Tatsuya woke up the next morning feeling dazed and exhausted. He washed up and changed his clothes and headed into the kitchen. As he opened the fridge, a very strange feeling came over him. Somehow, he couldn't help but feel that he was forgetting something. His body was frozen in place as he racked his brain to make sense of this sensation. It seemed that whatever had escaped him was something important. But what could it be?
"No, let's do this instead," came Aika's voice from down the hallway. The Draco princess entered the kitchen with her maid close behind. "Say, Ingrid, how about we make something special today? Oh, I know! Let's try doing that."
"I will try my best," said Ingrid with a bow of her head.
Aika saw Tatsuya with his body half inside the fridge and happily skipped over to him. "Darling, good morning!" she greeted him happily.
"Hmm," grunted Tatsuya, still deep in thought.
"What are you doing?" she asked him curiously. "If you stay like that in the refrigerator you will catch a cold," she warned him helpfully.
"Yeah, that's nice," mumbled Tatsuya. Why couldn't he remember what it is he needed to remember?
"Say, when does your sister arrive?" asked Aika.
"Sister…," repeated Tatsuya in a mumbled voice. And that's when it clicked. "My sister is coming today!" he announced in a frightening voice. How could he have forgotten? His father literally told him yesterday before he left.
At that moment, the other princesses and their servants came into the kitchen to get the morning started. Tatsuya watched as his housemates poured in and fear immediately sank in. His face became contorted with anxiety as he racked his brain on how to explain this to his sister. There was no way he could escape this, so he needed to come up with a very good explanation. He's pretty sure that his father had already told her about the girls, as evidenced by the phone call yesterday, so there's no doubt that she knows about his housemates.
'How should I explain this?' he thought to himself anxiously. 'If she asks about who they are, what should I say? Classmates from school? I mean, that's not really lying since they really are my classmates. But why would my classmates be living in the same house as me? Exchange students? Should I just say that they're exchange students from a foreign country and I was chosen to be their host? Well, they're kind of like exchange students, except they're literally from another world. But what if she asked about having more than one classmates living in my home? And the fact that they're all girls? Should I just say that I was the only student with a house big enough to accommodate them? Maybe I should just tell her that I was the only one in my class with the living space. That's reasonable, right? I mean, what other high school kid who goes to an average upper middle-class high school lives in a big house by himself? And the fact that they're all girls…I should just take the easy way out and say something like: The school's been accepting more girl students in an attempt to balance out the gender ratio. Nah, that seems pretty old-fashioned. Maybe I should go with: There was just a great number of girl students who have applied to the school this year. Yeah, that'll work. Okay, let's go over it one more time. The girls are exchange students that I am currently hosting since I'm the only student with enough living space to accommodate them. The reason why they are all girls is because the school received a lot of female applicants this year. Sounds good!'
Aika was getting a little worried over seeing Tatsuya muttering to himself like he was on the verge of madness. "Um, Darling?" she called out to him. "Are you feeling okay?" she asked him politely.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang and Tatsuya immediately rushed over to answer it. He prepared himself by taking a deep breath and putting on a big smile. He then opened the door and was greeted by a very familiar voice. "Hey, Tatsu-chin!" greeted his visitor.
"Hey!—," said Tatsuya, catching himself. 'Wait a minute, Tatsu-chin?' He opened his eyes and was surprised to see Manami standing there in his doorway.
"Good morning!" said Manami happily.
"M-M-Manami?" stuttered Tatsuya in disbelief. "What are you doing here?" he asked his friend a little harshly.
Manami took offense to Tatsuya's tone and said, "I can't come to visit my friend over the summer?"
"It's not like I mind," began Tatsuya, "but I'm pretty sure that you're here for a different reason."
"Ah, er, well," said Manami, throwing his hand behind his head and laughing. "I guess you caught me. I'm here to get back that magazine I lent you."
Tatsuya let out a sigh and told for his friend to come in. He directed Manami to his room but stayed behind to await the arrival of his sister. A few minutes later, Manami came back with his magazine tucked under his arm. "Say, what's going on around here? I passed by the kitchen and noticed that the princesses and maids were flying off the rails to cook some big feast or something. And who are you waiting for? You've been staying by the front door this whole time. Are you expecting someone important?"
