Ch.315Initial S (1)

In any case, there was no time to linger in the Soul Room. Violet and I came right out.

Yes, Violet and I emerged back into the French-style bathroom.

“The smell…”

Violet made a disgusted face.

“It definitely smells good.”

I bent down and muttered while sniffing Violet’s behind. Of all places, I had been summoned to this position. This… it’s like a divine revelation telling me to bury my face in Violet’s butt.

“What are you sniffing?!”

Violet immediately took a step forward as she spoke. She widened the distance between us at an incredible speed.

Usually time doesn’t pass much in the Soul Room… but it was already early evening. What? Wasn’t time supposed to flow slowly?

“I had to open the dimensional gate in a hurry, so I couldn’t manipulate time. It can’t be helped. Quite some time has passed, but we’re not late for the Huya Festival, are we?”

Violet said.

“Yeah… though explaining this to my girlfriends will be a bit troublesome.”

I checked my phone. There were countless missed messages.

I casually fiddled with my phone and explained the situation via text.

While doing so, I discovered a strange item.

‘Hidden Apps’

There was some hidden app. Did I hide an app? When I went into that section, a strange app appeared.

It was a couple location tracking app. I… never installed something like this.

Filled with an inexplicable fear, I hurriedly deleted the app with trembling hands. Who did this? There are too many suspicious people!

Just then, I received a text from someone.

‘You found the app… I see.’

A message from Umi.

“It was you!!!”

I protested to the empty air.

Apparently, Umi had installed the app while I was practicing kendo, before we started dating. That was… really early on. Back when Umi was still normal… It felt like a loose plot thread from the beginning was finally being resolved.

“Umi when she was normal…”

It’s so long ago I can barely remember. Because of me, Umi became quite strange. I should… take responsibility, right?

———

Evening came, and the Huya Festival began.

Whoosh-!!

As the central bonfire blazed, everyone began the circle dance. The excited ones even started singing. Up close, it looked like a youthful episode… but from afar, it resembled a cult gathering.

“Ahem. Slept well.”

Just then, Eri approached me, leading all my girlfriends. It’s my karma, but… there really are a lot of them. How did it come to this…

‘Good thing my stamina has improved…’

When I had just possessed this body, I nearly died from having my energy drained by Eri, Umi, and Taiga. I definitely made the right choice in improving my specs. I sincerely thought so.

‘Yes. I’m already a hopeless troublemaker.’

I muttered as I surveyed the lineup. With Eri’s three little sisters who were soon-to-be elementary schoolers and the current elementary schooler Madoka, the lineup was complete. And with the addition of a mother-daughter pair, it was an insane variation. The species diversity was also wide. Even Kirtan, an alien, was among them.

“Now… there’s no turning back.”

I uttered a line that could have come from a film noir. Nishikiyama… so this is how you felt!! I ran my hand through my hair.

Prick-!

“Ouch.”

My spiky hair pricked my hand. That really hurt.

“It can’t be helped. Violet, you should become my woman too.”

I said, gazing deeply at Violet.

“No way!!”

Violet immediately got angry. What an incredible wall she has.

————

“Oh. Everyone’s already started dancing.”

Eri looked around.

Couples who had already made eye contact were immediately matched, but there were also latecomers trying to pick up partners here.

Some students were trying to approach Mika, Aki, and Ms. Aiko. Since everyone knew the others were my girlfriends, they were placing their hopes on the unfamiliar ones.

Mika, noticing those gazes, immediately slipped into my arms.

“Ufufu. Quickly. Mark me as Shota-kun’s.”

Ms. Aiko also smiled and nestled into my arms.

“Yeah. Mark me too, Shota.”

Aki also clung to me affectionately.

As a result, a barrier-like thing formed around my harem.

“Some of us can’t even get one girlfriend…”

“Arigiri Shota… it’s you again?!”

The lamentations of the men could be heard. Can’t be helped. Life… is cruel.

“Anyway, with Shota’s indecisive personality, he won’t choose just one… he’ll take us in order, right?”

Kana spoke in a tone of resignation.

“Yeah. Line up in order of arrival.”

I said with a smile. Actually… in the game of love, the one who loves more loses. My girlfriends love me. When the object of their affection builds a harem, they can’t help but seek affection within it. This was the romance of the superior position.

Babababat-!

Everyone lined up as if waiting for school lunch.

“Violet, aren’t you getting in line?”

I asked Violet.

“I don’t want to dance with you.”

Violet said, turning her head away sharply.

“………..”

But Violet was more susceptible to loneliness than I thought. She seemed to feel a strange sense of alienation about being the only one not dancing here.

Swoosh…..

Violet timidly got in line. Hehehe. Cute one.

