Chapter 25 – The Next Week

Wednesday Morning, May 3rd, 2056 - Silverscale Manor

I wake from a pleasant dream where I am sleeping on a mountain of marshmallows...only to find that I am indeed sleeping on two such mountains.

Samantha runs her fingers through my hair lightly and I raise my face from the valley of her breasts to see her smiling gently down on me. 

Gone is the fear in my heart at such a wonderful woman. Now, all I can see is her motherly smile and not even the myriad of glowing yellow eyes on all of her limbs and tentacles bother me. 

Unlike the previous morning, I am nowhere near as sore. I can even admit that I had quite a bit of fun last night. The extra food really helped me with my stamina and regeneration. Taking 15-minute breaks to sample from her nourishing tits also did wonders for me. 

'That is a weird-ass sentence to think...'

Anyway, we cuddle for the next few minutes as I enjoy her naked body's warmth, and she massages my body all over with her pseudopods. 

"Hey, Sammy?" I ask her, breaking the serene silence of the room.

"Hmm?" She answers softly, her eyes closed as she relaxes with me.

"How do you say 'I love you' in your language?" I finish my thought.

Her head snaps to mine as she stares at me for a long moment in confusion, her golden eyes smoldering like the sun. 

"There is not a word for "love" in my language. My kind are typically unable to feel love." She admits quietly. 

"But you love me?" I clarify. 

"I..." She hesitates, something I have never seen her do before. Her face scrunches adorably in concentration as she thinks of how to respond. 

I don't rush her. She has told me she loves me several times, but now I am basically calling her out on it. 

Despite this seeming like a cruel thing to do, I think now is a good time to have this conversation. After all that we have done and all that we are planning on doing, I want us to show our full hands moving forward.

"I...think I do..." She starts slowly, "I have never felt the way I do for you towards any other being before, and I have lived for a very, very long time. I am inclined to say that I am obsessed with you...but acting through this avatar has given me a wider breadth of emotions than I am used to...What I feel towards you is quite foreign to me. Would it be enough to say that, as you see me currently, I do love you?" She asks, her expression vulnerable - again a first for her. 

I lift my body up and kiss her full lips. "Of course. I won't push you on this, I just wanted to know what you were thinking. It is hard to read you most of the time."

She reciprocates the kiss and nods at my response. "To answer your question...the closest translation would be 'Y' love ymg,' using "love" in Japanese because there is no word for it in R'lyehian."

"Can you repeat that, again?" I ask, ruminating on the odd pronunciation. 

She blushes. 

She honest to God blushes, her cheeks turning slightly purple instead of red. It is such a break in her usual confident personality, that I find myself smiling widely at its cuteness. 

'The Gap Moe is strong in this one.'

"Y' love ymg." She mumbles, not making eye contact with me.

"Again," I command.

She gives me the side-eye with a hint of annoyance as well as blushing even further. "I am not a parrot, Zeneff."

I laugh and hug her close, giving her another kiss. "Sorry, sorry, you are just so cute right now."

"Hmph." She huffs, turning her head again, but I can see the slight smile on the corners of her lips. 

"Hey, Sammy?"

"What is it? I am not saying it again, dammit." She snaps, looking back at me once more.

"Y' love ymg." I say with almost perfect pronunciation. 

Her yellow eyes nearly burst from her face as they widen. In fact, all of her eyes widen to the extreme. Her skin trembles and I feel the muscles beneath them spasming. 

"Ymg' ahnythor nafl mgep mgep'ai cahf..." She says, her voice now several octaves in one. 

(Translation: You should not have said that...)

"Sorry Zeneff, but I can't hold myself back now. It looks like I will be taking a bit extra from you today. I will need to apologize to the others later for monopolizing you."

"Huh?" I ask, cocking my head to the side, a feeling of dread washing over me.

In the next instant, I am wrapped up in black tentacles, securing me and pressing me up against her body. All my limbs are locked to my sides and I am unable to move even an inch. 

I am surrounded by darkness as her body envelops mine, helpless to resist or even voice a complaint as two diamond-hard nipples force their way into my mouth and start secreting milk. 

I can't even scream out in protest as my words are lost in my throat when the flesh cocooning me starts gently caressing my body, hitting every single one of my erogenous zones all at once. 