"Actually—," began Tatsuya, but he was quickly interrupted by Aika.
"Darling, is your sister here yet?" she asked him excitedly.
"Your sister is coming?!" exclaimed Manami. Tatsuya simply answered with a groaning sigh. "I-I-I didn't even know you had a sister!"
To be honest, Tatsuya would've liked it better if Manami never found out that his sister was coming over to visit. Why? Well…
"Oh, little sister, I can't wait to see what she's like!" announced Manami shamelessly in his typical perverted manner. "Since she's the sister of my best friend, I know for sure that she's a very beautiful young lady with an equally beautiful personality. Oh, she must be like a delicate flower waiting to be picked by the person who is destined to be her soulmate! I can already see her image in my mind: delicate flowing orange hair like fine silk, draped over her immaculate shoulders of pure white marbled complexion; a young and succulent body with budding breasts or even finely developed breasts that will put her classmates to shame; big innocent eyes like a puppies and a smile that will make even the sun want to weep in joy; and slender arms and legs that like the soft and tender branches of a young sakura tree!"
"Oi, stop trying to fantasize about my sister, you perverted freak," commented Tatsuya harshly with a scowl.
Manami quickly grabbed Tatsuya by the hand and asked with determined and sparkling eyes, "Tatsu-chin, we're best friends right? We're close enough to share dirty magazines and do other boy stuff together, so that would mean that we're pretty close, right?"
"What are you getting at?" asked Tatsuya suspiciously.
"Why don't we become closer?" suggested Manami. Before Tatsuya could answer, Manami got on one knee and said, "Please, let me marry your sister! Let me become your brother-in-law and take your sister for myself! I promise that I will treat her right and will not be rough with her or get her into any weird things, unless of course she's into that sort of stuff!"
"Idiot! What the hell are you talking about?!" shouted Tatsuya furiously.
"I promise that I will be the best husband for your sister!" declared Manami adamantly. "Please, big bro!"
"Who the hell are you calling big bro?!" came Tatsuya.
"I would be honored to become a part of your family!" declared Manami confidently and proudly.
Suddenly, the doorbell sounded and Ingrid answered it. She opened the door and revealed their new guest. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Owatatsumi-sama," said the maid with a bow.
Ingrid then led the new guest inside and promptly left back to attend to the kitchen. Standing there before Tatsuya and Manami was a young teenage girl with shoulder-length silky honey brown hair and a small side ponytail held by a yellow bow on her right, beautiful big emerald green eyes, and a glistening light golden skin-tone like an angel's. She was dressed in a short hot pink girlish skirt with black leggings underneath, pink Mary Janes, and a very trendy black T-Shirt with a pink dragon design in shiny rhinestones underneath a faded jean jacket. "Oniichan!" she happily called out as she entered the hallway. She immediately stopped when she caught her big brother in a very questionable situation.
Both Tatsuya and Manami had their faces turned to her. Tatsuya was standing with his right hand in Manami's while the latter was on one knee in front of him. The surprise of Tatsuya's sister appearance before them made them unaware of their current situation at the given moment. "M-M-Mika!" blurted Tatsuya.
Mika's expression suddenly turned dour, complete with a very sullen yet unnerving glare. "Eh, Oniichan, I didn't know that you were getting married," she said in an almost robotic voice. Her comment made Tatsuya and Manami exchange confused glances and reassess their situation. They immediately understood what she meant by 'married' and quickly jumped away from each other.
"Wait a minute, Mika, that was—," attempted Tatsuya.
By the time he said that, Mika was already at the front door and she said, "Sorry to intrude on your lovey-dovey time."
"Wait a minute!" screamed Manami hysterically. Mika stopped and turned back around with the same expression as before. "We're not getting married or being lovey-dovey or anything like that all," he explained as clear as he can.
"That's right!" agreed Tatsuya. "Listen Mika, this here is my friend Tatsumi Manami," introduced Tatsuya. "He's a friend I've known since middle school, but we're not in that kind of relationship at all. In fact, he's only attracted to girls. Or more like, he's attracted to them like a nasty pest to a beautiful garden."
