Chapter 6:

　　Come to think of it, ever since we'd arrived on Eden I hadn't gotten to do anything ecchi with anyone. There were a lot of barriers that made me reticent, even though it should have been fine since day 1. For one thing, I wasn't sure how well God's brainwashing had worked. Did these girls truly love me? Were they really okay with a polygamous relationship? Observing them from day to day, I was always afraid they would get fed up with my uncool self and demand a divorce. Even if God had correctly transferred their feelings of admiration for their closest someone to me, wouldn't it all fall apart once they got to know the 'new' me they found themselves beside?

　　While waiting for the other shoe to drop, I didn't feel confident to go about insisting on my conjugal rights. But it seemed that either God had set it up such that the girls could not distinguish between the 'me' of the past they had fallen for and the 'me' of the present that stood beside them, or I had been doing such a good job as mayor that none of them found their feelings to be incongruous. Well, it had to be the former, huh? There's no way I was as good as the guys these girls had fallen for. Inuyasha, Kirito, Jinto, Yuuji, Saito, Riki, Junichi, Jude, Asbel, Squall, Cecil, Cloud, Okazaki, Natsu, Sasuke, Rito, Shirou, Yuuta, Haku, Tidus, Zeref, Gray, Keiichi, Yamato, Masamune, Parn, Kyoma, Sousuke, Sorey, Rinne, Basara, Gran, Araragi, Kyosuke, Ichigo, Genokiller, Kiyotaka, Aoi, Willem, Jr., Yoshiyuki, Yuuki, Lyon, Gajeel, Kodaka, Syaoran, Yukito, Yuji, Touma, Kou, Yaichi, Yuu, Kotarou, Eita, Tuxedo Mask, Hakuowlo, Yuichi, Shinichi, Jun'ichi, Jun'ichirou, Kakashi, Hakuya, Ikoma, Jinta, Coco, everyone had done ridiculous feats and performed ridiculously well on all levels of life while devoting themselves entirely to the girls they conquered. How could anyone compete with these guys? It stood to reason that only the greatest guys imaginable could win over the greatest girls imaginable, but still, the hurdle was a little too high living up to their reputations.

　　I just wanted the benefits without any of the effort. Was that too much to ask?

　　Though to be fair, I felt my admiration for these men meant that if I had been given the same opportunities I would have done the exact same thing they did, which would have earned me the same right to these women as the characters themselves. It was simply that on Earth it was impossible to get ahead or help anyone, since everything was illegal and no one trusted you. I didn't have the magic powers, helpful networking, or fortuitous coincidences that these heroes had relied on to turn the heads of their destined partners. There were no world crises that I could distinguish myself with. From the very start to the very end of my life, the only thing Earth let me do was get run over by a truck.

　　If life were like a Dimension W axis, and I'd been given the possibility of living as each of these heroes and making the choices they did or not, then the 'me' that approved of all of these men would have lived out each of these 100 individual romances essentially the same as the storybook characters had, which would have resulted in 100 wives all essentially married to the same moral core, me, no matter which male I'd been avataring as, so the probability wave collapsing back down to all 100 women married to the same person, me, was not actually a distortion of what should have been. My life here was the karmic result of the type of people I admired, both men and women. The men were all gathered together as one, me, while the women were gathered together as many, but still in a sense one, since we were one giant family, one community, one nation under God.

　　Or to put it another way, since it was my psyche that had brought true life to all of these characters, by thinking about them, by feeling what they were said to have felt, a capacity none of them had actually had, all the boys and all the girls' lives were one within my soul, which had encompassed and expressed them all. That may not be very fair, but given the alternative of staying black squiggly lines on paper, I don't think they had many grounds for complaint.

　　So putting aside whether I deserved the love of these wonderful girls or not, I had no moral qualms about taking advantage of said feelings. And if said feelings weren't fading away the moment they got to know the real me, for whatever reason, I was absolutely fine with enjoying the results.

