The True Endgame

Their destination is Roaring Marco"s New Charleston"s Favorite Burgers. Ryouta has never been there, but Serra, Ca.s.sandra, and Aiko all vouch for it.

Wait.

Ryouta looks at Aiko.

Isn"t she doing a really good job of blending into the group as if she"s always been a part of it? She"s talking to all of the girls, was already friends with Serra and has already slept on Alice"s thighs – the only one that she"s not really spending much time with is Ca.s.sandra.

"This… isn"t actually a harem, right?" he thinks, expecting an answer from Saya, but remembers that she can only talk to him when he"s immersed in virtual reality.

Whatever the answer is, this is really starting to feel like a harem. Serra and Ca.s.sandra are as romantically interested in each other as they are in him, but he knows that both Alice and Aiko prioritize him – wait, he needs to stop thinking of Aiko as already being in the harem. He can"t just look at a girl and a.s.sume that she"s a part of his harem!

Then again, she does consistently call herself his future wife. She"s been saying that since she was a child and she"s still saying it now. But, he can"t just allow her to enter his harem – his polyamorous relationship with the others, unless they all want her to join as well.

Even if they do all develop romantic feelings for her and want her to join, Ryouta has to develop those as well. He only sees her as a close friend from the past. Just because they were together as children doesn"t mean that he"s going to develop feelings for her all of a sudden now that she"s back.

But at the same time, when he remembers that the childhood friends always lose in the sort of media that he consumes, that makes him want to develop such feelings for Aiko simply to break the stereotype.

"Should we call an autotaxi?" Ca.s.sandra asks, looking at Ryouta and Alice.

"Oh, I am fine with whatever you would like!" Alice answers.

Ca.s.sandra looks back at Ryouta, mainly at his legs.

Less worrying about Aiko, more showing off his improvements.

Ryouta rolls up his pants to show off that he"s wearing his braces and smiles. "I"ve been using them every day lately. I can walk fine now as long as we"re not walking for the rest of the night," he explains.

With Aiko standing behind Ryouta, Ca.s.sandra catches a quick glimpse of how sad and guilty Aiko looks when she sees his legs.

Ryouta helps Alice back into her wheelchair and then stands behind it, holding onto the handles behind it. "I"ll push you," he tells her.

"Are – are you sure, my hero? It has more than enough power left to go on its own," Alice answers.

"What, you saying you don"t want your boyfriend to help you out and push you around?"

"No! On the contrary, the princess being a.s.sisted by her hero is wonderful! It – it is actually slightly embarra.s.sing thinking about you pushing my wheelchair."

Serra, watching their conversation, walks up to Alice and sits on top of her lap with her back to Alice"s. Then she points forward as if demanding to be taken in that direction.

Ryouta pokes the back of her head before signing to her, telling her that she should get off of Alice"s lap to not hurt her and because they"re going to get all sorts of weird stares if she sits on her like that.

Serra pouts but hops off in the end.

"It would have been alright for her to sit there. I would not have minded," Alice says.

"You would be into getting treated like a horse, wouldn"t you?" Ryouta teases.

"My hero! I would never want to be treated like a horse, but… now I am imagining a princess, desperate on the run after her family has been murdered and the entire kingdom that was once hers is hunting her down, and she is forced to stay with a large stallion in his pen as n.o.body else will hide her, and then—"

"Alright, let"s cut the fantasy there before you end up on a s.e.x offender"s list."

"Who would want a horse when you could have Ry-ou-ta instead?" Aiko tags in, hugging his right arm. She tries to hug his arm in a way that it would be pushed right between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s… but she has none, and so she ends up pouting and huffing when she realizes that this doesn"t work. Then she glares at Ca.s.sandra"s chest.

Though, Ryouta isn"t going to complain whether it is a busty chest or a flat one that is pressing against his arm. Either way, it"s great, and his expression reflects that which causes Ca.s.sandra to glare at Aiko"s chest.

The two girls" eyes meet.

With Aiko hugging Ryouta"s right arm to her chest, Ca.s.sandra comes up to his left and hugs his left arm against hers. His arm sinks right between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s through the sweater that she"s wearing which deflates Aiko so much that she looks like she"s about to end it all.

Then there"s Serra who"s just watching the silly compet.i.tion and directing a smug smile at Ryouta. He feels like he"s being judged as some sort of womanizer or playboy by her.

"Alright, let"s go," Ryouta says.

Serra is the first out of the apartment as she"s the only one not currently attached to Ryouta in some way.

Alice is next as Ryouta pushes her through the doorway.

But then there"s a problem.

With Aiko and Ca.s.sandra hugging his arms, the trio is too wide to fit through the doorway all at once, and neither of the girls seems like they intend on giving up their spot attached to him.

"Are… do I really have to do this?" Ryouta asks, looking at the girls.

They refuse to give up.

Ryouta has to back up, turn sideways, and then sideways through the doorway so that they can fit. The greatness of having his arms hugged against girls" chests is only barely enough to make up for just how ridiculous that maneuvering was.

Outside of the apartment, Serra locks his door for him and then hops up onto his back. With her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, Serra hugs her entire body against him and settles her head right next to his own with her chin resting on his left shoulder.

Alice is in front of him, Aiko is to his right, Ca.s.sandra his left, and Serra is on his back.

He is surrounded.

Alice looks behind herself and giggles at the awkward sight. "Would you rather carry me in your arms than push me, my hero? Or should I perhaps cling to your front like Serra is to your back?"

The door opposite of his opens.

Standing in front of him is a mother with two children and a father behind them.

Whereas the mother gasps and covers her boys" eyes, the father slowly closes the door while giving Ryouta a proud nod of the head and a thumbs-up.

"Just… just stay in the wheelchair," Ryouta says before freeing his arms from Aiko and Ca.s.sandra. "You can cling as much as you want some other time, Ca.s.s Ca.s.s."

"What about me?" Aiko asks.

Ryouta isn"t sure how to respond, so he"ll put that responsibility on Ca.s.sandra instead. "Ask Ca.s.s Ca.s.s."

"Eh? Why me?" Ca.s.sandra asks.

"Ca.s.s Ca.s.s!" Aiko shouts, making Ca.s.sandra jump from hearing her name called by her for the first time. "Can I cling to Ryouta later?"

"N-no! Ryouta is mine to cling to…"

"But Serra gets to!"

"Because we"re dating him!"

"Do I get clinging permissions as well now?" Alice asks.

"I – I guess so."

"Not fair!" Aiko whines. "I want clinging permissions!"

"Can we discuss this some other time? Preferably not in the middle of a hallway where people can hear what we"re talking about?" Ryouta asks, noticing an elderly couple down the hall stopped from entering their apartment to watch the commotion.

Serra takes it a step further and nibbles on his earlobe.
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This awakens something in him. He never knew that having his ear played with could feel so nice and exciting, but here he is, having shivers shoot up his spine as his face turns as red as Ca.s.sandra"s likes to.

Ca.s.sandra and Aiko look at each other. They may be competing against one another, but they both respect that Serra has won this battle.

"Your power level is way too high, Serra," Ryouta says just before accidentally letting out an embarra.s.sing moan when Serra licks his ear.

Alice, Ca.s.sandra, and Aiko stare at him with wide eyes.

They have never heard him make such a cute, boyish noise before.

They all love it and the looks in their eyes tell him that they want to hear it again.

Ryouta fears for the safety of his masculinity.