"Yeah, that's right—Hey! You didn't have to use that specific analogy!" said Manami irritatedly.
"Anyway, you understand now, right?" said Tatsuya with an awkward smile.
Mika let out a sigh and her expression softened greatly. "I'm very sorry for the misunderstanding," she said. Her smile returned and she bowed while introducing herself to Manami. "Hello, my name is Owatatsumi Mika. I am Owatatsumi Tatsuya's little sister, a pleasure to meet you."
"Ah hah hah," laughed Manami sheepishly with his hand behind his head, "It's a pleasure to meet you too."
"Thank you very much for taking care of my brother while I was away," added Mika cutely.
That one cute act immediately shot an arrow of love through Manami's heart and he quickly fell off the rails as per his usual perverted self. He quickly ran up to Mika with his hands outstretched while crying loudly, "Marry me, Mika-chan!"
Tatsuya was quick to incapacitate his friend with a blow from above, striking Manami hard on the head with a strong kick that was full of his protective big brother-instinct. Once his friend fell down with a hard thud, Tatsuya collected himself and said, "Try anything like that again and I'll make sure to ruin your ability to make love forever. Now that you have what you came for, please do us a favor and leave."
Once Manami got back up, he apologized to Tatsuya and Mika and left the house. Now that the two siblings were alone together, Tatsuya turned to his sister and said, "Mika, welco—."
"Oniichan!" quickly interrupted Mika excitedly, launching herself onto Tatsuya and wrapping her arms tightly around him. She rubbed her cheeks against his chest like an affectionate cat and said, "I missed you, Oniichan. Oh, I never thought that I'll meet you soon enough!" She then buried her nose into his shirt and took a huge sniff. "I knew it. Oniichan's scent is definitely the best!" she announced shamelessly, much to Tatsuya's embarrassment.
He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her off of him. Once she was off, he said kindly, "Mika, it's great seeing you too. But do you have to be clingy every time we meet? You're a big girl now, aren't you? Shouldn't you be trying to act more mature?"
"Geez, this is the first time you get to see your little sister in a year and this is how you treat her?" said Mika with a pout.
"Mika," said Tatsuya in a chiding tone.
"But I love you very much, Oniichan!" responded Mika. "My love for you is greater than the vast expanse of space itself! I love, love, love, love, love you!" she told him in a very child-like manner. She then quickly grabbed him by the arm and said, "Why don't we get married? I've always loved you, Oniichan. Can we get married? What do you say, huh? Let's do it!" She then closed her eyes and puckered her lip and tried desperately to lean into his face.
"M-Mika, come on," said Tatsuya, resisting her advances and trying hard to push her away, "we're brother and sister! This isn't the right thing to do! Do you really want us to get put in jail? Actually, this more dangerous than just breaking a law, we'll be breaking the moral codes established by our ancestors! You're a mature young woman now, so you should be more aware of your actions!"
Tatsuya suddenly tripped on his own feet and fell down. He hit his head on the floor and winced in pain. When he opened his eyes, he found himself lying on the ground with Mika now on top of him. It has only been less than an hour since Mika's arrival and Tatsuya has now found himself in yet another compromising position.
Mika had her hands holding down Tatsuya's arms and her legs were positioned on top of his to anchor them down. Her face was only a few inches away from her brothers and she wore a very lustful smile. "Look at this, Oniichan," she said, referring to their current situation. "This must be the universe telling us that we are meant to be together," she told him, licking her lips. She then slowly descended down with her eyes closed and her lips puckered. All the while, Tatsuya tried to turn his head this way and that way in an attempt to avoid contact.
Suddenly, Tatsuya found himself saved by the person he least expected. "Darling, is your little sister here?" asked Aika, coming out into the hallway. She came upon the siblings in their current situation and asked with her head tilted in confusion, "What happened?"
"Aika!" called out Tatsuya happily, "Man, am I glad to see you."
"Tch," said Mika, turning her head away and scowling.