Male erogenous zones are less sensitive, but they still do exist. Having all of them hit simultaneously is an earth-shattering experience.

My dick answers the call and is rock hard instantly as my body shudders in ecstasy. A feeling of warmth wraps around my member as she somehow slides me inside her in this position, and another tentacle comes in from behind as an intense sucking sensation is suddenly directly on my prostate.

"Keep drinking so that you don't die. Tekeli-li!" 

Those were the last words I heard as my mind drifts off into a hazy whiteness.

* | * | *

Thursday, May 4th, 2056 - Himitsu Academy

"Silverscale-kun, you look absolutely terrible! A disease did this to you? I have never heard of such a condition before...You look like your very soul was sucked from your body!" The principle of Himitsu Academy, Yamada Masa, says in concern. "Very well, I suppose it makes sense that you will need to take a break from school for a while."

Yamada Masa was a portly man of middling height with a bad toupee and a sweaty, nervous air about him. 

"But why do you all need to drop out as well?" He asks the women surrounding me.

"Private family matters," Sophia answers first.

"Taking care of Zeneff," Diana responds next.

"We are moving." Hagiwara offers.

"My brother died, came back to life as a girl, and is a boy again now. I am suffering from an existential crisis," Suki says with a casual smile.

"Ah...Okay, well I hope that you all will continue your education in the future. Modern Japan is not a place most can survive without a decent education, after all." Masa-Sensei says meaningfully to us all. 

"Fo Sho," I answer and offer him one last wave before we leave his office. 

We shuffle out into the hallway, Hagiwara and Diana supporting me from either side. 

"That went well," I say with a tired sigh.

"Can we go home now? I don't want to come back to this place if we don't need to." Suki whines from behind me. 

"The next time I am in a school, it will be to drop off my children..." Hagi gushes with stars in her eyes.

This sets the girls off to chatting and giggling about the future as I hobble along down the hallway. 

We head towards our classroom and I pop in to give my goodbyes. Luckily, it appears Takasone is absent today. 

The girls are unhappy by my departure and wish me well, but the guys are thrilled and don't even try to hide it. From the way my girls are glaring at a few of them, I determine it is imperative that we leave as soon as possible.  

One noticeable exception is Asuda-san, the chunni with 2 Old Gods inside him and one Cosmic Entity looking over him. He looks crestfallen that his newest friend, one that he hasn't even had the chance to hang out with yet, is leaving. I promise him that we can meet up this weekend if (When) I am feeling better. 

Having a normal relationship with another guy will be good for me. Shooting the shit with him and playing video games sounded like heaven right now. 

I also take a second to ask Hakari-sama, the Cosmic Entity looking over Asuda-san, if she had a moment to talk in the hallway. 

She leaves with me and giggles at my struggling gate. I am certainly walking funny today, so I can't even be upset.

When we are out in the hallway, I set up privacy formations and spells as I explain our plans and the possible future I was told. She does not look happy about it at all. Apparently, she was not in the loop with the other watchers ever since she started living here.

I then invite her and Asuda to our new city once it is made.

'Having her on my side in the future is nothing but a boon. Offering her a place she can watch over Asuda in peace will, hopefully, ingratiate her to myself and my family. Even if she declines, showing her respect as we leave could never be a bad thing.'

Surprisingly, she accepts my offer immediately. Her only gripe is that she will have to move things along with Asuda faster than she intended to. 

She also asks that I prepare a home for her and Asuda in our new city, something I agree to readily. 

'Poor kid. He doesn't realize that she is his future wife yet. I doubt he will even be given a choice in the matter, though he seems to like her fine...Oh well. Not my problem.'

With the tentative alliance made, my group makes its way home.

On the way, I call Johnny Boy, the man handling the transfer and laundering of my money, and tell him that the plan has changed. I have him transfer my funds into a Swiss bank account so that it will be readily available to my family as we need it.

My wealth is ridiculous, and it easily dwarfs that of all the women who have joined my harem thus far. I only kept the clean money I had, and that still amounted to more than 5 trillion yen (~44 Billion USD). I changed my mind, with the encouragement of my wives, and decided to keep my dirty money. I had the money cleaned through one of Sophia's connections and it amounted to well over 10 times my initial funds. Sure, the money isn't 100% clean yet, but I doubt the government can get anything on me or the money before the world goes to shit. 

