasting. "I was wrong about you being a doppelgänger, but I was close enough, okay?"

"You're..." I hesitate. "You're not mad?"

She closes her eyes and gesticulate wildly with her hands. "Weeeell, I do feel kinda weird about the whole sex thing, but... You didn't know what you were doing either right? So...it's as if we were both drunk, and all of this was a one night stand we never have to mention again. If that makes you feel better, I didn't lose my virginity to you; I have a hooker to thank for that." She nods to herself, not an ounce of shame on her face.

"If you say so. Do you know how to fix it?"

"I... don't know. There's just no good info on charisma out there, and I have no idea if it can be compared to the average brainwashing skill, but if I had to guess..." She sighs, and gives me a comforting smile. "...the best option would be to leave."

My heart sinks. I know what this means, but I ask anyway, "What do you mean 'leave'?"

"It may not look like it, but I still feel a little warm just talking to you. My drain skill isn't permanent either--it'll shoot back up, and sudden stat increase tend to have consequences, and I do not know what it'll do with charisma--nothing good, I'm sure of that."

"D-don't you have a curse to permanently lower my charisma?" My voice wavers.

She shakes her head. "Even if I did, I doubt the impact you had on others can be fully reverted as long as you're near them. I don't think I was affected as hard as I could've been because of my original suspicion, but I doubt the others will be as easy to convince. I'm sure Cayden will be fine after you leave, he's had his fair share of breakups from what I've heard, but Eda..."

"What about her?"

"She might do something stupid after you're gone, is what I'm saying. She spent her entire life in love with someone, and you gave her the romance she always wanted, if you take that away from her now, there's no telling what she'll do."

I feel weird. Is this really how it all ends? After I finally found friends, people I cared about, and people who cared about me? Is that really the only way?

No, there is another option, isn't there? I could keep it all if I just gave in. They are happier that way, aren't they? Is it really such a bad thing to stay?

I punch myself in the gut, and I keel over. I can't think like that, I've been selfish for long enough, this isn't what she would've wanted, I know that.

"Am I a bad person?" I mutter.

Lexia chuckles. "I don't think you're a bad person, I think you're just an idiot." She opens up her arms, signalling the start of a hug I don't think I'm ready for. "I wonder if I could've stopped this. Ever since you told me you didn't want to exist, I've been afraid that one day I'd wake up and find you dead, and it'd be my fault. I don't think you needed the sex or the kisses, I think if I just payed more attention to you back then, maybe it would've all worked out."

I give up, I let myself fall into her embrace. I want to cry, but it doesn't feel like I can, I don't know how to express how I feel, I don't want to acknowledge the fact that this is all over, that the right thing to do is also the most painful.

Lexia pats me on the back. "Hey, remember when I said 'you and I, we're a team now'? I still believe that. D-don't worry about-" She sniffles. "Don't worry about any of it, okay? I'll- I'll make sure everyone's okay after you're gone." She wipes her face with her hands, is she crying? "Eda- Eda won't die on my watch and, you better not do something stupid just because I'm not- because I'm not aro-" She wipes more tears, but she doesn't fully breaks down. "Gu- Guess I got affected by your charisma a little more than I thought, huh?"

Is this how she felt when she left me behind?

Do I really want to subject anyone else to this?

"Lexia, can you do something else for me?"

She hugs me tighter, as if she was only now realizing that this is the last time she'd ever see me. "Y-yeah, ask away." She sniffles some more.

"Tell everyone to take care, and if they do, I'll come back," I lie.

****

I've walked as far away from the city as possible, and I'm now standing in front of a mountain. I didn't even say goodbye to Eda, or Cayden, but the truth is I don't think I can handle any more crying, I'll just feel this overwhelming need to stay with them if I do, and that will just make it worse. I can already feel the withdrawal, I can't sleep anymore without the warmth of somebody else, I sometimes talk to the void just so I can feel like I've had a conversation for the day, I want someone to reassure me, to tell me I'm great, to tell me I'm doing the right thing.

I take the first step towards the mountain, I've heard many people died trying to climb it, but that's why I chose it. No one lives here, and most importantly, no one will find my corpse, this mountain automatically absorbs the bodies into the stone, leaving nothing left. They won't have any proof that I'll be gone; I just need to give them the hope that I'll be back, it's a lie of course, but the truth is too cruel.

I hope that one day Lexia tells them what really happened when they are ready, all I can do is trust her. The mountain gets colder the higher I go, and now I can't help but wonder--what now?

I can't make friends again, not as long as I have this charisma, so what am I supposed to do, hide from everyone? I managed to live without friends just fine before, so there's nothing stopping me from doing it again.

That's what I'll do. I can't hurt or be hurt by anyone if I stay alone, that's all I can really do; maybe one day I'll figure out how to have friends, but I'm clearly not ready now.

I'm climbing this mountain faster than I thought; it's getting hard to breath, and the cold is biting at my skin. It won't be long now, I've heard that dying of frostbite is rather painless, but it feels like I'm rolling around in a sea of nails. At least my pain tolerance is much higher thanks to Lexia, that's another thing I have to thank her for.

My legs are heavy, slowed down by the snow that is now coating the mountain. It's not long now, I can't feel my face or my hands. I fall in the snow, ready to accept my fate.

I'm going to die.

I usually don't care, but I'm only realizing now what this means.

I'll never see them again, I'll never get to talk to them again, I'll never get to cook for them again.

I pull myself out of the snow. No, I refuse, this isn't the way to go. I need to find a solution to my charisma, I'm sure it's possible, I just need to-

I f ll again.

I pull m self out f the sn w. I'm c ying, I j st w nt d to b h ppy.

I fa l ag in .

Ca 't f el a yth g.

I die.