Unfortunately, even though Ryouta and his girlfriends managed to absolutely frustrate the family group on the opposing team in each following round, it was their side that lost. The enemy won the first two rounds, then their side won the third round only for the opposing team to win the fourth. The other team was simply superior as a whole. Even if Ryouta and the others focused on capturing the flag rather than ruining the fun of the family group, they still would have lost since then nobody would have been there to lock down that group.

It was a lose-lose situation for them either way. The only reason they even managed to win the third round was because some kid managed to sneak by the enemy’s with the luck of gods on her side. The enemy made sure not to allow that same mistake to happen twice.

Yet, even though it was Ryouta’s side that lost overall, he considered himself the victor alongside his girlfriends. Why? Because they ruined the assholes’ day. Wasn’t that all that really mattered?

To the smug four who followed behind one another during the handshakes at the end where every member of each team shook one another’s hands – yes, that was all that mattered. The death glares that they received from the family as they shook hands in front of everybody made it even better.

The four lost the battle, but they won the war. Though, if one were to ask the rest of their team, the opposite would have been true.

Now, with the main event of the day over, the four lovers relaxed on a borrowed picnic sheet from a stall that was lending them to all who forgot to bring theirs. It wouldn’t be much longer before it was dark enough for the fireworks show to begin.

“It kinda loses its effect when we see fireworks back-to-back so soon,” Ryouta said to nobody in particular, lying back on the picnic sheet with Serra cuddled up to his side sound asleep. “I mean, even Serra doesn’t care enough that she’s fallen asleep. Though, to be fair, she’s been exhausted all day.” He figured that she must have been up late again training with Mister Smiles.

“I mean… it wasn’t that long ago when we saw fireworks at the amusement park, so I guess,” Cassandra said with a shrug. “There’s a reason why everybody tends to ignore fireworks the rest of the year. If they paid attention to every fireworks show there was, they wouldn’t be special anymore. We’re already basically burnt out and it’s only the second one we’ve seen this year.”

“May I suggest something to find more excitement in the display?” Alice asked.

“Go for it.”

“Thank you! Now, if you will – imagine that they are not simply fireworks, but explosions from artillery! Raining down upon us from above, there is an evil empire wishing to annihilate us using their long-ranged artillery!”

“That’s uh,” Ryouta said with  a pause, “uh… different from what I’d normally expect from you.”

“Hmm… you are right, my hero. Allow me to rephrase my previous idea. If you will, imagine that the explosions contain a potent sleeping gas that will be used to render all of us helpless. The evil empire wishes to place us all into an unconscious state before taking the men as prisoner-slaves and the women as – well, I am sure you can figure out where I am going with this!”

“You made normal fireworks more exciting again,” Cassandra said, “but only because I don’t want them to be anything like you said. If I have to choose between that or what we have, I’m choosing what we have.”

“It’s alright, Nell. You tried,” Ryouta said, giving Alice a pat on her head before realizing what he said. “I mean, Alice.”

Alice grinned and poked Ryouta’s nose. “I believe that is the first time you have gotten my name confused! My hero, who is this ‘Nell’ that you speak of? Are you seeing another woman behind our back?”

“Dang, you caught me. Yeah, I’ve been meaning to tell you, but there’s another woman,” Ryouta said, deciding to play along.

“Gasp!” Alice gasped after also saying the word itself. “My hero! To think that you are such a treacherous man! I will have to begin calling you ‘my villain’ instead!”

“I just couldn’t resist. Nell is too perfect. Being around her makes me feel things that I’ve never felt before.”

Alice brought out her on-demand tears as she wiped at her eyes. If Ryouta didn’t know any better, he would have actually felt bad. “To – to think that after all of our time together, you find some… some harlot who sets your loins ablaze! What happened to the hero I love and cherish? Where has he disappeared to?!”

“And I’m not even the only one. All of us – we’ve all been seeing Nell behind your back. I’m sorry that you had to find out this way, but… it’s about time you know the truth.”

Alice sniffled and cried as if she was trying her absolute best to make Ryouta actually feel bad. She was incredibly close to succeeding if that was her intention. “I… I see. If this ‘Nell’ has captured your attention so greatly, then there is only one thing that I can do. I… I must offer you my everything. I refuse to let another woman steal you from me! If you desire to collar my neck and walk me around like a dog in the dead of night, I will do whatever it takes!”

Given that Alice was now loudly bringing up some rather fetishistic play, it was time for Ryouta to ruin the fantasy before anybody overhearing the dramatic scene decided to complain. “Don’t you mean wheeling you around instead of walking you?”

