Breakfast turns out a little awkward.

On one hand, it's a nice day, I have two dates with beautiful girls lined up, one before lunch and one after, and hey, I just got laid. The memories are wonderful.

The problem is that I'm trying to eat, and Aria is currently recounting last night to everyone in earshot, meaning the eight total inhabitants of this island at the moment. Nozomi is thankfully only interjecting occasionally, so I can kinda block it it out as Aria's normal habits. It's just that for once, I have a great idea of exactly what she's talking about. I was there.

Anyway, It turns out that in addition to sleep arrangements, everyone had drawn straws for who gets a date on each of the five days. Suzu had won yesterday, and that's why we had our long, walk along the beach. Shino had informed me of my schedule for today and the next few days as well upon getting myself cleaned up.

Today, I'm going on a date with Shino herself, then Nozomi. Tomorrow will be Aria then Mitsuba, and then Chihiro and finally Kaede. The last day is apparently dedicated to packing everything up and getting home.

Well, at least it's all planned out, I guess. It feels weird that I have to schedule dates to ensure everyone involved with me gets a turn, but I guess that's how harem life goes.

It still costs a small bit of my soul every time I admit to myself that my life is basically a harem cartoon nowadays.

I look up just in time to see Aria has purposely taken a spoonful of yogurt into her mouth and then kinda let it seep from her lips to demonstrate-

Okay, I'm out.

After breakfast is cleaned up, Shino hops up and grabs my arm. "Alright! Let's go!"

"Yeah!.. Where are we going?"

"Remember that cave further in towards to the center of the island?"

"It has a lake inside it, right?"

"That's right. Let's go there!"

"Sounds good to me." I let her practically drag me down the path into the forest.

"I've been wanting to go back here since we came here the first time." Shino starts talking excitedly. "It seems like it would be a really cool place to bring some scuba gear. Maybe find some clams or sea urchins!"

"Too bad we didn't bring any scuba equipment." I agree. "I bet there's all sorts of creatures in there."

"Yep! And this time, we can spend some time looking rather than immediately turning around!"

It's honestly not that far to the cave. We reach it quickly, and Shino practically drags me forwards into the darkness.

It takes my eyes a few seconds to adjust to the darkness, and by the time they do, Shino has let go and gone ahead slightly looking at the wall of the cave.

"Taka! look here!"

I step forward cautiously, and look where she's pointing. It's... a cave wall.

"What am I supposed to be looking at-"

Shino's arms snake around my torso, locking me into a bear hug.

"Eh..."

Shino hums into my back. "Taka."

I let her hold onto my back for a minute or two, placing my arms over hers. "Shino, what's up?"

"You and I haven't been able to hang out recently. Rather, it seems like you've been too buy or actively avoiding me."

Ah... yeah... "Well, I'm still trying to get acquainted with the whole 'dating seven people' thing. I need to figure out a schedule or something so I don't neglect anyone."

"That's easy. Pick a day of the week for each of us." She lets go and I turn around to face her. "I pick Sunday!"

"Mmhmm. And since most everyone works all week and then gets the weekend off, I don't think they'd be happy with getting a workday."

"I didn't say it was perfect."

I smile and reach out to ruffle Shino's hair. Back in highschool I would never have been brave enough to do this, but with her looking up at me with her slight pout just kind of melts my heart.

She looks surprised, but doesn't try to avoid it. "A-ah, let's go deeper in."

"Sounds good."

"Lewd." She pokes a finger through a ring made of her other fingers and gives me a smirk before she drops it and grabs my arm, pinning it close to her body while we head further into the cave. It's still a straight shot back to the underground lake portion, making locating the lake uneventful.

"Hello!" Shino calls, and shortly her echo returns, just delayed enough to add a reverb to her voice.

"This place has really nice acoustics." I comment.

"Yep! If we could bring a band here, this would make a really nice venue."

