Chapter 126: I am sorry...
—
Neji, Kimi and Kurai spent around 10 hours inside the dungeon. So when they came outside, only an hour had passed.
Kurai cast [Stealth] around them before they exited via a Save Stone, so when they came out of the golden gate, there was nobody around to notice them.
Neji and Kurai swiftly made their way to their car before Neji took out the unconscious Kimi from inside his inventory.
Kimi rubbed her head softly before looking around, realising she was back in the car, and looking at her dress to make sure all that wasn't a dream.
"Mhm? Do I drive wearing this?"
She was still wearing the dress Neji pushed on her body before, and watching it, she asked Neji about it.
Neji shrugged at her. "I mean, if you want to change into your maid dress, you can. But I honestly see no reason to."
Kimi nodded and put her hands on the steering wheel before starting the engine and driving through.
Neji took out his phone from his inventory to contact his girls…
[Yaomomo: Oh, you're back? Good, good. I am in our home, Nejire and I are watching Netflix. Wanna come over?]
"Wanna go, Kimi?" Neji asked. "Though we should probably drop Kurai home first."
"Hey! I wanna come too!"
Kurai protested, but nobody listened to her. And so, they dropped the cat home and then drove to Momo's house.
—★—
Ryukyu and Rumi's conversation had stretched out more than it was needed.
After calming herself, Ryukyu decided to help her friend.
"Listen, Rumi." Ryukyu said as she grabbed Rumi's hands. "I don't like what you're doing. But I will help you."
Rumi nodded.
"First, Neji said his girlfriend is open to sharing him with anyone else if he loved her…?" Ryukyu asked to confirm again, and Rumi nodded. "From what I can guess, Neji might stretch that truth to its limits before telling his girlfriend about you. Which should be fine for you, but morally… until then, you'll be stealing the man of a poor little girl. Would your conscience allow that?"
Rumi only stared.
"It won't, right Rumi? So my advice would be… go talk to Momo, alone without informing Neji." Ryukyu said. "I am not going to tell you what you should talk to her about, you figure it out yourself. But, if you do feel bad for cheating on a little girl, go talk to her openly about what Neji did and then see if she's fine with it or not."
Ryukyu sighed after a short breath. "To be clear, this is an advice, not something you must do. So you aren't obliged to do so. I have nothing to say about your life, after all." She then stood up abruptly. "Anyway, I have to get going. If you need any more… help, just call me."
She turned around and walked out. Rumi could only reach out her hand, not saying anything as she saw her friend leave.
At last, she sighed and leaned back on the couch.
"Ugh, what did I get myself into…"
Who knew relationships were so complicated?
She didn't like complicated things.
—★—
Momo was watching a Netflix series with Nejire, joking around and eating popcorn.
Soon after Neji and Kimi came, and Nejire was the first to notice the white colour at the end of her hair.
"What's this? What's this?" Nejire asked curiously. "Were you cured? Then why is your hair turning white?"
Neji grabbed a coke and sat down away from the three girls while Kimi explained herself.
"I am fine now. This is just the sign of a power-up. You know Quirk awakening? This is that."
"Oh?! So you're fine now!" She jumped and hugged Kimi. "Good thing Neji had tricks up his sleeves, huh?" She giggled to herself. "Though this means only Momo's quirk is left to awaken amongst us four."
Neji's quirk awakened before anyone here. After that was Nejire's, and now Kimi's.
Tier-6 was the sign that the Quirk has been awakened. Only Nejire is an exception to that, whose Quirk had awakened at Tier-5 because of using artificial ways to enhance herself. The only reason she's currently Tier-5 is because of her lack of experience. Tiers aren't just rating a Quirk's lethality, it's rating a person's overall battle capability.
"Oh…" Momo looked hurt at that.
"Uh… sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings!" Nejire jumped to hug Momo then, cuddling her cheeks with her. "Come on, come on, you're already very strong!"