The two siblings got up and dusted themselves off. "Aika, this here is my little sister, Owatatsumi Mika," introduced Tatsuya. "Mika, this here is Hiryu Aika, an exchange student who I'm currently hosting," he told his sister.
"Eh, really?" came Mika suspiciously. "Isn't it more conventional for a female exchange student to stay with another female student? Having a female and male student living together is not normal and could only lead to trouble," she pointed out.
'Crap, she's right!' exclaimed Tatsuya. His sister got him there. He was too busy of thinking of an excuse that he didn't even make sure that it made sense. But with his current living situation, what other excuse could he have thought up? This basically told him that he was fighting a losing battle; there was no way for him to salvage whatever pride and sincerity he had left.
"What are you talking about, Darling?" said Aika, rushing up and entangling her arm with his. "We're betrotheds!" she happily announced.
"B-Betrotheds?" asked Mika.
"Yup!" confirmed Aika with a nod.
'Ah, so she must be one of those girls he was talking about,' realized Mika. She put on a smile and simply said, "Nice to meet you."
The trio entered the kitchen and was welcomed by a big feast. The dining table was filled to the brim with various delicious looking foods: golden yellow omurice freshly out of the pan (as evidenced by the steam coming off of it) and finely decorated with sweet ketchup; soft, fluffy golden brown pancakes drizzled with luscious maple syrup and topped with butter and powdered sugar; perfectly grilled fish that sizzled satisfying like a warm blessing from the sea; freshly hot steam buns with tantalizing round and supple shapes and even more infatuating scents; etc….
The servants all bowed their heads and announced in unison, "Welcome Home, Owatatsumi-sama." They were, of course, referring to Mika.
Mika turned her head to Tatsuya and he immediately responded with an awkward smile accompanied with his hand thrown behind his head. "I can explain," he told her. He was about to open his mouth to do it when Mika simply walked on.
She didn't particularly care much for what he had to say and sat down at the table. "This looks amazing!" she said with a big smile. She took in a big whiff of the food and added, "Mmm, they smell really good!"
"Please, enjoy yourself, my lady," said Ingrid.
Mika took the maid on her offer and took a bite of the pancakes. "This is delicious! I've never had pancakes this fluffy before! It's like eating soft savory clouds!" complimented Mika.
"Thank you," said Ingrid.
"Say, Oniichan, where are the other girls?" asked Mika, turning around to her brother. "Father told me that you had five girls living with you. I can tell by the look of the maids and butlers that they don't all belong to Hiryu-san." She wore a smug smile in an attempt to unnerve him.
"Ah, really," said Tatsuya with an awkward laugh. 'That old man,' cursed Tatsuya in his head, 'he thinks he can just tell everyone about my situation like it's his business.' Suddenly, the other princess all walked into the kitchen, cleaned up and dressed as if they were meeting someone important. Aika was also standing among them, decked out in another outfit—she seemed to have gone to change after leading Mika and Tatsuya to the kitchen. Tatsuya was surprised to see them like this. He was also a little confused as to why they would go to such lengths—were they trying to impress someone or were they just being considerate and wanted to actually dress nice because they had company? Either way, Tatsuya couldn't believe that this was really happening.
The princesses' reason for changing their outfits was indeed in an attempt to impress Tatsuya's sister. They were all aware of how important this is to their war for Tatsuya's heart. It all started yesterday when they received news regarding Mika's arrival today. At first, they didn't really give it much thought. They were intrigued by the idea of Tatsuya's sister coming to visit. Aika, in particular, couldn't help but express out loud her desire to become a great sister for her future sister-in-law. This comment was the catalyst for initiating this entire competition between them. After coming upon the realization that the little sister was another route they can take to win Tatsuya's heart, each of the princesses decided to do their best to win the sister's attention and affection. After all, how can Tatsuya say no if his loving little sister begs him to take one of them (the winner) as his wife?
