So that was that. Their secret was out to Chuuya who surprisingly took it better than Kichi expected. Of course, he had no way of knowing that his best friend already had his sneaking suspicions on his relationship with the twins. Not that he expected the boy to be in a double relationship. Just that he would’ve gotten one of them to notice him.

“Uh, could you just not tell anyone about this though?” Despite his bravado earlier, Kichi gained the fear of what may or may not be kept with this information. “Especially not our parents. My mom and dad would probably be disappointed in me if I was dating both of them at the same time.” It wouldn’t be the only part of him they’d be disappointed in considering the third person in his harem. But that was a conversation for hopefully never.

“I don’t think you needed to ask me that.” Unsurprisingly, there was no intention whatsoever from Chuuya that he would ever expose them. Even if he were to have a falling out with Kichi for any reason, he would take this secret to the grave.

“Oh wow.” Suddenly, a girl’s voice spoke up behind Kichi and the twins. It was Kougi, who had been wandering about the beach for a bit before returning to their umbrellas. What a surprise it was for her to see him boldly proclaim that both twins were his girlfriends.

She would never be mentioned by him as a part of this relationship as well. His actions proved that enough. Though it still did little to calm her down as she pretended to have leaved this fact for the first time. Despite being the first person to be aware of him dating the twins before he had even considered her as a romantic interest. “I can’t believe you managed to win two hearts at the same time.”

“Yeah… I never would’ve imagined that either.” He responded. The way she grabbed his shoulders to express this opinion was a bit tighter than he would’ve liked.

“I don’t know if I should be proud that you’re really growing up, or upset you’re trying to do both at the same time.” She continued on, really tightening that grasp of hers.

“I’m sure he’s doing his best.” Chuuya stuck up for him. “As long as they’re happy, I won’t get in the way. But we are in public right now, so maybe we shouldn’t be talking about it so openly?” It would defeat the purpose of what he told him about the whole thing being a secret. So he was willing to drop the conversation to not pick up in the future as there was nothing else he needed to talk about.

“I’ll agree to that.” Aoi hated discussing anything relating to their relationship. It always put her on edge that it might lead to changes. This was what had happened every time they talked about it in some formal kind of manner instead of acting normally like any couple would. That was probably why a lot of people avoided these kinds of relationships.

“Now, if any of you need me…” Chuuya already began to make his leave from the others. “Don’t because I’ll be doing my thing and I don’t want you ruining my vibe.” While Kichi understood the feeling. It was a bit disappointing to not be able to hang out with his friend more.

“I wonder what else we can do while we’re on the beach.” He said now that the boy was alone with the three other girls. “So Kougi, is there anything else you wanted to do?”

“Hmpf.” She turned her head up and away from him. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“What?” He was taken aback that she would be so cold to him all of a sudden. It didn’t take an expert to see she was upset with him. Even though the boy couldn’t tell what he had done to wrong her.

“It’s fair to let his best friend know about us.” Said Aoi, figuring out the root of the issue. “I’m sorry you got left out, but there’s no other way around it.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t mean he likes you any less.” Airi tried to assure her. Despite the conversation earlier about the twins calling him out for holding back when it came to his sister. “He’ll do something to make it up to you.”

“It doesn’t matter right now.” She brushed them off and began to make her own leave. “Just go enjoy the rest of your day. I’m going to wander around town for a little bit.”

“But-” He grabbed her arm, preventing the girl from leaving for a few moments.

“I just need some time alone.” She denied him anything more as she pulled away from his weak grip. “I need to think some things over.” It hurt him to see her walk away while he did nothing but watch. Kichi felt like he should follow, but that would only make things worse with the mood she was in.

“Man, I’m really good at mucking things up, aren’t I?” He sighed in disappointment.

“It’s just something we all have to deal with.” Aoi could empathize with how Kougi felt. She herself had been jealous to see Airi kiss him. So she could imagine that it hurt her feelings deeply to be left out when Kichi would admit the truth to his friend. In a sense, it was basically confirming all their suspicions that he had been treating his own sister differently. Sadly, it was more on the spectrum of poorly compared to the twins.

So the rest of their day went without much incident. While that may be a good thing as that meant nothing like with what had happened with Airi would repeat. It also made things be a bit underwhelming when it came to Kichi’s enjoyment. Today was supposed to be a nice day to get away from their busy lives and enjoy things to the fullest. Yet now he was feeling down because of how things went down with Kougi yet again.

“It’s getting kind of late now.” Aoi checked the time and knew they would need to be getting some dinner soon. “Thankfully Kougi left me with everything we need to check into our hotel rooms.”

“Phew, that’s good.” Airi breathed out heavily as her stomach growled loudly. “I’m starving. I hope there’s some good places to pick up some food.” Considering the costs on just getting here as well as the cost to stay at the hotel meant they wouldn’t be able to spend as much as they’d like for the meals. Not really a problem, but they wouldn’t be eating at any fine restaurants anytime soon.

“But what about Kougi?” He asked. If they were going to call it a day at the beach. Then surely she would want to join them for some dinner. It wouldn’t matter if she was upset or anything. That girl’s stomach always took precedent over any other feelings she had.

“She said she’d be meeting us at the hotel.” Aoi answered.

“Huh, when did she tell you that?” The last time he saw his sister. None of this was mentioned to anyone.

“We’ve been messaging each other?” She showed him his phone and looked at him like he was stupid for being ignorant of modern technology. “She really is mad at you after all.” That much was evident to them all. It was so much so that Kichi worried if she would do anything bad to him while they had some food.

“Don’t be too down about it.” Airi gave him a pat on the back. “She promises she won’t do anything crazy.” Apparently she had also been messaging that girl as well. So both the twins were closer to his sister than he was at the moment.

“It sounds like she really hates me if she’s confiding in both of you.” They continued to talk as the three gathered up all their things to head to the hotel. At least he was able to message Chuuya to meet them there.

“She doesn’t hate you. It’s just cause we get her better than you do.” Aoi responded. They were in a similar situation to her. So it was easy to support the girl when things got a little tough. “You might want to start getting used to it because you can bet we’ll be talking about our problems with each other.” While he wasn’t certain about how to feel on her admitting they were going to gossip behind his back. Kichi was also glad they were close enough to each other to lend aid rather than try to get into any potential quarrels.

“I’ll try.” He replied. “I just hope that when we see Kougi again. Things will be…” His voice trailed off as they reached the entrance to the hotel they would be staying at. Just as they were about to go through the doors, they just so happened to run into Kougi who was heading to the same destination.

“Oh, hi Kichi.” She spoke calmly. Meanwhile he was a nervous wreak just seeing her. It took everything in his power to not seem so disheveled.

“Hi Kougi…”