108 Girlfriends, Part 8
OverMaster
Well worn.
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Rentarou made a pause in amazement, before making a wide, shaky smile, eyes sparkling. "Why… I'm so honored! Hanezono-san, my answer is—"
"What, what are you doing, are you just jumping into his arms like that?!" Karane demanded of Hakari.
Hakari laughed softly, making Rentarou swoon. Such a beautiful, feminine laugh…
"Is there anything wrong about it?" she asked her roommate. "It's what I came here for, after all. You should be happy, we will now go out on our date and you can enjoy your truffles in peace…"
"He hasn't even said anything yet!" Karane pointed out.
"Of course I do!" Rentarou said in a hurry. Then he remembered, and he almost bit his tongue. "Ah! I mean-!"
Hakari smiled angelically and brought her hands together while Karane made a grimace. "Do you see, Ka-ra-ne-san? So strong is the power of my love that I didn't even need the clover after all!"
"That's what I was saying, that, that you don't need a stupid clover to…" Karane struggled to squeeze a moral victory out, at least. But suddenly that didn't matter at all. "I mean… Truffles… No, no, w-what I mean is… well…"
Hakari noticed a sudden change in her expression, going from that usual comical exasperation to almost looking on the edge of tears, and genuinely grew worried. "Karane-san? Are you-?"
"I don't care!" the blonde growled, pushing a hand ahead and shoving Rentarou back just as he tried to get closer to tell her something. "So what! It's just a stupid infatuation over a man you just met, I'm above those things! You won't last a week together anyway!"
"Karane-san," Rentarou said, "I… I'd like to tell you that…"
Hakari raised an eyebrow and grabbed him by an arm. "Aijo-kun?"
"Were you… were you intending to ask me out as well?" the boy asked the other girl.
Karane blushed harder than ever, and then socked him with a good punch to the face. Hakari gasped. "N-NO! Of course not! It's not like I like you or anything! Just go away with your new girlfriend for all I care! You don't owe me anything, right?!"
He rubbed his newly swollen cheek and doubted. This was a literal matter of life or death! "You're also lovely, of course, I wouldn't want to offend you by—"
"D-Dummy, why would you offend me when I've just told you I have no interest on you!" the shaking blonde looked aside, then pointed at the troubled looking Hanezono. "On the other hand, you ARE insulting her by showing interest on me after she asked you out!"
"She is right, Aijo-kun," Hakari said cautiously. "Did you come here for her, or me?"
"I came… for both of you, actually," he said, not finding anything better to answer.
The two girls stared at him, frowning.
He sighed. "In a perfect fair world, this wouldn't have to happen. But… Give me a break, please! We've just met! Let's take this easy and—"
"Okay, fine, that's a fair point!" Karane tossed her hands up. "So maybe we're rushing this! It's not like we're going to drop dead if you take a day to think this over, right?"
"Uhhhh… right!" he said.
Hanezono made a small frown, still holding onto his arm. "I suppose… But wait, you still haven't said you WANT TO date him!"
Karane mumbled between clenched teeth, then pulled out a pen and a small piece of paper. She hastily wrote on the latter and held it up, frowning and gazing at the grass. The paper read PLEASE DATE ME, YOU IDIOT.
"Um… Okay!" he nodded quickly. "That, that is-!"
"Aijo-kun!" Hanezono whined.
"Shaddap, I've thrown the gauntlet and you have to pick it up, on your honor as a woman!" Karane told her. She pointed at Rentarou. "One day! That's as much as we're going to wait for your answer! We hate wishy-washy men so you'd better have made your mind up by then!"
Rentarou deflated, realizing that fighting back now would only made everything even worse. "Okay…"
"… and?" Matoi asked.
"And then I left, feeling awful and very dizzy, and lost my way in the woods until I found your cabin," Rentarou said miserably.
"Okay, but where's the part where you murdered them and buried their bodies under the World Tree?" Matoi pressed on.
"I never did such a thing!" Rentarou gasped, horrified. "I left them perfectly fine, if still doomed because of me!"
"Then why do you say you killed them?" Makie asked.