I snort. "We'd need to have all the concert-goers wearing scuba gear." I gesture grandly. "Put on twenty Kilos of swimming gear and swim in place for an hour to listen to a band."

"We could try to get Triple Booking." Shino joins in.

"I though the group broke up?"

"They did, but they still talk to me. In fact, I'm going to interview them next week as part of a special on how the idol industry grabs and chews up young girls."

"Scary."

"Yes, but it's a sad reality. I've been working on coming up with interview questions, but since I already know them I have the feeling some of my questions are off."

"Really? Like what?"

"Well... 'So Shiho, how did it feel to lose your virginity?' and 'Karuna, aren't you too old for this line of work?'"

"...Yeah, I can see why you're worried." I sigh.

"I'm kidding. I know better than to ask those things." Shino says. "But... I could use some help coming up with some good questions."

"Okay. How can I help?"

Shino smacks her fist into her palm like she has a good idea. I've learned to fear that gesture. "I'll pretend to interview you, and maybe I'll think of some good questions along the way."

"Uh... If that's what you want to do."

I sit on a small rock outcropping as Shino starts to pace back and forth, arms crossed like she often did in highschool. We spent the next hour holding a mock interview with frequent interruptions to discuss wording and appropriateness. Fascinating how Shino does grasp the concept of propriety, but fails to act on it most of the time.

It's pretty nostalgic, to be honest, hearkening back to the days where we would both stay in the Student Council room and discuss upcoming speeches and refine them to be less subtly vulgar. It's not exactly what I thought I'd be remembering fondly of my high school years, but it strangely it fits.

"-can just say that she's too young, but with that face replacing AI thing someone made a porno of her... Hey, Taka, you still listening?"

I shake my head to clear it. "I don't think you should bring up any sex scandals, but it occurs to me that it would probably boost your ratings to do so."

"Hmm. I mean, Yuuri doesn't seem to mind talking about it, but on the other hand you're usually better about these things than me."

"Okay, I have to know. How do yo normally get through interviews?"

"What do you mean?"

"We've spent a while sifting through sample questions, and I was just wondering what happens when I'm not here to collaborate."

"Oh. The studio hired a guy to write relevant questions. This time, I had to come p with them myself since I wanted to interview Triple Booking and the producer found out we were friends, and said that we should just have a normal conversation so it looks more natural."

"Ah."

"Yeah, I realized that might not go over so well so here we are."

"You know what they say: The first step to fixing a problem is to recognize it."

She narrows her eyes. "Took you long enough to recognize yours."

"Oh?

"Yeah. We've been out of high school for what? Three years? and it took you all this time to realize your feelings for me!" It takes me a second to process her statement, as she continues to gesture wildly. "It's been obvious for a long time that you and I are destined to be together! The entire school thought so, and there were several people trying to get us together."

"Uh, Shino?"

She pauses her tirade to look my way. "Yes?"

"I'm not gonna say that I had a clue the entirety of high school, but I did realize you had a crush on me at least my second year."

"What? no! It was the other way around!" She asserts. "Otherwise, I would have totally made a move!"

...I mean, looking back on the time she was the president of the student council, she would tease me to high heaven which turned into flirting at some point, just not exactly sure when that was. "Right... yeah, I guess you would have." I acknowledge.

"See? The president is always right." She gets a smug look on her face, her eyes closed so she can't see my hardly restrained smile.

"Right, so, when you asked me to elope when you graduated-"

She whirls on me. "Hey! That was clearly a prank!"

"The tickets to Italy were real enough."

"I... asked Aria to get me a set of tickets. In case."

"In case I said yes?" Man, I'm having too much fun with this.

"...Yes." In true tsundere fashion she quickly channels her embarrassment into aggressiveness. "Hey! I knew you are madly in love with me, so there was a good chance!"

"Given everyone else's reaction at the time, I don't expect any of the other would have been thrilled about it." I stand up and stretch my legs. "In the end, I'm glad I finished school, but leaving to Italy would certainly have been interesting."