I also ask Johnny Boy to get in contact with as many talented individuals in his field as he can. I have a big job and will need a solid team for it to succeed. The promise of a safe haven for him and his own family is enough to get him to agree easily enough. That or the several million USD I gave him as a down payment. 

That done, I ring up Tiamat and High Priest Xerith to explain the situation as well. She doesn't need to do much, as most of her wealth is already in massive piles of gold beneath her mansion, but she appreciates the heads up and agrees on moving to my new city with us.

She then blindsides me by transferring nearly all of her liquid cash to my account, triple what I currently had on hand. She says she will connect with Diana and plan out what her new mansion, temple, and compound will need, as well as promising to use all of her connections to bring in as many different professions and people into our fold as possible. 

She has grown accustomed to the modern era and, calamity or not, doesn't want to give up her easy lifestyle. Being able to dump the responsibility on me and my harem was also very appealing to her, apparently. I am not at all opposed to this, and the extra money will certainly be helpful. 

Too bad I gotta spend it all almost immediately. The number of bribes and payments, as well as the land and personnel acquisitions, were going to be astronomical in cost. It was almost certain to make us broke by the end of it all.

'...That is, if the portals actually appear at all. Otherwise, we were gonna look pretty stupid...'

I sigh at such thoughts as we drive home in our silver and black limo.

There is still so, SO much to do and plan, too much for me to even fathom, but with the help of my family, we were starting off on the right foot.  

As soon as we arrive home, I barricade myself in my room. 

For the first time since I made it to this world, I spend the night alone and in peace.

* | * | *

Friday, May 5th, 2056 - Silverscale Manor

I wake with an unhappy frown on my face. 

I reach for one of my wives but find none of them around me. 

It was a strange feeling. I was so happy to get some peace and quiet the night before, but waking up without the warmth of another near me was upsetting. 

'When did I get so used to this? Why am I so pissed off? Isn't this exactly what I wanted?...'

Those thoughts make me frown even deeper.

I am not sure when it happened, but these women who forced themselves on me - or so I originally thought - had grown on me to such an extent that waking up without even one of them around me was enough to sour my mood. 

This thought lead me to pick up my phone and search the internet. 

'I am gonna need a bigger bed...'

* | * | *

9 Zeneffs greet my 9 wives at the breakfast table.

They stare at us in confusion and a bit of unease...except for Suki and Ria who are eagerly whispering about Zeneff gang bang fantasies...

"Hi." We all say in unison with giant grins.

"That is...unsettling. What's the occasion?" Azuza asks from her seat next to Samantha. 

I step forward to explain...which leads to all 9 of me doing the same...

I talked about this before, but they are all still me. Like partitions on a hard drive, they are all parts of the whole, meaning we are capable of both being in sync and acting independently as necessary. 

We, Me, all look at each other and nod to the left-most me to give an explanation for our split. 

"I have not been able to offer you all a date day like I originally wanted to on Saturdays. We have been so busy this past week, I thought we could use a break and spend the next two days having individual time with each other. We will need to cut it a bit short tonight so that we can spend time with family, but we have all day tomorrow as well. Specifically, I want to get you all both engagement and wedding rings today, or at least start the looking process today." Left me says with a gentle, and a bit guilty, smile.

"We already picked out our rings as well as yours," Hagiwara answers with a smile of her own.

Nine of me blink.

"What?" We all ask in unison. This causes the girls to break out into giggles. 

"We knew you were busy, Onii-chan, so we started looking on our own. I believe most of us have our rings picked out already, but Azuza and Ria are still picking theirs. As for your ring..." Diana explains, then trails off looking over to Sophia.

My demoness wife clears her throat and pulls out several sheets of paper from...no where...and lays them out before all of me on the table.

I raise my eyebrows as I move to grab the paper. All 9 of me. 

Sighing, I wave and my clones form back into me. It is actually much harder to do this when we are all together than it will be when we are apart.  

'When did Sophia learn dimensional storage? That is pretty high-tier magic...This just proves that me spending time with each of them individually is a good idea. I need to learn more about the women I have agreed to spend forever with...Fuck. I feel like everything is so backwards...'