Tatsuya walked over to the princesses and turned to face his sister. With an awkward smile and sweat streaming down his face, he began to introduce to his sister his housemates. "Meet my other roommates," he began, laughing awkwardly and begging for God to just strike him down right now. "First, this is Suiryu Kanjomizu," introduced Tatsuya. Kanjomizu waved shyly to Mika in a very cute and friendly way. "She's an exchange student too," added Tatsuya for no other reason at all than in an attempt to make this entire situation seem plausible in his head. "Next up, well, you've already met Hiryu Aika. Next to her is, oh, actually, I'm pretty sure you remember Kazeryu Arashi, right? She's my childhood friend." Arashi waved to Mika who waved back to her. Aika and Sunaji quickly turned their heads to Arashi, their eyes full of envy and spite. "Next to her is Denkoryu Shurai," continued Tatsuya. Shurai flashed Mika her signature thumbs up. "And lastly, we have Chikyuryu Sunaji," concluded Tatsuya. Sunaji, like the elegant lady she is, curtsied in greeting. "And those guys over there are each of their servants," added Tatsuya, referring to Ingrid and the others. "Well, there you have it," he said with an awkward chuckle.
"If they have servants, are they rich or something?" inquired Mika.
"They're princesses from foreign countries," quickly answered Tatsuya. To be fair, he wasn't actually lying when he said that.
"So these princesses are all exchange students that you're hosting in your home?" asked Mika with a raised eyebrow, no doubt suspicious about everything that was going on.
"Yeah, that—," began Tatsuya, but he was quickly cut short.
"We're not exchange students," announced Shurai, "We're his betrotheds."
"Betrotheds?" asked Mika in surprise. "What do you mean?"
"No, that's, um, er, well," stammered Tatsuya in vain.
"Well, we're all My Love's betrotheds," explained Kanjomizu. "I mean, after all, we've all shared a kiss with him."
"K-K-K-Kiss?!" exclaimed Mika hysterically. Her mind exploded and her sanity was slowly going down the drain. The word 'kiss' struck her in the heart like an arrow of plague, destroying whatever innocence she had left and deteriorating the close bond that she once had with her brother. What does all of this mean? Could it be that her brother was going to be sold off to one of these princesses? Will her brother be leaving her all alone? Forever? How can this be?
"Mika!" screamed Tatsuya in terror. He rushed over to her side and fanned her face. "Are you alright? Please be alright," he prayed.
"Oniichan," spoke Mika, turning her head to face him. "Are you really going to leave me?" she asked him in a pained voice.
"What are you talking about?" he asked her with a relieved sigh.
"Well, you are engaged after all," she said. "And to five princesses, too." She then flashed him a disgusted glare and said, "Oniichan, I didn't know that you're into harems."
"That's not what this is!" shouted Tatsuya defiantly. "Anyway, let's eat breakfast." He sat down at the table and the princesses joined him.
"Long time no see, Mika-chan," said Arashi, sitting next to her.
"Have you been well, Ara-nee?" asked Mika politely with a smile.
"Never been better," replied Arashi. "You?"
"Same!" said Mika.
Aika grabbed a forkful of pancake and held it for Tatsuya to eat. "Darling, say 'Ahh'," she said to Tatsuya.
"I can feed myself," Tatsuya told her in an irritated voice.
"Darling, you don't have to be embarrassed just because your sister is here," teased Aika playfully. "Now say 'Ahh'," she repeated to him.
"I told you, I can feed myself," said Tatsuya defiantly.
The defiance in his voice made Aika stop and surrender to his will. "Of course," she said in a sad voice. She flashed him a sad smile before turning back to face her plate with a melancholic and depressing expression and a gloomy and dreaded aura surrounding her. The fork in her hand was now being held loosely as if she just gave up on life.
Tatsuya ignored her and proceeded to eat his plate of omurice. As he chewed the food and swallowed it, he found it hard to not glance over at Aika. He gave in to the temptation and saw Aika looking like she was descending downwards to hell and never coming back. Seeing her like that unsettled him greatly. Everything about this picture was wrong and he needed to fix it immediately somehow. He clenched his fists tightly and let out a low, irritated groan. With a sigh, he turned to her and said, "Alright then."
Aika immediately sprung back to her cheery self and happily fed the forkful of pancake to her Darling. She wore a very satisfied smile and couldn't be any happier. "Oh, Darling, you should've said so that you wanted me to feed you," she told him cutely.