Alice went from crying to looking dead in an instant. “My… my hero… I understand your intent, but was it truly necessary to kill the mood with such a question?”

“Sorry, was that—”

“But! I shall forgive you for a kiss.”

It became clear that Alice wasn’t actually upset about the reference to her legs. She simply wanted a kiss.

And a kiss was exactly what Ryouta would give her. Though, just as he was about to pull away from her, she grabbed onto his shirt and looked into his eyes to say, “Now, my hero, you must decide. Who is a better kisser? Me, or that ‘Nell’ harlot?”

“I don’t know, that’s a tough one. I might need a bigger test sample.”

Naturally, Alice gave Ryouta another kiss to help him with his “testing.” “How about now, my hero?”

“It’s still not big enough.”

“That’s what she said,” Cassandra interjected.

Both Ryouta and Alice looked at her.

“What? Serra’s asleep, so somebody had to say it,” Cassandra explained.

It was a perfectly valid explanation.

While the fireworks show was much more grand than the one they saw at the amusement park, given that it was a major holiday that stole all glory from Independence Day, it stil failed to really impress Ryouta, Cassandra, and Alice. Serra slept through the whole display was ease while the other three cuddled together on the top of the picnic sheet.

Serra was asleep on the picnic sheet and part of the cuddling… but she rolled off of it onto the grass next to them.

Did Serra’s lovers feel guilty when they took pictures of her sound asleep with her face in the grass? Yes. Did that stop them? No. They allowed her to sleep while treating the grass as a pillow. Meanwhile, they cuddled amongst themselves atop the picnic sheet.

“We’re horrible people,” Cassandra said.

“It’s fine, she’s asleep,” Ryouta replied.

“Is it really?”

“Even if it’s not fine, all you have to do is let her grope you later and she’ll forgive us.”

“Why don’t you let her grope you?”

“Because you’re more gropable.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Are – are you calling me fa—”

“No, I’m saying you have boobs and a nicer ass than me.”

“He has a point,” Alice joined in. “As women, we are naturally more gropable for the sole fact that we have more to grope. If my hero were to gain an obscene amount of weight, then that would be different, but he is not quite at that level nor do I believe he will be anytime soon.”

Given that Cassandra was the one lying down between Ryouta and Alice, and given the fact that they were talking about how gropable she was, they each had easy access to her body to grope her. Though, they did keep in mind that they were in public even if it was dark. Only her thighs were groped.

That was still enough to cause a vein in Cassandra’s forehead to pop as she grabbed onto their hands to take them off of her.

While Cassandra was busy trying to keep Ryouta’s and Alice’s greedy hands off of her thighs, an unexpected voice spoke up and said, “Hey.”

Looking up at who the voice belonged to… a certain brat from earlier in the day stood before them. He was the kid who played the role of traitor during the battle. Fortunately, he had no water gun on him this time, and he had nothing else to be concerned about as far as Ryouta could see.

What Ryouta could see, however, was the boy’s family in the background. They didn’t seem too happy about the boy’s choice to visit them.

“Hey?” Cassandra replied.

“You’re the one who sniped me, right?” the boy asked.

“Ye-yeah?”

“Oh. Cool. It was a really nice shot. I hope I get to fight you again next year!”

The boy’s bratty behavior disappeared. Instead, all he had to show them was a big, genuine smile before taking off back to his family. After the father rubbed the kid’s head upon his return, he looked at Ryouta… and nodded.

Ryouta nodded back – a mutual sign of respect.

After all, even if they were enemies earlier, this day was a day about unity. Something like a petty rivalry during a glorified water gun battle couldn’t be allowed to ruin such a thing.

The hatred between the two groups could wait until next year when they faced one another on the field with water guns in their hands once more. Until then, there was no harm in playing nice with one another.

“By the way, Cass Cass,” Ryouta said.

“Yeah?” Cassandra replied.

“That sniper of yours… couldn’t you have accidentally shot the kid’s eyes out or something?”

“It’s – it’s not like I was going to miss.”

“I mean, that was some pretty pressurized water. Aren’t you only supposed to take body shots with stuff like that?”

“The face is a part of the body.”

“Cass.”

“Wha-what?”

“Be more careful next time. No more shooting little kids between the eyes with highly pressurized water. Alright?”

“Hmph. Fine…”

Then they heard Serra cough and choke which suddenly brought an end to the reprimanding. Yet, when they looked at her, she seemed totally fine. She was even smiling and there was no more coughing nor choking coming from her as she faced the grass still.