"We did use the tickets anyway." Shino pouts.

"Yes, but it wasn't just the two of us." I gently wrap my arms around her shoulders. She starts slightly, but doesn't seem to mind. "And if Suzu hadn't come along, I might never have come back."

She places her hand on my arm across her collarbone. "It's not my fault you don't know Italian."

"Neither do yo."

"Regardless!"

"Well, it may not be Italy, but we're still running away to elope." I say.

Shino's reaction to that casual statement is to go very still.

"Shino?"

"W-We can't elope here on the island! I want a really big wedding!" She suddenly turns around, putting her face right up in mine. "We have to invite all of our parents, family, and friends, and hold it in a park in Hakone-"

"Okay, okay, I guess we'll just have to wait." I nod seriously.

"Exactly. These things have to be done in a proper order you know. First you start by going to school together, becoming friends via a coincidence, yo grow fond of each other, confess under the stars, get engaged, go on trips to other countries, move in together, break up briefly due to a stupid argument, resolve everything just in time for the wedding, and then the doors open to let me enter, blinding the assembled family with my radiance-"

"Wait, you gave me too many things to retort to. Why are we fighting?"

She blushes slightly. We're close enough that I can almost feel the increase in heat from her skin. "It's how it goes in dramas."

"Mmk, let's not. Also, we've already moved in together, we met because you scouted me for the student council, we've gone on several trips together..."

"You do have a point, I guess." Shino looks down for a second before perking back up. "I guess if we decided to do things in the traditional order that would mean I wouldn't be getting any tonight!"

"...So it's your turn tonight then?"

She nods. "Yeah, who needs that drama based order! We're already living a drama level life anyway, and I'm not going to lose my chance to lose my virginity!" She steps away and poses, pointing back the way we came. "Now, let's head back to camp!"

"Is it too late to change my mind and go with the traditional drama order?" I ask myself sardonically.

At least Shino acknowledges we're living in a drama.

By the time we get back, it's about time for an early lunch of fresh caught fish. Mitsuba had been industrious in gathering plenty of food for everyone.

Still, I might get sick of fish after a full week of it. I'll have to see if there's anything else we can eat for some variety.

Seemingly prompted by our earlier conversation, the talk of the moment is weddings. Primarily, what celebrities had large weddings, small ones, eloped in secret, and the relative scale of these events.

A few interesting ideas are thrown around, but I don't really join into the conversation. I mean, I could, but I feel like I'd be interrupting something. It's pretty interesting though, and I had started to imagine different venues in my head by the time I had finished eating.

After I finished helping Kaede clean up after lunch, Nozomi comes up to me in shorts and a bikini top. "Ready?"

Right, it's her turn. "Of course. What are we doing?"

She fidgets slightly. "Oh, I just figured we could walk along the beach."

"Sounds good to me."

I wave goodbye to the group staying behind, noting that most of them are still heavily engrossed in the wedding discussion.

So the two of us start walking down the beach, not particularly fast but not a snails pace either. However, it quickly becomes apparently that something's a bit off. For my part, I'm having a hard time looking at her without blushing up a storm. I supposed she probably feels the same way, leading to an awkward silence that lasts a good fifteen minutes of walking.

I eventually manage to think of something to say that's not 'Man, sex was great' or 'the weather's nice today, isn't it?' and turn to Nozomi.

"Hey-"

"Taka-"

We both start to talk at the same time.

"After you." She says, deffering to me.

"I was just wondering if you had a particular type of wedding you wanted." I stick my thumb over my shoulder in the vague direction of camp. "After all the talk at lunch, I'm starting to get curious."

"Oh." She blinks. "I always wanted a nice wedding in small temple. Nothing super fancy, just something to remember the important event by."

"I see." I purse my lips as I consider that. "That would be nice, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, it's too bad though."

"Hmm?"