"Don't…push...it," he told her in between chews. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to see Kanjomizu fidgeting in her seat. "Are you okay, Mizu?" he asked her.
"Umm, would My Love like me to feed him too?" she asked him bashfully. She brought up a spoonful of miso soup to feed to him.
"Umm, well," stammered Tatsuya, blushing.
"M-May I?" she asked him. Tatsuya gulped and opened his mouth. Kanjomizu smiled and gently fed him the soup. "Is it good, My Love?" she asked him.
"Delicious," he told her with a love-struck smile after swallowing the soup.
Arashi, Sunaji, and Shurai exchanged determined glances and joined in on the challenge. They couldn't allow the two princesses to outdo them. Determined to also show their love to him through his stomach, the three princesses each grabbed a spoonful (or fistful in Shurai's case) of food and presented it before Tatsuya's lips.
"Um, what's going on?" he asked them, surprised by their actions and their determination to get him to eat their food.
"Eat, Tatsu-kun," urged Shurai, "You will feel good if you eat." She presented to him a fistful of steam buns.
"I-I-It's not like I care if you eat or not," said Sunaji with her eyes closed in a frown and her face turned away. "B-But if you don't eat, then you'll be esurient and lethargic, and we can't have that. T-This is only for your own good." ("Esurient" = "hungry/starved/greedy"). She presented to him a spoonful of tamago kake gohan (egg on rice).
"You can have this if you want…unless if you don't…I don't mind either way…," said Arashi, blushing a very bright red color and averting her eyes from his gaze. She presented to him a piece of steaming hot grilled fish.
"Umm," was all Tatsuya could utter in response to their offers. Sweat poured down his face in spades.
"That's enough!" shouted Mika. She had been watching the entire exchange between her big brother and the dragon princesses and had had enough of the lovey-dovey atmosphere surrounding them. The way they were all hanging onto him like lecherous vixens made her come to one simple conclusion: her brother was being forced into this toxic relationship with them without a single say. In other words, they were all using him as their personal sex slave and outlet for erotic romanticism! As his little sister, Mika couldn't allow for this to go on any further and must save her brother from further corruption so that he will focus all his attention onto her and accept her love for him so they can finally proceed to the next level!
Everyone turned their heads to Mika. "Stop this madness!" she told them. "Can't you see that Oniichan is suffering because of you all?" She pointed a finger at them accusingly with a shaming expression on her face. "And Ara-nee, I can't believe that you would join in too!" she said to Arashi in an ashamed tone. Arashi hung her head in shame in response to that statement.
"You've got it wrong," said Shurai.
"We really do love him," added Kanjomizu.
"That's right, that's right!" confirmed Aika, nodding her head.
"Really?" said Mika slowly in disbelief. She let out a chuckle and then said, "Alright then, I'll have you prove it! As Oniichan's little sister, I have to make sure that the girls he meet are those who are worthy of his love! Just like me." She added the last comment as a smug aside.
'This is it!' thought Aika excitedly. 'This is just what we need! I'll win this challenge and prove it to them once and for all that I'm the only one worthy of Darling's love!'
'It seems that the battle has begun,' thought Sunaji confidently. 'Certes, I shall achieve victory in this contest! I can not lose to these wenches!' ("Certes" = "certainly"; "Wench" = "young girl/woman").
Kanjomizu, Arashi, and Shurai were also confident in winning this competition and it showed in their eyes. Each of the princesses were not going to back down without a fight. This time, they will prove once and for all who will be the winner of Tatsuya's heart.
On the other hand, Tatsuya didn't like where this was going at all. He wanted to avoid this seemingly meaningless challenge, but after seeing how revved up the princesses are, he wasn't so sure that they will listen to what he has to say.
"Alright then, let's settle this with a quiz!" announced Mika. She smiled smugly, ready for the princesses to lose on the very first question, and said, "This quiz will test your knowledge on how much you know about Oniichan. First question! What is one of Oniichan's bad qualities?" Her face contorted into a devious smile as she thought to herself, 'Let's see if you brother-stealing nymphomaniacs can answer this.'
