Yesterday I asked Izana if I could come over so we could hang out together, this time without Emma since she seemed to be busy with other stuff. Of course, the response was a definite yes however, I had to take care of some hurdles before I could make it there. First I needed to finish the training and pick up the pillows that finally were ready, which meant I only needed to make the Michi plush to finish the merch quest. Thankfully it had no time limit so I could wait for a day off to finish that project.

At school I was once more avoiding Kisaki, even something so small as eye contact, I guess he decided to call me out on my hypocrisy.

"You asked to stay friends, yet all you do is ignore me." I just turned to him and smirked.

"What... are you already missing my flow of affection towards you? Maybe you shouldn't have rejected me like this." He looked away, I guess even if he realized how he felt towards me and decided to prioritize his cruel goal instead, he couldn't appropriately sort out his emotions as of now. He created this situation himself, despite I was ready to give him an excuse.

"I'm planning to stay away to sort of my own feelings, I don't want to lash out on you just because of that, that would be quite immature." He seemed deep in thought after hearing my thoughts about this matter.

"Are you sure you're a middle school student, no one else takes it so maturely as you do?" Was this another compliment from him?

"Let's say I had more time to spend time with myself and my own thoughts." I guess he fell back on the being sick girl troupe and he left this conversation at that.

Once the school was finished I grabbed my things and made my way to Wakasa's gym.

It was so long I made fun of Takeomi it was nice to see the guy being here.

"Hello my sweetheart, how have things been going for you?" He just sighed in defeat, but he answered me earnestly.

"Things have been going fantastic since I paid off my debt." He seemed quite cheerful.

"I'm happy for you, I wish I could say the same... can you imagine I got rejected by the same guy multiple times? And the most infuriating thing is, I know he likes me." Takeomi curiously asked.

"How can you be so sure he likes you even?" How do I even respond to it by not sounding arrogant?

"Girl intuition," I said confidently while striking a pose. He obviously seemed skeptical.

'Would you rather explain your situation or flirt harder with Takeomi Akashi?' First alternative it was, as much as I liked to tease this guy, flirting intensifying was taking it too far.

"I mean would he still let me tease him so much if he didn't?"

"How so, I need the whole context don't you think so?" Takeomi pointed out as I gave him a brief description of our interactions till now.

"He kissed you?!" Wow did he really have to yell it out?

"This is just between us, if you tell Senju, she will tell Chifuyu and in turn, Keisuke will know and we don't want that, okay?" It was nice letting it all out.

"Thanks for listening." and so I returned to training. Once I finished I just took a quick shower and ran out, quick to make it to the appointment with the seller.

On the way to Izana's house not only did I make a stop at the store to pick up the body pillow covers but also food. I even bought a portion for both Kakucho and Izana.

"Where are you?" I got a message from Izana so I replied.

"Soon there." Was my reply which quickly was answered with.

"I will leave the door unlocked then." Which was great.

Nonetheless when I opened the door the most bizarre sight was presented to me. Not only were Izana and Kakucho dressed up like they were there to impress chicks, but Ran, Rindou, Mocchi, and Shion were there as well. All dressed like they were there to score a date.

I just stood in the door frame stunned, did I just cross dimensions and found myself in some porn intro? At least this is what kind of impression this scene gave me.

"I'm sorry I must have entered the wrong building." I wasn't dealing with this madness. I knew especially something was boiling down when I saw Ran's suspicious smirk.

I shut the door and started running, only to have the white-haired guy chasing me down the street.

"Michi! Wait!" There was no way I would, his yelling for me to stop caused me to speed up my flight, naturally, I couldn't outrun him, so once Izana caught up to me, he picked me up princess style.

"Why did you run?" Again I saw this crazy look in his eyes.

"Who wouldn't? I could tell from one glance you guys were up to no good." He didn't listen to my pleas just dragged me along, and once we were inside I finally got to hear what this is about.

"I gathered all those guys just for you." Izana began, which caused me to say.

"Excuse me, what do I need your subordinates for?"

"I knew you rejected me, but it must have been because I was too greedy, so I will allow more men to be in your harem." I just facepalmed.

"How did you even arrive at this absurd conclusion?" I questioned him, but he didn't answer.

"Kakucho, did you give our houseplant enough sun, water, and fresh air?" I knew Izana wasn't getting enough of those things since Kakucho avoided my direct gaze. I got away from Izana's grip and came close to Kakucho.

"And why did you allow him to come up with something like this?" But I quickly realized he was beaten up. When he noticed my worried look, he quickly blurted out.

"I tried to advise him against this idea, even told him he was better off wearing lingerie to seduce you, but he didn't buy it." Wait he remembered that specific conversation? Ran just laughed probably finding that specific image in his head funny, but he stopped when Izana glared at him.

"And you whole bunch, why did you even agree to it?" Shion had this dreamy look on his face while admitting.

"I will do anything Izana asks me of." Kanji just mentioned he wanted to see the results of this whole circus. While Rindou was persuaded by Ran.

"You all are helpless." But then I looked at Kakucho.

"Not you." Gotta let him know he did a good job at least trying to convince Izana otherwise.

"Listen Izana... I'm 13 right, does it make sense for a bunch of guys that are close to being adults to follow me around?"

"Listen kitten, from the society's perspective it may be weird, but your case is different aren't I right?" Ran voiced his opinion, which in itself did had a sound point, but like I would admit to it, so Kakucho slid in.

"Is he still under the impression you're a demon?" he whispered as my response was.