"Makie-san, did you already forget the first part of his story?" Negi sighed. "If he rejects one of them, that young lady will suffer great misfortune and die…"
"That's right!" the older boy said. "And I've just entered a deal that will hurt at least one of them, but most likely both! They're roommates, so whoever loses will be constantly reminded of the fact! They'll make each other unhappy, and even if we get our relationship going, that's going to ruin it! They'll both suffer because of my indecisiveness, but deciding anything also leads to disaster! There's no way out! I'm in despair! This absurd, cruel situation has left me in despair!"
"Please don't say that…" Chachamaru said.
"Why? Do you see an alternative, a way I can make them happy?" Rentarou asked hopefully.
"No, what I mean is that you're stealing Itoshiki-sensei's beloved catchphrase," the gynoid said.
"Aaauugh!"
Ayaka looked at Skuld. "Does that surrealist story ring true, or is he making it up?"
Skuld shrugged. "The basics of it gel with the postulates of the Balance of Fortune and Misfortune in the Human Plane," she allowed. "And of course, it'd be just like Urd to commit such a careless mistake while failing to keep reports of who his soulmates are."
He threw himself to her feet. "Please help them out, Imouto-sama! I'll do anything!"
"What do you expect me to do?!" Skuld said. "I'm not a goddess of love!" She pointed at Negi. "He's a mage, ask him to brew a love potion for you!"
"I don't think that's going to help either since it'd only be a false love," Eva said, elegantly sipping from a cup of fragrant tea, sitting crosslegged. "It sucks to be you, Boya."
Negi frowned at Skuld. "Please, don't give my secrets away so happily."
Skuld waved a hand in circles. "Oh, you should've thought of how important your secrecy was before recruiting over half of your students for your pappy-searching crusade!"
"A… mage?" Rentarou blinked at Negi.
"An apprentice," Evangeline sneered. "A mere novice, still learning the most basic ropes of the mystery walk. A simple child, he cannot possibly help you, anymore than he can help himself…"
"Thanks for your usual vote of confidence, Master," Negi said dryly.
Eva got up with her small evil smirk on. "But I can help you," she told Rentarou. "If you beg me hard, long, and pathetically enough, I might be convinced to save those two harlots for you…"
To be Continued.
Next: Return of the Sakura Lane Vampire!
"What, what are you doing, are you just jumping into his arms like that?!" Karane demanded of Hakari.
Hakari laughed softly, making Rentarou swoon. Such a beautiful, feminine laugh…
"Is there anything wrong about it?" she asked her roommate. "It's what I came here for, after all. You should be happy, we will now go out on our date and you can enjoy your truffles in peace…"
"He hasn't even said anything yet!" Karane pointed out.
"Of course I do!" Rentarou said in a hurry. Then he remembered, and he almost bit his tongue. "Ah! I mean-!"
Hakari smiled angelically and brought her hands together while Karane made a grimace. "Do you see, Ka-ra-ne-san? So strong is the power of my love that I didn't even need the clover after all!"
"That's what I was saying, that, that you don't need a stupid clover to…" Karane struggled to squeeze a moral victory out, at least. But suddenly that didn't matter at all. "I mean… Truffles… No, no, w-what I mean is… well…"
Hakari noticed a sudden change in her expression, going from that usual comical exasperation to almost looking on the edge of tears, and genuinely grew worried. "Karane-san? Are you-?"
"I don't care!" the blonde growled, pushing a hand ahead and shoving Rentarou back just as he tried to get closer to tell her something. "So what! It's just a stupid infatuation over a man you just met, I'm above those things! You won't last a week together anyway!"
"Karane-san," Rentarou said, "I… I'd like to tell you that…"
Hakari raised an eyebrow and grabbed him by an arm. "Aijo-kun?"
"Were you… were you intending to ask me out as well?" the boy asked the other girl.
Karane blushed harder than ever, and then socked him with a good punch to the face. Hakari gasped. "N-NO! Of course not! It's not like I like you or anything! Just go away with your new girlfriend for all I care! You don't owe me anything, right?!"
He rubbed his newly swollen cheek and doubted. This was a literal matter of life or death! "You're also lovely, of course, I wouldn't want to offend you by—"
"D-Dummy, why would you offend me when I've just told you I have no interest on you!" the shaking blonde looked aside, then pointed at the troubled looking Hanezono. "On the other hand, you ARE insulting her by showing interest on me after she asked you out!"