"To be honest, I would rather list his good qualities," began Aika like a love-struck schoolgirl, "but since this is a competition, I'll answer whatever question you throw at me to the best of my abilities! One of Darling's bad qualities is his submissiveness to others!"
"W-Wait a min—," said Tatsuya, attempting to intervene.
"His easily-irritable temperament," answered Kanjomizu.
"N-Now, hold o—."
"Stuffy attitude," joined in Arashi.
"Excuse me?!"
"Lack of delicacy," said Sunaji.
"T-T-Th—."
"He can only think of others but not himself," finished Shurai.
Those words all struck Tatsuya like soul-shattering lightning bolts. He was pretty sure he was dead by now due to the weight of those words. Despite the way they described him, in his head, Tatsuya made it easier on himself by summarizing what they said: "Push-over, grumpy, boring, indecent, and irrational." As expected, he suddenly curled into a ball of depression in a corner of the kitchen while muttering to himself like a madman: "I'm just a big push-over, aren't I?… I'm too boring because I can't take a joke…. Maybe I'm grumpy all the time because I never get some time to myself…. All of those moments were accidents, but I guess that would make me indecent for not accepting responsibility…. I'm just trying to be a nice guy, but I guess sometimes it pays to be selfish to other people…."
Mika couldn't believe how perfectly they nailed those answers. "I-I-impossible!" she muttered to herself. "How can they already know all of Oniichan's weaknesses?" That last statement was made a little louder than the previous one, which only made Tatsuya sink deeper into his depression after hearing it come out of his little sister. "I guess I can't do anything about it since they got it right. Tch. Fine then, second question! What is Oniichan's favorite color!" Again, she smiled deviously to herself. 'Don't think that this question is easy just because of it's content,' she triumphantly thought to herself, 'Oniichan's favorite color isn't anything mainstream or common, so I highly doubt you'll know it.'
"Red!" quickly answered Aika.
"Blue!" joined in Kanjomizu.
"Green!" said Arashi.
"Yellow!" added Sunaji.
"Electric Yellow!" concluded Shurai.
"Oi! All of those colors are just your dragon colors!" shouted Tatsuya in protest.
"But it makes sense for one's betrothed to share the same favorite color as yourself, doesn't it?" said Aika, swaying to and fro like an bashful little girl.
"Hah! Too bad!" announced Mika triumphantly. "None of those colors are Oniichan's favorite!" she told them. "In fact, his favorite color is mauve!"
"Mauve?!" exclaimed the princesses in unison. They quickly turned to look at Tatsuya with weirded out expressions on their faces.
"What? Mauve is a pretty color," said Tatsuya shamelessly. "It's the color for idealistic and pure people and the romantics of the world!" he told them with a haughty nod of his head.
"Tatsu-kun," said Shurai, "you should change your favorite color." That comment quickly made Tatsuya hung his head is disbelief and shame.
"Well, it seems that it's one for one," said Sunaji, redirecting her attention back to the game.
"This will be the final question, the tie-breaker!" announced Mika. 'I've got to hit them with a doozy this time,' she thought to herself. Confident in her knowledge about her brother, Mika smiled to herself as she gave the last question: "What was Oniichan's most embarrassing moment in his life?"
"Oi! What kind of question is that?!" exclaimed Tatsuya. "Why do you need to ask that question?!"
"Oniichan, if they really do love you, then they should prove it by knowing your deepest, darkest secret," reasoned Mika in a stern voice. She then pointed a finger at him and said, "That's right! In order to claim your love, they must know the most vulnerable secret of your life, the moment in which your life was the most miserable and traumatic! True love only exists if they can shoulder your trauma with you and accept it without any prejudice against your being. Don't underestimate the romantic power of trauma!" She turned back to the princesses and repeated loudly for them again, "Tell me, what was Oniichan's most embarrassing moment in his life?"
'Doesn't this count, too?' thought Tatsuya miserably to himself. 'And now you're the one who's creating new traumatic memories for me right now.'
