Ch.144New Colleague (2)

“Ah… you know?”

Shotaro tried hard to continue his words.

“Stop stalling and just say it. Brother.”

Eri said, turning only her head while cooking. Shit… she’s so scary.

In the end, Shotaro confessed the truth. That Mika actually wanted a substitute lover, and that he had intentionally hidden this from Eri.

“Sigh… trying to sell her sister’s boyfriend for her own career advancement… the worst.”

Umi chimed in from the side.

“Gack…!!”

At that scathing remark, Shotaro immediately slumped down.

“Shota. What are you going to do? You’re not going to devour Mika too… are you?”

Taiga asked.

“I decided yesterday. Tina is the last one. Really. I swear.”

I stated firmly.

“Then it’s fine.”

Eri said. Eri… she’s favorable to the harem… but she’s strangely against recruiting Mika. Does Eri have her own criteria for choosing members?

“We’ll see about that…”

Umi looked at me with cold eyes.

“Anyway!! It’s true!!! Trust me!!”

I tried my best to appear trustworthy.

“I believe you. Only I… can believe in the hero…”

Tina said with a smile. But her eyes weren’t smiling.

Anyway, the harem members returned their focus to the meal.

I expected them to wear bikinis for fun. But… with aprons on top, the impact was extraordinary.

“Nice…”

I smiled while appreciating my girlfriends’ bouncy bottoms.

Don’t just look, you can touch too! This is the metaverse!!

I immediately approached my girlfriends from behind.

Squish-!

While caressing my girlfriends, I observed what dish they were making.

“It’s curry.”

Yes. Curry. It was an easy dish to make and hard to mess up, so we often made it while traveling.

“What? Got a problem with that?”

Taiga glared at me.

“No! I love curry!!!”

I’ve loved curry since I was little!!!

“Yummy yummy curry curry!!!”

I immediately started singing a song dedicated to curry.

“Ufufu. Shota is so energetic. Childlike and cute.”

Tina smiled sweetly.

“I felt that way at first too. But later you’ll find it annoying.”

Eri said with a bitter smile.

“At times like this, you just need to hit him lightly!”

Umi shared unnecessary information.

“Oh… hitting, huh…”

Tina immediately clenched her fist. As a martial artist, Tina’s clenched fist was terrifying. Look at those knuckle marks on her fingers…!!!

Anyway, the curry was completed.

“Here. Eat. You too, worthless brother.”

Eri said, practically throwing the curry at Shotaro. It almost looked like feeding a dog.

“Thank you… dear sister.”

Shotaro accepted the curry with exaggerated humility.

Anyway, the situation was resolved smoothly. Mika seems to have regained her writing motivation… all’s well that ends well.

When mealtime came, Mika joined us for the meal.

“Mika. You must be hungry from writing so hard! Eat as much as you want!”

I immediately served Mika a heaping portion of curry. A veritable mountain of curry…!!

“I-I wasn’t particularly hungry, you know?”

Mika blushed.

“Oh my… look how your cheeks have gotten thinner!!! And your wrists are so thin!!! Eat up!! I’m worried!! Oh my… how can you be so skinny!!!”

I channeled my inner grandmother at a holiday gathering.

“Hahahahaha!! What’s that? Imitating a grandma?”

Mika burst into laughter.

It felt good to make Mika laugh. Indeed… silly antics deserve good reactions.

“……..”

At that moment, I felt gazes from behind.

“………..”

The harem quartet was staring at me with incredible intensity.

“Look at him running his mouth making another girl laugh.”

“He’s probably going to seduce her too.”

Umi and Eri whispered to each other.

“Hey, I’m not some handsome guy… you think a woman would fall for me just from exchanging a few words?”

I said.

“That’s what makes it more infuriating!!! I thought you were a hidden gem that only I knew about, but finding out that’s not true is so frustrating!”

Taiga immediately flared up.

“Ah… that’s right. Shota is surprisingly cool… when you talk and hang out with him, you find yourself conquered before you know it.”

Eri nodded vigorously.

“That is the hero’s pheromone…!”

Tina’s eyes sparkled.

“Well… that’s true. Honestly, I didn’t expect to be this popular either.”

I genuinely wondered why such pretty girls would want to join my harem.

If I were a handsome guy like Sasith, it would make sense. But that guy has absolutely zero interest in women.

——–

Anyway, after we all finished eating. Since it felt wrong to just eat without helping, I assisted with the dishes.

As expected of young people in their prime, the considerable amount of curry was quickly devoured.

Having eaten… I was thinking about how to spend the day having fun.

“Hey, Shota.”

Mika was also wearing a bikini.

“Whoa… wow…”

Such vulgar words escaped my lips involuntarily, as Mika’s figure was magnificent.

“Don’t stare so openly…”

Mika blushed, seemingly not immune to such direct gazes. A virgin-like shyness… that’s quite a precious trait.

Both Umi and Eri had virgin-like character traits, but… Umi had evolved from virgin-like to idiot-like. Eri was… just a mom figure.

In other words, Mika’s character was uniquely appealing.

“Have you read my new work yet?”

Mika asked.

“No.”

I immediately shook my head.

“I’ve written five episodes so far. It’s a fantasy story.”

Mika said.

Five episodes overnight. Mika… you really got inspired. I don’t know what sparked her creativity, but it’s a good thing.

