Arata laid on the couch, still recovering from his injury. It was nice of Erina to drop him off here, even though his room would've been a better option to go about it. Last time he checked, the boy's favorite things were in that room and not out in the living room.
"Ahh, it's kind of boring." The boy sighed as he flipped through some channels. It had been the next day since he left the hospital. Right now, everyone he knew were at school while he had gotten the day off to rest for his injuries. At this current pace, he'd be back in class by the end of the week. Arata thought to himself if he should try and make the trip back to his own bed. The only times he had gotten up so far had been for the bathroom.
While he could've easily just went to his room for the sake of convenience. The allure of resting on the family's nice couch was too much for him to resist.
There was a part of him that wanted to go in there. However, the only reason for this desire was for that special item he kept hidden under his bed. That being the body pillow of his favorite anime character, the one who bore a striking resemblance to Erina. When he saw the resemblance, it kept him from wanting to see it for weeks. Then the boy got over it one night when he really wanted something special.
There was no way he'd ask his mom to get it for him. Sure, the woman was already aware of it, even if his parents and sister did tease him over it. But the problem was that he was never going to cuddle up on it while out in the living room. That would be too embarrassing. Especially when he knew that at least one of his friends were going to be coming over soon. Despite not being able to go to school didn't mean he wasn't going to have homework during this short break.
Of course, whoever was going to bring it was likely also going to stick around at his place to help out on his homework. Even though he was a bright child, it's not as if he was knowledgeable on things he had never been taught. Given the girls he knew, said person was going to enjoy it a lot. Which would probably be Matsu seeing as she was the only one actually in his class.
Speaking of them, he heard the door ringing. Unfortunately, his mom had just gotten into the shower. Which meant the boy had to limp on over to answer the door. Arata opened the door, expecting to see one of the girls who were actual in his class.
So it was a surprise to the boy when he actually saw who it was that came to see him today. Or perhaps the more accurate way of describing the guest was plural, as pretty much all the girls he knew came over. The only people he knew that weren't here were Yogi, Akaki, and Misao.
"Oh wow, you're all-" He was unable to properly speak out his surprise before they were already directing him inside.
"I can't believe you're the one answering the door." Said Misei. She was the leading the charge. As expected coming out of the student president. "On that leg?"
"Yeah, let's take you to the couch." There was Matsu, already making tons of contact with him as she attempted to carry his body to her planned destination. Unsurprisingly, as someone who had a weak frame, she was barely able to budge him on her own.
"Geez, you're just useless." Yuriko commented as her better strength was able to single-handedly take care of putting him on the couch.
"Thanks for all the help, but I can take care of myself." He said. It was nice to have them here to take care of him, but the boy still had some level of pride for himself.
"It looks like your mom's busy in the bathroom." However, his words went ignored as Akiba noted his current situation. "I'll just stop by the kitchen and grab you some refreshments."
"You should grab some for all of us." Was Ichiri even here for him? "Don't worry Arata, I've come to your rescue in your time of need."
You really should be helping out Akiba with how many of us are here." Hifumi scolded the girl then headed inside the kitchen to aid the other girl so that everyone could have some refreshments while here. Even though he never said they could help themselves out to his family's supply. Then again, his mother definitely wasn't going to care since they were all cute girls interested in her son.
"And you're not the only one who came over." Yurime spoke up. Indeed, in just a few minutes, this had become a full house with all these people. Nine of them had come over, so with him being here that made for double digits. This meant the area felt a bit cramped, seeing as his parents moved in here with the intent of raising a family of four only.
"Are you all right?" Yuki sat down besides him and put a hand over his forehead to check the boy's temperature. "I was so worried when I heard the news."
"I'm fine now." He assured them, which was as a statement directed at everyone seeing as they had all come to his house unannounced. "But, you all didn't have to come." Of course, he was aware of some of their motives, but that still didn't explain a good number of them.
"Well, I wanted to be the one to bring you your homework." Erina spoke in a bitter tone as she laid the papers on the coffee table. She had been hoping for the chance to do their homework together now that she had finally figured out her feelings were directed towards this boy. With everyone surrounding them, that became a pipe dream.
"Sorry Arata." His mom had finished up her shower. She had heard the door bell, but was unable to do anything about it in her current state. "I hope it wasn't something too painful for you to answer…" Her voice trailed off as the woman saw the abundance of girls now in the house. A mischievous smile grew on her face as she turned around. "I see you're in good hands. I'll just be in my room if you need me." He sighed, this woman just had to be pleased with this sight, didn't she?"
"Well, I guess I really do have a harem." He muttered under his breath to himself. Actually, not all of them were here because they liked him more than just a friend, right? As far as he was aware, only some of these girls had confessed to him and that meant they obviously were in love with him. "So, why is everyone here?"
"Eh?" This ticked off Erina in a manner that caused her to lose a bit of composure. "Why, because we care about you, I'm sure of it."
"Y-yeah, you're just overthinking things." Yurime was also nervous in the same manner.
"But, I'm just going to be blunt about it. I'm pretty sure you all know some of you here… Have feelings for me. So if you don't, maybe give them a chance?" It seemed like a fair idea to him. While it was nice of those that were just his friends to come over in their worry. Since the feelings of others were known to them, maybe it would be better to take a step back in this case.
"Um, what if we did have feelings for you, but haven't said so?" Akiba asked as she brought him some tea.
"Well…" That certainly caught him off guard. How could the boy even begin to answer a question like that? "Surely you all don't like me like that, right?" Everyone fell silent after he asked the question. That could only mean one thing to him. "Do you all like me?"
As it would turn out for him, though it was known to most of the girls at this point. Every single one of the girls in his living room right now had feelings for the boy. Now his initial problem had increased multiple magnitudes with this news. The pain in his brain and heart was worse than even being hit by that truck now.
"Wow, I knew Arata was special, but I can't believe you all see the same things I do." Matsu was the only one dense enough to not notice most of their feelings outside of the ones she personally saw. "How am I going to compete against everyone?"
"Maybe you don't have to." It was Hifumi who saw things were getting out of control. If they didn't find a way through this, things were going to get messy. "Perhaps we could all learn to share."
"What are you talking about?" Misei saw the idea as foreign. How could any one boy possibly be dating more than one girl? Especially with as many as the nine of them. "That hardly seems appropriate."
"Personally, I'm fine with being just one part to his love." She replied. "Besides, I'm sure he's tired of reading all those manga that end with only one girl winning out while the rest of them have to live in sadness." It was so bad for him, that at one point the boy literally gave himself amnesia because his favorite girl lost.
"Even if you're not wrong." He reluctantly agreed. "How is this supposed to work out?"
"The details can be worked out as we get to them." Said Akiba, who was on board with the plan. In fact, after some hashing out, they all became good with the idea of sharing him. They were all still in high school and young. Dating someone wasn't a thing set in stone like marriage, where one could only be married to one person legally.
"I do really like all of you." He responded to their discussion positively. Even if this one was going to be the hardest on him. At least it would avoid what the boy had most been worried over, which was breaking anyone's hearts. "Then, let's give this a shot."
"Finally, I've been waiting to do this since forever." Upon hearing the news, Ichiri jumped right on Arata as he laid on the couch. She paid no mind to the fact that he had been recently injured and planted a kiss on his lips while hugging him in an embrace.
"I guess you've been waiting long enough." He allowed it since things had been delayed by him for a while now. That was when he noticed all of them begin to make their moves. " Hey, wait a second…" Arata spoke in a panic. "At least go one at a time." But they didn't listen as everyone went in on him.
And thus began the life of a boy with a harem.