The princesses thought for a moment and then they gave their answers. Mika smiled smugly to herself, expecting them to get this question wrong. 'This is actually a trick question,' she thought mischievously to herself. 'In fact, there's more than just one embarrassing moment. If they answer wrong, I can prove my perfect knowledge of Oniichan by reciting each and every embarrassing moment in their face! If they do give me a correct answer, I can just pull a fast one over them and choose from the many embarrassing moments in Oniichan's life as the definitive one! My plan is perfect!'
"In his second-year of middle school, he wetted his pants during a trip to the zoo because he was scared when a lion in its habitat jumped at him even though he was safe behind the glass," answered Aika cheerfully.
"H-H-How did you know about that?!" asked Tatsuya in disbelief.
"My Love once glued his hands together in the fifth grade and he had to use the bathroom but his hands were stuck together so he was forced to wet his pants," answered Kanjomizu.
"W-W-Where did you hear that from?!" shouted Tatsuya.
"I believe there was that one time when he tripped during a game of soccer during his first year of high school and his gym pants were split open, revealing his unmentionables to his entire class," recounted Sunaji.
"Where the hell are all of these stories coming from?!" wondered Tatsuya hysterically.
"To be honest, we can just say that Tatsuya's entire life is one big embarrassing moment," said Arashi. "But if we're looking for specifics, I remember one. When we were little, he would visit my house and try on my clothes whenever I'm not around because he wanted to see what he looked like as a girl."
"A-A-Acchan!" screamed Tatsuya in embarrassment.
"In his first year of middle school, in an attempt to look cool in front of a girl he liked, he got into a cool guy pose during gym class and got hit in the d*** with a dodgeball," said Shurai. "After getting his d*** hit by the dodgeball, he dropped to the floor and cried his eyes out. Because his d*** got hit by a dodgeball. That's right, a dodgeball hit him right in the d***."
"Why are you suddenly being very talkative right now when you're not even fully charged?!" cried Tatsuya miserably. "And how many times are you going to use that filthy word?! You just wanted to say it, didn't you? I didn't know that you could have such a dirty mind! Seriously, this girl is scarier than she looks!"
"H-H-How did you know all of this?" asked Mika in surprise.
"Seriously! How?!" joined in Tatsuya. "Save for Acchan, how did you other princesses know of these stories?!"
"Your father told us those stories because we wanted to know more about you," answered Aika happily.
'That old bastard!' thought Tatsuya furiously to himself.
Mika couldn't believe it. Not only did they answer it correctly, but they chose some of most hardcore traumatic experiences from Tatsuya's life that she was sure only she knew. They even knew about the dodgeball d*** story! It seems that the princesses were indeed genuine in their love for Tatsuya. With a satisfied smile, she accepted defeat and said, "Well, I guess I lost."
'Actually, I'm the one who lost today,' thought Tatsuya pityingly to himself.
Mika didn't want to lose her big brother, but it seems that she doesn't have a choice. Her expression turned sad when she thought about her Oniichan leaving her alone forever. She hung her head and let herself be subjected to the grief of losing a loved one. That's when a warm hand was placed on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Aika smiling at her with a warm and friendly smile.
"You really love your brother, don't you," said Aika. Mika couldn't hold it in any longer and let it all out. Heavy tears flooded down her cheeks as she cried out loud. Aika comforted her with a hug and patted her head gently while saying, "There, there. It will all be okay." She then grabbed Mika by the shoulders and pulled her away. "Don't worry," said Aika, "we're not taking your brother away from you. We just want to be a part of your family."
The Draco princess' words sent a warm feeling through Mika's body and she quickly dried her tears. "D-Do you mean it?" she asked Aika.
"Yup!" answered Aika with a nod.
"Us too," said Shurai. The other princesses were now gathered around Mika and comforting her.
"We would be honored to be your sister," said Kanjomizu with a kind smile.
"Of course, it's only natural for me to be your sister!" announced Aika haughtily. "Right, Mika-chan?"
Mika sniffled and her smile quickly returned. "Yup, Ai-nee!" agreed Mika.
Tatsuya couldn't help but smile at how nicely this situation resolved itself. He was happy to see her sister getting along with the princesses. It looks like his worries were all for nothing. 'Let's hope that this bond between them lasts forever,' he said to himself optimistically.