"Something along those lines." Ran decided to push it, with the next suggestion.

"How about you stop worrying and just think of it as a trial for your harem?" Wow, did he really just say that?

'Would you rather run the harem trial or ask Izana Kurokawa out on a date?'

"I hate you... Okay, let's do it... although your position is the lowest, Ran is slave number one." He wanted to go against my words but I asked Izana to tune him down.

"What about the rest of us?" Shion asked.

"Concubines, I have favorites tho and that's Kakucho." Izana gasped, being annoyed that Kakucho was announced as the favored one.

"Listen, childhood friends troupe is really popular and hard to beat, so live with it." Maybe if I showed him the bad results of his stupid idea he would actually tone it down.

"Now you two eat your food." I handed their share to Izana and Kakucho.

"Slave number one run an errand for me and buy the rest some food." I handed him some money.

"I feel neglected." He dared to utter.

"Well, maybe you shouldn't have suggested this idiotic idea in the first place." He left with a sullen mood, but I could tell he would be up to no good once he returned.

"Now then... K-a-k-u-c-h-o." A devilish smirk appeared on my lips after saying his name.

"What... what is it?" I grabbed the chopsticks from his hands and declared.

"I will feed you~" He tried to relocate my attention to Izana but I wouldn't budge.

"I need to teach him a lesson, and you be the one helping me with it~" I whispered yet Kakucho knew he couldn't win once I set my mind to it. So he opened his mouth as I told him.

"Good boy." After that I let him be, eating my own portion of food, but once I finished I turned towards Shion, as I chose him as my next target.

"You shouldn't have agreed to this," I warned him after sitting on his lap.

"Why?" He asked nervously.

"Because I'm a curious creature." And my mission now was to take a closer look at his tattoos and piercings. A mission arrived, maybe because I was too close to Shion.

'Would you rather flirt with Shion Madarame or Ran Haitani when he comes back?' Like I would entertain that guy's idea, I was pretty sure he suggested it just because he was hoping something like this would take place, but what do I even do? What could be indicated as flirting? Could I just interlock our fingers?

I hoped this would be enough, so I decided to compare our hands and then interlock them, and thankfully I got the stats.

"Michi!" I heard Izana complain, I guess he didn't expect me to give others more attention. I could see Shion looking at Izana asking for permission I guess, but who would have thought despite being jealous he would allow Shion to do what he pleased? Did he think if I was scared enough I would run back to him?

I could feel Shion's hand on my waist as he pulled me closer.

"I think that's enough." I tried to pull away, but then pulled me back in and I felt the weirdest sensation.

"D-d-did you just lick my ear?" I covered it quickly and saw how he seemed proud of his feat. It was time to try to crush his skull, I didn't care if I was only in a skirt, I was gonna use my mighty weapons. I managed to wriggle myself out of his grip and stopped Kakucho from punching his face.

"Can you sit here for me?" Which he did, I tried to look as inviting and not enraged as possible, but once he was in my grip I managed to knock him out cold.

"Wow, I didn't think I would receive such an outcome," I admitted as the other guys in the room were as astonished as I. I heard Mocchi laugh, maybe he didn't like Shion that much.

"How strong did you become?" Kakucho's curiosity must have kicked his common sense goodbye because he came over and felt my thighs.

"Ohh you have some fine muscles." At the moment he reminded me of all those gym bros. That's when Ran decided to reappear with the food I asked him to bring. He took in the scene and finally asked.

"What did I miss?" Rindou was quick to update his brother on the current affairs in this house.

"Oh~" Was the only response I heard leaving his mouth.

"Kakucho... can you stop squeezing me?" As soon it clicked in his brain he retreated his hands away.

"I'm sorry." I heard him apologize, and soon we heard Ran make a demand.

"Let's have a little talk Michi." I tried to refuse but his response was.

"Would my little kitty want me to share with the others, what happened at my house when you came over?" Did he really just threaten me? Would they even believe him? But I decided to not take any risks.

"Okay." He then sent me a signal, did he want the others to stay away?

"You guys stay here." What could this fella possibly want? We made it to Izana's bedroom as soon the doors closed, he pinned me to the wall.

"Give me a promotion." Did his pride get hurt because he was the only one called a slave? I couldn't do anything but laugh.

"Sorry I didn't think you would take that title so seriously." This had to be some kind of joke.

"But shouldn't you keep it? You're the only special one this way." And here came his seduction tactics, or that's what kind of impression he had given me. He lowered his voice and whispered into my ear.

"You have no idea what I will do to you if you don't follow up on my request." That he cared so much for something like play pretend, because that's what I saw this circus as.

"Yeah yeah, you get to be a concubine are you happy now?" When we came back Shion was back on his feet, he was quick to ask.

"Can you do it again, I think I entered heaven." Was the system also messing with those guys' heads? Didn't they like fighting more than chasing girls? Or was the sudden attention irresistible?

"No." Was my response and I dragged Kakucho to the room next, with my bag of goodies.

"Wait what is this for?" He questioned.

"Here you go." I gave him the body pillow cover.

"If you want I can give you the pillow some other day." He was too stunned to even give me a response.

"Also you can give the second one to Izana once he calms down." I gave him a duplicate.

"Ah yes and don't show it to Ran." I could only see him demanding to receive one as well.

After this I spent some time with Izana, I warned him that if he dares to suggest something similar once again I will be reconsidering coming over and spending time with him. He also received an entire lecture on why I didn't need a freaking harem.

-------------------------------------------------------

More artwork~

Thank you guys, I love these pieces :D