Momo giggled at that. "I am okay, don't worry. It's just, I am scared of hurting others too much, so I can't use my quirk to its full extent. Neji said how dangerous a villain with my quirk would have been…"
"So it's Neji's fault!" Nejire turned to Neji with a scowl. "Scumbag!"
"..."
Neji simply sipped his coke with a shrug.
"Speaking of which, scum." Nejire turned to him with her hands on her waist. "What's up with you and Mirko? Tell me she's just a friend-with-benefit."
"She's not."
Nejire stared silently at his answer.
"I like her." Neji continued. "She's quite fun to be around."
He was implying since he liked to be around Rumi, he would do something to be around her always, meaning he will bring her to join his harem. Nejire was wistful enough to understand that.
"I understand what you mean, but stop lying." She crossed her arms. "You just like her body, don't you?"
"I mean…" Neji scratched his neck. "Love has to start from somewhere, so yeah. The start of everything was her appearance, of course. But now I have come to like her presence."
Nejire opened her mouth to say something, but she closed her lips in the end and sighed. "Well… whatever. I don't care anymore. I am but another girl in your harem, so not like I have any voice." She said dramatically. "Remember I said to at least let us see if we like the new girl or not? But, my request is nothing to you."
The room grew silent and after a long minute, Neji stood up and walked to her.
Nejire pouted her lips seeing him approach. She turned her head around, making sure he couldn't kiss her because she could feel he will try to do s-
Neji wrapped his hands around her, softly, placing his head on her chest.
"I am sorry."
"..."
"I forgot…" Neji said. "I am really sorry if you feel like I don't care about your words. That wasn't my intention. It's just… I am in a really desperate situation, and sometimes I forget I have other people whose opinions matter to me."
All the girls blinked, watching the back of his head with wide eyes.
"...Neji?"
Nejire's expression softened. She hugged him back and patted his head.
"Is everything okay? Are you facing any problems right now?" Nejire's voice was calm and relaxed, making sure she didn't sound worried because that'd make him feel bad. "Tell big sister, I am here to help you like always."
Neji didn't say anything, staying silent for a long time before he raised his face upwards to meet her eyes.
"I will soon… I am sorry I can't say it yet."
He didn't even know if Nejire would choose his side when he chose the villain route. He only knew Kimi would stay by him.
Nejire kept patting him. "It's okay, don't worry. I am here for you. Just remember, you can always talk to me… no, you can to us anytime. We are a family, right? There are no secrets between family."
Neji gave a smile and cancelled the hug, stretching his arms a little as he yawned. "I am kinda tired, so let's get this finished with."
He looked at his girls' eyes, one after another. "I am being honest, I will be bringing some more girls to this… family. There's a reason behind that, but I can't tell you why yet. For now, I plan to bring Rumi and Ryukyu in here."
Neji finished as the girls exchanged glances. After a second, Nejire jumped on him with a shout, cuddling on the bed. "Yay! You listened to my request!"
It was but a stray thought at that point, but now that more and more girls were joining this so-called Familia, Nejire wanted Ryukyu in here too.
After all, if she couldn't stop her brother from bringing more girls, why not just make the new girls people she liked already?
"Ask me if you need any help with this mission!"
Neji laughed as the other two girls also joined, but he doubted all this would be possible if he hadn't equipped his Title: [Harem Lord].
He was at least glad that he won't need to convince others for the next girl.
—★—
Next morning…
Momo woke up after hearing a notification from her phone. Slowly, she reached out for the device from the bed.
"Huh?" Momo rubbed her eyes while looking at her phone.
"What?" Neji asked as he leaned over her shoulder to look at her screen.
"Well… Mirko sent me a message. I thought it was a scam at first, but it's a verified account. It's really her."
"Oh? What does she say?"
"She wants to meet me in a cafe today…"
Neji blinked, frowning and contemplating before he hummed. "Say you'll come."
Momo glanced at his face from below. "...Sure."
Then, she did so.
While Nejire did accept Rumi reluctantly, Momo had yet to tell her opinion on this. So she found it a great opportunity to make up her mind by this meeting.
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Author's Note: Neji turning new leaf 😔