Kouji came home to his empty house. As usual, his uncle was still at work while the boy plopped down his bag onto the living room couch. Quietly, he headed right for the kitchen to grab a drink. On the fridge was a note left behind which read, ‘Got some treats for you from the local bakery. Hope you feel better soon!’

This was left behind Yokakura, who could tell there was something wrong with his nephew. Unfortunately, any attempts to prod for details was met with Kouji dodging every question.

“Thank…” He muttered to himself as he opened up the refrigerator. There were a couple of cupcakes topped with beautiful frosting. “...Too bad I’m not hungry right now.” The boy went with his original items and took out a glass of water. Sitting back down in the living room, he got lost in his thoughts staring at the blank TV.

His days ever since that moment had been filled with a boring emptiness. He didn’t want to do anything with the other girls since it just didn’t feel right to do so after something like that. They all saw what happened, how couldn’t this be on their minds when with him?

Speaking of said girls, he heard a knock on the door. Answering it provided him with his remaining trio of a harem, of which they just waltzed in like they lived there. “I guess you can come in.” He sarcastically commented, though made little effort to stop them.

“It’s been a while since any of us have been here.” Waa said. She had laid herself down onto his couch, with Yuma politely sitting on the recliner. Meanwhile, Teru found herself rustling through his kitchen for a bite to eat.

“Sweet, you got cupcakes?” She asked, already in her mouth some of the desert.

“It’s supposed to be for me.” He was already disappointed with this visit. “But go ahead, I wasn’t that hungry anyway.” Kouji went to take his spot back on the couch, which required pushing up Waa’s head from the cushion. When he sat down, she laid her head down onto his lap. “Are you guys here to annoy me or something?”

“What’s wrong with us trying to cheer you up?” Waa responded as if nothing had happened between all of them. “We’re your harem, right?”

“Only in name.” He replied. He was supposed to choose someone by the end of this. So far, he had done a good job at getting them to leave him.

“But we’re still your friends too.” Teru followed up as she returned to them. She held up the other cupcake to his face because despite his claim of not being hungry, she did want to brighten up his day. He took it from her.

“...And you’re sad.” Yuma chimed in last. “We don’t want you to be… Sad.” It was appreciated by him that they were being so kind to him.

“I’m sorry.” He had to answer them all. These girls deserved that much from him. “It’s too hard to not think about Himawari. I really messed up with her.” There was a lot of regret on how he was handling this affair. All this time, he was hesitant because he cared about all of them and didn’t want hurt or disrespect their feelings. Yet that was precisely what he did to her, because he tried to protect Yuma’s heart.

Should he have rejected that girl? There were already multiple ones after his heart who confessed much earlier. They should’ve been rewarded for putting themselves out there. And all he did was just accept another like it was nothing. “I’m really pathetic, aren’t I?”

“It’s just what you’ll have to deal with eventually.” Waa explained to him the harsh reality of choosing one out of a harem. Hearts were going to be broken regardless of his actions. “If it makes you feel better, I won’t have any hard feelings if you did reject me.”

“That nice to hear.” He looked at the other two. Something told him that likely wasn’t the case for them.

“But I doubt you will.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Well, I am just mere centimeters from your crotch.” She turned her head to point over just how close she was from his little friend. In response, he picked up her head and stood back up. “It’s always nice to tease you a bit.”

“Can’t you take things a little more seriously?” He retorted, feeling a little embarrassed because there were witnesses.

“You can’t just shut yourself in just because something bad happened.” Teru grabbed him by the shoulders. They might not have been presenting themselves to be hurt by this, but it was only a mask. “We’re all feeling it, so there’s no point in going it alone.”

“She’s… Right.” Yuma brought attention to herself. “I would like to… Do something with you… Because we haven’t… yet.” Kouji’s jaw dropped a bit when he came to the realization. When he gave them the news, she had yet to have any fun with him in a romantic sense.

“I’m so sorry.” He apologized. The boy had been neglecting the wonderful girls around him for far too long. These three were still holding out for him, and it wasn’t fair if they had to suffer because of it. “You’re right. I gotta get a grip on myself.”

“That’s the spirit.” Waa was glad this issue seemed to be solved. Though all of them had the lingering worry that this was caused by obligation than his mood turning around. “For a second, I thought you were going to be like me when I’m catching up on some anime.” Except in his case, being a shut-in was just miserable.

“Actually, I have an idea.” With the weekend coming up, Kouji told them that they should all enjoy a day trip out about town to have some fun.

“In public?” Teru grew tense at the suggestion. How did this idea factor into any romance? Perhaps he was still holding back after all, but he disagreed with that assessment.

“Just because we’re out together doesn’t mean we can’t do any of that… Special stuff.” He was fine with something small, which would go unnoticed to the people around them. They would just appear to be a group of friends to unsuspecting strangers, and if they did find themselves alone… Well anything could happen there.

“It doesn’t matter… Wherever we go… I’ll come with you.” Yuma was fully on board with the plan. At this point, it was a little bit of desperation considering how long she had to wait for this moment.

“I’m the last person to care about what people will think.” Waa also affirmed her stance on joining in. “Of course, Teru I’m sure you’ll be way too conscious about taking the risk. So you can just sit this one out.”

“…” Teru stood there in silence. In her mind, she remember the time she shared with him on that train all alone. How he made her feel that squeeze in her when they kissed. The girl thought about how badly she wanted the soft feeling of his lips once more. “I’ll come too!” She declared out loud.

“Sheesh.” Waa responded by covering over her ears from how loud that was. “Don’t need to be so dramatic.”