“Do… do you think she just ate a bug?” Ryouta asked.

“We may have to let her grope all of us to make up for it now,” Alice said.

“I’m not letting her kiss me for twenty-four hours. Whatever she just swallowed will be gone by then,” Cassandra explained.

Finally, Ryouta decided to be an actually good boyfriend since he was the closest to Serra. He rolled her over and pulled her close so that she was back by his side. There was a bit of dirt that he had to carefully wipe off of her face, but Serra decided to grab onto his arm and cuddle with him in her sleep before he had a chance of cleaning her face off.

Then again, she looked really cute with a dirty face.

After the fireworks show was over, Alice held a curled-up Serra on her lap against her chest while Ryouta pushed the wheelchair. Cassandra led them to the vehicle that brought them to the ride that brought them there.

The ride home was uneventful. Alice managed to fall asleep by being seduced by Serra’s own sleepiness, leaving Ryouta and Cassandra to talk about various topics on the way home. Though, these topics were mostly mundane. What were they going to have for dinner throughout the upcoming week? Wasn’t it about time that they changed who was doing which chores so that none of them would get too tired of their tasks? Why did Cassandra not replace her entire wardrobe with sweaters yet?

Very important discussions, especially that last one.

Upon arriving at home, everybody got ready for bed, but Ryouta wasn’t quite tired enough to sleep yet.

“My hero! Are you planning on having a rendevouz with that harlot?!” Alice questioned, hands on her hips as she sat up in bed.

“No,” Ryouta answered. “Nell is tomorrow night. Tonight is a different woman.”

“Gasp! How scandalous! You truly are a lecherous fiend, my villain!”

Cassandra climbed into their bed with a yawn. “Yeah, yeah. Have fun cheating on us or whatever it is you’re going to do,” she said.

Serra was already tucked in and still asleep. They were too tired to change her clothes for her, though, so she got some dirt on the bed. Changing the sheets the next day once they were awake sounded better than cleaning her up while they were tired.

“I will,” Ryouta said. “Night. I’ll come join you in a few.”

“My villain, are you not forgetting something?” Alice asked.

Ryouta tilted his head as he was not sure what she was talking about, so Alice helped him notice the obvious by pointing at her lips.

“Right. I must be more tired than I feel,” Ryouta said before placing a kiss on both Alice’s and Cassandra’s lips. Serra got a kiss on the back of her head since her face was buried into her favorite pillow.

With his girlfriends taken care of, Ryouta shut the light off and left for the living room. The TV served as background noise with its lowered volume as Ryouta pulled his phone out to look at Fiscord. Unfortunately, what he was hoping to see wasn’t there.

Bonekraka – Viktor still hadn’t accepted the friend request that Ryouta sent him a few days ago out of the blue. The good news was that he was no longer blocked if the friend request showed up as pending rather than not showing up at all. The bad news was that he was being deliberately ignored.

Ryouta sighed and tucked his phone back into his pocket before staring at the TV without really paying any attention to it. All he could tell was that they were talking, again, about the efforts to clean up space debris. Whether the efforts were going well or not, he wasn’t willing to pay enough attention to figure that out. The efforts simply existed and that was all there was to them as far as he was concerned at the moment.

“Asshole,” Ryouta sighed under his breath. “I don’t even know why I want to be friends with you again. Maybe this is Stockholm syndrome.”

Deciding to focus on the positive relationships he had instead, he took his phone back out and remembered to send pictures from their day together to Azalabulia and Eva. Spencer also got a few. Though, while Azalabulia and Eva received stereotypical pictures of a group having fun at a festival, Spencer received a different set of pictures. The pictures that Spencer received, which Ryouta’s girlfriends didn’t even know about, featured Ryouta making some of the dumbest faces that he could in secret while surrounded by other people.

A couple of minutes later and Ryouta received similar pictures from Spencer. Whether he was walking down a street or surrounded by some family members Ryouta could recognize, Spencer made the worst possible face that he could make in each picture.

It was their tradition. Now that the day was over and everybody else was asleep, the two could partake in their secret tradition with one another.

The tradition of trying to make disgusting faces while surrounded by people without being noticed.

Ryouta was particularly proud of the picture he sneaked with the sleeping Serra. As for his favorite picture from Spencer, it had to be the one where Spencer made a scrunched-up face while keeping wide eyes as his little cousin sat on his lap, unknowing of the face being made behind her.

Now would be when he got to look at Viktor’s pictures. The tradition was started by him, after all. It all began with Viktor taking pictures of himself making stupid faces while his girlfriend was in the frame as well, never once knowing what Viktor was doing nor why he was taking so many pictures.

