On Saturday morning, Kouji got himself up much earlier than he'd normally would. Today was different since it was the day where he would be spending some quality time with his 'friends', i.e. harem. That word was still weird in his mind. Something like that seemed so mythical, foreign to the world he had grown up in. A concept that sounded like it came from a manga that Waa read.
He got himself dressed fairly proper. Not formal in any manner, but enough that the boy actually cared on if it would impress the girls around him. A button-up with rolled up sleeves and some slacks would hopefully make him seem charming.
"I'm glad to see you're feeling a lot better." A voice gave Kouji a fright as he jumped up and turned around. It was his uncle complementing him on the outfit. "I don't know what got you in a rough spot, but it's nice to see you're going out. Plus judging from that outfit of yours, I bet you've got your eye on a rather lovely lady."
"That's one way of putting it." From the way the man talked, it seemed that he hadn't suspected a thing about his relationships. Good since he was disappointed to learn of Isako's knowledge of them. For a while, he was getting a little worried on how well they actually hid this secret.
"I hope it's Teru." He told him. "She's a real nice gal and I certainly would love for her to be a daughter-in-law."
"Uncle!" Was all that time she spent talking with him just a way to try and curry favor? "Look, everyone's almost here. So if you could just make yourself scarce. That'd be nice."
"Don't worry about me." He began to make his retreat into the bedroom. "I wouldn't dream of embarrassing you in front of your crush." Somehow, Kouji wasn't worried about that. Probably because they also returned his feelings, and that would be the least dumb thing to happen to him with this group.
A repeat of yesterday, he heard a knocking on the door. Just like the day before, it was the trio of girls there to greet him. Unlike back then, they weren't wearing their school uniforms, but instead were dressed up for the day about town. Though only Yuma was wearing something very feminine with her sundress, while the other two had on some more casual jackets.
"You all look nice." He was still in awe of these beautiful girls, even after knowing them for as long as he had. The boy was also glad that he wasn't over dressed for this, since everyone cared about their appearance, even Waa.
"Well, I was feeling a little fancy today." Waa was the first one to speak back. Of course, while he might not have called it a date, this was treated as such by all of them. "Speaking of today, it looks like you forgot about it."
"Forgot about what?" He replied, revealing his ignorance. "What's so special about today?"
"Since you've been so down on yourself, we can't blame you for forgetting." From her pocket, Waa handed him a small box. Upon opening it, he found a piece of chocolate within. "Happy Valentine's day."
"Wow, thanks so much." He expressed his gratitude as he ate her morsel up. "Sorry about forgetting about a day like this."
"It's… Not a problem." Now it was Yuma's turn as she reached inside of her bag. The girl produced a much larger box filled with chocolates. All of them handcrafted by herself. He accepted it just the same, but of course he wasn't about to eat all of it. So the boy simply took one of the pieces to express his gratitude.
"I'll just put it away and save the rest for later." He paused before leaving, for there was one final girl. Everyone turned their attention towards Teru. She just stood there with both hands in her pockets.
"Let me guess, you forgot too." Waa made fun of her when she didn't appear to show off any chocolate.
"All right, here you go." Teru reluctantly took out a small box of store bought chocolates from her jacket pocket. Unlike the other two, this was clearly not made by her own hands."But it's only obligatory."
"Uh? Thanks?" Kouji was confused with her act. They all already knew about her feelings towards him. So why continue acting as a tsundere? Still he accepted it and took one of the pieces for himself.
What none of them knew was how much time this girl spent last night trying to make an edible piece of chocolate. Unfortunately, unless she wanted to poison him, nothing that was made would be acceptable.
"With that's out of the way, We should get going after I put all this stuff away." Kouji headed back inside to put his treats into the fridge. While the girls were waiting, they were ambushed by an unexpected guest.
"Hello, I am surprised to see all of you here." Anastasia sneaked up behind them. It gave them all, except Yuma, a little bit of a jolt. "And you look like you are about to go somewhere." She stated, puzzled about this sight.
"Well, we were just about to spend a little bit of time together." Waa nervously tried to come up with a reasonable excuse. Why was this girl here right now?
"Okay guys, are you ready to… Ahh!" Kouji made his return, where he was welcomed with an unwelcome sight. "A-Anastasia, I didn't think you'd be paying me a visit today."
"I was not expecting everyone else to be here either." She got a bit tense. Why were all of these girls here right now, dressed the way they were, which made it clear this wasn't a simple tutoring session.
"Can you just give us one second?" Teru quickly pulled the other two girls together with Kouji as they came up with a plan. "What are we going to do!?" She whispered out concern.
"Maybe we could just tell her to leave?" Waa suggested, but there was no way that was going to work.
"…She is nice." Yuma spoke up. "I think that… We shouldn't leave her alone." She was aware of that girl's feelings towards Kouji. The girl already felt bad enough about confessing to the boy that she knew other's had feelings for.
"You're right." He agreed and got up from their huddle. "Anastasia?"
"Y-yes?" She responded anxiously. His answer was of major concern to her, as well as why this situation occurred the way it had so far.
"It's been a while since we've all spent time together as friends. So I gathered all the girls, and we were going to come over and invite you."
"You were?" That brightened her mood immensely. "That's wonderful, I'd love to join in." It was a relief that she bought their story. While this might have ruined the idea of something more romantic, he was glad she was joining them. Anastasia was someone he held very dearly.
"But if you weren't aware of us, why did you want to come here?" Teru asked.
"Ah, that reminds me." She reached into her own bag to reveal a rather extravagant basket of chocolates for him. "Happy Valentine's day." At first, he was apprehensive about accepting her gift, mainly because of the girls around him. "Do not worry, I bought this at a local bakery." She misunderstood his hesitation considering the last, and only, time she cooked for him.
"Th-thank you." He politely took the basket from her. "Why would you give this to me?"
"Well it is supposed to be obligatory." She explained. Not that anyone bought her excuse seeing how much this would've cost. "But I also wanted to cheer you up." It was obvious how downtrodden he had been the past week. So his harem weren't the only ones trying to change that.
"Thanks so much." It filled him with joy to see her care that much about him. "Llet's get going. Shall we?"
"What about Himawari?" She asked, which put a slight damper on the mood. "Are you still upset with each other?"
"It's fine." He put on his best fake smile and directed them all out of his house. "Let's just try to enjoy ourselves today."