“Fantasy… that’s unexpected.”

Weren’t you exclusively a modern romance writer?

“Well… this is my first fantasy work. So… you’re my senior in this genre, right?”

Mika smiled, lightly brushing up her aqua-colored hair.

I found myself mesmerized by Mika’s smiling eyes. She really is beautiful.

“So! I might need advice sometimes… let’s exchange numbers.”

Mika said hesitantly.

“Sure.”

I immediately took out my phone.

Ding-!!

Japanese smartphones had this amazing infrared feature for exchanging email addresses. Like a Tamagotchi function. As expected of the otaku nation…!

And so, I exchanged numbers with Mika.

“Don’t leave me on read.”

Mika shot that comment at me before heading to the beach with quick steps.

Today’s plan? Spending the day at the beach again. I wanted to play together if possible, but Tina had to leave midway to guard Madoka. Well… it couldn’t be helped since it was her job.

——-

At that time, Madoka was picking at her food with a gloomy expression.

“Is the food… not good? Madoka.”

Kujo asked anxiously.

“Eek…!”

The chef’s expression froze, suddenly facing the crisis of being fired.

No, the food couldn’t possibly be bad. The chef had been the head chef at a 5-star hotel. The steak they were eating was overwhelmingly delicious.

“This trip is boring.”

Madoka said with a pout.

“…Do you want to play with that high school student?”

Suddenly, Kujo glared.

Madoka kept glancing toward where Shota’s group was playing. As a father, he couldn’t miss those obvious glances.

“Yes… I want to play with Shota and his friends.”

“Some nobody from who knows where…”

Kujo felt inexplicably angry. He felt his ranking in Madoka’s heart dropping in real-time.

‘Me… being below that high school kid…! Unacceptable!!’

Yes, Mr. Kujo was a daughter-obsessed father.

Kujo had already added “Arigiri Shota” to his hit list. He was already an author under his publishing platform anyway. If he used his power…

As Kujo was engulfed in sinister hatred, Madoka’s mother stroked his arm.

“It’s pitiful if Madoka keeps looking so miserable, isn’t it? Let’s just let her play. He seemed like a decent, respectable young man.”

Madoka’s mother immediately offered a compromise.

“What’s decent and respectable about him…!!!”

Kujo was about to get angry.

“Honey? Are you going to be this hostile when Madoka grows up and brings home a husband candidate?”

Madoka’s mother immediately controlled Kujo.

“Ugh… that’s…!!”

“Be a little cooler about this. And…”

Madoka’s mother hesitantly continued.

“While Madoka is playing, we could feel like we’re on a honeymoon.”

“…….”

At those words, Kujo’s harsh expression immediately melted.

“Miss Tina Burst… then I’ll entrust Madoka to you.”

Kujo finally permitted Madoka to play with the older kids.

“Yay!!!”

Madoka’s eyes lit up as if her previous gloom had been a lie.

‘Well… it’s good for me if Madoka joins Shota’s group.’

Tina secretly thought.

‘I can legitimately be lovey-dovey with Shota…’

Thinking that, Tina blushed.

———-

Back to Shota’s perspective.

I thought everyone would rush straight to the sea for water play, but surprisingly, that wasn’t the case.

Having fully enjoyed water play and beach volleyball on the first day, they quickly got bored of the sea. They really get tired of things fast…

Well, it wasn’t bad to leisurely spend time sitting together under a parasol.

I started reading Mika’s new serialized work as she suggested.

Though only 5 episodes… the response was explosive. Plus, it was incredibly interesting. It was almost forgivable that she rushed to end her other works to start this one. No, honestly it’s not forgivable, but that’s just a figure of speech.

“How is it? Interesting?”

Mika stared at me intently.

“It’s… really interesting.”

I answered with sincerity. Honestly… I felt a bit jealous. It was so good it gave me writer’s inferiority complex.

“Pfft. Of course you’d say that when I ask you to your face. Empty words.”

But… Mika had an exhausting personality.

“Then what would make you believe me?”

I shouted at Mika.

“Describe in more detail… what you liked about it. Or react more dramatically.”

Mika said. She’s quite demanding.

“React more dramatically? That happens to be my specialty.”

I could have ignored her, but Mika had touched my sore spot. I was a master of reactions.

Whoosh-!!!!

Actions speak louder than words. I immediately jumped high into the air.

“Kyeeeeeek!! It’s so interesting!!!!!!”

I did a backflip while standing.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh-!!!!

After spinning about four times in the air, I landed right back in place.

“No!! I didn’t mean do a backflip!!! I’ve never seen anyone actually do that!! Besides!!! You know how to do that?!!”

Mika immediately objected.

“Isn’t this reaction enough?”

I said with a proud expression.

“No… just act normal.”

Mika said with cold eyes. Geez. What’s the deal? I went through all the trouble of doing a backflip.

At that moment, two women approached where we were playing.

Madoka and… Tina.

“Mr. Kujo said it’s okay for her to play with us. I brought Madoka.”

Tina said.

“Oh!! Madoka!!! I smelled something delicious from the villa next door yesterday. Did you eat lots of tasty food?”

Madoka is my soul friend. She’s practically my little sister. I immediately showed off our friendship to Madoka.

Hmph-!

But… Madoka turned her head away with a pouty expression.

Madoka… are you upset with me?