"She is right, Aijo-kun," Hakari said cautiously. "Did you come here for her, or me?"
"I came… for both of you, actually," he said, not finding anything better to answer.
The two girls stared at him, frowning.
He sighed. "In a perfect fair world, this wouldn't have to happen. But… Give me a break, please! We've just met! Let's take this easy and—"
"Okay, fine, that's a fair point!" Karane tossed her hands up. "So maybe we're rushing this! It's not like we're going to drop dead if you take a day to think this over, right?"
"Uhhhh… right!" he said.
Hanezono made a small frown, still holding onto his arm. "I suppose… But wait, you still haven't said you WANT TO date him!"
Karane mumbled between clenched teeth, then pulled out a pen and a small piece of paper. She hastily wrote on the latter and held it up, frowning and gazing at the grass. The paper read PLEASE DATE ME, YOU IDIOT.
"Um… Okay!" he nodded quickly. "That, that is-!"
"Aijo-kun!" Hanezono whined.
"Shaddap, I've thrown the gauntlet and you have to pick it up, on your honor as a woman!" Karane told her. She pointed at Rentarou. "One day! That's as much as we're going to wait for your answer! We hate wishy-washy men so you'd better have made your mind up by then!"
Rentarou deflated, realizing that fighting back now would only made everything even worse. "Okay…"
"… and?" Matoi asked.
"And then I left, feeling awful and very dizzy, and lost my way in the woods until I found your cabin," Rentarou said miserably.
"Okay, but where's the part where you murdered them and buried their bodies under the World Tree?" Matoi pressed on.
"I never did such a thing!" Rentarou gasped, horrified. "I left them perfectly fine, if still doomed because of me!"
"Then why do you say you killed them?" Makie asked.
"Makie-san, did you already forget the first part of his story?" Negi sighed. "If he rejects one of them, that young lady will suffer great misfortune and die…"
"That's right!" the older boy said. "And I've just entered a deal that will hurt at least one of them, but most likely both! They're roommates, so whoever loses will be constantly reminded of the fact! They'll make each other unhappy, and even if we get our relationship going, that's going to ruin it! They'll both suffer because of my indecisiveness, but deciding anything also leads to disaster! There's no way out! I'm in despair! This absurd, cruel situation has left me in despair!"
"Please don't say that…" Chachamaru said.
"Why? Do you see an alternative, a way I can make them happy?" Rentarou asked hopefully.
"No, what I mean is that you're stealing Itoshiki-sensei's beloved catchphrase," the gynoid said.
"Aaauugh!"
Ayaka looked at Skuld. "Does that surrealist story ring true, or is he making it up?"
Skuld shrugged. "The basics of it gel with the postulates of the Balance of Fortune and Misfortune in the Human Plane," she allowed. "And of course, it'd be just like Urd to commit such a careless mistake while failing to keep reports of who his soulmates are."
He threw himself to her feet. "Please help them out, Imouto-sama! I'll do anything!"
"What do you expect me to do?!" Skuld said. "I'm not a goddess of love!" She pointed at Negi. "He's a mage, ask him to brew a love potion for you!"
"I don't think that's going to help either since it'd only be a false love," Eva said, elegantly sipping from a cup of fragrant tea, sitting crosslegged. "It sucks to be you, Boya."
Negi frowned at Skuld. "Please, don't give my secrets away so happily."
Skuld waved a hand in circles. "Oh, you should've thought of how important your secrecy was before recruiting over half of your students for your pappy-searching crusade!"
"A… mage?" Rentarou blinked at Negi.
"An apprentice," Evangeline sneered. "A mere novice, still learning the most basic ropes of the mystery walk. A simple child, he cannot possibly help you, anymore than he can help himself…"
"Thanks for your usual vote of confidence, Master," Negi said dryly.
Eva got up with her small evil smirk on. "But I can help you," she told Rentarou. "If you beg me hard, long, and pathetically enough, I might be convinced to save those two harlots for you…"
To be Continued.
Next: Return of the Sakura Lane Vampire!