Ryouta and Spencer kept the tradition going without even having to think about it, but it still would have been nice if Viktor was involved again. “Your dumb face made the best expressions,” Ryouta sighed.

Next, Ryouta got a response from Azalabulia. It was a picture of her and her mom drinking together with a caption saying that her mom couldn’t wait to meet him. Then there was Eva. Apparently, Eva wasn’t feeling good and decided to head home from the family meeting earlier than planned. She admitted to him that she was actually fine and simply wanted to continue her hobby that she sent Ryouta several pictures of: disassembling an old radio.

Ryouta didn’t exactly understand the appeal, but he was happy that she was happy.

He even had a message from Aiko, though it was in their group chat with the others rather than in a private chat with him. It showed her out with some friends, both men and women included. “I’m happy for you,” Ryouta said out loud.

Now, only one other person was left to be checked on.

And it wouldn’t be long before Ryouta was in the same space as her.

“Really?” Ryouta asked. “Fireworks for the third time so soon?”

Floating in the abyss, Saya floated next to Ryouta as fireworks erupted above them.

“It’s not fair if you’re the only one who gets to see them live, onii-wan,” Saya explained. “And seriously? A tsundere yandere little sister puppy? Did you really think that I was going to do that for you?”

“A man can dream,” Ryouta said.

“Being delusional isn’t the same as dreaming.”

“What are you, a dream expert?”

“No, I’m somebody who has enough self-respect to never give you that level of fanservice, at least not without…”

“Without what?”

The fireworks ended and the abyss turned into a girl’s bedroom straight out of a romantic high school anime. “Without petting my head first,” Saya answered, sitting herself right between Ryouta’s legs at the edge of the bed.

“I’d do this for free, but I accept your offer.” And so began the petting session. Ryouta gently rubbed the top of Saya’s head between her canid ears while his other hand rested against her belly.

“So… onii-wan… did you have fun?”

“I did.”

“I… I kinda wish I could go outside and join all of you in having fun and stuff.”

“Is there a way to let you have full control over Fenrir or something in-game?”

Saya shook her head, almost disrupting Ryouta’s petting hand. “It’s not allowed. Only a real AI like Kadi could dream of doing something like that. After all, I’m not actually an AI. I can’t exist without being connected to your brain. I’m only a part of you.”

“Hey, did something happen to bring this up? You’ve never felt this way before, so—”

“What could possibly happen? The reason why I’m sad is because nothing ever happens. It’s impossible for something to happen. The only reason I even feel bad is because you feel bad about Viktor. Your negative feelings cause me to experience the exact same feelings. I miss him, too, but… feeling like this has made me think of other things I don’t really like to think about. But no matter what I’m sad about, I can only be sad if you’re sad. Living vicariously through you is my only option.”

“Sorry. Me being upset about not getting to see his stupid faces this year has made you feel this way.”

“Don’t, onii-wan. It’s not your fault. It’s okay to feel sad about things, and that goes for both of us.”

“You’re being awfully mature right now.”

“Keep petting my head, onii-wan, or else.” Saya pulled knife out from her sweater and pointed it up at his neck. “It’s not like I want to kill you or anything, but I will if you don’t keep petting me.”

“Is this – is this the legendary tsundere yandere little sister puppy?!”

“Hmph. I don’t know what you’re talking about, onii-wan,” Saya said while waving her knife around, the tip constantly pointed at Ryouta’s neck no matter where she held it.

“You’re too great, Saya.”

“I’m only doing this to be selfish. Don’t forget that I want what you want, and if something makes you happy, it makes me happy. Now we both feel better.”

“So, you did that to cheer us up?”

“It’s not like that was the goal or anything…”

“Then what was the goal?”

“Hoping that my hand slipped so I could kill you and call it an accident.”

“I don’t think that’s yandere. That’s just being a psychopath.”

“It still got a reaction out of you that any normal person shouldn’t have had.” Saya was sitting between his legs, after all. If her words caused a certain part of him to react, she was going to know about it just by sitting up against his crotch. “Masochistic hentai baka onii-wan. I’m gonna kill you.”

“Listen, it’s only hot because I know you’re not actually going to kill me. Even if you were a serious yandere who wanted to kill me, all I’d have to do is keep petting your head until you forgive me, right?”

“Do you really think that it’s that easy, onii-wan?”

“Yes.”

“Well, you’re right, so pet my head.”

“Right away.”

