"What?" They were all in disbelief over her reveal. The exception being Kouji, who was sitting with his heart sinking to the depths of the abyss. Considering the girls he was surrounded by, his body was probably going to be joining it soon enough.
"This is one sick joke." Himawari was in so much disbelief, that she straight up believed this to be a prank thrown by their headmistress. "I expect the headmistress of this fine academy would never stoop to something so vulgar.
"Heh, yeah." Waa was on her side when it came to believing this to be for humor from shock. "I mean, someone in her position would never do something so scandalous." She laughed nervously though, as nothing was impossible in their lives. "Right?"
"I'm not joking at all." Isako made clear to all of them of her true feelings and true intentions. "It may seem hard to believe, but I've truly fallen for the young man." This prompted every single one of the girls to turn their heads and stare right at Kouji.
"…" None of them said a single word, as none were needed to ask the blatantly obvious question. That being to see if he would confirm this to be true. "I'm sorry everyone." While it wasn't a direct admission, an apology basically told them the truth.
"What is the meaning of this?" Already, Himawari had her protests. "There's no way this is appropriate in any manner."
"You say that as if we aren't in an inappropriate situation already." Waa reminded her of their harem.
"At some point there has to be limits." She argued back. "Just because we're already doing something questionable doesn't mean we cross every single line that exists."
"As much as I hate to agree with her." Teru spoke up. "She's right."
"Please, ladies." Isako attempted to calm down the girls. "I wanted to speak now so that we could direct this in a respectful manner."
"Headmistress, I'm trying to be respectful." Himawari responded. "But, if we think about it. There no way we could reasonably allow you to just join the harem." To her, she was a stickler about the age difference. However, the girl also was worried about adding more girls into a harem with plenty of romantic interests. Even with his best intentions, Kouji was bound to leave someone behind. And she hoped it wouldn't be her.
"I mean, what's one more?" Waa was on the opposite side of this debate. "I guess you make a good point we shouldn't just let everyone in. Even I don't want a dozen girls loving him." Though to her, she trusted the headmistress, and the girl herself didn't personally care about age difference. To her, it was just a number.
"Well I don't like it." Teru replied by crossing her arms in defiance. "It's just too weird to me." Despite the things she had been through, this girl couldn't break past this barrier.
"Am I really the only one okay with this?" Waa asked out loud as the girl continued to argue about their feelings on this matter.
"I think… It's fine." Yuma spoke up in favor of allowing Isako to join their harem. "If she truly loves him… And him her… Then, we shouldn't stop that." To her, the feelings of the participants mattered the most beyond her personal opinion. On the inside, the girl wasn't the biggest fan of allowing her to join, but she cared more for them than herself.
"Guess that means we're tied." Said Himawri, eyeing Yuma with disappointment. "Well Anastasia, go ahead and say no so we can move on with our lives."
"I mean…" Now all the pressure was placed on the Russian girl. This was not a spot she ever imagined herself ever being in. "Well, I do not know if I want her to join us… But, I do not want to be harsh to our headmistress either."
She wasn't sure on what the right answer would be. On one hand, she should be fair since she understood being the last girl asked to join in their love for Kouji. Anastasia was quite fortunate they were all favorable to her on that matter. At the same time, she also wasn't a fan of allowing more competition for his time. The girl looked back and forth between the glares of everyone as she put her hands atop her head to try and calm down.
"Ah great, I hope we don't ever use her for a tiebreaker again." Waa exclaimed. "Otherwise, we'll never decide on anything."
"I'll agree to that." Said Himawari. "Fine, how about this?" Now she turned her attention to Kouji. "Are you really willing to go through with this?"
"Well…" He was as indecisive as ever. "I didn't want to talk about it because I knew it would upset you."
"Of course it's upsetting!" She yelled at him. "Right now we're learning you and the headmistress had some extracurricular activities after her birthday celebration. Then you go and have the gall to ask if she can join?" Himawari wasn't sure what hurt more, the betrayal, or the expectation that they'd go along with it. "How else did you expect some of us to react?"
"I know, and I'm sorry." Even if Isako would say it wasn't his fault about what happened that night. He still blamed himself for allowing things to go as far as they did. Probably because he wondered if in the back of his head, the boy wanted it all along.
"I know things are still complicated here." Said Isako. She knew that one conversation was not going to be enough to properly sway the girls into her favor. Or even be enough for them to come to a conclusion. "So I wanted to extend an offer to try and at least try not to make things so tense."
"I hope this isn't a bribe." Said Teru, smelling out any suspicious activities from their headmistress.
"Actually, I was planning on inviting you all for this before the whole… Thing between me and Kouji happened." She responded. "Since the weather's gotten quite warm and toasty. I wanted to plan a trip to the beach with all of us."