She rolls her eyes at me. "Polygamy isn't exactly legal in Japan, Taka."

"That's... a very good point that I hadn't thought about." I fold my arms. "Kind of disappointing though. I think most of us wanted one."

Nozomi nods. "I agree. It would be really nice, but even putting aside the legality, there's going to be some other issues."

"Such as?"

"For starters- ah look over there, those rocks look like a good place to sit."

I look where she points, and indeed there's a nice rock half buried in the sand that looks about the right size for both of us to sit on it comfortably, with it shaped almost like a chair with a back. Assuming that we don't mind being in each other's laps.

Which kinda seems like a stupid concern. "Yeah, sounds good to me."

I sit down, and she carefully sets herself on my lap, but sideways so we can still talk. "Okay, where was I?"

"Polygamy isn't legal in Japan?"

"Right. So, the issues aside from the legality can basically be summed up as Hata."

"...Oh."

"Aria, Shino, Suzu and Mitsuba are all public figures of varying degrees, and having a wedding to any of them would cause a small uproar. To multiple of them, people would be beating down your door."

"Please, no."

"Exactly. We're all already on thin ice as we've all been on TV together for that game show, so if it came out that we're all living together it would raise some eyebrows."

"I don't exactly want you or anyone to move out." I ponder. "Too much outside attention and scrutiny is kinda problematic though."

"If we decided to do small, private, weddings and somehow intercept the paperwork so nobody can connect the dots through a paper trail, we could probably do that, but then we might as well say that this island retreat was our wedding, since without the paperwork it's not legally binding."

"Mmm, I know Shino wants something grand..." I notice I had absentmindedly started stroking her hair, and as my hand brushes her back my brain suddenly brings thoughts of her bare back last night and-

She shivers slightly at my touch, and for a second we both blush at each other before she deliberately leans into my hand without acknowledgement and continues the conversation. "W-we can probably have one legal marriage, but that seems like it would be a bad idea since that would put whoever got the privilege over the others."

"I wouldn't want that." I say. "That sounds like a great way to breed resentment. Well, maybe Chihiro wouldn't mind not getting one. She's got some odd tastes and might be into the whole 'mistress' thing."

"If Chihiro's tastes are odd, are Aria's normal to you now?" Nozomi pokes my cheek.

"No." I shake my head, incidentally digging her nail into my face a bit. "But I get the feeling Aria would rather show up to Shino's grand wedding and when the preacher says 'speak now or forever how your peace' she'd stand up and declare her undying love for me or something."

"It's scary that I can not only imagine that, I can imagine her bringing her own wedding dress to the event and insisting that the wedding be between the three of you."

"Shino would have some interesting news to report the next day, 'Rich businesswoman crashes my own wedding, demands threesome'."

"If we're not careful with Hata," Nozomi tucks her head into my shoulder. "We may get a similar report not to far off, and instead of a threesome it would be, er, octsome?"

"Eight." I shake my head. "There's eight of us."

"I know it still feels unreal." Nozomi says. "Actually, I have an idea. It still wouldn't be a perfect fix, but it would solve some of the legal things."

"Hmm?"

"Well, Suzu or Kaede would know better but I think for insurance type purposes we could pair off legally, and then have one set of us adopt three of the others making us all one family."

"I don't follow."

"Okay, say you and I get married, then Aria and Shino, Kaede and Suzu, and Mitsuba and Chihiro. Then we would adopt Shino, Suzu, and Chihiro. This way, we're all legally bonded for anything like a death in the family or in a medical emergency."

"Man, I hadn't even thought about any of that. I'm so lucky I have someone to look ahead."

She smiles. "I'm glad you'll have me."

We lapse into silence, a comfortable one, and watch the sun set.

Dinner came and went. It seems someone had heard my unvoiced complaint about only eating fish and delivered a box of food from the mainland.

Upon inquiry, Aria had scheduled food to be delivered by plane every few days.