I look over the paper I was presented to see three different hand-drawn designs for rings. The first is a simple band with 9 different gems embedded in a circular pattern on the head. The image of an eastern dragon is etched in the center of the band. The second is a series of 9 smaller rings that interlock into one complete ring, a silver dragon acting as a clasp to hold the 9 together. The last one looks like an old letter ring from college. The band is gold and the head, or crown, is a large black diamond and has a coiled dragon made of regular diamonds embedded at the bottom and 9 diamonds above it, like stars in the sky.

"Wow...These are all amazing." I say, looking up at Sophia with a smile.

She blushes and points to the first one. "I made them all for you to pick from, but the first one is what most of us like."

I pull my blushing Succubus into a hug and kiss her lightly. "I love it. Let's go with that then." 

"Great! I will have it made shortly. I figured it could work as both an engagement ring and a wedding ring in one. Having 18 different ones would be a bit much to expect you to wear at all times." She says with a giggle. 

"I appreciate it. I wouldn't even be able to lift my hands otherwise..." I say with an awkward laugh. "What about your rings?"

"We can show you the designs we chose during our dates," Suki says with a bright, excited smile.

Aki then comes up to me and pulls on my arm slightly. 

I incline my head to her in question. 

"Master, I want to go to Disneyland. I've never gotten to go." She says adorably.

"Then it looks like you will be going shortly!" I announce and lean down to give her a kiss. "We can go tomorrow if you like as well. For the next 2 days, I am yours completely." I say to her, then smile out at the other women. 

My smile falters somewhat as I see the different looks on their faces. All of them worrying to some degree or another. 

"I want to hunt down The Shadow Council," Hagi says with a savage grin. 

"I want to spend the day flying and mating with you in our dragon forms!" Diana squeals in delight.

"I want to show you the dungeon I made for us," Suki says with sparkling eyes and a twisted smile. 

 "...Can we have another normal date like last time? That sounds nice to me...I-I need to practice my seduction skills..." Sophia says, blushing at her totally innocent request. Horrible succubus, indeed. 

"I want to have a Trentino marathon! We can make it a drinking game each time someone explodes into blood and guts!" Ares says with a boisterous laugh, her elegant features betrayed by her words.

"I want to spend the day in the pool with you. Maybe we can go get a couples massage after?" Hime says while cocking her head to the side in thought.

"I want to give you a tour of the Onsen Village I bought! Then...tomorrow, we can go meet my parents." Ria says excitedly, followed by a sigh. 

'Does she not have a good relationship with her family?'

I had not heard anything about that, but, then again, I have only known her for a couple of days...

"I...I will pass on today and tomorrow. I have taken enough from you as it is, Zeneff." Samantha says, looking uncharacteristically bashful. 

"Denied," I say quickly. She looks up at me in question and I can see that she is feeling guilty for the last day we spent together.

"This is our time. Time for each of us to grow as individual couples. Time for us to get to know each other better, just the two of us. This whole thing is so out of the usual order and fucked up, but I want to put in the effort if you'll let me. I want to do this right. I want to know everything about each one of you, not just that you are sexy and that you love me. I said it before, but I don't want dolls or pretty trophy wives, I want real feelings and real love. I want the same for all of us, both together and individually. So, no, Sammy. You will never take enough time from me, no time with you is wasted or too much." I answer her with resolve as I pass my gaze over the rest of my wives to get my point across. 

I have seen enough relationships fall apart around me to know one thing as fact: Love is work. The second you stop working is the second you start falling out of love.

People get comfortable with one another and stop trying. This is why relationships fail so often, at least in my opinion. Boredom leads them to look elsewhere and eventually it all falls apart. I will never forget the words of my 70-year-old neighbor in my past life. I asked him once how he and his wife had been together for over 50 years. 

"The secret to making it work is to never stop dating. Never stop trying. Find new reasons to fall in love and never get comfortable. If you are with the right woman, the effort you put in will always be reciprocated."

I remember the way his wife would always light up and smile when she was around him...The little gestures they would share to show how much they loved one another. 

'That is what I want. These girls will, probably, never fall out of love with me given their natures, but that didn't mean I could grow complacent. I needed to build the habits now at the start to make sure things worked out in the long run. I don't want my children to be born into a broken household...like I was.'

With that thought in mind, I vow to myself to learn as much about my wives as I could and to always try and make them laugh or smile.