“Ah! Carol! I’ve been a sinful girl… Punish me! I deserve it…”

  “Dramatic much? Also, don’t launch into that as soon as you enter the dorm. You’re lucky no one else is around.” I obviously planned for that ahead of time.

  Yesterday, I went on a date with Miyuki and Bea, and now it’s time for me to confess my sins. I arrived at the dorm early in the morning and waited for Narumi and Katja to leave before going in. Carol was on the couch, watching some television, bored. Even my dramatic entrance received nothing but an unamused stare.

  “No one else?” The question came from Hecate, who emerged from the kitchen. “That’s not true… I’m here too.”

  “I know, but you don’t matter.”

  “That’s awful!” Hecate gasped, dejected.

  “Poor Hecate… There, there…” I pulled her in for a hug… This is not right… Someone needs to stop Carol! She’s becoming evil! “Carol! You can’t treat your friends like that! It’s not right!” I think there’s a pair of hands taking advantage of the situation and playing with my hair behind my back, but I’ll ignore that for now.

  “Oh, shut up… Hecate, stop overreacting. And you…” She pointed. “I don’t want to hear that coming from you. You know very well what I meant. And it’s all your fault for saying something dumb as soon as you walk in.”

  “What you meant? You mean that it doesn’t matter if Hecate hears because she knows what’s going on?”

  “If you know that much, why were you painting me as a villain in the first place?” Because it’s funny? Oh no… She’s glaring now. “Now stop humping each other before I make you and start talking. What did you do this time?”

  *Sigh…* I looked Hecate in the eyes. It’s unfortunate, but it’s time to let go. She and I were thinking the same.

  “Who’s painting whom as what now?” I walked over and sat next to her. “You make it sound like I’m a problematic child or something. Isn’t that hypocritical of you?”

  “I’m not painting you as anything, just portraying reality as it is. Why do I get to punish you this time?”

  “Are you happy for the opportunity?” She sounded almost eager for a second there. Asking the question earned me another glare. “Just joking, just joking… Ahem… So, the truth is…”

  I paused… Looking her and Hecate in the eye. This is super important… I hope they don’t hate me for this.

  “I might be getting married soon.”

  “And the punchline is…?” Carol barely gave me a sigh, and Hecate mock gasped behind her. That’s it?

  “That’s all I get? Why are you treating it like a joke when I made it sound so serious? Give me more of a reaction, will you?”

  “Ahahahahaha!” Carol looked down at me with a triumphant look on her face. “How na?ve, Iroha. How many times have we been through this? Nowadays, I can see you baiting or setting up a joke coming a mile away.” Guhh… She read me completely… “But well… If you insist… I guess I can give you a reaction.”

  Carol turned her body, then grabbed my collar.

  “Huhh?” She pushed me down. “What did you just say? Explain yourself!”

  “Now that’s a shocking turn of events!” Hecate peeked over her shoulder. “It’s not fair that you’re the only one who gets to push her down.”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  How come Carol gets a reaction this easily?

  “Ahahaha… Let me explain. Basically, Bea, the princess of Ebrilyon, is hosting a tournament where whoever wins gets to marry her, and I’m going to participate at her request.”

  Hearing that, Carol actually rocked me back and forth. “Arrgghh! Dammit! There actually was something there that wasn’t a joke… Can’t believe I have to listen to your bullshit seriously now.”

  “Is this your way of telling us you’ve brought the princess into the harem?” Hecate tilted her head.

  “Well… We’re not actually dating or anything yet… I can’t marry her unless I win the tournament, so depending on how things turn out, this might not even lead to anything.”

  Carol let go and sat up. “What a mess… Can’t you have a single normal relationship?” She crossed her arms. “So? What are you going to do? Are you actually going to marry her if you win? What about us?”

  “Don’t glare at me! I actually told her I wasn’t interested. The marriage is obviously not happening because I’m not giving up on you for her. And I’m still not convinced about being in a relationship with her yet. She’s an important person, and I’m not sure I can handle the responsibility of dating a princess…”

  Her glare only got stronger… Why? “You absolute moron! You did the right thing, telling her no, so why are you joining the tournament regardless? Don’t you see there’s a contradiction?”

  Hecate nodded along with a gentle smile. “If it makes you feel that uncomfortable, you shouldn’t have joined.”

  “I tried, okay? I tried, but… She was too persistent… And I couldn’t say no anymore…” Her arguments were good, and it’s not like I don’t like her personally… Letting my worries get in the way of romance is not very… well… romantic… Bea was right there. “Anyway, I said I’d join and now it’s too late. But if you’re that much against it, I guess I can throw the matches.”

  “Huh? Don’t you dare.” Carol stared like I was dumb.

  Was that a bad solution? “Wh- why not? What’s the problem?”

  “I don’t want you losing to some random. Not until I catch up to you at least, so don’t even think about it.”