　　However, there had been plenty of other issues to worry about. For one thing, it seemed selfish and immature to worry about sex when day to day survival was still on the line. How could I be playing around while other girls were working hard all day providing for our daily needs? It wasn't respectful.

　　Once the village was complete, the economy was on its own two feet, once I'd actually provided a good life for my wives, only then could I really look them in the eye.

　　Then there was the next problem. Many of the feelings transferred over to me were not of overt sexual natures, so to nurse those feelings into romantic love would have to be something I gradually managed myself. Yui had definitely doted on Azusa, but that's because she was cute and harmless; hugging a smaller girl and being hugged by a larger man were two different things. Cure Lemonade's love for Cure Dream was definitely the real thing, and having those feelings transposed onto a boy, what with Urara being heterosexual, should be a potent cocktail, but nevertheless it wasn't a slam dunk. I needed a stronger sign from the likes of Urara or Azusa, whose feelings might have been for Yui or her pet turtle, it was hard to say, that they were really willing to cross the line with me.

　　Many other girls had properly fallen romantically for boys, but were still young and naive, wishing to keep things 'pure.' Cure Dream's feelings for Coco, for instance. Or Illyasviel's for Shirou. Many wished to wait until they were older and more sure of themselves and their place in society. For the same reasons the boys in those stories couldn't just jump them and rip off their clothes, even though the girls' love was as deep as the Pacific Ocean, I too was constricted.

　　I felt that in many stories the girls were ready and only needed a push by the far too unassertive boys they had fallen for, like Natsu for Lucy, Lisanna or Wendy, but other times their standoffishness had made perfect sense. We had thousands of years to deepen our feelings for each other, so there was no need to pressure girls into things they weren't yet comfortable with.

　　Then there was the question of pregnancy. I couldn't exactly start having babies when we couldn't even provide for ourselves. Of course it was possible to have deviant sex that didn't result in children, but I didn't feel that was appropriate for a husband and wife pair. The same for birth control or abortion, that wasn't something a genuine husband and wife should do. The whole reason we married was because we were ready and eager to have kids, so it went against the entire spiritual message to take such draconian actions in direct contradiction to that avowal. If I was going to start bedding a girl, it would have to be with the knowledge that pregnancy would almost certainly follow, and then I would be not just a husband but a father with a whole additional suite of responsibilities.

　　Then there was this -- was it okay to show favoritism by sleeping with some girls but not others? Even if it were the girls' own wishes to not be touched sexually, wouldn't they feel left out if I started fawning over a few special women and taking care of their kids together? Would it be right to have a sexual relationship with some wives to the point that we even had ten year old kids while others still hadn't summoned up the courage to confess to me?

　　I thought it would be much better if we could all more or less cross the starting line and the finish line at the same time. If everyone were sleeping with me and everyone getting pregnant, there would be no one feeling superfluous or lesser to anyone else. I could show proper appreciation and respect for all. Which meant the convoy had to travel at the speed of the slowest ship. If even one girl wasn't ready, unless I wanted to essentially abandon her and cut her off from the community, what could I do? It was fine to say that I respected her feelings, but what I'd really be doing, in actions not words, would be turning my back on her, neglecting her, and ignoring her for someone else, someone better, someone I would love more and more while she received less and less.

　　But it was precisely because I loved all these girls that I hadn't wanted to compromise on a smaller selection. I did love them all more or less equally, and I wanted to show that in the most earnest manner I could.

　　There were girls whose relationships in the stories had already progressed to sex, marriage, even kids. It would have been perfectly fine to jump right back into things with them here -- only it would have left too many others feeling lonely and depressed the moment I did.

　　Which meant, as Kotori would say, it was best to keep things PG. I could be affectionate with everyone, have the same intimacy as boyfriends and girlfriends had in public, and even cuddle with those willing at night, but until I had a true harem of 100 willing mothers-to-be and a way to support all their coming kids, it was best to just endure.