The petting continued. While Saya might have gotten a more primal reaction out of Ryouta with her yandere act, there was nothing sexual about their interaction afterward. They simply relaxed with one another. Ryouta continued to pet her head and Saya gave him the occasional tsundere or yandere fanservice alongside the usual little pseudo-sister and puppy acts. It relaxed Ryouta to do this which relaxed Saya, and it made Saya feel better which made Ryouta feel better. It was essentially a feedback loop of relaxation. It had its limit, of course, but neither could deny that they felt immensely better simply by spending close time with one another.

“This is kind of like… masturbation therapy,” Ryouta said.

“Did you really have to call it something so weird, onii-wan?” Saya asked with an annoyed groan.

“Well, am I wrong? Like you said, you’re part of me. We’re essentially two sides of the same coin. Masturbating is when you – well, I don’t need to describe masturbation to you. So, this is masturbatory therapy. I’m making myself feel better. You’re making yourself feel better. Feeling better makes the other feel better, and the other is part of who we are. Sorry, Saya, but we’re masturbating our feelings right now.”

“You are so lucky there are fail-safes installed to make sure that I don’t fry your brain or anything. Maybe there’s some way to make your subconscious think that sticking a fork into a power outlet is a good idea…”

“I’d rather you not screw around with my subconscious, please.”

“And I’d rather you not ruin our moment together by saying we’re ‘masturbating our feelings.’ God, seriously? Seriously, onii-wan? Next time you want to say something that stupid, please ask me for some crazy request instead. I would rather turn you into a tentacle monster and dress myself like a schoolgirl than ever hear you say something like that again.”

“Well, I’ve still got some energy left in me, so about those tenta—”

“No. I wasn’t being serious. I’m not now, nor ever, turning you into a tentacle monster.”

“You didn’t say you wouldn’t dress yourself like a schoolgirl.”

“I don’t need to. Dressing like a schoolgirl would mean changing out of this sweater, and we both know that you’re not going to let that happen.”

“You’ve got me there, Pupaya. It would go against my religion to have you change out of your sweater.”

“Speaking of sweaters, I bookmarked some that are on sale right now for you.”

“When?”

“Just now. Don’t forget that I can watch videos, read books, browse the internet, and talk to you all at the same time without any real effort.”

“Right. So… a sale on sweaters?”

“Yeah, the really nice kind, too. They look super soft and cuddly. Here, this is the kind I’m talking about.”

Just like that, the sweater that Saya was wearing transformed into an entirely different style of sweater – an Aran sweater. Ryouta could not help but to immediately wrap his arms around Saya to experience the soft, fluffy warmth for himself. If he wasn’t relaxed before, he was relaxed now. “I… I have to buy one of these for all of them, and myself. We can all cuddle together on bed while wearing these sweaters.”

“Do you want to be surrounded by girls in sweaters, onii-wan?”

“I do, I really do.”

Saya snapped her fingers. The next thing that Ryouta knew, the aunt version of Saya appeared behind him to wrap her arms around him, pressing her chest up against his back. At the same time, two slightly-younger-but-still-legal versions of Saya appeared at each side of him, cuddling up against his sides. The original Saya remained where she was sitting between his legs, of course. “How’s this?” she asked.

“Saya… I’ll have to give you all the pettings in the world. There is nothing that could make this better than it is right now.”

“I would disprove that right now, but I’m already spoiling you enough. Be happy with what you’ve got.”

“I am. I really am. You’re the best, Pupaya.”

“I know, so keep on telling me that. Also, you can pet any of our heads. I’ll feel it no matter what, so pet away.”

Ryouta really was in heaven.

But there was something more important that he had to do aside from petting their fluffy hair.

“Saya,” Ryouta said, “thanks for making me feel better. I know that you’re upset by what we talked about – the whole vicariously living through me thing, but… who knows? Maybe there’ll be a way for you to experience the world someday. Maybe you’ll get an upgrade to a true AI now that Kadi is around. So, don’t give up hope. If you won’t try to not give up hope, then I’ll hold onto it enough for the both of us. Deal?”

Saya turned around as her other forms vanished into thin air. Grabbing Ryouta by his cheeks, she brought her lips closer and closer to his… until she leaned up a bit more to place a kiss right on his forehead. “Thank you, on—… Ryouta.”

“Say my name again.”

“No, it gave you a weird reaction.”

“Please?”

Saya narrowed her eyes at him and sighed. “Ryouta. Happy?”

“I am. Thank you. So… how many versions of yourself can you have at once?”

“I’m all you get now, you perverted onii-wan.”

“Worth a try.”

Ace_Arriande

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