  “She’s right. I’m afraid I’d become disillusioned if I saw you suffering a loss in such a lame way…” Hecate followed up with a somber expression.

  “What am I supposed to do then?” Damned if I do, damned if I don’t. “You’re not leaving me any other choice! If it’s so you keep loving me, I have to win now and marry her. You sure about that?”

  Both of them, sitting next to each other, crossed their arms in sync. They closed their eyes in thought with conflicted expressions.

  “Well, we’ll come up with something.” Carol shrugged. Can’t believe she’s taking it that easy…

  “I agree… Fate wouldn’t dare to stop a relationship as interesting as ours. I’m sure we’ll arrive at the best result possible one day.” Lot of faith coming from Hecate. Personally, I think fate loves throwing me into ridiculous situations too much.

  “When does it start?” Carol asked.

  “Tomorrow.” So sudden, she winced.

  “Got it… We’ll be there.”

  Ehh? Really? Just like that? I don’t get it… I thought I’d get a lot more pushback. Oh well… Guess that’s it for this conversation. That’s half of my sweet girlfriends on board. Now to see what the other two have to say…

  “Ahh… Ririna… I’ve been a sinful girl. Please! Punish me for my wicked deeds!”

  With an opening like this, Ririna panicked. “Wh- what do I do, Sarasa? I think our Iroha is still broken from last time! She turned into a masochist!”

  “Nyahahahaha! Wait right there. I’m gonna get some rope and a whip real quick!” We were meeting in the same hotel room as always. As soon as she closed her mouth, Sarasa turned her back, ready to sprint out the door.

  “Wait wait!” I dropped the dramatic act and grabbed her arm. “If someone I like does that to me, I’ll probably develop some weird fetishes, so let’s not.”

  Sarasa sat on the bed she was renting while Ririna and I pulled up two chairs from the table in the corner of the room. We sat in the small circle, and with the curtains wide open on such a sunny day, we had everything we needed for a normal talk between girls. Or as close to normal as possible whenever the topic of a harem and its intricacies enters the conversation.

  “So? What wicked thing did you do, Iroha?” Ririna was a pretty girl, and she sat with her hands on her lap. A simple yet elegant pose. Still very casual, as was the tone of her voice.

  “I’m getting married.”

  Sarasa was sitting with her legs crossed, and her face lit up upon hearing that. “Nayahahahaha! So soon? I’m happy with the request, but I’m not ready to settle down just yet…” Both she and Ririna looked very happy. Th- that was not the reaction I expected…

  “To Bea… I just wanted to ask for your thoughts…”

  “To the princess?!” She leaned forward. “You’re getting married to the princess?”

  “Would it help if I said I’m joining the tournament?”

  “Wait… You’re participating?!” Finally… I knew I could count on Sarasa to give me some nice reactions…

  “Oh… So when you said you were getting married, you weren’t talking about marrying us…” Ririna averted her gaze. Looking down.

  Us, huh? Polygamy is allowed in this world? I was assuming I couldn’t marry anyone since that’d mean giving up on marrying someone else, but…

  “Actually, I know what I said, but I was playing it up. It’s not like anything has been decided yet.” There’s a lot left to figure out, after all…

  “Ahh… Because you need to win first?” Sarasa casually rocked back and forth, holding her ankles.

  “That and the responsibility… One of the implications of marrying Bea is that I’d be the king of Ebrylion someday… That’s just weird to me, and I don’t think I can do it… Maybe I should just throw tomorrow.”

  “What?!” Ririna was shocked. “No… Don’t do that!”

  “Yeah… That’d be super lame.” Sarasa nodded. “If you’re going to fight, you gotta win. I don’t wanna see my cool girlfriend lose!” The two of them may be from a different world, but their minds work exactly the same as Carol and Hecate’s. Or maybe it’s just that my girlfriends are getting along better and agreeing on more stuff. They’re getting better at coordinating to mess with me. Not sure yet if I like that.

  “You don’t want to see, meaning you’re going to watch the tournament tomorrow?” Both of them gave a little nod.

  “Of course. No one’s going to miss the tournament, are you crazy? Watching is already fun every year, and now that I know you’re participating, I can’t wait to see how it’s gonna go! Besides, you got a good chance, Iroha. You might be able to beat the big-”

  “Shhhhh!” Ririna put a finger over Sarasa’s mouth before she could finish. “It’s her first tournament, Sarasa… You can’t ruin the best part for her.”

  What are they talking about? I’m very confused. “If you react like that, it’s obvious you’re hiding something… What is it?”

  “Uhhh… Well…” Ririna tried to explain without giving it away. “Every year, there’s always a surprise at the end of the tournament, and it’s part of the culture to not spoil it for newcomers. It’s always very funny, but I think you’ll do just fine.”

  Funny? Cryptic until the end… What’s that supposed to mean? I have a feeling those laughs will come at my expense somehow… Spare me…