Anyway, we danced leisurely around the bonfire. It was surprisingly fun. Dancing in turns made me feel like the star of a ball.

While dancing, I had a moment to look toward Sasith.

Sasith was enjoying time alone with Frill. Moreover, there was another pure love couple nearby. The homeroom teacher and his girlfriend, Mimiko, were dancing while looking at each other with honey-dripping gazes. Teacher… I’m glad you found happiness… May you walk a path of flowers from now on.

“Sigh… that’s pure love.”

Umi cast an envious glance.

“Really… I want to remotely control this guy’s thing. He keeps playing with it in strange places…”

Taiga said, grabbing at my lower body.

“Ah, it hurts!! Taiga!! Loosen your grip!!”

I grabbed Taiga’s hand. I was really about to tear it off.

“Shota!! You monitor our baby room too!! Can’t we monitor your stick?!”

Taiga’s words were logical.

Well… that’s a fact. Then there was only one thing for me to do.

“I’m sorry.”

I immediately apologized with a 90-degree bow. I’m exceptionally good at self-discipline.

“Sigh. What can we do? Love is ultimately lost by the one who falls first. I still like Shota anyway.”

Mika suddenly said something admirable.

“Right. Pirates are always drawn to treasure. We were the ones who fell first. It can’t be helped.”

Kirtan spoke in the coolest tone possible.

“I don’t mind either. I’m determined to be the most loved one here anyway.”

Kana also ignited her competitive spirit.

“It’s okay. In my home country, there are quite a few men with as many wives as Shota. Nothing strange about it.”

Tina also expressed a global opinion.

“Right? What’s wrong with it!”

I smiled and embraced each of them once.

“I’ll make all of you happy.”

I said with determination.

“……..”

At those words, my girlfriends seemed to become extremely shy. Hehehe. That’s another cute thing about them.

And so, September ended with the festival.

————

One day in early October.

Sasith, Thumbs-up Man, and I were sitting in front of the television, operating our controllers diligently.

Vrooom-!! Screech-!!

It was that famous racing kart game.

Thanks to the money from Kunamisaro, I bought a new home console. What else would you do with male friends? Just crush them at games.

“Shell flying…!!”

I launched a shell just as Sasith was taking a curve.

“Hmph.”

And Sasith immediately grinned.

Screech-!!

Sasith avoided the shell with a godlike drift.

Thwack-!!

The shell hit the corner and then hit me.

“Argh!! Sasith!! Look how good this guy is!!”

I immediately got angry. He was terrible at fighting games, so why is he good at this?!

Plus, Thumbs-up Man was good too. He was just steadily overtaking the computer players and following right behind Sasith.

In the end, Sasith was 1st, Thumbs-up Man was 2nd, and I was 3rd. The rest were computer players.

“Hmph. An overwhelming 3rd place…”

Even as I said that, my voice trailed off. The rest were… just CPU opponents…

“…….”

Sasith, pleased to have beaten me, immediately clenched his fist triumphantly. Is it that satisfying?

“Finally avenging my humiliation in fighting games…”

Sasith seemed to care quite a bit about that point.

“You’ve played enough games! Take a break now!”

Just then, Eri walked toward us wearing an apron.

“Guys really do love games.”

Kana looked at us huddled around the television with an uncomprehending gaze. Well… girls are generally less interested in games than boys.

“But… is it okay to just play like this?”

Thumbs-up Man asked.

“Right. The dungeon opens in October. We should be preparing for that.”

Sasith said.

“Ah… it’s already open. But this dungeon is an event dungeon. It has gimmicks, so our current specs should be enough.”

I said. Honestly, everyone’s levels were sufficient.

“A dungeon with gimmicks…”

Sasith’s face immediately turned pale. He must be recalling the nightmare of being transformed into underwear last time. That was… good. I involuntarily recalled the happy memory.

“Spiky head. Don’t go into details.”

Just then, Frill pinched my arm.

“Sasith… sometimes has nightmares about that and suffers.”

Frill looked at Sasith with a wistful expression.

“You disliked it that much…”

I looked at Sasith with pitying eyes.

“Of course I did!!”

Sasith immediately shouted with a bright red face.

“Gimmicks… what kind of gimmicks?”

Tina asked while brushing Aki’s hair. Meanwhile, Aki was brushing Kana’s hair. I was glad everyone was getting along now. It would have been tiring if they fought with each other.

“Car racing.”

I revealed the theme of October’s dungeon. Yes, the concept was to have a death race with aliens. Despite being an RPG, if your racing skills were poor, you’d fight with significant penalties.

“………”

With that, Sasith’s expression softened slightly. Car racing… you wanted to try it, didn’t you, Sasith? Men.