Speaking of Aria, she's still kind of got her head in the clouds. More than usual at least. She practically had to be led to dinner.

On one hand, it's nice that she's not constantly coming onto me, on the other, she's so out of character it's kind of disturbing.

Maybe I'll have to do something about it, but right now I can't really afford to figure out that particular item.

In front of the tent I had slept in is a very nicely painted sign signifying "Taka's love shack" and on either side of the sign is Shino and Chihiro. Both of them are wearing plain white t-shirts that... yeah, those are probably mine, and not much else.

"It's time for the honeymoon night!" Shino suddenly announces.

"A night of honey under the moon!" Chihiro announces as well, raising her arms up frame the tent.

Shino repeats the gesture, both shirts pulling up with the motion of their arms past their hips revealing that indeed, the only thing they're each wearing is one of my shirts.

Behind me I can hear Suzu sighing to herself before heading into the other tent.

"...Okay, so, I'm assuming that if you both are wearing that, you have clothes set aside for tomorrow? You did pay attention to this morning?"

Shino pouts. "Yes, we're both prepared."

"Come on Taka, you're supposed to get embarrassed!" Chihiro complains. "We carefully figured out a pose that should have left you with a massive nosebleed!"

"Chihiro, have you considered that I'm already prepared to see yo naked in the next ten minutes anyway?"

"This should still be titillating though." Chihiro contines.

"No, wait, look at his swim shorts, he's definitely excited." Shino observes.

Dammit, I was hoping it was dark enough to conceal that.

The other tent unzips to reveal a grumpy Suzu. "Just go to the tent already!" Then she retreats and zips the tent back up.

I decide to just plow forward and enter the tent, flanked by the two women in a clear state of undress.

I sit down on the pad and wait for the two to enter and zip up the tent.

Tonight's a little darker than yesterday, the moon is dipping in and out of the clouds, so it's bit harder to see their faces and the sit on either side of me.

"Okay, so did you both practice this or is it a coincidence you're doing you're both doing the same thing at the same time?" I ask, after they settle on either side, practically in mirror poses.

"Coincidence." They both chime, in unison.

I sigh and Chihiro smiles, the moonlight reflecting off her perfect teeth.

"So, I want my confession now." Shino says.

"Yeah, I've been looking forward to it all day!" Chihiro says.

"Oh, you were serious about that?" I say in a deadpan voice.

"Duh."

"You have to realize that to a woman, words of love are like a drug that can make you move across the globe." Chihiro states.

"I mean, I like them too but..." I shake my head and grab Shino's hands.

Her face lights up and she starts fidgeting in place.

"Shino, You've been a shining beacon leading my onwards, whether I'd like it or not. In my five years of knowing you, I've not regretted being close with you. Getting hand picked by you for the student council has lead my life down a path I can hardly regret and it's thanks to you. I'm so glad you're here with me."

Shino squeaks and falls over on the pad and starts panting heavily.

"Uh, are you okay?"

"She's fine. She just came because of how sweet that was. I was almost there myself." Chihiro comments.

"That... doesn't seem physically possible."

"Or shes pretending." Chihiro shrugs. "Sometime people do that."

"Rrrrrright." I reach for Chihiro's hands, but she grabs mine and starts talking, taking the initiative.

"Taka, you're my favorite little brother I've ever had. It's a shame you didn't come to my school, but since we still met everything is fine. Tonight I shall fulfill all of my latent incestuous fantasies and we shall continue until it's too much to put into a doujin."

"...Uh."

"Don't worry, I know you love me. It's been obvious since high school."

Man, I wonder if all the other schools' student council presidents' are like these two. These two are so similar in some ways it's scary.

"So, onto the honey!"

And she rips her shirt off.

The "u" key on my keyboard is acting weird. Sometimes it refuses to type and I have to hit the key several times. If I don't notice, I might be missing u.

(I wish this was just a pun setup, but I need a new keyboard)