"What?" He was stunned to hear her declaration. It was unbelievable. "Honestly, you don't have to pretend to make your parents happy." So much so, that Kouji thought she was lying to him about her true feelings. But there was nothing false about the way she felt.
"No… You misunderstand." Again, she clarified to him her stance. "The truth is… I'm in love with you." Yuma made very clear on what she meant. There was nothing he could say to act as if this were some act on her end. "I've felt this way... a long time now."
"Well gee." He didn't know how to respond. Funny, since he had been confessed to multiple times now. Probably because this was the first time the girl telling him this was in the nude while doing so. "I never knew."
He felt like an idiot for not noticing until being told. That's how it was with all the girls so far, but in this case. Who could blame him? There was not a single person on this planet that knew what was going on in that girl's mind. Especially considering how few emotions she ever showed.
"So… My parents don't matter." She continued on. "I know how happy I'd be… If you could say the same."
"Yuma…" Kouji was knocked near speechless at this. Because he knew how accepting her was downright impossible. "I… I already…" He couldn't keep the harem a secret anymore, nor was it a secret in the first place.
"I already know… About everyone." His eyes widened in response to her revealing her knowledge. "The hotel… I hope you had sweet dreams." Yuma had known the entire time. It was a little upsetting to know how worthless his hard work had been with the trio.
"If you already know, then why would you even bother now?" He asked. "How can you just accept what I've been doing?"
"I don't care." She replied in a simple manner. "I wish for... just a chance."
"Please, don't do this to yourself." Kouji knelt down to her. "I care about you too. So I don't want you to put yourself in something like this."
"Don't worry." She put her hand over his head. The water droplets from her bath sprinkled over his hair, causing it to become a bit damp. "You said… You want a boy who loves me." So she had heard him talking in the bathroom earlier. "I know that the boy I want to love me… Is you."
Gently, Yuma slid her hand down to the back of his head. She pulled him into her face and took a kiss from Kouji. The girl made little effort to bring him close to her. It seemed that even he himself wanted this to happen.
Kouji returned her passion as they kissed. Her lips were soft like clouds, slightly wet from the steam of the hot water from the bathtub. There he was, making out with a naked girl taking a bubble bath like it was normal.
Just as quick as they began. The two separated from one another, looking in the other's eyes. Staring at those empty eyes of hers, appearing to be devoid of emotion. Kouji now knew for a fact that the one who kissed him that night in the hotel room was Yuma. This whole time he assumed it was Himawari. Never once did he consider anyone else until now.
"We…" Yuma was the first to break this silence. A very rare and tender moment indeed. "...Should tell them everything."
***
And so Kouji mentally prepared himself to talk with Yuma's parents. There was plenty of time for him to do so, since he had to wait for the girl to get dressed after that bath. The entire time, he could feel his cheeks flushed with a burning fire. That was the first time he had never kissed a girl while she wasn't wearing any clothes. At this rate, he knew that a major relational milestone would arrive. Though that was definitely a long way down the road.
"…I'm ready." Yuma came out of the bathroom fully clothes down. Her hair was still damp from the inability to use her hair dryer. There were just something a little more important than getting dry. Together, they walked down the hall to meet with her parents. While making their way there, Kouji felt the girl grab his hand. She wanted to hold him for these moments as they headed towards their destination.
He didn't let go.
"Ooh yay!" They walked into the room, which garnered a positive reaction from Yuma's mom. "So you decided to say yes?"
"I have to be honest with the both of you." He quickly replied to keep them from getting their hopes too high. "The truth is… I already have some girls interested in me… And I'm kind of still figuring it out."
"I see…" Yuma's dad responded. From the look of the two ,they definitely seemed disappointed. Yet at the same time, Kouji kind of expected them to have more of a reaction than this. "We kind of already knew that."
"You did?" Oh come on, how many people already knew about this!? "H-how?"
"Well it's kind of expected when you're surrounded by so many lovely ladies." To them, their self-explanation made sense. He's a good looking guy, there were a lot of beautiful girls in the school. Kouji spent a lot of time with all of them, so something was bound to come up.
"Not that it matters to us." Etsuki followed up her husband. "The two of us are more than confident that you'll end up with our little girl." What did Kouji get himself into? It was already bad enough to deal with the three girls as it was. Now he apparently added another one, and brought along her parents for the ride.
Wait a second, the other three. He covered his face with a palm as he remembered them and how he was going to have to explain this to them. Something told him that at least one of them was going to be very angry about this.
"But don't worry about us." Tsuguto said. "It's not like we'd get mad or something if you didn't pick her anyway." They say that, but Kouji could tell in his mind that there was going to be a lot of pressure coming his way from them.
"My masters." Barging right into this conversation was Shinkai, the head butler. "I know you've taken a lot of time to consider this, but I must say that I cannot allow you to do this. And…" He paused when he saw Yuma standing there, specifically where her hand was. "Oh no, am I too late?"
"Kind of." Tsuguto didn't seem to concerned about how disheveled his best servant was. "But if it makes you feel better, the boy hasn't truly decided yet." He laughed, to which Kouji wondered why he was acting so nonchalant about this. Was it because they didn't think this plan would work?
"Yeah, it turns out there's quite a few girls after him too." Kouji really didn't want Etsuki to tell the man that. Slowly, he turned his head around to see how the butler took the news. Not well, as he felt the glare returned to him. Nervously, Kouji just waved at him in fear for his life.
He was no longer looking forward to what the future was going to bring him.
"This really has been a day, hasn't it?" Kouji lamented to Yuma as they walked to her front door. It was time for him to leave, especially since his life wasn't guaranteed for much longer if he did stay.
"I think it was... A good thing." She replied. "I'm happy… To have told you the truth."
"Don't get me wrong. I'm glad that you did." He responded. The two stopped a second at the door, to say their good byes. "I'm worried about the others thought." It seemed that he had picked up another girl for the harem. That sounded like things were going to become more competitive. The worst that could potentially happen is that it really does damage his relationship with some of them. At this point, maybe they could take it as a major wrong done to them.
"We'll have to tell them... as soon as possible." Yuma told him. She paused, considering her supporting of Anastasia.
"You're right." He didn't think she had anything more to say. So Kouji especially interrupted her. "I'll call everyone and we'll meet tomorrow. Except for Anastasia, I assume you already knew I'm not doing anything with her."
"Would you… Consider her?" He thought about it for a moment, but knew that he'd just be inviting more troubles. But that didn't mean he wasn't aware of what she was about.
"No." He told her. "It's not important right now." The meeting was set, and this was one he definitely did not want to make. But it was too important to miss.